Deanna Corbin, 46, would live in Los Angeles if she could. But she can't, at least not with a modicum of space and safety, not on her $38,000 salary as an administrative secretary.
The threat of serious disruption to Easter travel plans has resurfaced with
the breakdown of talks aimed at averting a strike at British Airways. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 9 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
DAMASCUS, MD (MarketWatch) -- With oil prices going crazy on world markets, you might wonder what Europeans are driving where gasoline prices might hit $6, $7, or even $8 a gallon.
U.S. stocks are hammered, pushing the Dow industrials to their lowest close since Oct. 11, 2006, after February's unemployment report cements thinking of a recession, and central bank moves to stem the credit crunch fail to offset the damage.
DAMASCUS, MD (MarketWatch) - As we started work on this article, the price of oil had broken through the $104 a barrel mark, playing tag with $105 and setting record highs.
A trio of high-profile CEOs defended their oversized pay packages to Congress on Friday, even as their companies and shareholders lost billions of dollars as a result of the ongoing mortgage crisis.
Clients come to me with money in college savings plans from dozens of states, but I've never seen a single one who had invested in Utah's 529. Why is that? I assume it's because, unlike most states, Utah doesn't have an adviser-sold plan, so financial planners have no incentive to invest their clients' money in it.
A US oil executive is jailed for two years for paying millions of dollars in bribes to Saddam Hussein's government. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:49 pm
Independent cinema group Everyman Media will this week announce that it has
acquired the chain of Screen Cinemas in London and the South East. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 11:37 am
WALL STREET'S most profitable bank Goldman Sachs paid five senior executives
more than $300m ($£149m) in bonuses last year as the securities firm
successfully avoided the huge losses suffered by its rivals during the
credit crisis. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 10:50 am
Oil prices jumped to a new record above $106 Friday but settled lower, extending their recent pattern of choppy trading after a weak jobs report convinced many traders that the Federal... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 10:48 am
Nissan wants to talk about more than a way to drive at its soon-to-be- finished Americas headquarters. The Japanese automaker is showing off "green" features of the $100 million... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 10:29 am
If history is a reliable guide, the recession of 2008 is now unavoidable. The dismal jobs report released Friday showed overall employment to be lower than it was three months ago. Every time such a slump... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 8:35 am
WASHINGTON The worst fears of consumers, investors and Washington officials were confirmed on Friday, as deepening paralysis on Wall Street collided with stark new evidence of falling employment and a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 8:35 am
When O'Gara Coach Co. of Beverly Hills talks, the chaps in England listen, very closely. Rolls Royce normally transports... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
Recession may well be here, given the dismal February employment report Friday. But on Wall Street many investors still are having a hard time deciding how worried they should be.
Perched on less than an acre of land off an unpaved road in a hardscrabble rural area, farmer Gumercindo Ajanel would hardly seem like a Wal-Mart regular. But in fact, he's working for the American retail giant.
The unloading of $141 million in options was in preparation for retirement, the Countrywide founder asserts, denying that he was trying to shield himself from the sub-prime meltdown.
Countrywide Financial Corp. founder Angelo R. Mozilo defended his fortuitous stock trades before a congressional panel Friday, denying that he had manipulated his trading plan to unload about $141 million in stock options before the company collapsed.
L.A.'s cargo business could shrink under a proposal on truckers.
The nation's busiest seaport could lose at least 3% of its cargo container business if it adopts a controversial proposal requiring shipping companies to employ the thousands of short-haul truck drivers who work on a contractual basis, a new study says.
The bad economic news keeps coming, distressing Wall Street and looming larger in the presidential race.
The U.S. economy is sliding toward a recession -- if it's not already in one -- with at least three serious strikes against it: shrinking employment, plunging home prices and a financial sector at risk of paralysis.
The unloading of $141 million in options was in preparation for retirement, the Countrywide founder asserts, denying that he was trying to shield himself from the sub-prime meltdown. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
As travel restrictions lift, the city touts its attractiveness as a tourist destination. First in an occasional series... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
Perched on less than an acre of land off an unpaved road in a hardscrabble rural area, farmer Gumercindo Ajanel would hardly seem like a Wal-Mart regular. But in fact, he's working for the American retail... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 8:00 am
Preoccupied the last few months with shrinking credit and a slumping economy, Wall Street has all but ignored the relentless rise in oil prices that has taken a barrel of crude to a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 7:46 am
MCLEAN, Va. and PARSIPPANY, N.J., March 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc. today announced the opening of the Hampton Inn Parsippany. The new select... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 6:47 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in February at the steepest rate in nearly five years, a second straight month of employment losses that heightened fears the world's largest economy has skidded into recession.
U.S. stocks are poised for more volatility and losses next week, with investors digesting the past week’s turbulence, including further evidence suggesting that the U.S. economy is in recession and that the credit crisis shows no signs of abating.
