Financial News

An increasingly likely playoff berth and fan interest in hockey after the Vancouver Olympics could be accounting for the increase in attendance at Phoenix Coyotes games.

The Coyotes, which have won two straight games, drew a crowd of just under 15,000 on Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks and 12,400 on Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche. The Coyotes average a National Hockey League attendance low of 11,200 fans per game.

The team is in fourth place in the NHL's Western Conference. The top eight teams make the playoffs, and the Coyotes are getting close to assuring themselves a spot. The team has not made the playoffs since 2002.

Strong performance on the ice and fan interest in hockey during the Olympics could help bolster the Coyotes. The team could have moved to Canada in the offseason while they were in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Coyotes even are promoting Stanley Cup playoff ticket deals to season ticket holders.

The 15,000-fan draw for the Coyotes also comes on a night when they were competing directly with the Phoenix Suns and Cactus League baseball for fans. The Suns drew 18,200 for their win over the Indiana Pacers.

Source

Compare life insurance quotes for term life and whole life insurance plans. Get free insurance quotes and information.

Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region expanded in February for a sixth straight month as orders surged to the highest level in more than five years, another sign that factories are leading the economic recovery.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index rose to 17.6 from 15.2. Readings greater than zero signal growth. Measures of employment and shipments accelerated, and inventories expanded for the first time since September 2007.

Surging exports, inventory replenishment and corporate spending on new equipment are fueling a factory-led recovery from the worst recession in seven decades. The manufacturing expansion may spur the labor market recovery needed to boost consumer spending and keep the economy expanding.

“The inventory cycle will continue to add to production levels well into 2010,” said Robert Stein, a senior economist at First Trust Portfolios LP in Wheaton, Illinois. “Manufacturing is doing well pretty much across the board.”

A separate report from the Conference Board today showed the index of U.S. leading indicators rose in January for a 10th straight month, pointing to an economy that will keep expanding through the first half of this year.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 0.2 percent to 1,101.53 at 11:11 a.m. in New York. The 10-year Treasury note fell, pushing up the yield five basis points to 3.78 percent.

Other reports from the government showed jobless claims rose by 31,000 to 473,000 last week, while wholesale prices increased 1.4 percent in January after a 0.4 percent gain in December.

Economists’ Forecasts

Economists forecast the Philadelphia Fed’s factory gauge would rise to 17, according to the median of 58 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from zero to 23.

The Philadelphia Fed’s employment index rose to 7.4, the highest level since October 2007, from 6.1 the prior month.

The new orders measure rose to 22.7 from 3.2, and shipments climbed to 19.7 from 11.

The index of prices paid fell to 32.4 from 33.2 in January. Prices received increased to 3.7 from 2.7.

The gauge of expectations for the next six months decreased to 35.8 from 43.3 while remaining positive for a 14th straight month.

The overall index number isn’t composed of the individual measures, so some economists consider it a gauge of sentiment among manufacturers.

Two days ago, figures from the New York Fed showed business activity in that region expanded in February at the fastest pace in four months.

Industrial Production

Another Fed report yesterday showed industrial production nationwide rose in January for a seventh straight month. The plant-use rate increased to 72.6 percent, the highest level in more than a year.

The U.S. economy is forecast to grow 3 percent this year, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg in the first week of February. That follows a 2.4 percent contraction last year as the economy sank into its worst recession in seven decades.

Manufacturers, particularly of exported goods, are seeing a pickup in demand, fueled in part by a 10.7 percent rate of economic growth in China in the fourth quarter.

Latrobe, Pennsylvania-based Kennametal Inc., a maker and distributor of mining, metal-working and energy tools, last month reported an 8 percent increase in fiscal second quarter sales from the prior quarter as the world economy recovers.

“We are continuing to see signs of a slow, but steady global economic recovery,” Chief Executive Officer Carlos Cardoso said on a conference call Jan. 28. “Industrial production activity is higher in most geographical regions, with emerging markets leading the way and mature markets beginning to recover.”

