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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Few U.S. companies plan to step up hiring in the next six months although they do expect the economy to be a bit stronger this year, according to a poll released on Monday.
The National Association for Business Economics’ industry survey found that two-thirds of respondents expected no change in employment at their companies over the first half of the year. That was the highest share in recent quarters.
Although the U.S. jobless rate fell to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent in December, fewer businesses said they would hire more workers, compared with the previous industry poll.
The survey, which was conducted between December 15 2011, and January 5 2012, found that 65 percent of respondents expect gross domestic product growth to exceed 2 percent between the fourth quarter of last year and the last quarter of 2012.
That was higher than the 1.6 percent growth rate economists polled by Reuters found.
About two-thirds of the companies surveyed said the European debt crisis would have little impact on their sales over the first half the year, while 27 percent of respondents said they expected to see a decline in sales of 10 percent or less.
As with fast payday loans, this recently used to be the case, but competitive lenders and higher demand has taken this loan type to mainstay levels.
Despite warnings from professionals, many individuals had minds of their own. Or maybe it wasn’t their minds at all but rather their stomachs that led them away from the nauseating stock market losses and spasms of the last few years.
Regardless of intent, their approach to investing turned out to be a winning one. As the early-year stock surge gave way to a 17 percent plunge and record volatility after May, many an individual fled from stock funds and clung to bonds, savings accounts and gold.
By the end of 2011, they had earned a shocking 17 percent in 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds, an unusual gain given the historic average of just 5.5 percent a year in Treasurys and the warnings from professionals that U.S. government bonds were likely to turn into losers.
Investors also earned almost 10 percent in gold, and they avoided a 20 percent loss if they ignored the emerging-market funds that professionals had been lauding while the U.S. and Europe struggled with debt problems.
It turned out that financial troubles in Europe crimped demand for emerging markets’ basic materials. And as stressed European banks held off on loans to developing countries, the refuge that investment professionals had envisioned began to fade. Although the Standard & Poor’s 500 ended 2011 up less than a half percent, funds that invest in Latin America declined 22 percent, and China funds fell 24 percent, according to Lipper.
Whipsawed by historically high stock market volatility, a collapse of confidence in American and European leadership, the threat of a global banking crisis and a fragile economy, investors pulled $112 billion out of U.S. stock funds for the year and poured $133 billion into bond funds as a safe haven, said Charles Biderman, chief executive of Trim Tabs.
But the quest for safety went farther than bond funds.
People poured $710 billion into savings accounts, the fifth-highest amount in history, Biderman said.
“People have been burned so many times in equities in the last decade they weren’t going to take a chance,” said Biderman. “It’s going to take a long time for huge inflows into equity funds again.”
In fact, investors have been scared since 2008. During the last three years, investors have poured a remarkable $900 billion into bond funds and yanked $242 billion from U.S. stock funds, said Biderman. Despite stronger performance by the U.S. stock market than foreign markets, investors bet more on global funds than U.S. funds. They have put about $89 billion into global funds.
Investors have not regained the money they lost when the market started its 57 percent decline in October 2007. Investing in the Wilshire 5000, or the full stock market of large and small stocks, has left investors with a loss of about 17 percent, or about $4 trillion collectively free online credit report.
Sticking with solid dividend-paying stocks in defensive sectors such as health care, utilities and consumer staples such as soap and toothpaste did help in 2011, as investors worried about the global economy’s sliding back into a recession. The Dow Jones industrial average of blue-chip stocks climbed about 5.5 percent for the year, and funds that invest in health care stocks and utilities averaged gains of more than 7.5 percent as investors sought security and income from dividends. The Vanguard High Dividend Yield exchange-traded fund, which selects stocks paying high dividends, gave investors a 10.5 percent gain.
Amid worries of a new global banking collapse, banks throughout the world were among the worst performers. Funds that invest in U.S. banks declined about 13 percent.
One of the biggest mistakes of the year was to equate precious metal stock funds with gold investing. The precious metal funds, which include gold and silver mining companies, lost 22 percent, while the SPDR Gold Trust exchange-traded fund gained 9.6 percent. The gold ETF invests in gold bullion, not stocks. Still, gold shed a significant amount of its gains late in the year. By August, as investors worried about U.S. and European debt, gold had climbed 33 percent in 2011.
The other mistake was to bet on interest rates’ rising. If rates had risen, advisers’ warnings to avoid bonds would have been wise. But instead, Treasurys soared 17 percent, and the average U.S. bond fund climbed about 8 percent because investors worried about a recession. In recessions, investors tend to want the safety of bonds, and as they pour money into them, interest rates and yields drop while values of the bonds climb.
