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1B4 . . . R | ANNAPOLIS, March 2ÛÓThe : House Appropriations Committee ,,!på£gan systematically slicing into ;$pv. Harry HughesÛª $6.4 billion budget today as part of a strategy to avoid the politically painful step of increasing taxes on property, ciga-hrettes and alcoholic beverages, as the rgovernor had proposed.</br></br>'il Speaker Benjamin L. Cardin said the cutsÛÓabout $24 million expected iri' voting sessions today and ThursdayÛÓare legitimate reductions that will not harm services, and will doom the need for HughesÛª tax initiatives. '>ÛÏOur objective in cuts is to do WhatÛªs right from the standpoint of legislative review and we have no objective in terms of dollars,Û Cardin said, adding, ÛÏIÛªm pretty optimistic that we can avoid [the taxes].Û</br></br>While Cardin maintained that the budget-cutting fervor is not solely to avoid tax increases. Appropriations Committee members were less insistent on that interpretation, with some singing, ÛÏtax avoidance, we got a little tax avoidance,Û as they convened for the budget cutting meeting.</br></br>Cut today were requests for travel allowances, secondary positions, operating funds for Washington Metro, funds for higher education, including $l(.!g million in merit increases for tjniversity of Maryland faculty merjibers, and veterans programs. Tftp more controversial cuts are exceed Thursday, when the committee considers funding for health and environmental programs, nuclear-.power-plant siting, open-space pre-</br></br>HughesÛª fiscal 1984 budget was submitted to the legislature last mont[i with $22 million in proposed ÛÏsin taxÛ increases on cigarettes, beer, wine and liquor and $16 million increase in the state property tax to offset a projected $133 million deficit. | no | 0 |
Vote-Trading Perils 3 Bills: Vote Trade-off Try Threatens Maryland Bills | ANNAPOLIS, March 16 ÛÓ | Gov. Marvin Mandel summoned more than a dozen rebellious Baltimore legislators to his office here tonight in an attempt to halt a complex vote-trading scheme that threatened MandelÛªs statewide land use and legislative scholarship reform bills, as well as a bill to allow higher mortgage interest rates.</br></br>Later, the leadership of the Maryland House of Delegates, resorting to a parliamentary maneuver that finally ended 1 ir wild eight-hour session, cut) off attempts to amend the i land-use bill. The end of de-1 bate over amendments to the j bill set up a final House vote j on the measure by the mid-i die of next week.</br></br>The vote-trading was set off here when delegates from white, working class sections of Baltimore, angry at the loss of their dwindling patronage rights, offered to withdraw support of the land use measure in return for rural legislatorsÛª help in killing the bill that would end a program under which legislators award college scholarships. \</br></br>whether the governor's personal intervention into the vote-trading scheme would be enough to prevent serious erosion of support of the land-use bill in the powerful Baltimore delegation. ÛÏWhy should we give them up?Û Del. Charles G. Krysiak (D-Baltimore) said of the college scholarships that state senators and delegates are now al\pwed to award.</br></br>ÛÏWe donÛªt get anything else,ÛªÛª he said. ÛÏWc donÛªt have any judges or anyone in the new state lottery agency. The scholarships are the last thing | no | 0 |
Failed Merger Talks Led to NASD Plan; Exchange Chiefs Saw Need to Revive Effort | The planned takeover by the National Association of Securities Dealers of the American Stock Exchange has its roots in failed merger talks held last summer, according to industry and other sources familiar with the talks.</br></br>Only after NASD Chairman Frank Zarb and Amex Chairman Richard Syron gave up on an overly ambitious attempt to combine the two markets did the veteran Wall Street executives find a more successful path -- to maintain the Amex as a separate exchange from the Nasdaq Stock Market, the sources said.</br></br>Under the current proposal, hatched during a chance meeting at an industry function in November in Boca Raton, Fla., the Amex would live on as a separate subsidiary, and companies would choose whether to list their shares on the Amex or the Nasdaq.</br></br>The initial collapse and subsequent revival of the negotiations between Zarb and Syron demonstrates the importance of the deal to both men and the securities markets they run.</br></br>Zarb realized he needed a merger to better mount a global challenge to the mighty New York Stock Exchange, the biggest and most prestigious in the world. Syron decided that the Amex was not a viable market for the 21st century. | no | 0 |
