Prime Minister Stephen Harper is gaining support among Canadians for his plan to ship oilsands crude to China after President Barack Obama rejected TransCanada Corp. (TRP)
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One of the biggest suppliers of oil to the United States may shut off the spigot this weekend, pushing crude and gasoline prices higher for Americans.
Nigeria, which supplies 8 percent of U.S. oil imports, could see production halted if striking workers walk off the job Sunday. Workers are demanding the return of a vital government fuel subsidy that has kept gasoline prices low in that impoverished and restive nation of 160 million people.
It’s unclear how much of Nigeria’s production would be affected. At worst, the country’s 20,000 unionized oil workers could take as much as 2.4 million barrels of daily crude production off the market, striking at the heart of Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy.
Even if strikers are only partially successful, fears of tightened global supplies could raise oil prices by $5-$10 per barrel on futures markets next week. Gasoline prices would follow, rising by as much as 10 cents per gallon and forcing U.S. drivers to spend an additional $36 million a day at the pump.
Gasoline now costs $3.39 per gallon (89 cents a liter) after rising 11 cents since the start of the year. Experts predict the national average could rise as high as $4.25 per gallon ($1.12 a liter) in 2012.
The Nigerian government already has offered a smaller, temporary fuel subsidy and will meet with union leaders on Saturday. The strike could be called off but protesters have promised to halt production if they don’t get the full, $8 billion subsidy restored.
Disruptions would have a long-term impact on Nigeria’s economy. Union president Babatunde Ogun said it could take six months to a year to restart oil fields once they’re shut down.
“If everything comes to a standstill, the government will budge,” Ogun told reporters this week in Lagos.
The threat to shut off oil production is the latest move by protesters after a week of violent, anti-government clashes throughout the country. The strike began Monday to challenge President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to abandon the fuel subsidy.
“It’s going to be a showdown this weekend,” in Nigeria, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said. “You can only hope that cooler heads will prevail.”
It’s hard to predict how effective a national oil worker strike would be.
Oil production facilities are usually automated, allowing them to pump oil out of the ground without anyone at the platform. But if something breaks, if the pressure in the well fluctuates, or if other problems occur that cause an automatic system shutdown, there wouldn’t be anyone there to get production running again.
It’s likely oil companies operating in the region _Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Total SA and Eni S.P.A. _ would simply shutter their platforms and wait for political tensions to subside, Gheit said. Oil companies could still export oil from storage terminals on the coast; that is, if union workers at the terminals stay on the job.
The price of oil already has swung up and down this year because of supply concerns in another oil-rich part of the world, the Persian Gulf. Iran, the world’s third-largest crude exporter, is sparring with the U.S. and Europe over its nuclear program.
While Iranian imports are banned in the U.S. because of long-standing tensions, the country supplies 2.2 million barrels per day to the rest of the world, including Europe. Meanwhile, Libya is quickly restarting oil fields that were shut down during the anti-government uprising last year. It has about 1 million barrels per day back online, and it expects to increase production to pre-rebellion levels of 1.6 million barrels per day by mid-year.
Oil prices fell by $2.86 this week to end at $98.70 per barrel in New York. Prices dropped as Europe delayed a decision to ban Iranian imports. But they could snap back up given the variety of geopolitical problems affecting world supplies, including the threat of a Nigerian oil worker strike.
The U.S. government expects the price of oil to average $100.25 per barrel this year.
Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research, said oil could jump by $5-$10 per barrel if the strike begins Sunday. Nigeria ranks behind Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Venezuela in oil exports to the U.S. It produces a valuable crude variety that is easier and cheaper to turn into gasoline than others.
Investors, who have been numbed from years of political unrest in Nigeria that included sabotage, thievery, environmental protests and other operating problems, may wait to see how the government works with the union. Nigerian oil always seems to be under a perpetual threat of some kind, Lynch said.
“Though this time seems more serious,” he said.
Nigerians have been upset for years as international oil production damaged the environment with little apparent domestic benefits. One of the only visible perks was the fuel subsidy. Removing it forced gasoline prices to jump overnight from $1.70 per gallon to at least $3.50 per gallon _ a crippling increase for a nation where most people live on less than $2 a day.
The government still seems determined to have its way, Barclays analyst Helima Croft said, but an oil field strike would be a game changer. If workers can shut down oil production, it’s only a matter of time before declining oil revenues will force the government to cave, she said.
“Any disruptions in either oil production or exports would severely constrain government activities and its ability to meet its obligations,” Croft said.
Eighty percent of the country’s revenue comes from oil.
