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February 2009

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for 02/03/2009

(last updated 7:30am EST 02/03/2009)

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• HK investments in Chinese mainland up by... HK investments in Chinese mainland up by 48 percent in 2008
02/03/2009
Trade volume between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong reached 203.67 billion USD in 2008, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, according to information released by the Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of China's Ministry of Commerce on February 2. Exports from Chinese mainland to Hong Kong amounted to 190.74 billion USD, up by 3.4 percent year-on-year. Exports from Hong Kong to Chinese mainland amounted to 12.92 billion USD, up by 0.9 percent year-on-year. These growth rates are signi ... (7 h ago)

• Hitachi logs 356.91 bln yen in net loss Hitachi logs 356.91 bln yen in net loss
02/03/2009
Japan's largest electronics maker Hitachi announced Tuesday that it sustained 356.91 billion yen (4 billion U.S. dollars) in net loss for the April-December period, up from a loss of 559 million yen (6.28 billion dollars) a year earlier. Weak sales and the sharp appreciation of the yen are among the factors behind the huge loss, according the electronics maker, whose products range from light bulbs to nuclear reactors. Meanwhile, the company's operating profit shrank by 8.5 percent ... (7 h ago)

• Singapore tourism receipts set record in... Singapore tourism receipts set record in 2008
02/03/2009
Singapore posted a record of 14.8 billion Singapore dollars (about 9.8 billion U.S. dollars) in tourism receipts in 2008, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said on Tuesday. The STB said the figure was 4.8 percent higher than that of 2007. However, tourist arrivals dropped to 10.1 million visitors in 2008, down 1.6 percent as compared to 2007. "The decline in visitor arrivals to Singapore reflects the impact of the global economic slowdown on consumer sentiments and discretionary sp ... (7 h ago)

• S Korean banks mark first quarterly loss... S Korean banks mark first quarterly loss in 8 years
02/03/2009
South Korean banks marked the first quarterly loss last quarter in eight years due to increased loan-loss reserves and full-year earnings decreased by nearly 48 percent, the financial watchdog said Tuesday. Total losses of 18 commercial and state-run banks climbed to 300 billion won (215.4 million U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008, while the total profits a year earlier and three months earlier marked 1.9 trillion won (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) and 1.5 trillion won (1.1 billion ... (7 h ago)

• Asahi to become Tsingtao Brewery's secon... Asahi to become Tsingtao Brewery's second-largest shareholder
02/03/2009
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Tsingtao Brewery Company's second largest shareholder, has already signed an agreement with Asahi Breweries for the sale of a 19.99 percent stake in Tsingtao to Asahi, according to a statement released by the company on February 2. After this transaction, Asahi will become Tsingtao's second largest shareholder. Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch InBev's three representatives on the Board of Directors and the Board of Supervisors will resign. Anheuser-Busch InBev sold its 261 ... (7 h ago)

• ADB raises $1 bln for 3-year global bond ADB raises $1 bln for 3-year global bond
02/03/2009
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday said it had raised 1 billion U.S. dollars for the three-year global benchmark bond issue to return to the U.S. dollar bondmarket. The bonds, with a coupon rate of 2.125 percent per annum payable semiannually and a maturity date of March 15, 2012, were priced at 99.779 percent to yield 92.25 basis points over the 1.125 percent U.S. Treasury note due January 2012, ADB said in a press release. The transaction was lead-managed by Daiwa SMBC, ... (7 h ago)

• Chinese shares gain 2.44% on economic st... Chinese shares gain 2.44% on economic stimulus prospects
02/02/2009
Chinese shares went up 2.44 percent on Tuesday amid a booming confidence. Investors expected a market rally after Premier Wen Jiabao repeated vows of more stimulus plans to boost the economy, dealers said. The Shanghai A-share index rose 49.12 points, or 2.44 percent, to close at 2,060.81, while the Shenzhen Component Index gained 178.8 points, or 2.52 percent, to finish at 7,266.41. Gains outnumbered losses by 788 to 35 in Shanghai and 664 to 37in Shenzhen, and combined turnover r ... (8 h ago)

• Thai cabinet approves massive borrowings... Thai cabinet approves massive borrowings to spur growth
02/02/2009
Thailand's weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday approved a plan of massive domestic and foreign borrowings to finance investments of state enterprises and new public projects to stimulate the economy. The domestic borrrowing would amount to 200 billion baht (5.9 U.S. dollars), which represented a short-term credit facility to ease the liquidity problem among the state enterprises, the website of The Nation newspaper reported Tuesday. The source of the 200 billion baht fund was to be f ... (8 h ago)

• Kazakhstan injects $9.9 bln to help fina... Kazakhstan injects $9.9 bln to help financial sector
02/02/2009
The government of Kazakhstan will complete the week-long emergency capital injection of 9.9 billion U.S. dollars into the domestic financial market on Friday in an effort to fend off the impact of the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said on Monday. To stabilize the domestic financial situation, the government has injected 3.9 billion dollars since last Friday into four major banks of the country, and has decided to channel one billion dollars to small- and medium-siz ... (8 h ago)

• Media: China to discuss support plans fo... Media: China to discuss support plans for machinery, textile industries
02/02/2009
Support plans for the machinery and textile industries have been drafted and will be submitted to the State Council, the Chinese cabinet, for discussion, according to a media report. The Shanghai Securities News reported Tuesday that the machinery part of the plans aims to reduce reliance on imported parts. Yang Liping, an analyst with the Beijing-based Dongxing Securities, said China should scrap tariff exemptions for imported machinery parts that China could produce on its own. ... (8 h ago)

• China to control import-export of techno... China to control import-export of technologies with potential militaryapplication
02/02/2009
To ensure national security and the public interest of society, as well as fulfilling international obligations such as nonproliferation, anti-terrorism and counter-narcotics, China will strictly control imports and exports of items and technologies that can be used for both civilian and military purposes, an official from the Ministry of Commerce said on February 2. Zhang Ji, Director General of the Department of Mechanic, Electronic and Hi-Tech Industry, said that since the 1990s China has ... (9 h ago)

• Tanzania to host African finance ministe... Tanzania to host African finance ministers conference
02/02/2009
The government of Tanzania will join the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to host a continental conference on the ongoing global financial crisis and its impact on the continent. Taking part in the two-day conference will be finance ministers and central bank governors from African countries, according to a press statement issued by the IMF. The conference, slated for March 10-11 in Dar es Salaam, will also draw participants from the academic circle and the private sector. ... (9 h ago)

• South Korea's firms drop in profitabilit... South Korea's firms drop in profitability for four years in a row
02/02/2009
The profitability of South Korea's top-ranking companies made a drop for four consecutive years, from2004 to 2008, amid the unfavorable global business environment and harsh competition with neighboring countries, the Korea Herald reported on Tuesday. The data from the nation's financial data provider, FnGuide, shows that the ratio of operation profit to revenue, a key proxy of profitability, for 40 largest companies has been declining since 2004. The operating profit ratios fell off from ... (10 h ago)

• IMF: South Korean economy to decline 4% ... IMF: South Korean economy to decline 4% in 2009
02/02/2009
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted Tuesday the South Korean economy will decline 4 percent for 2009 due to decrease in domestic demand and exports amid the global economic recession. On January 24, the IMF made a projection of a 2 percent growth in South Korea's economy in 2009. However, after it adjusted its forecast on the global economy growth from 2.2 percent to 0.5 percent last week, the IMF sharply reduced their predictions for South Korea to negative growth. The ... (10 h ago)

• Brazil's Vale says none of its employees... Brazil's Vale says none of its employees on paid-leave yet
02/02/2009
Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale) said on Monday a plan to put 17,800 employees on temporary paid-leave was just a possibility and no employees had been put on paid-leave yet. The company on Friday announced an agreement with eight trade unions on putting 17,800 workers on temporary paid-leave. Under the agreement, Vale employees will receive half of their regular wages per month plus a compensation of 856 reais (368 U.S. dollars) while on leave. Vale ... (10 h ago)

• U.S. manufacturing sector shrinks for 12... U.S. manufacturing sector shrinks for 12th straight month
02/02/2009
Economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector failed to grow in January for the 12 consecutive month, and the overall economy contracted for the fourth straight month, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported on Monday. The Tempe, an Arizona-based trade group, said its manufacturing index, which reflects the opinions of purchasing managers at factories, plants and utilities, registered 35.6 last month, representing an improvement from a nearly three-decade low of 32.9 in De ... (10 h ago)

• Americans spend less, save more Americans spend less, save more
02/02/2009
As incomes decline, Americans increasingly are reining in spending and instead saving more. The U.S. personal income, the fuel for future spending, declined for the third month in December. The 0.2 percent decline came after a 0.4 percent drop in the previous month, the Commerce Department reported on Monday. The disposable personal income of Americans, or after-tax income, was down by 0.2 percent in December after having declined 0.3 percent in November. Meanwhile, U.S. con ... (10 h ago)

• Canadian parliament passes key amendment... Canadian parliament passes key amendment to budget
02/02/2009
Canada's Parliament on Monday passed an opposition amendment to the federal budget released last week, ensuring its final approval and thus the survival of the Conservative government. The House of Commons passed the Liberal Party's amendment with a vote of 214 to 84, with the backing of the Conservatives. The amendment by the Liberal Party, the biggest opposition, requires the government to report on the progress of its budget implementation three times this year, in return for it ... (10 h ago)

• Japan's central bank to purchase bank-he... Japan's central bank to purchase bank-held shares amid financial crisis
02/02/2009
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided Tuesday to purchase 1 trillion yen (about 11.2 billion U.S. dollars) worth of shares held by financial institutions. The BOJ said it hopes that the purchase will help improve their balance sheets hurt by plunges in stock prices amid the global financial crisis. The emergency measure will be effective until the end of April 2010, said the central bank. Between 2002 and 2004, the BOJ adopted a similar policy and bought bank-held shares worth 2 t ... (10 h ago)

• Swedish manufacturer Atlas Copco to cut ... Swedish manufacturer Atlas Copco to cut thousands of jobs
02/02/2009
The Swedish industrial equipment manufacturer Atlas Copco announced Monday that it would cut thousands of workers worldwide in the aftermath of the international financial crisis. "The current economic situation makes the outlook very uncertain but demand is expected to remain very weak in most industries and regions in the near term," said President and CEO Gunnar Brock in a statement, adding that it will affect 3,000 workers worldwide, including 900 in Sweden. However, the statem ... (10 h ago)

• Despite aid, many banks fail to revive l... Despite aid, many banks fail to revive lending
02/03/2009
The federal government has invested almost $200 billion in U.S. banks over the last three months to spark new lending to consumers and businesses. So far, it hasn't worked. (5 h ago)

