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February 2009

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Business News
for 02/23/2009

(last updated 7:30am EST 02/23/2009)

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• Chief of Honda to Step Aside Chief of Honda to Step Aside
02/23/2009
The Honda Motor Company, Japan’s second-largest carmaker, said on Monday that its president, Takeo Fukui was stepping down. (7 h ago)

• E.U. Leaders Turn to I.M.F. Amid Financi... E.U. Leaders Turn to I.M.F. Amid Financial Crisis
02/23/2009
European leaders called for a doubling of the resources of the International Monetary Fund to help head off problems in countries hit by the global financial crisis. (7 h ago)

• Northern Rock to Increase Mortgage Lendi... Northern Rock to Increase Mortgage Lending
02/22/2009
The plan is part of a series of initiatives intended to get credit in Britain flowing after the economy shrank in the final months of 2008. (9 h ago)

• Antigua’s Leader Vows Cooperation With U... Antigua’s Leader Vows Cooperation With U.S. in Investigation of Its Banks
02/22/2009
The inquiry into fraud by Stanford Financial may lead to oversight of offshore banking. (9 h ago)

• Fraud Case Shakes a Billionaire’s Caribb... Fraud Case Shakes a Billionaire’s Caribbean Realm
02/22/2009
The story of Robert Allen Stanford’s rise is intimately linked to his foray on the island of Antigua. (11 h ago)

• British Fight Climate Change With Fish a... British Fight Climate Change With Fish and Chips
02/22/2009
Small plants in England are being used to collect and refine used cooking oil into biodiesel for vehicles. (1 d ago)

• When Consumers Cut Back: An Object Lesso... When Consumers Cut Back: An Object Lesson From Japan
02/22/2009
Japan offers a peek at how thrift can take lasting hold of a consumer society, to disastrous effect. (1 d ago)

• Total, the French Oil Company, Places It... Total, the French Oil Company, Places Its Bets Globally
02/22/2009
Total’s experience in Yemen shows how far an oil company will go to unearth new energy supplies. (1 d ago)

• Diamond Sales, and Prices, Plunge Diamond Sales, and Prices, Plunge
02/21/2009
Retail sales of diamonds dropped off sharply in September and were down much as 20 percent over the holidays in the United States. (2 d ago)

• China Starts Investing Globally China Starts Investing Globally
02/20/2009
Long spurned in the international market, China has invested $41 billion in global oil projects this week alone. (2 d ago)

• Saab in Bankruptcy Filing; G.M. Seeks Mo... Saab in Bankruptcy Filing; G.M. Seeks More Aid
02/20/2009
Saab, the Swedish automaker, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday and asked its government for financial support to remain in business as an independent company. (2 d ago)

• Latvia’s Government Falls on Economic To... Latvia’s Government Falls on Economic Toll
02/20/2009
Latvia’s government collapsed Friday, a victim of the country’s growing economic and political turmoil in the wake of the international financial crisis. (2 d ago)

• In Parched Argentina, Worries Over Econo... In Parched Argentina, Worries Over Economy Grow
02/20/2009
In addition to double-digit inflation and growing unemployment, Argentina’s worst drought in more than 50 years is magnifying the country’s chances of suffering another economic crisis. (2 d ago)

• Off the Charts: Foreigners Wary of Long-... Off the Charts: Foreigners Wary of Long-Term U.S. Securities
02/20/2009
Just when the U.S. needs foreign investors most, the flow of money appears to have slowed considerably. (2 d ago)

• Business Briefing | Company News: Italia... Business Briefing | Company News: Italian Utility Buys Out Spanish Partner in Venture
02/20/2009
Enel, Italy’s biggest utility, agreed to buy a 25.01 percent stake in Endesa from Acciona. (2 d ago)

• Business Briefing | Company News: Chip M... Business Briefing | Company News: Chip Maker’s Units File for Chapter 11
02/20/2009
Two American units of the insolvent German memory chip maker Qimonda filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. (2 d ago)

• Business Briefing | Company News: Kirin ... Business Briefing | Company News: Kirin to Buy Stake in Philippine Brewer
02/20/2009
The Kirin Holdings Company of Japan plans to take a 43 percent stake in the San Miguel Corporation’s Philippine beer unit, San Miguel Brewery. (2 d ago)

• Business Briefing | Company News: Mining... Business Briefing | Company News: Mining Company to Cut 19,000 Jobs
02/20/2009
The mining giant Anglo American said that it would suspend dividend payments for 2008 and cut 19,000 jobs, a tenth of its work force. (2 d ago)

• UBS Pressed for 52,000 Names in 2nd Inqu... UBS Pressed for 52,000 Names in 2nd Inquiry
02/20/2009
A court filing raised questions about the scale of the Swiss bank’s efforts to help rich customers evade taxes. (2 d ago)

• Questions for Dambisa Moyo: The Anti-Bon... Questions for Dambisa Moyo: The Anti-Bono
02/20/2009
The economist talks about why we should stop sending aid to Africa, why no one feels sorry for the Chinese and the trouble with relying on celebrities. (2 d ago)

• U.S. may hike stake in embattled Citigro... U.S. may hike stake in embattled Citigroup
02/23/2009
Citigroup Inc. is in talks that could see the U.S. government take a bigger stake in the beleaguered bank, according to reports over the weekend. (4 h ago)

• Honda names new president amid slowdown Honda names new president amid slowdown
02/22/2009
Honda Motor Co. named Takanobu Ito, an expert in auto development with experience in the U.S., as its new president and chief executive Monday, in an apparent effort to spur a turnaround under fresh, younger leadership. (8 h ago)

• Economists see recession getting worse Economists see recession getting worse
02/22/2009
Brace yourself: The recession is projected to worsen this year. (10 h ago)

• Philly newspaper owner files for bankrup... Philly newspaper owner files for bankruptcy
02/22/2009
The owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday in an effort to restructure its debt load. (10 h ago)

• Stanford case another black eye for SEC Stanford case another black eye for SEC
02/22/2009
For years, there were red flags — so many they could have massed into a crimson blanket. (14 h ago)

• Gas climbs nearly three cents in last tw... Gas climbs nearly three cents in last two weeks
02/22/2009
The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices says the average national price of gasoline increased 2.6 cents in the past two weeks. (16 h ago)

• EU leaders back sweeping financial regul... EU leaders back sweeping financial regulations
02/22/2009
European leaders backed sweeping new regulations for financial markets and hedge funds at a summit Sunday as politicians and nations scrambled to tame the economic crisis. (17 h ago)

• Report: Management shakeup at Yahoo comi... Report: Management shakeup at Yahoo coming
02/22/2009
Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Carol Bartz could announce a major management reorganization as early as next week, according to the blog AllThingsD. (17 h ago)

• Wall Street waits for details on Treasur... Wall Street waits for details on Treasury plan
02/22/2009
This week, Washington will get another chance to prove to Wall Street it means business. (17 h ago)

• Safeguarding customer service in a reces... Safeguarding customer service in a recession
02/22/2009
Companies are struggling to maintain customer service amid sinking sales and declining employee morale. (20 h ago)

• Gloom persists despite audacious Obama p... Gloom persists despite audacious Obama plans
02/22/2009
The economic measures announced by President Barack Obama to address "a crisis unlike we've ever known" are remarkable, rivaling and in many cases dwarfing the New Deal. (20 h ago)

• Journal Register files for bankruptcy pr... Journal Register files for bankruptcy protection
02/21/2009
The Journal Register Co., publisher of the New Haven (Conn.) Register and other newspapers, has joined at least two other publishers that have turned to bankruptcy court in recent months. (1 d ago)

• Obama: Tax cuts will be felt by April 1 Obama: Tax cuts will be felt by April 1
02/21/2009
Just how soon will Americans start reaping the benefits of the tax cuts in the economic stimulus package? By April 1, according to the president. (1 d ago)

• Official: Obama wants to halve budget de... Official: Obama wants to halve budget deficit
02/21/2009
President Barack Obama's wants to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term, mostly by scaling back Iraq war spending, raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and streamlining government, an official says. (1 d ago)

• Governors debate handling of stimulus bi... Governors debate handling of stimulus billions
02/21/2009
Governors said Saturday they welcomed the money from President Obama's stimulus plan and played down disagreements among some Republicans in their ranks about how the dollars should be spent. (1 d ago)

• Sky-high Wall Street payouts may fall to... Sky-high Wall Street payouts may fall to Earth
02/21/2009
With the economy in the throes of a historic meltdown, financial workers everywhere fear layoffs. But even those who keep their jobs may face a far different future than they had imagined — one without the big payouts that have long made Wall Street a beacon for the ambitious and the acquisitive. (1 d ago)

• White House: Banks should be privately h... White House: Banks should be privately held
02/20/2009
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs knocked down speculation that the Obama administration may seek to nationalize Citigroup and Bank of America. (2 d ago)

• BofA's CEO subpoenaed over Merrill bonus... BofA's CEO subpoenaed over Merrill bonuses
02/20/2009
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis has received a subpoena from the New York state attorney general's office in connection with Merrill Lynch's bonuses before the companies combined. (2 d ago)

• IRS claims Swiss bank concealed accounts IRS claims Swiss bank concealed accounts
02/20/2009
The IRS claims Swiss bank UBS AG used coded language, created hundreds of sham offshore entities and lied to U.S. officials in a scheme to conceal the overseas accounts of wealthy Americans. (2 d ago)

• Consumer inflation up slightly in Januar... Consumer inflation up slightly in January
02/20/2009
U.S. consumer prices rose in January as energy costs rebounded, government data showed on Friday, temporarily easing fears of deflation amid a severe economic downturn. (3 d ago)

• China-Pakistan free trade agreement on s... China-Pakistan free trade agreement on services to be in effect soon
02/23/2009
Background: milestones of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement &$ &$In November 2003, China and Pakistan signed the Preferential Trade Arrangement. In October 2004, the two countries launched the joint research on free trade agreement. In April 2005 the two sides singed the "Early Harvest Program". &$ &$ &$<a href='http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200512/09/eng20051209_226896.html' target='_bl ... (4 h ago)

• Establishing regional forex reserve in E... Establishing regional forex reserve in East Asia, Xie Xuren
02/23/2009
Finance minister Xie Xuren led the Chinese delegation attending the Finance Ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) meeting held in Thailand's southern resort island of Phuket on Feb. 22. This year's meeting was held under grave the circumstance of the ailing global financial situation that had already had negative impact on regional economy. Finance ministers from ASEAN, China, Japan and ROK exchanged views on measures countries around the world had taken to tack ... (4 h ago)

