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The Bank of Japan will hold an emergency board meeting tomorrow to consider ways to help companies obtain funds as the recession deepens.

The policy board will discuss expanding the range of corporate debt it accepts from lenders to encourage banks to increase funding for businesses, the central bank said on its Web site today. The meeting will start at 1 p.m. in Tokyo and Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will brief the press at 3:30 p.m., the statement said.

Shirakawa said today that companies’ access to funding is deteriorating “at an accelerating pace” and likened an increase in borrowing costs to the country’s credit crunch 10 years ago. Japanese banks are once again becoming less willing to lend on concern that businesses won’t repay debt.

The credit squeeze “may have already depressed capital spending as smaller firms hoarded cash in order to meet year-end obligations,” said Naomi Fink, Japan strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in Tokyo. “A shock to small and midsize companies who dominate the services sector could prove the straw that broke the camel’s back for the Japanese economy.”

Public broadcaster NHK reported earlier today that the policy board will discuss allowing banks to use corporate bonds with lower credit ratings as collateral for obtaining cash from the central bank. The program would stay in place until April, NHK reported, without saying where it got the information.

Year-End Funding

The central bank is working on ways to help companies obtain funds to settle accounts “during the run-up to the calendar and fiscal year-ends,” Shirakawa said in a speech today. Diminishing access to credit may “depress economic activity from the financial side,” he said.

“Success in supplying greater liquidity could mean the difference between an uneventful year-end and an acute corporate funding squeeze,” said Fink at Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

Shirakawa said that while yields on corporate debt are “somewhat lower” than they were during Japan’s credit crunch a decade ago, they are rising at a pace “comparable to that in 1998 and 1999.”

Corporate bond sales in Japan plunged 45 percent in November from a year ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show. NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Nippon Steel Corp. paid higher yield premiums last week when they sold the first bonds outside the public works sector since Oct. 15. The shortage of credit drove bankruptcies among publicly traded companies to a record 30 this year, after property developer Morimoto Co need cash. collapsed last week.

Rate Cut

Lending between banks has tightened even after the central bank’s Oct. 31 decision to cut its overnight lending rate to 0.3 percent from 0.5 percent. The three-month Tokyo interbank offering rate, or Tibor, rose for the 16th straight day to 0.883 percent, 583 basis points higher than the target for overnight lending. Three-month Tibor was 388 basis points higher on Oct. 30.

Future policy decisions depend on developments in the economy and financial system, Shirakawa said. The governor acknowledged last month that the rate cut has done little to lower other borrowing costs.

“It’s still doubtful whether the central bank’s additional measures to help corporate financing alone will be enough to counter the economy’s rapid deterioration,” said Kiichi Murashima, chief economist at Nikko Citigroup Ltd. in Tokyo. “The central bank may be forced to lower the key rate further.”

Collateral Accepted

The Bank of Japan currently accepts the top seven of 10 investment-grade corporate bonds that are publicly placed. It also takes AAA-rated asset-backed securities and some higher grades of asset-backed commercial paper.

The balance of commercial paper, which companies use for short-term funding, fell to 12.8 trillion yen ($134 billion) in October, the lowest since March 2002.

Shirakawa repeated that he’s reluctant to lower the benchmark rate again and revive a 2001-2006 policy of keeping borrowing costs near zero percent. Further reductions could impede the flow of funds in the money market by making returns so low that investors have little incentive to trade, he said.

The central bank is also watching the risk that prices will fall as oil and commodity costs drop, the governor said. Gains in consumer prices excluding fresh food will ease “at a rapid pace,” he said, adding that the key gauge of inflation may turn negative in the year starting April, he said.

Core inflation slowed for a second month to 1.9 percent in October, the government said last week, and the central bank forecasts the index will slow to zero next fiscal year.

The global economy won’t show clear signs of a recovery until mid-2009 at the earliest, Shirakawa said.

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The Federal Reserve is working on a plan that would give it authority to regulate the clearing of trades for the $33 trillion credit-default swap market, according to people with knowledge of the proposal.

The Fed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are discussing a memorandum of understanding that lays out oversight of clearinghouses that would become the central counterparty to credit-default swap trades, said the people who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.

