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An early stock market rally faded Wednesday, leaving indexes with small losses in early afternoon trading. The price of gold slumped 4 percent as investors became less fearful.

A sharp increase in orders for long-lasting goods in July eased fears that the U.S. was headed for another recession. Companies placed more orders for aircraft, automobiles and other durable goods in July. Orders rose 4 percent, the biggest increase since March.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 37 points, or 0.3 percent, at 11,140, erasing a morning jump of 115 points. It gained 322 points the day before.

The stock market often makes big swings in late August with fewer traders at their desks, said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at the brokerage BTIG. Lower trading volumes often make for a more volatile market.

“It’s kind of crazy. I blinked and in 15 minutes the market had turned,” Greenhaus said. “But in the last two weeks of August, wild swings like this are not out of the ordinary.”

Two days after trading above $1,900 an ounce for the first time, gold fell $72 to $1,788 as investors became less skittish. Gold has risen 8 percent since Aug. 5, when the stock market entered a two-week period of heavy turbulence.

The S&P 500 index fell 4 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,158. It gained 38 points Tuesday, also its best day since Aug. 11. The Nasdaq fell 21 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,424.

Bank of America Corp. rose 8 percent, the most of any stock in the Dow average, after analysts said a four-day slide that erased 15 percent of the bank’s value had been overdone. Toll Brothers rose 4 percent after the homebuilder reported quarterly income that trounced analysts’ estimates.

Stocks have made huge moves this month after Europe’s debt crisis flared up again and as signs emerged that the U.S. might slip back into recession. The Dow has moved by more than 300 points seven days in August. A 200-point jump early Monday dwindled to a 36-point gain by the close of trading.

Indexes jumped sharply Tuesday as investors brushed off a pair of weak economic reports and an earthquake that shook the East Coast. Even after Tuesday’s rally, the Dow is down 8 percent in August. The S&P 500 index has lost 11 percent, putting it on track for its worst August since 1998.

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As the economic recovery sputters forward, banks locally and nationally continue to bleed revenue in such mainstays as commercial lending and, of course, mortgages. So they are increasingly catering to the only customers who have survived the Great Recession relatively unscathed: rich folks.

Customers with more than $1 million in liquid assets (not including the house, or two) can expect some extra coddling these days, as banks are adding services and staff to their wealth management divisions.

The new focus for many banks stems largely from a simple lack of other options

Retailers never give up fighting the bad guys.

They’re adopting new technologies to protect against credit card fraud and counterfeit bills. Distribution centers are putting smaller, harder-to-detect GPS devices in cargo shipments. Ink-dispensing and alarm-setting bulky tags still keep some goods from walking out the door. There’s even an alarm tag that can go into the meat soaker pad under a packaged T-bone steak.

“Oh yes, food and alcohol are high-theft items,” said Karen Bomber, marketing director at Tyco Retail Solutions, one of the companies pushing its wares last week at the retail industry’s loss prevention conference in Grapevine, Texas.

Retail theft keeps rising. Last year, retailers lost $37.14 billion, or 1.58 percent of sales, up from 1.44 percent in 2009, according to the National Retail Federation and Richard Hollinger, University of Florida professor of criminology payday loan no faxing.

The biggest share of those losses, 44 percent, was from employee theft. Shoplifting was second, with 33 percent, Hollinger said. Administrative errors, vendor fraud and unknown causes made up the rest.

The results are based on survey responses from 124 companies. Almost 19 percent of employee theft cases involved collusion between internal and external sources, he said.

New technology is about to make some efforts to stop retail theft obsolete, though it won’t happen overnight. Take credit cards, said Joe LaRocca, the National Retail Federation’s loss prevention staff expert. “We’ve spent 20 years adding holograms, expiration dates, setting up authentication numbers to call before a new card can be used

Newfoundland is the clear winner in the race to improve business productivity across Canada, says a study by the C.D. Howe Institute.

Newfoundland and Labrador registered the biggest productivity gain among the provinces over the 25-year study period as the maritime economy shifted its focus from fishing to oil and gas development.

As a result, it posted strong improvements in household incomes and education levels, along with significant advances in the adoption of new technologies, the Toronto-based public policy think tank said Thursday.

In a report on the study, Lagging Behind: Productivity and the Good Fortune of Canadian Provinces, author Serge Coulombe said growing labour productivity is the most important determinant of future economic welfare.

On that scale, he said Canada is falling behind its major trading partners, particularly the United States and the European Union.

Productivity is a measure of how much an employee produces in an hour of work, and lower efficiency limits how fast an economy can grow without sparking inflation.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has said companies need to use a rising currency to boost investment and regain competitiveness lost to a global recession and emerging-market rivals.