• ASEAN+3 agrees to raise emergency fund ASEAN+3 agrees to raise emergency fund
02/23/2009
Finance Ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) agreed on Feb. 22 to raise an emergency currency fund to boost regional economy and protect member countries from financial meltdown. The size of the fund is expected to hit 120 billion US dollars, up from 80 billion on the previous year. The news came on the same day finance ministers gathered in Thailand’s southern resort island of Phuket to discuss ways to tackle the global economic recession. The ASEAN +3 F ... (4 h ago)

• Hong Kong stocks close sharply higher Hong Kong stocks close sharply higher
02/23/2009
Hong Kong stocks extended its early gains and surged 475.93 points, or 3.75 percent, to close near the day's highest at 13,175.1 on Monday amid reports that the U.S. government could take as much as 25 percent to 40 percent of stake in Citigroup. Turnover fell slightly to 39.58 billion HK dollars (5.09 billion U.S. dollars) from Friday's 39.76 billion HK dollars (5.13billion U.S. dollars). The benchmark Hang Seng Index recovered 78.79 points, or 0.62 percent, to open at the day' ... (4 h ago)

• Philippines expected to downgrade 2009 e... Philippines expected to downgrade 2009 economic growth target
02/23/2009
The Philippine government will reduce its economic growth forecast this year as the global economic crisis takes its toll on the economy, Philippine Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said Monday. Philippine economic planners earlier forecast the economy to expand 3.7 percent to 4.7 percent this year, after achieving a better-than-expected 4.6 percent growth rate in 2008. But Recto gave the hint that the figure will be scaled down when economic officials announce the r ... (5 h ago)

• Dubai launches $20 bln bond issue Dubai launches $20 bln bond issue
02/23/2009
Dubai government launched a bond program of 20 billion U.S. dollars to help it meet its financial obligations and press ahead with its development plans, local daily The National reported Monday. The Finance Department plans to issue five-year bonds paying 4 percent interest per year, the report said, adding that the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had subscribed to the first 10 billion dollars of the issue. The move comes amid mounting concerns over whether Dubai, ... (5 h ago)

• Indonesia receives $2.4 mln from World B... Indonesia receives $2.4 mln from World Bank for piped water connections
02/23/2009
The Indonesian Government and the World Bank, in its capacity as administrator of the Global partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), signed an agreement on a grant worth 2.4 million U.S. dollar (about 24 billion rupiah) for expanding piped water supply to urban Poor in the second largest city in Indonesia, Surabaya. "The GPOBA project would help Indonesia achieve the Millennium Development Goal for water supply by targeting the urban poor not afford paying piped water connections," the ... (5 h ago)

• S Korea claims to retain developing nati... S Korea claims to retain developing nation status in DDA talks
02/23/2009
South Korean Agriculture Minister Chang Tae-pyong said Monday that it must retain its developing nation status in Doha Development Agenda (DDA) agricultural talks, considering its weak farming sector. During a meeting with World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy held in Seoul, he told the director-general that the country must retain the status as the farming sector of the country has a high portion of elderly farmers and a small size of individual farms. He also sa ... (5 h ago)

• Former U.S. treasury secretary disclaims... Former U.S. treasury secretary disclaims another financial crisis in S Korea
02/23/2009
It is highly unlikely that South Korea will go through another financial crisis similar to the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis, a former U.S. treasury secretary said Monday. "I think that at least the probability of something we experience in 1998 is way too low," Robert Rubin told the press after attending an international forum held in Seoul. As the country's economic fundamentals have grown sound, circumstances have also changed, he said. Rubin served as the U.S. Treasu ... (5 h ago)

• Macao's gaming tax revenues down 5.3% in... Macao's gaming tax revenues down 5.3% in January
02/23/2009
Macao Special Administrative Region government saw its gaming tax income dropped 5.3 percent year-on-year to 2.92 billion patacas (370 million U.S. dollars), the Macao Post Daily reported on Monday. Gaming taxes accounted for 82.3 percent of the SAR government's total revenues in January, which amounted to 3.55 billion patacas (449 million dollars), a decrease of 10.3 percent over the same period of last year, the Daily said, quoting figures from the SAR's Financial Services Bureau (DSF) ... (6 h ago)

• Ningxia potatoes to enter Europe at high... Ningxia potatoes to enter Europe at high price
02/23/2009
Four thousand five hundred kilograms of potatoes will be exported to Germany at the price of 1.5 USD per kilogram, marking the first instance of potato exports from China to Europe, according to news from Ningxia Daily. Ma Shengke, an official of the Xingxia Guyuan Potato Shipping Association, said relevant European enterprises and experts he had previously asked to evaluate the potatoes grown in Guyuan found that they are of equal quality to those grown in Europe. The total value of the ... (6 h ago)

• S Korea denies possibility of financial ... S Korea denies possibility of financial crisis
02/23/2009
South Korea's financial watchdog denied the possibility that Japanese financial firms' withdrawal from local market in March may lead to a financial crisis, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Monday. As rumors are rampant that there may be a massive capital exodus from the Seoul market by Japanese capital firms, market fears over the possibility of financial crisis in March grow stronger, Yonhap said. "Under the current situation, it is highly unlikely that the so-called March cri ... (6 h ago)

• Indonesian steel companies suffer overst... Indonesian steel companies suffer overstock of 2 mln tons
02/23/2009
The Indonesian domestic iron and steel companies are suffering an overstock by 50 percent of the country's 4-million-ton production due to rampant import amid the global financial crisis. "The situation leads to an overstock in domestic industry by 2 million tons while new projects in the country only boosted the domestic demands for concrete iron, not steel components," the Chairman of Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA) for Engineering and Fabricators Djamaluddin Tanoto ... (6 h ago)

• French gov't adopts measures to address ... French gov't adopts measures to address unemployment crisis
02/23/2009
The French government has adopted a package of measures to address rising unemployment in the country caused by economic slowdown under the impact of the global financial meltdown. The global financial turmoil, which began to take a toll on the French economy in the latter half of 2008, has forced banks to tighten credit loans for medium and small sized companies and individuals alike, which not only resulted in the shrink in spending but also plunged the enterprises into an awkward situatio ... (6 h ago)

• Hushen 300 index closed up on Feb. 23 Hushen 300 index closed up on Feb. 23
02/23/2009
The Hushen 300 Index reflecting the performance of China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges closed at 2,410.48 points on Monday, up 66.16 points, or 2.82 percent, from the previous close. About one fifth of the total stocks listed on the two markets are chosen as samples of the Hushen 300 Index, accounting for 60 percent of the market value in China's stock market. &$ &$Source: Xinhua&$ &$ ... (6 h ago)

• S Korea to expand currency swap line wit... S Korea to expand currency swap line with Japan
02/22/2009
South Korea and Japan will be likely to agree on currency swap extension, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday. According to Yonhap, South Korean Deputy Finance Minister Shin Je-yoon said South Korea's currency swap arrangement with Japan is expected to be extended automatically if contingency occurs. "Of course, Japan's central bank is now holding the key to the issue, but we believe things will be done in a good direction," the official was quoted as saying, without givi ... (8 h ago)

• Tokyo stocks close lower on banking woes... Tokyo stocks close lower on banking woes
02/22/2009
Tokyo stocks closed lower Monday on reignited woes over the financial sector, after a listed Tokyo-based moneylender filed for bankruptcy. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 40.22 points, or 0.54 percent, from Friday to 7,376.16, finishing at the lowest level since Oct. 27. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the TSE was down 4.25 points, or 0.57 percent, to 735.28, closing at the lowest level since Dec. 28, 1983. Tokyo stocks closed lower Monday on reignited woes ... (8 h ago)

• China invites bid for biggest solar PV p... China invites bid for biggest solar PV power plant
02/22/2009
A total of 50 power enterprises placed bids for a 10 megawatt solar photovoltaic generation project in northwest China's Gansu Province, the biggest in the country, the Shanghai Securities News said Monday. Chinese bidders include China Power Investment Corporation, China Huaneng Group, China Guodian Corporation, China Datang Corporation, China Huadian Corporation and Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP.NYSE), Shi Lishan, an official with the National Energy Bureau was quoted as saying. ... (8 h ago)

• Major Chinese steel makers' net profits ... Major Chinese steel makers' net profits down 43% in 2008
02/22/2009
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) said Monday that the aggregate net profit of 71 medium-sized and large steel producers fell 43 percent in 2008 as weak demand drove down prices. Net profit was 84.6 billion yuan (12.4 billion U.S. dollars), CISA said, while sales climbed 24.7 percent year-on-year to 2.57 trillion yuan. The 71 producers earned 101 billion yuan in net profit in the first half of 2008, but they lost 16.4 billion yuan in the second half as costs rose while selling ... (8 h ago)

• Hong Kong stocks finish 2.29% higher at ... Hong Kong stocks finish 2.29% higher at midday
02/22/2009
Hong Kong stocks widened its gains by 291.26 points, or 2.29 percent, to finish the morning session at 12,990.43 on Monday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index recovered 78.79 points, or 0.62 percent, to open at half-day low 12,777.96 and extended its gains to half-day high 13,033.5 before the morning break. &$ &$Source: Xinhua&$ &$ ... (9 h ago)

• Big Opening for ‘Madea’ Lifts a Struggli... Big Opening for ‘Madea’ Lifts a Struggling Studio
02/22/2009
Lionsgate opened “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail” to a record-setting $41.1 million in sales at domestic theaters. (8 h ago)

• The Media Baron and His Soft Spot The Media Baron and His Soft Spot
02/22/2009
Rupert Murdoch’s love of newspapers has become a significant drag on the fortunes of his company, the News Corporation. (8 h ago)

• Articles on Editor’s Killing Made a Diff... Articles on Editor’s Killing Made a Difference
02/22/2009
After Chauncey Bailey, the editor of The Oakland Post, was gunned down 18 months ago, a group of reporters banded together to continue his investigation into a local business. (8 h ago)

• Philadelphia Newspapers Seeking Bankrupt... Philadelphia Newspapers Seeking Bankruptcy
02/22/2009
The owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News will file for bankruptcy after talks aimed at restructuring company debt broke down, executives said. (9 h ago)

• Journal Register Seeks Bankruptcy Journal Register Seeks Bankruptcy
02/22/2009
The company, which publishes 179 newspapers, proposed canceling its stock and becoming a concern controlled by its lenders. (9 h ago)

