Some Layoff Protection Programs Currently Being Offered

'Boss-napped' manager set free after climbdown A senior manager of 3M has become the latest executive to be kidnapped in France after he was barricaded into an office by staff angry about redundancy payments following cost cuts at the industrial conglomerate. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2009 | 11:00 pm Slow clearing's 'lost millions' Customers have missed out on up to £82m because the launch of a new payments clearing service has been 'slow', a report says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 12:02 pm European shares mixed; Wall Street set to gain (AP) AP - European markets lacked direction Thursday as investors waited for the open on Wall Street, where stocks are expected to rise ahead of readings on U.S. economic output and weekly unemployment claims. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 26 Mar 2009 | 12:00 pm France set to ban bank bonuses France will ban bonuses for executives of banks that have received government aid, says news agency AFP. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:54 am European stocks push higher after Asia, US rallies European stock markets struggled higher Thursday, with London gains capped by news of poor retail sales data in Britain, after sharp rallies for Asian bourses and overnight on Wall Street. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:48 am European stocks push higher after Asia, US rallies (AFP) AFP - European stock markets struggled higher Thursday, with London gains capped by news of poor retail sales data in Britain, after sharp rallies for Asian bourses and overnight on Wall Street. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:47 am European stocks push higher after Asia, US rallies (AFP) AFP - European stock markets struggled higher Thursday, with London gains capped by news of poor retail sales data in Britain, after sharp rallies for Asian bourses and overnight on Wall Street. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:47 am Rio may sell more assets if Chinalco deal fails SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Mining giant Rio Tinto said it could sell more assets and reschedule debt if a proposed $19.5 billion tie-up with China's state-owned aluminum firm Chinalco fails to go ahead. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:39 am Sushi grand master: Fire, failure before success As a young boy growing up in Japan, Nobu Matsuhisa dreamed of becoming a sushi chef in a restaurant where he could create his own menu. It took more than 30 years of experimentation, failure and incompatible business partners to reach his goal, as he worked his way from dishwasher in Tokyo to co-owner of a small sushi establishment in Lima, Peru. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:38 am Oil rises on positive US data, stock gains Benchmark crude for May delivery was up 73 cents to $53.50 a barrel by midday in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices rose 96 cents Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:38 am Expert Predicts Oil Price Spike, But May Be Wrong The legions of experts who think oil prices will move sharply higher soon is increasing. Part of the logic behind expectations of higher crude prices is that a long period of low prices has caused a sharp cut in exploration to replace production from older fields. According to Reuters, Matt Simmons, founder of Houston-based investment bank Simmons & Co. said “These prices now are dangerously low. The lower prices fall, the less oil will be produced and the greater the chance of an oil spike.” The argument against his point of view is simple. If the global recession gets worse, demand for crude could continue to plummet. Douglas A. McIntyre Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:35 am Man Group to cut workforce by 15% Man Group, the world's biggest quoted hedge fund manager, has become the latest City firm to take an axe to its workforce, cutting almost 150 jobs in London and the same in Switzerland. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:35 am Dr Pepper Snapple profit beats Street NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc reported an adjusted quarterly profit on Thursday that topped analysts' estimates, helped by higher-than-expected concentrate sales and expanded distribution of the soft drink Crush. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:35 am FDIC takes center stage in the rescue Sheila Bair's band of bank watchdogs is about to get even busier. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:34 am Pimco Says Fed Is Underfunded To further add to the confusion about how much money the federal government will need to stimulate the economy out of recession, Pimco, the huge bond house, says that the Fed is underfunded by trillions of dollars. According to Reuters, “Liabilities on the Fed’s balance sheet should rise to between $5 trillion and $6 trillion later this year amid the financial crisis that roiled global markets, said Brian Baker, chief executive Pimco Asia Ltd.” Pimco failed to say how the Fed would come up with the cash. Douglas A. McIntyre Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:27 am Mazda: Clean diesel, not hybrids Read full story for latest details. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:25 am Brown pre-G20 tour reaches Brazil Gordon Brown has arrived in Brazil, as he continues efforts to forge a consensus on action to tackle the global economic crisis. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:23 am Great Recession or new Depression? Is this the worst economy since the Great Depression? And what are the chances of the economy falling into another depression? Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:17 am Serious Fraud Office investigates alleged property loan fraud on Allied Irish Banks The Serious Fraud Office has raided two homes and an office in London as part of an investigation into an alleged property loan fraud on Allied Irish Banks. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:15 am Stocks set to build on gains Wall Street was poised for a rosy start Thursday, lifted by hopes that the U.S. economy may be starting to stabilize. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:15 am Stocks signal higher open ahead of economic data (AP) AP - Wall Street pointed higher Thursday ahead of readings on the nation's economic output and on weekly unemployment claims. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:10 am HMRC drops Bank of England for RBS Taxpayers at risk of fines and penalties following HMRC's move to change banks. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:09 am SNAPSHOT - Financial Crisis - 1105 GMT - Washington to propose tough new rules to curb excessive risk-taking in non-bank financial firms, hedge funds, derivatives Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:08 am Air cargo off 22%, but decline may be done Read full story for latest details. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am Assets of Madoff's brother frozen The brother of Bernard Madoff has his assets frozen by a US court after nearly half a million dollars with which he was entrusted went missing. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am World markets gain on US economic data World stock markets gained Thursday, building on this month's rally as better-than-forecast economic data in the U.S. buoyed hopes that government stimulus measures are starting to heal the Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am RPT-DEALTALK-Key deadline looms for Hummer sale process (Repeats story sent Wednesday) (For more Reuters Dealtalks, please click [DEALTALK/]) Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am Fortis bank reports 18.5-bln-euro loss in 2008 Nationalised Dutch bank Fortis said Thursday it suffered a net loss of 18.5 billion euros (25 billion dollars) last year, partially attributable to its exposure to the Madoff fraud scandal. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am Dr Pepper Snapple Group Reports Fourth Quarter 2008 Results Fourth quarter earnings per share excluding certain items were $0.39. Reported loss of $2.44 per share reflects non-cash impairment charges, previously announced restructuring... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am Detroit People Mover Unveils New 'Dining Car' Wrap to Help Promote Downtown Detroit Restaurants So Many Restaurants to Try - and Such an Easy Way to Get to Them, says General Manager DETROIT, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Looking for a new dining adventure, but... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am Jewish group denounces Oliphant Gaza cartoon A Jewish human rights group is denouncing a Pat Oliphant political cartoon on Gaza as anti-Semitic, likening its fanged Star of David to Nazi imagery before the Holocaust. The syndicated Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:56 am Asia stocks gain on US data; European shares mixed Asian markets gained Thursday, building on this month's rally as better-than-forecast economic data in the U.S. buoyed hopes that government stimulus measures are starting to heal the... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:54 am Allied Irish Banks hit by £56m loans scam Allied Irish Banks was revealed as the victim of a £56 million alleged fraud today as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced it had raided three addresses in Central London as part of a formal investigation. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:46 am Indications: Stock index futures point higher ahead of jobless data U.S. stock index futures posted small gains Thursday, pointing to a slightly higher open for Wall Street as traders eye upcoming economic data on weekly jobless claims and a final revision to fourth-quarter gross domestic product. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:43 am China central banker sees growth recovery on 'superior system' People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, in a week in which he called for the abandonment of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, says economic growth in China is recovering due to the country’s "superior system advantage." Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:37 am Man Group profits and funds slump Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund, says it expects profits for the year to the end of March to drop by almost a half. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:31 am Earnings Watch: Updates, advisories and surprises A roundup of the latest corporate earnings reports and what companies are saying about future quarters. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:31 am Retail sales growth weakest since 1995 High street sales plunged in February as the freezing weather and the deteriorating economic outlook deterred shoppers from spending, official figures show. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:28 am Futures point to higher open for Wall Street (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, building on gains from the previous session, when shares were boosted by upbeat economic data. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:22 am Futures point to higher open for Wall Street (Reuters) Reuters - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, building on gains from the previous session, when shares were boosted by upbeat economic data. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:22 am Futures point to higher open for Wall Street (Reuters) Reuters - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, building on gains from the previous session, when shares were boosted by upbeat economic data. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:22 am Google designers quit in a huff Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:17 am Angry about AIG? Look at this To understand what Washington is actually up to, you have to watch what it does, not what it says. That's especially true when it comes to Washington's role in the ongoing bailout of Wall Street, part of its "let's hope this works" plan to revive the U.S. economy. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:17 am Nintendo Goes For Coup De Grace In Video Game Business Nintendo already has a significant lead in the game console business. Its Wii routinely outsells the Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony (SNE) PS3. The Japanese company seems to think its advantage is not enough. It is about to introduce another product  to improve its market share to maintain its lead over its two rivals. The new Nintendo device, the DSi, is portable. That moves the company’s efforts to dominate the industry from the home to the handset although Nintendo has an older device in the portable market. The DSi also opens a new avenue for Nintendo to add to its rapid revenue growth. According toThe Wall Street Journal, “The DSi also includes new features such as a digital camera and access to a new virtual store, from which users can download applications. It will be available in Europe and the U.S. in early April for $169.” Part of the appeal of Nintendo gaming devices is that they are easy to use, which gives them a broad appeal outside the hardcore gaming community that favors  the more complex products from Microsoft and Sony.  Aside from having a larger potential customer base, the Nintendo Wii is less expensive than its rivals, in part because the company decided that complex features not only have limited appeal but add substantially to the costs of building an affordable product. The DSi follows the Nintendo formula of being inexpensive. By adding simple but popular features like a camera and cheap downloadable games, it is likely to improve Nintendo’s advantage in unit sales and make it more difficult for its two rivals to make money. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: MSFT, SNE Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:15 am Hutchison Whampoa shares rally after 2008 results Shares of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd rally in Hong Kong trading Thursday after the conglomerate, whose holdings range from ports and energy to real-estate and high-speed wireless operations in the U.K and Europe, reported higher-than-anticipated 2008 net income. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:15 am Currencies: Dollar steady as traders await data The U.S. dollar was steady to slightly higher Thursday, holding a sideways pattern versus major counterparts as traders eyed upcoming data on weekly jobless claims and a final revision to fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:12 am Full TV episodes on the CrackBerry? Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:11 am Student scores one against Madoff's brother Read full story for latest details. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:08 am UK retail sales post weakest annual growth since 1995 UK retail sales fell more than expected in February holding the annual growth rate to 0.4pc the lowest level in 13 years. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:05 am Strong dollar knocks H&M profits Swedish retailer H&M reports a 12.6% fall in quarterly profit due to currency swings and lower sales. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:04 am Voucher codes not always the cheapest says Which? Online shoppers should not assume that discount vouchers are always the cheapest way to buy goods online Which? the consumer lobby group has warned. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 10:02 am ICBC shares leap on strong 2008 profit Shares of ICBC stack up a double-digit-percentage gain in Hong Kong trade after the bank reports a 36% rise in 2008 net profit. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:57 am Stock Futures Rise Before GDP Revision (Market Update) News at a Glance Economic Update: Final reading of Q4 GDP due later. Ready to Rally: Stock futures point to early gains. Tough Sell: European AIG execs reluctant to return bonuses. Asia Rises: Nikkei, Hang Seng rose on data. The Lowdown Wall Street is aiming for its fourth day of gains in the last three sessions. Stocks looked to open higher Thursday, as traders cheered more enthusiasm in world markets and awaited new details on the Treasury's plan to impose tighter regulations on financials. Shortly before 6 a.m., Dow, Nasdasq and S&P 500 futures were trading above fair value. Another day in the black would go a long toward validating the market's recent optimism. Stocks have risen sharply this week, largely on the Obama adminitrations's promise to loosen the credit markets by vastly expanding the holdings of the Federal Reserve with asset-backed securities and bonds. In Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner prepared to unveil more details of his plan to expand the regulation of the financial industry before the House Financial Services committee. In energy, crude prices leaned positive. By 8:38 a.m., oil traded up 70 cents at $53.47 a barrel. In world markets, Asia advanced after Wednesday's U.S. gains. Japan's Nikkei picked up 1.9%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 3.6%. In Europe, the FTSE stood down 0.3% in midday trading. Corporate News IBM (IBM) is planning to lay off roughly 5,000 U.S. workers and outsource many of their jobs to India, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. The cuts fit a recent pattern for IBM of sending more work overseas and are aimed at the firm's global business-services division. Roche (RHHBY) has nearly completed its acquisition of Genentech (DNA), expanding its stake in the company to 96.2%, the firm said. Roche will pay remaining shareholders of Genentech $95 a share. Once the firm is fully acquired, Roche plans to absorb its operations and delist it from the New York Stock Exchange. AIG (AIG) executives in Europe are trying to keep a tighter grip on their bonuses. Many are refusing to return their bonuses and have complained that the pressure from within the company to do so could consistute blackmail, Reuters reported. The Economy The final fourth-quarter reading of the gross domestic product is scheduled to be released at 8:30 by the Commerce Department. Last month, the advanced reading suggested the Q4 GDP had decreased by 6.2%. Economists expect that estimate to have been revised down to a decrease of 6.6%. Economists expect no change in the advanced reading of the Q4 chain deflator, which came in at 0.5%. The weekly jobless claims report for last week is scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. by the Labor Department. In the prior week, claims came in at 646,000. Economists predict the number people seeking unemployment benefits for the first time will have risen slightly to 650,000. SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved. Source: SmartMoney.com | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:57 am Commercial Real Estate Is Snake In The Grass For Banks The price of bank stocks is some indication that Wall St. believes that the industry is coming out of the woods. But, even if toxic assets can be sold off of bank books under the Treasury’s new public/private investment plan, there are still landmines sitting in the path of improving earnings. Among the problems still facing banks are consumer credit defaults and LBO loans. But, as The Wall Street Journal points out, the greatest danger may be commercial real estate loans. According to the paper, “Some experts say it now looks as if the current commercial real-estate slump will rival or even exceed the one in the early 1990s, when bad commercial-property debt played a big role in dragging the economy into a recession.” Over the next two or three quarters, banks will start recognizing those losses which could push the recovery of financial firm earnings out another year or more. And, just as bad, it may force banks to raise more capital in a market where many institutions were burned by the round of money they put into the companies a year ago. Douglas A. McIntyre Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:53 am House panel approves $3.45 trillion FY10 budget WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key congressional committee on Wednesday approved a $3.45 trillion budget framework for next year that embraces many of President Barack Obama's priorities but spends slightly less than he sought. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:47 am House panel approves $3.45 trillion FY10 budget (Reuters) Reuters - A key congressional committee on Wednesday approved a $3.45 trillion budget framework for next year that embraces many of President Barack Obama's priorities but spends slightly less than he sought. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:47 am FTSE 100 falls on retail profits gloom Japanese share prices closed up 1.84pc on Thursday tracking gains on Wall Street where upbeat data fuelled hopes of an economic recovery. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:47 am H&M, Next profits drop as stronger dollar dents margins Two of Europe’s largest clothing retailers, Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz and Britain’s Next Plc, on Thursday reported lower profits as consumers spent less on fashion in the recession and the stronger dollar eroded margins. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:42 am Still No Road To Recovery In Detroit (F)(GM) The Administration’s blue ribbon panel assigned the task of  deciding what should happen to GM (GM) and Chrysler has, as would be expected, said that it wants to keep the two companies out of Chapter 11. Whether it will ever be stated in public, the job losses that would come from bankruptcies in Detroit could undermine the government’s stimulus package by putting a million people out of work. So, the incentive to find a solution is great and that should give the UAW and the creditors of the two car companies a great deal of leverage. The group that is advising the Treasury on the Detroit problem signaled, according to The Wall Street Journal, that ”it sees viable futures for both GM and Chrysler, but only if there are sacrifices from their managements, unions and GM’s bondholders. The team will also lay out a firm timeline for action.” The two barriers to fixing the car companies, at least for the time being, have nothing to do with management. The UAW and creditors are the hold-outs blocking a solution. Both have cut deals with Ford (F), but, because of its relatively strong balance sheet, bondholders received  good terms for converting some of their debt to equity. GM has already said it cannot be that generous. The government is playing its hand of cards poorly by showing any indication that it wants to salvage the wrecks of GM and Chrysler. Creditors will use the statements from the task force as a sign that Detroit is considered “too big to fail”.  Once that has been established, holding out for better debt-for-equity terms becomes easier. The FT has pointed out that creditors have been reluctant for some time about cutting a deal with the car companies The same set of principles holds true for the UAW, but is can add to its leverage the belief that the Administration is comparatively “pro-labor” and will try to avoid showing organized labor that it is unsympathetic to its cause. Those two factors put the UAW is an usually strong position. The task force has said too much. Creditors and the UAW can bargain hard. They no longer need to worry about the downside. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: F, GM Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:41 am Pilot dies test-flying an F-22A A pilot died Wednesday after testing an F-22A aircraft, Lockheed Martin said in a statement last night. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:23 am IBM And The Rebirth Of Outsourcing (IBM)(INFY)(WIP) A couple of month ago, India’s chief finance minister may have made calls to the heads of IBM (IBM) and several other large US tech companies to tell them that the huge developing nation was hemorrhaging high-end tech jobs. Whether the call happened or not, looking at statistics from India it would be easy to see that the costs of outsourcing technology work to firms based in there is dropping as unemployment in the country rise. For a number of years, unions and members of Congress spent a great deal of time complaining about the number of US jobs being sent abroad. The bitterness about the issue seems to have receded recently, especially as the recession has deepened and large American companies have been inclined to cut jobs as much or more than they have been able to export them. Perhaps with the economy losing about 600,000 jobs a month, the need for efficiency though outsourcing has become less immediate. But, outsourcing may be making a big comeback as word leaked that IBM (IBM) would cut about 5,000 jobs in the US and move the work to India. This may be the beginning of a new wave of exporting of American jobs to developing countries which have large pools of well-educated workers. India’s GDP grew at a rate of 7% or better the last two years. That rate is expected to move down sharply due to the recession. The central government has the goal of continuing the growth rate it enjoyed until last year, but as GDP falls throughout the balance of the developing and developed world, it will be nearly impossible for the government to meet those goals. The IBM news is troubling because labor costs in the US, even among highly educated adults, are falling.  American workers should be available for employment at salaries much lower than they were two years ago. But, it appears that IBM has elected to move jobs offshore rather than keep them in the US despite the trend of more tech workers losing their jobs here. But, the cost of labor in India, which was already below that in the US, is likely to be falling even faster than it is in the US. The outsourcing business in India has been hit with a sharp drop in demand, and the major Indian employers in the sector are doing poorly. India’s outsourcing giant WiPro (WIP) recently posted mediocre financial results, especially based on Wall St expectations.  Its stock traded for $14 a little over a year ago. Recently it was as low as $5. Wall St. expects that the situation at the firm is going to get worse. The other large outsourcing operation in India, Infosys (INFY), is also doing poorly While labor prices drop in the US, they are probably dropping faster in countries like India and China. India’s official unemployment rate is 8.2%, but is expected to rise throughout the balance of the year. IBM clearly arbitraged the joblessness in the US and India as it made its decision about where to employ several thousand people. To put it crassly, IBM is looking for the equivalent of the lowest cost bidder. The IBM move may be a precedent for other US companies who need to staff essential positions if the recession goes on for a long time. More jobs will be sent abroad and that could easily take hundreds of thousands of American people out of work. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: IBM, INFY, WIP Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:13 am Shanghai, Hong Kong pace Asia; Chinese banks up Asian markets advance Thursday, with Chinese banks led by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China pacing the advance in Hong Kong and Shanghai a day after the lender reported strong earnings. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:08 am N Korea missile on launch pad North Korea has positioned what is believed to be a long-range ballistic missile on a launch pad in what could be a preparation for a launch Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:07 am London Markets: Rally in U.K. retail curtailed after Next, Kingfisher results A recent rally in the U.K. retail sector is curtailed as Kingfisher reports woes from its Chinese operations and Next predicts that same-store sales could drop as much as 9%. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:03 am Fed's Lockhart: U.S. exports won't spur 2009 recovery (Reuters) Reuters - U.S. exports, which supported economic growth until collapsing at the end of 2008, are unlikely to fuel a rebound this year, a Federal Reserve official said on Thursday. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:02 am Fed's Lockhart: U.S. exports won't spur 2009 recovery PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. exports, which supported economic growth until collapsing at the end of 2008, are unlikely to fuel a rebound this year, a Federal Reserve official said on Thursday. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:02 am Moss Bros says Britain smartening up but outoftown outlets suffer Moss Bros the suit retailer has claimed that the nation is "smartening itself up" in the recession despite the cancellation of its dividend and a pretax loss of £9.2m on hefty writedowns. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:01 am B?Q owner Kingfisher to downsize Chinese operation B?Q owner Kingfisher has been forced to make an embarrassing retreat from the Chinese market having earmarked it as one of its biggest areas of growth. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:01 am Criticism Of US Stimulus Gets Out Of Hand Loose confederacies often come apart under pressure. There are now divisions forming in the European Union based on whether the countries in that alliance should put larger and larger sums of money into the credit and banking markets and their budgets to help slow the recession, or keep stimulus activities modest and have faith that free market systems will cause the economy to recover on its own without taking the world to Hades in the process. Many European nations think that the US approach of putting hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the pot to increase jobs, cut taxes for most citizens, and put a safety net under financial firms is excessive. One of the things that these governments rarely admit is that they may not have the capacity to borrow in the open debt market the way that the US Treasury can. China may not want to own paper from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and it is hard to blame the communist central government in the big Asian country for that. The US is still viewed as unique in both the size of its GDP and its potential to maintain impressive economic growth rates over long periods of time, in large part because of its vast pool of consumers. The debate over the ideology of saving the financial world turned ugly as Czech Republic Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek described the Obama stimulus programs as the “way to hell.” The comments were made worse by the fact that the Czechs currently hold the position of the presidency of the EU. Topolanek’s opinions were at the very least a semi-official statement from the European alliance, even if other member nations denounce it. Whether the comments are repudiated by other members of the EU now or not, the cat is out of the bag. After behind the scenes conversations about the aggressiveness of the US approach, the views of a number of American allies are now crystal clear—America is spending itself into a hole which it cannot get out of, and the nation is on a course which will eventually lead to socialism. It isn’t a big stretch, after those comments, to see that Topolanek may be a Republican Senator disguised as a Czech official. Economists and international financial experts are left to answer an extremely difficult question. Does it matter if other large nations employ similar tactics to the US in reviving their economies? Or, is a coordination of efforts not important to the pace of a global recovery. If Germany refuses to make more than a modest effort to help its banks and major industries while the US is going “all in” with every dime it can spare to help housing, banks, and jobs creation, does the imbalance between the scales of the efforts make a difference? That answer to all of these questions is that it does not matter. The American approach to saving its economy is radical compared to that of almost any other nation and that is not going to change. No other country can marshal the resources that the US government can because of its unprecedented ability to raise money. And, the American presidency and control of both house of the legislature are held by the same political party. Douglas A. McIntyre Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:00 am Housing: Getting Worse While Getting Better Much was made of the new housing statistics. Sales of new homes nationwide jumped by 4.7% in February. Sales of new homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000 last month. It was a fine example of the headline obscuring the news. The housing situation is still bad enough that current inventory, as of the end of last month, represents a 12.2-month supply at the current sales pace compared to the 9.2-month supply of February 2008. And, February’s sales were down 43.8% compared with February 2008. But, some observers called the 4.7% improvement a sign that the residential real estate is at the beginning of a recovery. As MarketWatch pointed out, Government statisticians have low confidence in the monthly sales report, “which is subject to sizable revisions as well as large sampling and other statistical errors.” Even if the numbers are relatively correct, that still does not answer the question of whether housing is showing a feeble sign of recovery, or if sales of homes are simply bumping along a bottom and may reach a point where they take another sharp drop. This is the sort of trap that economists and investors find themselves in now. Data, like the new durable goods information, is not as bad as was expected, but it is still, on an historical basis, nearly as bad as it gets. It is unimaginable that in some large cities and parts of states the values of homes have fallen by 50% since their 2006 peaks. The temptation is to give in to optimism and believe that February was the bottom of the deep turn down. To believe that an analyst has to figure that unemployment will keep rising for a few months, but the general economy has begun what will almost certainly be a slow recovery. But, two other things happened that were not as prominent in the headlines. Both were indications that the clouds are not blowing away and that, for the time being, they may be getting thicker. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen expressed doubts that an economic recovery would begin before 2010. Many economists would view a real recovery starting in a year or less as very positive. But, Yellen made two qualifying points. She said unemployment will remain high through 2011. The other is that deflation is a risk if the economy does not begin to have a stronger pulse soon. Not long after Yellen’s comments, The Treasury auctioned five-year notes and the demand was not as high as expected. The hint from that low demand is that the market sees huge auctions coming as the US funds the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of deficits that it will rack up over the next few quarters. With the market flooded with the paper investors are going to want a much higher yield on the debt the Treasury issues. The current low demand is a signal that the US government is going to pay more dearly each time it wants the next dollar. If the housing market is getting any better, it is not by much. So, if analysts, economists and investors choose to look at the February housing numbers as an early sign of recovery, they should put it into the context of almost certain agreement among the experts that joblessness will rise for another year or even more. Increasing unemployment will not be good for housing sales no matter how low prices go. And, borrowing for housing may become even more difficult than it is now. If Treasury yields have to go up to allow the federal government to raise the money it needs for its growing list of recovery programs, then virtually every other interest rate is going to go up as well. If mortgage rates have  not seen a bottom then it is hard to see how the housing market has. Douglas A. McIntyre Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:53 am Next cautions on inflation as fewer shoppers hit profits Fashion retailer says the weak pound will continue to push up prices as annual profits fell an expected 14pc as customers cut back on spending. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:51 am Canary Wharf owner in danger of going bust Click here for a complete history of Canary Wharf Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:37 am Rio Tinto outlines 'plan B' if Chinalco deal fails Rio Tinto's chief financial officer has outlined a "plan B" strategy to raise capital in the event Chinalco's planned $19.5bn investment in the Anglo-Australian miner has to be scrubbed Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:25 am JJB agrees bank lifeline as rent talks continue JJB Sports, the stricken sports retailer, today announced a raft of measures including delaying some rent payments on its stores and the sale for £83.4 million of its 55-gym fitness business which it hopes will stabilise its finances. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:21 am Roche secures 96 percent of Genentech, plans to delist ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG has secured more than 96 percent of shares in Genentech Inc , effectively completing its $46.8 billion buyout of the U.S. biotech group. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:14 am Yum yum: Pizza Hut firm warms to Chinese hot pot US fast-food firm Yum Brands takes a 20% stake in Chinese hot pot chain operator Little Sheep. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:10 am Kingfisher hit by China weakness Home improvements retailer Kingfisher says profits dropped 75% as it lost money in China and closed Trade Depot in the UK. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:06 am Local authorities 'negligently' deposited money in Icelandic banks watchdog Local authorities "negligently" deposited almost £33 million in Icelandic banks in the final days before their collapse the local government spending watchdog has warned. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:01 am Media Digest 3/26/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg According to Reuters, Obama may be stretched to thin. Reuters reports that AIG (AIG) executives in Europe are resisting returning bonuses. Reuters reports that Obama will begin to tighten the screws on Wall St. Reuters reports that the backlash against Wall St. could spread to the bank bailout plan. Reuters reports that Twitter will seek more revenue from businesses. Reuters reports that a house panel approved the $3.45 trillion budget. Reuters reports that IBM (IBM) is on the short list to bid for Satyam. Reuters writes that the US toxic asset plan should help big banks. Reuters reports that Roche has picked up 96% of the shares in Genentech (DNA). Reuters writes that Rio Tinto (RTP) will sell more assets if its deal to sell equity to a Chinese firm fails. Reuters reports that Treasury is preparing a plan to take control of troubled non-bank firms. Reuters reports that bond spreads are creating a new bank crisis measurement. The Wall Street Journal reports that the auto task force will suggest more federal loans to GM (GM) and Chrysler. The Wall Street Journal reports that Barclays shareholders are losing patience with management as it tries to keep the bank from government ownership. The Wall Street Journal reports that gas prices could rise going into the summer. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Administration wants to eliminate certain oil and gas company tax credits. The Wall Street Journal reports that IBM (IBM) will cut 5,000 jobs. The Wall Street Journal reports that Volvo bidders are talking to Ford (F). The Wall Street Journal reports that commercial real estate loan failures are picking up. The Wall Street Journal reports the the commodities rally lacks underlying demand. The Wall Street Journal reports that trading in credit markets does not back the stock rally. The Wall Street Journal reports that Intel (INTC) has big hopes for its new chip. The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo’s new game platform is coming to the US. The Wall Street Journal reports that PetroChina’s (PTR) profits dropped and its may curb output. The New York Times reports that a number of firms getting government money will pay employees retention bonuses. The New York Times reports that the latest Treasury auction showed weak demand. The New York Times reports that Geithner reaffirmed the dollar’s role in the world of global finance. The New York Times reports that a senior European leader attacked the US stimulus plan. The New York Times reports that the IMF has announced a financial rescue for Romania. The FT reports that US retail investors put large amount of money from the stock market into bank accounts. The FT reports that debt holders are slowing the US car company bailout. The FT reports that there has been a surge in short sellers. Bloomberg repors that Morgan Stanley (MS) and Mitsubishi UFJ will form a large Japanese brokerage operation. Bloomberg reports that Geithner want more power to regulate hedge funds and derivatives. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: AIG, BCS, DNA, F, IBM, INTC, MS, PTR, RTP Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:59 am Next refuses price cuts despite 14% profit fall Next, the fashion retailer, is refusing to cut prices in the economic downturn despite a tough financial year which saw pre-tax profits fall 14 per cent to £428.8 million. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:51 am Gordon Brown retreats on Budget spending spree Gordon Brown seemed to heed warnings about the health of the Britain's public finances as he retreated from plans for a massive spending package to revive the economy in next month's Budget. Source: Telegraph Finance | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:51 am Annual profits fall at 3G company Hutchison Whampoa reports a 42% fall in net profit, but losses narrow at its 3G mobile phone operations. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:27 am Asia Markets 3/26/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg Markets in Asia were higher. The Nikkei rose 1.8% to 8,636. The Hang Seng was up 2.8% to 14,000. The Shanghai Composite rose 3.1% to 2,362. Data from Reuters. Douglas A. McIntyre Source: 247 Wall Street | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:21 am Australian stocks: Market closes 1pc higher MELBOURNE - The Australian share market closed higher on Thursday as investors felt a surge of optimism in the wake of a positive performance from United States markets. At the 1615 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 37.3... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:19 am Is Sport Chalet equipped for the downhill slide? With the La Caada Flintridge retailer's 55 stores in many of the nation's worst-hit housing markets, analysts worry that the company could soon be forced to reorganize or seek a buyer. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Stocks manage moderate gain after erratic session The Dow closes up 89.94 points after rising as much as 203 points in response to upbeat economic data and then falling nearly 110 points. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am AIG's plane-leasing unit says survival is in doubt without new loans International Lease Finance has been hampered by the global credit crunch and AIG's troubles. But analysts don't expect the company's 'worst-case scenario' to come true. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Decemberists' latest debuts at No. 14 despite delay of CD release 'The Hazards of Love' sells 18,000 copies via digital download, giving record stores a chill. The latest release... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Doctors groups allege WellPoint's collusion cost them millions A federal lawsuit accuses the owner of Anthem Blue Cross of fixing prices for 'out-of-network' procedures. Anthem... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am 3-D technology firm RealD has starring role at movie theaters The Beverly Hills company has become a huge player, with deals to install systems in cinemas including those of AMC and Regal. As Hollywood rushes headlong into 3-D filmmaking, few companies have as much to gain -- or lose -- as RealD of Beverly Hills. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Hottest tracks to cost $1.29 at iTunes starting April 7 The online music store, under pressure from record labels, is abandoning its 99-cent-only strategy. The world's... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am CalPERS suit against New York Stock Exchange wins class-action status INVESTING Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am 2010 Prius to have rigid gas tank instead of fuel bladder Toyota drops the Earth-friendly collapsible bladder because of user complaints. When the next-generation Toyota... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Peter Chernin's latest role: cartoon character News Corp.'s departing president voices an animated version of himself in an episode of 'Family Guy' that was recorded last year and aired Sunday. Could this be a career option? ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Is Sport Chalet equipped for the downhill slide? With the La Cañada Flintridge retailer's 55 stores in many of the nation's worst-hit housing markets, analysts worry that the company could soon be forced to reorganize or seek a buyer. With free scuba lessons and celebrity appearances, Sport Chalet Inc. founder Norbert Olberz kicked off the grand opening last August of the chain's flagship store in the new La Cañada Flintridge Town Center, the culmination of a decades-long dream for the 83-year-old German immigrant. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Latest economic data provide reason for hope The government reports that orders for machinery and equipment posted surprising gains last month and that more buyers, lured by low prices, returned to the housing market. After several months of relentlessly grim economic news, analysts have been looking for any indication that the pace of the economy's deterioration is slowing. Recently, they have had some reason to hope. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am 2010 Prius to have rigid gas tank instead of fuel bladder Toyota drops the Earth-friendly collapsible bladder because of user complaints. When the next-generation Toyota Prius hits dealer showrooms in late May, it will come with a bigger engine, better fuel economy and solar-powered cabin cooling. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am AIG's plane-leasing unit says survival is in doubt without new loans International Lease Finance has been hampered by the global credit crunch and AIG's troubles. But analysts don't expect the company's 'worst-case scenario' to come true. In more potential fallout from the financial woes of insurance giant American International Group Inc., the world's largest aircraft leasing company warned Wednesday that its survival was at risk if it couldn't get additional loans. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Obama administration seeks to regulate large financial corporations The push to rein in insurance companies, hedge funds and private-equity firms that would wreak havoc on the nation's economy should they fail will be led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The Obama administration is gearing up for an aggressive new push to regulate large financial corporations -- including insurance companies, hedge funds and private-equity firms -- that would wreak havoc on the nation's economy should they fail. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Decemberists' latest debuts at No. 14 despite delay of CD release 'The Hazards of Love' sells 18,000 copies via digital download, giving record stores a chill. The latest release from the Decemberists landed at No. 14 on the album charts this week despite a sizable handicap: It wasn't available on CD. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am A dream team should investigate the meltdown Keep grandstanders out and bring in people who really understand Wall Street. Taking a break from my relentless labors the other day, I turned on the TV in search of a suitable intellectual accompaniment for my nutritious midmorning snack (12 ounces of vitamin water and a 3 Musketeers). Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Latest economic data provide reason for hope The government reports that orders for machinery and equipment posted surprising gains last month and that more buyers, lured by low prices, returned to the housing market. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am CalPERS suit against New York Stock Exchange wins class-action status INVESTING Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Hottest tracks to cost $1.29 at iTunes starting April 7 The online music store, under pressure from record labels, is abandoning its 99-cent-only strategy. The world's largest music store, Apple's iTunes, plans to boost the price of many hit singles and selected classic tracks to $1.29 on April 7, breaking the psychological barrier of 99 cents in what could be the first big test of how much consumers are willing to pay to download individual songs. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am BofA to fold Premier Banking into Merrill unit: report (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp , the largest U.S. bank, is folding its Premier Banking unit into Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, laying off several hundred workers, the Wall Street Journal said. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 6:40 am NZ stocks: Telecom spat forces market down Telecom's spat with the Commerce Commission saw it dominate trading on the New Zealand sharemarket - helping keep the top 50 indicator in the negative. The benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 14 points, or 0.535 per cent, to 2616.254... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 6:17 am Currency: Kiwi climbs over US57c The New Zealand dollar climbed steadily today on better current account figures to put a bumpy night behind it. At 8am today the kiwi was buying US56.21c, having dropped to around US55.55c last night, before racing up in the following... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 5:42 am Obama to tighten screws on Wall Street: officials WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a bid to quash Wall Street excesses that nearly caused the collapse of the U.S. financial system, the Obama administration will propose tough restrictions on financial firms, hedge funds and derivatives markets. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 5:06 am TVNZ buys stake in regional TiVO licence TVNZ has bought a 33 per cent stake in the exclusive Australasian TiVo licensee, Hybrid Television Services, ahead of the device's launch in New Zealand later this year. Seven Media Group sold the stake to TVNZ, and holds the remaining... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:57 am Obama to tighten screws on Wall Street: officials (Reuters) Reuters - In a bid to quash Wall Street excesses that nearly caused the collapse of the U.S. financial system, the Obama administration will propose tough restrictions on financial firms, hedge funds and derivatives markets. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:48 am IBM among 8 shortlisted for Satyam bidding: report BANGALORE (Reuters) - The board of Satyam Computer Services has shortlisted about eight bidders, including IBM and private equity firm Apax Partners, for buying the fraud-hit outsourcer, the Economic Times said on Thursday. Source: Reuters: Business News | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:37 am Are 'Layoff Protection' Plans a Good Deal? (Deal of the Day) If anxiety about layoffs is keeping you from booking a vacation to the Bahamas or buying a new family sedan, wouldn't knowing you could get a refund if you lost your job make you more willing to take the leap? That's what companies like JetBlue (JBLU) and Hyundai are betting on. They're trying to woo customers by offering special breaks and refunds on big-ticket items based on whether a customer loses his job. South Korean car maker Hyundai helped spark the trend in January when it launched its Assurance program, which lets customers return any new vehicle if they lose their job and absolves them of any remaining car payments (up to $7,500). Airliner JetBlue soon followed by offering full-fare refunds to customers who get laid off prior to their trip. And men’s clothier Jos. A. Bank (JOSB) now offers rebates to customers who get laid off after buying a suit – and they keep the suit. (See the table below for even more offers.) Appealing to consumers' sense of insecurity in the face of layoffs can be a productive way to drive sales at some struggling companies, says Z. John Zhang, marketing professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. "[I]t can certainly resonate with targeted customers,” he says. There are already some signs that this selling tactic works. Hyundai’s sales were up 14% for the first two months of the year compared with last year, says Jim Trainor, a company spokesman. The boost can’t be attributed to the Assurance program alone, but “it’s been a huge help,” he says. Likewise, Western National Property Management, a real estate company based in Irvine, Calif., that launched its own layoff protection program a couple of weeks ago, has seen a “significant increase in our apartment lease renewals,” says company president Thomas Shelton. While the sense of safety these programs offer is certainly enticing, make sure to consider a few factors before pulling out your wallet. Size up the situation Are you willing to buy a car or live in an apartment that you aren't particularly jazzed about just for the peace of mind layoff protection provides? To help answer this question, ask yourself how likely it is that you will lose your job in the first place (read our story for help in assessing those odds). If the odds are low, then it may not be worth it to buy your third-choice car from Hyundai instead of your first-choice car from, say Toyota. If the odds are pretty high that a pink slip will is in your future, that $7,500 in auto loan or lease forgiveness Hyundai offers sure is a lot of money not to have to pay when you're not getting paid -- and you can dodge a possible ding on your credit score. Explore less expensive options first New promotions like these can be distracting, so be sure to use the same shopping savvy you normally would. Compare prices and see if there’s a less expensive, but comparable option available. The Hyundai and JetBlue programs are attractive because they don’t cost anything extra. “But if you’re really concerned about money, or are truly over-extended on your budget, a better financial decision is to buy an older car,” says Joe Ridout, spokesman for Consumer Action, a consumer advocacy group. For example, a new Hyundai Elantra sedan has an MSRP of $14,815. But a used 2007 model goes for less than $10,000, according to auto research firm Kelley Blue Book. The same goes with booking a flight. When it comes to JetBlue's offer, shop around to make sure you can’t get a flight for less. We found a round-trip ticket from New York to Ft. Lauderdale on JetBlue for $360, and one for $318 (flying US Airways) using travel search engine Kayak.com. Read the fine print Of course, any program offering such sizable breaks comes with plenty of fine print. To qualify for two months of free rent through property owner and developer Goldberg Companies’ Layoff Proof Lease, for instance, tenants must have signed a 12-month lease and have made three rent payments. (So don’t choose one of Goldberg’s apartments if you’ve just been laid off assuming you’ll get to live rent-free for a couple months.) Similarly, Hyundai buyers need to have made two payments on their car to be eligible for the refund. To be eligible for Norwegian Cruise Line's layoff protection plan, which offers a full reimbursement to travelers who lose their jobs, cruise goers have to shell out $29.
Company	Program/Offer	Eligibility	Dates
Au Pair in America	Child Care Protection Plan: Refunds a portion of the program fees; family has option to continue with au pair service for remaining time in contract regular weekly rate.	To qualify, one or both parents must lose their job, resulting in the loss of 25% or more of the family’s income.	Started March 5.
AutoNation (Florida dealerships)	Payment Protection: Covers up to six months of auto loan or lease payments, or $500 per month (whichever is less).	Unemployment must occur sometime between 90 days after the purchase date and within a year of the purchase date; you must also be approved for state unemployment benefits.	Started March 18.
Goldberg Companies (Properties in Ohio, Texas, North Carolina and Florida)	Layoff Proof Lease: 60 days of free rent if you're laid off.	To qualify, you must have made at least three monthly rent payments and not be in default of lease obligations.	Started March 21.
Hyundai	Assurance: Car return program, which covers up to $7,500 in loan or lease payments.	If you’ve been laid off, had an international job transfer, or lost a driver’s license due to medical impairment within 12 months of purchase. To qualify, you must have made at least two scheduled payments and be current on your loan or lease.	Started Jan. 3.
JetBlue	Promise Program: Full refund on regular fares and Getaways packages.	For regular flights, refunds apply if you’re laid off after Feb. 17. For Getaways vacation packages, refunds apply if you’re laid off after March 17.	Applies to unused flights purchased between Feb. 1, 2009 and June 1, 2009.
Jos. A. Bank	The Risk-Free Suit: Rebate of up to $199.	If you lose your job between April 16 and July 1; must present a notice from employer and a copy of your unemployment benefits application.	For purchases made between March 16 and April 9. (Rebate requests will be received through July 24.)
Norwegian Cruise Line	BookSafe Travel Protection Plan (starts at $29): Reimburses full fare paid.	Customer must have been an employee at the same company for at least one year before they were let go.	Started Feb. 26; effective for any cruise departing on or after May 1.
Western National Property Management	Layoff Protection Plan: New and renewing tenants can move out of their apartment without paying lease-break fee, which is about $2,000.	Give 30 days’ notice after layoff.	Started March 9.

