Global finance blog - news, jokes, life…

Don

Searching for paydayloans? We offers a cash advance up to $1500 deposited in your account overnight.

They line up at soup kitchens by the thousands. Individual debt is rising, savings are eroding and many young people have simply given up, staying home without studying or even looking for a job.

They are Italy’s invisible poor, unseen by tourists, ignored by the country’s fat-cat politicians and living in a reality that’s a far cry from former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s description of an affluent country where “the restaurants are full.”

Or in the words of Francesa Zuccari, who runs a soup kitchen in Rome: “There is another city out there where people can’t get to the end of the month.”

This is the Italy facing Mario Monti, the economics professor tapped to form an interim technocratic government after Berlusconi was forced to resign last weekend. International markets and the European Community decided the 75-year-old media mogul lacked the political clout to enact needed reforms to head off a debt crisis and get the economy moving.

On Tuesday, Monti won support from Italy’s two largest parties, but the question remains whether politicians will back his expected painful reform measures at the risk of social peace.

On the one hand, Italy’s elite manufacturers are girding for an increase in luxury exports and some wealthy Italians are looking to move their money into the real-estate markets in New York, Miami and Paris.

On the other, the state statistics institute ISTAT says 8 million Italians, almost 14 percent of the population, are living in “relative poverty.”

While tourists may not see the poor as they visit Tuscany’s rolling hills, Venice’s waterways or the Amalfi coast’s picturesque villages, they are increasingly visible on Italian city streets.

Many Italians have begun taking their money out of banks, fearing reports that measures to help fight the sovereign debt crisis might include deductions from bank accounts, as was done in the 1990s.

“They are putting it under the mattress, or even inside empty wine jugs in the cellars. We are a country of farmers,” said Elio Lannutti, president of consumer protection group Adusbef.

An American service organization in Rome asked its members to spend their Thanksgiving holiday next week making food packages for the poor. Zuccari said demand for food parcels had risen 20 percent in the last few years, with well-dressed Italians now joining immigrants in line.

Caritas, the Roman Catholic church’s charity arm, says growing numbers of families can’t meet a surprise expense of euro700 ($947) without turning to borrowing.

“What is really dramatic is the geographic division,” said Caritas’ Walter Nanni, pointing to figures that Italy’s south remains severely impoverished.

While only 18 percent of families in the Alpine province of Trento could not meet such an unexpected payment for medical expenses or car repairs, the figure rises to 48 percent in Sicily.

“The (south) shows in a particular manner growing signs of economic and social vulnerability,” Monsignor Mariano Crociata, secretary-general of the Italian Bishops Conference, said in an October report on poverty.

To be sure, Italy isn’t as bad off as Greece or Portugal, which are both in recession, struggling with high unemployment as they are being bailed out by international lenders.

But Italy’s prospects aren’t great either, particularly given its brain drain and policies that have pushed Italy’s underutilized youth even further to the margins.

A gerontocracy dominates Italy’s key professional posts, making workers even well into their 40s still considered up-and-coming. In the highest political circles, Monti is 68, Berlusconi is 75 and the president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, is 86.

Many younger Italians in fields like medicine, science and technology leave for countries that have more professional opportunities and mobility.

And the prospects for those who have not left are eroding fast. The Bank of Italy this month reported that nearly one in four Italians under 30 _ a total of 2.2 million people _ neither study nor work.

The great majority of the Italian NEET’s _ short for “Not in Education, Employment or Training” _ live at home with at least one parent, and a full 25 percent are living in a family where no one is working, the bank said.

A university degree does little to alleviate their plight: A full 20 percent of college graduates are without a job.

Lawyers in Italy must do a two-year apprenticeship before taking the bar exam, and most firms take advantage of the requirement to get free labor out of the trainees. Among the measures being discussed to confront the debt crisis would be a requirement that internships are paid.