• Citigroup commits to lending $36.5 billi... Citigroup commits to lending $36.5 billion
02/02/2009
Citigroup says it will spend $36.5 billion to issue mortgages, make credit card loans and buy distressed assets in the tight credit markets in the coming months. (10 h ago)

• Banks blame government for lack of lendi... Banks blame government for lack of lending
02/02/2009
Banks that are being scolded by the government for not lending are blaming a new obstacle: The government itself. (14 h ago)

• Macy's slashing up to 7,000 jobs Macy's slashing up to 7,000 jobs
02/02/2009
Macy’s announced that it will cut 7,000 jobs, almost 4 percent of its work force, and reduce its contributions to its employees’ retirement funds and slash its dividend to preserve cash. (14 h ago)

• Who had the best Super Bowl ad? Who know... Who had the best Super Bowl ad? Who knows?
02/02/2009
At a cost of about $100,000 per second, the best advertisement in this year's Super Bowl belongs to CareerBuilder.com — or was it Pedigree, or Budweiser, or maybe Doritos? (15 h ago)

• GM, Chrysler offer retirement, buyout de... GM, Chrysler offer retirement, buyout deals
02/02/2009
GM and Chrysler are offering blue-collar employees another round of buyout and early retirement offers as the automakers try to cut their work forces and reduce expenses. (16 h ago)

• Tech stocks close up; broader market dec... Tech stocks close up; broader market declines
02/02/2009
Investors worried about the recession have turned to a strategy of cherry-picking stocks — sending tech shares higher and industrials lower. (16 h ago)

• Amateurs beat the pros in Super Bowl ads Amateurs beat the pros in Super Bowl ads
02/02/2009
Two amateur filmmakers took up the Doritos Super Bowl and challenge, and the chip-maker had to write a check for $1 million. (17 h ago)

• Obama stimulus plan faces changes in Sen... Obama stimulus plan faces changes in Senate
02/02/2009
A top Republican called for more mortgage relief and additional tax cuts in the president's economic plan as Democrats conceded they will drop items that have drawn bipartisan criticism. (18 h ago)

• 'Enhancement' ad Super Bowl's most watch... 'Enhancement' ad Super Bowl's most watched
02/02/2009
The Godaddy.com "enhancement" ad with Danica Patrick was the most-watched commercial in the Super Bowl. (18 h ago)

• Times may change, but Super Bowl ads don... Times may change, but Super Bowl ads don’t
02/02/2009
With the economy in the doldrums and the nation’s future uncertain, it’s nice to know that some things never change. (18 h ago)

• Fed: Still hard for borrowers to get loa... Fed: Still hard for borrowers to get loans
02/02/2009
Many banks have made it harder for borrowers to obtain all kinds of loans over the last three months despite a $700 billion federal bailout program. (19 h ago)

• Obama: Differences shouldn't delay stimu... Obama: Differences shouldn't delay stimulus
02/02/2009
The president says "very modest differences" should not get in the way of swift congressional passage of a massive economic stimulus package. (19 h ago)

• Oil falls 4 percent on more bad economic... Oil falls 4 percent on more bad economic news
02/02/2009
Oil prices tumbled nearly 4 percent Monday in a volatile trading day fraught with more bad economic news, including thousands of job cuts by Macy’s department store. (19 h ago)

• Americans spending less, saving more Americans spending less, saving more
02/02/2009
Consumer spending fell for a record sixth straight month in December as recession-battered households boosted their savings rates to the highest level since May. (20 h ago)

• Construction spending drops by record in... Construction spending drops by record in 2008
02/02/2009
Construction spending fell for a third straight month in December, closing out a year in which building activity fell by a record amount as housing continued to plunge. (21 h ago)

• Despite the economy, Uncle Sam is hiring Despite the economy, Uncle Sam is hiring
02/02/2009
The economic downturn has forced private industry and state and local government to shed jobs, but one major employer in the country is hiring: The federal government. (21 h ago)

• Answer Desk: Small business bailout? Answer Desk: Small business bailout?
02/02/2009
Small business owners are wondering: is there anything in this bailout that's going to help me? The answer, unfortunately, is: not much. The Answer Desk. (1 d ago)

• Your Career: Ace your job interview Your Career: Ace your job interview
02/01/2009
If there ever was a time to make yourself stand out during a job interview, this recession is it, because you’ll be up against a large pool of talented applicants. (1 d ago)

• SAS Cuts 3,000 Jobs and Seeks New Cash SAS Cuts 3,000 Jobs and Seeks New Cash
02/03/2009
The troubled Scandinavian airline said that it would cut 3,000 jobs and ask shareholders for more cash as it seeks to ride out the global economic crisis. (4 h ago)

• In Shift, Chinese Move More Money Overse... In Shift, Chinese Move More Money Overseas
02/03/2009
The challenge for economists is figuring out why money is leaving China, and how long the trend will last. (6 h ago)

• In Bolivia, Untapped Bounty Meets Nation... In Bolivia, Untapped Bounty Meets Nationalism
02/03/2009
Bolivia will not easily surrender its massive reserve of lithium, the mineral needed to power electric vehicles. (7 h ago)

• Australia and Japan Offer New Stimulus P... Australia and Japan Offer New Stimulus Plans
02/03/2009
Australia announced a $26.5 billion stimulus plan and a deep interest rate cut as the Japanese central bank said it would start buying shares held by financial institutions. (7 h ago)

• Chrysler’s New Ally Takes a Pragmatic Ap... Chrysler’s New Ally Takes a Pragmatic Approach
02/02/2009
Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of the Fiat Group, is blunt in assessing a prospective alliance with Chrysler. (8 h ago)

• World Business Briefing | Asia: South Ko... World Business Briefing | Asia: South Korea: Exports Fall 32%
02/02/2009
South Korean exports tumbled a record 32.8 percent in January as shipments of products as varied as cars and wireless communication equipment fell, a report said. (8 h ago)

• World Business Briefing | Australia/New ... World Business Briefing | Australia/New Zealand: Australia: Rio Tinto Confirms Talks
02/02/2009
Rio Tinto said it had held talks to sell some assets to Chinalco, its biggest shareholder, reportedly to cut debt by up to $8 billion. (8 h ago)

• World Business Briefing | Americas: Braz... World Business Briefing | Americas: Brazil: First Trade Deficit Since ’01
02/02/2009
Brazil is reporting its first monthly trade deficit since 2001 as the global economic crisis cuts exports. (8 h ago)

• World Business Briefing | Europe: Britai... World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Luxury Home Prices Drop
02/02/2009
Luxury home prices in London fell 3.7 percent in a month as would-be buyers struggled in January to secure mortgages from banks hurt by the financial crisis. (8 h ago)

• World Business Briefing | Europe: Britai... World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Barclays Rating Is Cut
02/02/2009
Barclays stock fell in trading in London after Moody’s Investors Service cut the bank’s long-term debt rating by two levels. (8 h ago)

• China Puts Joblessness for Migrants at 2... China Puts Joblessness for Migrants at 20 Million
02/02/2009
China’s government announced at a briefing that more than one in seven rural migrant workers have been laid off or are unable to find work. (10 h ago)

• Kazakhstan Takes Control of 2 Banks Kazakhstan Takes Control of 2 Banks
02/02/2009
Officials said they would bail out BTA Bank and Alliance Bank in exchange for shares, and later sell the shares when the market recovers. (10 h ago)

• Global Update: Global Fund Is Billions S... Global Update: Global Fund Is Billions Short
02/02/2009
Rajat Gupta, chairman of Global Fund.The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is running short of money, global business and health leaders said last week. (10 h ago)

• Chinese Cautious on Treasury Notes Chinese Cautious on Treasury Notes
02/02/2009
China’s willingness to continue buying United States Treasury securities in large numbers will depend on its need to protect the value of its foreign investments, the Chinese premier said. (11 h ago)

• Bringing the Internet to Remote African ... Bringing the Internet to Remote African Villages
02/02/2009
When Internet connections arrive in small towns like Entasopia, Kenya, they put new tools into the hands of people hungry to use them, and for some there, that has had wide repercussions. (12 h ago)

• World Leaders Wary of U.S. Economic Meas... World Leaders Wary of U.S. Economic Measures
02/02/2009
A reservoir of good will for President Obama at the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, has failed to quell concern over American protectionism. (12 h ago)

• London Paper Tries to Decipher a Russian... London Paper Tries to Decipher a Russian Owner
02/01/2009
Over all, staff reaction to The Evening Standard’s new owner has been mixed. (1 d ago)

• Guidelines on Bailouts Said to Be in the... Guidelines on Bailouts Said to Be in the Works in Europe
01/31/2009
The European Central Bank is working on guidelines to prevent bailout plans from one country from being significantly more generous than plans from another. (2 d ago)

• Hero’s Welcome for Turkish Leader After ... Hero’s Welcome for Turkish Leader After Davos Walkout
01/31/2009
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey walked off the stage after an exchange with the Israeli president at the World Economic Forum, vowing never to return. (3 d ago)

