22
Mar

Arrow Energy Accepts Takeover Bid From Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina

By alfredlester Closed
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SYDNEY (AP) — Arrow Energy Ltd., a major owner of gas assets in Australia, has agreed to a sweetened takeover bid from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina Co. worth Australian dollars 3.44 billion ($3.15 billion).

The deal comes as Australia ramps up major natural gas projects in response to booming demand from China and elsewhere as a less polluting fuel than coal to drive power generators.

Arrow said Monday in a statement to the stock exchange it received an offer from a joint venture company owned by Shell and PetroChina named CS CSG Pty. Ltd. for AU$4.70 cash per share. Two weeks ago, the joint venture launched its takeover bid with a cash-per-share offer of AU$4.45.

Under the deal, Arrow will spin off its assets outside Australia — including interests in China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia — into a new company, Dart Energy Ltd., in which existing Arrow shareholders will get a stake.

Arrow said its board was unanimously recommending that shareholders accept the offer.

Arrow Energy is an integrated energy company focused on supplying coal seam gas to eastern Australia and Asia high risk personal loans. It claims to have the largest coal seam gas reserves in Queensland state.

The company had been planning to list 20 percent of its Arrow International arm, retaining 70 percent, with the remainder already held by Royal Dutch Shell.

Among major integrated oil companies, Shell considers itself expert in converting methane to liquefied natural gas (OOTC:LNGLF) , or LNG, so it can be shipped rather than piped away from its source.

It has a separate LNG project in the works in Queensland that would benefit from the extra supply from Arrow.

PetroChina Co. is Asia’s largest oil and gas company. Last year it signed agreements with Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) worth $41 billion to buy LNG from the yet-to-be developed Gorgon gas field off Australia’s far northwest coast.

Arrow Energy Accepts Takeover Bid From Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina

20
Mar

Economy drives families together under one roof

By alfredlester Closed
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NEW YORK (Reuters) – The recession slowed most homebuilding in the United States to a standstill but it has fueled demand for a special kind of housing: the granny flat.

As unemployment hovers around 10 percent and healthcare costs spiral upward, homebuyers like Stephanie Charbeneau want to cut costs by sharing shelter with her extended family.

Charbeneau, a 27-year-old court recording monitor in New Haven, Connecticut, is buying a home with her husband, their two young children and her in-laws because money is tight.

"Everything is so expensive, you need your family to help you out. Thank God that they're there to help you," she said.

The Charbeneaus and Stephanie's in-laws plan to split the mortgage on a $337,000 two-family home with an apartment her brother-in-law may rent. It is a bigger and newer house than the couple could afford on their own.

They are not alone. Almost 70 percent of Coldwell Banker Real Estate agents see economic concerns compelling more families to seek housing together in 2010, according to a January poll.

At least in the short term, multi-generational housing demand is a boon for homebuilders, architects and developers mired in the deepest housing slump since the Great Depression.

The recession is accelerating a long-standing trend. U.S. multi-generational households jumped 24 percent from 2000 to 6.2 million in 2008, or 5.3 percent of all households, according to AARP, the nonprofit organization for people 50 and over. Economics and culture were the main motivators.

A prolonged push for bigger and fewer homes "would dampen housing demand going forward and further dampen a substantial recovery in the housing market," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard's joint center for housing studies.

ONE BIGGER HAPPY FAMILY

Opportunity for homebuilders and manufacturers hurts senior housing, a business aimed at about 78 million baby-boomers, as more elderly people avoid costly managed care.

"We can't afford to put grandma in a nursing home now," said Monte Anderson, a Texas developer. He plans to include 50 apartments offering separate living quarters, called "granny flats", for an older parent or adult child in a 500-unit project south of Dallas.

In Jeffersonville, Indiana, beauty salon owner Karen Carden, her husband and 19-year-old college student daughter expect to buy a larger home, hopefully with no steps, with Karen's 84-year-old father.

"Assisted living is not an option for my dad. He didn't retire with that kind of income," she said.