Source

Apply for our overnight cash loan from $100 to $1500, deposited instantly in your bank account.

Novelis Inc. is relocating its North American headquarters from Cleveland to Atlanta, bringing 80 jobs to the city.

The company announced the move late Thursday.

Novelis, an aluminum products giant that has been a major supplier of bottlers of The Coca-Cola Co., said it will consolidate its North American headquarters with its existing world headquarters.

The consolidation, combined with other hires, will bring Novelis’ Atlanta staff to about 220 by the end of 2010.

The company's world headquarters is housed in Buckhead's Lenox Building.

Recently, however, company executives have been touring other Buckhead buildings where they might consolidate and expand, including Two Alliance Center and Phipps Tower. Two Alliance appears to be the frontrunner, and Novelis could be in the market to lease about 100,000 square feet.

"North America is one of our biggest markets, and it just makes good business sense to consolidate these operations at our Atlanta-based corporate headquarters," Philip Martens, president and chief operating officer of Novelis, said in a statement.

Novelis is a $10.2 billion company focused on aluminum products and aluminum can recycling. It has about 12,000 employees in 11 countries.

Novelis selected Atlanta as its world headquarters in 2005 when it was spun off from Canadian aluminum producer Alcan payday loans.

The move is the latest in a series of steps taken during the past year to streamline the company.

“Novelis’ consolidation of North American operations at its Atlanta headquarters provides additional evidence that multi-national corporations thrive in our city,” said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. “Atlanta is a global center of international commerce with a vibrant corporate community. I am delighted to welcome the North American headquarters staff of Novelis to our great city.”

The Atlanta Development Authority and the Metro Atlanta Chamber also helped in the relocation.

Rob Metcalf of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Novelis in its real estate transaction.

“We’re delighted that we could help entice Novelis to expand its Atlanta headquarters. We look forward to a long-term relationship with the company as it continues to grow,” said Gregg Simon, manager of business engagement for ADA. ”Novelis is a wonderful corporate citizen, and its decision highlights the positive business climate offered in the city of Atlanta.”

Source

Pfizer Inc., fresh from buying fellow drugmaker Wyeth and already deep into integrating its operations, posted on Wednesday a 34 percent jump in revenue, but about $3.2 billion in acquisition charges and higher costs across the board weighed down profits.

The maker of Viagra and cholesterol fighter Lipitor, which paid $68 billion to get Wyeth’s vaccines, biologic drugs and consumer health staples such as Centrum vitamins and pain relievers Advil and Anacin, already has slashed about 4,200 jobs and cut other costs.

New York-based Pfizer said its revenue in the fourth quarter totaled $16.54 billion, half a billion above what analysts were expecting as the recession continues to reduce sales of even prescription medicines. Wyeth products contributed $3.3 billion of those sales. Excluding that boost, revenue was up about 7 percent from the $12.35 billion Pfizer reported in the fourth quarter of 2008, but Pfizer noted that favorable exchange rates boosted total revenue by 4 percent.

Net income amounted to $767 million, nearly triple the $266 million the world’s biggest drugmaker earned a year ago, when results were hurt by a whopping $2.3 billion charge to settle federal charges that Pfizer improperly marketed some of its drugs. That profit is equal to earnings per share of 10 cents, or 49 cents after excluding the acquisition charges and other one-time items.

Analysts were expecting 50 cents a share. The per-share results were reduced somewhat because Pfizer issued new shares to help fund the Wyeth purchase, increasing outstanding shares by about 16 percent.

Pfizer did not provide directly comparable figures on revenue, profit and costs for the 2009 and 2008 periods. The company forecast 2010 revenue of $67 billion to $69 billion.

Source

Eastman Kodak Co. is seeking to block imports of certain camera-enabled BlackBerrys by Research in Motion.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based camera company filed a complaint this week with the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging that the BlackBerrys in question infringe on a Kodak patent relating to a method for previewing images.