STANFORD, California (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday reiterated his view that a strong dollar was in the U.S. interest and the greenback's value would ultimately reflect strong economic fundamentals.
STANFORD, California (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday reiterated his view that a strong dollar was in the U.S. interest and the greenback's value would ultimately... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 4:07 am
DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler LLC on Friday said it would close a California studio that has helped design some of the automaker's biggest recent hits, including the Chrysler 300 sedan and the revived Dodge Challenger.
DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler LLC on Friday said it would close a California studio that has helped design some of the automaker's biggest recent hits, including the Chrysler 300 sedan and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 3:06 am
The US president insists there is not a recession despite the worst monthly jobless figures in five years. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 8 Mar 2008 | 2:54 am
The soaring cost of grains, dairy products and other edible commodities continues to pile up on consumers as producers seek to dull the impact of higher prices on their own bottom lines, according to scanner data from U.S. supermarkets
Interstate Bakeries Corp.'s plan to exit bankruptcy protection went off the rails Friday as the company asked a court to delay hearing the plan because it has begun talking with a new... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:51 am
Ambac Financial raises $1.5 billion selling stock and convertible securities to protect its crucial triple-A rating. But shares fall for a third straight day after the struggling bond insurer has to sell more new stock than expected, diluting existing investors further.
_The Hartz Mountain Corp. is recalling 739 bottles of Hartz Vitamin Care for Cats because the product might be contaminated with salmonella, which could infect pets and people who come... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:28 am
A deepening sense of financial crisis spurred the US Federal Reserve into new emergency action to try to ease strains in the credit markets – and convinced investors that another major interest rate cut is on its way. Source: FT.com - US homepage | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:18 am
Boeing is seriously considering protesting the US Air Force decision to award a $35bn contract for refuelling tankers to EADS, the European defence company Source: FT.com - US homepage | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:07 am
Tax-dodgers, beware: The world’s leading havens for secret stashes of money face an all-out assault, as governments wary of leaner times grow more eager to snare levies that would otherwise go missing.
Recession and fears of a crash force US central bank to bolster the credit markets again, reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Easyjet said it was seeing no signs of a consumer downturn as it unveiled a 22.4pc rise in passengers last month to 3.24m compared to February 2007. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Profits at Belgian bank Fortis, which paid €24bn (£18.3bn) for the asset-management and Dutch retail banking units of ABN Amro last year, tumbled 45pc in the fourth quarter after €1.5bn of sub-prime write-downs. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Sheikh Faisal Al Qassimi, a member of Sharjah's ruling family, has paid £5m for a 12pc stake in Fluid Leader, the pipe repair business created by Paul Davidson, the colourful entrepreneur and inventor known as 'The Plumber'. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Like me, you probably felt nothing but joy at the Treasury Committee's report revealing bumper bonuses for senior staff at HM Revenue & Customs. Some windfalls were as high as 60pc, while the average department bonus was £7,727 in 2006/07. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Utility company Anglian Water Group has managed to sell just half of its support services subsidiary Morrison after months of wrangling with potential buyers. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner faces further delays amid claims that the US company continues to underestimate the amount of work left to do on the new-generation aircraft. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Marks & Spencer, the High Street retailer, said it would put an additional £400m of property into a partnership with its own pension fund. Source: Telegraph Business | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Employers in the United States cut 63,000 jobs last month, the most for five
years, prompting Wall Street economists to say that the workforce was
experiencing “meltdown”.<br/>
<br/>
The grim employment data came as President Bush tried to reassure Americans
that his $150 billion ($£74 billion) tax rebate scheme will help their
economy to recover. He said: “My message to the American people is this: I
know this is a difficult time for our economy, but we recognised the problem
early and provided the economy with a booster shot. You will begin to see
the impact over the coming months.”<br/>
<br/>
However, the sharp rise in redundancies in February stoked fears that America
is already in a recession.The data from the Labour Department was far worse
than Wall Street expected. Economists had hoped for 23,000 more jobs.<br/>
<br/>
The statistics are part of increasing evidence that the credit crisis that
began in the US finance industry is spreading across America. Overall, 4.8
per cent of America’s workforce is unemployed and the proportion could rise
sharply this year as the country is expected to slide into a recession.<br/>
<br/>
Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist for High Frequency Economics, said: “What
the numbers show is that this slowdown has broken out of construction. It’s
affecting everything. Of great concern is the fact that manufacturing is
showing big job losses even though exports are booming. What that tells you
is that the state of domestic manufacturing is appalling.<br/>
<br/>
“The jobs trend from month to month is downward - the labour force is in