Senior housing occupancy rates fell to 89 percent from a peak of 93 percent at the end of 2006 and early 2007, according to data from the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry default payday loan. One major operator, Sunrise Senior Living Inc, had to sell off assets and is in restructuring talks with lenders.

The expense of managed care is driving much of the demand for multi-generational housing, but more adult children are also bunking in with parents.

"The empty nest is a historical relic," said Stephen Reily, chief executive of VibrantNation.com, a Website aimed at women over 50 based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Two-thirds of the boomer women it polled had at least one adult child living with them, and half of those children brought their own kids along. On top of that, parents or in-laws also lived in 13 percent of these households.

COTTAGE INDUSTRY

If this trend continues, only 5.4 million new households will form over the next five years compared with the 6.9 million that more normal conditions would produce, Michael Hakim, an analyst at PPR Global, projected. That equals a loss of more than one year's average household creation, he said.

A shrinking number of households would ultimately hurt builders. But for now, the housing industry is running to meet demand for families looking to merge resources under one roof.

Homebuilders are seeing more buyers in groups that include a parent, said Toll Brothers Inc Nevada division head Gary Mayo. Interest is up in products such as KB Home's Open Series, with up to six bedrooms, and Pulte Homes Inc's "casitas" featuring an extra bedroom, full bath and closet that can serve as living quarters.

Those who cannot afford a new home are remodeling the one they have, said Bill Gati, an architect in New York City who helps clients convert part of their house to an apartment.

Manufacturers have responded by tweaking such tools as the grab bar, which enhances access to shower and toilet, to lessen their institutional look, said Melissa Birdsong of Lowe's Companies Inc.

Wide doors and entrances without steps aid accessibility for those on wheels, be they wheelchair, walker or stroller, said Trina Summins, an Atlanta-based builder working on a home that features a ground-floor suite for parents to move into.

The goal is to share responsibilities while maintaining some boundaries.

Anderson's apartments provide separation between the generations. "I can take care of you, but I don't have to live with you," he said.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

Economy drives families together under one roof

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18
Mar

Bernanke: Fed should oversee big and small banks

By alfredlester Closed
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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Federal Reserve needs to supervise banks of all sizes so it can stay on top of the markets and the economy, the central bank’s chairman, Ben Bernanke, said in testimony prepared for a hearing on Wednesday.

“The Federal Reserve’s participation in the oversight of banks of all sizes significantly improves its ability to carry out its central banking functions, including making monetary policy, lending through the discount window, and fostering financial stability,” Bernanke said in testimony prepared for a House Financial Services Committee hearing about the Fed’s role in bank supervision.

A Look at the Fed’s Bank Examiners

WSJ’s Dennis Berman and colleague Evan Newmark take on the Fed — namely the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which Berman recently visited in the hopes of better understanding the people securing the front lines of the broken financial system.

“Because of its wide range of expertise, the Federal Reserve is uniquely suited to supervise large, complex financial organizations and to address both safety and soundness risks and risks to the stability of the financial system as a whole.”

Bernanke continues to defend the Federal Reserve from Senate legislation that seeks to remove some of its authority to oversee banks paperless payday loans. The bank reform bill introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., on Monday would remove the Fed’s oversight of smaller state-chartered banks, permitting it to only continue to oversee and conduct on-site exams for 35 largest banks with $50 billion or more in assets.

That wording, however, is an improvement from the Fed’s point of view, over the legislation Dodd introduced in November. That original bill would have removed all the Fed’s supervision authority over banks so it could concentrate only on monetary policy. The House bank reform bill approved in December retains the Fed’s authority to supervise banks and conduct monetary policy. Dodd plans to have senators on the banking committee vote on the bill next week. He hopes to have legislation approved by the full Senate by spring.

The Fed oversees roughly 5,000 bank holding companies and about 850 state-chartered banks.