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Contrarian Has a Good Nose for Bad News

JAMES HUNT SCOURS English-language publications about Europe, Asia and Latin America in search of bad news. After all, bad news is often followed by good -- or at least better -- news.

The soft-spoken lead manager of the Tocqueville International Value Fund (TIVFX), notes that "Sometimes, you'll get a sense of things from the local press that you won't find in the major international mass media. As contrarians, we look for the unloved."

The 46-year-old stockpicker, who has been running the Tocqueville fund with his team since 2001, used this technique to good effect in the summer of 2004, when the news coming out of South Korea was grim: The country's neighbor to the north openly announced its nuclear ambitions, consumers and banks were suffering through the collapse of a two-year credit bubble and the local economy was slowing.

"Foreign investors had abandoned the Korean market, and local investors were glum," Hunt recalls. He decided to visit a couple dozen companies, including one he had owned before, Doosan (000155.Korea), a conglomerate that held leading local food and drink companies, licenses for Ralph Lauren, Guess?, Burger King and KFC, and enormous real-estate interests.

The stock was trading at just 10,000 won ($7.05, based on the recent exchange rate around 1,417 won per dollar) a share, which seemed to be an attractive discount to the value of Doosan's real estate alone; Hunt and his colleagues thought the shares were worth at least 30,000 won.

And within 12 months, good news arrived. Relations with North Korea had improved (they've recently deteriorated again), the economy had stabilized, foreign interest in Korean stocks had revived, and South Korea was enjoying a boom, based on its proximity to China. Doosan hit Hunt's price target in 15 months; he sold his holdings at 35,000 a share in January 2006. (The stock has since jumped past 110,000 won).

With the exception of last year, that contrarian style of investing enabled Hunt's $100 million fund to generate positive annual returns every year since 2002. In 2008, Tocqueville International fell by 34.9%, although it beat its benchmark, the Morgan Stanley EAFE Index, by 8.5 percentage points and its peers by 12.4 points. This year, through Thursday, the fund was off 11.22%; the index was down 13.26%$.

The consistent outperformance has helped Tocqueville earn four stars from Morningstar, which classifies it as a foreign small-/mid-cap value fund. What's more, the returns came with only moderate volatility, and Morningstar ranked the fund in the top 8% of its peer group for the one-year period; the top 14% for three years; and the top 23% for five years. Its net expense ratio is 1.56%.

The largest of Hunt's 40 positions are in big companies with substantial free cash-flow yields and strong balance sheets, like drug maker Sanofi-Aventis (SNY), consumer-goods producer Unilever (UL), telecom Vivendi (VIV.France) and auto maker Toyota (TM).

Ever the contrarian, Hunt in recent months has focused on economically sensitive sectors like infrastructure that have been hit by the credit crisis and recession: "We don't know when the global economy will turn, so we want to own companies that we know can not only survive but also take advantage of the weakness of their competitors, and will prosper and recover," says the Brown grad, an avid skier, cyclist and tennis player.