The SEC and CFTC would also share trading information under the plan, the people said.

“The main concern is systemic risk and that's much more in the Fed's wheelhouse than the SEC or CFTC,'' said Craig Pirrong, a finance professor at the University of Houston who studies futures markets. “The Fed is the natural place for it to go.''

The Fed has been pushing the industry to form a clearinghouse that would absorb losses should a market maker fail. Regulators stepped up their efforts after the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September and the near-collapse of American International Group Inc. The New York Fed has been meeting with groups including CME Group Inc., Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and NYSE Euronext to press them to accelerate their progress.

New York Fed spokesman Andrew Williams and Treasury spokeswoman Michele Davis didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. CFTC spokesman David Gary and the SEC's John Nester declined to comment.

Announcement This Week

Credit-default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to speculate on a company's ability to repay debt. They were conceived to protect bondholders against default, and pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should the company fail to adhere to its debt agreements short-term cash loans.

An announcement of the regulatory structure could come by the end of the week when President George W. Bush hosts a gathering of world leaders in Washington to discuss ways to fix the financial crisis, said one of the people who has read a draft of the plan.

“All the regulators want to push this forward,'' Pirrong said. “The credit crisis meeting on Friday is as good an excuse as any.''

Chicago-based CME Group is competing with Intercontinental Exchange of Atlanta and NYSE Euronext to create a system. CME Group Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue said last week that he is open to Fed oversight for his clearing plan. CME Group is currently regulated by the CFTC.

ICE, CME

Intercontinental Exchange Chief Executive Officer Jeff Sprecher has set up his clearing plan as a special purpose banking entity within the state of New York. Intercontinental agreed to buy Chicago-based Clearing Corp. last week to help it get participation in its plan from the nine major banks that own the Clearing Corp. and that make up the majority of the market.

CME Group, partnered with hedge fund Citadel Investment Group LLC, has said it is ready to begin clearing CDS contracts as soon as it receives regulatory approval. Sprecher said today his group may be ready before year end.

“We're waiting for regulatory approval. I think positions will start moving in the next few weeks,'' he said at the Futures Industry Association conference in Chicago today.

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More than one in four American adults have encountered employment discrimination, according to a new survey by FindLaw.com.

The survey, which asked 1,000 adults if they believe they have ever experienced discrimination by an employer in job interviews, hiring, pay or promotions, found race topped the list (39 percent), followed by age (34 percent), gender (30 percent), religion and sexual orientation (7 percent) and other (26 percent)

"It is important to note that not all discrimination is prohibited by law," said Stephanie Rahlfs, an attorney and editor at FindLaw.com. "Only discrimination based upon a classification that is considered ‘protected’ – race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or union activity under the federal anti-discrimination laws – is illegal 1 hour cash advance.”

Among the survey’s findings:

• Forty-two percent of African-Americans have experienced racial discrimination in the workplace.

• One in 10 women claim they have experienced gender discrimination in the workplace.

• One in seven people age 45 and older (15%) claim they have experienced age discrimination in the workplace.

• One in eight people ages 18 to 24 (13%) say they have also experienced age discrimination.

• While racial discrimination was highest in the South, age, gender and religious discrimination were most likely to occur in the Midwest.

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The Bishop Museum announced three new members to its board of directors.

Sanne Higgins, of the Higgins Family Foundation; Anton Krucky, co-founder, president and CEO of Tissue Genesis Inc.; and Gulab Watumull, a businessman and philanthropist, were all named to the board.

“These board members are all well connected in the community and have very skilled backgrounds,” said Timothy Johns, president and CEO of Bishop Museum bad credit payday loans. “They are a great addition to our current board and I look forward to working with them.”

Museum officials also recognized outgoing board member David Hulihee for his nine years of service, during which he was chairman for three years.

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Packaging manufacturer Ball Corp. said its third quarter earnings were $101.9 million, or $1.05 per share, on sales of $2 billion, up 67 percent from $60.9 million, or 59 cents per share, on sales of $1.9 billion in the third quarter 2007.