• Country Life butter soars after Johnny R... Country Life butter soars after Johnny Rotten's star turn
02/03/2009
It has been one of the more unlikely celebrity endorsements; John Lydon, a member of the seminal punk band the Sex Pistols, advertising Country Life butter. But it appears to have worked. Dairy Crest today said the campaign, featuring a spikey haired Lydon aka Johnny Rotten, dressed in tweeds , had helped lift sales of the brand by 85% in the most recent quarter. Lydon, once better known for sending chills down the spine of middle England, now appears adept at sending them to the chiller cabinet. The performance of the brand helped to steady Dairy Crest after being forced to issue a profit warning in November . The business has been hit by spiralling milk prices, and sought to keep its costs down by laying off staff at its head office in Esher, Surrey. In an interim management statement, Dairy Crest said group sales for the nine months to the end of December had improved by 4% compared with the same period in the previous year. Another key brand, Cathedral City cheese, was also a strong performer, growing sales by 14%. The company said it had also caputured a larger share of the Marks & Spencer cheese business, which would improve results next year. Dairy Crest Sex Pistols Advertising guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• Construction industry continues to contr... Construction industry continues to contract
02/03/2009
The UK's flagging construction sector continued to contract last month, but at a slower pace than at the end of last year. The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply's construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 34.5 in January, from 29.3 the previous month. A figure below 50 signifies a contraction. Despite this being the highest reading for three months, it was still the third-fastest rate of contraction in the survey's 12-year history. Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "It is important not to read too much into January's improvement. There are always likely to be fluctuations around a trend and January's improvement could be just the "bounce of a dead cat" as construction activity still contracted very sharply and for an 11th successive month. Furthermore, the index had got so low in December, it was difficult to fall much further. "With the housing market and commercial property sectors still under serious downwards pressure, it is hard seeing the construction sector returning to growth any time soon." Output dropped sharply across all three sub-sectors of the UK construction industry. The weakest sector was again housing. Civil engineering continued to display the most resilience to the poor business environment, though even here activity fell at a strong pace. However, firms were their most confident about the outlook in seven months. A number of firms believed the worst of the credit crunch was behind them, but CIPS said it was too early to call a turning point in the sector's fortunes. Roy Ayliffe, director of professional practice at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, said: "Although Q1 opened with confidence amongst purchasing managers in the UK construction sector, it remained very subdued in comparison to historic data. This probably reflects the exceptional weakness of previous months more than any significant easing in the rate of contraction. "As activity continued its downward spiral, firms were again forced to cull jobs. "The remainder of this quarter will be important in ascertaining if the rise in the indices in January was an aberration or a real sign of a turning point in the cycle." Construction industry Housing market Recession guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• Irish 'social partnership' crumbles over... Irish 'social partnership' crumbles over cuts to spending
02/03/2009
Ireland's government will press ahead today with plans to cut €2bn (£1.8bn) from public spending after talks with the country's trade union movement broke down in the early hours of this morning. The collapse of the Republic"s "social partnership" between government, unions and employers is a significant turning point in the Irish economy. Ireland's unprecedented wealth during the "Celtic Tiger" boom years was based partly on the success of national wage agreements between the "social partners" during the early 1990s. "Social partnership" and with it relative industrial peace alongside Ireland's decision to cut capital taxation were seen as a major factor in attracting foreign multinational investment into Ireland through the 1990s. Just before 4am today the talks in Dublin on a new national economic recovery plan ended without agreement. Taoiseach Brian Cowen said that he regretted it was not possible for the trade unions to agree to proposals put forward by his government to reduce the public service payroll bill. He said that the Fianna Fáil led coalition would consider their next move at a cabinet meeting later this morning. Cowen said he would take "the necessary decisions in respect of the fiscal adjustments" which it had sought. The sticking point was the terms over a graduated pension levy which the Irish government tried to impose as part of a programme to save €2bn this year. The proposals would have involved a levy ranging from 3% to just under 10%, averaging at around 7%. The levy would have come into effect for people earning above €15,000 a year. But the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said public sector staff in the mid salary ranges of €40,000 to €60,000 would have to pay between 6.9% and 7.9% more in pension contributions. This would have involved deductions of between €2,250 for staff on €40,000 to €4,750 for those on €60,000. ICTU claimed personnel on €100,000 a year would have faced deductions of €8,750 as part of the pension levy proposals. General secretary David Begg said that the talks process had "run out of road". He said that while some progress had been made this had not been enough to build a platform on which an agreement could be made. Beggs said that the levy proposals would have proved very onerous, particularly for workers concentrated in the low to middle income groups. "We felt that what was set out in the proposals was more than the traffic could bear," he said. Ireland's deputy prime minister and minister for enterprise and employment Mary Coughlan said that the government would now move to bring matters to a finality. She said that she did not think that the collapse of the talks heralded the end of social partnership. "We can all appreciate that people are finding it difficult to bring their own people with them", she said. Coughlan said that it would be inappropriate for her to apportion blame for the breakdown of the talks. She said that "people were not in a position to go as far as anticipated or expected". Recession Europe Ireland Economics guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• Japan and Australia unveil new schemes t... Japan and Australia unveil new schemes to kickstart economies
02/03/2009
The Bank of Japan is to buy ¥1 trillion (£7.87bn) of shares owned by struggling banks in an attempt to encourage them to lend and drag the world's second biggest economy out of recession . Australia, meanwhile, slashed interest rates by 100 basis points to a record low of 3.25% and boosted its stimulus package to more than A$42bn (£18.76bn). In a move not seen since the end of Japan's last recession four years ago, the central bank will buy up shares in troubled financial institutions through to April next year and hold on to them until the end of March 2012. Massive losses on the stock exchange have forced some of the country's biggest banks to cut earnings forecasts and rein in lending just as corporate borrowers go in search of extra cash towards the end of the financial year. The central bank has responded by lowering interest rates to just above zero and buying up corporate debt from banks. The latest move is designed to thaw the lending freeze and prevent the economy from tumbling over the edge of the abyss, officials said. "While Japanese financial institutions have reduced their stockholdings since the early 2000s, their third-quarter financial statements have reported massive realised and unrealised losses," the bank's governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, told reporters. "This measure is intended as a safety net to stabilise financial markets. It is always advisable to prepare for the worst-case scenario." A disastrous year for the Nikkei benchmark index has hit the balance sheets of megabanks such as Mizuho Financial Group, which last week reported net losses of ¥50.55bn for the April-December period and slashed its full-year net profit forecast by 60%. During the BoJ's last share-buying effort, which ended in 2004, its ¥2trn purchase of shares in commercial banks was credited with shoring up lenders saddled with bad debts after another Nikkei meltdown. Analysts welcomed today's decision, but were still concerned about the state of the commercial banks' balance sheets. "I think in the short term it's definitely a positive," said Kristine Li at KBC Securities in Tokyo. "It takes some pressure from the rapidly falling market and the impact on their earnings as well as their capital. "As of September, the major banks had 13 trillion yen in stocks. One trillion yen takes some pressure off, but it may not be enough to solve the whole problem." The Australian government said it would spend A$42bn on schools, housing and infrastructure and make cash payments to low and middle-income earners. "This plan today, as part of a broad strategy on which we embarked last year, provides a basis to see Australia through this economic crisis," said the prime minister, Kevin Rudd. Global economy Credit crunch Global recession Japan Australia guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• Royal Bank chairman McKillop steps down ... Royal Bank chairman McKillop steps down early
02/03/2009
Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Tom McKillop - who was due to leave his post in April - has now decided to step down immediately, to be replaced by chairman designate Sir Philip Hampton. He said: "I believe it is appropriate to bring [my retirement] forward so that Sir Philip can complete the restructuring of the board and work with the board and executive teams on the strategy going forward." Analysts said the move was not a complete surprise since McKillop was part of the bank's old regime. He had been criticised over the expansionary policies of the bank's previous chief executive, Fred Goodwin, which ultimately drove the bank into the hands of the UK government. One analyst said: "Given the speed of events, it's not a total surprise he's decided to go early. He's part of the old guard and it's now very much Philip Hampton and [new chief executive] Stephen Hester who will take the group forward and manage the relationship with the government." Shares in the bank - which is due to report full year results at the end of this month - are 0.4p higher at 20.8p. Royal Bank of Scotland guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (5 h ago)

• Russian losses knock profits at BP Russian losses knock profits at BP
02/03/2009
BP disappointed the City this morning by posting a sharp fall in profits, after suffering unexpected losses at its troubled Russian joint venture. Shares in the oil giant fell by over 4% after it reported a 24% drop in quarterly profits for the last quarter of 2008, to $2.6bn (£1.8bn). On a net basis - factoring in the value of oil in its inventories - BP made a loss of $3.3bn for the quarter. The figures were dented by a $700m loss at TNK-BP, which the group blamed on delayed export duties and impairment charges, and the impact of falling oil prices. BP fought a long battle last year with the four Russian billionaires who also share ownership of the venture. Analysts said that the loss raised questions about BP's tax position in Russia. The recent sharp fall in the oil price - down from $147 a barrel last July to just $40 today - was another factor in BP's fall in quarterly profits. But the company also reported record profits for the full year of $25.6bn, the equivalent of just over £2m an hour. Chief executive Tony Hayward said the record annual profits, which were up by 39%, showed that BP was well-placed to handle the fall in the oil price. He also revealed that BP expects to keep cutting its workforce, and will exceed its target of shedding 5,000 jobs by this summer. "In the current climate we especially need to maintain the momentum we have established in the drive to make BP more efficient. The mantra in BP today is: 'Every dollar counts, every seat counts,'" Hayward said. Like rival Shell, which also posted falling profits , BP is raising its quarterly dividend. Investors will receive 14 cents a share, up from 13.5 cents a year ago. BP was leading the fallers in the FTSE 100 this morning, down 20.75p at 464p. Richard Griffith, analyst at Evolution Securities, described BP's results as "fairly uninspiring". "The market won't like the fourth-quarter results or the increased tax guidance for 2009 to 36-39%," Griffith warned. Keith Bowman of Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers said that today's figures showed that 2008 had been a year of two halves for BP. "The group's refining business remains under pressure, whilst weather-hit production has been restored at a time of lower oil prices. Furthermore, challenges still exist for the group's Russian business," Bowman said. BP Oil Russia guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (6 h ago)

• Pontin's hires 2,000 workers Pontin's hires 2,000 workers
02/03/2009
Holiday camp chain Pontin's is bucking the recession and hiring 2,000 extra workers as part of a £50m expansion plan. The new jobs will be based at the six Pontin's sites around the UK. As well as entertainment workers - called Bluecoats - the company is hiring more catering and bar staff. A spokeswoman said that Pontin's was seeing strong demand, with bookings up so far this year. The group operates six holiday parks around the UK, at Blackpool, Brean Sands, Camber Sands, Pakefield, Prestatyn Sands and Southport. It was bought last year by Ocean Parcs in a £46m deal. Analysts have predicted that domestic holiday chains may benefit from the economic downturn as people seek more affordable vacations. It is currently offering three or four night self-catering breaks from £20 per person, and has booked several celebrities including singer Duncan James and entertainer Joe Pasquale. Travel & leisure guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (6 h ago)

