Screen Survivors

Business big shot: Francis Salway, chief executive, Land Securities Like Gradgrind, the character in Dickens’s Hard Times, Francis Salway prefers facts to gut feelings. That may account for the more bullish view of Britain’s commercial property market that he began to take yesterday. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:39 pm Out of school and on to the dole The worse-than-expected jump in unemployment revealed yesterday was bad enough in itself. More than a quarter of a million additional people started looking for work in the three months to May. But the figures also add to the other recent evidence suggesting that the economic recovery may be weaker than it appeared earlier in the summer. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:23 pm Eurostar feels strain as business drops train Eurostar, the cross-Channel train operator, said yesterday that ticket sales to business customers had fallen by 20 per cent in the first six months of the year, as companies cut costs amid the recession. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:57 pm Row grows over Rio Tinto staff arrests as China alleges bribery The diplomatic row sparked by China’s detention of four Rio Tinto employees grew last night when Beijing accused the Anglo-Australian mining company of bribing the entire Chinese steel industry. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:00 pm Don’t worry about rate rises, fear stagflation As the summer holidays approach, it seems appropriate to take stock of the extraordinary economic events since last summer and consider what risks they still pose for the year ahead. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:53 pm Lloyds staff cuts take jobless tally to 8,200 Lloyds is cutting a further 1,200 jobs, bringing the total reduction in headcount to 8,200 since it bought weaker rival, HBOS, last year. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 12:05 pm Regulator renews plan to halt 'Tesco towns' Competition regulators are pressing ahead with plans to stop the growth of “Tesco towns” where one supermarket dominates the high street forcing out smaller competitors. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:52 am Visitors to Britain fall first time since 2001 The number of visits to the UK has fallen for the first time since 2001, official statistics revealed this morning. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:37 am China grows faster amid worries China's economy grows at an annual rate of 7.9% in the second quarter, but officials warn challenges remain. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:28 am Harley net tumbles as bike sales slide (Reuters) Reuters - U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc said on Thursday that its profit fell sharply in most recent quarter as the ugly economic environment soured consumer spending and sent bike sales sliding. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:26 am Nokia downbeat on handset sales The world’s largest maker of mobile handsets offered a downbeat assessment on sales as it reported sharp fall in earnings for the second quarter Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:24 am JP Morgan quarterly profits jump 36% JP Morgan reported record revenues in the second quarter as investment banking fees soared Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:22 am Europe Markets: Europe up for fourth session on earnings boost European shares get a boost after J.P. Morgan reports a 36% profit rise. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:21 am UK bank boards under scrutiny Bank bonuses should be closely controlled and non-executive directors should be better trained, a report recommends. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:18 am Foreclosures rise 15 percent in first half of 2009 (AP) AP - The number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes soared by nearly 15 percent in the first half of the year as more people lost their jobs and were unable to pay their monthly mortgage bills. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:17 am JPMorgan profit jumps (Reuters) Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co posted a higher quarterly profit on Thursday, topping Wall Street estimates, as strength in its core consumer and investment banking businesses offset a jump in credit losses. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:17 am My biggest rival is now my partner When Christine Saunders saw her Southern California floral design company's revenue dip last fall as the economy sputtered, she realized that creating products for do-it-yourself brides might spur sales. But the owner of The Spiraled Stem Floral Design didn't want to carry the expense and burden of treading into this unfamiliar market alone. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:13 am GM's design chief: Competitors, watch out! General Motors Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz is back and he's ready for a fight. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:13 am JPMorgan Chase profits soar 36% JPMorgan Chase becomes the second major US bank to report a big rise in profits for the April to June period. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:12 am Stocks set for a mixed start Stocks were set for a mixed open Thursday after strong earnings from JPMorgan Chase countered concerns about small business lender CIT Group and its unlikely prospects for getting a government rescue. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:10 am JPMorgan net income, revenue jump (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by John Wallace) Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:09 am Stock futures rise on strong JPMorgan earnings (AP) AP - After rallying on better-than-expected earnings throughout the week, investors are modestly moving into the market Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s earnings were the latest to beat estimates. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:09 am 1.5 million homes in foreclosure in '09 The foreclosure plague is not going away -- it's only getting worse. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:09 am Mac shipments up - and down Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:08 am CIT talks fall apart, bankruptcy looms WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - CIT Group Inc, a lender to hundreds of thousands of small and mid-sized U.S. businesses, said bailout talks with the government had ended, a development that could ultimately drive the company into bankruptcy. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:08 am European shares climb before US results Europe's leading stock markets rose on Thursday, although London struggled into positive territory on investor caution ahead of earnings news from major US companies, dealers said. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:07 am Dollar mixed as traders track US earnings news The dollar climbed against the euro but fell against the yen on Thursday as markets tracked another raft of US company earnings and economic data. In late morning trading here, the... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:07 am Nokia posts 73% profit drop; Sony Ericsson a loss Nokia Corp., the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, posts a 73% drop in second-quarter profit while Sony Ericsson records a loss as sales plunge. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:07 am Nokia shares slide as profits hit Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, sees a 66% slide in quarterly profit as the downturn hits demand for handsets. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:06 am 'Viva la Vida': Steve Jobs at Coldplay show Not only has Apple's (AAPL) CEO recovered sufficiently from his liver transplant to return to work a couple of days a week, he's apparently feeling well enough to brave the crowds at a rock concert. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:05 am JPMorgan Chase earns $2.7 billion JPMorgan Chase once again proved that it has been one of the better-run banks during the financial crisis after reporting quarterly results that blew past Wall Street estimates. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:04 am European shares climb before US results (AFP) AFP - Europe's leading stock markets rose on Thursday, although London struggled into positive territory on investor caution ahead of earnings news from major US companies, dealers said. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:04 am Ball Aerospace Wins National Air and Space Intelligence Center Contract DAYTON, Ohio, July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp has received a contract from the U.S. Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:03 am Nokia cuts profit, market share outlook; shares drop HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top cellphone maker Nokia cut its forecast for second half profitability and 2009 market share at its key phone unit on Thursday, sending its shares sharply lower. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:02 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 | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:01 am Banks 'must publish pay of all their top earners' Walker Report recommends Gordon Brown welcomes Sir David Walker's review recommending reform of corporate governance at UK banks. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am JP Morgan (JPM): A Homer For Q2 JP Morgan (JPM) reported second-quarter 2009 net income of $2.7 billion, an increase of 36% compared with net income of $2.0 billion in the second quarter of 2008.  EPS was $.28 compared to consensus estimates of $.04. Revenue was $25.6 billion, up from $18.3 billion last year.   In the retail financial division, net income was $15 million, [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am Marriott 2Q profit declines 76 percent Marriott International says lower revenue and hefty restructuring charges pushed down its net income 76 percent in the second quarter. Marriott and other hotel operators have suffered in Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am MathStar (OTC: MATH.PK) Board Mutiny Makes the Case to Tender to Tiberius Capital II, LLC CHICAGO, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiberius Capital II, LLC ("Tiberius"), a value-opportunity fund located in Chicago, commented today on the startling news that... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am MGIC to Capitalize Subsidiary to Write New Business MILWAUKEE, July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation ("MGIC") today announced that the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance for the... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am Tiberius Capital, LLC Urges All PetroSearch Energy Corporation (PTSG.PK) Shareholders to Vote Against the Merger with Double Eagle Petroleum Co. CHICAGO, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiberius Capital, LLC ("Tiberius"), a value-opportunity fund located in Chicago, announced today that it is urging all PetroSearch Energy... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am U.S. Consumer Sentiment Continues Downward Slide, According to RBC Cash Index Declining Expectations for the Future Drive Drop in Confidence NEW YORK, July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Led by a dramatic decline in the expectations of U.S.... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am The Most Anticipated New Park of 2009 Opens for a Sneak Peek Beginning Today at 10 a.m. Limited attraction availability at a discounted price offered to give guests the opportunity to play in the new park while finishing touches on additional rides and attractions near... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am MGIC Investment Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2009 Results MILWAUKEE, July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE: MTG) today reported a net loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 of $339.8 million, compared with a Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am Lloyds to cut another 1,200 jobs Lloyds Banking Group is to cut a further 1,200 jobs, taking the total job losses this year to 8,200. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:58 am Report urges crackdown on U.K. banker pay Top executives at British banks would see pay and bonuses based on long-term performance under a package of proposed reforms unveiled Thursday. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:57 am Holiday protection levy goes up Package holidaymakers will have to pay an extra £1.50 on the price of their trips to help meet the cost of failing tour operators. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:56 am Stock futures bounce after JPMorgan results NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures turned positive on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co posted quarterly results showing it beat net earnings and revenue estimates. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:55 am Stock futures bounce after JPMorgan results (Reuters) Reuters - Stock index futures turned positive on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co posted quarterly results showing it beat net earnings and revenue estimates. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:55 am Stock futures bounce after JPMorgan results (Reuters) Reuters - Stock index futures turned positive on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co posted quarterly results showing it beat net earnings and revenue estimates. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:55 am London stocks higher after JPMorgan results London equity markets were built on the gains of the previous three sessions after US bank JPMorgan reported surprsingly strong second-quarter results.JPMorgan's better-than-expected quarterly earnings... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:54 am Harley net skids as sales slide NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc's quarterly profit fell sharply, as bikers put off new purchases. It also slashed its 2009 shipment forecast and said it would cut another 1,000 jobs. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:53 am J.P. Morgan Chase's quarterly net climbs 36% J.P. Morgan Chase reports 36% growth in second-quarter profit, becoming the second Wall Street heavyweight to blow past earnings estimates. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:52 am Marriott reports lower second-quarter profit NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hotelier Marriott International reported a lower second-quarter profit on Thursday, hurt by a sharp decline in revenue per available room. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:51 am Indications: U.S. futures firmer on upbeat J.P. Morgan results U.S. stock futures were pointing to a mixed open on Thursday, with support expected to come from much better-than-expected earnings from J.P. Morgan Chase, though there were still some expectations for profit taking after a strong rally in the previous session. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:51 am Pontiac Solstice: GM's unlikely collectible Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:50 am China GDP growth accelerates to 7.9% Beijing is in reach of its 2009 growth target of 8 per cent after its economy accelerated significantly in the second quarter on the back of increased government spending and a surge in bank lending. Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:49 am Dip in global computer shipments Worldwide PC shipments between April and June fell by a less-than-expected 5% from a year ago, a report says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:48 am European shares boosted by US bank European shares bounced on Thursday after better-than-expected results from US bank JPMorgan helped improve sentiment.After US lender CIT Group failed in its efforts to win government bail out cash, JP... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:47 am Bill Gates raises stake in JJB Sports Shares in JJB Sports today jumped by 14 per cent in early trading after it emerged that Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist, had bought 800,000 shares in the troubled retailer to take his stake to over 3 per cent. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:44 am China data lift Asia shares, but Shanghai lags Most Asian equity markets end higher, keying on a strong rally overnight on Wall Street, but robust economic data from China fail to lift shares in Shanghai as investors lock in some profits. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:44 am Mississippi residents least credit worthy Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:43 am Fed: Expect 10% unemployment The unemployment rate could top 10% later this year, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday, but the central bank also said it believes the end of the recession could be in sight. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:37 am Some Sunshine For Nokia (NOK) Nokia (NOK) posted poor earnings, but handset sales rose to 103 units, up 11% from the immediately previous quarter. Revenue dropped 25% to 9,9 billion euros. Net incomes was down 73% to 287 million euros. The company still expects global handset sales to drop 10% this year, but at least Nokia’s quarter-over-previous quarter numbers were not down. Douglas [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:29 am How to be a day trader Day traders are back. If tempted to join them here are some tips. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:28 am Day trading: 'You can make a lot but you can also lose a fortune' Day trading may sound like an easy way to make money - you can get up when you like and work with a laptop while sitting on the sofa - but the dream could easily turn sour. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:20 am Walker review: biography of Sir David Walker Sir David Walker is currently a senior adviser to US bank Morgan Stanley having resigned his previous role in 2005 as Chairman of Morgan Stanley International with executive responsibility for the bank's activities in Europe the Middle East and Africa. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:20 am Walker review: the main points Sir David Walker has recommended substantial changes to the way the boards of banks and big financial institutions function in regards corporate governance. Here are the main points the Walker Review. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:20 am NZ dollar falls after rating outlook downgrade The New Zealand dollar tumbled on Thursday after a ratings agency raised fears over the country's finances.Fitch ratings agency reiterated New Zealand's AA+ sovereign credit rating, but downgraded its... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:06 am Mothercare sales up despite slump Weak pound and summer demand drives growth in babycare chain's UK and international stores Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:05 am Retirement age row back in court A challenge - led by major charities - to the UK's enforceable retirement age of 65 is back at the High Court. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:04 am Review orders banks to come clean on pay and bonuses Banks should disclose far more details about their highest paid employees and strict rules should be imposed to defer bonus payouts for at least three years, under a package of measures to improve the banks' management proposed by Sir David Walker. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 am Earnings Outlook: Apple expected to get boost from Mac, iPhone sales Strong Macintosh sales and a new iPhone are expected to boost Apple Inc.’s bottom line when the consumer electronics giant reports results for its third fiscal quarter next week. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 am BofA operating under secret regulatory sanction: report (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp is operating under a secret U.S. regulatory sanction that requires it to overhaul its board and address perceived problems with risk and liquidity management, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:59 am Sony Ericsson swings to 283m loss Sony Ericsson on Thursday reported a net loss of 213m ($300m) for the second quarter, as the mobile phone maker continued to experience a sharp slide in handset sales.The joint venture between Japan's... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:52 am Stocks in London fall (AFP) AFP - Stocks in London were on the backfoot Thursday as investors awaited a series of corporate results. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:51 am Foreclosures Take The Economy By Storm, Again The government might have expected that it could have some effect on foreclosure rates by working with banks to make money available to homeowners and by setting up programs for modifying existing mortgages to reduce monthly payments. Foreclosure numbers from the first half show that none of that has worked very well. Foreclosure filings went up [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:49 am Asia stocks rise as China growth buoys confidence (AP) AP - Asian stocks jumped Thursday after China's economic growth quickened and U.S. companies posted stronger-than-expected results, boosting faith in a global recovery. European shares lagged in early trade. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:48 am Electrolux sees bottom as profit leaps Appliance-maker Electrolux reports a big profit jump as the Swedish consumer goods manufacturer says it may have seen the worst that North America has to offer. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:31 am A Stimulus Package That Works: China’s 7.9% GDP Growth China’s GDP rose 7.9% in the second quarter, which is especially impressive since the figure was only 6.1% in the previous quarter. Economists will voice a number of concerns about the growth. It is artificial, because of China’s $585 billion stimulus. package. The expansion could lead to bubbles in the stock and real estate markets because [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:30 am Coping with poverty The 1990s hardships help Serbia cope during the downturn Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:20 am Banking In Secret: Citigroup (C) And Bank Of America (BAC) Behind Closed Doors The Wall Street Journal has two troubling reports. The first is that Bank of America (BAC) operating under an agreement with the government which the paper describes as “a secret regulatory sanction.” Part of this sanction relates to how the firm will set up its board. The other report is that Citigroup (C) and the FDIC [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:07 am London Markets: Autonomy shares decline in flat London Autonomy shares drop, underperforming a flat London share market. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:06 am Report urges UK banking transparency Banks must brace themselves for a rash of board-level bureaucracy, if the proposals of the Walker Review on financial sector corporate governance are accepted Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:01 am Mike Ashley cuts dividend at Sports Direct as profits fall 91pc Mike Ashley the Newcastle United owner has scrapped the dividend at his sporting goods retailer Sports Direct after profits plunged 91pc. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:01 am Wal-Mart (WMT) Gets Greener By The Day Wal-Mart (WMT) decided to evaluate its suppliers based on whether they were polluters almost before it became fashionable. Going Green is a description used broadly in the business community as a badge of honor, however irrelevant.  Creating products with materials that do not sustain the environment or pollute has become an unpopular and image-damaging way to [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:50 am Markets bounce on recovery hopes Global markets bounced on hopes of an earlierthanexpected recovery as the US industrial downturn began to slow and China's economy picked up again. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:40 am FOMC Minutes Don’t Add Up The Fed released the notes of the Federal Open Market Committee and Board of the Governors of the Federal Reserve joint meeting on June 23rd and 24th. The two major conclusions from this meeting are contradictory to one another, unless the reader believes that unemployment can go to frighteningly high levels and still be considered [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:39 am Your Money Their Hands Video: Welcome back Japan After 12 years the Japanese stock market is ready to return to the fold. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:35 am Talks fail to break California budget impasse SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers failed on Wednesday night to agree to balance the state's budget by closing a $26.3 billion deficit, but officials said talks would continue. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:28 am Emerging markets lead the way to global recovery The emerging markets are showing signs of early recovery according to a new report from the fund analysis group S&P Fund Services and could offer investors keen to get back into equities new opportunities. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:25 am Banks should publish pay and bonuses of all top earners Walker Report recommends Sir David Walker's review of corporate standards at British banks has recommended reforms of boards pay and the role of big investors. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:23 am CIT talks fall apart, bankruptcy looms (Reuters) Reuters - CIT Group Inc, a lender to hundreds of thousands of small and mid-sized U.S. businesses, said bailout talks with the government had ended, a development that could ultimately drive the company into bankruptcy. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:03 am Media Digest 6/16/2009 Reuters:   CIT (CIT) may be close to bankruptcy. Reuters:   China GDP rose 7.9%. Reuters:   Foreclosures hit a record in the first half of 2009. Reuters:   Obama pressed Congress on a healthcare bill. Reuters:   Talks have not broken California’s budget impasse. Reuters:   Secret laws in China are hurting Rio Tinto (RTP) staff. Reuters:   Americans are turning to theInternet for help for problems due [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:54 am Joe Lewis gets board voice at M&B Joe Lewis, the Bahamas-based investor, has been granted boardroom representation at Mitchells & Butlers, the pub and restaurant operator in which he is the biggest shareholder.The decision to give... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:52 am Toyota to supply hybrid parts to Mazda Toyota Motor is in talks to supply key components of its petrol-electric hybrid system to Mazda, the smaller Japanese manufacturer and longtime affiliate of Ford, people familiar with the situation said... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:29 am Asia Markets Europe Open 7/16/2009 Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei was up .8% to 9,344. Toyota (TM) rose sharply. The Hang Seng was up 1.3% to 1,6487. The Shanghai Composite fell .2% to 3,184. At the open in Europe, the FTSE was off .3%. BHP Billiton (BHP) dropped over 1%. The Dax was off .4% to 4,910. The CAC 40 was down [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:24 am Stronger dollar dents profits at Novartis Novartis, the first of Europe's big pharmaceuticals groups to report its second-quarter results, warned on Thursday that the stronger dollar could take its toll on profits this year. The Swiss group said... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:23 am Aussie market posts third day of gains SYDNEY- The Australian share market posted a third successive day of strong gains, buoyed by energy and banking stocks, and a positive lead from offshore bourses. At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 71.1... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:17 am Sotomayor's stance on business is moderate The Supreme Court nominee is far from an ideologue on business matters, many legal experts say. Employers vs. labor? Airlines vs. passengers? Investors vs. companies? Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Boeing expected to announce satellite contract The deal to build four communications satellites for Intelsat could be worth $1 billion and save jobs at the aerospace giant's unit in El Segundo. In a major boost to its satellite-making operation in El Segundo, Boeing Co. is expected to announce today that it has won a contract potentially worth nearly $1 billion to build satellites for telecommunications giant Intelsat Ltd. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Merck and Schering settle multistate probe The drug makers will pay $5.4 million to settle an investigation into whether they delayed the release of test results casting doubt on the effectiveness of two blockbuster cholesterol drugs. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Sotomayor's stance on business is moderate The Supreme Court nominee is far from an ideologue on business matters, many legal experts say. Employers vs... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am CalPERS sues credit-rating firms over $1 billion in investment losses The California public pension fund alleges Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings issued 'wildly inaccurate' risk assessments. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Merck and Schering settle multistate probe The drug makers will pay $5.4 million to settle an investigation into whether they delayed the release of test results casting doubt on the effectiveness of two blockbuster cholesterol drugs. DRUGS Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am CalPERS sues credit-rating firms over $1 billion in investment losses The California public pension fund alleges Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings issued 'wildly inaccurate' risk assessments. California's giant public pension fund is suing the nation's three top bond credit-rating companies for issuing "wildly inaccurate" rankings on investments that it said cost pensioners "perhaps more than $1 billion." Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am California lawmakers scramble to keep state's last car factory open As the likelihood grows that the NUMMI plant in Fremont, which employs 5,000, will close permanently in the midst of partner GM's bankruptcy, bills that offer tax incentives are championed. State legislators are scrambling to save the last remaining car plant in California. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Car dealers need a co-signer: Congress Dealers are in Washington, seeking protection from carmakers. The debate over shutting down dealers reminds us that the industry's distribution model is antiquated. Hundreds of car dealers marched on Washington this week, hoping to build public support for a bill to block General Motors and Chrysler from closing about 3,300 dealerships. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Government will not give lender CIT 2nd bailout The rejection moves the firm closer to bankruptcy and appears to mark the first time the Obama administration has denied aid to a large, troubled financial company. CIT Group Inc., an important lender to smaller companies, moved closer to a bankruptcy filing by failing to persuade the federal government to provide further financial assistance. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Paulson to defend pressuring Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch Not going through with the deal would be "unthinkable," remarks prepared for the former Treasury secretary's hearing before a House panel include. Former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson plans to tell a House committee today that he was right to pressure Bank of America Corp. to complete its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. because allowing the deal to fall apart would have damaged the companies and the broader economy, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Southern California median home sales price surges in June The increase to $265,000 reflects a recent trend of higher-priced properties taking a greater market share. Sales volume reaches a 30-month high. Southern California home prices may have finally hit bottom, with median values rising last month for the first significant increase in two years, new data show. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Foreclosure scams targeted in U.S., state and local crackdown Under Operation Loan Lies, 189 lawsuits, cease-and-desist orders and other legal actions have been filed in 20 states. In Southern California, prosecutors have moved against 14 firms and 21 people. For Rene Ruelas, the calls came faster than weeds sprouting in the yard of an empty house. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Fitch downgrades outlook for NZ sovereign rating Credit rating agency Fitch has downgraded the outlook for New Zealand's AA+ sovereign credit rating to negative from stable and has warned that severe economic imbalances mean the government should dramatically tighten its purse strings. The... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:50 am Billions can be brought back under Trans-Tasman super deal New Zealanders who have worked in Australia and had to leave their compulsory retirement savings behind when they came home will be able to repatriate the funds under an agreement announced today. Australia's Tax Office estimates... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:20 am Market jolted to life by US market The New Zealand sharemarket was jolted to life by a strong US equities market today and the gains were across the board. The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 37.434 points, or 1.354 per cent, at 2801.515. Turnover was worth $110.25... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:12 am NZ dollar falls back below US64c The New Zealand dollar was knocked lower by news that credit rating company Fitch has changed the outlook for the country's credit rating to negative from stable. While Fitch is not as powerful as Moody's Investors Service or Standard... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:37 am Foreclosures at record high in first half 2009 despite aid NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. home foreclosure activity galloped to a record in the first half of the year, overwhelming broad efforts to remedy failing loans while job losses escalated. Source: Reuters: Business News | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:22 am Foreclosures at record high in first half 2009 despite aid (Reuters) Reuters - U.S. home foreclosure activity galloped to a record in the first half of the year, overwhelming broad efforts to remedy failing loans while job losses escalated. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:22 am BNZ loses IRD case, may be stung for $645 million National Australia Bank (NAB) switched a structured finance transaction from the UK to New Zealand when NAB's UK tax position became uncertain. This is one of the conclusions of a High Court judgment against NAB's subsidiary Bank... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Jul 2009 | 4:15 am Broker Talk: Inflation Fears Are Unfounded (Broker Talk) With the Fed busy pumping dollars into banks’ coffers, the latest word on the street is “inflation.” But these experts say fears of it are overrated. Who’s Talking: Jurrien Timmer, director of market research at Fidelity The Gist: The threat of inflation isn’t imminent. Once the economy picks up, however, it will pose a bigger threat and require careful monetary policy. By Timmer’s estimation, the inflation-deflation question will be “the single biggest economic issue” driving investors’ asset-allocation decisions for the next two years. If we’re in for a bout of deflation, investor demand for cash, Treasurys and gold will rise. If we’re in for a period of inflation, then demand for TIPS [Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities] and “total return plays” such as utilities, REITs and emerging-market stocks will go up instead. Unfortunately, says Timmer, even the best stock broker in the word could pick the wrong side of this equation and damage investors’ portfolios. What does Timmer predict? Based on the market’s performance in the second quarter, inflation isn’t in the cards any time soon, because the cash being injected into the economy is circulating at a “slow velocity.” Even though the Fed is busy printing money and injecting banks’ balance sheets with cash, the banks are simply sitting on excess reserves rather than lending the money. Consumers are also slowing the pace of money exchange, he says. Instead of buying more things, they’re using their income to pay down debt. Both of these trends are serving as curbs on inflation. But that won’t be the case forever. Eventually, says Timmer, “the economy will improve, banks will lend and consumers will spend.” That’s the point at which inflation could pose a threat. The solution, says Timmer, is good monetary policy (through interest rate hikes and less government spending) once economic growth returns. Even if inflation is in store, he doesn’t expect it to hit before 2011 or 2012. Who’s Talking: Russell T. Price, senior economist at Ameriprise The Gist: Fears of inflation are premature and misguided. Cash-strapped consumers and slow industrial production should keep inflation in check for several years. After that, some inflation will be welcome. Price argues that deflation, not inflation, is still the bigger concern right now. For inflation to hit, we would need to see a strong economy recovery, which isn’t in the immediate offing, he says. The two main arguments analysts are making right now for inflation, he explains, are 1) that a weaker U.S. dollar would increase the price of imports over the next few years, and 2) that the U.S. government is pumping too much money into the system. On the first point, Price says any decline in the U.S. dollar will likely be “moderate” since imports only account for 17% of GDP. As for the second point, the issue of money supply, Price agrees with Timmer. Money supply, he says, only creates inflation if banks are actually lending out their new cash to borrowers. Under normal circumstances, those bank loans stimulate consumer spending and corporate borrowing, which can cause demand to “overheat” and lead to inflation. But today's circumstances are far from normal, he says. Consumers and businesses alike are unwilling to borrow and spend, indicating that inflation is likely a long way off. That’s actually good news for the Fed, says Price, because it allows the government time to soak up the excess cash from the banking system when the economy does improve, thereby avoiding excessive inflation. But some inflation eventually will actually be a good thing, Price argues, because it will signal that the economic stimulus has been a success. By contrast, no inflation would indicate that the economy is still weak and that the government’s monetary and fiscal policies aren’t working. 