But increasing labour productivity does not mean working harder for less money, a common canard, said Coulombe. Rather, he said it means more investment in human capital (education or other learning); in physical capital (plants or other infrastructure); or in technology.

Highlights of the provincial track records include:

The fastest productivity growth during the period was in Newfoundland and Labrador, followed by Saskatchewan and Ontario. The slowest productivity growth was in British Columbia, followed by New Brunswick.

British Columbia lags in productivity growth mainly because of anemic physical capital accumulation, said Coulombe, an economics professor at the University of Ottawa.

Alberta has had among the lowest growth rates for human capital and labour productivity, reflecting increasing reliance on extracting resources from the oil sands, which requires more labour and capital per dollar of output than did past oil and gas reserves, he said paydayloans.

C.D. Howe urged policymakers to boost national research and development while allowing provinces to apply R&D policies to province-specific issues in the natural resources sector.

For resource-based economies, saving non-renewable resources revenues in

ask the expert

Robert Guller, owner

BEB Management

314-542-4000

rguller@bebmanagement.com

How can commercial real estate investors identify and reposition distressed real estate in today’s troubled market?

There is no shortage of bargain-priced buildings these days. And it’s tempting to buy when the price seems too good to pass up. But it takes more than a low entry point to make an investment profitable.

An investor’s first task is to assess the property’s problems, then determine how his skills can address them. Does the investor have the experience to deal with an environmental cleanup, the knowledge to unwind a messy title or the cash and tax credit know-how to tackle a major renovation? To make a profit, the investor needs to improve a building faster, cheaper and smarter than other investors.

Next, the investor needs to consider target tenants. How can a building be repositioned to attract them? A good strategy is to reach out to professionals who understand the investor’s vision and allow them to suggest ways to get there No teletrak payday loan. Will the distressed building need a few more conference rooms or will it need a whole new building façade?

Finally, the investor needs financial resources. A strategic and tactical repositioning can be expensive. In today’s tight debt markets, the investor will need a deep and flexible source of equity. The investor must be prepared to put a good amount of capital on the line. In addition, the investor must also be sure she can withstand little, or even negative, cash flow.

As with all investment adventures, nothing risked is nothing gained. But if an investor finds a building with a low purchase price that allows the new owner to leverage unique skills, the investor might be able to risk a little less and gain a lot more.

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One might suspect that riverboat gamblers would favor exchange-traded funds as their investment of choice.

If they felt lucky about gold, for example, they’d be enjoying the 29 percent gain that the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) Exchange-Traded Fund has provided over the past 12 months.

If they bet heavily on the allure of faraway places, it would’ve netted them a 22 percent increase from Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) in that same one-year period.

The problem is that most investors are not eager to gamble with their assets. Thoughts of ETFs invested in commodities, single countries, single currencies, emerging markets, biotechnology or alternative energy are not necessarily comforting to the average investor.

Screaming headlines about dramatic gains and losses in highly focused ETFs have heightened the impression that only the brave of heart can consider these upstart vehicles.

The reality is that there are plenty of grown-up ETF choices for conservative investors, and the majority of invested ETF money isn’t in the most exotic choices anyway.

“Be mindful that, compared with five or 10 years ago, there are much sharper tools on the ETF landscape today,” said Anthony Rochte, senior managing director for State Street Global Advisors in Boston. “ETFs are simply indexed portfolios, and with about $1 trillion invested in them, there is no shortage to choose from.”

ETFs hold baskets of stocks, bonds or commodities and are traded throughout the day on an exchange like stocks, rather than once a day like mutual funds. Average folks give ETFs a try because of some advantages over mutual funds such as lower expense ratios and no year-end capital gains tax bills.

Although the image of ETFs is a little on the wild side, you can still construct a conservative portfolio around them.

“The fact is that there really isn’t a mutual fund that touches commodities like ETFs do,” acknowledged Ron DeLegge, editor of ETFguide.com in San Diego. “But a conservative investor should have the broadest exposure to the widest asset classes on the planet, which is also possible.”

Rochte and DeLegge both mention SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY), a product of State Street Global Advisors, as an example of an ETF suitable for conservative investors. Its 14 percent increase over the past 12 months isn’t as eye-popping as some volatile sector ETFs’ gains, but it emphasizes value-oriented, high-yield stocks that over time should have greater capital appreciation than investment-grade bonds with similar yields.

This fund screens the S&P 1500 Composite Index for companies that have consistently increased dividends the past 25 years, then weights them by dividend yield. Nearly one-third of its 60-stock portfolio is in consumer goods stocks, with other concentrations in financial services, utilities and industrial materials. The biggest stock holdings in its portfolio are CenturyLink Inc., Pitney Bowes Inc., Leggett & Platt Inc., HCP Inc. and Consolidated Edison Inc.