“At least with Monti there is some hope since he is not a politician subject to pressure from the lobbies,” said Francesco Bureca, who graduated from an elite school but can’t land a job.

But hardline leftists expect no improvement for Italy’s poor, even from the new government.

“The Monti government is born from a mandate of Confindustria (a powerful business lobby) and the banks,” said Marco Ferrando, leader of the tiny Communist Workers Party.

He called for new protests. Italy’s last major economic protest this fall ended in a bloody riot on the streets of Rome.

____

Barry reported from Milan.

Source

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.

Yemeni government forces and allied tribesmen killed 10 militants in attacks around the country Sunday, security officials said, as a visiting United Nations envoy met with embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh to push for a solution to the country’s political crisis.

Security has collapsed across the Arab world’s poorest nation during the nine-month popular uprising seeking to oust Saleh, who has been in power for 30 years.

Pro-Saleh forces regularly engage in deadly clashes with armed tribesmen and military defectors who support the protesters in Yemen’s largest cities, and al-Qaida-linked militants have taken control of entire towns in the country’s restive south.

Two of Sunday’s clashes took place near Zinjibar, the largest town overrun by al-Qaida-linked militants in Yemen’s southern Abyan province, now partially recaptured by the army. In one clash, tribesmen allied with government forces exchanged fire with militants at a checkpoint, killing three, including two Somali citizens, an official said. In the other, the army shelled a militant position, killing five, including two Saudi citizens.

Months of violence have forced more than 100,000 residents of Zinjibar to flee to neighboring provinces, where some have sought refuge in schools.

In the Arhab region, north of the capital Sanaa, Yemeni forces shelled positions held by armed anti-government tribesmen, killing two, another security official said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Months of international diplomacy has failed to resolve the crisis. Saleh has refused numerous times to follow through on a U.S.-backed proposal crafted by Yemen’s powerful Gulf Arab neighbors, under which he would transfer power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

In Sanaa, U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar met Saleh Sunday to push for a transfer of power.

The U.N. said Benomar’s weeklong visit to Yemen was intended to encourage the Gulf-backed proposal, which the Security Council has endorsed.

A spokesman for the Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, Al-Galil Waddah, told The Associated Press that about 400 people have been killed in protests that began in February. He estimated that the number of fighters and civilians killed in clashes in the south and Arhab region could be much higher.

Saleh’s critics accuse him of allowing the militants to take over cities in the south to support his argument that without him, al-Qaida would take control of the country.

“Saleh has used war and chaos to suppress the protests. He is trying to say that his presence is the only way for Yemen’s stability and so he allowed al-Qaida and fighters to run free in southern Yemen,” Waddah said.

He said the group’s office in Sanaa was taken over by security forces in mid-September and continues to be used as a rest house by soldiers, who also confiscated the group’s computers and files.

In those files, he said, the group documented dozens of cases of political prisoners alleging abuse at the hands of security forces in Sanaa and the country’s second largest city, Taiz.

Some of the prisoners are missing, while others who were released said they were beaten and threatened with rape. The abuse, according to Waddah, took place in government facilities as well as abandoned residential buildings.

Taiz, a hotbed of the opposition to Saleh, has been particularly violent recently, with government troops regularly clashing with soldiers who have defected to side with the protesters.

Source

Opened

Stocks are edging higher after the government reported a decline in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits and as JPMorgan Chase announced strong earnings.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 4 percent after the bank reported that higher investment banking fees raised its net income beyond analyst expectations.

The Labor Department reported applications for unemployment benefits fell to a three-month low last week, a sign that companies are laying off fewer workers. At 405,000, the figure is still above the 375,000 that signals healthy job growth.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 3 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,320 in early trading Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 8, or 0.1 percent, at 12,500. The Nasdaq composite is up 6, or 0.2 percent, at 2,802.

Source

Target may be known for its cheap-chic apparel, but workers at one New York store say the company is just plain cheap.