Broad Round of Job Cuts Hits U.S. Firms --- Weakening Sales, Pricing Amid Increased Wages Prompt Move to Layoffs | That hot U.S. job market? It's getting cooler by the minute.</br></br>After months of low unemployment and intense competition for workers, U.S. companies in a variety of industries have started a round of year-end job cuts. Nearly a dozen big firms have announced staff reductions in the past week in an attempt to bolster profits amid weakening sales and pricing.</br></br>Wall Street felt the jolt on Tuesday, when Merrill Lynch & Co., New York, said it would cut 3,400 jobs, or 5% of its work force. The move had Wall Street employees bracing for cuts at other securities firms. Indeed, the Salomon Smith Barney unit of Citigroup Inc. yesterday laid off 100 traders, salespeople and research analysts in its bond department, people familiar with the firm said. Analysts expect the BT Alex. Brown unit of Bankers Trust Corp., which has significant exposure to Asian markets, to eliminate as much as 10% of its staff of 18,000.</br></br>This round of downsizing is turning out to be surprisingly nondiscriminatory, affecting companies ranging from banks to makers of exercise equipment. Last week, Lexington, Mass., defense contractor Raytheon Co. boosted the total number of jobs it will cut to 14,000, or 16% of its work force, from the 8,700 it said it would cut last January. Los Angeles oil concern Atlantic Richfield Co. jumped in yesterday, announcing it will eliminate 900 jobs, or nearly 5% of its work force. The reason: fears that the global economic slowdown won't reverse itself anytime soon.</br></br>"We've taken a look at what's going on in the world, and we've decided we have a situation that could hang around for a period of time," said Lee Tashjian, an Arco spokesman. | no | 0 |
El Salvador Really Isn't All That Far From the U.S.A. | In "" (Americas, May 16), Mary Anastasia O'Grady states that the El Dorado mine met or exceeded the environmental standards in El Salvador. That's an understatement. The design for the El Dorado underground mine, which we submitted to the government in 2005, would have set new precedents for environmental protection in all of the Americas, including the U.S.</br></br>Water protection is critical to the design. After numerous community consultations, we designed a mine that makes use of a reservoir to collect water in the rainy season for use in the dry season.</br></br>The water to be collected in the reservoir is contaminated with defoliates, fertilizers, pesticides, detergents and E. coli bacteria. Water discharged from the reservoir will be cleaner than the water that arrived because it passes through a water-treatment plant.</br></br>El Dorado and the vast majority of gold-bearing systems in El Salvador are of a deposit type that is the single cleanest type of primary metal deposit on the planet (low-sulfidation epithermal). There is no potential for acid mine drainage and no potential for metal contamination. The rocks containing the gold are actually cleaner than the most common rock type in El Salvador, having less mercury, arsenic and most other metals.</br></br>Local community support for the mine exceeds 80%. At the national level only one in four Salvadorans is opposed. This is not a case of "not in my backyard." | no | 0 |
Natural-Gas Prices May Fall; Healthy Supplies, LNG Imports Spur Forecasts | Natural-gas prices are poised for a drop.</br></br>The bulk of winter heating season has passed, barely making a dent in domestic supplies in storage, which are 3.1% above the five-year average. Putting further pressure on prices are expectations that U.S. production as well as imports in the form of liquefied natural gas will increase this year.</br></br>Natural gas for March delivery settled 10.8 cents, or 1.4%, higher at $8.102 a million British units on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday following a report showing that U.S. inventories declined more than expected last week.</br></br>Even so, gas-futures prices are expected to stay in the range of $7- $7.75 a million British thermal units during the next six weeks, until the official end of winter heating season.</br></br>"U.S. supply is going to be up big," said J. Marshall Adkins, a Houston-based analyst with Raymond James. "We still think LNG will be up somewhat and a combination of those two things is going to drive summer storage levels higher than last year," leading to record levels of gas in storage. | no | 0 |
Getting Raises on Track | Geographic pay raises planned next January for U.S. workers here, in Baltimore and other high-cost cities could be back on track despite the Clinton administration plan to freeze salaries through 1995.</br></br>The House is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a budget resolution that would cut spending below levels set by the president. One of the budget resolutions would put federal-military retirees on diet-COLAs (cost-of-living adjustments) for several years.</br></br>Language added to the budget report late Friday would allow the Post Office-Civil Service Committee to save geographic raises if it can come up with offsetting savings in federal personnel costs.</br></br>Under current law, federal white-collar workers nationwide - including 300,000 in the Washington-Baltimore area - are due a partial catch-up-with-industry raise of 2.2 percent. Workers in high- cost, high-salary cities could get additional raises to help close the hometown gap between federal and private jobs. Federal workers in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco already get an 8 percent differential.</br></br>President Clinton wants to skip the 1994 federal-military raise and delay and revamp locality pay. But the budget committee agreed to language worked up by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Reps. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), William Clay (D-Mo.) and Norman D. Dicks (D- Washington) to let Clay's civil service committee find ways to fund geographic raises. Locality adjustments would vary by city (with some areas getting nothing at all). They would cost less than a nationwide 2.2 percent raise for all federal workers. | no | 0 |