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A wave of explosions struck two Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and intensifying fears that insurgents are stepping up attacks after the U.S. troop withdrawal that was completed last month.
The attacks began with the explosion of a bomb attached to a motorcycle near a bus stop where day laborers gather to look for work in the Sadr city neighborhood. The blast killed eight people, police said.
One of those who witnessed the attack said it filled the area with thick black smoke.
“People have real fears that the cycle of violence might be revived in this country,” said Tariq Annad, a 52-year-old government employee who lives nearby.
That attack was followed by the explosion of a roadside bomb nearby that killed another person. Police found a third bomb nearby and defused it.
Less than two hours later, two blasts struck the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah in the north of the capital, killing 14 people.
Officials said the Kazimiyah blasts occurred almost simultaneously, with at least one caused by a car bomb.
Hospital officials confirmed the causalities, which included at least 60 wounded.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Iraqi leaders have warned of a resurgence of Sunni and Shiite militants and an increase in violence following the departure of U no credit check payday loans.S. troops.
The early morning blasts followed deadly attacks Wednesday that targeted the homes of police officers and a member of a government-allied militia. Those attacks, in the cities of Baqouba and Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad, killed four people, including two children, officials said.
The latest violence comes as Iraqi politicians remain deadlocked in a festering political crisis that threatens to re-ignite simmering sectarian tensions in the country.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, dominated by Iraq’s majority Shiites, issued an arrest warrant for the country’s top Sunni politician last month. The Sunni official, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, is currently holed up in Iraq’s Kurdish north _ effectively out of reach of state security forces.
Al-Maliki’s main political rival, the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, is boycotting parliament sessions and Cabinet meetings to protest what they say are efforts by the government to consolidate power and marginalize them.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko on Saturday, calling criticism by four other NRC commissioners “a politically motivated witch hunt.”
Reid’s defense of Jaczko, a former Reid aide, went far beyond statements of praise and included a sharp critique of the four NRC commissioners _ including two Democrats.
“It is sad to see those who would place the interests of a single industry over the safety of the American people wage a politically-motivated witch hunt against a man with a proven track record of ensuring that nuclear power is produced as safely and responsibly as possible,” Reid’s office said in a statement Saturday.
The four NRC commissioners said in a letter to the White House that they have “grave concerns” about Jaczko. They said his bullying style is “causing serious damage” to the commission and creating a “chilled work environment at the NRC.”
The letter was written Oct. 13 but was made public late Friday. It stops short of calling for the chairman to resign, but says Jaczko’s actions could adversely affect the agency’s mission to protect health and safety at the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear reactors.
Among other claims, the letter says Jaczko “intimidated and bullied” senior career staff, ordered staff to withhold information and ignored the will of the panel’s majority. The letter was signed by Democrats William Magwood and George Apostolakis, as well as Republicans Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff.
Jaczko, in a detailed response also sent to the White House, said problems at the agency were not his fault but instead stem from “lack of understanding” on the part of the other four commissioners.
Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said Saturday that Jaczko should be fired.
Shimkus, who chairs an Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment and the economy, said President Barack Obama “has a responsibility to correct deficiencies in the executive branch _ and obviously this is a clear deficiency payday loan lenders.” Shimkus led a hearing this spring that centered on Jaczko’s leadership style, and complaints that he is autocratic and ignores his fellow commissioners.
“I would have thought that would have given (Jaczko) an opportunity to kind of turn things around. It seems like things got worse, not better,” Shimkus said.
A spokesman for the White House declined to comment Saturday.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., supported Jaczko, saying Saturday that the NRC needs to move away from a “do nothing” culture.
Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised Jaczko for a “swift and effective response” to Japan’s nuclear crisis and said the NRC commissioners should support Jaczko “as he translates the lessons of Fukushima into an action plan that will make America’s nuclear plants the safest in the world.”
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., also backed Jaczko. Late Friday, Markey made public a 23-page report accusing the four NRC commissioners of trying to impede U.S. nuclear safety reviews after the Japan crisis.
“Instead of doing what they have been sworn to do, these four commissioners have attempted a coup on the chairman and have abdicated their responsibility to the American public to assure the safety of America’s nuclear industry,” said Markey, a longtime nuclear critic.
Jaczko was an aide to Markey before joining Reid’s staff.
The dispute comes after an inspector general’s report released in June exposed long-simmering internal strife under Jaczko. In August, Republican senators asked the inspector general to investigate whether Jaczko had authority to declare the Japan nuclear crisis an emergency _ which grants him additional powers _ since the crisis occurred on foreign soil.