• Vodafone boosted by weak pound but strug... Vodafone boosted by weak pound but struggles in mature markets
02/03/2009
The weakness of the pound has led Vodafone to raise its annual sales forecasts after reporting a 14.3% jump in revenues in the last three months of 2008. Vodafone, which dropped its revenue forecast twice last year because of increasing competition, said it expects revenues for the year to end March of between £40.6bn and £41.5bn compared with its previous estimate of £38.8bn to £39.7bn. It reckons annual operating profits will be £11.5bn to £12bn, an increase of £500m, while free cash flow will be £5.5bn to £6bn, an increase of £300m. But the positive impact of the weak pound masks some serious weakness in Vodafone's underlying business. Quarterly revenues of £10.5bn were up 14.3%, but 12.8 percentage points of that rise were caused by foreign exchange movements and 2.5 percentage points were the benefit of merger and acquisition activity, primarily in India. Service revenues were up a mere 1.4% and on a like-for-like basis were up just 1%. The company, which has 289 million customers worldwide, has been looking for growth from emerging markets to offset the mature markets of Europe , where most people already have a phone. The company reported record customer growth in India, where it added 6.3 million during the quarter to take its base over 60 million – with service revenue growth of 29.6% at constant exchange rates. But in Europe Vodafone actually saw like-for-like service revenues fall 1.4%. Solid results in Germany and Italy and stabilised results in the UK offsetting continued weakness in Spain, where revenues plunged 5.8% - a faster rate than in the previous quarter. The company lost customers in Germany and Italy but added 449,000 in the UK in the run-up to Christmas – compared with 180,000 last year - as a result of the launch of the BlackBerry Storm and strong take-up of SIM-only deals and mobile broadband "dongles". It now has 19.16 million UK customers. In the UK, Vodafone saw service revenue declined at a lower rate than in the previous quarter as the company grew its wholesale revenues by leasing its network to so-called mobile virtual network operators such as Lebara Mobile . The company also saw an increase in the number of people using its network to access the internet with data revenue growth of 30.9% in the quarter. The company continues to struggle in Turkey, though, where it lost 643,000 customers in the quarter. In local currencies, average revenue per user was down in all of Vodafone's major markets except South Africa during the three months to end December as a result of fierce competition and increased regulation. To combat the competition that is plaguing the business, not just in Europe but in other parts of the world such as India, Vodafone announced plans to save £1bn of costs back in November. Today it said cost savings of approximately £500m are expected to be generated by the end of the 2010 financial year, with the full £1bn generated by the 2011 financial year. Vodafone's original financial guidance was based upon full year foreign exchange assumptions of €1.26 and $1.80 to the pound; it now reckons the full year average rates will be €1.20 and $1.45. Vodafone Telecommunications industry India guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (6 h ago)

• Branson could bid for east coast line as... Branson could bid for east coast line as National Express struggles
02/02/2009
Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Trains founder, could mount a bid for the east coast rail franchise amid fears that National Express is struggling with its £1.4bn contract for the prestigious London-to-Edinburgh route and might have to renegotiate terms with ministers. The tycoon said Virgin Trains, which runs trains from London to Glasgow on the west coast route, was ready to make a new offer should it become available. The senior civil servant in charge of the rail network, Mike Mitchell, admitted last month that five operators - more than a quarter of the network - have been assigned a red light under the department's "traffic light" system that monitors the financial health of franchises. Branson indicated yesterday that Virgin Trains will step in if the terms of the National Express East Coast contract become too onerous for its parent. "There are clearly franchises facing financial difficulty and we are absolutely committed to bidding for new opportunities. Virgin Trains made a sensible and realistic bid for the east coast main line in 2007 but we were not chosen. We believe we have ideas and experience that would make east coast as successful as our west coast business now is," he said. However, an about-turn in government policy could frustrate Branson's ambitions. Renegotiation of rail franchises is prohibited by the Department for Transport (DfT) but there is widespread speculation within the industry that the DfT might waive its policy owing to exceptional economic circumstances. Any such move would meet a furious reaction from other operating companies who think National Express overpaid. One rail insider said: "Those operators that are not in trouble and looking to expand would not be best pleased if struggling franchises were bailed out by the government." It is understood that Virgin's bid for east coast was nearly a third lower than that of National Express at around £1bn. However, the government confirmed soon after the franchise had been awarded that it had rejected an even more lucrative bid. Under the terms of the National Express bid, the east coast franchise must pay the Dft £85m in the current financial year and £133m the following year, rising to £395m per year when the contract ends in 2015. The National Express chief executive, Richard Bowker, launched his career under Branson at the Virgin group and the public transport operator did not conceal its irritation at the tycoon's remarks yesterday. A spokeswoman for National Express East Coast said: "Given that Virgin West Coast is now rooted to the bottom of the long-distance train time-keeping league we shiver at the very thought of Richard Branson bringing his own unique version of 'success' to East Coast. We run Britain's premier long-distance railway and we intend to keep it that way." Investment bank JP Morgan suggested in a note published last month that National Express might quit the rail business in order to relieve the strain on a group balance sheet that has been placed under further pressure by the east coast bid. It predicted that the contract could miss revenue targets this year and make an underlying loss of £26.1m. National Express needs revenue growth of about 10% this year for the east coast contract to be viable, but it could be heading for flat growth, said JP Morgan. The Association of Train Operating Companies warned in a recent briefing document that the industry is facing declines in passenger growth in 2009 and 2010. Hitting the buffers National Express was under pressure to win the east coast franchise in August 2007 after losing out on a few franchise auctions that year. Once the UK's biggest train operator , it was at risk of becoming a rump of National Express East Anglia and c2c if it did not win it. The winning bid - paying the Department for Transport £1.4bn over seven-and-a-half-years - was defended by the government, which said it had vetted the offer . National Express called the deal "ambitious but deliverable" . Insiders made similar observations in 2004 when GNER renewed its east coast contract with a £1.3bn offer. Within two years GNER gave up the franchise after admitting it could not meet the terms, blaming the 7/7 bombings ' impact on tourism. National Express Virgin Rail Travel & leisure Transport guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• The Arctic blast that may have cost Bri... The Arctic blast that may have cost British businesses £1.2bn
02/02/2009
The arctic weather that struck Britain yesterday could cost the UK economy about £1.2bn, piling further difficulty on firms already struggling in the recession. The Federation of Small Businesses estimated that one in five commuters did not get to work, leaving many companies with a reduced staff. Some shops and bank branches were shut. In the City many dealing rooms were half-empty, and trading on the stock market was thin. Trader David Buik of BGC Partners described it as "moribund", comparing it with the mood on Christmas Eve. In the circumstances, some City workers took the opportunity to make snowmen in Paternoster Square. The federation calculated that the 20% of staff not at work will cost British firms £1.2bn, based on £6bn for a bank holiday. Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said that, especially if the cold continues, an extra 2,000 or 3,000 firms may go bankrupt in the first quarter. "If it leads to delayed payments, the combined hit on profits and cashflow could send many businesses who might be close to the brink into premature bankruptcy. Many are in retail and construction, sectors likely to be most affected by snow and transport disruption." One uncertainty is how much the damage is softened by the internet; many people will carry on jobs from home, or shop online. The centre suggested a 20% reduction in productivity would cost £900m, but pointed out some firms actually benefit. "Consumers spend more on heating and on warm clothes, and any accidents or structural damage leads to increased spending on repairs," said McWilliams. According to him, the extreme cold winter of 1962-1963 cut manufacturing output in February 1963 by 75%, but higher spending on heating meant that, overall, GDP was unaffected. Industry Businesses across the south-east with large fleets of vans and trucks were struggling with the icy conditions on many roads. A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We are doing everything possible to keep the mail moving and our people safe. Some deliveries are still taking place and where this is not possible our people are processing the mail to help us ensure we deliver it as quickly as possible." BT engineers were out on the roads in the freezing conditions. A spokeswoman admitted that the cold snap had stopped some of its Openreach engineers getting to their jobs. "It is particularly challenging in London and parts of the south-east in areas where the roads are impassable because of the snow." Many of its managers and support staff were working from home, which is a regular occurrence for tens of thousands of BT's 110,000 workforce. BP said it had experienced some problems with petrol deliveries in the south-east of England but none anywhere else in the country. Transport Large swaths of Britain's transport infrastructure were shut down or operating vastly reduced services yesterday and Heathrow airport suffered its worst day since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Motorists endured miles of tailbacks on motorways and thousands of rail services were delayed or cancelled. Some local authorities were forced to ask the Highways Agency for grit after their supplies ran out. Rail journeys in and out of London, which account for more than two-thirds of all services in Britain, were badly affected by the freezing conditions and lack of staff. Bus and tube services in London also suffered mass cancellations. Network Rail said bad road conditions had stopped train drivers, signallers and maintenance staff from getting to work. One of the worst affected franchises, the London-to-Brighton Southern service, said frozen points and tracks had been the main cause of massive disruption. The Highways Agency, which maintains motorways and major A-roads in England, said it was satisfied with its response and had deployed gritters on roads over the weekend and yesterday morning. "It has been a busy and difficult day but we do not feel that we have been caught out," said a spokesman. Retail Retailers were hard hit as staff struggled to reach work and shoppers opted for snowball fights rather than bargain hunting. Marks & Spencer closed 75 stores in London and south-east England because of staff shortages. The Marble Arch store in the West End closed early so staff could get home, while the early finish meant a branch near Victoria station could supply unsold cakes and sandwiches to nurses at nearby St Thomas' hospital when their delivery did not arrive. Most shops at the new Westfield shopping centre in west London were closed, reflecting the picture at malls around the capital. At 3pm only six stores out of 265 were open. The centre closed at 5pm but promised a standard 10am-9pm today. In the supermarkets, Asda reported a 40% leap in sales of Ribena and Vimto and a 10% pick-up in whisky sales. Tesco launched Operation Snowplough to ensure soup, pies, custard and brandy, as well as scrapers and thermal socks, were on the shelves. It was, a spokesman said, "easily the biggest operation we have mounted in nearly 20 years". At Sainsburys sales were up for "classic British ready-made meals such as bangers and mash," said a spokeswoman. Councils Local authorities in the south and Midlands yesterday insisted essential services were maintained despite the snow that left millions of workers stranded at home. Meals on wheels services were given priority, together with the work of core social work teams, said the Local Government Association, which represents 500 councils in England and Wales. In many cases staff struggled to work only to find health and safety considerations forced them to suspend their work. Refuse collection was abandoned by most councils along with parking enforcement once it became obvious the roads would be treacherous and staff could be in danger. Thousands of schools and hundreds of libraries, including the British Library, closed after staff phoned in to say they were unable to travel to work. Insurance Shunting and skidding prompted a doubling in car insurance claims yesterday, while calls to breakdown and recovery services rocketed as drivers failed to cope with the worst road conditions - in the south-east at least - for more than a decade. The AA said it received around 16,000 calls, compared with 11,000 on a normal day. The RAC said it took 2,000 calls in one hour, but some parts of the country were "eerily quiet" as drivers heeded widely-broadcast appeals not to take to the roads. Insurance claims for minor collisions soared as drivers slid across icy roads. The AA said claims were double normal levels. "On a normal Monday we receive around 1,600 claims but by 10am we had already received 500. We expect to have received as many as 3,000 claims by the end of the day," said an AA spokesman. Norwich Union added that it had seen a 40% surge in claims yesterday. Media They may be reporting on the weather, but media companies are also caught up in the story as they battled with inclement conditions across London and the south-east. Newspapers pulled copy deadlines forward to mid-afternoon yesterday in anticipation of further bad weather, which will slow their delivery trucks to a snail's pace overnight. The Times, for instance, will have just one edition today while the Daily Mail made its deadline so early in the day that many reporters filed and went home after lunch. But at least they got lunch. Journalists at News International's Wapping headquarters went hungry after the snow left its canteen without supplies. Sky News anchor Colin Brazier, meanwhile, walked four miles yesterday morning from his home in Twickenham to the satellite broadcaster's Isleworth centre for his mid-morning show. Weather Transport Retail industry guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• Offshore and out of reach to the Revenue Offshore and out of reach to the Revenue
02/02/2009
Three FTSE100 companies have quietly "offshored" legal ownership of their valuable trademarks to low-tax locations, the Guardian's tax gap investigation has found. Two drug firms, GlaxoSmithKline, and AstraZeneca, both headquartered in London, have moved title to their drug brands to Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, although it is still a British plc operating under UK company law, has shifted its trademarks to Switzerland and its main tax residence to the Netherlands. These are three of Britain's most successful corporations, continuing to generate huge profits and returns for their shareholders despite the global downturn. AstraZeneca has been one of the best performing shares on the FTSE over the last year, seeing its share price go from around £21.50 to around £28.60. At the same time, its market capitalisation has gone up by more than £10bn from £31.3bn to £41.4bn. Glaxo has also been one of the few companies to see its share price go up as the economic storm rages - from around £11 a year ago to around £12.50 now. Last week Shell revealed that its profits in the final three months of 2008 were down by more than a quarter on the previous year. The oil giant still made more than £25,000 a minute in profits and is forecasted to achieve record earnings this year of £21.5bn. All three enjoy the benefits of being a UK plc - access to capital, enhanced reputation, proper regulation and political stability. Yet they have moved the rights to their intellectual property to tax havens. This means they can reduce their UK-based profits and hence their British tax bills by paying royalties to the subsidiary in the tax haven for use of the trademarks. Yesterday, at the start of its special investigation into 20 prominent companies, the Guardian identified the drinks giant Diageo as having similarly moved its brands to the Netherlands. Diageo managed to hold off capital gains tax on the sale by use of a legal concession. The practice of depositing rights to "intellectual property" in tax havens is one of the factors behind a continuing war between big business and the Treasury. Industry chiefs are refusing to accept a planned clampdown on this by Alistair Darling, the chancellor, and some have been threatening to quit Britain. AstraZeneca moved trademarks to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico for a breast cancer drug, a migraine pill, and its top-selling anti-cholesterol preparation, Crestor. The company had a factory there manufacturing AstraZeneca drugs under a special low-tax regime. This meant that any additional profits from charging trademark royalties could also pile up in Puerto Rico, benefiting from the low taxes. GlaxoSmithKline similarly assigned ownership of the trademark for its top-selling diabetes drug Avandia to a company in Puerto Rico. Other trademarks have been assigned to low-tax locations in the Irish Republic. Shell, meanwhile, has shifted ownership rights of its iconic scallop-shell roadside sign out of London to a third low-tax regime in Switzerland. It was part of a carefully planned merger of its UK and Dutch arms, which enabled the oil giant to keep many operations from the grip of the British tax authorities. For tax purposes, Royal Dutch Shell plc is now resident in the Netherlands. The company told us that the brand shift to the tax haven canton of Zug was not for tax avoidance, but for "entirely commercial" reasons. "There has been no impact on the Shell brand in the UK," the company said. It added that there would now be "more effective and consistent management of the Shell trademarks". GlaxoSmithKline's head of tax, Helen Jones, defends the transfer of its trademarks to Puerto Rico and Ireland saying that it is a "widespread and totally accepted practice" to charge other Glaxo companies royalties for such intellectual property. Gordon Brown has only collected an average of 5% of Glaxo's £6.6bn profits as British corporation tax over the last five years. But Glaxo says the great majority of its operations are actually overseas, and prefers to point to the much higher overall "tax rate" published in last year's accounts - 28.7% of its profits. This figure covers all potential tax liabilities everywhere, and includes the drug company's major presence in the US, where the normal tax rate has been 35%. AstraZeneca, which will not disclose the size of its current UK corporation tax charge, also says there is nothing wrong with holding intellectual property in Puerto Rico. It said: "All prices paid on inter-company goods and services are set in accordance with the arm's length principle ... as enshrined in UK law since 1999. All transactions involving the UK are fully disclosed to HMRC." It said its existing tax disputes round the world stemmed merely from arguments about how to "resolve competing claims and avoid double taxation on the same profits". It, too, points to a large overseas presence and a relatively high worldwide tax rate of 29.5%. A major dispute with AstraZeneca is due to be heard at a UK tax tribunal next year. Tax avoidance Economic policy guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• US department store Macy's cuts 7,000 jo... US department store Macy's cuts 7,000 jobs
02/02/2009
The US department store chain Macy's is cutting 7,000 jobs in the latest sign of financial misery on the high street as cash-strapped shoppers steer clear of shops packed with luxury goods and designer brands. The company is internationally known for its Bloomingdale's store in New York which is a popular haunt for tourists and for its flagship branch of Macy's in Manhattan's Herald Square which claims to be the biggest department store in the world. The company warned that it faces a "very challenging environment" and said it expects like-for-like sales at its 840 sites across the US to fall by 6% to 8% this year. By cutting 4% of its workforce, Macy's is hoping to save $400m annually. The firm slashed its dividend payout to shareholders from 13.25 cents to 5 cents, sending its shares down by 4% on the New York Stock Exchange. "We just believe that this is a time when nothing should be considered a sacred cow," said chief executive Terry Lundgren. Macy's is closing 11 stores and is cutting its capital expenditure by between $100m and $150m to around $450m. The firm said it was keeping shop-floor job cuts to a minimum, with most of the redundancies at the executive level in regional head offices. The company is instituting a pay freeze and at senior levels, it intends to reduce perks such as company cars, in-store discounts, life insurance and financial counselling. Macy's is merely the latest US retailer to suffer a dismal downturn in trade. Several nationwide retailers have gone into liquidation including an electronics chain, Circuit City, and a household linens firm, Linens 'N Things. Those surviving in relatively good shape tend to be chains offering rock-bottom prices such as Wal-Mart, Target and CostCo. Patricia Edwards, a retail analyst at Storehouse Partners, said Macy's had been unable to respond to demand for cut-price goods: "The retail environment has changed so much. They have not been competing on a value proposition and this is a value market." Macy's shares have slumped by 69% in the last 12 months. Shares in fellow department store operators such as Sears and Saks fell sharply in sympathy today, as did stock in designer brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren which closed down 5.2%. Retail industry US unemployment and employment data US economy United States guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (18 h ago)