Bernanke: Fed should oversee big and small banks

16
Mar

Dodd Lays Out Details of Financial Overhaul Bill

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WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, with the backing of the Obama administration, took a big step forward on Monday toward adopting the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulations since the Depression, calling on Republicans to join them to adopt the measure in the thick of an election year.

Exactly 18 months since Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, setting in motion a financial crisis that required a federal bailout of unprecedented scope, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee laid out a bill that aims to ensure stability for the financial system; close regulatory loopholes that had allowed excessive risk-taking; and protect consumers from the kinds of abusive loans that brought down the housing market.

The bill would enshrine Washington’s role in policing Wall Street, creating a nine-member council, led by the Treasury secretary, to detect systemic risks to the markets and placing the Federal Reserve in charge of all of the nation’s largest and most interconnected financial institutions.

The banking committee chairman, Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, noted that negotiators from the two parties were not far apart when he announced last week that Democrats would proceed with their own bill.

“We will have financial reform adopted this year in the Congress of the United States,” Mr. Dodd said.

Even so, the measure’s prospects remained far from certain.

The major flashpoints will include, among other things, the scope of authority for a new Consumer Financial Protection Bill to be established within the Fed; the scope of exemptions under new rules governing the trade of derivatives; and the mechanism by which the government could seize and dismantle a large company on the verge of failure.

Another provision is one intended to curb Wall Street’s influence over the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Its president would be appointed by the president of the United States, not by a board that includes representatives of member banks business card design.

Mr. Dodd estimated that there was substantial bipartisan agreement on 9 of the bill’s 11 titles, the exceptions being consumer protection and corporate governance.

The bill “reflects an awful lot of work that has gone on between Democrats and Republicans on this committee,” Mr. Dodd said, taking pains to praise the top Republican on the committee, Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, and another member, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who had spearheaded Republican negotiations in recent weeks.

The bill quickly attracted praise from observers — if not lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle.

“This will ensure that large financial institutions face the same resolution process as small banks and eliminate the possibility of future government bailouts,” said Sheila C. Bair, a Republican who is chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor who is chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel that oversees the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said in a statement, “Despite the banks’ ferocious lobbying for business as usual, Chairman Dodd took an important step today by advancing new laws to prevent the next crisis. We’re now heading toward a series of votes in which the choice will be clear: families or banks.”

Douglas J. Elliott, a former investment banker and now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the proposal appeared to “represent a major improvement to the status quo, but political compromises significantly diminish its effectiveness compared to an ideal set of reforms.”

Dodd Lays Out Details of Financial Overhaul Bill

14
Mar

Retail sales rise as shoppers fight winter blues

By alfredlester Closed
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. retail sales rose unexpectedly last month despite heavy snow storms that were thought to have kept shoppers at home and bolstered hopes of a sustainable economic recovery.

Optimism about Friday's report was tempered by a slip in consumer confidence early this month. Worries about stubbornly high unemployment held back sentiment, even though the economy appears to be on the cusp of creating jobs.

"The manufacturing recovery is starting to broaden out to the key consumer area of the economy. Consumers are keeping up their end of the bargain to ensure the recovery from recession is a sustainable one," said Chris Rupkey of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York.

Sales rose 0.3 percent, the Commerce Department said, as consumers bought an array of goods from necessities to luxury items. Analysts had expected sales to slip 0.2 percent. January sales, however, were revised down to a gain of 0.1 percent from the previously reported 0.5 percent rise.

U.S. stocks initially rose on the retail sales data but lost steam, and major indexes ended flat on the surprise drop in consumer confidence. U.S. government debt prices rose as investors focused on the weak sentiment data, while the dollar tumbled to a one-month low against the euro.

The sales report was the latest in a series of data hinting at building underlying strength in an economic recovery that has been largely driven by government stimulus and a swing toward inventory building by businesses.

Officials from the Federal Reserve meet on Tuesday and are expected to hold overnight interest rates in a range of zero to 0.25 percent and maintain a pledge to keep them ultra-low for an "extended period" to foster a more robust recovery.