Respondents in the action include both Research in Motion’s primary business in Canada and its U.S. operation, which is based in Las Colinas. A Research in Motion spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.

Also named in Kodak’s International Trade Commission complaint is Apple Inc., which Kodak alleges is infringing on the same patent with its iPhones. Apple officials weren’t immediately available for comment Friday.

Kodak also filed two patent-infringement lawsuits against Apple in federal district court in New York guaranteed online personal loans.

The company did not sue Research in Motion in federal court, however; instead, it's only pursuing the International Trade Commission action against it, according to a Kodak press release.

David Lanzillo, a Kokak spokesman, told the Dallas Business Journal that the company opted not to pursue a court action against Research in Motion. “Our approach is appropriate to the specific infringement that we allege on the part of Apple and Research in Motion,” he said.

Earlier this week, the International Trade Commission opened an inquiry to a separate patent-infringement complaint against Research in Motion by a Nebraska company called Prism Technologies LLC.

Source

Europe’s unemployment rate unexpectedly increased to 10 percent, the highest in more than 11 years, as companies cut costs in the wake of the worst recession in more than six decades.

November’s euro area jobless rate rose from a revised 9.9 percent in October, the European Union statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That’s the highest since August 1998. Economists forecast a November rate of 9.9 percent after the 9.8 percent initially reported for October, a Bloomberg survey showed. The euro-area economy expanded 0.4 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, according to a separate report.

European companies are cutting jobs and paring wages to shore up earnings battered by the global slump. While economic confidence has risen to a level last seen before the 2008 demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., a surge in energy costs and a stronger euro threaten to damp the recovery.

“We’ll probably see further gains in unemployment over the coming months, with the jobless rate peaking at 10.7 percent in the second half,” said Juergen Michels, chief euro-region economist at Citigroup Inc. in London. “That’s obviously bad news to consumers, which will be hurt by job cuts, lower wage growth and rising energy costs.”

The euro pared its gains against the dollar after the data and traded at $1.4317 at 10:31 a.m. in London, up less than 0.1 percent on the day. The yield on the German 10-year benchmark bond rose 0.2 basis point to 3.38 percent.

Consumer Spending

The euro-area economy returned to growth in the third quarter after governments spent billions of euros on stimulus programs to bolster spending. Still, corporate investment fell 0.8 percent in the quarter and consumer spending dropped 0.1 percent, today’s data showed. The European Central Bank last month kept borrowing costs at a record low and said it will exit some unconventional measures as the recovery progresses.

In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, unemployment unexpectedly declined in December, keeping the jobless rate at 8.1 percent, the Federal Labor Agency said on Dec. 5. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet extended the so-called short- term work program for a year from this month, allowing companies to continue tapping federal aid to help pay wages direct payday loans. As many as 140,000 people were on short-term work last month, the Federal Labor Agency said on Jan. 5.

Industrial Orders

With a 94 percent surge in oil prices over the past year threatening to crimp earnings and the euro’s 5.2 percent ascent against the dollar over the same period making exports less competitive, companies may remain reluctant to add workers. European industrial orders dropped more than economists forecast in October from the previous month.

Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, last month posted its first quarterly loss in a year and forecast a drop in 2010 earnings. The Munich-based company cut its global workforce by 3.6 percent in 2009 to weather a slump in orders.

Paris-based Accor SA, Europe’s largest hotel company, eliminated 1,000 jobs in France last year. ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s largest steelmaker, said in November that it plans to cut about 20,000 jobs.

With the euro-area jobless rate forecast by the EU to reach 10.7 percent this year, consumers may keep a rein on spending. European retail sales posted the biggest drop in 13 months in November, the statistics office said yesterday.

‘Significant Doubt’

“Significant doubt and uncertainties remain about the future strength of consumer spending,” said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight in London. “Businesses may well remain cautious in their employment and investment plans for some time to come.”