• Bank bosses face grilling by MPs Bank bosses face grilling by MPs
02/02/2009
The disgraced former bank bosses Sir Fred Goodwin and Andy Hornby face gruelling sessions before the Treasury committee of MPs next week as part of the ongoing investigation into the financial crisis. The former heads of RBS and HBOS will appear on Tuesday followed by the new and surviving banking executives on Wednesday. Goodwin and Hornby will appear with Sir Tom McKillop and Lord Stevenson, their respective chairmen, to face questions about how they drove their banks to the brink of collapse. The new RBS chief executive, Stephen Hester, will join Lloyds chief executive Eric Daniels, Barclays chief executive John Varley, Abbey chief executive António Horta-Osório, chief executive, and HSBC UK managing director Paul Thurston at the hearing the following day. By the time Varley faces up to the combative MPs, he will have presented Barclays' 2008 results at which he will attempt to persuade the City that the bank's promise to report profits of at least £5.3bn is credible. The figures have been brought forward by a week to next Monday but doubts continue to linger in the City about the performance of Barclays, whose shares today lost nearly 11% to make it the second biggest faller in the FTSE 100 after ratings agency Moody's downgraded its debt on fears for further credit crunch losses. Moody's, which has been reviewing the rating since September, said it was concerned that "significant further writedowns" could affect Barclays which has admitted it expects a credit crunch hit of about £8bn in 2008. "Although Barclays has not taken any government capital to date, Moody's considers the systemic importance of the bank and the likelihood of receiving government support in case of need to be high," the agency said, reducing Barclays rating to Aa3 – following other agencies in recent weeks. The fall in Barclays shares to 94.9p followed a rise of 110% last week – making it the best performing bank stock in the world – after Varley and chairman Marcus Agius assured shareholders about the bank's financial position. Analysts at Bernstein noted that City worries about nationalisation of banks was overdone. "The UK banks are still pricing in a probability rather than a possibility of nationalisation ... We would argue that this significantly overstates the chance of full state ownership." They believe the government's promise to insure banks' toxic assets and a change to the rules relating to the amount of capital a bank must hold should allow total nationalisation to be avoided. The taxpayer will soon own 70% of RBS and owns 43% of Lloyds Banking Group, created when Lloyds TSB rescued HBOS in deal completed last month. The government today began to exert its influence over Lloyds when two new non-executive directors were appointed to the board with a remit to represent the government – and other shareholders. The two were confirmed as Tony Watson, the former head of pensions company Hermes, and former US banker Tim Ryan.Sir Victor Blank, Lloyds chairman, said: "[Watson's] views on the relationship between companies and shareholders and the need to challenge constructively are well known and very much shared by myself and the rest of the board." Barclays HBOS Royal Bank of Scotland Credit crunch Banks and building societies guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (22 h ago)

• Ryanair runs up heavy losses but expects... Ryanair runs up heavy losses but expects passenger growth next year
02/02/2009
The low-cost carrier Ryanair ran up heavy losses in the third quarter but said it was on target for a full-year profit and would do even better in 2009-10. Michael O'Leary, chief executive, described the loss of €101.5m (£91.9m) in the three months to December as "disappointing", blaming it on escalating fuel costs , which rose more than 70%. Ryan air said average fares fell 9% but both revenues and passenger numbers were up. The airline, which made a profit of €35m in the third quarter of fiscal 2007‑08, said it was taking advantage of falls in the price of aviation fuel to hedge future requirements and said it could save up to €500m over the next financial year. O'Leary said Ryanair was better placed than many of its rivals to weather the recession, arguing that the fallout from the credit crunch would spark further consolidation within the industry and would also raise competition among airports. "The dramatic cuts in flights and capacity by many of Europe's flag-carriers has created traffic collapses at many of Europe's larger airports. This is creating enormous opportunities for Ryanair, as these airports compete to reduce charges in order to attract Ryanair's growth. This movement towards lower cost, more efficient airports in Europe is welcome, even if it is 20 years too late." O'Leary said Ryanair was expecting to make a profit of €50m to €80m in the full year to March. It is not providing detailed guidance on its expected profit for 2009‑10 but Howard Millar, chief financial officer, said: "It will be bigger than this year." Millar said the airline expected passenger numbers to grow by 14% to 66 million next year. O'Leary remained upbeat about the airline's prospects, despite the economic gloom. "The longer and deeper this recession, the better it will be for the lowest cost producers in every sector. "Like Lidl, Aldi, Ikea and McDonalds, Ryanair is the lowest-cost provider – by a distance – in the European airline industry, and we are poised for substantial traffic and profit growth in the coming year as the recession forces millions of passengers to focus on price." O'Leary said that Ryanair had a strong balance sheet, with more than €1.8bn in cash, and had recently exercised options over 13 new Boeing aircraft for delivery in two years' time. The Ryanair chief executive said he was disappointed by the Irish government's decision to reject the bid for Aer Lingus. "Whilst we regret that the government's decision means that we cannot now deliver on our promises to reduce Aer Lingus's short-haul fares, double its short-haul fleet and create 1,000 new jobs, this decision clears the way for Ryanair to continue to focus on our own growth and expansion, reducing our costs and returning to substantial profitability over the coming year. "It is doubtful that Ryanair will waste any further management time or resources making another offer for Aer Lingus, as its scale and losses will continue to render it increasingly irrelevant in Europe's airline landscape." Ryanair Airline industry Ireland guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (23 h ago)

