Global finance blog - news, jokes, life…

The economy grew at an annual rate of 3 percent in the final three months of 2011, the best pace in a year and a half. But that growth has likely slowed in the current quarter.

Businesses have been restocking their shelves more slowly and shipping fewer long-lasting manufactured goods. In addition, Europe’s debt crisis and weaker growth in Asia have slowed demand for U.S. exports.

Stronger hiring in the first two months of the year probably hasn’t offset those weaknesses. That’s because Americans’ pay has barely kept pace with inflation even as gas prices have spiked. So consumer spending, which drives about 70 percent of economic activity, probably hasn’t increased much from the end of last year.

Most economists expect growth to pick up later this year as further hiring lifts the economy.

The Commerce Department reported no change Thursday in its previous growth estimate for the October-December quarter. The 3 percent annual rate was the strongest since the spring of 2010. Slower growth in exports than previously estimated was offset by stronger business investment.

Still, economists expect growth has probably slowed to 2 percent or less in the current January-March quarter.

A key reason for that: Businesses haven’t been restocking their shelves as fast as they did at the end of last year. Many had slashed inventories over the summer out of fear that the economy was on the verge of another recession. When that didn’t happen, many stepped up restocking. Inventory building was a key driver of growth in the October-December quarter.

Even though businesses are still replenishing their shelves, the pace has likely slowed. That has likely slowed growth this quarter.

Businesses also are investing less in machinery and equipment this year after a tax credit expired at the end of last year. Orders for durable goods plunged in January. Though orders rebounded in February, that increase didn’t offset the entire January decline. And shipments of core capital goods, a gauge of business investment, grew sluggishly in the three months that ended in February, economists said. That’s also likely holding back growth this quarter.

One bright spot is that hiring has picked up. The economy has added an average of 245,000 jobs per month from December through February. The unemployment rate has fallen by nearly a full percentage point since the summer to 8.3 percent, the lowest level in three years.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to 359,000 last week, the lowest level in four years. That suggests March was another solid month for hiring.

Source

Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim was nominated by the U.S. to head the World Bank, making him the first physician and Asian-American to lead the lender that provided $57 billion to developing countries last fiscal year for everything from building roads to improving access to health care.

Kim, 52, who was born in Seoul and emigrated with his parents from South Korea at age five, would succeed Robert Zoellick, a former U.S. trade representative whose term ends in June. The U.S. is the biggest shareholder in the Washington- based bank, which has always been led by an American.

SCP Worldwide is suing a company it hired to maintain escalators at the Scottrade Center for damages related to a 2009 escalator malfunction that led to multiple injuries.

New York-based SCP Worldwide owns the Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis at 1401 Clark Street, home to the St. Louis Blues hockey team. Following the team’s home opener on Oct. 8, 2009, the down escalator near the Clark Street entrance sped up and then came to a halt, according to witnesses interviewed at the time. Several people on the crowded escalator were treated for injuries. The escalator has since been repaired.

Now SCP is alleging in a lawsuit filed in St. Louis that the company it hired in June 2009 to maintain and repair escalators at Scottrade Center, Schindler Elevator Corp., failed to properly inspect and maintain the escalators. SCP also alleges Morristown, N.J.-based Schindler was negligent in ensuring its technicians were adequately trained.

The lawsuit was initially filed in St. Louis Circuit Court earlier this year and was moved to federal court today.

SCP is seeking damages for diagnostic and repair costs exceeding $105,000. SCP also is seeking an unspecified amount in damages for settlement claims for injuries related to the 2009 escalator malfunction.

Attorneys representing SCP and Schindler did not immediately return calls for comment.

Source

Never before have the world’s central banks sent so much money sloshing through the global financial system.

From slashing interest rates and buying government debt to dangling cheap loans to banks and taking on their risky assets, central banks have taken extraordinary steps since the 2008 financial crisis to nurse the international banking system back to health.

Over the past 3 1/2 years, the central banks of the United States, Britain, Japan and the 17 countries that use the euro have pumped out so much money that their balance sheets have reached a combined $8.76 trillion. That’s a record, by far.