meltdown.”<br/>
<br/>
The Labour Department said that the construction industry had lost 39,000 jobs
in February, retailers had shed 34,000 and manufacturers had sacked a
further 52,000.<br/>
<br/>
Mr Shepherdson said: “In February Government employment rose by 38,000, so
private payrolls tanked [fell by] 101,000, the third straight dip and the
worst performance since March 2003 during the war in Iraq.”<br/>
<br/>
Retail sales are still growing, albeit at a modest pace but yesterday’s
unemployment data is expected to increase pressure on consumer spending,
which accounts for 40 per cent of the economy. Americans have been squeezed
by two years of falls in house prices, which have limited their ability to
extract capital from their homes, rising credit and mortgage costs and
increasing food and energy prices.<br/>
<br/>
Many experts on Wall Street expect the economy to shrink in the first quarter
of this year and to slide into a recession within months. Some believe that
the world’s largest economy is already in recession.<br/>
<br/>
Separately, US lawmakers yesterday criticised Wall Street bankers for
receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in pay while homeowners and
shareholders suffered from the housing crisis that they perpetuated.<br/>
<br/>
Angelo Mozilo, chief financial officer of Countrywide, and Charles Prince and
Stan O’Neal, former chief executives of Citigroup and Merrill Lynch,
respectively, were forced to defend their pay as they faced questions from
Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who heads a Congressional oversight
committee.<br/>
<br/>
Speaking at a hearing in Washington, Mr Waxman said: “There seem to be two
different economic realities. Most Americans live in a world where economic
security is precarious. But our nation’s top executives seem to live by a
separate set of rules.” Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
Some things have changed little in the past 19 years, with Kylie and Madonna
both still topping the charts, as they did back in 1989. Now homeowners are
growing increasingly concerned that a much more frightening similarity may
emerge between 1989 and 2008 - a house price crash. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
The full-year results out yesterday from Candover Investments were
exceptional, even by the standards of what has been one of the most
consistent long-term performers among Europe's listed private equity
vehicles. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
The global credit crisis plunged to new depths yesterday as persistent fears
over the collapse of a large financial institution caused funding markets to
dry up and forced the US Federal Reserve to make available up to $200
billion ($£99.3 billion) of emergency financing.<br/>
<br/>
The Fed said that a “rapid deterioration” in the credit markets in recent
days had prompted it to begin a series of fresh cash injections in an effort
to shore up the balance sheets of America’s stricken banks. Unemployment
also shot up in the US last month, adding to the gloom. US stocks tumbled,
dragging the Dow Jones industrial average down 138.40 points to 11.902.00.
Treasury prices jumped and the dollar fell to record lows.<br/>
<br/>
Bankers said that the moves underscored the deepening severity of the crisis,
which was triggered last June by the collapse of the American sub-prime
mortgage market and has got progressively worse since. One senior banker in
London said: “This is the beginning of the real credit crisis and it’s not
going to end without a major casualty.”<br/>
<br/>
Sources said that the present crisis was triggered by cash-strapped banks
starting to get tough with their hedge fund clients by making margin calls
on loans and drastically raising interest rate payments overnight. The move
has pushed the funds into the panic-selling of assets, mostly AAA-rated US
mortgage securities, and several are thought to be on the brink of collapse.
One of them, Carlyle Capital Corporation (CCC), said yesterday that
overnight it had received “substantial additional margin calls” linked to
its souring investments in US mortgages.<br/>
<br/>
Thornburg, the US mortgage lender, exacerbated investor jitters when it said
that it did not have enough cash to meet $610 million of margin calls. Last
week Peloton, a London hedge fund, collapsed after it became unable to meet
the banks$’ demands.<br/>
<br/>
Bankers said that the problem was related to a perceived increased risk
surrounding the AAA-rated prime mortgages and to the consequences of
dangerous overleveraging of the funds themselves. In the case of Carlyle,
its CCC fund had leveraged its assets by $30 for every $1 of its own cash.<br/>
<br/>$
$“The whole industry was created by cheap debt,” the banking source said. “It
was really all just an illusion.”<br/>
<br/>
Underlining the Fed’s desperate attempts to calm markets, for the first time
it said that it would accept mortgage-backed assets as collateral from the
banks for fresh loans. As the fear spread, the perceived risk of owning US
corporate bonds - measured by the widening of credit spreads – also rose to
its highest level.<br/>
<br/>
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, the US analyst firm, said that the US financial
industry would need $1 trillion of permanent capital to maintain current
pricing of mortgage assets. However, it added that the industry would not be
able to obtain that amount.<br/>
<br/>
Shares of Carlyle$’s CCC fund were suspended in Amsterdam yesterday as it
disclosed that it had received more default notices from its lenders and
that some of those lenders had been forced to sell CCC’s mortgage assets in
an effort to recover their loans. The dire forecast came only 24 hours after
CCC said that it had been issued with $37 million of margin calls from
lenders, having satisfied $60 million of calls only the week before.<br/>
<br/>
Sean Egan, of the Egan-Jones Ratings Company, said: $“When financial history
is written, the Carlyle liquidation will go down as one of the single most
major events. Carlyle has built an image as one of the smartest investors
around, and to see one of its funds fall apart shows there is a fundamental
problem with the market.” Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
I mentioned last week that I was attempting to tackle my workaholicism and