Target says it pays its workers competitively. But late Friday night, about 250 workers at a Target store in Long Island were to vote on whether to join the country’s largest retail union. This is the first union vote Target has faced in two decades, and if workers vote “yes,” the store will be the first of the company’s 1,700 locations to bring in organized labor.

The vote could have a ripple effect in the U.S. retail industry as the economy recovers from the worst recession since the 1930s no fax payday loans. At a time when jobs are scarce, the retail industry is expected to be one of the strongest sectors for job growth during this decade. But the hours and pay for jobs selling clothes, computers and other goods have been declining in recent years. At the same time, the industry has faced decreasing union membership, which can limit workers’ ability to fight for better wages.

Chris Tilly, who directs the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, says a win for the union

Greenpeace says 18 of its members have climbed a 53,000-ton oil rig in the Arctic waters off Greenland to protest deepwater drilling by a Scottish oil company there.

The activists are demanding Cairn Energy release a plan for how to manage a potential oil spill.

The environmental group says activists approached the Leiv Eiriksson rig by five inflatable speedboats and climbed the rig early Saturday before making their way to the drill manager’s office. It says an oil response plan has not been published.

Greenpeace claims an oil spill in the area would be almost impossible to clean up because of the remoteness and the freezing temperatures.

Drilling started this week, and two Greenpeace activists have already been arrested for trying to prevent it.

Source

NATO says its warplanes will keep up the pressure on Moammar Gadhafi’s regime as long as it takes to end the violence in Libya.

Italian Navy Vice Admiral Rinaldo Veri says, having disrupting the regime’s ground forces on the front lines, NATO is now focusing on cutting Gadhafi’s lines of communications with his troops.

The bombing by a U.S.-led international force started seven weeks ago. NATO took over command of aerial operations at the end of March.

Since then, neither Libyan government troops nor the opposition forces have made significant territorial gains. Rebels largely control eastern Libya; Gadhafi holds much of the west.

Veri said Tuesday this didn’t mean the conflict was now a stalemate, saying the alliance continues to make daily progress.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ Turkey’s prime minister said Tuesday that Moammar Gadhafi must “immediately step down,” a major escalation of Turkish pressure on the Libyan leader with whom Turkey has long-standing ties.

Gadhafi has ignored calls for change in Libya and instead preferred “blood, tears and pressure against his own people,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference in Istanbul. “Gadhafi must take a historic step and withdraw, for the future of Libya, its peace and prosperity.”

Previously, Turkish leaders had gently urged Gadhafi to meet demands for change from the rebellious opposition, then suggested that he step down. But Erdogan’s comments on Tuesday were his strongest public message to Gadhafi yet.

Last month, Erdogan proposed a roadmap for peace in Libya, urging forces loyal to Gadhafi to withdraw from besieged cities and calling for the establishment of humanitarian aid corridors and comprehensive democratic change.

On Monday, Turkey temporarily closed its embassy in the Libyan capital due to deteriorating security and its staff were evacuated to Tunisia. On Sunday, vandals burned the British and Italian embassies and a U.N. office in Tripoli. The U.N. has withdrawn its international staff. The Turkish consulate in rebel-controlled Benghazi, Libya, remains open.

Turkey initially balked at the idea of military action in Libya, but citing its responsibilities as a NATO member it took part in the enforcement of an arms embargo on Libya while volunteering to lead humanitarian aid efforts.

Turkey has vast trade interests in Libya, where Turkish companies have been involved in lucrative construction projects worth billions of dollars, building hospitals, shopping malls and five-star hotels before the chaos.

Source

In an attempt to deflect rising anger among American drivers and political leaders, Exxon Mobil said Thursday that it makes relatively little money on gasoline, even as it reported a nearly $11 billion quarterly profit.

"We understand that it’s simply too irresistible for many politicians in times of high oil prices and high earnings — they feel they have to demonize our industry," said a statement from Exxon vice president Ken Cohen.