Dividend hunting is an important tool for conservative investors. In ETFs, as in mutual funds, one can emphasize widely diversified large-cap value and blue-chip stocks or widely diversified bonds, said Paul Justice, director of ETF research for Morningstar Inc. in Chicago.

“You can build an entire conservative portfolio with ETFs through the largest providers such as Vanguard, iShares and State Street,” said Justice. “You can also build an entirely diversified equity portfolio and cover the whole globe.”

For U.S. equities, Justice recommends Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Index ETF (MGC) for the biggest stocks, Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO) for mid-caps and Vanguard Small Cap ETF (VB) for small-caps. The easiest way to get exposure to all stocks domestically and internationally is through an ETF such as Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF (VT). All of these have low expense ratios.

Yet ETFs aren’t perfect for everything.

“If you are making frequent contributions and perhaps are in a tax-deferred account, a mutual fund makes more sense than an ETF (which incurs commission charges with each trade) because it was structured to maximize that experience,” explained Justice. “Mutual funds are also the way to go if you’re seeking active fund management, since most ETFs are index funds.”

There are about 6,700 mutual funds and 1,200 ETFs, noted Justice, but ETFs cover many more types of asset classes than do mutual funds. These unique vehicles are on the rise: Three years ago there were only about 700 ETFs, he said.

Bond ETFs track major fixed-income indexes through a representative sample, whether that’s Treasuries, corporate bonds or municipal bonds. They are a good location for some assets in the short-term because of liquidity and low cost.

Short-term fixed-income ETFs, such as the SPDR Barclays Capital 1-3 month T-Bill ETF (BIL), have gained popularity as investors seek safety. While this provides quick access to the Treasury market and the ability to get out on any day that the stock market is trading, the yield is currently near zero.

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (BIV), which holds government and corporate bonds with average credit quality of “A” and an average duration of six years, has a one-year return of 7.5 percent. The iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG), which holds government and government-sponsored bonds with an average quality of “A” and a duration of about 4.5 years, has a one-year return of 5 percent.

These are not your riverboat gambler’s ETFs.

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Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday that it’s inevitable the company will be forced to shut down all of its North American factories because of parts shortages due to the earthquake that hit Japan.

The temporary shutdowns are likely to take place later this month, affecting 25,000 workers, but no layoffs are expected, spokesman Mike Goss said.

Just how long the shutdowns last or whether all 13 of Toyota’s factories will be affected at the same is unknown and depends on when parts production can restart in Japan, Goss said.

So far the North American plants have been using parts in their inventory or relying on those that were shipped before the earthquake, Goss said. But those supplies are running low.

“We’re going to get to a point this month where that gap in the pipeline starts to show up. So we’ll have to suspend production for a while,” he said.

A March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged auto parts plants in Northeastern Japan, causing shortages that idled most of the nation’s car production. Japan’s daily auto output has fallen by more than 500,000 vehicles since the disaster, says Scotiabank Senior Economist Carlos Gomes. Some manufacturers are bringing plants back on line, but only at low speeds due to a lack of parts.

Shortages of parts from Japan are also affecting manufacturers outside the country. Just last week, Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. said that several North American plants would be closed part of this month, and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said his company will see disruptions.

Toyota gets about 15 percent of its parts from Japan for cars and trucks built in North America, “but still you have to have them all to build the vehicles,” Goss said.

Goss made the comments Monday before an appearance in Louisville by Toyota’s head of North American operations savings account payday advance.

Toyota, he said, has about 500 companies supplying parts in North America, but many of them get components from Japan that might not be available.

During the shutdowns, workers will focus on training and reviewing operations for ways to improve, Goss said. They also can take vacation or time off without pay.

The shutdowns will affect all Toyota and Lexus models made in North America, he said. Already several large dealership chains are predicting shortages of models from Japanese automakers in the spring and summer.

Goss wouldn’t estimate how long the assembly lines would be shut down. “It depends on how fast we can help get those suppliers up and running again in Japan,” he said.

Toyota is running short of multiple parts, mainly electronics and paint pigments, said Yoshimi Inaba, chief operating officer for North American operations. The company, he said, is looking for alternate parts suppliers.

He also said it’s too early to predict the impact on Toyota’s sales and its effort to rebound from a string of safety recalls last year that have hurt sales.

“We have some inventory. So if the disruption on the production is short enough, then it wouldn’t have any major impact,” he told reporters after speaking at a literacy event in Louisville. “It is too early to predict how big the impact is.”

Toyota last month warned that production cuts were possible at some North American factories, but said it didn’t know when or for how long.