received several e-mails in response, nearly all from current and former
colleagues inquiring how I could claim to be addicted to work when I
evidently did so little. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
One of the great myths about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the mortgage bond
issuers and guarantors, is that the United States Government will bail them
out if they get into real trouble. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
Reckitt Benckiser faces a series of investigations by competition and health
regulators over an alleged secret plan to maintain a monopoly in the supply
of Gaviscon, the lucrative heartburn medicine.<br/>
<br/>
Internal documents show that executives at Reckitt, the Hull-based drug and
cleaning products company, plotted under the codename “Project Eric” to
block rivals from selling cheaper generic copies of Gaviscon.<br/>
<br/>
One former senior executive said Reckitt had “cheated the NHS”. It is thought
that a cheaper, generic version of Gaviscon could have saved the health
service £40 million a year.<br/>
<br/>
E-mails between executives discuss how to “drag out as long as possible” the
process of other companies being allowed to manufacture generic versions,
and their intention to create “a further barrier to competitors” and
“restrict entry for new competitors”.<br/>
<br/>
The company announced an internal investigation into the allegations, made by
BBC2’s <i>Newsnight</i>, insisting that it was “a responsible company
in the way it conducts its business”.<br/>
<br/>
A spokesman for the Office of Fair Trading said: “We are aware of the story
and are considering whether there may be a competition case to answer.” The
NHS Counter Fraud Service is also considering whether an inquiry falls
within its remit, and the House of Commons Health Select Committee may also
investigate.<br/>
<br/>
Kevin Barron, MP, chair of the committee, said he was “disturbed” by the
e-mails. “I will be taking it back to the committee to look at,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
However, it is not clear whether any laws have been broken. One regulatory
source said: “Members of the public might not find it particularly
wholesome. It might be sharp practice and they may be sailing close to the
wind, but that doesn’t mean it’s illegal.”<br/>
<br/>
Before a rival company can create a generic drug, the British National
Formulary must give it an official title. Reckitt tried to claim Gaviscon
was unique and such a title could not be issued. It objected in 2000, 2003,
2005 and 2006.<br/>
<br/>
The drug company also successfully lobbied the British Pharmacopoeia
Commission (BPC), part of the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency,
that for health and safety reasons, a detailed quality specification known
as a monograph was needed.<br/>
<br/>
One Reckitt executive wrote: “Should we not drag it out as long as possible .
. . £9 million of business is at stake”. The e-mails talk of “a clever idea”
- to make a near-identical product with a different name. “There must be
something we can dig out of the cupboard!” one executive wrote.<br/>
<br/>
Reckitt also tried to persuade doctors to prescribe the new Gaviscon Advance.
In 2005 the industry’s watchdog found it guilty of unethical behaviour.<br/>
<br/>
The news comes shortly after the European Commission began an inquiry into
whether pharmaceutical companies were employing illegal tactics to delay
generic versions.<br/>
<br/>
In January, it raided the offices of some of the world’s largest drug
companies, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Astrazeneca, Johnson &
Johnson, Merck & Co and Sanofi-Aventis. In 2005 AstraZeneca, the
Anglo-Swedish drug manufacturer, was fined €60 million for trying to delay
rival versions of its ulcer drug, Losec, thereby keeping prices artificially
high.<br/>
<br/>
A spokesman for Reckitt said: “We are shocked by the allegations . . . and by
the inappropriate sentiment expressed in some of the internal correspondence
of 2003.” A spokesman for the BPC said it was “aware that the company would
want to protect its market”. He added: “When Reckitt sought to protect the
monograph being published with a legal challenge, the BPC rejected this
request and proceeded with its publication.” Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 8 Mar 2008 | 12:00 am
Revenues from casino gambling along the Strip fell 1.3 per cent in January to $597.3m compared with 2006, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 11:56 pm
Reuters - Boeing Co said on Friday it
would seriously consider challenging a U.S. Air Force snub that
gave a $35 billion aerial-refueling program to a team that
includes its European archrival Airbus.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co said on Friday it would seriously consider challenging a U.S. Air Force snub that gave a $35 billion aerial-refueling program to a team that includes its European archrival Airbus.
Investor's Business Daily - The Fed's aggressive rate cuts of 225 basis points since mid-Sept. doesn't necessarily mean more are ahead, says Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher. He also downplayed the idea of an emergency out-of-session rate meeting, like the one on Jan. 22. Fisher, who dissented from the Jan. 30 cut, said the economy is slowing, but that he was optimistic about long-term prospects. Analysts expect the Fed to cut rates by 75 basis points to 2.25%. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 11:47 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks could face a further pounding next week as evidence mounts that the economy has entered a recession and problems in the financial sector accelerate.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks could face a further pounding next week as evidence mounts that the economy has entered a recession and problems in the financial sector accelerate. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Mar 2008 | 11:46 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday to close at their lowest level in 19 months after a report showed that employers unexpectedly shed jobs at the steepest rate in nearly five years, standing as confirmation for many investors that the United States is in recession.