The statement argued Exxon is not to blame for the recent surge in gas prices, now above $4 a gallon in many areas.

Exxon argued that most of its profit comes from overseas operations, and that earnings in its refining business, which converts crude into gas, make up only 6% of its earnings.

The company said the recent surge in oil prices is due to strong global energy demand, and a stormy political climate in the Middle East and the weak U.S. dollar.

In addition, Exxon said federal and state taxes make up 40 to 60 cents of the price for a gallon of gas, compared with the 7 cents per gallon that the company earns.

Exxon also lashed out at the task force recently created by the Obama administration to crack down on speculation in the oil and gas market.

In response to recent criticism of tax loopholes for the oil industry, Exxon said it has paid nearly $59 billion in U.S. taxes over the past five years, including $9.8 billion last year.

The retort came after Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said it earned $10.7 billion in the first three months of 2011, up from $6.3 billion in the same period last year.

Exxon chief executive Rex Tillerson said the performance reflects higher crude oil and natural gas "realizations," using industry jargon for prices.

Tillerson also pointed to strength in Exxon’s chemicals business and improved refining margins.

Oil prices averaged $95 a barrel in the first quarter, compared with $79 a barrel in the first quarter of last year.

But the rally in the oil market accelerated toward the end of the quarter, with prices powering above $100 a barrel in March. In April, oil prices have averaged nearly $110 a barrel, up 20% from the start of the year.

The spike in gas prices has weighed on consumer spending, and put a damper on economic growth in the first quarter.

While oil prices remain below the record highs of nearly three years ago, the recent run has raised hopes among investors that 2011 could be another banner year for Exxon.

In 2008, Exxon reaped the largest annual profit of any company in U.S. history, reporting a whopping $45 billion on the back of high oil prices. Its largest quarterly profit, $14.8 billion, came in the third quarter of that year.

Other major oil companies have also benefited from the recent run-up, including Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), which said Thursday that profits rose 40% in the first quarter to $6.9 billion. Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), the world’s second-largest publicly owned oil company, is scheduled to report results Friday.

Despite the strong results, shares of Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) edged down 0.6% to $87.27 each. But the stock is up 20% so far in 2011, making it the best performer in the Dow Jones industrial average after Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500). 

Source

China’s central bank governor has renewed promises to ease controversial exchange rate controls _ but says change will be gradual.

Zhou Xiaochuan said Friday that the exchange rate of China’s yuan will be made “more flexible” but in a “step by step” way, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Washington and other governments complain China keeps the yuan undervalued, distorting trade and hampering a global recovery. Officials of the Group of 20 major economies meeting Friday in Washington agreed to look at “currency misalignments,” a response to frequent complaints about the yuan.

Beijing promised more flexibility in June, but the U.S. Treasury Department says the 4.5 percent increase in the yuan, also known as the renminbi, against the dollar since then has been too slow.

“China will continue to carry out reform in the financial department, including currency reform, pushing forward development of an ‘exchangeable renminbi’ and making the renminbi exchange mechanism more flexible,” Zhou said at a conference in the southern Chinese city of Bo’ao, according to Xinhua.

“This is what we want to do, and we should do it step by step,” Zhou said.

Beijing’s controls require it to buy dollars and other foreign currency to restrain the yuan’s rise. China’s foreign reserves soared above $3 trillion in March, a sign the central bank is still intervening in currency markets despite the June promise.

In a report this week, the International Monetary Fund cited Beijing’s currency controls as one factor that might weaken a global economic recovery.

Officials including Premier Wen Jiabao have ruled out a fast appreciation of the yuan, saying that might hurt Chinese companies and cost jobs.

Analysts expect Beijing to allow the yuan to rise to cool inflation, which surged to a 32-month high of 5.4 percent in March. A stronger yuan would help to restrain prices by making oil and other imported goods cheaper in Chinese currency terms.

Source