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Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s push for NATO to take command of the Libyan no-fly zone shows how Muammar Qaddafi’s former friend is trying to hedge his bets over the civil war in Italy’s one-time colony.

“Italy is in a tight spot; it has the most to lose,” said Nicolo Sartori, an analyst at the Rome-based Institute for International Affairs. “If NATO takes over and things are run from Italy, this can be presented to rebels as proof Italy did its part to help.” If Qaddafi wins, Italy can say that “it only got involved when the international community rose up.”

Italy, Libya’s biggest trading partner, has threatened to withdraw access to its military bases unless the North Atlantic Treaty Organization take charge of operations. The country’s airfields, which include NATO bases, are closer to Libya than the sites now being used in France and the U.K.

A rebel victory would leave the African oil supplier under new ownership, threatening Italy’s Eni SpA (ENI), the dominant foreign crude producer since Qaddafi came to power in 1969. Qaddafi has called Berlusconi a traitor for participating in the campaign and has threatened to replace Eni, Finmeccanica SpA and other Italian companies with Russian and Chinese rivals.

Eni will continue to work in Libya “whatever the political system,” Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni, told a parliamentary committee in Rome on March 16 online pay day loans.

‘Mad Dog’

For now, Italian companies in Libya are bracing for a hit to 2011 earnings. Ansaldo STS, a railway-technology company, said the Libyan unrest may cost it 100 million euros ($142 million) of revenue this year, more than 5 percent of forecast 2011 sales. Finmeccanica SpA (FNC), the defense contractor that owns Ansaldo, had about 600 million euros in Libyan sales last year.

Still, it was Italy, with its historic and cultural links, that gained the most from Qaddafi’s rehabilitation, culminating with the 2008 “Friendship Treaty” between the two nations. As reparation for its former colonial rule, Italy agreed to invest $5 billion to build a highway, using Italian construction companies such as Astaldi SpA (AST) and Impregilo SpA. (IPG) The agreement led Eni to announce plans for $25 billion of new investment in the coming decades.

Qaddafi, in turn, pledged to further open Libya to Italian companies, curb illegal immigration and invest his oil dollars in Italy. The country’s central bank and main sovereign wealth fund own a 7.2 percent stake in UniCredit SpA (UCG), Italy’s biggest bank. The shares, with a market value of 2.4 billion euros, have been frozen under European Union sanctions against Qaddafi. Libyan funds also own 2 percent of Finmeccanica, 7.5 percent of soccer team Juventus SpA, and the Libyan Investment Authority also holds about 1 percent of Eni, its former deputy CEO Mustafa Zarti said in a March 9 interview.

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The number of U.S. millionaires increased by 600,000 in 2010, according to a report by Spectrem Group.

About 8.4 million American households had assets of $1 million or more, not including their primary residences, a gain of 8 percent, according to Chicago-based Spectrem. The figure is still below the 2007 high for millionaires, when there were 9.2 million in the U.S., Spectrem said.

“The recovery is doing better in this population, probably better than for Main Street America,” said George Walper Jr., president of Spectrem. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index returned 15 percent last year.

The number of ultra-high-net-worth households, which Spectrem defines as those with $5 million or more in investable assets, increased 8 percent to 1 free instant credit score.1 million in 2010, the survey said.

Household wealth was $56.8 trillion at the end of 2010, according to the Federal Reserve. Millionaires control about 56 percent of U.S. wealth, according to a March 14 survey by Boston-based Fidelity Investments, the second-largest U.S. mutual-fund company after Vanguard Group Inc.

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Japan increased its holdings of U.S. government debt for an eighth straight month in January. But the second-largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds will likely scale back its purchases of foreign holdings, and even sell off some, in coming months to divert money toward rebuilding a nation devastated by a powerful earthquake and an ensuing nuclear crisis.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that Japan boosted its holdings 0.4 percent to $885.9 billion in January.

Economists said a reduction in Japan’s foreign holdings would put some upward pressure on U.S. interest rates. But they cautioned the change would have a limited impact.

The Federal Reserve, which has been buying Treasury securities as part of its efforts to keep interest rates low, would move to counteract any significant increase in rates, they said.

“Any impact from the sales would be short-term and relatively small,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight.

China, the second-largest holder of U.S. debt, reduced its holdings for a third straight month, trimming them 0.5 percent to $1.15 trillion.

Overall, foreign holdings of Treasury securities rose 0.3 percent to $4.45 trillion in January. This data is carefully followed to determine whether foreign countries still have an appetite for Treasury debt at a time of record federal deficits.

If the biggest buyers of U.S. debt began trimming their holdings significantly, that could send interest rates higher not just on government debt but also on consumer loans and business loans. That would slow America’s economic recovery and increase Washington’s costs for financing the $14.3 trillion national debt.

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