Stronger data, however, could spark a lively discussion at the meeting, as some officials have raised concerns about the inflationary impact of keeping rates too low for too long.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday the economy was gradually strengthening across the board, but cautioned it would take time to fully recover.

The rise in spending came even as consumers were turning more sour. Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers' index on consumer sentiment slipped to 72 cash advance to savings account.5 from 73.6 in February. That was below market expectations for 73.6.

LABOR MARKET KEY

Economists, however, warned against placing too much weight on the dip in sentiment, saying it was not a good predictor of future sales. Consumer spending has continued to surprise on the upside even with confidence trending lower.

"What is more important is what happens in the job market and that market is improving. February was distorted by storms, but the underlying trend is up and March will be strong," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston.

Sluggish consumer spending had fed worries the economy's recovery from the worst downturn in seven decades could falter when support from government stimulus and the swing in the inventory cycle disappears.

Motor vehicle and parts purchases extended their decline last month, falling 2 percent, likely reflecting a drop in demand by consumers nervous about vehicle recalls by Toyota Motor Corp. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales rose 0.8 percent, building on a 0.5 percent rise the prior month.

Even more encouraging, core retail sales — which correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of the government's gross domestic product report — increased 0.9 percent after rising 0.6 percent in January.

"This implies that personal consumption is on track to exceed 2.0 percent for the first quarter of the year and bodes well for a greater than 3.0 percent print on gross domestic product," said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at Brusuelas Analytics in Stamford, Connecticut.

A second report from the Commerce Department showed business inventories were unchanged in January after falling by 0.3 percent in December.

Inventories are a key component of gross domestic product changes over the business cycle and a sharp slowdown in the pace of inventory liquidation handed the economy its fastest growth rate in six years in the fourth quarter.

(Additional reporting by Glenn Somerville in Washington and Caroline Valetkevitch in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Retail sales rise as shoppers fight winter blues

12
Mar

Financial Stocks: Regional banks gain, Citi stock pares gains

By alfredlester Closed
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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — U.S. regional bank shares added to weekly gains Thursday, while Citigroup shares moved higher as investors cheered Chief Executive Vikram Pandit’s relatively upbeat outlook.

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The gains in bank stocks helped the financial sector outperform the broader market. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund , an exchange-traded fund that tracks the financial stocks in the S&P 500 , rose 0.5% while the broader index added 0.2%.

Shares of Huntington Bancshares added 2.9%, Fifth Third Bancorp rose 2% and KeyCorp rose 2.8%.

Regional banks had rallied in the previous session after a report suggested Britain’s Barclays was hunting for a retail bank acquisition. Also, several bank executives were speaking at a Citi investment conference in New York City this week.

News Hub: Credit Markets Come Back to Life

Credit markets are showing signs of life after a year of lows and two years after the collapse of Bear Stearns auto loan. Grianne McCarthy tells the News Hub panel why U.S. companies are feeling more confident about the economy.

Citigroup shares climbed 4% to $4.12 after Pandit said that the banking giant should be able to cover future credit losses in its troubled local consumer lending business. There are “early signs of improvement” in the division, he said at the conference. See story on Citi CEO’s remarks

The stock came off its intra-day high of $4.16 after the CEO said the U.S. government may sell its 27% stake in the banking giant. See pulse on possible government sale of Citi stake

Citi shares have advanced 18% this week and 25% for the year-to-date, bolstered by reports Wednesday that a sale of trust preferred securities had gone well.

The SPDR KBW Bank ETF has benefited from the rally in Citi and other banks. That ETF is up about 19% for the year-to-date and is one of the best-performing ETFs in recent months. Read more about financial and bank ETFs

Earlier this week, the KBW Bank ETF hit a fresh 52-week high. On Thursday, it rose as high as $25.21. Its next hurdle is $25.44, which it last traded in November 2008.