• CNBC Replays Its Reporter’s Tirade CNBC Replays Its Reporter’s Tirade
02/22/2009
Cable channels once embarrassed by on-air anchor outbursts are now glad to post the video clips on the Internet to maximize publicity and Web traffic. (9 h ago)

• Ten Years Later, Photographer Finds Old ... Ten Years Later, Photographer Finds Old Portrait Shots Are in Demand
02/22/2009
On Oct. 7, 1999, a young photographer hauled his camera gear to the Lipstick Building in Manhattan for a portrait assignment of an investor named Bernard L. Madoff. (9 h ago)

• Advertising: Geico’s Lizard Offers a New... Advertising: Geico’s Lizard Offers a New Message of Reassurance
02/22/2009
Confronting consumer anxiety over the economy, the giant insurer Geico is for the first time rolling out a secret ingredient of its own: Warren E. Buffett. (9 h ago)

• Advertising: Tropicana Discovers Some Bu... Advertising: Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging
02/22/2009
PepsiCo Americas Beverages is bowing to public demand and scrapping the changes made to a flagship product, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. (9 h ago)

• Actors Guild Rejects ‘Last’ Contract Off... Actors Guild Rejects ‘Last’ Contract Offer
02/22/2009
The Screen Actors Guild’s board of directors on Saturday rejected the “last, best and final offer” by Hollywood producers for a new contract. (1 d ago)

• Journal Register Seeks Bankruptcy Protec... Journal Register Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
02/21/2009
The Journal Register Company filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors on Saturday, saying a slump in advertising revenue and circulation were to blame. (1 d ago)

• Coffins’ Arrival From War Becomes an Iss... Coffins’ Arrival From War Becomes an Issue Again
02/21/2009
Pentagon officials reconsidering the ban on news coverage of coffins arriving from Iraq and Afghanistan are studying the media policies of other countries. (1 d ago)

• Scene Stealer: Beyond the Oscar Spectacl... Scene Stealer: Beyond the Oscar Spectacle, Hollywood Is Grumbling
02/21/2009
Within an industry, fatigue has set in with the Oscar process as well as its expense. (1 d ago)

• Mary Jacobus, a Times Co. Executive, Die... Mary Jacobus, a Times Co. Executive, Dies at 52
02/20/2009
Ms. Jacobus was a New York Times Company executive who had headed The Boston Globe and later led the company’s chain of regional newspapers. (2 d ago)

• Libel Suit Against The Times Ends Libel Suit Against The Times Ends
02/20/2009
An agreement between the newspaper and a lobbyist does not call for payment or a retraction of an article about John McCain. (2 d ago)

• Stanford investors barred from access to... Stanford investors barred from access to cash
02/20/2009
The receiver in charge of recovering assets from Allen Stanford’s financial empire said that investors could not access their cash or transfer funds out of their accounts. (2 d ago)

• Questioning Stanford could get you fired Questioning Stanford could get you fired
02/20/2009
While R. Allen Stanford’s investors were swallowing claims of vast returns on safe investments, some of his employees weren’t so sure. (2 d ago)

• Trustee: No indication Madoff bought sec... Trustee: No indication Madoff bought securities
02/20/2009
The trustee in charge of untangling the mess brought on by the Bernard Madoff scandal told investors Friday there was no indication the financier bought securities for his clients. (2 d ago)

• Some states to use stimulus to forestall... Some states to use stimulus to forestall layoffs
02/20/2009
Are state governments a cushion of reliable employment in hard times? Or are they part of the same boom-bust cycle that has wreaked havoc with private-sector firms? (3 d ago)

• Tycoon in fraud case always saw bright f... Tycoon in fraud case always saw bright future
02/20/2009
U.S. investigators say R. Allen Stanford's offshore bank and financial companies used rosy financial predictions and old-fashioned deceit to lure investors into a scam. (3 d ago)

• NYT: First stimulus jobs go to ... NYT: First stimulus jobs go to ...
02/20/2009
The first hiring spree to result from the $787 billion stimulus plan might not involve construction workers or teachers but government auditors, investigators and lawyers. (3 d ago)

• Citi turns to US government for help Citi turns to US government for help
02/23/2009
Citigroup has again turned to the US government for help, a move that could leave the American taxpayer owning up to 40% of the once-mighty Wall Street firm. Overnight reports say that Citi, whose shares have tumbled, is in talks with federal government officials over a plan to dilute its existing shares. The US government has already bolstered Citigroup's balance sheet with $45bn (£30bn), meaning it owns 7.8% of the company in the form of p reference shares . They pay a guaranteed dividend and have priority over ordinary shares if a company goes bust. According to the Wall Street Journal , the deal being discussed would see these preference shares converted into ordinary stock, slashing the stakes of current investors and leaving the US government owning 25%-40% of Citi. This deal would not lead to more money being injected directly, but it would strengthen Citi's financial health according to a measure called "tangible common equity". It ignores some assets which are included in other measures, such as tier one capital ratios , and treats preference shares as debt. Converting the preferences shares will also relieve Citi of the obligation of paying interest, and eventually repaying the US government. Citi has denied that it needs fresh capital, pointing to a tier one capital ratio of almost 12%. But the steady plunge in its share price - the bank is now valued at barely $10bn - shows that investors doubt its ability to survive the downturn. Last Friday rumours swept the markets that both Citigroup and Bank of America could be nationalised. Michael Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at wealth advisers YCMNET, welcomed the new focus on tangible common equity. "US futures moved higher when the news broke during the Monday session in Asia. Relief rally? Perhaps at last the truth is coming out that some of these storied financial firms are more story than fact. More hope than solvency. And the markets are exhaling in a sigh of relief," he wrote in a blogpost . Vikram Pandit, Citi chief executive, tried to shore up morale at the bank by telling staff that he was still "very confident" about its prospects. "Our Tier 1 capital base is very strong and is one of the strongest in the financial services industry. Additionally, we continue to focus and make progress on reducing the assets on our balance sheet, reducing expenses and streamlining our business for future profitable growth," Pandit wrote in a letter to employees . Shares in Citi rallied by almost 30% in Frankfurt trading this morning, up €0.4 at €1.91. The US government is expected to announce details of its new stress tests for banks later this week. They are meant to help the US treasury decide which companies should receive extra support from the taxpayer. The treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, has not yet released details of these stress tests, and there is speculation that he may rely more on tangible common equity rather than on tier one capital ratios, which could see some banks declared insolvent. Some analysts have even argued that the financial world will lose faith in the treasury's tests unless it does fail at least one bank. "The fear is that over the next several weeks, we either lose confidence in a big bank or in the treasury," said Don Rismiller, chief economist of Strategas Research Partners. Citigroup Banking United States US economy guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• Northern Rock has learned from its mista... Northern Rock has learned from its mistakes, says chancellor
02/23/2009
Alistair Darling today defended his decision to allow Northern Rock to resume offering 90% mortgages, insisting the bank has learned from its mistakes. Allowing Northern Rock to loan an extra £14bn over the next two years would help to kick-start the mortgage market, the chancellor insisted this morning. Darling's comments came only hours before Northern Rock announced that it had made a loss of £1.4bn last year, and it would not pay executive cash bonuses for 2008 or 2009. The chancellor also confirmed that the bank, which was brought down by its reckless lending policy and reliance on wholesale credit, would be allowed to lend customers up to 90% of the value of their home. Most other lenders are unwilling to offer more than 75%. "Northern Rock will not do 100% mortgages," Darling told Radio 4's Today. "They had their fingers badly burned and more importantly so did many of their customers. "They can go up to 90%, but will have to take that judgment based on individual circumstances." The decision to use Northern Rock to revive the mortgage market is a significant U-turn . Darling explained that some of the £14bn will come from the taxpayer, with Northern Rock also being given more time to repay its loan from the government, which now stands at £8.9bn. After it was nationalised, Northern Rock was instructed to run down its mortgage book quickly to raise funds to repay a loan that peaked at almost £30bn. It is now accepted, though, that this contributed to the collapse of mortgage lending in the UK. Darling now hopes that Northern Rock can fill the gap and help more people buy a house. But Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable warned that Northern Rock should not be "let off the leash" without clear guidelines. "There has got to be a set of rules and principles for future mortgage lending, so we don't have the excesses of the past," he said. "There are people out there who are prudent, who have got deposits, that can't currently get a mortgage, and they could manage it perfectly well." An extremely difficult year Northern Rock's return to active mortgage lending was officially announced this morning. It said that the move was "good news for customers of Northern Rock and for consumers generally, who will benefit from an increase in mortgage availability". The state-owned bank also revealed that its losses had escalated through 2008, as more customers defaulted on their mortgages. It lost £800m in the second half of the year, on top of pre-tax losses of nearly £600m in the first half . "2008 was an extremely difficult year for the company, as expected," said Gary Hoffman, chief executive. Hoffman said that Northern Rock has recommended to the government that executives and senior management receive no cash bonus for 2008 and 2009, apart from their contractual entitlement, and will receive no pay increase in 2009. This is despite the company having hit various targets set by the government. Junior management, though, will receive a 10% deferred bonus in the form of a loan note, as will certain "senior individuals who are important to the Company's future" – although this can be clawed back if Northern Rock's fortunes deteriorate again. Northern Rock also reported that 2.92% of its customers are at least three months behind with their mortgage payments, up from 1.87% at the end of September. Northern Rock Mortgages Alistair Darling Economic policy guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (7 h ago)

• FT offers staff three-day working week FT offers staff three-day working week
02/22/2009
The Financial Times is cutting staffing costs by offering employees the chance to work fewer hours over summer, including a three-day working week option. The FT has launched the "global voluntary scheme" offering staff flexible working options as part of a plan to help ride out the worst of the media downturn. Options include working a three- or four-day week between June and August, an option to buy an additional seven days leave and to extend annual leave at 30% pay with a minimum booking period of two weeks. In a document to staff outlining the options the FT pushed the flexible options with a series of questions. "Do you fancy spending more time with your family over the summer months? Have you been meaning to book that trip of a lifetime? Would you like to improve you work-life balance in 2009? "If the answer is yes to any of the above questions, the FT may be able to assist," said the document. "The options are part of our ongoing efforts to ensure we have the flexibility to respond positively to the changing market," said Aimee Watson, the human resources manager in global human resources at the FT in an email. "We believe that this is a creative way to help the company reduce costs and retain talent, whilst giving employees the opportunity to take more time off." The email said applications will only be considered where there is a "clear business rationale", and that taking advantage of any of the flexibility options "will have no negative consequences for your future employment". Earlier this month FT journalists voted to hold a ballot on strike action in a bid to stave off compulsory redundancies among the 80 positions being cut. In December John Ridding, the Financial Times chief executive, said plans were being put in place to cut costs which would include offering staff the opportunity to work less . • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". Financial Times UK national newspapers Newspapers Newspapers & magazines Media downturn guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (8 h ago)