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 | 16 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am 5 Ways to Cheaper, Cleaner Energy at Home (Deal of the Day) The Group of 8 may have failed to set specific goals for greenhouse gas reduction. T. Boone Pickens may have put his plans for the world’s largest windmill farm on hold. But there are plenty of cost-effective ways for you to make the switch to renewable energy sources at home, without waiting for governments or billionaires to take the first step. The largest source of industrial air pollution in the U.S. today is electricity generation, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. So reducing the amount of electricity you use has a big environmental impact. It can also be a wise investment: New renewable-energy projects require cash upfront for a utility or a homeowner, but sunshine and many of the world’s other energy-producing resources will always be free. For example, if you spend the money now to install solar panels on your roof, you’ll be saving later. “In a way, you’re purchasing your energy now at a lower rate” and protecting yourself from an increasing utility bill, says Dona Stankus, the building programs manager for the North Carolina Solar Center. If oil prices rise again as the global economy picks back up, the cost of electricity from conventional sources will rise, but those solar panels will still be generating free juice. Your first step should be to make your home as energy efficient as possible, particularly if you’re planning to invest in an energy-generating system. “If you’re not changing your consumption, the investment is going into the wrong place,” says Bomee Jung, a spokeswoman for GreenHomeNYC, a volunteer organization that connects building owners with green building services and materials firms. The Department of Energy’s Energy Savers web site provides information on how to reduce your electricity use – the easiest and most cost-effective way to go green. The next step is passive solar: strategically using your home’s exposure to the sun to reduce heating and cooling costs. Consider insulated shades for your windows that would allow you to block out daytime heat during the summer or cold night air during the winter. A trellis to block a window facing south in the summer is another inexpensive way to cut air-conditioning costs, says Stankus. For eastern and western exposures, Stankus suggests applying low-E film to your windows – an easy installation you could do yourself. About 25% of the nation’s utilities currently offer a green-pricing program – for about $5 or $10 a month you can buy renewable energy certificates (or RECs) as part of your electric bill. If your utility doesn’t offer such a program, you can buy the RECs directly online from a provider like Community Energy or Renewable Choice Energy. Producers of renewable energy like wind farms sell the power they produce directly to utility companies. “When this megawatt hour is produced from the wind farm, that wind farm can sell the megawatt hour one place and the REC to a totally different place,” says Jeff Swenerton, the communications director for the Center for Resource Solutions, a nonprofit think tank that develops policy and market strategies to advance sustainable energy. This system allows producers to recover the higher start-up costs of a new renewable-energy project. The Center for Resource Solutions runs a certification program for RECs called Green-e, which checks that these credits are supporting recently built operations. Consumers can consider their purchase a small investment in developing more alternative energy capacity in the U.S. If you want to go a step further and have some extra cash on hand, now may be the time to invest in the technology to generate renewable electricity at home, particularly with federal and state tax credits currently cutting anywhere from 30% to 50% off the cost of installing some systems. Check out these 5 cost-effective ways you can use renewable energy in your home. Hydroelectric Power If you have running water on your property, you could install a microhydropower system. You’ll need to live near water that falls at least two feet to generate a useful amount of electricity. Find out how to evaluate a stream as a potential microhydropower site at EnergySavers.gov. A small system that generates electricity at a rate of 10 kilowatt hours of energy every hour could be enough to power a typical home. Pro: Could potentially provide all the electricity you need to run your home. Con: Without running water, you’re out of luck; will require navigating some bureaucracy to get permits and water rights; water flow varies seasonally; not eligible for federal tax credit. Cost upfront: Anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000, depending on the size of the system. Time to recoup investment: 3 to 10 years. Wind Power If you live in a breezy enough area, a small wind electric system could provide all the electricity you need to power your home. The windiest areas of the U.S. are in central states like North or South Dakota, Nebraska or Kansas. Many areas in the West also have what’s known as a good “wind resource.” Windmill systems are typically quiet enough to avoid upsetting the neighbors. When installing a system like this, you should expect to pay $3,000 to $6,000 per kilowatt of capacity, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association, a trade organization for the wind power industry. A five-kilowatt system should be enough to power a typical home. Pro: Maintenance costs are usually low. Con: Works best for rural homes far from utility lines with at least one acre of land. Cost upfront: $15,000 to $30,000 for a five-kilowatt system Time to recoup investment: 5 to 10 years, or 4 to 8 years with a 30% federal tax credit. Solar Power There is a wide variety of solar power options available for the residential consumer – from small $20 to $50 devices that can recharge your iPod or cellphone to a roof covered in photovoltaic cells that can power your whole house. Home Depot (HD) offers free in-home consultations for homeowners looking to install a complete home solar power system, which will set you back at least $50,000. A more modest starting point could be a solar hot water heater. For about $5,000 (not including tax credits) you could eliminate the cost of heating water for a family of four. A system like that would pay for itself in about eight years. If you want to take your home partially off the grid, Stankus suggests starting with a two-kilowatt system – enough to provide you with emergency back-up power for outages now and recharge an electric car in the future. Pro: Could provide about 15% of your household electricity; typically covered under warranty for 25 years. Con: Efficiency limited by home’s orientation. Works best with a southern exposure. Cost: $30,000 for a top-of-the-line two-kilowatt system with battery back-up. Time to recoup investment: 75 years, or about 55 years with a 30% federal tax credit. Biopower Utilities can generate power from biological material like wood waste from trees or decaying trash in landfills. The easiest way to use biopower at home is also the most old-fashioned: Install a wood- or pellet-burning stove. Pellet stoves are more efficient than wood-burning stoves, and they burn the cleanest of any residential fuel-burning appliance. The fuel for these stoves is made out of compacted sawdust, wood chips, agricultural waste, waste paper and other materials. Pro: A pellet stove could provide nearly all the heat you’ll need for your home; you’ll only need to refuel it once a day; it may be cheaper to install than a wood-burning stove because it usually doesn’t require a chimney. Con: Pellet fuel isn’t available everywhere; pellet stoves are more complex than wood stoves and may require more careful maintenance; not eligible for federal tax credit. Cost: $1,700 to $3,000 for the stove; $250 to $600 each winter for fuel. Time to recoup investment: About 3 or 4 years if you’re switching from gas heat. Geothermal Power Geothermal heat pumps take advantage of the fact that the temperature stays relatively constant all year long just a few feet under the ground; it’s cooler than the air above ground in summer and warmer in winter. Installing a pump isn’t a do-it-yourself project, so be sure you carefully research the installer you hire. Pro: Takes up less indoor space and makes less noise than a conventional system; particularly effective at controlling humidity; some systems may also provide hot water. Con: You’ll be able to install a cheaper type of system in new construction – existing homes may need to go with a more expensive option that takes up less space underground. Cost: About $7,500. Time to recoup investment: 5 to 10 years, or 4 to 8 years with a 30% federal tax credit. 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 | 16 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am 5 Companies With Bizarre Business Combinations (Screens) Some businesses defy categorization. For example, an ice cream shop is a type of restaurant, while an ice cream shop that sells lawn furniture under the same roof is part of a broader group — retailers. Add a movie theater and you can still call the whole thing a seller of “consumer discretionary” items, or goods and services that shoppers want but don’t need. But what if Dudley’s Sundae & Deck Chair Cineplex also makes military satellites? Then you have a conglomerate. Such Franken-businesses usually arise from mergers and acquisitions. Conglomerate mergers were wildly popular during the late 1960s. But they fell out of favor after a string of studies beginning in 1974 showed that returns for highly-diversified businesses are generally poor. Many hodge-podge businesses still exist, of course, including giants like General Electric (GE), which makes Christmas tree lights and mammography machines, and much else. GE stock today trades at its 1995 price. Conglomerates in general got a reputation boost when a 2004 study in the Academy of Strategic Management Journal showed that they performed better during the 1990s than the 1960s. However, the past year’s credit crisis battered firms like GE and Textron (TXT), a maker of helicopters and golf carts, because both companies have big financial units. It’s difficult to make a blanket statement about whether investors should shun or embrace conglomerates, for two reasons. First, it’s not quite clear at what point a diversified business becomes one. Fortune Brands (FO) is sometimes called a conglomerate but its management might argue, sensibly, that it takes the same consumer-product savvy to sell faucets as to sell golf balls and bourbon, and that the businesses are therefore aligned. Second, not all conglomerates are run with the same motivations. Some serve the empire-building desires of managers, whose pay, studies show, is much more closely correlated with company size than with returns. Some are run like true investment portfolios. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) is undeniably a conglomerate, selling both catastrophic insurance and ice cream cones. From 1965 to the end of last year the book value of its shares increased 362,319%, or about 84 times the return of the broad-market S&P 500 index. Below are listed four companies with truly bizarre business combinations. Their past returns are vastly different, but their prospects for future ones seem bright. Crane’s (CR) products include airplane landing gear and snack vending machines. Its shares have lost 43% in three years, vs. a 27% drop for the S&P 500 index. Weak construction and automotive markets have especially hurt sales of the company’s engineered panels. Management has been trimming workers and costs, which might result in better profit margins once demand improves. The stock seems suitably cheap. It sells for less than 11 times earnings and pays a 3.8% dividend, and the company is only modestly indebted. National Presto (NPK) seems a bit like Acme from the Road Runner cartoons. It makes waffle makers, shoe polishers, military fuses and ammunition, adult diapers and plenty more (but not rocket-powered roller skates). The assortment might seem perplexing, but shareholders aren’t complaining. Presto has conjured a 51% stock gain over the past three years. The company owes nothing and, at $79 a share, holds more than $21 a share in cash. Sales and profits are rising, shares cost less than 11 times earnings and there’s even a dinky dividend — about 1.5%. Leucadia National (LUK) sells carpet padding and prepaid phone cards; owns casinos, mines and a company that makes blood transfusion products; and has stock interests in AmeriCredit (ACF), a car financer, and Jefferies (JEF), an investment bank. In other words, , it’s a mini Berkshire Hathaway, run by Nos. 377 and 355 on Forbes’s list of the richest 400 Americans, Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg, instead of by No. 1 Warren Buffett. (This year the list has shrank to 793, Buffett has fallen to No. 2 behind Bill Gates, and Cumming and Steinberg don’t appear.) Cumming and Steinberg resemble Buffett in more than occupation. They formed Leucadia decades ago from the shell of a broken-down company and never bothered to change the name. They maintain a comically spartan web site for a $5 billion investment vehicle, with little more than links to financial filings. And they’ve stomped the S&P 500, increasing their stock price by an average of 28.8% a year from 1978 through 2008, vs. 7.8% for the index. Leucadia’s stock returns seem more volatile than Berkshire’s, for better or worse. Over the past 10 years shares gained 167% compared with Berkshire’s 29%, but over the past year they lost 52% vs. Berkshire’s loss of 23%. Have a look if you like at details on all three companies in the table below.
Company	Ticker	Some of Its Businesses	Share Price	Price Change 3 years (%)	P/E	Dividend Yield (%)
Data as of July 15, 2009 Source: Thomson Reuters * Loss posted last year. No estimates available for 2009.
Crane	CR	Mars rovers, implantable defibrillators, snack vending machines, landing gear, gas alarms	$22.06	-41	11	3.6
Leucadia National	LUK	Carpet padding, phone cards, copper, casinos, investment banking	20.40	-25	n/a*	No dividend
National Presto	NPK	Waffle irons, knife sharpeners, ammunition, military fuses	79.90	54	11	1.3

