Britain is proposing to revive
Employers in the U.S. boosted payrolls more than forecast in February, capping the best six- month streak of job growth since 2006 and sending stocks higher.
The 227,000 increase followed a revised 284,000 gain in January that was bigger than first estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median projection of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 210,000 rise. The jobless rate held at 8.3 percent, even as 476,000 more workers sought employment.
More jobs are helping fuel the wage gains that drive consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. The latest pickup in employment bolsters President Barack Obama
The services sector expanded at its fastest pace in a year in February, but new orders for factory goods dropped in January, data showed on Monday.
The Institute for Supply Management said its services index rose to 57.3 in February last month from 56.8 in January, besting economists’ expectations for a drop to 56.1.
It was the highest level for the index since February 2011 year in the services sector that accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. A reading above 50 indicates expansion for the index.
The gauge of new orders improved to 61.2 from 59.4, while the employment index eased to 55.7 from 57.4.
“It was overall a solid report,” Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York said, pointing specifically to the gain in the forward-looking new orders component.
“At this level of ISM, this is not really changing our view that you’re still looking at around a 2.0 percent year in terms of GDP, but it is holding up and this is certainly what you want to see.”
The prices paid index jumped to 68.4 from 63.5, suggesting that companies could start to be squeezed by higher input costs.
The resilience in the sector’s expansion was in contrast to data from the euro zone’s private sector earlier on Monday that showed Italian and Spanish businesses dragged the currency bloc back into decline last month cheap payday advance.
A separate report on Monday showed new orders for U.S. factory goods dropped in January by the most in over a year.
The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods fell 1.0 percent, not as much of a drop as the 1.5 percent decline economists were expecting. Still, it was the biggest decline since October 2010.
Financial markets saw little reaction immediately after the data as investors focused on China’s reduced economic growth target.
Both U.S. data points were consistent with an improving economy, said Joe Manimbo, market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington, D.C.
On factory orders, Manimbo said, “Despite the negative reading it was a little better than expectations and the prior number was upwardly revised, so again I think it’s consistent with the economy headed in the right direction.
A group of ground staff at Frankfurt airport is beginning a new three-day strike in a long-running pay dispute.
The GdF union called the strike from 9 p.m. Sunday (2000 GMT; 3 p.m. EST) until 5 a.m. Thursday (0400 GMT; 11 p.m. EST Wednesday) after the latest talks collapsed. It follows a three-day strike last week at Europe’s third-busiest airport.
Airport operator Fraport says it kept more than 80 percent of flights running last week and expects to do so this time, too. Still, German news agency dapd reported that Lufthansa canceled some 140 flights for Monday.
Fraport has criticized GdF demands for double-digit wage increases for around 200 workers who oversee operations on the tarmac. The union says it just wants Frankfurt salaries brought into line with other airports.
Millions of borrowers who suffered financial losses because their mortgage lenders played fast and loose while processing their foreclosures now have two ways of getting a payback.
They can tap the $26 billion settlement between the state attorneys general and the nation’s five biggest banks that was inked two weeks ago.
Foreclosure Fiasco
The other foreclosure settlement: Millions of homeowners eligible Foreclosures climbed in January What the foreclosure settlement means for you Mortgage deal could bring billions in relief Foreclosure deal has 40 states, but others balk
But there is also an earlier settlement that has been nearly forgotten — and that could lead to an even bigger payoff, in some cases.
As part of an enforcement action by federal authorities last April, 14 mortgage servicers, including Bank of America (, Fortune 500), Chase (, Fortune 500), Citibank (, Fortune 500), HSBC (), MetLife Bank (, Fortune 500), PNC Mortgage (, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (, Fortune 500), agreed to hire independent consultants to investigate foreclosure abuses and compensate those who suffered financial harm.
As a result of the program, up to 4.3 million mortgage borrowers who were foreclosed on in 2009 and 2010 will have a chance to request an independent review of how their foreclosure was handled.
So far, only 90,000 eligible homeowners have submitted claims, prompting the feds to extend the deadline for applications by three months to July 31.
The exact amount of money borrowers will receive has yet to be determined. But if a review finds that "financial injury" occurred — say a bank charged inappropriate fees or it went forward with a foreclosure without a valid claim to the property — a homeowner could be repaid in full for their losses.