The infusion of money has eased borrowing costs and raised confidence in banks, governments and companies.

Critics counter that the flood of cash has made high inflation more likely. And they point to rising prices for oil, food, gold and other commodities as evidence. They warn that the easy money may allow investors to bid stock prices up to dangerous heights.

They also note that the crisis led central banks to accept high-risk investments that banks have wanted to unload. These investments have been collateral for money that central banks gave financial institutions.

Trouble is, the central banks must eventually unload the trillions in assets on their books. That carries risks, too.

A second round of low-cost loans that the European Central Bank gave banks Wednesday is the latest financial injection. The ECB issued $712 billion in loans to 800 banks, on top of $658 billion it lent 523 banks in December.

At times, the world’s leading bankers have coordinated their actions to maximize the punch. In December, for example, major central banks sought to shore up the global financial system by making it easier for banks to borrow U.S. dollars. It was the most significant joint effort by the central banks since they cut interest rates in October 2008.

The central banks feel compelled to take such far-reaching action because of their role as a nation’s lender of last resort. This function is in addition to their core task of managing interest rates and inflation through the money supply.

Each central bank’s balance sheet reflects assets it’s taken on, such as bonds and mortgage-backed investments. Their balance sheets have soared since the financial crisis exploded.

The Federal Reserve’s has reached $2.94 trillion. That’s triple its size in August 2008, just before the crisis hit. The ECB’s is $3.58 trillion, nearly twice its level before the crisis. The Bank of England’s balance sheet has jumped three-fold. The Bank of Japan’s is up 28 percent.

“This is the first time in history that we have seen anything like this amount of liquidity from central banks flooding the system,” said David Jones, head of DMJ Advisors and the author of several books on the Fed.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the only period that even comes close would be the central banks’ efforts in the 1930s to fight the Great Depression. But many historians say the Fed prolonged the Depression by failing to provide emergency loans to banks or to take other steps that might have stemmed the damage.

“Ben Bernanke is a historian of the Great Depression,” Zandi said of the current Fed chairman. “That is why he has been so aggressive in using the Fed’s balance sheet to respond to the current problems.”

The central banks have revealed no plans to reverse course and tighten credit soon. The Fed has said it expects to keep short-term rates at record lows near zero until at least late 2014 payday advance. At a House hearing Wednesday, some lawmakers pressed Bernanke about the risks of keeping rates so low for so long.

“One of the problems with setting these horizons out so far is that the private sector starts to expect that, and if circumstances change, crawling back off that limb could be very difficult,” Rep. Melvin Watt., D-N.C., told Bernanke.

“The policy is a conditional policy,” Bernanke responded. “It’s based on what we know now. If there’s a substantial change in the outlook, we’d have to adjust accordingly.”

Bernanke hinted that if the U.S. economy continued to improve consistently, the Fed might have to consider raising rates sooner.

For now, following the Fed’s lead, other central banks have kept their benchmark short-term rates at super-lows. They’ve created low-rate lending programs for commercial banks, like the three-year loans the ECB is providing.

And they’ve bought bonds to try to drive down long-term rates.

The bond purchases are known as “quantitative easing,” or QE. The Fed has completed two such programs. Some hope it will announce a third. Supporters note that the U.S. economy remains less than robust, and unemployment is a still-high 8.3 percent. Further reducing rates on mortgages and other loans could energize the U.S. economy, they argue.

Critics counter that more bond purchases by the Fed could ignite inflation. They note that the U.S. economy has been steadily improving, and unemployment has dropped for five straight months. Remarks that Bernanke made at the hearing Wednesday suggesting a brighter economic outlook made further bond-buying appear less likely.

The ECB is legally barred from buying bonds directly from governments. But it’s bought 219 billion euros ($268 billion) in bonds on the secondary market to try to lower rates and reduce borrowing costs for Europe’s most troubled economies.