• Former Citigroup boss Sanford Weill sacr... Former Citigroup boss Sanford Weill sacrifices company jet
02/02/2009
In times of recession we all have to make sacrifices and Sanford Weill, the former chief executive at Citigroup, is hearteningly no different. Weill sparked a furore over the weekend in the United States, when it emerged that he had borrowed one of the bank's corporate jets to take his family to Mexico for the new year, just weeks after the firm averted collapse with a $45bn (£32bn) federal bail-out and at the same time as the bank announced plans to cut 75,000 jobs. But Weill last night, after intense criticism, said he would give up his right to use one of the five company jets. A statement issued by his office said: "Mr Weill cares deeply about the future of Citi and recognises the extraordinary commitment by the American taxpayer. In light of the unprecedented circumstances that Citi finds itself in, Mr Weill has voluntarily decided that, effective immediately, he will waive his contract providing for the use of any corporate aircraft." The financial crisis has put Wall Street compensation under intense scrutiny in recent months, with a string of revelations about the profligate spending of some top bankers causing anger among politicians and the public as taxpayers are forced to bail the industry out and millions are losing their jobs. It is barely a week since former Merrill Lynch boss John Thain was forced to apologise for spending $1.2m on antique furniture, carpeting and curtains for the troubled bank's executive offices, as the bank lost $15bn in a single quarter. He has promised to pay back the money personally. Barack Obama attacked Wall Street last week accusing the banks of displaying "the height of irresponsibility" and of letting down the American people. He expressed outrage at the $18.4bn paid in bonuses last year, singling out Citigroup for criticism for trying to buy a new $50m executive jet after receiving the $45bn in rescue money. "Part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline, show some sense of responsibility." The bank has since cancelled the purchase. In another case, Dick Fuld, the former head of the defunct bank Lehman Brothers was last week accused of transferring assets into his wife's name to avoid claims on his assets by possible angry Lehman shareholders. Fuld, who led the bank until its bankruptcy in September, recently sold his seaside mansion in Florida to his wife, Kathleen, for just $100, according to property transaction records. Under the terms of his 2006 retirement package, Weill, whose personal fortune was estimated at $1.3bn in 2008, was guaranteed access to the firm's corporate jets until 2016. At the end of last year, Weill volunteered to terminate a Citigroup consulting contract that paid him $175,000 a year. In addition to access to company aircraft, Weill's compensation into retirement included provisions for $525,000 of transportation costs, $300,000 of security expenses, $86,000 of financial and tax-planning fees, $62,000 of medical and dental insurance premiums and $901,000 of tax reimbursements. The tenure of Weill, who built Citigroup into the largest bank in the world, was marked by controversy. He was the architect of the $140bn merger of Citicorp, the biggest banking group in America, and Travelers Group, an insurance company in 1998, to create the then largest banking group in the world. He served as chief executive until he was forced out amid a series of scandals in 2003, although he remained chairman until 2006. The bank lost $8.3bn in the final quarter of 2008 , and Citigroup announced last week that it was splitting its operations into two, to separate high-risk assets from everyday commercial operations. In his weekly radio address, President Obama underlined his determination to curb excesses. He said his reform of the $700bn troubled asset relief programme would "insist on unprecedented transparency, rigorous oversight and clear accountability so taxpayers know how their money is being spent and whether it is achieving results". Citigroup Banking United States guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (1 d ago)

• Woolworths lives again as online brand Woolworths lives again as online brand
02/02/2009
The Woolworths brand is to be resurrected as an online store by the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph, who specialise in buying up home delivery retail groups. The sale will rescue the household name which appeared to be heading for an existence only in the pages of history following the store group's collapse into administration in November with the loss of 30,000 jobs . Woolworths will join the Barclays' already crowded Shop Direct mail order and online retailing empire, which encompasses Littlewoods as well as several former home delivery divisions of Argos including Kays, Marshall Ward and Great Universal. Under Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay's ownership these brands have built up substantial share of the fast-growing home delivery shopping market with a range of keenly priced lines similar to a department store offering. Web sales have risen from 18% to 56% in three years. The latest deal adds the Woolworths brand name, together with rights to children's clothing brand Ladybird. Neither Shop Direct nor Woolworths administrators from Deloitte would comment on the price paid. Few if any jobs are expected to be saved by the deal. The sale comes a month after the last of Woolworths' 809 stores closed, ending a 100-year presence on high streets. Shop Direct chief executive Mark Newton-Jones said: "It would have been a tragedy if the [Woolworths] name had disappeared – an iconic name in British retailing – so we are delighted to be bringing it back." He noted that the first Woolworths store in the UK opened in 1909 in Liverpool, where Shop Direct has its head office. He hoped Woolworths.co.uk would be running by the summer though the range of products was yet to be finalised. "It will be more targeted than the previous [high street] offer. It will definitely have children's wear, it will definitely have entertainment, but I really don't think we will be selling washing-up bottles or light bulbs." Before its collapse, Woolworths ran an online retailing business through a Jersey subsidiary which allowed it to sell goods – mainly CDs, DVDs and games – free from VAT thanks to a controversial loophole in European law. The controversial VAT advantage of distributing goods from an offshore tax havenis also used by HMV.com, Play.com, Tesco.com, Asda.com and WHSmith.co.uk. Asked if entertainment titles would be distributed from an offshore base to ensure VAT relief, a Shop Direct spokesman said: "It is very early days. I don't know." Last month the Guardian revealed that the European commission has been investigating complaints about online retailers exploiting this source of VAT relief. Critics claim the tax loophole has contributed to a wave of well known names in high street music retailing disappearing, including Zavvi, Fopp, Our Price, MVC, Music Zone, Tower Records and Virgin Megastore. Even before the addition of Woolworths, the Barclays' online retail brands have combined sales of £1.6bn and employ about 10,500 people. Past acquisitions have allowed the group to consolidate warehousing operations at Shaw in Greater Manchester, which has become one of Europe's largest retail distribution centres. These benefits of scale combined with the absence of high fixed cost rents provide Shop Direct with substantial advantages over many rivals, particularly in the middle of a stubborn recession. The business announced 1,150 job losses at its Merseyside call centres last week, but stressed that this was because an increasing number of shoppers were using its websites to make purchases rather than placing telephone orders. Woolworths Barclay Brothers Credit crunch Telegraph Media Group Media business guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (1 d ago)

• GlaxoSmithKline's British workers braced... GlaxoSmithKline's British workers braced for 10% job cuts
02/01/2009
British workers at GlaxoSmithKline are bracing themselves for bad news this week as the pharmaceuticals group prepares to announce plans to shed about 10% of its global workforce. The company, which employs 100,000 people across the world, is seeking to slash costs in the face of the threat to profits from cheap, generic "copycat" versions of some of its biggest selling drugs as they lose their patent protection. Glaxo employs about 18,000 people in Britain. The company runs manufacturing operations across the UK, including sites at Ware, Maidenhead and Worthing. News of the job losses are expected to be revealed when Glaxo reports its results on Thursday. Union leaders are becoming increasingly concerned that British workers are being sacrificed by multinational companies ahead of European workers because UK employment laws are more lax than those on the continent. The job losses are particularly galling for the government as it has pinned its hopes for economic growth on exactly the sort of high-specification manufacturing and development that is carried out by the drugs industry. The job losses are part of a cost-cutting drive by GSK's new chief executive, Andrew Witty. Some analysts say the cuts could be deeper than the 10,000 mooted over the weekend. Analysts say that with growing competition, drug companies must make cuts or seek mergers. Last week, US firm Pfizer announced a $68bn (£47bn) bid for Wyeth, a smaller rival. Witty has indicated that, for the moment, he does not intend to pursue major acquisitions, preferring instead to expand in emerging markets. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals industry Credit crunch Economics guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (1 d ago)

• Rio Tinto confirms talks over Chinalco c... Rio Tinto confirms talks over Chinalco cash injection
02/01/2009
Rio Tinto tonight admitted it was trying to secure an investment from state-owned Chinese aluminium producer Chinalco that would help it avoid a rights issue and ease its debt burden. The announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange did not indicate the size of any deal with Chinalco but it is thought that it could be for at least £6bn. The talks with the aluminium company are part of an urgent refinancing promised by Rio's chief executive, Tom Albanese. The mining company has been saddled with debt since taking over Alcan as the credit crunch began in mid-2007. Albanese has turned to the Chinese producer, which owns 9% of Rio after an audacious dawn raid a year ago, with a view to selling it some bonds and possibly stakes in mines to try to cut debt by $10bn (£7bn) by the end of this year. If a deal can be agreed, it would represent a substantial investment by the Chinese government and further reflect the shift in power between recession-struck developed countries and faster-growing Asian economies. Beijing has been aggressively building stakes in energy and natural resources companies to feed its rapidly growing economy. Rio, with a listing in London and Sydney, stressed that no agreement had been reached and that there was "no certainty a transaction will ultimately take place". The announcement referred to "acquiring minority interests" in a number of Rio businesses and possibly the issue of convertible bonds. It did not mention a share sale to Chinalco, a possibility that would require Rio to tread carefully to ensure shareholders do not feel their stock is being unfairly diluted if it issues more shares to Chinalco. Pre-emption rights have been a point of issue in recent weeks. Barclays was punished by investors for inviting Middle Eastern governments to buy new shares and Rio's rival Xstrata is embroiled in a row over its fundraising deal with its largest investor, Glencore. Chinalco's stake in Rio would rise from 9% to at least 15% if new shares were issued. Rio stressed tonight that shareholders would have to approve any deal, as would regulators. The talks are part of a contingency plan being drawn up by Rio and advisers at JP Morgan Cazenove. It is thought that if the talks break down, Rio will be left with little option but to launch a rights issue - an eventuality it is refusing to rule out. Though its next scheduled announcement to the London Stock Exchange is on February 12, when its results are due, it was forced to issue an update to investors in Australia when the stockmarket opened in Sydney tonight. It is likely to issue the same announcement in London when the market opens. Rio's shares have collapsed from the £60 at which Chinalco stormed into the market a year ago to a little over £15. BHP Billiton's decision in November to walk away from the takeover of Rio knocked its share price and forced Albanese to commit to the debt reduction. Rio Tinto China Mining Credit crunch guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (1 d ago)