Borrowers who were improperly charged even just a single fee could be repaid for it, according to Bryan Hubbard, a spokesman for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, one of the federal regulatory agencies that negotiated the agreement.
And borrowers who suffered much larger losses could be in line for much bigger repayments than promised by the AG’s settlement, which will pay up to $2,000 to the estimated 750,000 who lost their homes to foreclosure between 2008 and 2011.
The compensation could even repay the cost of regaining a wrongfully lost home if warranted by the facts of the case, according to Hubbard.
The Independent Foreclosure Review was sparked by the robo-signing scandal that exposed the bank’s treatment of borrowers in the foreclosure process. The lenders lost documents and recreated them, had low-level employees with no knowledge of what they were attesting to sign legal papers and bent the rules requiring them to halt foreclosures if borrowers sought mortgage modifications.
What the $26B foreclosure settlement means for you
Unlike the $26 billion settlement with the state attorneys general, borrowers didn’t have to lose their homes in order to receive compensation, according to Hubbard.
"It could be anyone who suffered financial loss because of errors made in the foreclosure process," he said.
Since the settlements are completely independent of one another, claimants can double-dip, filing for compensation under both settlements. (To seek compensation under the state attorneys general settlement, contact your lender or servicer and ask them to review your case).
To make a claim for the Independent Foreclosure Review, borrowers have to fill out a five-page form that identifies some examples of situations that may have led to financial injury. Borrowers do not have to provide documentation. That will be handled by an independent agency.
No reviews have been completed yet, according to Hubbard. And individual cases may take months to come to decision.
For more information on the forms, go to the website set up by the servicers. And for a full list of the mortgage services involved in the Independent Foreclosure Review, go to the Federal Reserve website
Greece’s finance minister says all pending issues in its international creditors’ requirements for the country’s second bailout will be completed ahead of a Wednesday evening conference call between eurozone finance ministers.
Evangelos Venizelos said that “very few” issues remained and would be wrapped up before the call at 6p.m. Greek time (1600GMT) Wednesday.
The call is being held instead of a meeting between the ministers, which was called off Tuesday because Athens had not met all the requirements, including plugging a euro325 million ($427.99 million) financing gap and providing written guarantees from the governing coalition’s party leaders.
Venizelos made the comments after a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias, who he said will give up his presidential salary to help in the crisis.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) _ The leaders of the two parties participating in Greece’s governing coalition have prepared written assurances committing to implement the terms of Greece’s new bailout _ a key requirement demanded by international creditors, officials said Wednesday.
Socialist leader George Papandreou signed the letter Tuesday night, and Conservative head Antonis Samaras prepared his letter Wednesday morning and was to send it within the day, the officials said.
A meeting of eurozone finance ministers that had been expected Wednesday on Greece’s second multibillion bailout was postponed. Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the ministers’ meetings, said Tuesday night that “further technical work” was needed from Athens. This included providing the written assurances and detailing how Greece will plug a euro325 million ($428 million) financing gap, he said.
Wednesday’s meeting had been expected to give the green light for a bond-swap deal with private creditors designed to slice some euro100 billion ($132 billion) off Greece’s debt.
The swap deal, which will take several weeks to implement, has to be finalized by March 20, when Greece faces a euro14.5 billion ($19.1 billion) bond redemption that it cannot pay.
Instead, the ministers will hold a conference call Wednesday evening, and will meet in person in Brussels next Monday.
In Athens, a government official said the issue of the euro325 million gap was expected to be resolved within the day. On Tuesday, government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the funds would come “from spending cuts from ministries, from areas including defense.”
The bond swap deal is an integral part of Greece’s second international bailout, worth euro130 billion ($171 billion) in loans, without which the country faces a default that could drag down other economically vulnerable eurozone countries and threaten Europe’s single currency itself.
The country has been surviving since May 2010 on funds from a first, euro110 billion ($145 billion) package of rescue loans. But harsh austerity measures demanded in return for the emergency loans have hammered Greece’s economy, leaving it in a fifth year of recession. Official figures Tuesday showed that the Greek economy shrank by 7 percent on the year in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The austerity measures, which have included repeated waves of tax hikes and cuts to salaries and pensions, have also led to an explosion of public anger, with strikes and demonstrations often turning violent.