With yields near record low levels, it’s not likely Treasurys can repeat 2011 gains again.
“Investors need to realize they can lose money in bonds” if interest rates start climbing, said Biderman. Still, 2011 was humbling for anyone making any prediction, and analysts are expecting the same for early this year, as great uncertainty remains about Europe’s fate.
Given that scenario, holding a mixture of roughly half stocks and half bonds may be the best policy. It will relieve dependence on either stocks or bonds and insulate investors from losses in each. That approach with funds for people retiring in 2015 gave near-retirees a 0.11 percent loss in 2011 — a disappointment, to be sure, but also not the type of loss that will ruin a retirement.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said his rapprochement with China will encourage other nations to strengthen trade with the island and make it less dependent on the mainland, rebutting opposition criticism that he
+%3Cp%3E+U.S.+stocks+closed+higher+Thursday+on+upbeat+jobs+and+manufacturing+reports%2C+but+investors+said+the+market+remains+nervous+about+the+European+debt+crisis.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThe+Dow+Jones+industrial+average+%28%29+rose+45+points%2C+or+0.4%25%2C+to+close+at+11%2C869.+The+S%26amp%3BP+500+%28%29+rose+4+points%2C+or+0.3%25.+The+Nasdaq+%28%29+added+2+points%2C+or+0.1%25%2C+to+2%2C541.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThe+number+of+people+filing+for+initial+unemployment+benefits+fell+to+366%2C000+in+the+latest+week+–+the+lowest+level+since+May+2008%2C+and+well+below+analysts%27+estimates.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EMeanwhile%2C+the+Federal+Reserve+Bank+of+Philadelphia+said+its+index+of+regional+manufacturing+activity+jumped+to+10.3+in+December+from+3.6+in+November.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThursday%27s+economic+data+reinforced+the+notion+that+the+U.S.+economy+will+continue+to+grow+at+a+modest+pace.+But+investors+remain+concerned+about+Europe%2C+where+the+latest+plan+to+end+the+debt+crisis+remains+in+question.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%26quot%3BThe+threat+of+something+cataclysmic+from+Europe+is+keeping+investors+cautious%2C%26quot%3B+said+Mark+Luschini%2C+chief+investment+strategist+at+Janney+Montgomery+Scott.%3C%2Fp%3EEurope%27s+debt+deal+is+falling+flat+%3Cp%3EEurope%27s+debt+woes+have+been+the+main+market+driver+since+at+least+September.+Investors+are+concerned+that+Europe%27s+sovereign+debt+problems+will+lead+to+a+banking+crisis+that+could+ripple+across+the+global+financial+system.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThe+gains+Thursday+come+after+three+days+of+losses+on+Wall+Street.+On+Wednesday%2C+stocks+fell+1%25+as+concerns+about+the+European+debt+crisis+and+the+euro%27s+slide+weighed+on+the+market.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EEconomy%3A+The+Bureau+of+Labor+Statistics%27+Producer+Price+Index+for+the+month+of+November+increased+by+0.3%25%2C+which+was+higher+than+expected.+The+index+dropped+0.3%25+in+October.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EIndustrial+production+decreased+0.2%25+in+November%2C+after+a+0.7%25+uptick+in+October%2C+according+to+the+Federal+Reserve.+Analysts+had+forecast+an+increase+of+0.2%25.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EMortgage+rates+sank+to+record+lows+again+this+week%2C+according+to+Freddie+Mac%27s+weekly+mortgage+rate+survey+%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fpay-day-loans-4all.com%22%3Eeasy+pay+day+loans%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%21–+.+–%3E.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EWorld+markets%3A+European+stocks+closed+higher.+Britain%27s+FTSE+100+%28%29+rose+0.6%25%2C+the+DAX+%28%29+in+Germany+gained+1%25+and+France%27s+CAC+40+%28%29+added+0.8%25.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EAsian+markets+ended+sharply+lower.+The+Shanghai+Composite+%28%29+fell+2.1%25%2C+the+Hang+Seng+%28%29+in+Hong+Kong+slumped+1.8%25+and+Japan%27s+Nikkei+%28%29+dropped+1.7%25.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EChina%27s+manufacturing+sector+continued+to+shrink+in+December%2C+although+the+pace+of+contraction+was+slower+than+expected.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3ECompanies%3A+After+the+closing+bell%2C+Research+in+Motion+%28%29+reported+third-quarter+net+income+of+%24667+million%2C+or+%241.27+per+share.+Sales+rose+24%25+to+%245.2+billion.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThe+BlackBerry+maker%27s+earnings+beat+analysts+expectations%2C+but+the+company+offered+a+disappointing+outlook+for+the+current+quarter+and+next+year.+Shares+fell+6%25+in+afterhours+trading.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EOften+considered+a+bellwether+of+the+economy%2C+FedEx+%28%2C+Fortune+500%29+reported+better-than-expected+income+in+its+second+fiscal+quarter%2C+with+an+earnings+per+share+of+%241.57.+Shares+rose+8%25.