• Facebook offers up users as marketing to... Facebook offers up users as marketing tool
02/01/2009
Facebook intends to capitalise on the wealth of information it has about its users by offering its 150 million-strong customer base to corporations as a market research tool. The appearance, later this year, of corporate polls targeted at certain parts of the Facebook audience because of the information they have posted on their pages, is likely to infuriate privacy campaigners. Last week Mark Zuckerberg, the company's 24-year-old founder and chief executive, showed the audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos how the social networking site could be used to poll specific groups of users. He asked users in Palestine and then Israel about peace issues before relaying the results back to the audience within minutes. He also polled more than 100,000 American users of the website, asking them whether they thought President Obama's fiscal stimulus package would be enough to resurrect the economy. Two out of five said it was not enough. Giving consumer brands the chance to use such a wide audience to get a quick response to targeted questions would do away with, or at least reduce their reliance on, expensive and time-consuming focus groups. Speaking to well known tech blogger Robert Scoble at the event, Zuckerberg said 2009 will be Facebook's "intense" year as it tries to justify some of the mammoth valuations that have been placed upon it by making some serious revenues through advertising. He was even seen sporting a tie, a sartorial extra which the Harvard drop-out has so far eschewed. He added the company has been experimenting with analysis of user sentiment, tracking the mood of its audience through what they are doing online. Such information is potentially very interesting to large brands, which are always seeking to measure what their customers think about their own or competitors' products. Facebook's advertising technology already allows advertisers to choose which sort of customer will see their display adverts when they log on to the site. Advertisers can choose from such categories as where the user is located and their age and gender, based upon what the user has uploaded on to Facebook – which is adding about 450,000 new users a day. Last year, Facebook launched its Engagement Ads tool, which allows advertisers to publish a poll on people's home pages. They are then able to see how their friends and other Facebook users have voted. The polls, which can include actions such as watching and rating a movie trailer, are being tested by companies including AT&T and CareerBuilder.com. The American recruitment website tonight used its trial Facebook polls to ask people what they thought of the advert that was played during the coverage of the 43rd Super Bowl. The first widespread use of polls is expected in the spring. Facebook also has a tool called Facebook Lexicon, which is a bit like Google Trends, in that it allows users to track what topics are being discussed by people on Facebook. While Google Trends uses the search terms that are entered into its site, Facebook Lexicon looks at one of the most visible parts of a user's profile page – their wall, where people and their friends exchange public messages. It provides a searchable database of trends over time, showing how the incidence of particular words or phrases has increased or decreased in wall posts. Facebook Lexicon shows that the company already has a significant database of user information which it could exploit and the tools are in place to allow companies to use its information for market research purposes. Facebook Facebook Privacy and the net Advertising Data and computer security Google United States Davos guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (1 d ago)

• Big Audience, but Not the Biggest Big Audience, but Not the Biggest
02/02/2009
Pittsburgh’s 27-23 win over Arizona in the Super Bowl on NBC attracted average viewership of 95.4 million, the second most for the game after last year’s 97.5 million for the Giants’ upset over New England. (9 h ago)

• Advertising: Close Super Bowl Helps Late... Advertising: Close Super Bowl Helps Late-Game Spots
02/02/2009
The commercials that NBC broadcast during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl fared well in many postgame polls and surveys. (10 h ago)

• The Media Equation: When Even Condé Nast... The Media Equation: When Even Condé Nast Is in Retreat
02/02/2009
The recent closing of Domino magazine shows that even Condé Nast’s legendary patience to turn a profit is now meeting the pull of economic gravity. (19 h ago)

• Advertising: Ads That Pushed Our Usual (... Advertising: Ads That Pushed Our Usual (Well-Worn) Buttons
02/02/2009
Few of the commercials during Super Bowl XLIII offered anything special. (1 d ago)

• Los Angeles Steps Up Fight on Large Ads Los Angeles Steps Up Fight on Large Ads
02/01/2009
The city ordered building owners to remove advertisements draped across multistory structures after deeming them fire hazards. (1 d ago)

• Lucky Magazine’s iPhone Tool Is All Abou... Lucky Magazine’s iPhone Tool Is All About Shopping
02/01/2009
A Condé Nast magazine is introducing an iPhone application, Lucky at Your Service, that ties into stores’ inventories. (1 d ago)

• As Journalist, a Doctor Trips Over Ethic... As Journalist, a Doctor Trips Over Ethics
02/01/2009
British Columbia’s medical licensing body censured Kevin Lee Patterson last week because of an article the doctor wrote about working for the Canadian military. (1 d ago)

• The Political Suspicions of 9/11 The Political Suspicions of 9/11
02/01/2009
An upcoming episode of the FX drama “Rescue Me” will tackle what may sound like a far-fetched plot line: that the attacks of Sept. 11 were an “inside job.” (1 d ago)

• To Relive the Inauguration, a Wave of Ne... To Relive the Inauguration, a Wave of Network DVDs
02/01/2009
Television executives are hoping that consumers will want digital memories of Inauguration Day. (1 d ago)

• Despite iTunes Accord, Music Labels Stil... Despite iTunes Accord, Music Labels Still Fret
02/01/2009
The tension between Apple and the music industry stems from Apple’s power over the industry, but it also echoes the traditional divide between suppliers and distributors. (1 d ago)

• TV Sports: N.F.L. Stars Who Took the Pit... TV Sports: N.F.L. Stars Who Took the Pitch and Ran With It
01/31/2009
While it is tempting to crown Peyton Manning the greatest N.F.L. commercial star, other players from the past, like Joe Namath, could be considered. (2 d ago)

• Coca-Cola Deleting ‘Classic’ From Coke L... Coca-Cola Deleting ‘Classic’ From Coke Label
01/31/2009
After 24 years, one of the most famous blunders in marketing history is quietly coming to end. (2 d ago)

• GHOST TO BE NAMED EPIC PREZ GHOST TO BE NAMED EPIC PREZ
02/03/2009
Sony Music is expected to name Golden Globe-nominated songwriter Amanda Ghost as president of Epic Records as early as today, The Post has learned. Two sources close to the situation said Sony and Ghost agreed to terms last week and that the... (7 h ago)

• MORGAN TO SLASH JOBS MORGAN TO SLASH JOBS
02/03/2009
Morgan Stanley plans to eliminate as many as 1,800 positions, or 4 percent of the workforce, a person familiar with the situation said, after posting its lowest annual profit in 13 years. Most of the reductions will come later this month in the... (7 h ago)

• EXTELL'S DIAMOND TOWER IN THE ROUGH EXTELL'S DIAMOND TOWER IN THE ROUGH
02/03/2009
GARY BARNETT'S Extell hopes to sell more than $355 million worth of jewelry-industry condominiums at its eagerly awaited Diamond Tower on West 47th Street. And although Extell doesn't have construction financing yet, Barnett is confident the... (7 h ago)

• BUSCH-WHACKED BUSCH-WHACKED
02/03/2009
It took a couple of dudes from Indiana to topple a Clydesdale and the king of beers. Anheuser-Busch InBev, maker of Budweiser, ended its long winning streak in the Super Bowl ad race, after amateurs beat the ad pros at their own game. After 10... (7 h ago)

• MACY'S MASSACRE MACY'S MASSACRE
02/03/2009
Warning that this year's profits will sorely miss Wall Street's estimates, Macy's said it will lay off 7,000 workers and slash its dividend. Confirming an exclusive Saturday report in The Post, the debt-ridden department store said yesterday it... (7 h ago)

• US OIL RESERVES NO LONGER OVER A BARREL US OIL RESERVES NO LONGER OVER A BARREL
02/03/2009
LET'S start today with something that the government got right - almost. It took Washington a long time to stop oil from flowing into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) last spring. Even with barrel prices being driven up into the $140s by... (7 h ago)

• GETTING THRIFTIER, GIRDING FOR WORST GETTING THRIFTIER, GIRDING FOR WORST
02/03/2009
Consumer spending fell for a record sixth straight month in December as recession-battered households, worried about surging layoffs, boosted their savings rates to the highest level since May. Personal consumption spending dropped by 1 percent... (7 h ago)

• CITI TO SPEND $36.5B CITI TO SPEND $36.5B
02/03/2009
Citigroup, under pressure to increase its lending, says it will spend $36.5 billion to issue mortgages, make credit card loans and buy distressed assets in the tight credit markets in the coming months. The decision arrives after the bank... (7 h ago)

• BUSINESS BRIEFS BUSINESS BRIEFS
02/03/2009
Nadel to NY Arthur Nadel, the Flor ida hedge-fund adviser who is accused of de frauding investors of more than $300 million, was ordered transferred from Florida to New York, where he faces criminal charges.. Driven away GM and Chrysler began... (7 h ago)

• GREENBERG, AIG FACE OFF IN $300M STARR W... GREENBERG, AIG FACE OFF IN $300M STARR WAR
02/03/2009
Hank Greenberg will finally get his day in court. The founder and former chairman of American International Group is set to duke it out March 2 with the federally rescued insurer over who owns an offshore account that AIG's current bosses want to... (7 h ago)

• BANKS' URGE 2 MERGE BANKS' URGE 2 MERGE
02/03/2009
Troubled Swiss banking giant UBS has held preliminary talks with Wachovia Securities about forging a joint venture of the pair's North American wealth-management units, The Post has learned. Such a venture would combine UBS' wealth-management... (7 h ago)

• Bailed-out banks sought foreign workers Bailed-out banks sought foreign workers
02/02/2009
Major U.S. banks sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country for high-paying jobs even as the system was melting down last year. (1 d ago)

• Under Armour enters the running shoe rac... Under Armour enters the running shoe race
02/01/2009
There are plenty of bets on Super Bowl weekend, but few with stakes as high as Under Armour's wager. (1 d ago)

• Corporate America starts to get serious ... Corporate America starts to get serious on pay
02/01/2009
There's finally some good news on executive pay. (1 d ago)