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RSC Holdings: Building a Bottom

"THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IS FAR FROM recovery, but we think we've found the bottom in our business." That is Erik Olsson talking. As chief executive of RSC Holdings (RRR), the country's second-largest construction-equipment rental outfit, Olsson has a pretty good feel for the pulse of the economy. And for most of the past year that pulse has been faint, as customers canceled or delayed construction projects.

Still, every day, the Scottsdale, Ariz., company, which had $1.8 billion in revenue last year, rents out about $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion of equipment, including forklifts, backhoes, air compressors and even 135-foot-tall boom lifts.

Rentals declined precipitously during the six months through March 30, but Olsson says he is beginning to see some stabilization. However, it isn't coming from infrastructure spending -- a focus of the Obama administration's stimulus plan.

Instead, RSC's nonconstruction industrial customers, in petrochemicals, food processing, mining, entertainment and other businesses, are spending more on maintenance and repair services. These activities are less cyclical and tend to carry higher margins than construction-project rentals, and they now account for a growing and profitable 55% of RSC's sales.

AS WE NOTED IN AN UPBEAT article last spring ("Moving Heaven and Earth," April 13), Olsson also has been aggressively cutting costs and broadening his company's geographic reach, pushing into the most active markets for rentals.

The resiliency of RSC's business was demonstrated last May when the company reported it had generated $112 million in free cash flow during the first three months of 2009 despite the recession, and predicted full-year free cash flow of $340 to $370 million -- $20 million above its previous estimate.

The rental specialist is using that strong cash flow to reduce debt, which was trimmed by 7% since the beginning of this year, to $2.38 billion. It recently issued $400 million senior secured notes due 2017; proceeds will be used to retire debt due in 2011.

"RSC generated record levels of cash flow during the first quarter, and we remain highly confident that the company continues to execute and produce ever-stronger free cash going forward," says Morgan Stanley analyst Vance Edelson, who contends the company will earn 45 cents a share next year, as it recovers from an expected 15-cent loss this year.