Jewelry seller Tiffany & Co. said Tuesday its fiscal third quarter profit rose 63 percent on strong sales globally, particularly in Asia.
The luxury retailer known for its iconic turquoise box is also raising its full-year forecast on the strong quarter.
Tiffany’s results show the luxury shopper is continuing to spend freely. That segment has rebounded more quickly from the recession than others. High-end jewelry sold better than other categories.
The New York company’s net income rose to $89.7 million or 70 cents per share in the three months ended Oct. 31. That compares with $55.1 million, or 43 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts expected earnings of 60 cents per share, according to FactSet.
Revenue rose 21 percent to $821.8 million. Analysts expected $801.8 million.
“Increased sales in all regions contributed to the continuation of strong worldwide sales growth in the third quarter,” said CEO Michael J. Kowalski.
In the Americas, sales grew 17 percent to $387.7 million. Revenue in stores open at least one year rose 16 percent.
The measure is considered a key gauge of a retailer’s financial health because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.
Tourists helped push the measure up 30 percent Tiffany’s the New York flagship store.
In Asia-Pacific, revenue rose 44 percent to $183.2 million, helped by strength in the greater China region.
Revenue rose 12 percent in Japan and 19 percent in Europe.
Tiffany now expects net income of $3.70 to $3.89 per share, for prior guidance of $3.65 to $3.75 per share. Analysts expect $3.72 per share.
Tiffany expects revenue to rise in the high-teens percentage for the year.
In the fourth quarter, the company expects net income of $1.48 to $1.58 per share. Analysts expect $1.63 per share.
Tiffany operates 243 stores globally..
U.S. stocks tumbled in the worst Thanksgiving week loss for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1932 as concern grew that Europe’s debt crisis will spread and as American policymakers failed to reach agreement on reducing the federal budget.
Shares of Bank of America Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Caterpillar Inc. dropped at least 7.6 percent to lead declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Energy stocks fell the most in the S&P 500 as oil declined for a second week and as Chevron Corp. lost 5.7 percent after it was blocked from drilling in Brazil while the government investigates a recent spill. Netflix Inc. slid 18 percent after raising $400 million to bolster cash.
The S&P 500 slid 4.7 percent to 1,158, closing at the lowest level since Oct. 7. The Dow fell 564 points, or 4.8 percent, to 11,231 this week.
“We’ve resumed focus on the European debt issues,” Terry Morris, senior equity manager at National Penn Investors Trust Co., based in Wyomissing, Pa., said in a telephone interview. His firm manages about $2.2 billion.
The situation in Europe doesn’t seem to be improving, which makes the market defensive, he said. Spending cuts taking hold in the U.S. will be a negative, too, because they will be a drag on economic growth.
The S&P 500 has fallen for seven days, the longest streak in four months, and has tumbled 7.6 percent so far this month. U.S. equities erased an early advance in the final session of the week as S&P lowered Belgium’s credit rating and Reuters reported that Greece was demanding that private investors accept larger losses on their debt.
Debt Concerns
The cost of insuring European sovereign bonds against default rose to a record this week as Germany failed to find buyers for 35 percent of the bonds offered at an auction.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said market turbulence sparked by the euro region’s sovereign-debt crisis would last for a few months.
Congress’ special debt reduction committee failed to reach an agreement this week, setting the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts and fueling concern that economic stimulus measures that are set to expire will not be renewed.
Still, S&P reaffirmed it would keep the United States’ credit rating at AA+ after stripping the government of its top AAA grade on Aug. 5.
Stocks fell Tuesday as revised Commerce Department figures showed that gross domestic product climbed at a 2 percent annual rate from July through September, less than projected and down from a 2.5 percent prior estimate. U.S. stock exchanges were shut Thursday for Thanksgiving and closed three hours early on Friday payday loan online.
Macro Factors
“The market’s not trying to distinguish between stocks right now; it’s focused almost exclusively on macro factors,” John Linehan, director of U.S. equities and a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., said at a press briefing Tuesday in New York. “There’s a tremendous amount of volatility in the marketplace. The market’s on the gas pedal and the tires are spinning, but we’re really actually not going anywhere.”
Companies most closely tied to the economy fell, sending the Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index down 6.2 percent, the most since the week ending Sept. 23. Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction and mining equipment maker, dropped 7.7 percent to $86.72.
All 10 groups in the S&P 500 fell this week, led by a 6.2 percent slump in energy producers and a 5.8 percent drop in financial shares.