• Spain's biggest property firm sunk by £1... Spain's biggest property firm sunk by £1bn office deal
02/22/2009
The purchase of HSBC's tower in Canary Wharf - the biggest property deal in British history - has helped sink its Spanish buyer, Metrovacesa. Owners of the beleaguered building company, the Sanahuja family, will hand control of the company to its creditor banks, including Santander, swapping a 55% stake in exchange for cancelling €2.1bn (£1.9bn) of debt claims. Spain's biggest property firm said on Friday that it lost €738m last year, the biggest loss in its 90-year history, as the value of its holdings dived following the collapse of the real estate markets in Spain and the UK. The purchase of the 42-storey tower in London's Docklands is seen as the peak of the real estate boom for Spanish businesses, which saw a succession of firms launch themselves into an unprecedented debt-fuelled expansion spree. At the peak of the market, 800,000 homes a year were being built in Spain - more than France, Germany and Britain put together. The Madrid-based Metrovacesa bought the 100,000 sq metre tower in Canary Wharf for £1.09bn in May 2007, financed with a £810m loan that it could not pay off or refinance as credit markets tightened. Like buyout firms such as Baugur, which have also found themselves in trouble, Metrovacesa counted on rising values and cheap debt. The recession, however, has seen valuations go into reverse, while the credit crunch has dried up funds. The Spanish company sold the tower - 8 Canada Square - back to HSBC last December for £838m, leading to a £250m gain for HSBC and a loss for Metrovacesa. The real estate collapse has exacerbated Spain's plunge into recession because the sector accounts, directly and indirectly, for about a quarter of the economy. Thousands of firms are going bust and even top football clubs such as Valencia can no longer afford to pay their star players. The former Valencia chairman and real estate entrepreneur Juan Soler raised the club's debt to more than €400m and started building a new stadium before it had sold the land occupied by its current Mestalla stadium, which it has still not managed to do because of plunging property prices and the credit crunch. Work on the new stadium has stalled while the club rushes to get a new financing deal with new lenders. A local savings bank, Bancaja, has already cut off credit. London's commercial property prices have fallen 27% since the credit crunch hit. The latest blow to Canary Wharf came late last month when Morgan Stanley quit its lease of six floors of office space 10 years earlier than planned. HSBC Spain guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• Crosby tipped to board National Express Crosby tipped to board National Express
02/22/2009
Sir James Crosby, the former HBOS chief executive, has emerged as a candidate to become chairman of National Express, the indebted public transport group. National Express is expected to pick the new chairman from a shortlist of four, which is believed to include Crosby. The former head of HBOS was forced to step down as deputy chairman of the Financial Services Authority this month amid allegations that he ignored warnings of excessive risk-taking at the bank, which recently announced that it had incurred almost £11bn of losses. National Express, which has declined to comment, is seeking a replacement for David Ross, the Carphone Warehouse co-founder, who quit as chairman last December after admitting that he had pledged his stakes in companies including National Express as collateral for loans. National Express faces a grilling from the City over the future of its rail business this week as the group updates investors on how it is coping with Britain's most expensive rail contract. Analysts have warned that the owner of the prestigious London-to-Edinburgh east coast franchise might have to quit the rail business altogether in order to sustain earnings. The group has debts of more than £1bn and must refinance €540m (£484m) of it next year, amid mounting concerns over its ability to pay for an east coast contract that requires payments to the government of £1.4bn by 2015. Damian Brewer, a JP Morgan analyst who has raised the possibility of National Express handing back its three franchises, said in a recent note that a rights issue or a dividend cut might be needed in order to whittle down the debt burden. City commentators have warned that investors might not back a share issue if it is used to underpin a loss-making railway contract. According to JP Morgan, National Express East Coast could miss revenue targets this year and the franchise could make an underlying loss of £26.1m. "We see a growing risk that National Express will face balance sheet (debt) strain as the economic environment worsens. We see a growing risk that new equity will be required and that the dividend might be cut (to nil, potentially), and our view is that new equity will be challenging to gain without resolving the rail loss issues we think it might face," said Brewer. If National Express hands back the east coast franchise it will have to return its East Anglia and c2c contracts under cross-default regulations. The group's debt covenants limit its borrowings to 3.5 times its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Some analysts fear that it will breach those guidelines over the next year and that a rights issue, a dividend cut or an exit from the rail business might be needed to keep the group within its covenants. National Express is also considering charging passengers for making reservations on the east coast line as it looks to raise revenues, under pressure from a downturn that is thought to be affecting demand for first-class rail travel - a key earner for the east coast route. The rail minister, Lord Adonis, backed National Express recently and said he expected the group to continue to meet the terms of its franchise. Sir Richard Branson, co-owner of the Virgin west coast franchise, has expressed an interest in bidding for the east coast franchise if it became available. His comments drew a bullish response from the National Express chief executive, Richard Bowker, a former Virgin executive, who said: "We run Britain's premier long-distance railway and we intend to keep it that way." National Express Transport HBOS Carphone Warehouse Sir James Crosby guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• ITV considers selling Freeview business ITV considers selling Freeview business
02/22/2009
ITV could put its digital television business, SDN, up for sale as it weighs its options to raise extra funds. The broadcaster's executive chairman, Michael Grade, is finalising plans to raise cash as the group faces a slump in advertising revenues and further pressure from servicing its debt and pension fund. Grade has just over a week before he presents what is expected to be a radical rescue plan to the City as part of ITV's annual results on 4 March. Selling SDN - which operates the Freeview multiplex that hosts Channel Five's channels, as well as the shopping channel QVC - could raise about £200m. Although the business is profitable and brought in revenues of £36m in 2007, up 44% on the previous year, it is not seen as central to ITV's core identity as a producer-broadcaster. The most obvious buyer would be Arqiva, the transmission business that already owns the other two commercial multiplexes on Freeview. Any deal with Arqiva - which last week bought ITV's interest in the spectrum management company JFMG - is likely to come to the attention of competition watchdogs at the Office of Fair Trading. Disposing of SDN would represent the latest development in ITV's troubled involvement in digital television. ITV Digital, its attempt to create a terrestrial pay-TV rival to BSkyB, collapsed in 2002, blowing £1bn in the process. Having had its fingers burned so spectacularly, ITV was wary of ITV Digital's successor, Freeview, and stayed out of the consortium behind the venture. However, Freeview's remarkable success - and ITV's ability to benefit disproportionately from it - persuaded the company to become more closely involved. In April 2005, ITV spent £134m buying SDN from United Business Media and S4C. Later that year it joined the Freeview consortium. SDN not only gave it a new revenue stream but offered it capacity on Freeview for future channel launches. Grade and ITV's chief operating officer, John Cresswell, are putting the finishing touches to their plans this week before taking them to the ITV board. They are likely to cut about 500 jobs, just months after slashing the company's workforce by 1,000. Shows such as Heartbeat and Wire in the Blood have already been axed, indicating that ITV's £1bn programme budget will be reduced. Among other possible measures, the company is expected to suspend or at least cut its dividend and to offload the struggling social networking site Friends Reunited. However, the business is not likely to fetch any more than £50m, compared with the purchase price of £175m. A reported plan to embark on a £300m rights issue is not thought to be favoured, not least because ITV's shares are trading far from robustly, having fallen to 24.5p - their lowest close ever - on Friday night. ITV ITV Television guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• Mandelson, the oligarch and a £25m bail-... Mandelson, the oligarch and a £25m bail-out plea
02/22/2009
Lord Mandelson was facing a politically fraught decision last night over whether to sanction a taxpayer bailout of an imploding UK van-maker owned by his friend, the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. LDV was on the brink yesterday as insiders warned that it would collapse within days unless it received a loan of up to £25m from the business secretary immediately. The Birmingham-based firm said it needed the cash to seal a management buyout. The company's life expectancy is "a matter of days", the insiders warned. LDV needs a short-term loan while it negotiates a long-term deal with the European Investment Bank. A cash injection is understood to be needed to pay off suppliers who could call in administrators imminently. An LDV spokesman said: "We need this help quickly." Deripaska is no stranger to the idea of using links with powerful politicians to rescue his businesses after asking another friend, the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, to refinance £1.7bn in loans last year. Deripaska has been hit hard by the credit crunch and it is understood that his Russian businesses can no longer finance the van-maker. The so-called "aluminium king" was at the centre of a political controversy last year when it emerged that he had entertained the business secretary and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, on his yacht in Corfu. The revelation led to allegations that Osborne had attempted to solicit a donation from Deripaska. However, the credit crunch is unravelling the empire of a man who was named Russia's richest individual by Forbes magazine last year, with an estimated fortune of $28.6bn (£19.8bn). Speculation that a vehicle manufacturer is about to go under has been rife since last week when trade union leaders warned that an unnamed British car plant was on the verge of closure, with the loss of 6,000 associated jobs. LDV's Washwood Heath factory employs 800 workers directly and contributes to the livelihoods of thousands more workers at suppliers and components manufacturers. LDV warned yesterday that the buyout team needed short-term financing to seal the deal to rescue the company. "LDV has been a successful company and just last week won a significant new order. Short-term bridging support [for the buyout] from the government will secure its future and the future of hundreds of jobs," said an LDV spokesman. The buyout team is being led by Erik Eberhardson, former chairman of Deripaska's GAZ car making empire, which bought LDV in 2006. The LDV buyout team is holding talks with Mandelson's department, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (DBerr), which is leading efforts to rescue the British car industry. Thousands of workers are being axed at car plants across the UK as plummetting sales force production cutbacks. Car production slumped 58.7% to 61,404 vehicles in January and commercial vehicle production also tumbled sharply, down 59.9% to 8,351, according to figures published last week by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The chancellor, Alistair Darling, was urged by the SMMT to intervene amid warnings that a package of measures announced by Mandelson earlier this year, including more than £2bn in loan guarantees, has yet to be implemented. A DBerr spokeswoman confirmed that the department was in talks with LDV. "We have been in close discussions with all the automotive sector including with LDV. We have provided considerable support to LDV in recent years and continue to offer them help, including assistance with their application for funding from the European Investment Bank." Automotive industry Economic policy Credit crunch Peter Mandelson Recession guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• IMF emergency fund doubled to $500bn in ... IMF emergency fund doubled to $500bn in global rescue effort
02/22/2009
European leaders yesterday agreed that an emergency IMF fund should be doubled to $500bn prevent the worldwide recession turning into a fullscale depression. As Gordon Brown prepares to launch a fresh package of measures to encourage bank lending, starting with a £14bn injection into Northern Rock to revive the mortgage market, the EU's senior leaders agreed to boost the role of the IMF and the World Bank. Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European Central Bank, said that only emergency measures would help the world recover. "We live in non-linear times - the classic economic models and theories cannot be applied, and future development cannot be foreseen," he said. His remarks came as the leaders of the four largest EU economies - Germany, France, Britain and Italy - agreed in Berlin that an IMF emergency fund to help struggling economies should be doubled to $500bn. Brown, who has warned that existing IMF resources are not adequate for the current crisis, said: "We need a global new deal, we need a grand bargain between the countries and continents of this world so that the world economy can not only recover but the economic system of the future can be based on the soundest and best principles of all. "We decided that the international institutions have got to play a bigger role in working with individual countries. We decided that the international institutions should have at least $500bn, to enable them not just to deal with crises but to enable them to be able to prevent crises." The EU leaders, who met to hammer out a common position before the G20 summit to be chaired by Brown in London on 2 April, also endorsed Brown's call for a crackdown on tax havens. But Britain was sniffy about a German proposal for tighter regulation of hedge funds. Brown flew back to London last night for talks with Alistair Darling, the chancellor, in advance of what is likely to be a week of announcements: • The government will today give direct support to the moribund mortgage market by signalling its intention to put up to £14bn of fresh taxpayer money into Northern Rock to allow the nationalised lender to start selling more home loans - a dramatic reversal of strategy. The government is expected to enable Northern Rock to lend £5bn in 2009 and £9bn in 2010 after asking Europe to rethink state aid. Northern Rock, which was criticised for offering 125% mortgages before the credit crunch, will halt its strategy of urging the best customers to leave to enable it to repay its loan from the taxpayer; while the mortgages it has been left with will be ring-fenced in a "bad bank" to allow the lender to focus on new customers. The loans will be financed partly from deposits and as customers repay existing mortgages. But the government will also have to increase its loan to Northern Rock - which had been cut to £9bn from £29bn - and increase the timescale against which it is expected to be repaid. • A government scheme to insure banks against further losses from their toxic debts will be unveiled no later than Thursday, when Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is expected to post poor results. Ministers and officials have yet to finalise the details, but this could see the government insuring banks to £400bn. The government is making clear that it will only offer the help if the banks give cast-iron guarantees that they will increase lending. • A big step towards quantitative easing - the process by which the Bank of England increases the supply of money in the economy - will be taken this week when the Treasury gives it approval to buy up bonds issued by the banks. The prime minister set the scene for the announcements with a call in yesterday's Observer for an end to 100% mortgages and a return to responsible banking. He wrote: "We want to see the reinvention of the traditional savings and mortgage bank in Britain - making loans on prudent and careful terms, not just to people with large deposits but to first-time buyers and those on middle and modest incomes." Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: "Until very recently Gordon Brown was trying to justify 100% mortgages. He was seriously behind the curve since even the industry is no longer making such products available." George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said: "Attending summits abroad is not going to hide Gordon Brown's failures at home, where headline-chasing initiatives and open divisions in cabinet are making the recession worse and damaging confidence in Britain's economic future." IMF Banking Global recession Northern Rock Economic policy Mortgages Borrowing & debt guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• We're ready to listen, says Rio's boss We're ready to listen, says Rio's boss
02/21/2009
The news that Tom Albanese's wife has been granted British citizenship might not stop the revolt, led by British shareholders, over Rio Tinto's proposed $19.5bn bail-out by the Chinese government, but it's worth a try: after all, Albanese, Rio's chief executive, has tried just about everything else. He revealed the fact when asked if the furore that has greeted the plan to override shareholders' pre-emption rights - particularly hallowed in Britain - shows that he does not understand investor culture in this country. "She feels very British right now," he joked. It's a rare light-hearted moment for the New Jersey-born 51-year-old, who was in Boston to meet US investors before flying back to the UK for more roastings last week. Institutional shareholders are on the warpath because their right to buy new shares is being overridden to allow the Chinese state-owned aluminium firm Chinalco to snap up assets and shares from Rio. Albanese has become public enemy number one, and he knows it. "There are very few companies where a chief executive and the board in a UK plc do not feel pressure at some time," he says. Last October, 45,000 feet above the Indian Ocean in a Learjet flying back to Johannesburg from a visit to one of Rio's mines on Madagascar, Albanese looked more relaxed. He didn't appear worried about the $10bn of debts to be repaid this October, and the $10bn due a year later. Asked about the deadlines, he smiled: "October 2009 is a long way off." Not any more it isn't. The global downturn has brought commodity prices - and miners' profits - crashing to earth, leaving Rio in desperate need of cash and open to offers from Chinalco. On the flight, Albanese had praised the recent strides in corporate governance taken by state-owned companies such as Chinalco - which already had a 9% stake in Rio. By then the two companies were in advanced talks about forging closer ties, although the market was staggered at the size of the deal announced 10 days ago. But what shocked Rio investors most about the $19.5bn plan was not Chinalco's corporate governance but Rio's. Privately, Rio concedes that it underestimated the strength of feeling that its shareholders, particularly those in Britain, have about the principle of pre-emption rights. Barclays was the last company to propose waiving pre-emption rights when it sold shares to Middle Eastern investors at a discount, and only escaped a shareholder mutiny by arguing that its immediate survival depended on the fundraising. Referring to Barclays, Albanese says: "Looking at it [the proposed deal], on reflection there have certainly been a whole number of rights issues in the UK market and a number of discounted deals, which we do recognise have raised [concerns] - but this [issue] is not discounted." Albanese and the rest of the board are hammering home the point that the Chinalco deal values Rio's assets at a premium to their current market value, not a discount. But for many shareholders this is irrelevant: they oppose the deal on the principle of pre-emption rights, not price. They argue that the cash could be raised by a rights issue and by cutting the dividend. The signs that Rio could back down and allow shareholders to take part in the fundraising are growing, although the company has not yet made a decision. Albanese says: "It's important for us to listen. We certainly respect their points about pre-emption and what we want to do is understand clearly what their points of interests are and to what extent they are points of principle and what extent they are points of economics." If investors' concerns are over "points of principle", Albanese may be forced to back down. The Association of British Insurers (ABI), which represents a fifth of UK shareholders, is lobbying cash-strapped companies to opt for rights issues rather than the kind of private fundraising proposed by Rio and others. Michael McKersie, the ABI's assistant director of investment affairs, says: "We have been looking at this for some weeks and months, as we became aware that the pressure has been building for issuance to be done relatively quickly." Fund managers, chastened by criticism that they didn't intervene more to stop corporate excess and hold companies to account, are up for a fight. And it looks like Albanese has unwittingly picked one. The CV Name : Tom Albanese Born : 9 September 1957, New Jersey Education : Degree in mineral economics from the University of Alaska Career : Started out in the mining industry in the 1980s as a junior engineer, then became an analyst. In 1987, became vice-president at Nerco Minerals, which was bought by Rio Tinto in 1993. Climbed the ranks of the enlarged group, becoming chief executive in May 2007 Tom Albanese Rio Tinto guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (1 d ago)