Ball (NYSE: BLL) is based in Broomfield, Colo. Ball has 220 employees at its Saratoga Springs plant.

Third-quarter 2008 results included a $9.1 million charge — $7.2 million after taxes — or 8 cents per share, for closing costs related to three previously announced plant closures in California, Ontario and Washington state.

The third-quarter 2007 results included an $85.6 million charge — $51.8 million after taxes — or 50 cents per share, for a customer settlement.

Analysts were expecting results of 66 cents per share.

“Our overall performance in the quarter was very good, and in a difficult economic environment all but one of our business segments reported improved profitability compared to the third quarter of 2007,” Chairman, President and CEO R freecreditreport. David Hoover, said in a statement.

Hoover also said the company is confident that Ball’s packaging products are recession-resistant, and the company will generate cash flow by growing its worldwide metal beverage packaging business, improving other packaging business lines and by using its aerospace specialties.

Ball also announced it will close two plants, in Kansas City, Mo., and Guayama, Puerto Rico, and expects a $32 million charge related to the closings to be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

Cost savings from the closings are expected to be more than $30 million in 2009.

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Belmont University broke ground Tuesday on a permanent home for the Belmont School of Pharmacy.

The $30 million building will provide a consolidation of all the university’s health science studies: pharmacy, nursing, social work, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

“Establishing a permanent, state-of-the-art facility for our school of pharmacy represents another significant step for Belmont University in addressing a serious health care provider shortage in this country, especially as it relates to pharmacists and nurses,” Belmont President Bob Fisher says in a statement one hour cash loan.

The 90,000-square-foot building will contain laboratories for student and faculty research and a licensed, state-of-the-art pharmacy. The building will also include a four-level underground parking garage to provide additional spaces for Belmont’s growing student body.

The architect for the project is Nashville-based Earl Swensson Associates. R.C. Mathews, another Nashville-based firm, is the contractor.

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Jet fuel prices continue to plague AirTran Airways Inc., which reported a $107.1 million loss in the third quarter despite record revenues.

Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran (NYSE: AAI) said it earned a record $673 million in revenues, up 10.6 percent from the same quarter in 2007, but the price of jet fuel and losses associated with its fuel-hedging program, dragged the airline into the red.

The loss for the quarter amounted to $0.91 per diluted share. In the third quarter of 2007, AirTran earned $10.6 million in net income or $0.11 per diluted share.

"Although AirTran Airways posted record third quarter revenues, unprecedented fuel costs were a major challenge for our industry," said AirTran CEO Bob Fornaro, in a statement. "While we are extremely disappointed with our financial performance this quarter, we are taking dramatic steps to better position the airline competitively and to restore profitability.

AirTran, the second-largest carrier at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, said its fuel costs grew by $149 million over the same quarter in 2007, as its cost per gallon rose 63 percent from $2 americashadvance.25 to $3.67.

Jet fuel hedging, a bet placed on fuel prices to protect against dramatic swings, actually cost the airline $41.5 million, the carrier said.

Fornaro said in the release that the carrier would continue to cut capacity, sell aircraft and reducing costs.

AirTran cut capacity by almost 10 percent in September and said its capacity would be down by more than 6 percent in the fourth quarter. The carrier said it is looking to trim capacity by another 3 to 7 percent next year.

The low-cost carrier recently restructured its credit card processing contracts and has sold five 737-700 aircraft through September, with agreements to sell five more.

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Nouriel Roubini, the professor who two years ago predicted the financial crisis, said world financial officials should orchestrate interest-rate cuts of at least 1.5 percentage points to help avert a depression.

A temporary guarantee of all bank deposits, unlimited liquidity for solvent financial institutions and fiscal-stimulus measures are also needed, the New York University professor of economics said in a commentary e-mailed today to Roubini Global Economics subscribers.

“It will take a significant change in leadership of economic policy and very radical, coordinated policy actions among all advanced and emerging-market economies to avoid this economic and financial disaster,'' said Roubini, 50. From late 2006, he highlighted the dangers flowing from a likely U.S. housing crisis.