Financial Stocks: Regional banks gain, Citi stock pares gains

10
Mar

Senate to pass jobless aid, business tax breaks

By alfredlester Closed
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WASHINGTON – Legislation blending help for the jobless with popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is slated to pass the Senate Wednesday over protests from conservatives who say it adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt.

But compassion for the jobless and the political power of an annual package of tax breaks is likely to produce a bipartisan vote to pass the measure, even though it would add more than $130 billion to the budget deficit over the next year and a half.

The bill would provide unemployment benefits of up to 99 months in many states for people mired in joblessness as the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession in decades. The measure easily cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday by a 66-34 vote, with eight Republicans voting with Democrats to break a GOP filibuster.

The measure illustrates the great extent to which direct help for the jobless and the poor makes up a large portion of Democrats’ election-year agenda on jobs — and threatens to squeeze out other items amid concerns about a budget deficit projected at a record $1.6 trillion this year.

The sweeping bill cleans up a host of unfinished congressional business from last year that languished as the Senate focused on health care. It would also prevent doctors from absorbing a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments and extends through December a generous 65 percent subsidy of health insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program, at a cost of $10 billion.

Democrats also hope to finish work this week on a far smaller job-creation measure blending additional highway spending with new tax breaks for companies that hire the unemployed inferred heaters. The Senate could clear the measure for President Barack Obama’s signature by Friday.

Wednesday’s larger bill also provides the annual extension of $26 billion worth of tax breaks for businesses and individuals that are popular with senators in both parties.

The $66 billion cost of providing additional months of unemployment checks — the core benefit is 26 weeks — is added directly to a budget deficit expected to hit $1.6 trillion this year. Federal cash to help states with Medicaid adds about $25 billion more.

“Even though these programs may be good for your state, a senator has an obligation to stand up and say ‘no more,’” said freshman GOP Sen. George Lemieux of Florida. “No more spending our kids’ future. No more bankrupting the promise of this country.”

But Democrats said it would be heartless to cut off unemployment benefits to the long-term jobless and contended that the benefits inject demand into the economy, helping to lift it.

“This is not just some technical bill,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. “This bill helps real people. Failure to enact this bill would cause real hardship. Failure to enact this bill would cost jobs.”

The tax breaks include a property tax deduction for people who don’t itemize, lucrative credits that help businesses finance research and development and a sales tax deduction that mainly helps people in the nine states without income taxes.

Senate to pass jobless aid, business tax breaks

08
Mar

The Female Factor: Awareness Rises, but Women Still Lag in Pay

By alfredlester Closed
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PARIS — Companies in the United States, Spain, Canada and Finland lead the world in employing the largest numbers of women from entry level to senior management, according to a report set to be published Monday by the World Economic Forum. Yet the report also found that, despite increasing awareness of gender disparities in the workplace, women at many of the world’s top companies continued to lag behind their male peers in many areas, including pay and opportunities for professional advancement.

Moreover, many of these companies have yet to implement policies to address these gaps, despite pressure from many of their governments to do so.

The forum, based in Switzerland, surveyed 600 heads of human resources offices at the largest employers in 20 countries representing 16 different industries.

The poll assessed companies according to a range of criteria, including rates of female representation, whether the companies measured or set targets for gender balance in pay or promotion, and whether they offered benefits, like paid family leave, to promote work-life balance for their employees.

The findings, which were timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, follow the announcement Friday by the European Union of an initiative aimed at significantly narrowing the union’s average 18 percent gender wage gap, which has changed little in the past 15 years.

A study by the 27-member union last year estimated that closing the wage gap could lead to a potential increase of 15 percent to 45 percent in gross domestic product.

A 2009 report by the International Labor Organization found an average 20 percent difference in pay for men and women employed full time in the Group of 20 largest developed and developing economies. Yet the World Economic Forum’s report found that 72 percent of the companies in its survey had no systems to track salary differences by gender.

In addition, 60 percent of the companies said they had no affirmative action policies to promote women within their hierarchies and did not measure women’s participation in their work forces.