The deep chill on Wall Street is heating up unsolicited takeovers, with companies bearing solid balance sheets pouncing on the depressed stocks of reluctant targets at a rate now outpacing what the market witnessed a year ago.
Reuters - The fat compensation packages of
three U.S. CEOs whose companies are being hammered by the
widening mortgage crisis came under harsh criticism on Friday
at a congressional hearing on executive pay.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fat compensation packages of three U.S. CEOs whose companies are being hammered by the widening mortgage crisis came under harsh criticism on Friday at a congressional hearing on executive pay.
Three top Wall Street figures at the centre of the US mortgage crisis faced a barrage of criticism from Democratic lawmakers, who accused them of raking in excessive pay packages while their companies suffered billions of dollars of losses Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 11:05 pm
Stocks tanked Friday, falling to the worst levels in nearly 18 months after a weak February employment report and more financial sector woes exacerbated recession fears.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein did better than any of his colleagues in 2007, a year in which the world's largest investment bank profited despite... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 7 Mar 2008 | 10:51 pm
Reuters - Fewer U.S. companies are planning
large-scale job cuts in response to a slowing economy than in
past downturns, according to an upcoming survey of human
resources executives by the Towers Perrin consultancy. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 10:41 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fewer U.S. companies are planning large-scale job cuts in response to a slowing economy than in past downturns, according to an upcoming survey of human resources executives by the Towers Perrin consultancy.
Deal to provide backstop for troubled bond insurer's $1.5bn equity raising plan aimed at averting downgrade Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 10:33 pm
The then UK prime minister tried to orchestrate a secret plan to spare the widow of King George VI humiliation 'severe embarrassment' about her finances Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 10:33 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thornburg Mortgage Inc , which provides loans to help people buy expensive homes, said on Friday its survival is at stake because it cannot meet its own lenders' demands for $610 million of cash or collateral.
Reuters - Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in
February at the steepest rate in nearly five years, a second
straight month of employment losses that heightened fears the
world's largest economy has skidded into recession.
The liquidator for troubled property business Blue Chip has told a meeting in Tauranga it is one of the worst company collapses he has handled.
Nineteen property management companies associated with the company have gone into liquidation.... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 10:00 pm
The sight of top executives being questioned on how they walked away with hefty pay packets after enmeshing their companies in the subprime mortgage mess showed just how great the divide is between their side of the street and the rest of America.
"There seem to be two different economic realities operating in our country today," said Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations, as he opened the hearing.
That became the theme of the hearing as lawmakers—mostly Democrats—tried in vain to press for explanations of why people like Charles Prince, former head of Citigroup walked away with $10 million after the company lost billions in the volatile investments. The answers were mostly that such compensation were negotiated, routine and expected—and nobody did anything wrong.
For example, John Finnegan, chairman of the Merrill Lynch compensation committee, which gave Stanley O'Neal a $131 million goodbye, was asked why the former brokerage head was allowed to retire rather than being terminated. He responded that firing had to be for cause, or wrongful behavior, not for bad financial judgment.
Republican lawmakers rushed to shore up the embattled chief executives, with Darrell Issa of California, arguing that they were not "bad guys" who caused people to lose their homes.
But Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, drew a stark contrast, noting "I have people everyday who are losing their homes and wondering where their kids will do their homework," at the same time chief executives are making off with "golden parachutes drifting off to the golf course."
He singled out a 2006 memo by Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of Countrywide Financial, demanding that the company pay tax on his wife's corporate jet travel - a concern light years away from people worried about whether they are going to have a roof over their heads and a kitchen to cook in, Cummings pointed out.
Drawing the hours of grilling to a close, Waxman noted that "It seems like everyone is hurting except for you" —a sentiment that didn't seem to phase the quartet who rushed with little ceremony out the hearing room's back door to their waiting limos and drivers.
The dollar weakened against the euro to hit a new low, after poor job data added to fears about the US economy. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Mar 2008 | 9:50 pm
Three key figures at US firms hit by the sub-prime crisis have been facing a Congressional committee over their financial rewards. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Mar 2008 | 9:45 pm
Reuters - U.S. stocks fell on Friday to close at
their lowest level in 19 months after a report showed that
employers unexpectedly shed jobs at the steepest rate in nearly
five years, standing as confirmation for many investors that
the United States is in recession.
Sharia law restrictions on stock picking can make investing difficult for Muslims. Tess Vigeland talks to Monem Salam about special Islamic mutual funds that do the required research. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 9:26 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday said Delphi Corp can proceed with an exit financing deal that relies heavily on General Motors Corp , a crucial step for the bankrupt auto parts maker.