With free-cash-flow yields of 45% this year and 63% next year, RSC is rated Overweight by Vance, who believes the shares can reach $15 during the next 12 months. The stock, which was at $5.19 before our story ran, is changing hands at around $6. But don't count on the construction industry to provide a quick boost. It "isn't likely to recover before we are well into 2010," says Olsson. Instead, he predicts the industrial segment -- rentals tied to maintenance and repairs -- will recover sooner and faster than the rest of the industry.

More specifics should emerge on July 30 when the company reports second-quarter results.

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.

No inflation worries for rest of year for Reserve Bank, say economists

Calpers to sue credit agencies over ratings

Toyota to give Mazda hybrid help

Big jump in new manufacturing orders

Google faced rougher landscape in second quarter

Lender CIT faces bankruptcy filing

Massive US pension fund sues credit rating agencies over $US1bn loss

Fed sees end to US downturn

Kupinski Says Gannett, Newspapers `Valuable' to Advertisers

Dergarabedian Says `Potter' Movie May Earn $1 Billion Globally

Government will not give lender CIT 2nd bailout (AP)

Write-Offs: 07.15.09

$$$ CIT: No Support By US In Near Term [WSJ]

$$$ Poker World Series Pays Off for Bear Stearns Official [Bloomberg]

$$$ 11 accused of insider trading [DealBook]

$$$ Victims of shark attacks want the predators saved, knowing how useful they can be in the transportation of coke. "We're seriously scarred . . . and some of us are missing limbs, and we have every right to hate sharks," Salamone said, sketching out the group' spiel for senators today. "I think the message is: If we can see the value in saving sharks, everyone should." [WaPo]

Hear: Fancy Food Economics

Adam and Chana gear up for the competition. David Kestenbaum/NPR

 

On today's Planet Money:

A very special radio competition. We sent Adam Davidson, Chana Joffe-Walt and David Kestenbaum to New York's Fancy Food Show and challenged them to bring back the best economics stories they could find. Listen to their stories, hear our panel of celebrity judges weigh in and then decide who you think should be the winner.

Bonus: Listen to each story individually and vote for the winner, after the jump.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Flying Lizards' "Money." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Adam delves into the burgeoning Palestinian export food market.

Chana explains why cultivating vanilla is harder than you think.

David asks why fancy food is so darn expensive.

Who did the best job covering the Fancy Food show?(polls)

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Twitter files leaked in ‘cloud’ lapse

AIG speeds up spinoff of life insurance unit (AP)

A Good Chance CIT (CIT) Will Go Bankrupt

How the major stock indexes fared on Wednesday (AP)

Porsche’s owners poised to settle feud

Citi close to secret deal with regulator

IRS Losing Game Of Hide And Seek With Missing Billion

You almost don't need a Swiss bank when there's an almost 1-in-5 chance the millions the tax man is looking to collect from you are going to be lost in the IRS's systems. Due to a breakdown in the agency's abaci and carrier pigeons, 18% of the cases of individuals who owed at least $1 million as of the end of 2007 (for a total of $1.2 billion in uncollected taxes) were still floating around in cyberspace.

IRS Fails to Collect $1.2 Billion From Those Owing $1 Million [Bloomberg]

Plan would give SEC oversight of hedge funds (AP)

Secondary Market For CA IOUs Almost Ready To Go

If you weren't a lucky direct recipient of an IOU from investment grade rated California, secondary trading of the newest illiquid asset is set to kick off. After the SEC put an end to Craigslist-based price discovery and forced participants to look to brokers to wheel and deal in Arnold promise paper, illiquid trading platform SecondMarket is expected to start legitimate IOU trading in the coming days. If attempts to plug the $26 billion hole fail and the state continues to pump out IOUs, two things are certain- it will be a good couple of months for SecondMarket and airplay of Stand for California will go through the roof.

Ex-Goldman analyst, others accused of inside trades (Reuters)

Ex-Goldman analyst, others accused of inside trades (Reuters)

85 Broad Being Evacuated?

A friend downtown tells us the House of Goldman appears to be in the midst of an evacuation, with "security types directing people to the side of the building, but only 2 police cruisers...no sirens or anything." No idea what's up, though it's not necessarily a panic situation. It could just be that they needed to make room for the money, which is being brought in tonight in twenty dollar denominations for everyone to strip down and roll around in for ten minutes tomorrow morning, just to get a taste of what life could be like come bonus time if they keep it up (if they don't keep it up they'll be rolling around in the sweat of a noted Italian-American reporter, accrued from a day-long shoot of his self-funded exercise video, taped, without permission, on the GS trading floor). Presumably there's nothing to see here, but if you know what's going on, Maxine, get in touch. In related news, this lady says Goldman owes us all money and if they're not going to hand it over we're just gonna have to go get it ourselves.

Update: Still unclear what's happening, though apparently "it looks like a drill," not specifically having anything to do with fire but more like a what-to-do in the very likely event M. Waters storms the building before Labor Day, when guards are down and they're least suspecting it.

Wal-Mart to create eco-ratings for products (AP)

Cnooc Raised to `Overweight' at Morgan Stanley

Some HF Numbers

Guarantee this will be gone shortly so let's see some fast fingers.

Orenbuch Says CIT Has 1% of Commercial Lending Market

Wall Street surges on Intel earnings, Fed outlook (AFP)

AFP - Wall Street fired on all cylinders Wednesday as the market was ignited by surprisingly strong results from tech giant Intel and an improved Federal Reserve outlook.

Isaac Says Regulators Need to Encourage Banks to Boost Lending

Presented By:

Unfounded Rumor Of The Afternoon: Mitch Cox and Co. To UBS?

Supposedly Mitch Cox, a senior vice-president in global wealth management at Bank of America, who reportedly left the firm today, is headed for UBS, as are the 6 other senior employees who peaced out of Ken Lewis's kingdom.

Rep. Issa: Paulson Will Be "Received Somewhat Cruelly"

[via The Hill]
Representative Issa went on Fox Business today to discuss Hank Paulson's hearing tomorrow regarding threatening Ken Lewis over the Bank of America/Merrill deal, whether doing so was 'appropriate' or not and so on and so forth. The ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform committee said that, based on leaked testimony from Paulson, in which the former Treasury Secretary says fuck hell yeah we threatened Ken Lewis, but it was totally appropriate, Issa and his fellow congressmen and ladies will have no choice but to go hard on the guy. Considering that even when they like a person who categorically did nothing wrong, Team Congressional Crazy yells, berates, cuts off, and just generally gets lays an insane amount of self-righteousness on the ass of whoever's in front of them, what could we possibly expect is in store for HP? Maxine's not even on this committee but perhaps she'll be brought in specially for the event? And is currently tied up in a House supply closet chewing on a piece of leather in anticipation of the big show? Obviously it's going to have to be something good, since, I don't know if Issa and Co know this, they're dealing with the god damn Hammer, from whom they'll have no protection once the hearing adjourns. Not scared? Talk to Ken Lewis. If he's feeling strong enough to speak about it yet.

Fed: Expect Higher Unemployment

Officials at the Federal Reserve think that unemployment could hit 10 percent later this year. The forecast comes out of the the Fed's June 24th meeting. Minutes from that meeting were just released today. From the minutes:

The large number of people working part time for economic reasons and the prevalence of permanent job reductions rather than temporary layoffs suggested that labor market conditions were even more difficult than indicated by the unemployment rate.

Members of the Federal Reserve predict an unemployment rate of 9.8 to 10.1 percent for 2009. In April, those same officials predicted a 9.2 to 9.6 unemployment rate for the year. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment currently stands at 9.5 percent.

On a more positive note, the Fed did predict that unemployment is likely to decline next year. They also raised their prediction for GDP growth, saying the U.S. economy would grow up to 3.3 percent in 2010, and 4.6 percent in 2011.

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FDIC Proposes Pay-To-Play Program For Prop Trading

This must be surtax appreciation week in DC. On the heels of the recession busting proposed surtax on high income earners to fund healthcare "reform", the SheBair is set to push for new fees for bank holding companies that engage in prop trading and pretty much everything else that doesn't qualify as traditional lending. To the extent these fees are severe enough and firms scale down or close down targeted areas, the FDIC may wind up actually adding risk to the banking system through the creation of a nation of less diverse, average-sized banks. Between potentially paying an addition 5%+ in taxes and worrying about whether your employer is willing to go along with the FDIC's pay-to-play proposal, it has been a rough week for 7-figure club members working on prop desks.