Companies in India had the lowest percentage of female employees, 23 percent, just below Japan, with 24 percent, the forum’s report found.

Turkey, Austria and Italy rounded out the bottom five, with women representing just 26 percent, 29 percent and 30 percent of their staffs, respectively instant payday loans.

As its focus was on companies, the forum’s survey did not assess the status of women working in the public sector or in education, areas where female representation is traditionally high and where policies to promote gender balance are often institutionalized by law.

Women remained in the minority of senior corporate managers, representing just 5 percent of the chief executives of the 600 companies surveyed. Finnish companies in the sample had the largest proportion of female chief executives, with 13 percent, followed closely by Norway and Turkey with 12 percent and Italy and Brazil with 11 percent.

The high percentage of female chief executives at Turkish companies, despite having relatively low levels of female employment, was due to the fact that many of the biggest companies were controlled by families where women were at the helm, said Saadia Zahidi, co-author of the report and head of the forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program. In Italy, which reported similarly large numbers of women at the top, the companies surveyed were mainly large, multinational corporations.

In both countries, Ms. Zahidi said, “there is a real dearth of women elsewhere in the corporate hierarchy.”

The forum’s findings also follow a global study of 4,500 business school graduates published last month by Catalyst, a U.S.-based organization that advocates for women in the workplace.

The Catalyst study found that, even in this high-potential group, women consistently lagged behind men in advancement and compensation from their very first professional job. The differences held even in comparing men and women of equal levels of work experience and professional aspiration and in discounting for whether or not they had children.

Herminia Ibarra, a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at Insead, an international business school, and a co-author of the forum’s report, said of the findings, “Study after study shows that, in most countries and industries, women enter the workplace pipeline in representative numbers. Then, something fails to happen.”

The Female Factor: Awareness Rises, but Women Still Lag in Pay

06
Mar

Funds Tied to Madoff Win a Ruling to Stop Suits

By alfredlester Closed
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UBS and Ernst & Young won a court ruling Thursday in Luxembourg, potentially blocking hundreds of claims by investors who had lost money in funds tied to Bernard L. Madoff’s fraud.

Luxembourg’s commercial court said that investors could not bring individual lawsuits for damages. The court said it was up to the liquidators of the funds that invested with Mr. Madoff to seek the “recovery of the capital assets.”

Investors who lost millions of dollars through Access International Advisors’ LuxAlpha Sicav-American Selection fund had filed more than 100 lawsuits against UBS and Ernst & Young for “seriously neglecting” their fund supervisory duties. Luxembourg’s commercial court in April 2009 decided to hear some of the cases to test whether the claims were admissible.

UBS served as the custodian for LuxAlpha. Custodians are responsible for oversight of funds and manage deposits and payments to investors.

“UBS welcomes the clarification of Luxembourg law as expressed by today’s decisions,” Tatiana Togni, a spokeswoman for the bank, said in an e-mail message.

Spokesmen for Ernst & Young in Luxembourg could not immediately be reached to comment. LuxAlpha, which invested 95 percent of its assets with Mr. Madoff, said it had $1.4 billion in net assets a month before Mr. Madoff’s arrest in December 2008. The fund was dissolved and is being liquidated.

Luxembourg is the second-largest mutual fund market after the United States, with about 3,463 registered funds holding 1.84 trillion euros ($2 business cards.5 trillion) in assets.

François Brouxel, who represented investors in four of the test cases and has more than 60 others pending, said he would appeal the court’s finding. He said the ruling “is in direct contradiction with E.U. rules and will have repercussions for the Luxembourg financial market if investors feel they are not protected.”

Mr. Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty last year in federal court in Manhattan and was sentenced to 150 years in prison for using money from new clients to pay earlier investors.

UBS Settles Auction-Rate Case

The Swiss bank UBS agreed on Thursday to buy back $200 million of auction-rate securities and pay a $6.64 million fine to settle charges it misled investors about the debt’s safety.