In Europe, which accounts for nearly half the fund's total assets, Tocqueville has bought Britain's Invensys (ISYS.U.K.), a leading maker of controls for the rail industry; it has no debt, and trades at about 170 pence, or just eight times forward earnings. Hunt believes the shares could double in the next three years.

Another European favorite is Switzerland's ABB (ABB), "the best global pure play on electricity-transmission infrastructure," he says, which has more cash than debt and trades at 10 times forward earnings. He says ABB shares have 30% to 40% upside over 36 months.

He's also a fan of Wacker Neuson (WAC.Germany), "a great little construction-equipment maker with negligible debt, trading at 40% of book value and five times peak price/earnings."

Hunt has a special fondness for Japan, which is his fund's single largest country bet, accounting for about 20% of assets. "We think the worst is over in Japan, and have been investing in Japanese stocks over the years in the belief that many of Japan's global players will participate in the recovery ahead," he says. "There are a lot of world-class companies there -- household names like Toyota and Canon (CAJ) -- that you only get one shot at in a market cycle at such favorable prices that are geared for a global recovery."

He especially likes Fanuc (6954.Japan), the global leader in industrial robotics, with 50% of its stock-market value in net cash and selling at nine times peak earnings; SMC (6273.Japan), the world's top pneumatics outfit with 25% of its market cap in net cash, trading at one times revenue; and a "hidden gem," Kyoto Kimono (7615.Japan), the leading maker of high-end kimonos for women's "coming of age" ceremonies. It has "a terrific franchise, more than 50% of market cap in cash, and a new controlling shareholder, Olympus Capital, whom we know and like as strategic, value-added, private-equity buyers who are determined to improve margins and returns on the business," the money manager says.

The one area that Hunt is avoiding is financials, due to their opaque earnings and leverage. Hunt believes that most global economic cycles last about seven years, which he says is the "true benchmark" against which he measures his returns.

"The reason we are so positive today is that we think we are entering a period like 2003 to 2005, when our fund produced above- average returns, coming out of a negative economic environment " Hunt says. "We are investing in several of the same stocks today as we held then." Good news would be a strong recovery like the last one.

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

An Overlooked Way to Invest in Energy

The only thing more jarring than oil prices hitting an all-time high of $147 a barrel is the whipsaw speed at which those prices can fall 75 percent as they have in the past year. No wonder investors have been shying away from energy stocks recently. Savvy portfolio managers, however, have been increasingly drawn to a much overlooked way of investing in energy without worrying about the price of oil and enjoying a fat dividend to boot: master limited partnerships, or MLPs.

More specifically, it's pipeline MLPs that provide the most bang for your buck. These firms own and operate storage facilities and the pipelines used to move oil and gas across the country. Growth in this part of the energy business should be fairly stable, analysts say, because the firms are paid through contracts based on how much oil they move, not whether a barrel costs $147 or $47. That translates into a steady stream of cash, creating "double the income and growth with a lot less risk" than other income-producing investments, says David Schulte, managing director of MLP specialist Tortoise Capital Advisors. Over the past five years, MLPs have trounced the S&P 500, with the 50 largest partnerships gaining 14 percent as the broad market fell 18 percent. And in the past year, it's down 22 percent compared to the S&P 500's 39 percent loss.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of MLPs is the way they're structured.

Because they're partnerships, not corporations, they pay out most of their cash to shareholders -- and lately that means yields of 4 to almost 10 percent. With Treasury bond yields at their lowest levels in years and companies slashing dividends at the fastest pace in 50 years, these pipeline partnerships stand out, says John Cusick, Oppenheimer's MLP analyst.

Those big payouts do present some tax headaches. Because the distribution isn't technically a dividend -- it's considered "return on capital" -- about 20 percent of it is taxed as regular income, and not at the lower 15 percent rate usually applied to dividends. (The remainder is not taxed until the shares are sold.) Plus, shareholders must pay taxes in all states the pipelines cross, meaning lots of forms. Investors who want to avoid the paperwork can invest in a closed-end fund like Energy Income & Growth (FEN).

Partners for Your Portfolio

Plains All American Pipelines (PAA) (9.6% yield) owns pipelines, storage facilities and terminals that receive oil. Analysts give it high marks for navigating through past crises and having a lower debt-to-capital ratio than peers.

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) (9.5%) owns the largest natural gas storage, processing and transport network, and one of its partners has been buying more units -- always a good sign.

Spectra Energy Partners (SEP) (6.5%) runs natural gas pipelines and storage facilities. Its yield is lower, but analysts see it as one of the safest bets.

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

Madoff's brother's assets frozen

Hawkes Bay accountant in court on fraud charges

Claim of $40m in early bonuses at AIG

Dollar dips on Geithner's 'loose talk'

Botox Maker Invents Eyelash Lengthener; Is Glaxo Interested?

Trends & Innovations - Wednesday

In Brief - Wednesday

After The Close - Wednesday

Business Briefs - Wednesday

Debtholders stall agreement on car bail-out

Current account deficit rises to $16.1bn

IBM set to lay off 5,000 in North America

PM backs away from new UK stimulus

UK public finance fears hit gilt auction

EU leader condemns US 'road to hell'

Hopes for the G20

‘Negligent’ councils broke rules to invest in Icelandic banks

Japan exports halved: carmakers seek help

Green energy is not such a breeze

ASB joins others in raising long-term rates

US retail investors flee to savings

Hear: Global Frustration

Hans Ohman and Kjell Persson employees of crane and forklift manufacturer HIAB in Sweden. The company just fired 200 people. Hasse Persson/Swedish Radio

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- We take another look at the Treasury Department's plan to help banks get toxic assets off their books. Adam Davidson breaks down three different theories on whether or not the plan will actually work.

-- Our global recession anger tour takes off -- with stops in China, Sweden and Egypt. In China, NPR correspondent Lisa Lim gives us the view from students and teachers at the China Center for Economic Studies in Shanghai. Sweden comes to us, when Swedish Public Radio reporter Linnea Ericsson stops by the studio to talk layoffs and unions. And from Egypt, Dr. Hani Henry shares the story of Cairo's own Bernie Madoff.

Bonus: Angry in New Zealand, after the jump.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Phoenix's "1901." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr

Edward from New Zealand writes:

I saw the post today claiming that NZ is not angry with the financial crisis. I don't believe that's true.

For example, in this week's Listener (a weekly magazine targetted at middle-upper class - slightly lefty) there is this interview with a former adviser to the Prime Minister suggesting unemployment might hit 11%. Note that she's a former adviser because NZ changed its government, from left wing to right wing, in November. This is the same issue of the Listener with a cover tag of, "Ask yourself, 'Can I take a halving in house prices?'".

Revenue for NZ's single largest exporter, the dairy company Fonterra, has dropped. This will have large impacts on the NZ economy because NZ's economy is very small.

The NZ government, unlike most other western nations, is refusing to stimulate. In fact, quite the reverse. I can't find the quote but the Minister of Finance has told all the government departments that there'll be no new money forthcoming - ever - and they'd better get used to it.

NZ did have a jobs summit with government, industry, unions, etc meeting to talk about new jobs. The outcome was proposals for a 9-day fortnight with the 10th day being for training funded by the taxpayer and a cycle lane running the length of the country to attract tourists. The 9-day fortnight will probably only end up applying a few firms because 1 day of training a fortnight is kind of impractical.

The cycle lane might go ahead but the proposed cost, NZD 50 million, is widely regarded as too low and cyclists are complaining that they'd rather have cycle lanes, in the cities, for cycle commuters rather than a long one for tourists. It should also be noted that NZ is rather mountainous so a cycle tourist wanting to get through the middle of the North Island, say, had better be very well conditioned.

NZ has a very small economy that is almost completely dependent on exports. The two biggest industries are dairy and tourism and the money generated from those industries is what the domestic economy runs off. How the crisis affects the rest of the world will definitely affect New Zealand.

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CA-CANADA Summary (Reuters)

Austral Pacific reports loss

Controversial AIG unit sees more departures: source

Write-Offs: 03.25.09

$$$ Law student gets Bernard Madoff's brother's assets frozen [Newsday]

$$$ "The banks are not going to be nationalized for any reason," Mr. Bove wrote. "Most important, they do not need to be. They are healthy with positive cash flows." [NYT]

$$$ AIG Exodus [Breaking Views]

NZ Shares: Market flat ahead of current account data

More Debt Than They Bargained For

We sold California short months ago, but perhaps we were a little to hasty. We would have bet the rest of our Hyatt Gold Passport Points that their $4 billion bond sale was doomed after nine months of being shut out of the credit markets all together and being downgraded to the lowest credit rating any state in the Union has to offer. That would have totally ruled out our trip to Lake Tahoe (off peak, you know) because Cali managed to suck in over $6.5 billion instead. We think, however, we know why:

Of the $6.54 billion, California sold $3.2 billion to individual investors.

An effective 9% yield may also have pulled shell shocked Cali denizens out the door (along with the blitz of an advertising campaign).

California Ends Bond Sale [The Wall Street Journal]

How the Dow Jones industrials fared Wednesday (AP)

AP - Wall Street managed a moderate gain Wednesday after an attack of nerves had investors giving back a big early advance and then barreling back into the market right before the close. The day shows how fragile Wall Street remains despite a two-week rally. The market was pulled in different directions by both good and bad news on the economy that led to choppy trading — which may well be the pattern for stocks going forward.