The ECB has also been cutting short-term rates and offering super-cheap loans to banks. In its second installment of three-year loans, the ECB is charging just 1 percent interest. The idea is to get banks to use the loans to buy government debt and further ease nations’ borrowing costs.

Earlier this month, the Bank of Japan announced an expansion of its own asset-purchase program. So did the Bank of England.

“Everyone is following the Federal Reserve’s example of printing money to get out of this economic slump,” Jones said.

The Fed’s expanding balance sheet reflects its ability to create money, use it to buy Treasurys and lower long-term rates. Lower rates make borrowing cheaper. And they typically cause some investors to shift some money out of bonds and into assets such as stocks. Stock prices tend to rise as a result.

A larger number of dollars in circulation lowers the dollar’s value compared with other currencies. That can help the economy by making U.S. exports cheaper overseas.

Central banks face a delicate task in deciding when and how to unload the assets on their swollen balance sheets without jolting the financial system.

Bernanke and other central bank officials have stressed their commitment to gradually tighten credit before inflation poses a major threat.

“Central banks around the world are making a bet that they will be able to handle inflation down the road,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

Source

Herbert Greszuk was at the bar on the fifth deck of the Costa Concordia when the ill-fated luxury liner hit a reef.

Unable to get back to his second-deck cabin after the emergency signal came, he made it to a lifeboat with only the clothes on his back _ leaving behind everything he had with him for the cruise, including his tuxedo, camera, jewelry, euro400 ($520) in cash, credit cards, identity papers and even his dentures.

The 62-year-old, who runs a small flower shop and cafe in the western German town of Recklinghausen, counts himself lucky to have escaped the ship after it capsized Jan. 13, leaving at least 16 dead and 16 still missing.

But, he estimates that he lost at least euro10,000 ($13,000) in goods alone. He’s only one of the 4,200 passengers and crew who were on board and will likely want compensation, and material loss just scratches the surface. There’s the ruined holiday, physical and mental trauma, and payments to families of the dead, among other things, in an incident many believe was preventable.

“It’s about accountability, ” Greszuk told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his cafe. “Something like this must not be allowed to happen again. So many people died; it’s simply inexcusable.”

In Rome on Thursday, representatives of ship operator Costa Crociere SpA met with consumer activists to discuss a blanket compensation deal for some 3,206 people from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the ship hit the reef.

The offer would consider the price of the ticket, costs incurred in getting home after the disaster, the cost of items lost aboard the ship as well as damages for the ruined vacation and trauma resulting from the accident, said Furio Truzzi of the consumer group Assoutenti.

It would not apply to the hundreds of crew on the ship, the roughly 100 cases of people injured or the families who lost loved ones.

“We are working for a collective transaction to come up with a value for damages,” Truzzi said. “Each passenger can decide if this proposal is satisfactory. If it is not, they are free to react through a lawyer.”

Truzzi said it was premature to discuss exact amounts of compensation. He said it would be an average and that any passenger who deemed his or her losses greater than the offer was free to counter the proposal.

He said Assoutenti would work separately on a proposal for those who lost loved ones in the disaster and was open to working with crew members.

The ship ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio after the captain, Francesco Schettino, veered from his approved course. Costa Crociere’s chief executive, Pier Luigi Foschi, has said Schettino didn’t have approval to change the course and was going too fast _ 16 knots _ to be so close to shore.

Schettino is under house arrest, facing accusations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all passengers were evacuated.

Although it is still early and talk of compensation is ongoing, lawsuits are expected to be filed in Germany, Italy, the United States and elsewhere. In France, the Justice Ministry said that complaints filed by French people have been brought together by the Paris prosecutors’ office. It said 462 French passengers were aboard _ four were killed and two remain missing.

Attorney Hans Reinhardt, who represents Greszuk and a dozen other German survivors, said passengers did sign liability wavers _ a common requirement for cruises _ but that he considers them void under the circumstances quick payday loans.

“You do not sign off on a disaster situation, what you sign there is for normal daily situations like if there is a little storm or high water or something like that,” he said. “This was such a large failure by the captain and by Costa that you can sign whatever you want but you will still get your money.”