• Smartphones are go - and everyone is cal... Smartphones are go - and everyone is calling in for a piece of the action
02/21/2009
Once the preserve of the geekiest of geeks, "smartphones" are about to become ubiquitous. Mobile phones that have professional-grade cameras, that allow you to mix your own music like a DJ, that read you a book or newspaper, charge using sunlight or double up as wristwatches are just some of the gadgets that the mobile industry hopes will help it ride out the economic storm. It was hard to move at the Mobile World Congress, the industry's largest annual trade show, in Barcelona last week without bumping into a company showcasing them. Once attractive only to anoraks, smartphones that can access the internet, download whizzy applications, have touchscreens, know where you are located, play music and high quality video (and still receive calls) are going mainstream as the rest of the industry reacts to the arrival, a year and a half ago, of the Apple iPhone. The investment bank Jefferies estimates that global shipments of smartphones will increase 17% in 2009 to 191m units, making them one of the only growth segments in a mobile-device market that Nokia - which makes four out of every 10 handsets sold worldwide - has warned will be down at least 10% this year. Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, which has been trying to get its Windows software into phones for a decade, told delegates that in a few years' time they won't even bother with the term "smartphone" because the devices will be ubiquitous. The fact that smartphones are one of the only growth areas of consumer electronics brought new faces to this year's trade show. Companies including computer makers Toshiba, Asus and Acer, and possibly Dell, are looking to cash in on the boom, but their arrival poses a real threat, according to Nick James, analyst at Panmure Gordon. "The smartphone market is looking increasingly crowded and could turn into a bloodbath until cost is driven out," he reckons. But for now, the mobile phone companies are too busy throwing ever more complex gizmos at consumers to worry about exactly where the money is going to come from. Korean electronics giant LG came closest to creating a "wow" moment at the show when it unveiled the G910 wristwatch phone. The small touchscreen device can connect to a Bluetooth headset for anyone who does not want to be seen talking and listening to their wrist when they make calls. It can also make video calls, for anyone who wants to feel like the hero of a spy thriller. And the phone is no chunkier than the sort of sports watch you would expect to see on the wrist of a Premier League footballer (though that may not be a good thing). Not to be outdone, bitter local rival Samsung gave conference attendees a brief glimpse, on its exhibition stand, of its own range of watch phones. There are no details of when its not-very-catchily-named, but certainly slimmer, GT-S1100 will be available, but LG's wristphone will be released by Orange in the UK over the next few months. It is expected to be free to anyone who is willing to take up a pay-monthly contract. Also scoring highly on the design scale was Samsung's BeatDJ phone, which is rounded at both ends; when it plays music, its built-in Bang & Olufsen stereo speakers turn into touch "turntables" that can be used to "scratch" and sample tracks to create new tunes. It will be out in the UK in spring. Samsung was also one of the manufacturers unveiling a "green" phone. Its Blue Earth device, which is made from recycled water bottles and will be out in the UK later this year, has a back covered with solar panels. LG is also working on solar-powered phones, as is Chinese manufacturer ZTE. Sony Ericsson, meanwhile, created a buzz with its latest concept phone, codenamed the Idou. Like many of the handsets on show it has a touchscreen, but beats all the others hands down with its whopping 12.1 megapixel camera, enough quality for a professional photographer. Details of prices and availability are expected in the summer. Most consumers expect a camera on their new device, and the quality of the photos they can take is improving rapidly. Nokia has teamed up with optics specialist Carl Zeiss to create the 8-megapixel N86, which can cope with both bright and low light settings - in the past most camera phones have only been good with one or the other. It should start appearing in spring. Samsung took the wraps off its 8-megapixel camera phone, the Omnia HD. It goes one better than its Finnish rival in that it can record and playback high-definition video. With up to 16GB of internal memory and the capacity to take a 32GB MicroSD card, you can store 35 DVD-quality movies - enough to keep anyone amused when the in-flight movies selection fails to satisfy. As for the newbies, Asus relied on its link-up with satellite navigation company Garmin for its Nuvifone M20. The phone is all about making it very easy to use satnav services on a mobile. Acer's move into the smartphone market has only one device with any obvious gizmo appeal - the Acer Tempo M900, which has a slide-out keyboard and a fingerprint reader. Microsoft announced a new version of its Windows Mobile platform at the show. Part of the reason for its redesign is the arrival of Google on the software scene with its Android operating system, which makes it easy for users to download applications on to their phone from the "Android Marketplace". Apple has already made a big splash in so-called "mobile apps", with iPhone users downloading more than 500m programmes via iTunes since the apps service launched last year. At this year's show, Nokia, Microsoft and even operators Orange, T-Mobile and O2 all announced their own app stores in an effort to compete. The applications available range from games and news feeds to incredibly complex tools such as iPointer from Intelligent Spatial Technologies (iST), which allows a mobile phone user to point their device at any building and pull up information about it from the internet. The company has pooled information on 50 cities in Europe and 58 in the US to produce the equivalent of visual search. Ultimately it hopes that businesses will want to use it as a local advertising tool. Nokia, meanwhile, showcased kReader, an application developed for its phones by US-based KNFB Reading Technology, which uses a mobile phone's camera to decipher text and then reads it aloud to the user. It can read everything from receipts and bills to pages from books. One of the biggest rounds of applause received by Rob Conway, the head of trade industry body the GSM Association, when he opened the event, was in response to his announcement that the major manufacturers and networks have got together to develop a universal mobile phone charger. It is based on the micro-USB connection found on the BlackBerry Storm and should be ready by the end of the year. By 2012 most mobile phones will use it. But by then, who knows how many other things a mobile phone will be capable of doing? Mobile World Congress Mobile phones Telecommunications industry Telecoms guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (1 d ago)