Egypt is a prime tourist destination, but that doesn't mean things are always easy for visitors. Scott Jagow explains some of the difficulties he came across as an American in Cairo. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 8:43 pm
Dubai aims to be the biggest and the best in every way, but as Sean Cole reports, there's debate as to whether the reality of Dubai lives up to the dream. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 8:30 pm
AP - Consumers increased their borrowing in January, especially relying on credit cards to finance their purchases. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 8:22 pm
In this special Getting Personal, Chris and Tess talk about rearranging finances before a move overseas, Middle Eastern index funds and tax policy for income earned abroad. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 8:11 pm
Avoiding interest has forced some Muslim student loan seekers to get pretty creative. Rico Gagliano learns about financing higher education under Sharia law. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 7:35 pm
Fisher Funds Management has hired a senior analyst to work with managing director Carmel Fisher on its New Zealand portfolios.
Its appointment of former First NZ Capital head of research Murray Brown follows the surprise resignation... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 7:30 pm
How do you buy a house when your religion bars you from paying interest? Tess Vigeland visited the Zerroug family to learn how they structured the purchase of their Pasadena, Calif., home. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 7:08 pm
Hillary Clinton's campaign lost no time in seizing on an off-the-record comment by Samantha Power, a senior foreign policy adviser to Mr Obama, in which she described the former First Lady as a "monster" Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 7:00 pm
Basque terrorists yesterday into the Spanish election campaign by killing a former Socialist town councillor, only two days before voting in a closely-fought general election Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:58 pm
The confrontation between the Carlyle Group and its bankers intensified as the private equity group's Amsterdam-listed fund teetered on the brink of collapse after receiving margin calls and default notices from lenders Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:56 pm
Nearly 80 percent of the people who live in Dubai are ex-pats, including 20,000 American citizens. Sean Cole brings us a few of their stories. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:52 pm
Many Filipinos have taken to the streets to protest President Gloria Arroyo's policies with China. They are alleging corruption in Chinese-funded infrastructure projects, including one for a large-scale rail line. Scott Tong reports. Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:48 pm
Commentator and management expert Joseph Bower says when it comes to hiring a new CEO, candidates within the corporation are usually better at the job than outsiders. Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:48 pm
Chief executives from three top mortgage lenders hit by the subprime mortgage crisis went before a congressional panel to answer lawmakers' questions on how they were able to earn hundreds of millions of dollars while their companies were bleeding money. John Dimsdale reports. Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:48 pm
Stockbroker and business analyst David Johnson chats with host Tess Vigeland about what happened on Wall Street this week and what may lie ahead. Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:48 pm
The United States produces less than 2% of the world's rice, so the grain isn't a big part of our commodities trading. But with a recent hike in prices, the rice market is starting to swell. Adriene Hill reports. Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:48 pm
Many homeless patients in Los Angeles hospitals aren't discharged in a timely manner because they have nowhere to go to recuperate. Jeff Tyler reports a new program is trying to address the problem. Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:48 pm
With the battle for delegates in the Democratic presidential race extremely close, some in the party are hoping to redo the Michigan and Florida primaries that were disallowed. But at a cost of about $10 million apiece, who would pay for them? Jeremy Hobson reports. Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:48 pm
Employers cut more than 63,000 jobs in February -- the largest number in five years, according to the Labor Department. How long might job losses continue? As long as it takes to settle up with years of overextended growth. Alisa Roth reports Source: Marketplace | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:47 pm
The government nominated deputy central bank governor Toshiro Muto as the next head of the Bank of Japan, causing uproar among opposition politicians Source: FT.com - US homepage | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:39 pm
Middle Eastern governments are pouring money into the U.S. -- from Citibank to Church's Chicken. Tess Vigeland asks Islamic finance expert Mahmoud El-Gamal about the future of this relationship. Source: Marketplace Money | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:37 pm
The Commerce Commission has cleared Telecom to buy radio spectrum management rights that can be used for WiMax or third generation cellular services.
Telecom bid for the management rights for 20MHz of paired radio spectrum in... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 6:30 pm
The Fed makes billions of dollars available to banks in an auction hoping to ease credit-crunch concerns. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:45 pm
Turners and Growers Horticulture says its takeover offer for Kerifresh has now received acceptances for 55 per cent of the company's shares. That gives it nearly 60 per cent control, when adding its own 4.6 per cent stake, meeting... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:30 pm
US shares close behind in trade on Friday, after European and Asian stocks also close down. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:27 pm
Auckland Airport directors will look at a DIY approach to shaking up the company should the Canadian bid fail or be knocked back by the Government.
The board has been under siege since October 2006 from suitors it did not seek,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:00 pm
Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen's decision to effectively stymie the partial takeover offer for Auckland International Airport (AIA) is an unwanted reminder of the meddling policies of former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.
Dr... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:00 pm
Investors with failed property business Blue Chip got no comfort from liquidators who yesterday said there was little hope of any money being available to pay people.