Oh, Snap!

Well, no one ever claimed that Mirek Topolánek, the (quasi) Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, was soft spoken (particularly aggressive photographers), so we aren't particularly surprised to hear him describe the stimulus plans of the United States as "the road to hell." Perhaps he was just cranky (he was been shown the door by the Czech Parliament just yesterday and this whole missile shield thing is enough to annoy the most stoic Eastern European statesman) or he was just prepping the waters for Obama's up coming visit to Prague. Whatever the case, you can bet Obama and Mirek will be studiously ignoring each other for some time to come, and, really, Mirek has nothing on Maxine Waters anyhow.

Czech Premier Slams Obama Stimulus Plan [The Wall Street Journal]

The Obama Portfolio

Touched by his Crackness.

The Obama Portfolio (Since Inception): +14.85%

Earlier: The Obama Portfolio

Presented By:

Experience It Again, For The Very First Time

Just in case you have an urge to relive it, the credit crisis is the subject of a museum exhibit. Like the dropping of the atom bomb on Japan, the potential for exhibit controversy is high. We cant help but wonder how the sensitive issue of Maxine Waters and Goldman Sachs will be presented, for example. Which outfit will Mad Max be wearing in her wax figure? How will she be depicted? In the midst of a conspiratorial discourse with large microphone? Will Ruth Madoff's grocery habits find treatment? We, of course, are pitching for the Marcus Schrenker faux-suicide scene in campground tent.

The global economic crisis wears on, but the Museum of American Finance is already documenting its history in an exhibit that opened on Wednesday.

"Tracking the Credit Crisis" provides a timeline of the events that led to the current recession and translates the catchphrases of the economic downturn such as "securitization," "liquidity," and "derivative" for the average person.

New York museum opens exhibit on credit crisis [Reuters]

TSX falls for 2nd straight day, still up on week (Reuters)

Oh No She Di'Int

"Five public pension funds sued BofA, alleging it made "untrue" statements during the Merrill deal."--WSJ

Controversial AIG unit sees more departures: source (Reuters)

'Goodbye WaMu'

Collection day in San Francisco. Kimra McPherson

 

Kimra writes from San Francisco:

Over the past couple of days, I've noticed the Washington Mutuals in San Francisco slowly becoming Chases instead. I was in one yesterday that had completely replaced all its signs but still had WaMu deposit slips and the like. Today I caught the sign dismantling in action in the Financial District, as seen by this sad WaMu cube sitting in a dumpster.

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Why Does John Paulson Hate The Safecracker?

Considering he has apparently transformed into a mortgage backed securities bull (in selective cases) it's interesting to hear that John Paulson doesn't seem interested in using cheap government leverage and guarantees to participate in the public-private plan to pick up legacy assets, as he told the Times. Why not? We actually have no idea, given Paulson's soft spoken treatment of the subject, but it is great fun to speculate.

Perhaps the prospect of an ever-changing regulatory morass or retroactive witch-hunts turned off our hero? Or perhaps Paulson would simply prefer to cherry pick his own hit-list of prospective value plays, avoid the gamble of an auction and the spectacle of banks trying to game the system? Lots of buyer's regret potential here. Leveraged buyer's regret, actually. It is also not particularly hard to imagine that anything the banks want to sell might be less attractive than a few carefully picked distressed assets from better motivated sellers.

Is Paulson alone? We would like to find out. Dealbreaker is going to keep a running tally of who decides to opt out and in. So far:

Bridgewater: Considering it.
Citadel (according to sources): Considering it.
Paulson: No.

Let us know as you hear. Share: tips at dealbreaker dot com.

Top Hedge Fund Managers Do Well in a Down Year [The New York Times]

Gay Says Emerging Markets Would Benefit from Fiscal Stimulus

Blaming Glass-Steagall

In our conversation about who we should blame for the global financial crisis, quite a few of you have pointed the finger at the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial banks from securities firms. Listener Elise Schuster points us to this New York Times article from 1999 recently reposted by BoingBoing. The title of the article is "Congress Passes Wide-Ranging Bill Easing Bank Laws." It reads:

...Consumer groups and civil rights advocates criticized the legislation for being a sop to the nation's biggest financial institutions. They say that it fails to protect the privacy interests of consumers and community lending standards for the disadvantaged and that it will create more problems than it solves.

The opponents of the measure gloomily predicted that by unshackling banks and enabling them to move more freely into new kinds of financial activities, the new law could lead to an economic crisis down the road when the marketplace is no longer growing briskly.

''I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010,'' said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. ''I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.''

Reading the article reminded me of a recent piece Bloomberg did about the Glass-Steagall Act coming back to haunt Wall Street. Bloomberg reports:

Phil Gramm, a Republican senator from Texas who co-authored the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that repealed many key provisions of Glass-Steagall, later went to work for UBS AG, the Swiss bank whose foray into investment banking contributed to an 88 percent drop in its shares since June 2007. Robert Rubin, a Clinton administration Treasury secretary who advocated Glass-Steagall's repeal, went on to work for Citigroup, which lost $27.7 billion in 2008 and has needed $45 billion in government funds to remain solvent.

Bonus: In defense of Glass Steagall.

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Convicted Criminal Offers Advice To Bernie Madoff: Kill Yourself

If you don't end it? Here's a li'l preview of what you'll have to look forward to, according to "Anthony Papa," who in 1985 was "sentenced to 15 years to life under New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws for a first-time nonviolent drug crime."

Your identity will be taken away when you are stripped naked and ordered to bend over and spread your butt cheeks. You will be forced to comply. If you don't, the officer conducting the search will call the "goon squad," abouta half-dozen killing machines who will come in dressed in battle gear, armed with batons. They won't care that you are 70. They will strike blows in a way that will not leave bruises because you are a high-profile case.

Once you are sitting in your temporary cell awaiting sentencing, officials will isolate you from the general population. By this time, several contracts on your life have been taken out. Even those who are not contracted will want to take your head off so they can get their name in the paper.

New York Tea (Treasuries) Party?

Our spy on a Treasuries desk has some interesting things to say via the mailbag about the bond market in the imminent face of $300 billion in quantitative easing by proxy:

Wall Street Dealers are giving the Treasury the biggest "fuck you" on new Treasury debt. There's an auction today and a buy program tomorrow. Since Bernanke just announced that the Treasury is buying bonds, Wall Street- the dealers en masse- are basically refusing to show a good bid but then taking out a huge profit out of the Treasury. You want to talk 90% taxes? This is unprecedented.

Hell hath no fury like a bond trader scorned? We aren't so sure. The UK had similar problems today.

The U.K.'s effort to buy government debt wasn't enough to prevent today's failed auction of 40-year gilts, the first time that the government failed to attract enough bids at a sale of nominal debt since 1995. Investors bid for 1.63 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) of 4.25 percent notes, less than the 1.75 billion pounds offered.

"The failed gilt auction doesn't bode well for Treasuries," said Michael Franzese, head of government bond trading for Standard Chartered in New York. "It is a supply issue on top of that. Is the buying that's happening today by the Fed going to offset the selling that's going on today and tomorrow by the Treasury?"

What say you DB? The largest bond price fixing conspiracy in history? That would be quite entertaining.

Treasuries Fall as Five-Year Note Auction Draws Yield of 1.849% [Bloomberg]

Sioux Falls: The town credit built

Looking to put stimulus funds to work

Afraid of layoffs, they ready biz plans

Transparency's a must to gain our trust

Macy's to tie executive pay to stocks

Drug cartels cash in with value cards

The difficulty with economic forecasting

Taking Stock Of Taxes

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker has been appointed to head a new tax-code review. The review, set to be completed by December 4, will make recommendations on how to simplify the code and close loopholes.

Budget Director Peter Orszag says the changes could help reduce tax evasion and "corporate welfare." Bloomberg reports:

"There are hundreds of billions of dollars in uncollected taxes each year," Orszag said in a conference call. The Volcker board "will be examining ways of being even more aggressive on reducing the tax gap."

The tax gap is the difference between the amount of taxes owed by taxpayers and companies and the amount collected. Orszag cited academic studies suggesting that the difference is $300 billion or more. That is " a lot of money," he said, adding that the administration is going to be "as aggressive as possible" in reducing it.

President Obama has been facing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats who say that his $3.6 trillion budget will push the country too deep debt. He is set to meet with Senate Democrats today to try to persuade them to support his spending plans.

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Mortgage applications up on jump in refinancing (AP)

AP - Mortgage applications surged last week, coming mostly from borrowers looking to refinance at sharply lower rates after the Federal Reserve unveiled plans to buy Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities.

Hewlett-Packard Rated `Outperform' In New Coverage at RBC

Some Online Business Models Still Suck

If there’s one venue still offering handsome paybacks for hungry entrepreneurs, it’s the Internet. Bloggers, affiliate network members, even eBayers still find jackpots online.

That doesn’t mean that every online business model makes money. Far from it–some online business models just plain suck. Take the online video show. The daily/weekly show model works wonderfully on network TV, but has been a much harder sell online.