Bair, Bernanke Want Tougher Curbs on Biggest Banks [Bloomberg]

Congress Moves Closer To Protecting Car Dealers

Last week, we told you about a House bill that will force GM and Chrysler to bring back over 2,000 dealerships that were scheduled to close or have been closed. Well, yesterday dozens of dealers went to Capitol Hill to lobby Congress to support the bill. The dealers said that many of the dealerships were closed down for arbitrary reasons -- and some even claim that they were targeted.

So far their efforts seem to be working -- over 240 House members have signed onto the bill, according to supporters.

The automakers of course hate the bill. They say the main reason they have cut down the number of dealerships is to improve profits. General Motors says it could save $2.5 billion annually by cutting dealers. The company says it spends that money on sales incentives, advertising and other programs that support dealers.

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Hank Paulson: "Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, I Said I'd Break His Legs. To Answer Your Question."

The Journal has published Hank Paulson's prepared testimony for tomorrow's hearing on the Hill. Apparently Bald is going to ramble on for about four pages until he finally gets to the following. Basically, what it comes down to is whether or not my definition of 'appropriate' is the same as yours. I think it's appropriate to waterboard a CEO with his drink of choice, Strawberry Hill, until he agrees to do exactly as we say. If you don't, I guess you'd characterize what I did as 'inappropriate,' which is your prerogative.

The 12 Qualities of True Business Professionals

Professionalism is a word embraced by many, but in all honesty demonstrated by far fewer individuals. Its Latin’s origins come from the word profess which means, “to avow before.” So the question is who are these individuals that believe themselves to be true professionals avowing before? Possibly the answer may be found within the word professional.

P - Positively proactive. Professionals demonstrate behaviors that are positive, proactive instead of negative, and reactive.

R - Respect. Through this ethic and value of respect, professionals are known and trusted within and without their respective organizations.

O - Opportunities to help others. Those who avow before understand they have a responsibility to help others whether it is to grow self-leadership skills or provide some expert advice.

F - Follow-up. No one likes to wait for un-returned phone calls or emails. Professionals make it a habit to follow-up on everything and accept responsibility when they fail to engage in that behavior.

E - Empathy. Professionals know how to be empathetic. This characteristic is a one of the signs of high emotional intelligence and a predictor for leadership success.

S - Self-confident. When individuals are self confident, they do not have to put others down at their own expense. These individuals have a high sense of balanced self-esteem and role awareness.

S - Sustainable. Professionals are truly sustainable in that they can continue forward when times become difficult. Their ethics and beliefs keep them focused.

I - Integrity. Integrity is putting your values into action; doing the right thing when no one else is looking without personal gain or benefit; and accepting a potential personal cost.

O - Optimize all interactions. This is critical because professionals do not negate the value of people. They look to see how one interaction can benefit someone else even before himself or herself.

N - Nimble. Being flexible and open to change allows these individuals to be quick on their feet and nimble to the opportunities that they encounter on a daily basis.

A - Awareness. Having a high level of awareness of themselves, the marketplace, the community and even the world helps these individuals continually stay on top of things.

L - Leadership. Last, but not least, professionals demonstrate exceptional leadership skills and even more importantly self-leadership skill. For if you cannot lead yourself, you cannot lead others.

Clifton Sees $1.8 Trillion U.S. Deficit for 2009

ING's Golub Says S&P 500 May Rise as High as 1,100 Next Year

A New Life For A Failed Bank

Seen in Lakewood, Wash. u.dweller/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

Flickr user u.dweller sends the photo above. She writes: "This is my idea of a green shoot." It's been just over a year since IndyMac failed and was seized by federal regulators.

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Acree Says Intel Customers Want Increased Chip Production

Ciocca Sees `Ambiguity' in Signs of U.S. Economic Recovery

'Vulture investors' feast on scrap assets

McKee Says Intel Earnings `Good News' for Chip Industry

20 Brands & Products that Died in 2009

2009 is 50% over, but has already left a decade’s worth of brand carnage in its wake. In May alone, 376 companies per day sought protection from creditors in bankruptcy court, according to Aacer’s court records.

Everyone was affected, from small, family-run outfits to major corporations. This list represents a sampling of brands and products that died in 2009. You may be familiar with some of the brands. Others are smaller or regional, but symbolize the story of what happened many other businesses this year. Even a Wal-Mart generic brand got the shaft.

It’s worth noting that when a brand dies, it doesn’t necessarily get buried, the way humans do. Some brands, like Circuit City, are resurrected in a different form. Others, like Saab, go dormant, then reemerge in a new form. Still others find themselves gobbled up by bigger fish.

The brands and products in this list reflect all possibilities. Sadly, most are gone forever.

Sterling trucks

Sterling Trucks, originally Ford’s heavy truck division, was declared a goner by Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) in March 2009. The brand encompassed a range of heavy trucks and tractors, including snow plows, garbage trucks, landscaping, and other vocational vehicles. With Sterling gone, DTNA will focus its strategy on its other two heavy truck brands, Western Star and Freightliner.

Circuit City

Circuit City liquidated in 2009, after 50 years of operation. According to the company’s now-defunct investors page, more than 30,000 employees were laid off. Hardware company Systemax purchased the Circuit City brand in May, which it now uses at circuitcity.com, an online version of the old retailer.

Home Depot Expo

Home Depot’s yupperific counterpart closed its doors in April 2009, shedding 34 stores and 7,000 employees. Home Depot admitted in a statement that Expo hadn’t even performed well during the housing boom. Now home flippers will have to settle for plain old Home Depot, the way they always did.

Max Factor

Proctor & Gamble announced in June that Max Factor will be pulled from American shelves by early 2010, according to TradingMarkets. The company will put its resources into the Cover Girl brand. Max Factor will continue to be sold abroad, where it continues to be a fast-growing brand.

White Cloud Diapers

This cheaper alternative to Huggies, Luvs and Pampers, was discontinued in spring 2009. Many mothers grieved the loss of the brand, which was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart.

MSN Encarta

When Microsoft launched Encarta in 1993, the multimedia encyclopedia was a revolutionary concept. Encarta integrated Funk & Wagnall’s, Collier’s, and the New Merit Scholar’s encyclopedias into its 62,000+ article collection. As of October 31, 2009, Encarta will cease to exist. Wikimedia’s Jimmy Wales has approached Microsoft about picking up some of Encarta’s information for free.

Monson Trucking

Duluth, MN-based Monson Trucking will be closing its doors on August 31. The family-owned business had been in operation for 94 years before two of its biggest customers declared bankruptcy, forcing Monson out of business, too. The company was run by four generations of the Monson family. (From the Journal of Commerce.)

Mac Homepage, Groups

Apple launched HomePage with iTools in 2001. July 7 marked the date when you could no longer edit or create new pages. iWeb, which publishes websites and blogs, will replace Homepage. .Mac Groups, on the other hand, will be taken offline on July 7. MobileMe members will have access to their archives, but all group HomePages, message boards, group email addresses, and iDisk Groups will be removed.

Pontiac

Pontiac, creator of the fabled Bonneville and GTO, will be phased out forever in 2010. GM announced the sad news on April 27, 2009, burying Pontiac on a plot in its ever-expanding brand graveyard.

iPhone bluetooth headset

In April 2009, Apple removed its iPhone Bluetooth Headset from the Apple Store for undisclosed reasons. The Apple Insider speculates that the company will either release an improved, iPhone 3.0-compatible version sometime in the future, or it is backing out from the accessory business entirely. Time will tell.

Kodachrome

Kodak retired Kodachrome one year before the product’s 75th anniversary. 70% of Kodak’s business revolves around digital products, according to a company statement referenced in the LA Times. This leaves no place for Kodachrome, which is nonetheless forever immortalized in the Paul Simon song.

Rocky Mountain News

The Rocky Mountain News was one of many newspapers whose future was shredded in 2009. Its story represents a universal newspaper story. In February 2009, one of Denver’s two newspapers published its last edition. Owner Scripps Howard News Service said that even if the newspaper went online-only and revenues grew at 40% per year for five years, “they would still be equal to the cost of one newsroom today,” according to a RMN article. The paper was 150 years old. Scripps owned the paper since 1926. It lost $16 million in 2008 alone.