The first report into 19 companies placed in liquidation last... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:00 pm
Aside from his wife and two young children, former Hanover Group chief executive Sam Stubbs says he has two other great passions and indeed responsibilities in life, leaving little time for much else.
One of those is a piece of... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:00 pm
US exhibition company Reading Cinemas is lined up to pay a cheap seats ticket for SkyCity Cinemas now that it has halved its value.
But general manager Matthew Leibmann is not waiting around for the new American owners.
He is... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:00 pm
The Government's sudden change of the rules around overseas investment has unsettled some foreign investors, but whether it will have an enduring effect on the cost of capital is too soon to tell.
In a move expressly aimed at the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 7 Mar 2008 | 5:00 pm
Talks between the German government and public sector union Verdi break down, raising the threat of strikes. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Mar 2008 | 4:53 pm
Crank up the tech rumor mill: Microsoft and Google are scrambling to prepare rival bids for Digg, the community-based content-ranking website, TechCrunch blog reports.
TechCrunch's Mike Arrington, the subject of a recent Q&A with Portfolio.com's Lloyd Grove, writes that Google and Microsoft are weighing offers close to $200 million.
That is short of the $300 million that Digg and its investment bank, Allen & Co., had floated late last year as they actively sought to recruit a suitor.
Google and Microsoft both declined to comment on whether they are interested in Digg, issuing identical statements that they do not address "rumors or speculation."
There are, to be sure, skeptics. Tech analyst Rob Enderle, based in Silicon Valley, suggested that rumors of an impending deal for Digg could have been strategically planted by either Google or Microsoft—or Digg, itself, for that matter.
"Digg is the big player in the space and just the rumor that one of these companies might be interested could get the other salivating," Enderle said. "They are, oh, just a tad bit competitive."
"On the other hand, I've seen companies themselves start these rumors and Digg doesn't seem to be pulling the interest it did last year," Enderle said. "So, given that perception, I wonder if Digg or someone connected to it is trying to create a feeding frenzy."
Fred Wilson, a venture captialist in New York, mused on his blog that Digg and its financial backers are motivated to sell: Traffic appears to have flattened, he said.
"Regardless of who buys Digg, it's clearly a good time to be selling it," Wilson wrote. "Maybe last year would have been an even better time. It's never clear when the perfect time to sell is until it's passed."
If one actually appears, a bidding war between Microsoft and Google—already locked in a struggle for dominance in advertising on the Web—comes as Digg is in the midst of some fundamental changes.
Founder Kevin Rose is planning changes during the next few months to give individual users more control over how they view stories on the Digg site. The changes would shift power away from the core of loyal and fanatical users—so-called Diggerati—that have made Digg so popular.
The problem for Rose, however, is this: The same user devotion that made Digg a hit threatens to manifest itself as a backlash. Digg's user base is already known for protesting every change in the website's algorithm for ranking articles, videos, and graphics; the more radical transformation that Rose is proposing is bound to leave many in the Diggerati crying foul.
At stake is a website with considerable traffic. Alexa ranks Digg as the 28th-most-popular website in the U.S., ahead of the New York Times, LinkedIn, and AOL Instant Messenger.
Little more than a week ago, however, Rose discounted the idea of being acquired by a gigantic suitor in an interview with Cnet.
"The thing is that at Digg, if you were to talk to the other employees and look at what we're doing, we're very much focused on being independent and creating a quality product," Rose said at one point.
He later added: "I've had several friends that have been acquired by the Yahoos and Googles of the world, and while there is some upside in certain things, for the most part, it slows things down. You can't get a product out the door fast enough."
Speculation about Digg's sale goes back at least to October 2006, when the New York Post included it in a list of potential takeover targets following Google's acquisition of YouTube.
Any hopes that the economy can avoid a full-blown recession have been dashed by a report that shows a crippled labor market.
American employers eliminated 63,000 jobs in February, the deepest cut in five years. The data was much weaker than economists had been expecting, and showed how much the slump in the housing market and a tight credit market have dragged down the overall economy.
The Department of Labor also revised January's loss of 17,000 jobs, to 22,000, and lowered December's gain to 41,000 jobs from the 82,000 that was originally reported.
It was the first back-to-back monthly declines since 2003.
The Bespoke Investment Group notes that since 1960, "every back-to-back reading of negative jobs numbers has coincided with a recession."
The job cuts in February were felt in a broad swath of industries. Manufacturing lost 52,000 jobs and construction cut 39,000 jobs. The only hiring gains were in government, health and education, and hospitality.
Few inflationary pressures were evident in the data. Average hourly earnings rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month.
The unemployment rate, which is calculated using a different survey than that for payrolls, slipped to 4.8 percent, from 4.9 percent in January.
Still, the Calculated Risk blog says, "although unemployment was slightly lower—as people leave the workforce—the rise in unemployment, from a cycle low of 4.4 percent to 4.8 percent is a recession warning."