At 19.4 percent, Spain had the highest unemployment rate in November among the 16 countries using the euro, today’s report showed. Austria and the Netherlands had the lowest jobless rates with 5.5 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively. The number of unemployed people rose by 102,000 to 15.7 million from October, the statistics office said.

Euro-region gross domestic product declined 4 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, instead of a previously reported drop of 4.1 percent, today’s data showed.

Source

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.

Source

The Federal Reserve may cause another crisis by botching the withdrawal of liquidity from the U.S. economy, Morgan Stanley Asia Chairman Stephen Roach said.

The Fed is the “weak link” among central banks and may fail to tighten monetary policy in time to stop asset bubbles from forming, Roach said at a conference in Berlin today. The Fed helped trigger the boom and then bust of the subprime mortgage market by being “quick to slash, slow to normalize” interest rates, he said.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Dec. 3 he doesn’t rule out using monetary policy to prevent unfounded increases in asset prices, though he said financial regulation is a better approach. Bernanke said this week the U.S. economy continues to face “formidable headwinds,” signaling the Fed will keep its benchmark interest rate near zero for an extended period.

“They need to be very early in executing their exit strategies,” Roach, a former Fed economist, told Bloomberg Television. “I take Mr. Bernanke at his word that he’s looking for an extended period of monetary accommodation, which, quite frankly, I find very worrisome in assessing the prospects of a next bubble and the next crisis.”

‘Ludicrous’ View

The traditional view of central bankers that asset bubbles are hard to spot and deflate with rates is “ludicrous,” he said.

“This is a failed flaw in the intellectual construction of modern central banking that must be addressed,” said Roach. “If we don’t fix this problem we’re doomed to repeat the failed asymmetric policies of the past and set ourselves up” for another crisis.

Roach recommended the Fed be required to “hardwire” the goal of preserving financial stability into its mandate, alongside the pursuit of full employment and low inflation paydayloans. Central banks should not be “allowed to outsource their responsibilities” to regulatory bodies, he said.

Nobel laureate Robert Mundell told the conference that the Fed mismanaged monetary policy by not raising interest rates fast enough in the last recovery when gold and commodity prices rose.

It was an “insane, stupid policy,” he said. “Where’s the mea culpa from the Fed?”

Asset Bubbles?

While no Fed official spoke at the Berlin event, European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos told reporters that in the future “there may be scope for the use of monetary policy as an instrument to also contribute to financial stability” in harness with other tools such as supervision.

Asked if he was concerned that asset bubbles are now forming, Papademos said he “wouldn’t come to this conclusion” because even with recoveries in markets and at banks, the financial system “is still facing challenges.”

“Overall financial conditions have not reached a stage that are signaling risks to financial stability,” he said.

Papademos defended central banks as having “avoided the meltdown of the financial system and through a variety of measures we are contributing to the return of the financial system to conditions of normality.”

Bernanke said on Dec. 3 that “regulation of the financial system is the strongest, most effective” way to deal with bubbles. “I do not rule out using monetary policy if necessary, if that situation does become worrisome and threatening,” though there are no signs of “extreme misvaluations,” Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee.

Source

The Sobrato Foundation has provided a $300,000 bridge loan to InnVision-The Way Home to help tide it over until about $11 million in stimulus funding is available to help with emergency needs in Santa Clara County.

Christine Burroughs, CEO of InnVision, said the agency can draw against the money over a 13-month period. "Needs are very high right now," Burroughs said, "so if we have to distribute more than we've got this will be a huge help, especially since it's an interest-free loan."

InnVision said the federal government has a reimbursement policy for the distribution of much of its stimulus funding: Do the work first, then submit receipts for reimbursement.

"For the CalWORKs program, InnVision was given an estimate of up to 1,400 new clients that would receive over $11 million in emergency assistance over the next year. That’s almost $1 million dollars a month for which InnVision would be liable while waiting for reimbursement, much more than their financial reserves could handle," the agency said installment payday loans.