On Sunday, rioters burned buildings in central Athens and clashed with riot police while lawmakers approved a new round of austerity, slashing the minimum wage and planning mass layoffs in the civil service as part of requirements for the second bailout.
PepsiCo announced plans on Thursday to cut about 8,700 jobs as part of an effort to save some $1.5 billion in costs.
PepsiCo said the new cost-cutting plan will occur in 30 countries through 2014. PepsiCo spokesman Jeff Dahncke said that less than 2,000 of the job cuts will occur in the U.S., where the company employs 100,000 workers.
PepsiCo’s (, Fortune 500) stock slipped 4% in morning trading.
PepsiCo, which is based in Purchase, NY, noted that the job cuts represent less than 3% of its 300,000-strong global work force. The company still has numerous job openings listed on its web site.
Even as it cuts costs, the company said it plans to boost its spending on advertising and marketing by $500 million to $600 million this year, "with particular focus on North America."
PepsiCo is also planning to hike its dividend by 4%, to $2.15 per share, payable in June 2012, and to repurchase at least $3 billion in shares this year.
The job cuts are happening even as Chief Executive Indra Nooyi said the company experienced 8% annual growth in earnings per share over the last five years, and returned about $30 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.
The company’s plan to cull its work force follows a recent report from the U.S. Labor Department saying that the economy gained 243,000 jobs in January, knocking down the unemployment rate to 8.3%.
Nuts! Diamond Foods boots CEO
On Thursday, the Labor Department said that adjusted initial claims — the number of unemployed workers applying for government assistant — dipped to 358,000 in the week ended Feb. 4. That’s a decline of 15,000 from the prior week.
Still, it’s too early to tell whether the good employment news is a trend or a temporary blip.
Shares of Whirlpool spiked more than 17% Wednesday after the appliance maker issued a strong outlook for 2012, despite a soft fourth quarter.
The company is forecasting earnings per share of $7.30 to $8 — well above analysts’ expectations of $5.85, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.
Whirlpool (, Fortune 500) executives said demand has started to improve and it hopes to build on that momentum. "We do expect 2012 to be a strong year," said CEO Jeff Fettig said during an earnings call Wednesday.
The company instituted a number of cost cutting measures in 2011, including cutting 5,000 jobs, and closing a refrigerator factory in Arkansas. And it expects to continue cost cutting in 2012, although executives didn’t offer any details during Wednesday’s call.
For today, at least, investors were firmly focused on the earnings outlook and analysts say Whirlpool’s price increases and cost cutting efforts will be the biggest drivers in 2012. The stock was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500 Wednesday.
Before breaking out the champagne, it’s worth noting that Whirlpool has been here before and the company faces some serious headwinds, not the least being its roster of competitors creditreport. That includes ElectroluxAB (), which reports earnings Thursday, LG, Samsung and General Electric (, Fortune 500).
Whirlpool cutting jobs
"It’s a pretty ambitious outlook," said Longbow Research analyst David MacGregor. "I think this excitement is going to be short lived."
MacGregor said a big chunk of the volume in Whirlpool Wednesday was likely short covering — reversing bets that the stock will fall. "There were a lot of people short going into the [conference] call," he said.
Still, Whirlpool ended 2011 with a solid balance sheet: $1.1 billion of cash is nothing to sneeze at.
"While we view 2012 guidance as a potential positive for the stock, we believe further detail is needed," said JPMorgan analyst Michael Rehaut in a research note.
Whirlpool’s biggest customers include Sears Holdings Corp. (, Fortune 500). Lowe’s (, Fortune 500), Home Depot (, Fortune 500) and Best Buy (, Fortune 500).
Federal Reserve regional bank presidents provided unprecedented disclosure of their wealth, revealing assets ranging from a Missouri farm and Texas ranchland to stocks and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities.
The officials, who oversee Fed operations ranging from bank supervision to emergency lending, disclosed the documents today in response to requests from Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act. The regional banks said they weren
Valuations for U.S. equities have been stuck below the five-decade average for the longest period since Richard Nixon
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