The accord, reached with the Texas State Securities Board, covers investors left out of an August 2008 nationwide settlement with several regulators in which UBS agreed to buy back $18.6 billion of auction-rate securities and pay a $150 million fine.

That settlement covered investors who held securities in UBS accounts. The state said UBS has to date agreed to buy back $22 billion of auction-rate debt.

Auction-rate debt has interest payments that reset at periodic auctions. Regulators have accused many broker-dealers of marketing the debt as being as safe as cash.

Reuters

Funds Tied to Madoff Win a Ruling to Stop Suits

04
Mar

Greece prepares tax rises, debt continues to mount

By alfredlester Closed
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ATHENS (AFP) – Greece, fighting to avert bankruptcy, was to reveal a third wave of tax rises and welfare cuts on Wednesday to win support from the European Union and a reprieve from debt markets.

Prime Minister George Papandreou, who warned lawmakers on Tuesday that the country faced a "wartime situation", was expected to announce the new draconian measures after briefing President Carolos Papoulias.

The latest round of crisis action is believed to include a two-percent increase in sales tax, a pension freeze, heavier benefit cuts for civil servants and steeper tobacco and fuel duties.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, insists that Greeks must sort out their fiscal mess — which includes a public debt of nearly 300 billion euros (407 billion dollars) — before expecting any outside help.

Greece must avoid "a nightmare of bankruptcy in which the state would not be able to pay salaries or pensions," Papandreou told lawmakers in Athens. He said: "We find ourselves today in a wartime situation."

That would create a huge headache for its European partners which are alarmed that Greece's problems could cause lasting damage to the credibility and discipline which underpin the eurozone. Related article:EU unveils 2020 vision

Greece needs more than 20 billion euros (27 billion dollars) by May to redeem old debt falling due. It also needs to borrow heavily to finance a public deficit which is close to 13 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Overall, the government is desperate to improve its downgraded credit rating and thereby reduce the crippling interest rate, currently slightly above 6.0 percent, which it has to pay to borrow from international investment funds.

And time is short. Papandreou has said that financing needs are assured until the middle of March.

A total of 54 billion euros will have to be raised this year to cover the public deficit which has swollen way beyond the three-percent EU limit make quick cash. Moody's rating agency has estimated that about 15 percent of tax revenues will be absorbed by debt charges this year.

A team of analysts from the Standard and Poor's rating agency is currently in Athens for talks with Greek ministers.

Meanwhile, the sentiment on financial markets about the course of events in Greece is highly uncertain, although there is a suspicion that if the latest round of measures satisfies EU authorities, some sort of support for Greece may emerge in the next week or so.

A Greek official told Dow Jones Newswires that Athens would issue a 10-year bond to raise between three and five billion euros "within days of the announcement of the austerity package."

And economist Neil MacKinnon at VTB Capital told AFP that a rescue "has to be agreed, whether it is some sort of loan package contingent on evidence of Greek budget cuts or debt purchases by EU governments and/or state owned entities or some sort of debt guarantees."

The Greek prime minister flies to Berlin on Friday for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, widely regarded as holding the key to any eurozone bailout.

Papandreou has undertaken to use the crisis to restructure the economy, and cure Greece of decades of fiscal mismanagement and deeply entrenched corruption, but statistics released on Tuesday show that he faces a titanic reform task as bribery is on the rise.

The local branch of Transparency International said that bribes last year rose by 50 million euros from 2008 to 790 million euros (1.1 billion dollars), paid to all parts of the economy, from hospitals to tax officials.

Greece prepares tax rises, debt continues to mount

02
Mar

Dividends on the rise after worst-on-record year

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CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — After 2009 saw companies slashing or eliminating dividend payouts left and right, many American firms are beginning to cautiously reinstate — or even raise — theirs in this period of assumed recovery.

While shareholder payouts still lag versus 2008’s, more than a dozen of the S&P 500 have raised or initiated a dividend this year, while only two have decreased or suspended them. And the firms now offering higher payouts represent a wide range of industries, from Coca-Cola to Tiffany and P.F. Chang’s to T. Rowe Price .

