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San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed on Friday asked county leaders to delay picking an ambulance service provider, saying the county has offered few details on how the two companies vying for the five-year, $375 million contract can afford to deliver their promised services.

Reed issued the warning in a letter to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, whose members appear ready to pick Rural Rural/Metro Corp. as its new provider on Tuesday and drop its longtime ambulance company, American Medical Response Inc.

In his letter, Reed asked the supervisors to delay any decisions until a more “detailed analysis” of the two companies’ bids can take place.

Among other things, Rural/Metro (NASDAQ:RURL) has offered to pay the paramedic training costs for 15 members of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety within the first two years of its ambulance contract, according to a recent county government staff report. Sunnyvale, the report noted, is the only city in the county without first response paramedic services.

Meanwhile, AMR or its predecessors have contracted with the county since 1979. According to its website, AMR employs 480 paramedics and emergency medical technicians in the county and responds to an average of 115,000 calls annually.

“I urge you to take more time to ensure that the proposals are fiscally viable,” Reed wrote, adding there is too much “at stake” to do otherwise.

According to the recent county staff report, Rural/Metro and AMR were the only two companies to respond to the county’s request for ambulance service proposals. The RFP was issued in mid-April.

An evaluation committee scored their proposals. The staff report said Rural/Metro won in six of nine categories, including clinical care, ambulance deployment plan and price. For instance, Rural/Metro proposed charging $35 per mile for each transport, far less than AMR’s $90 per mileproposal saving account payday loan.

AMR, however, scored 90 out of 90 possible points in the “finance” category. Rural/Metro scored 67.5.

Rural/Metro is a nationwide ambulance contractor based in Scottsdale, Ariz.

In January, for instance, its longtime CEO abruptly resigned, and in April, the Arizona Republic reported the company “ousted” two high-ranking executives. One of those executives was fired over alleged expense-reimbursement violations, according to the news report.

Metro reportedly took on a heavy debt load in the 1990s during a nationwide, acquisition-fueled expansion but appears to have since righted itself. In 2006, the company’s credit rating with Moody’s Investors Service stood at B2, a “junk” quality that is five levels below investment-grade. Moody’s later upgraded the rating after the company improved financially.

In its most recent earnings report, Rural/Metro recorded a $4.4 million profit for the three months ending March 31, nearly three times higher than the $1.6 million profit during the same period a year earlier.

Liz Merritt, a company spokeswoman, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday night.

Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith is seeking approval from the Board of Supervisors next week to negotiate a first response and paramedic ambulance transportation contract with Rural/Metro. The board is slated in December to vote on approving a contract.

The county’s existing contract with AMR expires on June 30 of next year. AMR, which operates in 37 states and Washington, D.C, is owned by Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Emergency Medical Services Corporation (NYSE:EMS).

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Bank of America’s stock fell 9 percent Friday after the bank posted a 3 percent drop in earnings and said that new financial regulations could cost California’s largest bank as much as much as $4.3 billion a year.

The Charlotte, N.C., bank also told investors that it will take a third-quarter charge of $7 billion to $10 billion due to a drop in the value of its credit card business once financial reform becomes law.

BofA is also getting slammed as the nation’s largest issuer of debit cards, which has been one of the most lucrative areas of retail banking. New restrictions on what the bank can collect every time a merchant swipes a customer’s debit card will hit the bank’s bottom line by $1.8 billion to $2 no fax pay day loan.3 billion annually. The bank also said its decision to not allow overdrafts on debit cards, doing away with the infamous $40 cup of coffee, will cost BofA another billion dollars.

The bank’s second-quarter performance failed to lift investors’ spirits. BofA saw profit decline among several units, including Merrill Lynch and its residential mortgage business.

The bank’s second-quarter provision for loan losses fell to $8.11 billion from $9.81 billion in this year’s first quarter. BofA’s pace of charge-offs fell to 3.98 percent from 4.44 percent in this year’s first quarter.

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Lowe’s Cos. Inc. reports a 2.7 percent increase in earnings to $489 million, or 34 cents per diluted share, in its first fiscal quarter ended April 30.

In the same period last year, the Mooresville-based home-improvement retailer earned $476 million, or 32 cents per diluted share.

The company exceeded analysts’ consensus estimate of 31 cents per share for the latest quarter.

Revenue grew 4.7 percent to $12.4 billion, up from $11.8 billion.

Sales at stores in operation for at least a year increased 2.4 percent.

“Consumers are showing signs of re-engagement in home improvement, including discretionary projects and purchases of bigger-ticket products, which had taken a back seat during the worst of the economic downturn,” says Chief Executive Robert Niblock. “This, combined with the government stimulus programs and favorable weather in March and April, drove solid quarterly sales and earnings that exceeded our guidance.