Bank of America declined 11 percent, the most in the Dow, to $5.17, while Citigroup Inc. decreased 10 percent to $23.63. Both are among lenders that may have to temper plans to raise dividends and buy back stock next year as the Federal Reserve toughens capital tests for the biggest U.S. banks.
Netflix sank 18 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $63.86. Technology Crossover Ventures will buy $200 million in zero-coupon senior convertible notes due in 2018 in the video-streaming and DVD subscription service, and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. funds will buy $200 million in stock. The transactions suggest Netflix’s cash squeeze may last longer than it had anticipated, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. The company needs to spend more to make its streaming content stand out against a growing list of competitors, he said.
Commodity producers declined as reports showed that manufacturing contracted in Europe and may shrink by the most in more than two years in China. AK Steel Holding Corp., the third-largest U.S. steelmaker by volume, plunged 16 percent to $7.04. Alpha Natural Resources Inc., the coal producer that bought Massey Energy Co. for $7.1 billion in June, lost 15 percent to $18.81.
Chevron in Brazil
Chevron lost 5.7 percent to $92.29. The U.S. oil producer operating the $3.6 billion Frade oilfield off Brazil was blocked from drilling in the South American country while the government investigates a recent spill.
Hewlett-Packard slipped 9.3 percent to $25.39 after profit forecasts that missed analysts’ estimates. Meg Whitman, who took over as chief executive officer two months ago, used her first earnings conference call to tell investors they needed to lower expectations. The first-quarter profit forecast and full-year earnings outlook missed estimates
Carol Behr thinks she knows why many students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are buying their books online, and it’s not just the convenience.
It’s the sales tax savings, says Behr, a vice president of Kennedy Book Store, which owns Southern Illinois Book & Supply in Carbondale. The company also has a store in Lexington, Ky., and of the two, she says the Carbondale store has lost more business to competitors such as Amazon.com.
The difference? Kentucky doesn’t charge sales tax on textbooks, but Illinois does.
To Behr, the slipping Illinois sales figures highlight an unfair competitive situation. “A business is a business,” she says. “Why do I have to charge sales tax and they don’t, if we’re in the same business?”
Ten senators, including Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin and Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, introduced a bill Wednesday that would remove Amazon’s competitive advantage over bookstores such as the one in Carbondale. And, surprisingly, Amazon has endorsed the bill.
The proposed Marketplace Fairness Act would require retailers to collect taxes on remote sales, including those made online or through mail order. It would apply only to businesses with at least $500,000 of remote sales, and only in states that adopt a simplified sales tax structure.
Large sums of money are at stake. William Fox, a professor of economics at the University of Tennessee, estimates that state and local governments lose $11.4 billion a year in revenue from online retail sales, and a total of $23.6 billion from untaxed online, catalog and business-to-business sales.
In the past, Amazon has fought hard to avoid collecting its share of that money. In Illinois, North Carolina and Rhode Island, it canceled relationships with local affiliates to get around so-called “Amazon tax” laws. In Texas, it threatened to close a warehouse rather than pay $269 million in sales taxes.
Now, though, Amazon says it ’strongly supports enactment” of the Marketplace Fairness Act. Not all companies agree: eBay, for example, says the bill “fails to protect small business retailers using the Internet.”
Past congressional efforts to address the sales tax issue
How should people prepare their houses for sale during the winter?
A bit of simple maintenance now will go a long way to keep a house in good shape for prospective buyers this winter.
Start by clearing leaves from gutters and patios. Keep walking areas swept and collect lawn debris regularly. Remember to check working fireplaces for loose mortar and debris. Get heating systems inspected. Stock up on filters for timely changes throughout the winter. Replacing window screens with storm windows will cut heating costs and extend the life of the screen material.
Don’t overlook the driveway. Snow, ice and salt that come with the winter season can wreak havoc on driveways and blacktop surfaces. Protect them by filling cracks and holes before the freeze sets in. Snow can alter the overall look of the property. Shovel and de-ice paths and doorways. The driveway and sidewalks should be plowed. Make sure that outside lights and doorbells work. Consider installing more lights to highlight effectively the best areas of the house.
Focusing on the interior is also important for selling in the winter. Furnished homes and those that are well organized have more appeal. Make sure beds are made, furniture is well placed and that countertops and closets are clutter-free. Bear in mind that not all home shoppers celebrate the same holidays. Keep holiday decorations as a seasonal accent so buyers see the home, not just the adornments.