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EShares+of+Novellus+Systems+%28%29+climbed+16%25+after+Lam+Research+Corp+%28%29+announced+it+will+acquire+the+company+in+a+%243.3+billion+transaction.+Both+companies+are+large+manufacturers+of+semiconductors%2C+used+in+chips.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EMichael+Kors+%28%29+stock+debuted+on+the+New+York+Stock+Exchange+Thursday%2C+after+the+fashion+brand+raised+%24944+million+in+its+initial+public+offering+the+previous+evening.+The+IPO+was+the+largest+ever+for+a+U.S.+fashion+company.%3C%2Fp%3EFed+killing+bonds%3F+Buy+dividend+stocks%3Cp%3ECurrencies+and+commodities%3A+The+dollar+fell+against+the+euro%2C+British+pound+and+the+Japanese+yen.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EOil+for+January+delivery+fell+%241.08+to+%2493.87+a+barrel.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EGold+futures+for+February+delivery+fell+%249.70+to+%241%2C577.20+an+ounce.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EBonds%3A+The+price+on+the+benchmark+10-year+U.S.+Treasury+fell%2C+pushing+the+yield+up+to+1.91%25+from+1.90%25+late+Wednesday.+%26nbsp%3B+%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2011%2F12%2F15%2Fmarkets%2Fmarkets_newyork%2Findex.htm%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+
Four Yemeni soldiers and two al-Qaida-linked militants were killed in clashes in the country’s south, military and medical officials said Sunday.
The fighting took place overnight outside the city of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province that Islamic militants seized earlier this year, a military official said. A medical official said six soldiers were wounded in the fighting.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.
Al-Qaida-linked militants have overrun swaths of territory in Abyan, taking advantage of a security vacuum that has developed as a result of Yemen’s ongoing political unrest amid nine months of massive protests demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Fighting with the militants has continued as Yemen tries to emerge from its crisis. Saleh is due to step down by the end of the month in return for immunity from prosecution under a deal he signed last month. Under the U.S.- and Saudi-backed deal, a national unity government has already been formed, bringing in opposition parties.
Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has also formed a military committee joining both pro-regime forces and military units that defected to the opposition. On Saturday, the committee had succeeded in removing fighters, weapons and equipment of both sides from two main streets of the capital, Sanaa. But armed pockets of the rival forces could still be seen in side streets nearby.
The U.N. secretary-general’s envoy to Yemen, Jamal bin Omar, told reporters before he left Yemen Saturday that the military committee should end its work next Saturday in separating the rival sides, which at times engaged in heavy battles in the capital.
Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the commander of the First Armored Division who defected and joined the protesters in March, expressed his backing for the military committee after meeting Sunday with ambassadors supervising enforcement of the deal.
Shoppers spent more with Discover cards as the holiday shopping season began, helping lift the credit card company’s fiscal fourth quarter profit 46 percent.
Discover Financial Services said Thursday that sales volume on its namesake cards rose 8 percent to $25.03 billion in the quarter. The total number of transactions Discover’s networks processed rose 5 percent.
At the same time, customer payment habits improved, and rates of late payments and defaults fell. That enabled the company to release some of its reserves set aside to cover unpaid balances, which also helped improve results.
Reflecting a broader trend across the credit card industry, the Riverwoods, Ill.-based company said the number of customers paying off their card balances each month increased.
Keefe, Bruyette and Woods analyst Sanjay Sakhrani noted that economic shakeout of the last few years has left credit cards in the hands of more affluent consumers who are better able to pay their bills in full each month, while those with lower credit scores and presumably less ability to pay are now less likely to use credit.
For the three months ended Nov. 30, Discover posted net income available to common shareholders of $508 million, or 95 cents per share, compared with $347 million, or 64 cents per share in the year-ago period.
The number of outstanding shares dropped 3 percent, which has the effect of boosting per-share results.
Revenue rose 13 percent to $1.81 billion from $1.6 billion last year.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 89 cents per share on $1.81 billion in revenue, according to a survey by FactSet.
Growth in the company’s private student loan and direct banking businesses provided added boosts during the quarter. During the period, Discover purchased an additional $2.4 billion in student loans.