The economist urged immediate action as officials from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Group of Seven nations meet in Washington this weekend. Stocks tumbled around the world today as the yearlong credit crisis deepened, sending Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average to its worst weekly drop in history. The MSCI World Index was set for its biggest weekly decline since records began in 1970.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below 9,000 for the first time since 2003 yesterday. More than $4 trillion has been erased from global equities this week.

Investor Panic

“At this stage the risk of an imminent stock-market crash — like the one-day collapse of 20 percent plus in U.S. stock prices in 1987 cannot be ruled out,'' said Roubini. “The financial system is breaking down, panic and lack of confidence in any counterparty is sharply rising and investors have totally lost faith in the ability of policy authorities to control the meltdown.''

In a coordinated emergency move on Oct. 8, the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Canada and Sweden's Riksbank cut their benchmark rates by half a percentage point. Switzerland also took part and China announced a cut at the same time.

Roubini proposed “another rapid round of policy rate cuts of the order of at least 150 basis points on average globally.''

Officials are trying a range of approaches. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson plans to buy stakes in banks, U.K. Chancellor Alistair Darling wants guarantees for their lending and German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck is pushing for greater regulation.

Bursting Bubbles

One of Roubini's proposals is an agreement between countries with current-account deficits and those with surpluses to maintain orderly financing of deficits and “avoid a disorderly adjustment of such imbalances.''

The world is experiencing the simultaneous bursting of housing, equity, bond, credit, commodity, hedge-fund and private-equity bubbles, the economist said, and even better- performing economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China are at risk of “a hard landing.''

The threat of a global financial meltdown means a decade- long “L-shaped'' recession — like Japan's after its real estate and equity bubbles burst — cannot be ruled out, Roubini said.

As demand falls, the next challenge may be deflation as the world faces a glut of excess capacity and goods, he said.

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The allegations of overstated revenue and financial fraud at Entellium are sparking a debate in the Seattle technology community about board oversight and the role of audits at venture-backed companies.

Seattle accounting firm Moss Adams today acknowledged that it never completed a full audit of Entellium, whose top two executives were charged with wire fraud in Seattle U.S. District Court Wednesday for allegedly “cooking the books” at the software startup.

Moss Adams’ chief practice officer Neal West said his firm was engaged to perform audits on Entellium in “multiple years,” but did not complete any of the audits and therefore never issued any reports or opinions. West did not know which years the audits were started and why they were never completed, but said his office is looking into it.

“We did not complete any audits and therefore never issued any opinions on their financial statements,” West said.

“We’re still in the midst of looking at our records on this, and beyond that I’m not able to comment,” West said.

Asked if Entellium was using any other accounting firms, West said “not to my knowledge.”

It was unclear whether Entellium or its board requested audits. Ignition Partners, one of the largest venture backers of Entellium, did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the audit question.

There is some disagreement among investors, lawyers and accountants as to whether an audit actually would have uncovered fraudulent activities at Entellium.

“It surprised me there wasn’t an audit, but I don’t know what went into that decision,” said Alan Smith, a partner at the Fenwick & West law firm in Seattle. Smith said startups often get an audit after the first major funding rolls in.

Smith added: “Even the best-intended directors that are active and engaged are going to have a difficult time uncovering something like this if management is determined to hide it (online instant cash advance).”

Bill Bryant, a venture capitalist at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, agreed.

“Entellium should have at least had a review, but that may not have caught the fraud,” he said. “Enron and Worldcom had full audits, and people still didn’t catch on to what was going on for a number of years.”

Roger Clark, an accountant with the Seattle office of Grant Thornton, said an audit of Entellium’s business most likely would have uncovered discrepancies in revenue.

“It was likely that an audit was never done on this company,” said Clark. “You test the numbers the company gives you, and then you see if those numbers match the auditing work.”

In this case, an auditor would have investigated key customer contracts, revenue recognition, receipts and other factors, he said.

While Clark said it is common for venture capital firms to request audits before making an investment, he added that they are sometimes waived in tough times due to the added expense.

In the Entellium case, Clark said it appears that executives allegedly adjusted revenue with the hope of making up the shortfall in future quarters. In the end, Clark said, “they got trapped.”