John Sobrato, chairman of the foundation, said the objective of the emergency fund "aligns perfectly with the Sobrato Foundation’s charitable mission of promoting the economic independence and social well-being of individuals and families across Silicon Valley, especially those earning 50 percent of area median Income or less and are homeless, or who will become homeless if they don’t receive some assistance. We believe that leveraging federal stimulus dollars is a smart role that philanthropists can play in helping address our society’s greatest needs right now due to the current economic depression.”

InnVision serves more than 25,000 people in Silicon Valley annually at 20 locations.

Source

The U.S. Treasury Department’s refusal to sell its 34 percent stake in Citigroup Inc. is hampering the bank’s plans to repay $20 billion of remaining bailout funds, people familiar with the bank said.

Executives at the New York-based bank are growing frustrated because they can’t sell stock to raise money for repayment until the Treasury signals when and how it will unload its 7.7 billion shares, said the people, declining to be identified because the matter is under discussion. Investors may be reluctant to buy shares because a Treasury sale could drive down the price.

“The ball is in the government’s court,” said Chris Kotowski, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York, who has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s shares. “It’s not Citibank’s decision to sell them or not sell them.”

Bank of America Corp.’s plan to repay $45 billion of bailout funds would leave Citigroup as the only large bank subject to compensation reviews by Treasury paymaster Kenneth Feinberg. Other bailed-out companies under his purview include insurer American International Group Inc. and carmakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.

Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons said in September that the bank must pay employees competitively to ward off poaching by rivals. Under pressure from Feinberg, the bank cut total 2009 compensation for its 25 highest-paid people by about 70 percent from 2008.

$6 Billion Paper Gain

For almost three months, executives at the bank have tried to persuade Treasury to move ahead with a sale, the people said. At the current market price, the Treasury’s shares are worth about $31.2 billion. Because the common shares were converted from $25 billion of bailout funds, that’s a paper gain of about 25 percent, or more than $6 billion.

Meg Reilly, a Treasury spokeswoman, declined to comment on whether the government has sold any shares or when it may do so. “Treasury does not comment on individual institutions as a general policy,” she said. Citigroup spokesman Jon Diat said he couldn’t comment.

Treasury hasn’t told Citigroup how or when it plans to dispose of the stake, the people said. The shares are held within the department’s Office of Financial Stability, run by Herb Allison, the former chief executive officer of retirement- services firm TIAA-CREF payday loans for bad credit. Allison reports to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Pandit’s Vow

Citigroup got a total of $45 billion last year from the Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. In September, $25 billion of that was converted into common stock, which the Treasury is free to sell at any time.

Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit, 52, said Oct. 15 he was “focused on repaying TARP as soon as possible.” He said, “We’re going to do so in consultation with the government and our regulators.”

In a report, CreditSights Inc. analyst David Hendler said Citigroup could repay the $20 billion of TARP funds by selling about $10 billion of common stock along with $10 billion or more of junior debt securities. Regulators may be keeping Citigroup in TARP because of lingering concern that the economy won’t recover quickly, Hendler wrote.

The company has almost doubled its cash holdings to $244.2 billion over the past year, the biggest such stockpile of any U.S. bank.

‘Not Cash’

“It’s not a question of cash,” Kotowski said. “It’s a question how much the regulators will force banks to raise to clear themselves of the stigma of being a TARP bank.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, all based in New York, repaid bailout funds in June. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., which hasn’t repaid $25 billion of bailout funds, isn’t subject to Feinberg’s rules because it hasn’t received “exceptional assistance.”

Even if the Treasury sold its Citigroup shares and the bank paid off the remaining $20 billion, it still might be subject to the paymaster’s purview because it has $301 billion of government asset guarantees, the people said. Citigroup has no plans to terminate the guarantees, which remain in effect for 10 years on home loans and mortgage-backed securities and 5 years for other types of assets, the people said.

Source