Selling a home in the winter has its perks. Chances are, buyers looking for a home during the winter holidays are serious about buying and not simply shopping around. At that time of year, there are fewer homes on the market, reducing the competition.
Back-to-back bomb blasts ripped through one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam Sunday, killing at least 10 people in a community still reeling from a deadly bus hijacking earlier this month that left Iraq’s Shiites again feeling hunted.
Four explosions struck the city of Karbala over a five-minute period, government officials said, sending thick black smoke over the city. Two of the bombs targeted an Interior Ministry office that issues ID cards. Another struck near a house, shredding its walls and ceiling. And one explosion went off half a mile from an important gold-domed shrine.
“Once again, the terrorist enemies of both Iraq and humanity have committed a new crime against the innocent people of Karbala,” said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite.
He called the bombings a “heinous crime,” promised those behind them and the earlier attack on the bus would be punished and warned people not to be drawn back into sectarian revenge killings.
“We should stay united and cease statements or acts that would help the criminals in their efforts to ignite sedition.”
Ferocious bombing attacks by Sunni insurgent groups like al-Qaida in Iraq targeted the Shiite community whose leaders came to power after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The bloodshed pushed the nation to the edge of civil war.
Violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically since the bloodletting of 2006 and 2007, but militant attacks still appear aimed at re-igniting the nation’s volatile ethnic and religious divide.
The Sept. 12 bus attack targeted Shiite pilgrims from Karbala who were headed to a shrine in neighboring Syria.
The gunmen stopped the bus at a fake checkpoint in the western desert of Anbar province, heavily populated by Sunnis and once one of the heartlands of the insurgency.
The assailants pulled 22 men from the bus and shot them execution-style, leaving the women and children weeping beside a remote highway.
Prime Minister al-Maliki has been trying to tamp down tensions between officials in Karbala and Anbar since the highjacking. Four suspects are being held in the case, and al-Maliki’s military advisers say at least some foreigners were among the plotters.
Sunday’s bombings in Karbala were meant to raise tensions further, officials said.
“The aim of these explosions is to ignite the sectarian sedition after the killing of 22 Karbala residents in the Anbar desert two weeks ago,” said provincial councilman Hussein Shadhan al-Aboudi. “They also aim to destabilize the security situation in Karbala.”
Besides the 10 people killed, dozens were injured. Estimates ranged from 40 to as high as 90. The casualty figures were provided by three government officials: al-Aboudi, fellow councilman Mohammed al-Moussawi and parliamentarian Jawad Kadim al-Hassnawi.
Raed al-Assali, a government employee in the Karbala Investment Council, said he was sitting in his office doing paperwork when he heard the booms.
“I rushed to rooftop of our building and I saw thick smoke rising from the blast area,” al-Assali said. “Some people in panic were running in the nearby alleys in order to escape fire and danger.”
Al-Assali noted growing tensions and fear by Karbala residents that they are being targeted by Sunni insurgents.
“There’s a feeling here that some groups are trying to ignite sectarian sedition by targeting Karbala after the crisis with Anbar,” he said, referring to the slaying of the pilgrims.
Karbala, located 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Baghdad, is one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam because two early Muslim leaders, imams Abbas and Hussein, are buried there.
The bus attack alarmed Iraqi and U.S. security officials who are uneasily watching to see if stability will plummet while the American military continues withdrawing from the country. Under a 2008 security agreement, all U.S. troops are required to be out of Iraq by the end of the year.
But concerns about leaving behind partially trained Iraqi forces have spurred Washington and Baghdad to reconsider the deadline, although no agreement has yet been reached to keep U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2011.
Energy companies EdF SA, Eni SpA and Wintershall AG on Friday signed a shareholder deal with Russian gas exporting monopoly Gazprom to take 50 percent in a European gas pipeline project.
The agreement, signed by the companies’ chief executives, gives Italy’s Eni 20 percent in the project while France’s EdF and Germany’s Wintershall get 15 percent each.
The South Stream project is meant to transport Russian natural gas to Europe under the Black Sea. The pipeline, which is expected to start in 2015, would ship up to 63 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg and Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey in a second.
The three were previously named as Gazprom’s partners but Friday’s deal is the first time they signed a legally binding agreement easy to get unsecured personal loans.
Eni’s chief executive Paolo Scaroni told Russian news agencies that South Stream partners would present an investment plan to potential creditors in the first half of 2012. Scaroni said the construction of the underwater section alone is likely to cost $10 billion.
South Stream is rivaling a EU-backed Nabucco pipeline that’s slated to ship gas from the Caspian region to Austria via southern Europe.
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