“It is really a disaster for everyone involved,” Clark said. “It is a personal disaster for the two officers. It is a disaster for the venture funds that lost their money. And it is a disaster for employees who were trusting their leaders.”

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The Federal Reserve arranged to channel $30 billion into the global financial system by opening currency swap lines with four central banks to relieve shortages of dollars in markets worldwide.

The Fed and central banks in Australia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden set up the currency exchange to address “elevated pressures'' in dollar funding in markets, the Board of Governors said today in a statement.

The U.S. is broadening its effort to revive confidence in markets amid concern a $700 billion plan to rescue the banking system may face delays in Congress. The Fed last week expanded its temporary swap lines with the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank by $70 billion, and created $110 billion in new facilities with central banks in Japan, the U.K. and Canada.

“This is another weapon in the arsenal of governments aimed at boosting confidence,'' said Joshua Williamson, a senior strategist at TD Securities Ltd. in Sydney. “Hopefully it will help market sentiment, stop banks from hoarding cash and start greasing the wheels of the financial economy.''

After the announcement borrowing costs for Australian banks fell from the highest since Bear Stearns Cos. collapsed six months ago.

Money-Market Rates

The difference between the rate banks charge each other for three-month loans and the overnight indexed swap rate declined to 82.5 basis points as of 4:10 p.m. in Sydney from as much as 93.25 points earlier today.

The yen declined as the plan gave investors confidence to buy assets that have higher yields outside Japan. The yen fell to 155.69 per euro at 7:38 a.m. in London from 154.63 late yesterday in New York. It was at 105.92 versus the dollar from 105.56.

The programs “are designed to improve liquidity conditions in global financial markets,'' the Fed said. “Central banks continue to work together during this period of market stress and are prepared to take further steps as the need arises.''

Central bankers are trying to break a credit logjam in money markets as $522 billion in writedowns and losses tied to the U.S. mortgage market prompt bankers to hoard cash.

Preemptive Moves

“It shows the severity of the problem the Fed anticipates as we head into the last quarter of the year, and it's putting in place the infrastructure needed,'' said Venkatraman Anantha- Nageswaran, head of research at Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. in Singapore. “The Fed's pre-emptive moves in setting up these swap lines suggest that it's not taking any chances.''

The Federal Open Market Committee, a group of Fed Board governors and regional reserve bank presidents, voted to authorize a swap facility totaling $10 billion each for the Reserve Bank of Australia and Riksbank in Sweden, and $5 billion each for the central banks of Norway and Denmark cash advance loan.

The Bank of Japan supplied $30 billion today to banks and brokerages in its first money-market operation since last week's $60 billion swap arrangement with the Fed.

Bank of England

The Bank of England yesterday allocated $30.1 billion in loans, its fourth overnight dollar auction and the most since it began the emergency sales last week.

“This agreement is a part of our precautionary measures and provides the Riksbank with additional flexibility to provide U.S. dollar liquidity if the need should arise,'' said Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves in a statement on the bank's web site. “Our assessment is that financial stability in Sweden is satisfactory and that the Swedish banks are profitable and solvent.''

Swap lines were first established in December when officials joined forces to boost dollar liquidity around the world after interest-rate reductions in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada failed to ease concerns about bank lending.

Joint Action

The joint action is the latest attempt by central bankers to fight the financial crisis, which deepened last week after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy and the U.S. government took over American International Group Inc.

Central banks in Frankfurt, London and Zurich this week kept up their dollar auctions to provide liquidity to financial markets.

Denmark's central bank on Sept. 22 said it's raising the issuance of Treasury bills through an extraordinary auction of as much as 25 billion kroner ($4.9 billion) to meet lender demand for secure notes. The notes can be used as collateral by so-called primary dealers to boost liquidity.

Sweden's central bank on the same day decided to loosen the rules on what collateral it will accept when lending money in order to increase liquidity. Australia pumped more than A$12 billion ($10 billion) into its banking system last week.

“The swap serves to alleviate a shortage of U.S. dollar liquidity which has affected market participants around the world including in the Asia-Pacific time zone,'' the Australian central bank said.

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