Analyst Chris Brendler of Stifel Nicolaus said called the results “impressive,” and pointed to the growth in student loans and also private loans made by Discover Bank as positive. “It was a good quarter,” he said.
Discover said the results enabled it to raise its dividend by 67 percent to 10 cents from 6 cents. The dividend is payable Jan. 19 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 29.
In morning trading, Discover shares slipped 22 cents, to $23.60. The stock has traded between $17.86 and $27.92 in the past 52 weeks, and closed Wednesday up about 30 percent since the start of the year.
The federal government is on pace to run a deficit below $1 trillion for the first time in four years, modest progress in the face of intense debate in Washington over spending.
The Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit was $137 billion in October. That brings the total for the first two months of the budget year to $236 billion _ $55 billion less than the same two months last year.
Still, part of the reason for the lower deficit is an accounting quirk.
And the government is on pace to end the year $973 billion in the red, according to the Congressional Budget Office. While that’s lower than last year’s $1.3 trillion imbalance, it would still be higher than any previous deficit before fiscal year 2009.
The government ran an all-time record deficit of $1.41 trillion in 2009, and a $1.29 trillion imbalance in 2010.
The CBO estimate does not include an extension of the Social Security tax cut and emergency unemployment benefits. Congress is likely to extend both before they expire at the end of the year. That could push the deficit back above $1 trillion if those programs aren’t offset. The two programs are estimated to cost around $200 billion.
A big reason the first two months are lower than last year is an accounting shift. Roughly $31 billion in benefit payments for October went out in late September. Federal benefits are paid on the first day of the month. But because Oct. 1 fell on a Saturday, the payments went out a day earlier and were accounted for in last year’s deficit.
Through, the first two months of this budget year, government spending totals $551.2 billion. That’s down 5.8 percent from a year ago, by mostly reflects the benefit shift.
Government revenues total $315.5 billion. That’s up 4.7 percent from a year ago.
Net interest payments on the government debt continued to be one of the fastest rising categories of government spending. They totaled $44 billion in October and November, up 19.5 percent from the same period a year ago.
A decade ago, the government was running surpluses and trillion-dollar deficits seemed unimaginable. Now, the nation’s public debt is $15 trillion and rising and polls show growing voter anger with the inability of both parties to reach solutions to the country’s budget problems.
A special 12-member committee was unable to reach agreement on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by a November deadline. That means automatic cuts of that amount will begin on Jan. 1, 2013.
Republicans want to modify the timetable for the automatic cuts, largely because it includes steep cuts to the defense budget.
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.
Wall Street is pointing higher after 23 European nations agreed to tie their economies closer together in hopes of heading off any future debt crisis.
Dow futures rose 0.5 percent to 11,999 before the market opened Friday. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures are up 0.5 percent at 1,236.
The 23 countries, 17 euro zone nations and six prospective members, will try to craft a new treaty that will penalize budgetary offenders that threaten the bloc.
The rising futures are following stock indexes higher in Europe, though they were down from their daily peaks. Germany’s DAX is up 1.5 percent at 5,963 while the CAC-40 in France rose 1.7 percent to 3,148. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares is 1.1 percent lower at 5,484.
The euro is also trading 0.3 percent higher at $1.3384.
Germany and France, the two biggest economies in the eurozone, had hoped to persuade all 27 members of the European Union to back a change to the EU treaty that would impose tight fiscal rules on its members. However, Britain and three others refused to join in.
Many think that a solution to the debt crisis can only come if the European Central Bank takes a more active role, possibly by buying up more government debt in the markets. It currently buys bonds in the markets, but only reluctantly, and in small quantities.
On Thursday the European Central Bank’s president Mario Draghi suggested he had no intention of increasing bond purchases after the bank delivered on market expectations to reduce its main interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1 percent fast cash loans.
Draghi said he was surprised by some interpretations of his comments last week that “additional steps” would be taken if the 17 countries that use the euro agreed to closer budget controls. Germany and France have proposed a plan on closer fiscal unity that will dominate debate at the EU summit of leaders, which starts later Thursday.
Earlier in Asia, stocks were weighed down by an cautious response to the deal.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.5 percent to close at 8,536.46 while South Korea’s Kospi sank 2 percent to close at 1,874.75. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 2.7 percent to end at 18,586.23.
Mainland Chinese shares fell less than other Asian markets after inflation data for November dropped to a less-than-expected 4.2 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.6 percent to close at 2,315.27, while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.9 percent to finish at 961.81.
Oil prices were fairly subdued _ benchmark oil for January delivery rose 16 cents to $98.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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