The PopCrunch video show is the latest video show to be interred into the online media cemetery. Sarah East’s snarky, tabloid-style commentary show didn’t draw the viewership and high-paying advertisers required to keep the show going. It joins this year’s other major casualty–CBS’ Wallstrip–in the backwaters of cool concepts that couldn’t stick around.

Ryan Caldwell, head producer of the show, says that most of the PopCrunch videos weren’t getting enough traffic. “We needed to hit the 500k views per month threshold and were only at about half. Even then, we would have just been breaking even.” The videos needed more traffic to interest high-end advertisers, whose business would make the venture more profitable.

“To reach profitability,” says Caldwell, “we really had to see each show hit about 100k views in its first month. We were only doing about 1/3 of that.” He adds that they did have 18,000 subscribers, and that some shows were viewed almost 1 million times. “That’s amazing to me,” he says.

When asked what it takes to produce a successful online video show, Caldwell said that the concept needs to appeal to a wide audience. “It helps if it’s funny. Then you need on-air talent, a script writer, a director/producer, some solid video equipment and if you do a show like the PopCrunch Show, you need to record in front of a blue screen so it helps to have a studio.”

He thinks that most people who are doing video aren’t doing it very well. “The main issue is that it costs a lot more to produce and its much harder to monetize. I think it’s only possibly viable if you go at it 100% without distractions or projects. This is even more true if you are bootstrapping the whole thing and doing the work yourself to minimize costs.”

“I think the cost/benefit for video pales in comparison to traditional online publishing,” he concludes. Even online, state-of-the-art does not automatically lead to profit.

Au revoir, PopCrunch video show.

Bove Says Banks' Core Business Good, Stocks Still `Dirt Cheap'

Gallagher Sees Higher Capital Requirements for Banks

FTSE closes down over job-cut fears (AFP)

AFP - Leading stocks in London closed down on Wednesday as looming job cuts at financial giants HSBC and Legal and General cancelled out positive data from the US.

FTSE closes down over job-cut fears (AFP)

AFP - Leading stocks in London closed down on Wednesday as looming job cuts at financial giants HSBC and Legal and General cancelled out positive data from the US.

UBS's Bianco Sees U.S. Economy Expanding in Third Quarter

Asking for Student Loan Forgiveness (BusinessWeek Online)

New Home Sales Up 4.7% This Month

New home sales increased 4.7% this month, an encouraging indicator in an oversupplied real estate market. The Wall Street Journal reports:

WASHINGTON — New-home sales climbed for the first time in seven months during February, another favorable sign for the housing sector, but the data also showed prices tumbled. Sales of single-family homes increased by 4.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. January new-home sales plunged 13.2% to an annual rate to 322,000; originally, the government said January sales fell 10.2% to 309,000.

Regionally last month, new-home sales increased 6.6% in the West and 9.7% in the South. Sales fell 9.1% in the Midwest and 3.3% in the Northeast. An estimated 27,000 homes were actually sold in February, up from 23,000 in January, based on figures not seasonally adjusted.

Note that home sales are still down 40% from last year. Calculated Risk says sales are just above a record low.

The news is light years from bullish, but in this market, anything good is worth printing.

Levitt Says Fed-Centric Regulation Has Profound Conflicts

Jake DeSantis’ AIG Resignation Letter

AIG Financial Products VP Jake DeSantis sent his open resignation letter to the New York Times, which published it last night. Here’s the first part:

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.

(more)

DeSantis goes on to say explain his thoughts about the sudden disappearance of his and other employees’ retention bonuses, the bad blood at AIG, and why he is leaving. He also plans to donate his the after-tax proceeds of his $742,000 retention payment to nonprofits helping people during the downturn.

I appreciate DeSantis’ gesture to give voice to his own situation. But it’s not exactly moving. DeSantis’ hopes were dashed, his expectations ground into the mud–but he’s still doing alright. His annual pay last year was still $1 + $742,000. He has worked hard, neglected his family, and gotten his version of beans for it. But these claims are cliched by now.

At the end of the day, DeSantis is another suffering American. He just happens to be suffering more comfortably than many others.

US data sparks fresh hope worst is over (AFP)

AFP - Much better-than-expected US industrial orders data boosted markets Wednesday, offering another ray of hope that the stricken US economy could finally be steadying after months of turmoil.

Maybelline Army Makeup

New Zealand Is Not Angry

We'll be taking a look at global recession outrage on the podcast today with reports from Sweden, Shanghai and Egypt. We've received many letters from listeners around the world telling us who they are angry with, but today we got a letter from a listener in New Zealand, who says people in his country aren't mad at anyone.

Troy writes:

New Zealand has decided not to participate in the "financial crisis". If anything the crisis has helped the NZ economy galvanize. There are a few losers that were around the margins and some hard luck stories, but even the Prime Minister has decided not the participate as illustrated in this WSJ interview.

The real winners have been the exporters. The lower Kiwi dollar has helped pushed exports up. Also, Importers are not hurting as bad as you might think. People are just saving a little more and putting off buy big ticket items. Real estate is down, and will probably fall another 8% until it reaches the classic 3-1 ratio with earnings, but interest rates have stabilized.

Overall, it's been very positive.

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Good News: Durable Goods Up

The Commerce Department says that orders for durable goods, manufactured products expected to last more than one year, increased 3.4 percent last month. Economists had expected a 2 percent drop.

The biggest increase, 32.4 percent, came in orders for military aircraft and parts. Demand for heavy machinery, computers and fabricated metal products was also up.

The good news did not come without some gloom however, January's drop in durable-goods orders was worse than originally thought. Orders actually fell 7.3 percent in January.

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Dwyer Sees Policies as Addressing Last Year's Problems

Beutel Sees Oil Rising to $65 to $70 a Barrel by May

Carnell Sees Further 10% to 15% Decline in U.S. Housing Prices

Silva Sees 30 to 40 U.S. Companies Going Bankrupt Daily

Obama Bounce: Rocky Session Ends Higher (Market Update)

News at a Glance

• Up and Down: Major indexes swing wildy.
• Executive Endorsement: Obama says economy will recover.
• Picket Fences Up: New home sales rose last month.
• Demand Surprise: Feb. durable good orders top consensus.

The Lowdown

President Obama's televised address Tuesday night was intended to drum up support for his economic agenda and optimism about the recovery appeared to have worked on Wall Street--at least for half a day Wednesday.

Stocks were higher for most of the session as traders welcomed the President's remarks and surprisingly rosy economic data. But then came the roller coaster ride. An unexpected weak sale of 5-year Treasury notes made some traders skittish. Early triple-digit gains were erase by 3 p.m. But a frenetic buying spree in the last hour of trading put stocks in positive territory once again. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 89 points at 7749. The Nasdaq gained 12 to 1528, and the S&P 500 moved up 7 to 813.

In his speech to the nation last night, Obama pointed to "signs of progress" and said the nation was "moving in the right direction."

"We've put in place a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts," he said. "It's a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending, and to grow our economy over the long-term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress."

The President also defended his 2009 budget, which calls for a spending hike resulting in a $1.8 trillion deficit this year and a $1.4 trillion shortfall in 2010, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.

"There are no quick fixes and there are no silver bullets," he said.

A report released Wednesday seemed to corroborate Obama's schedule for recovery. The UCLA Anderson School of Management's quarterly economic forecast predicts the Gross Domestic Product will fall 6.8% during the first quarter of this year, followed by declines of 4.5% and 1.7% in the second and third quarters. However, the report predicted a turnaround in 2010, when average quarterly growth is projected to reach 2.7%.

For now, traders warmed to rosier than expected economic data. In February, durable goods orders and new home sales each rose by more than economists had projected.

In finance, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he would push for new rules to curb risk to the financial system and new regulations to protect consumers. "The framework will significantly raise the prudential requirements, once we get through the crisis, that our largest and most interconnected financial firms must meet in order to ensure they do not pose risks to the system," he said at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In energy, oil prices slipped on a bump in crude inventories. Oil traded down $1.14 at $52.84 a barrel.

In world markets, Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.8%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 2.1%. In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE stood down 0.2% in afternoon trading.

Corporate News

• General Electric (GE) scored a $300 million contract with PetroChina to build a natural gas pipeline in China, the Associated Press reported. The line, which will run horizontally across the country through 13 of its provinces, is designed to boost China's natural gas usage to 5% of its primary fuel consumption, up from 3.5%.
• Blockbuster (BBI) inked a deal with TiVo (TIVO) that will allow the media firm to operate an online rental service that lets users download movies in the firm's catalog, Reuters reported. The deal also levels the playing field with NetFlix (NFLX), which already operates a similar service through TiVo.
• Dell (DELL) drew back the curtain on a new series of servers aimed at consumers concerned about value. The new devices also perform write functions 91% faster than last comparable generation.

The Economy

• Durable goods orders, a measure of demand, rose 3.4% in February, up from a revised January decrease of 7.3%, the Commerce Department said. The report marked the first increase in orders in seven months. Economists had expected a February decline of 2.5%. REPORT
• The annual rate of new home sales rose to 337,000 units in February, up from a revised annual rate of 322,000 in January, the Commerce Department said. For February, economists had expected a decrease to a rate of 300,000 sales per year. REPORT
• Crude inventories rose by 3.3 million barrels last week, leaving them above the upper limit of the average range for this point in the year, the Energy Department said. REPORT

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