Lowe’s says it expects to earn 57 cents to 59 cents per diluted share in its second quarter ended July 30, up from 51 cents per diluted share a year ago.

Lowe’s opened 11 stores in the latest quarter. As of April 30, the company (NYSE:LOW) had 1,721 stores in North America.

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Surging stock markets pushed up Canadians’ net worth in the third quarter but debt levels are rising, too, according to a report from Statistics Canada.

The result is a record household debt-to-income ratio of 145 per cent, the agency said.

Household net worth, the value of families’ assets such as cars, homes, and savings accounts, minus what they owe, reached $5.72 trillion at the end of September, StatsCan said Monday.

That’s an increase of 2.3 per cent, marking two quarters of gains after three consecutive drops.

Household debt, mainly mortgages and consumer credit, kept rising from July to September as Canadians rushed to take advantage of low interest rates to buy homes, renovate, and shop. Personal sector liabilities rose to $1.41 trillion, up 1.6 per cent.

National net worth, which includes business and government assets and liabilities, fell 1 No teletrak payday loan.3 per cent to $5.89 trillion as governments and consumers took on more debt, the report said.

Canada’s premier stock market, the S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 9.8 per cent in the third quarter. That’s on top of a 19 per cent gain in the previous three months.

The central bank has made a pledge to stand pat on interest rates until June 2010 to preserve the nascent economic recovery that is taking root. Keeping rates low encourages spending and borrowing, and that spurs economic growth.

Still, the Bank of Canada warned last week that rising debt levels will make Canadian households more vulnerable when interest rates do go up.

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A higher sticker price and fewer guaranteed deliveries may be the only way to rescue Europe’s new military transport plane after years of costly delays.

The Airbus A400M is being prepared for a December maiden flight in southern Spain even as its fate depends on the outcome of talks to save the 20-billion-euro project from collapse.

The planemaking subsidiary of aerospace group EADS is pressing for concessions in Europe’s biggest ever defense contract, saying it faces unaffordable losses in delivering the 180 troop and equipment carriers to seven European NATO nations.

Germany leads pressure for Airbus to stick to its terms.

Thousands of jobs are at stake and observers say the outcome could affect the industrial shape of Europe as well as the region’s stammering progress toward a common defense identity.

Investors in EADS and suppliers are bracing for billions of euros in charges and penalties if the rescue bid fails and Boeing and Lockheed Martin are ready to fill the gap with increased sales of their own troop and cargo carriers.

Now, with an end-2009 deadline weeks away, a formula for hiking prices without any immediate burden on taxpayers appears the most widely acceptable answer to a year-long deadlock.

If adopted, such a deal could stretch the targeted total of 180 aircraft over a longer period, but result in fewer planes being handed over during the previously agreed delivery period.

It is a device negotiators typically use to engineer a unit price increase when new cash is unavailable, according to current and former arms procurement officials, and many see it as the only pragmatic starting point during the economic crisis no checking account payday advance.

One scenario, which implies an approximately 25 percent unit price increase, would call for about 40 planes being pushed back into budget limbo pending a recovery.

New cash to build them would not be needed until the decade after next, well beyond the day-to-day political horizon.

“Presentation is a problem but the hard facts are that the only way to save the A400M program is through a price increase per plane,” said Teal Group aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia.

For investors, such a deal could lift the threat of severe penalties that EADS would otherwise face for the 3-4 year delay.

However it may also leave EADS dependent on exports to erase previous losses, and the manufacturer suffered a setback when South Africa, one of only two overseas buyers so far, canceled.

And it leaves little room for maneuver if there are further cost overruns, since they have to be amortized over a decreasing number of planes — a phenomenon nicknamed the ‘death spiral,’ which Aboulafia says can chip defense projects down to the bone. 

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Low U.S. interest rates and the weak dollar are drawing more hot money into grain markets despite the weight of mammoth crops, setting up a potential repeat of last year’s boom and bust in that market.

As index funds and other big investors pour cash into futures at the Chicago Board of Trade, U.S. grain prices have been soaring even as farmers harvest the largest soybean crop ever and the second-biggest corn crop.

Prices for corn, soybean and wheat futures on the CBOT, the world’s largest grain exchange, are viewed as the global benchmark, affecting prices from Europe to Asia to Africa.

The markets have also been frothy because CBOT rules allow investors much more leverage to use borrowed money than the U.S. stock market, which has much stricter margin rules.

Futures prices still have a long way to go before they approach the highs hit last year, which triggered worries of food shortages before the financial crisis decimated markets. But market watchers remain concerned the latest rally is not justified by fundamentals.

“Corn and bean fundamentals get more bearish every day but the market direction depends on what the funds want to do,” said Paul Haugens, vice-president for Newedge USA LLC.

A wave of fund buying through the first half of 2008 drove wheat prices to a record high $13.34-1/2 per bushel, about 135 percent higher than the current level.