And there could be more to come.

“We expect dividend payments to rebound in 2010, including those from the financial sector, as dividends are reinstated, since some companies now have both the ability and incentive to pay dividends,” said Jeffrey Kleintop of LPL Financial Research. “In the current environment, a boost to the dividend payment may signal more confidence in sustained growth by business leaders than their guidance on the earnings outlook, helping to lift stock prices along with the dividend payout.”

That comes after an especially rough spell as “the past two years have been tough on dividends,” Kleintop added. “In fact, 2009 marked the worst year on record for dividends since 1955, resulting in a 21% decline in dividends per share for the S&P 500 companies as a whole.”

In 2008 and 2009, 32 S&P 500 companies suspended their dividends, while only 11 initiated them, but 49 have raised or initiated dividends so far this year. One of the latest is Qualcomm , which announced late Monday that that its quarterly dividend would increase almost 12% to 19 cents a share.

‘2009 marked the worst year on record for dividends since 1955.’

Jeffrey Kleintop, LPL Financial Research

“The strength of our business model is enabling significant investments in our strategic business initiatives while returning capital to stockholders,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive of the wireless-technologies firm, in announcing the hike. “Since commencing this program in 2003, we have returned $12.6 billion to our stockholders through a combination of dividends and stock repurchases payday advance online.”

For the month of February alone and for all reporting issues — not just the S&P 500 — dividend increases are up 29% from February 2009, although they’re still down 42% from February 2008, noted Howard Silverblatt, senior analyst at S&P Indices.

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“February is typically a good month, and this one has come through,” he said. “Actual cash payments are still down year-over-year, but at least it’s starting to go back up.” He added that he expects it will “most likely [be] 2012-13 until we reach 2008 levels.”

For the S&P 500, “it is the best month in two years, with a very impressive three-month run,” he continued. “I expect more good news, but not as much of it over the next few months; I also expect reductions to start next month.”

Josh Peters, editor of Morningstar’s DividendInvestor, said dividends “really bottomed out last summer after a spate of cutting we hadn’t seen since the Great Depression,” including one from Dow Chemical , for the first time in 97 years. At the same time, he noted that some of the mote stable consumer-focused companies, like McDonald’s and General Mills , “continued to raise theirs even during the crash.”

But over the last couple of months, “we have seen less-traditional payers deciding to raise their dividends,” including retailers, restaurant chains and tech firms, he said. “And assuming we don’t tip back into a double-dip recession, we should continue to see more dividend increases than cuts.”

Many companies will have to do so just to stay competitive against other issues in the stock market, he said, especially as more and more Baby Boomers near retirement.

“They have learned that stock prices don’t just go up, and they will want the reliable income,” Peters said. “Compared to 10 years ago, the idea of trying to live off capital gains is truly frightening.”

Dividends on the rise after worst-on-record year

28
Feb

James River Coal 4th-quarter loss narrows

By alfredlester Closed
Categories: all, business, economic, online and world
Tags: , , , ,

RICHMOND, Va. – Coal mining company James River Coal Co. said Friday that its fourth-quarter loss narrowed, but the company said its results were hurt by lower rates of production at its mines.

The company also put out 2010 guidance that came up short of analyst expectations.

James River Coal said it lost $3.2 million, or 12 cents per share, compared to a loss of $33.6 million, or $1.26 per share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The company sold $149.5 million worth of coal during the quarter, up from $140.8 million in the 2008 fourth quarter. But company executives said that they were forced to reduce production because of soft coal markets business cards.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 44 cents per share on sales of $175.4 million.

For 2010, the company projects earnings of $1.70 to $2.25. That is below the analyst consensus view of $2.93 per share.

James River Coal earned $51 million, or $1.85 per share, for all of 2009.

Shares of the company fell $1.09, or 6.4 percent, to close at $15.91.

James River Coal 4th-quarter loss narrows

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