Bond Prices Edge Higher After OPEC Has Trouble Reaching Production Pact | NEW YORK -- Bond prices edged higher yesterday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries apparently hit a snag in its latest efforts to cut production and drive up oil prices.</br></br>Some long-term Treasury bonds rose about one-quarter of a point, or $2.50 for each $1,000 face amount. However, interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose slightly, reflecting the continued high level of the federal funds rate.</br></br>Investors have been focusing intently on oil price developments. Yesterday, oil prices slumped as OPEC members unexpectedly postponed a scheduled meeting in Geneva until today.</br></br>"Oil is a symbol of inflation in the minds of many people," said A. Gary Shilling, president of an economic forecasting and investment strategy firm bearing his name. "I think it's overdone, but the markets sure have gotten the jitters lately" as oil producers appeared to be nearing an accord to cut production, he said.</br></br>Inflation will rise only moderately next year, according to many analysts. Even if oil producers succeed in cutting production this winter, they won't be able to prop up oil prices next spring, some forecasters contend. | no | 0 |
'Correction' Corrects Itself by Day's End; Bear Stearns Leads Rebound for Stocks; Alcoa Slides 5.3% | The stock market went into "correction" mode yesterday, only to make a massive end-of-session comeback. Bear Stearns was among financial shares that led the way, Continental Airlines rose above the fray, but Alcoa couldn't quite regroup.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 15.69, or 0.1%, to 12845.78 after being down as much as 343.53, and marked its sixth decline in a row. Since reaching its closing high of 14000.41 on July 19, the industrial average has only one of its 30 members showing a gain: Procter & Gamble.</br></br>The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 4.56, or 0.3%, to 1411.26, still down, by 0.5%, for the year. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 7.76, or 0.3%, to 2451.07, down each of the last six sessions. The New York Stock Exchange Composite Index declined 1.94 to 9087.10.</br></br>All four indexes were down more than 10% from their most recent highs, the generally accepted definition of a stock market correction. Positives that emerged from the financial group were said to have greatly helped the market recoup.</br></br>Bear Stearns rose 13.29, or 13%, to 116.44. The investment bank is set to cut about 240 jobs at its mortgage-lending unit. Fannie Mae gained 3.70, or 6%, to 65.15 and Freddie Mac rose 1.06, or 1.8%, to 61.34. | yes | 1 |
REVIEW & OUTLOOK (Editorial): Beltway Bond Traders | The Remocrats and Depublicans have peered into the bond markets, and there they divine: Keep taxes up. Just like the Frenchman whom the Eiffel Tower reminds of sex, because everything reminds him of sex.</br></br>The reigning conventional wisdom among Beltway bond traders is that bonds collapsed as soon as Senator Lloyd Bentsen unleashed the tax-cut monster. Lower bond prices mean higher long-term interest rates, of course, and it is an advance of sorts to have politicians looking at long rates rather than beating on the Federal Reserve to pare short rates. Long rates are much more important to future economic prospects, and there is indeed a puzzle in why they didn't budge much with the Fed's cut in the discount rate Wednesday.</br></br>The Beltway answer is too much talk of tax cuts. Even President Bush said while winging off to Rome that "long-term interest rates went through the roof" when the tax-cut talk started. There may be something to this, we concede, for there are tax cuts and tax cuts. Having the government mail everyone in the country under 18 a check for $300 would not help the economy or the markets, and that's pretty much what Senator Bentsen's "tax cut" amounted to.</br></br>Still, the Bentsen ante did open the window for bargaining about real tax cuts, which means paring marginal rates to increase economic incentives. But Ways and Means Chairman Rostenkowski has deployed the blocking force of proposals to increase marginal rates, and the administration is backing off because it reads the bond markets as sending the message that they love the budget agreement.</br></br>Now, let us talk for a moment about interest rate determination. No one has ever made money in the bond markets by cuing off the deficit; nor has any academic economist been able to find a correlation between high deficits and high interest rates. The plain fact is that during recessions deficits rise and interest rates fall. And during the 1980s boom, interest rates fell despite constant warnings that the deficit would push them higher. | no | 0 |