Depending upon their individual situations, he said he is seeking between euro10,000 ($13,000) and euro50,000 ($65,700) for his clients and would wait for three months to see if Costa would settle before taking the matter to court.

Though the cruise company is Italian, Costa’s parent company is Miami-based Carnival Corp. and Reinhardt said he was trying to determine which could be held responsible for the incident. If it’s Carnival, he said he would pursue his case in the U.S., where damages awarded tend to be higher than in Germany.

The company also faces the question of compensation for crew members who have lost their jobs because of the accident, not to mention the costs of salvaging the ship and of a possible environmental disaster if the unused fuel cannot be safely removed.

Salvage experts worked Thursday so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies in pristine waters that are prime fishing grounds and part of a protected area for dolphins and whales.

German reinsurers Hannover Re AG and Munich Re AG, two of the world’s largest, both said this week that liability claims from the fatal capsizing could run in the triple-digit millions of euros. Swiss Re, the other reinsurance powerhouse, said Thursday it was still too early to even guess what it might cost.

Reinsurers offer backup policies to companies writing primary insurance policies, which helps spread the risk around so the system can handle large losses from disasters.

Carnival has said it has liability insurance, though with a $10 million deductible. Of the so-called “hull insurance,” which covers damage to the ship, Carnival is responsible for the first $30 million in damage, while the rest is covered by a network of insurers led by XL Group.

Carnival also said it expects to lose $85 million to $95 million in bookings on the ship that have had to be canceled.

Meantime, Greszuk said he has been trying to piece together his life _ getting a new driver’s license, credit cards, passport and other identity documents _ but is feeling abandoned by those responsible for his plight.

“I feel so lost and alone,” he said. “Nobody is helping us out. Neither Costa nor the travel agency have contacted me _ do you know how that feels? I called the travel agency and they said it’s not our problem any more, call Costa. I called Costa and they said they’d get back to me, but as of today, I haven’t heard a word.”

______

Colleen Barry reported from Milan, Italy. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.

Source

OTTAWA

The Federal Reserve is making the most of its tools to boost the economy, and there is evidence they have worked, a top Fed official said on Tuesday.

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Sandra Pianalto, a voter this year on the central bank’s policy-setting committee, said she “will continue to weigh the costs and benefits of further policy actions.”

Pianalto, considered on the dovish wing of the Fed more concerned with bringing down high unemployment, said she expects the economy to grow around 2.5 percent this year, and about 3 percent in 2013, making for a “moderate” recovery.

Though in the past she forecast 2-percent inflation for the next two years, in her first speech of the year Pianalto said she expects inflation to dip below that level during the first half of 2012.

The Fed late in 2008 slashed interest rates to near zero and has since bought $2 payday loans guaranteed no fax.3 trillion in long-term securities to spur growth and keep the economy afloat, in response to a deep recession and financial crisis.

Recent data from employment to manufacturing to consumer credit suggest the world’s largest economy gained momentum going into 2012, though the high 8.5 percent unemployment rate, a slow housing market recovery and the European debt crisis still pose risks.

“I have supported our policy decisions, and there is evidence that they have been effective,” Pianalto said.

“While it is true that the federal funds rate has been near zero for some time, some economic policy models indicate that monetary policy should be even more accommodative than it is today,” she added.

Read more

Hundreds of laid-off workers massed Friday outside a Shanghai factory of a Singaporean supplier to major consumer electronics companies such as Motorola and HP _ the latest in a spate of labor unrest in China as manufacturers struggle with higher costs and slowing exports.

Reports of recent strikes at factories and other major employers show the increased pressure on China’s manufacturers and workers amid weak demand in Europe and the U.S. that comes on top of surging costs for labor and materials. The country’s manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in nearly three years, according to a survey released Thursday.

A nervous Beijing has begun reversing a two-year effort to cool the world’s second-biggest economy, seeking to counter slowdowns in factory production and property that are dragging growth lower and spurring unrest.