• Britain's meanest high streets Britain's meanest high streets
02/21/2009
"This town, is coming like a ghost town ..." If the retail sector currently had a soundtrack, "Ghost Town" by the Specials would certainly fit the mood after a week in which another 300 stores and close to 3,500 jobs landed on the high-street scrapheap. The Specials song, which topped the charts in 1981, reflected the Coventry band's fears that the Thatcher government was creating unemployment blackspots in the regions. And as the retail dominoes fall, the recession vice is gripping some of Britain's high streets harder than others. The harsh reality was brought home last week as the financial troubles of Aim-listed Stylo culminated in the closure of 220 Barratts stores and the loss of 2,500 staff jobs, in a workforce that was 85% female. Bradford-based Barratts is the kind of retail name embedded in the consciousness of those who grew up outside London, where retailers such as Woolworths were the highlight of the local parade - parades that now look increasingly desolate. "For some time, parts of the country, such as Scotland and the West Midlands, have been struggling," says Stylo chief executive Michael Ziff. "A lot of small towns are going to struggle over the next few years as people move away. The south-east has been less affected, but it's starting to feel it now." Retail analyst Experian expects one in 10 UK shops to lie empty by the end of this month, as closures announced by administrators working for high street chains Barratts, Zavvi and JJB Sports are added to a list swollen by the wreckage of high-street casualties, such as Woolworths, Adams and Card Warehouse. They also expect the picture to get worse before it gets better, predicting the number of voids will reach 15% by the end of the year. Experian calculates those hardest hit so far are the Welsh towns of Holyhead and Milford Haven, where 39% of retail space is predicted to lie vacant by the end of February. They are followed by the London suburb of Beckton, with 37%, and Chelmsley Wood in the West Midlands, with 36%. The analysis did not include retail parks, which in some cases have vacancy rates of more than 50% owing to the demise of chains such as MFI, Land of Leather and Ilva. "Often these towns have lacked retail investment for some time," says Jonathan de Mello, director of property at Experian. "This situation can only get worse in the current climate." And as recession deepens, administrators are finding buyers for a dwindling number of stores, as the glut of property available extinguishes the value of some leases. Zavvi's administrator secured buyers for 27 of its 125 stores, while around a quarter of the 800 Woolworths stores has been sold so far. "There are pockets of affluence in big provincial cities, such as Leeds and Manchester, that are not getting the same level of voids," says Chris Blair, Savills' head of national retail. "But the further you go from London, the worse it gets." Stylo's collapse brought simmering tensions between the retail and property sectors to the surface, as the two factions clashed over the group's future. Stylo's adviser, KPMG, had proposed a series of company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) as an alternative to putting the entire group into administration, as eventually happened. That would have set new rents at a lower base, in this case calculated as 7% of turnover. But quoted landlords, including Hammerson, as well as institutional investors, such as Prupin, shot the idea down. The property lobby argued that CVAs could set a precedent and other retailers might try and use them to exit loss-making stores. But 220 sets of Stylo keys are winging their way back to their owners, who will be liable for business rates, even though the premises are empty. Landlords are "out of touch", according to Ziff. "Some have got their acts together but others seem to prefer to sit in Grosvenor Street [in London's Mayfair], rather than visit tenants in less attractive parts of the country." For generations, the Stylo shoe business has been in the Ziff family, who have struck a deal with administrator Deloitte to buy back 160 stores, as well as its concession business, safeguarding 3,000 jobs. Upward-only rent reviews resulted in strong gains for landlords during the boom years and retailers had hoped a rising tide of voids would force them to agree more generous terms. "Landlords are getting their just deserts as there are a lot of empty units, but we are strapped to a rocket," says one retailer. "Because of upward-only rent reviews, supply and demand is not dictating price." But both camps are under pressure. Economists at Capital Economics predict consumer spending will contract by 3.5% this year and by another 1.5% in 2010. Of the £288bn spent in 2008, more than half - £163.6bn - is classed as "indulgence" and vulnerable in a downturn. "The priority for most consumers will be to cut high levels of debt and increase conventional savings," says Ed Stansfield, property economist at Capital Economics. Meanwhile, five of the UK's six biggest quoted property companies - including Land Securities, Hammerson and British Land - are embarking on rights issues or considering them. As he presided over Land Securities' heavily discounted £755m rights issue last week, chief executive Francis Salway said the 2008 decline in commercial property values was "the worst in 80 years". Capital Economics expects commercial property capital values to fall by another 30% this year, meaning they are likely to decline 55% from the June 2007 peak as rents are pulled down by grim market conditions. Stansfield estimates rents will fall by 7% this year, and a further 10% in 2010. The state of suburban and small-town high streets cannot be blamed entirely on market conditions. Many had been failing for years, as more people began shopping in supermarkets and spending their leisure time trawling malls in nearby towns or, better still, the internet. Catherine Tobiasinsky, head of retail at property consultant EC Harris, says some retailers are being forced to confront problems of their own making after years of "lazy" asset management. "Retailers were not minded to weed out unprofitable stores at a time when they could have found buyers. Many of the troubled chains were formed by acquisitions and there was no real debate around does all this add up?" Zavvi, for example, was the bastard child of Our Price and Virgin Megastores, with the big Tower Records store in London thrown in. However, Tobiasinsky says the level of disposals achieved by administrators does not necessarily reflect the true appetite for the stores, with some buyers choosing to wait, then approach landlords directly. "There is a candid game of negotiation being played as the amount of space coming to the market is unprecedented," she says, citing one retailer that estimates it saved £1m by dealing direct with Woolworths' landlords. The plight of Britain's older high streets has been compounded by unprecedented retail expansion, with a staggering 88m sq ft of new stores added over the past 20 years, including gilded shopping centres such as Westfield in London's Shepherd's Bush and Cabot Circus in Bristol, which both opened last year. "There needs to be a period of five to 10 years with no new developments," says Ziff. As cash-strapped property groups batten down the hatches, he may get his wish. Pop-up power: the rise of trendy temporary stores Harem pants, shoulder pads, platform shoes... trends come and go, but even in the fickle world of fashion consumers didn't usually expect their clothing stores to do the same. All that has changed. Be it bars, restaurants or shops, "pop-up" or temporary venues are increasingly being used to reach customers guerrilla-style - and, crucially, without breaking the bank. They typically spring up in unoccupied premises, taking leases of between one and three months, with the rent dictated by market conditions. Fashion label PPQ has just opened a pop-up store in the Burlington Arcade in Mayfair to coincide with London Fashion Week, which started on Friday. "Pop-ups are a laboratory for creativity," says Craig Robins, chief executive of American property firm Dacra, who was in London last week to recruit brands for his retail developments, which include the Miami Design District. "Some brands might not be ready to open a store and pop-ups offer a lot of flexibility." In recent months London restaurateurs such as Mourad Mazouz have led the way by opening temporary venues. Mazouz, the entrepreneur behind high-end establishments such as Momo and Sketch, is currently hosting The Double Club, a pop-up restaurant-cum-disco in a Victorian warehouse in Islington. "London's nightlife culture is fairly transient; a new bar or restaurant opens, everyone is curious to try it, then often people move on to the next new thing," said Mazouz in a recent interview. "The pop-up is in keeping with this. It's a talking point and offers something fresh and immediate." Innovative Japanese retailer Comme des Garçons first experimented with pop-ups in 2004. Word is spread by the media and social networking sites and the aim is to close before the novelty wears off. Such was the success of Comme des Garçons' temporary store in London's Dover Street Market, it became, ironically, a permanent fixture. Older pop-ups are listed on its website as "disappeared". "For brands, everything is about experience," says Richard Scott, director of consumer and lifestyle at the PR agency Relative MO, who has worked on pop-up restaurants by Pablo Flack and David Waddington, the owners of Bistrotheque. A pop-up is a good way for a brand to create an "experience" that it can be associated with, he believes - and it needn't be too expensive. "It requires a budget - but that goes when it pops down." Selfridges regularly hosts pop-ups and last year, Sony's Bravia television division caused a stir with The Colour Rooms, a temporary venue in a former railway arch in London's trendy Shoreditch district. The venue boasted a private screening room, stage and bar and during a five-month run hosted events for Currys owner DSG International, and clothing lines Uniqlo and New Look. While the stated aim of these ultra-cool projects is to express high-minded creative ideals, in reality they also serve a commercial purpose, especially in a downturn that is hitting the leisure sector hard. They match the needs of retailers and landlords, with the former loath to commit to new leases and the latter in need of high-calibre tenants. Retail industry 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)