Bush Limits Budget Talks To 'Process': Lawmakers Invited To Roosevelt Lecture | -President Bush said yesterday that he will ÛÏsit down and talk process" at a Sunday afternoon budget conference with four key congressional leaders, but suggested that the meeting would not deal with specific measures to bring down the burgeoning budget deficit.</br></br>ÛÏWeÛªre not into a negotiation. WeÛªre talking process," Bush said. ÛÏWe've got to move forward and IÛªve got to find a way to do that.Û Administration sources said they hoped the ÛÏtalks about talksÛ would produce broad congressional and administration negotiating teams to resolve differences on tax and spending issues.</br></br>Democratic congressional lead-' ers were reluctant to say much about the meeting, asserting that they were simply accepting an invitation from the president to attend, among other things, a lecture about Theodore Roosevelt, House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said, ÛÏI am going to a lecture on Theodore Roosevelt. If anything else is discussed besides Theodore Roosevelt, I will be glad to listen.Û Bush said at his news conference yesterday that after the lecture ÛÏweÛªll get together and discuss something a little more complicated." ÛÏIf the president asks me to meet with him to discuss any subject, 1 would, of course, do so at any time or place of the president's choosing," said Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Maine), who has been cool to the idea of holdmg budget negotiations with the White House.</br></br>In addition to Foley and Mitchell, Bush has invited Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) and House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) to the Sunday budget conference.</br></br>Congressional leaders stressed that the budget would continue on its normal legislative path. As they have since last yearÛªs grand budget summit, they also said talks with the administration will only be worthwhile if Bush is willing to back off his "read my lips" campaign pledge not to raise taxes. "Sitting down is one thing,Û Foley said. ÛÏWhat we discuss or say or talk about is another. What decisions are made is a third.Û | no | 0 |
CBOE Traders Plan Refunds Tied to Oct. 20 --- Group Effort Could Total $2 Million to Customers In S&P Index Options | CHICAGO -- Chicago Board Options Exchange floor traders plan to make an unprecedented refund of up to $2 million to as many as 200 customers who traded certain stock-index options on Oct. 20, the day after the stock market crash, options industry officials said.</br></br>Trading losses in index options on Oct. 19 and 20 are estimated at several hundred million dollars nationwide, and were one of the single largest sources of investor complaints in the weeks following the crash, according to regulators.</br></br>CBOE officials declined to comment on the planned refunds to customers, who claimed they were overcharged for their options contracts in the market volatility immediately following the crash.</br></br>The nation's largest options exchange, which relies on stock-index options trading for more than half its volume, desperately wants to begin restoring investor confidence in the product, options traders say. Trading volume in stock-index options at the CBOE has plunged about 60% from pre-crash levels. The exchange also has reduced its staff since the crash by about 10% through attrition and layoffs.</br></br>But the refunds, while unprecedented in scope, aren't likely to restore investor confidence anytime soon in the options, industry officials say. | no | 0 |
Politics '84 -- Reemerging Activism: Democratic Study Unit in Ferment | WASHINGTON -- Old Home Week is approaching for "McCarthy's Marauders."</br></br>That's what they called themselves then, that motley group of Democrats plotting to commit liberalism in the House of Representatives. The year was 1957. Their leader was an obscure congressman named Eugene McCarthy, still a decade away from the presidential race that would make him famous. His followers were congressmen like George McGovern, Stewart Udall and James Roosevelt.</br></br>To compare the informal Marauders to the formal House organization that in 1959 would grow out of their plotting, the Democratic Study Group, is to compare a guerrilla band to a mechanized infantry division. Today's DSG has an operating budget of more than $700,000. It has offices, researchers -- and an impressive record of spearheading liberal fights. Yet when the old Marauders gather this fall for the silver anniversary of the DSG's founding, they'll encounter one thing, at least, that remains exactly the same: an internal debate over how liberals can expand their influence in a conservative period.</br></br>For the venerable DSG -- "the pumping heart of House procedural reform," Majority Whip Thomas Foley calls it -- is once again in ferment.</br></br>In 1984, as 25 years earlier, House liberals see their fondest hopes thwarted by a Republican White House. And while today's liberals are far happier with their House leadership than the liberals of 1959 were, there's nevertheless an undercurrent of grumbling that it's too timid about standing up to the White House. The problem, as in 1959, is that the liberals alone are well short of a House majority. And the question is whether they should compromise or fight for principle, even in the face of certain defeat. | no | 0 |