The EU Commission rejects the idea of the French and German governments having golden shares in EADS. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Mar 2008 | 1:34 pm
The Federal Reserve is taking a big step toward freeing up the credit markets, announcing today that it is increasing the amounts being offered in its so-called Term Auction Facility, an alternative way for the banks to borrow cash.
The Fed said that auctions next week and on March 24 will be increased by $20 billion each, from $30 billion. The central bank said it would "increase these auction sizes if conditions warrant."
The Fed also said that it would conduct 28-day repurchase agreements that are expected to total $100 billion.
The actions by the central bank come as one Fed official sought to pour cold water on hopes for aggressive cuts in interest rates this month.
Since August, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and other central banks have pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into money markets in an effort to unclog credit, which had started to freeze amid fears of mounting losses on investments tied to subprime mortgages.
New credit fears have emerged as banks have stepped up efforts to call in loans to hedge funds and other investors. Markets have been shaken in recent days by the troubles at Carlyle Capital Group, a mortgage-bond fund spun off by the private equity firm Carlyle Group. Carlyle Capital, which has been leveraged 32 times, has received a number of margin calls and default notices this week.
At the same, however, Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said at a conference in Paris and in an interview with Bloomberg Television that investors should not assume that additional steep rate cuts are again on the table, saying that the Fed took "very deliberate action" when it cut rates sharply in January.
"I would discourage you from thinking that simply because, or because of, significant action in credit markets like we had yesterday, that suddenly we are going to have an Open Market Committee meeting and that suddenly we are going to move Fed funds rates in response," he told Bloomberg Television.
To be sure, Fisher was the one Fed official who dissented from the decision to cut rates in January. He is a known anti-inflation hawk, although he said at a conference last month, according to Dow Jones, that he is "neither hawk nor dove, but trying to be an owl."
Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis reports full year results hit by exposure to sub-prime mortgages in the US. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 7 Mar 2008 | 12:38 pm
Shares of Carlyle Capital Group have been suspended from trading in Amsterdam after some of its mortgage-backed securities held as collateral were liquidated by its lenders.
The development represents a significant escalation of the credit crisis. And as Martin Arnold and Henny Sender of the Financial Timesnote, it is a sign of "the banks' increasingly unforgiving attitude toward even the most powerful private equity funds."
Carlyle Capital, a mortgage fund, was taken public in Europe by the private equity giant Carlyle Group in July. The firm's partners, including co-founder David Rubenstein, own a stake in the fund.
On Thursday, financial markets in Europe and the United States were shaken after Carlyle Capital disclosed that it had received one notice of default stemming from four missed margin calls, and that it expected to receive at least one more.
Today, the fund said that it had received "substantial additional margin calls and additional default notices from its lenders."
"Although the company believed last week that it had sufficient liquidity, it was informed by its lenders this week that additional margin calls and increased collateral requirements would be significant and well in excess of the margin calls it received Wednesday. The company believes these additional margin calls and increased collateral requirements could quickly deplete its liquidity and impair its capital."
"This marks a further savage step in the ongoing credit implosion of recent months," Keith Baird, an analyst with Bear Stearns in London, wrote in a note to clients today, according to Bloomberg News. "The liquidation of the fund cannot be excluded nor the potential loss of capital, rendering the shares worthless."
The Financial Times' Alphaville blog sums it up: "Either Carlyle Capital's private equity namesake stumps up for its moribund credit fund, rustles up a deal with the banks, or the fund must be toast."
Peter Lattman describes in the Wall Street Journal how the troubles at the Carlyle fund and similar problems at a finance affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts have been black eyes for these celebrated titans of finance.
"The difficulties underscore the perils of private equity firms' efforts to diversify away from their core expertise of leveraged buyouts in order to become broader-based investment management firms," Lattman notes.
And Portfolio.com's Felix Salmon has pointed out how Carlyle Capital's difficulties have echoes of the 1998 near-collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management. Both funds used enormous amounts of leverage: Carlyle Capital has leveraged $670 million in equity 32 times to finance a $21.7 billion portfolio.
Reuters - Boeing Co said on Friday it
would seriously consider challenging a U.S. Air Force snub that
gave a $35 billion aerial-refueling program to a team that
includes its European archrival Airbus.
Reuters - The fat compensation packages of
three U.S. CEOs whose companies are being hammered by the
widening mortgage crisis came under harsh criticism on Friday
at a congressional hearing on executive pay.
Reuters - Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in
February at the steepest rate in nearly five years, a second
straight month of employment losses that heightened fears the
world's largest economy has skidded into recession.
Reuters - U.S. stocks fell on Friday to close at
their lowest level in 19 months after a report showed that
employers unexpectedly shed jobs at the steepest rate in nearly
five years, standing as confirmation for many investors that
the United States is in recession.