CBOT corn last year hit a record $7.65, up about 90 percent above the current price loans until payday. Soybeans rose to a record high $16.63, about 66 percent more than the present level.

CBOT wheat prices on Wednesday were trading at five-month highs, soybeans at a 2-1/2 month high and corn was at its highest level in nearly a month.

REPEAT PERFORMANCE?

While some fear prices will tumble like they did after last year’s rally, when grains markets ran up with crude oil, whose price peaked above $147 a barrel. But other analysts said this rally in grains could extend into next year.

“We can’t have a big break in the market because everyone is expecting more fund buying at the beginning of the year,” said Joe Bedore, CBOT floor manager for trade house FC Stone.

“We have different fundamentals than we had in the spring and summer of 2008 so I think that will keep prices in check to a certain point. But the investment community did see grains as an asset class then and they still do,” said Jerry Gidel, analyst for North America Risk Management Inc.

He said investors, buoyed by low interest rates, will bet on commodities and other asset classes.

“There is a lot of money looking for a home and it’s too risky for them to put it all in the stock market, mortgages or some kind of leases like railroad cars for example,” he said. 

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Ingersoll-Rand PLC, a maker of heating and cooling systems for homes, businesses and transport, reported a 5 percent drop in quarterly profit on Friday and said it continued to see challenges in its markets.

Net earnings were $216.6 million, or 65 cents per share, compared with $227.7 million, or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

Excluding restructuring costs, earnings from continuing operations were 70 cents per share. Revenue fell 19 percent to $3.48 billion, below Wall Street forecasts for sales of $3.56 billion.

Ingersoll, which also makes security technology, air compressors and utility vehicles, said it was confident of growing earnings next year even if markets remain weak. It forecast this year’s earnings between $1.60 and $1.70 per share.

(Reporting by Nick Zieminski; Editing by Derek Caney)

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U.S. machinery maker Caterpillar Inc posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday and raised its full-year forecast, saying it was seeing “encouraging signs that indicate a recovery may be under way.”

The news sent Caterpillar shares up nearly 5 percent in premarket trading.

The world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment and a closely watched component of the Dow Jones industrial average reported a third-quarter net profit of $404 million, or 64 cents a share, compared with $868 million, or $1.39 a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 44 percent to $7.29 billion.

Analysts, on average, had expected the Peoria, Illinois-based company to report a profit of 6 cents a share on sales of $7.47 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Caterpillar also provided its first forecast for 2010, saying it expects 2010 sales and revenue will be up 10 percent to 25 percent from 2009 levels.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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The U.S. economy is “tentatively” emerging from severe recession and inflation, as well as inflation expectations, are under control, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said on Friday.

Opening the Chicago Fed’s financial literacy conference, Evans decried attacks on the central bank’s monetary policy independence — part of the political fallout from the lengthy financial crisis.

“Confusion over the Fed’s role is quite understandable, given the unconventional steps we have taken over the past two years to ensure liquidity flows in the wake of the financial crisis and the non-traditional monetary policy environment that we are in,” said Evans.

Greater financial literacy helps the Fed to better explain its decisions and dispel “misconceptions” about the central bank, said Evans, who is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee in 2009 free credit reports.

“We have an important responsibility to explain our policy actions to a broad and diverse public,” he said.

“The better the public understands the work of the Fed, the easier it will be for us to achieve our mission.”

In general, Evans said, American consumers have relatively low rates of financial literacy and often lack a clear understanding of concepts such as inflation and compound interest.

“When you don’t understand what inflation is, or the risk that it presents to your financial well-being, then it is difficult to appreciate the importance of a Federal Reserve that can take politically unpopular steps to combat inflation,” he said.

(Editing by Andrew Hay)

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AMR Corp’s American Airlines faces an increasing dispute with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulators over allegedly improper repairs to at least 16 aircraft, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The paper said FAA officials suspect one of those planes was abruptly retired to get it out of sight of government inspectors.

The probe, which began several months ago, has raised red flags at the FAA about the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier’s willingness to properly disclose potential safety problems, the people told the paper.

According to the paper, the latest case is viewed as particularly serious because some FAA inspectors think the circumstances under which the airline suddenly chose to mothball one plane show the move was part of an effort to hide the extent of suspected defects business cards design.

The plane was ferried to the New Mexico desert in March for storage, the paper said, citing people familiar with the probe and company documents, which were reviewed by the Journal.

“The FAA has provided American the opportunity to respond to its investigation, and we are in the process of doing so.” American spokesman Tim Wagner told the paper, but declined to elaborate, adding “we believe conversations outside of that process are inconsistent with FAA regulations.”

The FAA and American Airlines could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters out of regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Chakradhar Adusumilli in Bangalore, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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