• Adding up the Super Bowl by the numbers Adding up the Super Bowl by the numbers
01/31/2009
Recession is gripping the country, but the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl — that annual holiday from reality that grips the country every year. (3 d ago)

• Health Insurance: What You Need to Know Health Insurance: What You Need to Know
02/02/2009
With Americans spending an ever increasing amount on medical costs, it’s more important than ever to have insurance that fits your health care needs. (9 h ago)

• Consumers Are Saving More and Spending L... Consumers Are Saving More and Spending Less
02/02/2009
Economic data released on Monday shows consumers and businesses embarking on an era of thrift as the recession deepens. (10 h ago)

• Patient Money: Making the Most of Flexib... Patient Money: Making the Most of Flexible Spending Accounts
02/02/2009
Flexible spending accounts offer a tax break and can stretch health care dollars, if used wisely. (20 h ago)

• Shortcuts: The Popular Practice of Putti... Shortcuts: The Popular Practice of Putting Stuff Off
02/02/2009
There’s a little procrastinator in all of us, but delaying some tasks can be costly. (20 h ago)

• For Home Buyers, More Bank Roadblocks For Home Buyers, More Bank Roadblocks
02/02/2009
Norman Calvo, the president of Universal Mortgage, says banks are now requiring documentation from buildings as well as home buyers.Many banks are refusing to make loans if they don’t like what they find when they review the finances and bylaws of the building where the purchaser hopes to live. (20 h ago)

• A Month Free? Rents Are Falling Fast A Month Free? Rents Are Falling Fast
02/02/2009
When Sara Nuttall and her family went hunting for a rental, she said, incentives "made a big difference." In this painful economic climate of layoffs and shrinking investments, there is a sliver of positive news: it’s a good time to be a renter in New York City. (20 h ago)

• Fundamentally: It’s a Great Time for a M... Fundamentally: It’s a Great Time for a Makeover
02/02/2009
Some planners say the bear market has given investors a rare opportunity: they can completely refashion their portfolios with little or no tax consequence. (20 h ago)

• Fisher Island: Still a Refuge, but Not F... Fisher Island: Still a Refuge, but Not From the Downturn
02/02/2009
About a quarter of the condos in one of the country’s wealthiest communities are for sale, and few are finding buyers. (20 h ago)

• It’s the Economy, Girlfriend It’s the Economy, Girlfriend
02/01/2009
A group called Dating a Banker Anonymous offers support to women whose romantic relationships have suffered from the economic downturn. (1 d ago)

• Your Money: American Express Kept a (Ver... Your Money: American Express Kept a (Very) Watchful Eye on Charges
01/31/2009
Until this week, American Express scrutinized how its cardholders spent money, searching for similarities to other customers with bill-paying problems. (2 d ago)

• That luxury item may be 'Made in China' That luxury item may be 'Made in China'
02/02/2009
Facing declining sales, many makers of luxury brands have moved production to China to cut costs. Still, you may not find 'Made in China' on their products. Scott Tong explains why. (21 h ago)

• Use tax cuts to ignite incentives Use tax cuts to ignite incentives
02/02/2009
The free market is a tough place. Only so many companies can be rescued by bailout funds, and the government's stimulus plan can't save everyone. Commentator Todd Buchholz says instead of trying to prevent failure, we should be looking for ways to ignite incentives, like tax cuts. (21 h ago)

• Commission delays lead testing in toys Commission delays lead testing in toys
02/02/2009
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has delayed testing and certification requirements for lead content in children's toys and other products for a year. Tess Vigeland speaks with reporter Mitchell Hartman about the impacts of the delay. (21 h ago)

• What jobs that are 'green' really mean What jobs that are 'green' really mean
02/02/2009
President Obama is pushing to create a half million "green" jobs to revive and grow the economy. What, exactly, would jobs in a "green-collar economy" look like? Sarah Gardner reports. (21 h ago)

• Ethanol start-ups are running on empty Ethanol start-ups are running on empty
02/02/2009
Renew Energy, one of the nation's largest ethanol plants, just filed for bankruptcy. More ethanol producers are expected to follow in its footsteps. But as Sam Eaton reports, don't write ethanol off just yet. (21 h ago)

• Bethlehem hopes casino can be a savior Bethlehem hopes casino can be a savior
02/02/2009
The Pennsylvania town of Bethlehem has been struggling to replace thousands of jobs lost from its steel-producing past. It now has its hopes riding on a new casino. Joel Rose reports. (21 h ago)

• How about taking bids on bad assets? How about taking bids on bad assets?
02/02/2009
A government plan to buy up banks' troubled assets appears to be in the works. But how do you determine a price to sell those holdings when no one's really sure what they're worth? Auctions might work, as Jeremy Hobson reports. (21 h ago)

• Saving more could be bad for economy Saving more could be bad for economy
02/02/2009
Save or spend? Americans are getting mixed messages. Savings deposits are up just as we're being encouraged to spend to jump-start the economy. But the increase in savings could have dire economic consequences. Steve Henn reports. (21 h ago)

• China: Up To 26M Migrants Now Jobless China: Up To 26M Migrants Now Jobless
02/02/2009
An estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up. An official said widespread unemployment could threaten the country's social stability. (22 h ago)

• Super Bowl Ads Hits & Misses Super Bowl Ads Hits & Misses
02/02/2009
A lot of people tuned into the Super Bowl last night just to see the commercials. A Doritos ad was the hands-down fan favorite according to a "USA Today" consumer opinion poll. (22 h ago)

• Americans Are Saving More, Spending Less Americans Are Saving More, Spending Less
02/02/2009
Americans' savings rate as a percentage of after-tax incomes rose to 2.9 percent in the last three months of 2008. The Commerce Department also reported consumer spending fell for a record sixth straight month in December. (1 d ago)

• Bailout Banks Sought More Foreign Worker... Bailout Banks Sought More Foreign Workers
02/02/2009
Even as the economy collapsed last year and many financial workers found themselves unemployed, the dozen U.S. banks now receiving the biggest bailouts requested visas for tens of thousands of foreign workers to fill high-paying jobs. (1 d ago)

• Refinery Workers Set To Go On Strike Refinery Workers Set To Go On Strike
01/31/2009
With a third contract offer rejected, some 24,000 refinery workers from the Gulf of Mexico to Montana prepared to head to the picket lines Saturday just hours before an existing labor agreement expires. (2 d ago)

• Under Armour Takes Chance On Shoe Market Under Armour Takes Chance On Shoe Market
01/31/2009
The relatively young athletic apparel company Under Armour is launching its first running shoe line, betting it can compete against the likes of Nike in one of the biggest categories in the shoe world and in the midst of a recession. (2 d ago)

• From high-tech executive to Mr. Mom From high-tech executive to Mr. Mom
02/01/2009
In a year, Don McCoy has gone from being a top executive in a high-tech startup to Mr. Mom. Now he cares for his two children while his wife tries to make her fledgling walking tour business meet some of the financial demands left open by his long-term unemployment. (1 d ago)

• In downturn, federal work force grows In downturn, federal work force grows
01/31/2009
Companies are cutting jobs by the tens of thousands. State and local governments are penny-pinching, too. So what about Uncle Sam? (2 d ago)

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• Citigroup greed Citigroup greed
02/02/2009
Citigroup has been in all sorts of strife since receivign a taxpayer funded $45 billion cash injection to keep the wolves from the door.At the end of last month, the world's biggest bank had to... (1 d ago)

• Does Sarbanes-Oxley mean audit offshorin... Does Sarbanes-Oxley mean audit offshoring?
02/02/2009
Offshoring has become more prevalent in recent years. Most firms send part of their operations to cheaper places overseas.But offshoring of audit functions is becoming more popular and, according to... (1 d ago)

• Bailout transparency problems continue Bailout transparency problems continue
01/31/2009
The Financial Times reports that the Obama administration is expected to come out with a "big bang" announcement next week that will see a bank clean-up, measures to reduce home... (3 d ago)

• A health care headache A health care headache
02/02/2009
Your Biz blog: It’s getting ugly out there for small business owners struggling to keep on paying high health insurance premiums for themselves and their workers. (23 h ago)

• Video: Video: NFL boosts the bottom line Video: Video: NFL boosts the bottom line
02/01/2009
Feb. 1: Many large companies look to smaller shops to boost their own bottom line. One example is the NFL. They've recruited a team of small businesses for the biggest game of the year. (MSNBC) (2 d ago)

• Stocks Are Mixed as Market Is Gripped b... Stocks Are Mixed as Market Is Gripped by 'Legislative Paralysis'
02/02/2009
NEW YORK, Feb. 2 -- Investors worried about the recession have turned to a strategy of cherry-picking stocks -- on Monday sending tech shares higher and industrials lower. (11 h ago)

• After a Promising Start, a Down Week After a Promising Start, a Down Week
01/31/2009
U.S. stocks fell for the fourth straight week, capping the market's worst January retreat, after companies from Procter & Gamble to Caterpillar and Allstate reported earnings that trailed estimates. (2 d ago)

• Tool Kit: Lessons Learned From Hard Time... Tool Kit: Lessons Learned From Hard Times Past
02/02/2009
Entrepreneurs say that it is even more important to keep learning and to strengthen relationships when the economy is in a downturn. (9 h ago)

• Recession Has Landlords of Retail Tenant... Recession Has Landlords of Retail Tenants Extending Discounts of Their Own
01/31/2009
Some small businesses are finding a silver lining in the recessionary clouds: they suddenly have leverage with their landlords. (2 d ago)

• More Tips to Help You Save On Heating ... More Tips to Help You Save On Heating Costs
02/02/2009
Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 6284593 With so many people laid off of work and having a hard time getting by, high heating costs is something you can do without. Most of these tips are rather... (8 h ago)

• Social media and social entrepreneurship Social media and social entrepreneurship
01/31/2009
First of all, a note on the previous blog: Jill Finlayson kindly provided more links to the Bill Drayton's presentations/lectures which are pretty cool (check the comments for previous blog to... (2 d ago)

• Credis Suisse sheds light on hedge fund ... Credis Suisse sheds light on hedge fund failure
02/02/2009
Credit Suisse Tremont Index LLC released a new research piece, 'One for the History Books: Hedge Fund Performance in 2008′, a review of the factors which contributed to hedge funds' dismal... (1 d ago)

• Facebook Becomes (Even More) Business Fr... Facebook Becomes (Even More) Business Friendly
01/31/2009
Josh Peters had a good piece over at Mashable earlier this month on the growing number of Facebook applications that can help you with your business. Josh seems to think that Facebook's app... (2 d ago)

• Coke, Pepsi ready for new round of soda ... Coke, Pepsi ready for new round of soda wars
02/01/2009
Feeling bad about the economy? Indulge a little, have a soda. (1 d ago)