Hummer

Chengdu’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company scooped up GM’s Hummer brand for less than $500 million (estimated) this June, according to the New York Times. The Chinese company plans to sell more fuel-efficient versions of the trucks, says the Times.

Goody’s

Tennessee-based Goody’s closed 287 stores in April 2009, four months after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, writes Alibaba. The company had managed to reorganize after filing for bankruptcy last June, closing underperforming stores, cutting operating costs, and terminating its e-commerce business. But a poor holiday season and slow retail environment killed the company, which had been around since 1950.

Factor 5

22-year-old video game developer Factor 5 shuttered after Brash Entertainment, its main customer, closed its doors in spring 2009. Factor 5 was behind the Commodore 64’s Turrican, if you can remember that far back. Other games include Lair for PS3, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron I/II/III for Nintendo 64/GameCube, and a series of Atari, Amiga, GameBoy, and Super Nintendo games.

BearingPoint

In 2006, BearingPoint was one of Fortune’s “Most Admired” IT services companies. Just three years later, the company sold off its North American Public Businesses unit to Deloitte and its Global Practices and Commercial Services businesses to PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Predictably, you won’t be seeing the BearingPoint name on the PGA tour anymore, either.

Hard Rock Boulevard

This is the story of rebranding a street. When Myrtle Beach, SC-based Hard Rock Park, a Hard Rock café-themed park featuring six “rock environs” with names like British Invasion and Lost in the ‘70s, folded in mid-2008, its new owners figured a little rebranding might keep it alive. In mid-2009, the park was reborn as Freestyle Music Park. Unfortunately, the new name did nothing to boost the flopped park’s reputation, reports the Wall Street Journal. Now, the owners want to rename the road it’s located on—Hard Rock Boulevard–as Fantasy Harbour Boulevard. Only time will tell if the new street name removes the music park’s scourge of failure.

Agape World

Ponzi schemes have brands, too. Agape World, listed as #73 on last year’s Entrepreneur Hot 100 Fastest-Growing Businesses in America, cheated investors out of $380 million through a commercial bridge lending scheme, writes the Wall Street Journal. Founder Nicholas Cosmo now sits in jail on fraud charges, while investors are agape at Entrepreneur for unwittingly promoting a Ponzi scheme.

Gottschalks

Founded in 1904 as a dry goods store, Gottschalks expanded to become one of the largest department store chains in the country. The store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, then starting liquidating at the end of March 2009.

Linux Smartphone

The Openmoko Neo FreeRunner, the first Linux smartphone, lasted a mere 10 months before being discontinued. The device was supposed to be the world’s first open-source hardware and software smartphone, according to Heise. Creator Openmoko pulled the phone amidst heavy staff cuts. They are now working on a new device; however, it’s not a smartphone.

Letters: G.I. Bill, stimulus, Christmas

Green jobs coming to U.S. from afar

Wal-Mart to gauge 'green' products

Tax the wealthy, keep everyone healthy

7-11 expands amid real estate slump

Ratings firms claim free-speech rights

Is CIT worth saving?

The White Paint Recovery

Tom Sawyer's very own economic indicator. Musebrarian/flickr

 

Some positive news from the folks over at the Globe and Mail. According to one little-known economic indicator, the white paint index, we're on the way to recovery.

Economists track the price of a key ingredient in white paint, titanium dioxide. The price of titanium dioxide took a huge plunge back in January, and companies that make white paint have been cutting back production because of the recession. Over the past three months, the price has been falling, but at a progressively slower pace. Titanium dioxide prices fell 4.6 percent over the year in June, compared to a 5.1 percent drop for the year in May. Economists think that the price of white paint will begin to rise within the coming months, going along with a broader economic recovery.

White paint is used by a huge slew of industries -- including the automotive sector, in the construction of skyscrapers, and, of course, by adolescent boys painting fences. One economist calls it the "durable-good pigment" because it's used in the creation of so many products.

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Compensation: Paramedics

Matt from Manhattan writes:

Let me tell you about how paramedics get paid at my hospital. We're a non-union shop, and we nominally do in fact get paid for performance -- but for the most trivial, stupid things. For example, we get performance reviews on our appearance, attendance and paperwork.

Do we get rewarded for providing good patient care, for saving lives? NEGATIVE. I could be killing people right and left, but so long as my paperwork is in order, I'm a fantastic employee in the hospital's eye.

In part, the problem is one of information. Our supervisors aren't out there on the ambo with us...ever. And it'd be hard to do, but not impossible. The other option is peer reviews. But this too is problematic, because of all the catty gossip and bad-mouthing that happens.

However, the bigger issue is something that affects the health care industry more generally: there is no reward for practicing good medicine. The only real incentive is risk, namely the risk of getting sued. Employees get punished for pissing people off, yet are NEVER rewarded for doing a good job. All this translates into a pretty dysfunctional corporate culture where managers don't even pretend to care about the substance of your work, only the appearance of errors. Paramedics learn to be entirely risk averse from a paperwork point of view, even when taking a risk might save a life.

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Tiny Inflation

The new inflation numbers are out. Labor Department says the consumer price index rose 0.7% in June. The BLS says the increase was mostly due to rising gasoline prices.

But it's not all gas. Bloomberg has this to add:

General Mills, the Minneapolis-based maker of Cheerios and Hamburger Helper, raised prices in fiscal 2009 by 8 percent to counter higher commodity expenses, Chief Financial Officer Don Mulligan said in a telephone interview.

Some economists are still worried about deflation, which can be harder to stop than inflation. They'd like to see a healthy 2 or 3% increase in prices.

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Good For Goldman Sachs, And You

Yesterday's news that Goldman Sachs made an impressive $2.72 billion profit last quarter raises some awkward questions for the government. Goldman took $10 billion in TARP money from the government. Goldman benefited from the bailout of AIG. And now, you say, it looks like it's going to pay huge bonuses to its already handsomely paid employees?

There is a bright side for the taxpayers here.

As part of TARP, the government got warrants to buy Goldman Sachs stock. The idea was that taxpayers would share in the riches if the stock price went up. And now it has. When the market closed yesterday Goldman Sachs stock was worth $149.66 a share. The warrants allow the government to buy 12,205,045 shares at the bargain price of $122.90. So if the government exercised the warrants now, it would make a profit of $326 million dollars.

Goldman's CFO yesterday said the company was in talks with Treasury about buying those warrants back.

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Did You Take Your Productivity Pills Today?

How do we bring out the best in employees? Provide them the right tools to do their jobs? Optimum working conditions? In professional sports steroids get the job done. How far would corporations go if we had legal performance enhancing drugs? In a story for the Conference Board Review, Michael Schrage, a research fellow at the MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business, asks how far a company should go to improve its workforce.

From the article:

“You may soon be forced to rethink everything you thought you knew about improving talent and bringing out the best in people. All over the world, the best-performing people in the best-performing organizations always look to get better at getting better. In tomorrow’s global markets, being the best will increasingly depend on ready access to the best technologies, the best (and presumably legal) drugs, and the best coaching and mentoring money can buy.”

If you don’t believe corporate America will embrace they types of technology Schrage refers to, consider the case of coffee. Caffeine is a stimulant that has been provided at no charge to millions of workers for decades. (I once knew an office manager who spiked it with sugar at the brewing stage to squeeze extra energy out of his employees.)

It’s not all about the drugs. How much pressure will executives receive to participate in self-improvement techniques such as counseling and coaching?

More from the article:

“Employees looking for an edge personally purchased the drug or the surgery or the technology or the coach. The firm allowed — encouraged? — employees to effectively subsidize the organization through their own portfolio of performance-enhancement investments.”

Schrage also ponders independent drug use by individuals:

“Is popping a pill to stay up all night to meet a deadline a leadership choice to be celebrated, accepted, ignored, or discouraged? Does it depend on the talent, or on the result?”

Extremely intriguing stuff. All the more reason to shore up those business ethics.

Check out the full article here.

Image Credit: rodrigo senna

The Ultimate Test of Driving Skills