• Caribbean authorities seize key Stanford... Caribbean authorities seize key Stanford operations
02/20/2009
Financial authorities in the Caribbean seized control of Sir Allen Stanford's key banking operations today as a global investigation deepened into allegations of an $8bn fraud at the heart of the billionaire entrepreneur's business empire. Antigua's financial regulator appointed British accountancy firm Vantis as receiver to Stanford International Bank – the locally registered holding company for the Texan cricket enthusiast's web of investments. Vantis will try to ascertain the fate of billions of dollars invested by customers in the US and elsewhere in "certificates of deposit" marketed with allegedly phoney rates of return. Meanwhile, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank took control of Stanford's local high-street bank, Bank of Antigua, to avert a collapse following scenes of panicked withdrawals as long lines of customers formed outside the bank to take out their savings. Central bank governor Dwight Venner said the action was necessary because of "unusual and substantial withdrawals" following fraud charges filed against Stanford by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Until the recent run on deposits, Bank of Antigua held customer accounts of EC$433m (£115m) on the island of just 70,000 people. The scandal has also spread to touch Britain's HSBC which told the Guardian it had been contacted by regulators in Panama with queries about its role as a go-between for Stanford's banks. "We have been contacted by regulators in Panama and we are, of course, fully co-operating with them," said an HSBC spokesman. HSBC is understood to have been one of several "correspondence banks" which handled certain bank transfers on behalf of Stanford entities. As Stanford's business empire showed signs of disintegration, the England and Wales Cricket Board formally severed ties with the entrepreneur, cancelling all contracts related to a Twenty20 event in the Caribbean and a tournament scheduled for Lord's in May. "The ECB was shocked by the charges filed against the Stanford organisation and personnel earlier this week by the SEC," said chief executive David Collier. The billionaire himself remains free in the US, although he is making arrangements to surrender his passport. The FBI's Dallas office is believed to be conducting an investigation into him, spanning claims of false advertising and questions over alleged links to Mexican drug money. But law enforcement sources said criminal charges are not imminent. Federal agents served Stanford with papers relating to SEC civil charges on Thursday after tracking him down to the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Neighbours told US reporters they had spotted Stanford "from time to time" in the area, in the company of his girlfriend. As allegations grew ever more serious, Stanford's father spoke up in defence of his son. James Stanford, who serves on Stanford's investment committee, said of his son: "I hope he's not a crook. He wasn't raised to be a crook." The 81-year-old, who lives in the Texas town of Mexia, described his son to the Dallas Morning News as a "sort of a Boss Hogg-type guy", referring to the cigar-smoking, white-suited character of the television series The Dukes of Hazzard. Stanford's financial empire has tentacles stretching around the globe. Authorities in the US Virgin Islands said they had suspended a Stanford affiliate from a tax incentive program intended to encourage the firm to invest in the Caribbean territory. The Virgin Islands' government said it was co-operating with US investigators. In Venezuela, where a Stanford bank was seized by government regulators on Thursday, wealthy investors complained that they had been driven to put their money into the entrepreneur's controversial certificates of deposit in order to get it away from Hugo Chávez's socialist regime. About a quarter of the $8bn invested in Stanford's allegedly fraudulent certificates of deposit is thought to have come from Venezuela. Banking Allen Stanford Securities and Exchange Commission US economy Cricket United States guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (2 d ago)

• Fear of factory shutdown after UK car pr... Fear of factory shutdown after UK car production halves
02/20/2009
British car manufacturers demanded further government help for the industry this morning as it was revealed that a winter factory shutdown triggered a 58.7% slump in UK car production last month. The dire production figures came after trade union leaders warned the chancellor, Alistair Darling, that the closure of a big UK factory could be "imminent". The impact of temporary plant closures this winter was outlined by January production figures published this morning by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Car production fell 58.7% to 61,404 vehicles in January and commercial vehicle production also tumbled sharply, down 59.9% to 8,351, compared with a year ago. The slump is even deeper than the production crash in December, when car and commercial vehicle output fell by 47.5% and 56.7% respectively. The SMMT said the fall was in line with forecasts as the major UK-based car manufacturers mothballed plans through January. Ford, Aston Martin and Vauxhall enforced temporary shutdowns this winter and Toyota is also considering a production hiatus . The SMMT echoed calls from trade union leaders for further government assistance this morning, on top of the £2.3bn package announced last month . "Following extended winter shutdowns, vehicle output continued to fall in January in line with expectations. The extent of the decline highlights the critical need for further government action to deliver the measures already announced and ease access to finance and credit," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt. The organisation said UK car exports peaked in January, with 83.5% of all manufactured vehicles being sold abroad, underlining how car scrappage schemes and other incentives had bolstered some European markets. "The motor industry reiterates its request for an urgent government response," said Everitt. Yesterday the joint general secretaries of the Unite union, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, urged the chancellor to provide £13bn of funds to help the car industry cover employment costs and avoid imploding. "The problems in the car industry have reached crisis point. Unless there is urgent assistance, UK manufacturing will not recover after the recession," said Simpson. "We made it absolutely clear that the prospect of a plant closure will have a devastating effect on UK manufacturing. Immediate and effective intervention is required from the government." It is understood the Unite warnings relate to an unnamed company that it fears will soon run out of money, though not Jaguar or General Motors-owned Vauxhall. "It is irresponsible to make further comment because it would cause a run on the company's shares," said Woodley. Asked why he had raised the possibility of a company shutting down its UK operations despite the concerns over further damaging the company, he said: "It would be equally irresponsible not to stand up for those workers." The shutdowns have been followed by a wave of job cut announcements in recent weeks as the car industry prepares for a grim 2009. BMW is cutting 850 staff from its Mini workforce at Cowley, Oxford , as well as reducing production. Nissan is removing 1,200 staff from its payroll in Sunderland, and Aston Martin is cutting 600 jobs at Gaydon in Warwickshire. Car and aircraft parts company GKN is shedding more than 500 jobs, while Honda is closing its Swindon plan for four months. The remaining major players in the UK industry – Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Toyota – have announced job losses or production reductions. Workers at Vauxhall's UK plants are also braced for redundancy announcements after the company's US parent, General Motors, said it would cut up to 47,000 workers worldwide. Hundreds of staff at UK car dealerships face uncertainty todayafter Swedish car firm Saab announced it was seeking protection from its creditors. Saab hopes to break away from parent group General Motors and reform as an independent company. There are 80 UK Saab dealerships. Automotive industry Global recession Recession Toyota General Motors Nissan Ford Jaguar Land Rover Job losses guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (3 d ago)

• UBS vows to fight tax case demand UBS vows to fight tax case demand
02/20/2009
UBS has tried to reassert the primacy of Swiss banking secrecy by launching a bitter attack on demands from the US fiscal authorities to disclose the names of more than 50,000 of its US customers. Overnight the US department of justice shot down any hopes UBS may harbour that it has settled its long-running tax fraud case by presenting the demand for more names. This came just 24 hours after UBS struck a deal to hand over $780m (£547m) and admitted breaking American law by participating in a scheme to defraud the US internal revenue service. The DoJ now accuses the bank of aiding 52,000 customers to hide accounts from the federal authorities. That is more than twice as many as the 20,000 customers previously identified as having sham offshore accounts. "At a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and their health care, it is appalling that more than 50,000 of the wealthiest among us have actively sought to evade their civic and legal duty to pay taxes," said John DiCicco, acting assistant attorney general in the DoJ's tax division, in a statement . UBS said it would "vigorously contest" the "John Doe" civil action taken out in Florida against unnamed persons. The Swiss financial services authority, Finma, agreed to hand over some 300 client names in the Wednesday settlement. Now UBS says American demands for a "substantial number of undisclosed accounts" held by US citizens at the bank in Switzerland run counter to Swiss financial privacy laws and international agreements requiring US courts to take account of foreign law. The country's 75-year-old rules on customer confidentiality are under attack as the US, UK and other authorities order a renewed global clampdown on tax evasion. The Berne federal government is desperately trying to retain them as the Swiss banking sector, the main motor of the economy, faces meltdown. UBS Regulators European banks Switzerland United States guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (3 d ago)

• Your Money: Not All Certificates of Depo... Your Money: Not All Certificates of Deposit Are Plain Vanilla — or Safe
02/22/2009
A scandal involving securities that were called C.D.’s suggests that even these conservative investments warrant a close look. (10 h ago)

• Basic Values: Just How Low Will the Dow ... Basic Values: Just How Low Will the Dow Go?
02/22/2009
Indicators point to fresh lows, although analysts note that bear markets can produce short-lived rallies that are hard to distinguish from the real thing. (16 h ago)

• Fundamentally: Hints of Which Sectors Wi... Fundamentally: Hints of Which Sectors Will Weather the Storm
02/22/2009
Market volatility appears to be revving up again but various sectors have not all been moving in tandem. (16 h ago)

• Health Insurance: What You Need to Know Health Insurance: What You Need to Know
02/22/2009
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. (16 h ago)

• Wealth Matters: For High Earners, April ... Wealth Matters: For High Earners, April 15 May be a Day of Reckoning
02/22/2009
Those who traditionally count on a year-end windfall to pay their taxes may be in a bind this year. (17 h ago)

• Details on Obama’s Housing Plan Are Pend... Details on Obama’s Housing Plan Are Pending, but First Some Answers
02/22/2009
The Obama administration’s housing plan aims to help homeowners who fall into two categories: those struggling to pay their mortgages and those shut out of the refinancing market. (18 h ago)

• The Big Test Before College? The Financi... The Big Test Before College? The Financial Aid Form
02/22/2009
Critics say the complexity of the federal form scares off applicants, but fixing it is not an easy task. (18 h ago)

• Mortgages: A Higher Price for Rate Locks Mortgages: A Higher Price for Rate Locks
02/21/2009
Borrowers looking for rate guarantees face more hurdles and higher fees, especially if they need to lock in a rate for more than a month. (1 d ago)