Some of the 300-400 workers at the factory gate of Hi-P International in the eastern industrial suburbs of Shanghai said it was their third day of protesting over mass layoffs due to the company’s decision to relocate some manufacturing.

They said they were seeking more information, and improved terms for themselves.

A group of the workers, bundled up against the cold, held up a banner demanding: “We want an explanation! We want truth! Where is Hi-P’s truth? Where is the government’s credibility?”

Workers also accused the factory of violating labor standards.

“Sometimes, they ask us to work 18 or 19 hours in a day. Sometimes the overtime is even longer than a normal 8-hour work day,” said Tao Yong, a worker in his mid-30s.

Police in vans and unmarked cars watched but did not intervene. One worker showed bruises he said were from an earlier beating by police.

Company officials contacted by phone in Shanghai and Singapore refused comment on the protest. Shanghai city government and police also did not immediately respond to inquiries about the strike or the workers’ claims of injuries from scuffles with police.

“We all work for this company, and now if the company is going to move, they owe us an explanation. So we are waiting for a solution,” said Chang Yan, a woman in her mid-20s who like most of the others was wearing a blue factory uniform embossed with a red Hi-P logo.

Reflecting the tougher times for manufacturers, Hi-P International’s net profit margin plunged 80 percent from a year earlier in third quarter to 2.1 percent from 11.6 percent _ mainly due to higher costs. Net profit in July-September fell 42 percent to 6.5 million Singapore dollars ($5.1 million) from a year earlier, according to its latest financial report.

The company, founded in 1980 as a tooling factory, said its third-quarter revenue rose 34 percent, but so did costs for materials and taxes.

The New York-based group China Labor Watch said Hi-P was shifting some of its production to the nearby city of Suzhou and had not paid the legally required amount of compensation to workers, who were laid off without notice.

According to its website, Hi-P International is a contract manufacturer for the wireless telecommunications, consumer electronics and computing and automotive industries, with two-dozen factories and about 18,000 employees.

Hi-P has factories in five other Chinese cities besides Shanghai and Suzhou. Motorola and other major electronics companies are among its customers.

Source

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

Regions Bank has eliminated a new debit card fee it imposed on some checking accounts this month that was unpopular with customers.

In a statement Monday, the bank said it is eliminating a monthly $4 fee it introduced this month on some checking accounts when a Regions customer used a debit card in a non-ATM transaction.

Now, though, Regions Bank has reversed course, based on customer feedback about the fee. “We have heard from our customers and are responding to their feedback by eliminating the monthly fee for CheckCards,” John Owen, head of Consumer Services for Regions Bank, said in a statement. The bank declined to disclose the number of complaints it received, or whether customers closed their accounts based on the fee.

On Nov. 4, Regions Bank will reimburse customers who were charged the fee.

Birmingham-based Regions is among the largest banks in St. Louis, based on deposits. It has 70 branches in the St. Louis area.

Regions joins other banks in dropping debit card fees. The retail banking arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which tested a fee for some checking accounts earlier this year, including a $3 monthly fee for a debit card and $5 for online bill pay, will end that program in November. SunTrust Bank also announced on Monday that it is dropping its monthly $5 debit card fee that was set to take effect this week online pay day loans. Wells Fargo has also cancelled its plans to test a fee structure for debit cards in some states.  

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, the second largest bank in the U.S. and the second largest bank locally, has come under fire in recent weeks after it announced plans to introduce a $5 monthly fee on some checking accounts when a debit card is used. That fee is set to go into effect in early 2012.

Banks said they were imposing the fees based on new federal legislation that led to a lower cap on what a bank can charge for debit card transactions. As part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, maximum “swipe fees” decreased from 44 cents to 24 cents, beginning in October.

Some local banks and credit unions welcomed the new debit card fee announcements by their competitors as an opportunity to attract new customers. One recent ad by First Community Credit Union, the biggest credit union in St. Louis, reads: “Why pay for your debit card?” The credit union does not impose monthly fees for checking accounts.

Source