• Strategies: The Index Funds Win Again Strategies: The Index Funds Win Again
02/21/2009
A new study provides evidence to invest in simple, plain-vanilla index funds, whose low fees often lead to better net returns. (1 d ago)

• Wheels: Chapter 11 and Car Warranties Wheels: Chapter 11 and Car Warranties
02/20/2009
What happens to your new-car warranty when an automaker files for bankruptcy protection? The automakers would like to tell you that your covered, but the real answer isn't so simple. (2 d ago)

• BACK TO THE LINKS BACK TO THE LINKS
02/22/2009
With the long-awaited return of Tiger Woods just a couple of days away, and warm weather not that far off, golf is on top of the minds of more than a few people. Here's how the best of them teed up for the new season. Golf Digest has a refreshing... (9 h ago)

• ACTORS UNION SEEKING PAY AD-JUSTMENT ACTORS UNION SEEKING PAY AD-JUSTMENT
02/22/2009
With labor strife already hanging over Hollywood, the ad industry is preparing to bargain with actors over pay for appearing in commercials. Advertisers and agencies will kick off contract talks with the two actors unions, the Screen Actors Guild... (9 h ago)

• BUSINESS BRIEFS BUSINESS BRIEFS
02/22/2009
Getting worse Forecasters now ex pect the economy to shrink by 1.9 percent in 2009, a much deeper contraction than the 0.2 percent dip projected earlier, as consumers re trench in the face of per sistent economic trou bles, according to a... (10 h ago)

• BIGGER STAKE IN CITI BIGGER STAKE IN CITI
02/22/2009
Wall Street's fear of a bank nationalization moved closer to reality last night, as federal regulators were said to be negotiating with Citigroup to boost the government's stake in the languishing company. According to The Wall Street Journal's... (10 h ago)

• THE LOAN RANGER THE LOAN RANGER
02/22/2009
While the Obama administration battles to keep people from losing their homes, one Florida lawyer said she has a better answer to the toxic mortgage epidemic sweeping the country - fight back against the loan servicers and banks that are... (19 h ago)

• THE WEEK'S WINNERS AND LOSERS THE WEEK'S WINNERS AND LOSERS
02/22/2009
WINNERS JOHN MALONE Liberty Media boss rescues Sirius XM, lending the struggling satellite-radio company cash at 15% interest. MEREDITH WHITNEY Top banking analyst strikes out on her own, forms new company. ROBERT KHUZAMI Former federal... (1 d ago)

• TIPS FOR KEEPING CREDIT CARD LIMIT TIPS FOR KEEPING CREDIT CARD LIMIT
02/22/2009
If you want to avoid having your bank cut your credit-card limit or have it jack up your interest rate, use cash when you shop at discount stores, one online credit-card retailer warned. New projection models have banks analyzing where customers... (1 d ago)

• NYC BILLIONAIRE, IGNORING RECESSION, SHO... NYC BILLIONAIRE, IGNORING RECESSION, SHOPS FOR BARGAINS
02/22/2009
One of New York City's wealthiest residents, shrugging off the deepening recession, has been on a real estate buying spree - buying up parcels across the country at depressed prices. Len Blavatnik, a Russia-born oil tycoon-turned-New York... (1 d ago)

• HSBC DRAWS RENEWED IRE OF ACTIVIST INVES... HSBC DRAWS RENEWED IRE OF ACTIVIST INVESTOR
02/22/2009
Activist investor Eric Knight is set to ramp up his campaign against HSBC next week with renewed calls for the troubled bank to dump its struggling US loan operation amid fears writedowns for 2008 could balloon to $20 billion, or more. Knight... (1 d ago)

• HOW B'KLYN WOMAN KEPT HER HOME HOW B'KLYN WOMAN KEPT HER HOME
02/22/2009
Aquila Rose got a $475,000 mortgage from Fremont Investment & Loan for her Flatbush home in January 2007 and made exactly one payment before defaulting. When Fremont started a foreclosure action on Oct. 15 that year, it seemed like a slam dunk -... (1 d ago)

• U.K. dancing film jigs for distributor U.K. dancing film jigs for distributor
02/20/2009
The success of movies like "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Full Monty" have made British film makers hopeful their movies will follow the same path. Stephen Beard reports on one dancing film its director hopes will jig all the way to a U.S. audience. (2 d ago)

• Clinton talks climate change with China Clinton talks climate change with China
02/20/2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wraps up her Asian tour in China. One of the things she hopes to discuss is how the U.S. and China can collaborate to reduce carbon emissions. Scott Tong reports. (2 d ago)

• Weekly Wrap: Tough times for markets Weekly Wrap: Tough times for markets
02/20/2009
It was a busy week -- from stimulus and mortgage plans to another Ponzi schemer being caught. T. Rowe Price's Andy Brooks and Wall Street Journal's Heidi Moore talk to Tess Vigeland about the hammering we took this week. (2 d ago)

• Golden opportunity at gold parties Golden opportunity at gold parties
02/20/2009
With the price of an ounce of gold breaking the $1,000 mark, some people are looking to cash in -- with gold parties. Ronni Radbill reports on the growing popularity of these parties, where you can sell gold for cash. (2 d ago)

• Housing plan raises ethical questions Housing plan raises ethical questions
02/20/2009
Mortgage relief is on its way, but not everyone who will receive help from Obama's housing plan may warrant it. Is it fair? Tess Vigeland speaks with ethics columnist Randy Cohen about the questions involved in paying for our neighbors' mortgages. (2 d ago)

• Mortgage bailout plan sparks anger Mortgage bailout plan sparks anger
02/20/2009
President Obama's housing plan will help nearly 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure or refinance. But the plan is drawing ire from homeowners who won't be receiving any help. Nancy Marshall Genzer reports. (2 d ago)

• Nationalization talk sinks bank stocks Nationalization talk sinks bank stocks
02/20/2009
Bank of America and Citigroup's shares continue to slide to record lows. Some analysts blame this on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's reluctance to make a decision about bank nationalization. Bob Moon reports. (2 d ago)

• Video: This Sunday on Your Business Video: This Sunday on Your Business
02/22/2009
Feb. 22: Many leaders are comparing our current economic crisis to the Great Depression. So we found one small business owner who's family lived through that time to see how that history affects her company. (MSNBC) (1 d ago)

• Video: Business Answers: The price is ri... Video: Business Answers: The price is right
02/22/2009
Jennifer Hill, an attorney specializing in venture finance and VP of Astia and Rod Kurtz, Senior Editor of Inc. Magazine answer viewer questions about when it's time for a home-based business to move up and out and whether owners of retail stores should be bargaining with their customers during this tough economic time. (MSNBC) (1 d ago)

• Video: War Chest: Unique selling proposi... Video: War Chest: Unique selling proposition
02/22/2009
Feb. 22: In order to survive this economy, you're going to have to let your customers know what distinguishes you from the competition. In order to do that you have to understand your unique selling proposition. Lynda Resnick, who started the pomegranate juice craze with Pom Wonderful and also owns Fiji Water tells us how she placed her brands above and beyond that of her competitors. (MSNBC) (1 d ago)

• Video: Elevator Pitch: School days Video: Elevator Pitch: School days
02/22/2009
Feb. 22: Dave & Stacy Bruns are launching an independent school and looking for funding. (MSNBC) (1 d ago)

• Video: Free for all Video: Free for all
02/22/2009
Feb. 22: Good advice can be hard to come by, but one entrepreneur is making it her mission to change that. She's educating other small business owners and all of her advice is free! (MSNBC) (1 d ago)

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• Dubai bailout Dubai bailout
02/23/2009
The meltdown from the credit crisis, combined with a 74% drop in oil prices, is hurting Dubai which has the world's tallest building, most expensive hotel suite and largest man made islands.... (1 h ago)

• Citigroup - first National Bank? Citigroup - first National Bank?
02/23/2009
Last week's speculation that Citigroup and Bank of America would be nationalized really hammered the market, prompting White press secretary Robert Gibbs to come out and say the administration... (1 h ago)

• The Stanford-Madoff connection The Stanford-Madoff connection
02/22/2009
With the fallout from the goings-on at the Stanford Financial Group, a clear and worrying pattern is emerging. Allen Stanford and Bernard Madoff are the first two big frauds that have come out of... (1 d ago)

• The Great Depression Ahead by Harry S De... The Great Depression Ahead by Harry S Dent
02/21/2009
With billionaire investor George Soros and former federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker saying the global financial meltdown is worse than the Great Depression, it might be time to look at Dent's... (2 d ago)

• The recession's Spam index The recession's Spam index
02/20/2009
How bad is the recession? The latest figures from Hormel Foods, maker of Spam, tell us things are bad and getting worse.While Hormel's profit fell 8%, the data showed strong sales of Spam as... (2 d ago)

• Anglo American cuts 19,000 as profits fa... Anglo American cuts 19,000 as profits fall
02/20/2009
Mining company Anglo American PLC said Friday it will cut 19,000 jobs this year and suspend dividend payments after reporting a 29 percent drop in 2008 profits. (3 d ago)

• Tips for Dealing with Financial Stress Tips for Dealing with Financial Stress
02/21/2009
Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 3641507 Right now, a lot of people are dealing with stress from not knowing about their financial future. Perhaps they are already getting the phone calls or the... (1 d ago)

• Save Money by Trimming Your Budget Save Money by Trimming Your Budget
02/21/2009
Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 8024825 Making sure that you stay on budget is easier to do if you have some extra money each month to allow some give and take. This is especially true if you... (2 d ago)

• Battered Bank Stocks Lead the Way Down Battered Bank Stocks Lead the Way Down
02/21/2009
U.S. stocks declined, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its lowest level in six years as economic reports raised concern that government efforts won't curb the recession. (1 d ago)

• Your Career: Obama sides with workers Your Career: Obama sides with workers
02/22/2009
President Barack Obama might as well be wearing a cape and have a big “W” on his chest that stands for worker. (16 h ago)

• Practically Speaking: Stimulus Law Aids ... Practically Speaking: Stimulus Law Aids Small Business, but Benefits Are Not Easy to Find
02/20/2009
Small entrepreneurs and their tax advisers must do some detective work to reap the full benefits of the recovery package. (2 d ago)

• Hedge Fund Fat Tuesday Networking Event Hedge Fund Fat Tuesday Networking Event
02/21/2009
HedgeCo is inviting investors, hedge fund managers, and other industry professionals to come together and enjoy a night of sharing ideas and meeting new contacts at the first big networking event of... (2 d ago)