Rails Gain, Then Droop | NEW YORK, March 23 wnÛÓTrading in oil shares dominated the stock market today and provided enough strength to produce another new record high.</br></br>For the fourth time this week, the Associated Press average of 60 stocks advanced to a new peakÛÓtoday up 30 cents at 5190.50.</br></br>The oils have been favorites of buyers most of the week. Today they were just about alone out in front of a moderately rising market. The railroads, front runner yesterday, started well today and then faded and closed slightly lower.</br></br>The steels were mostly higher and the motors were mostly lower. Rubbers closed higher along with the aircrafts and the majority of chemicals and nonferrous metals.</br></br>investors are switching from one major group to another in an attempt to catch the best of the rise in the momentarily popular groups. | no | 0 |
Wall St. Cheered by Moves to Contain Crisis | International efforts to tackle the financial crisis and a move to give U.S. banks more leeway when valuing their distressed assets sent the stock market soaring yesterday, pushing prices to their highest level in more than a month.</br></br>This extends a rally that began last month as investors embraced signs that the country's economic deterioration could be slowing. The Nasdaq composite index is in positive territory for the year, up 1.6 percent; it has gained 26 percent since it hit its low for the year less than a month ago.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average traded above 8000 yesterday for the first time since February. The average closed up 2.8 percent, or 216.48 points, at 7978.08. It has bounced nearly 22 percent from its low point earlier this year.</br></br>The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 2.9 percent, or 23.30 points, to 834.38, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 3.3 percent, or 51.03 points, to 1602.63.</br></br>Every major sector had gains, including financial and energy stocks, with oil company shares leaping after crude oil prices surged 9 percent, to $52.64 a barrel. Exxon Mobil and Chevron were up 1.5 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, while ConocoPhillips climbed 4.1 percent. | yes | 1 |
Subprime Auto Lenders to Ease Standards Further: Moody's; Low Interest Rates Keep Profit Margins Fat | Subprime auto lenders will likely ease underwriting standards further in 2014 as low interest rates keep profit margins fat enough to offset rising defaults, Moody's Investors Service said in a report.</br></br>Auto lending has soared since the recession, buoying the U.S. auto industry, as lenders capitalized on low interest rates. But the increased volume has come at a cost of weaker loans, Moody's said, especially in subprime loans to borrowers with credit scores below 660, on a Fair Isaac Corp. scale from 300 to 850.</br></br>Originations of subprime loans have increased to their highest levels since the financial crisis, with quarterly volume reaching $40.3 billion in the second quarter of last year, up from a recent low of $14.9 billion in late 2009 and the most since the second quarter of 2007, according to Equifax. Subprime auto loan volume was $39.8 billion in the third quarter.</br></br>The low interest rate environment is giving auto lenders a boost because they can get low-cost financing themselves, Moody's said.</br></br>The warning from Moody's comes as Federal Reserve officials have been focused on financial bubbles that may be lurking in the economy due to the central bank's efforts since the financial crisis to suppress rates to historic lows. | no | 0 |
Interest Rates Fall At Citicorp Auction Of Commercial Paper | NEW YORK -- Average interest rates at a big weekly auction of commercial paper fell for the third straight week, suggesting that short-term corporate borrowing costs are on the decline.</br></br>The average interest rate at Citicorp's $50 million auction of 91-day commercial paper, or corporate IOUs, dropped to 9.3159% from 9.595% at last week's sale.</br></br>As recently as late March, Citicorp sold 91-day paper with an average payout slightly over 10%.</br></br>Bids totaling $448 million were submitted. Accepted bids ranged from 9.302% to 9.325%.</br></br>Citicorp also said that the average rate at its $50 million auction of 182-day commercial paper fell to 9.115% from 9.423% at last week's sale. | no | 0 |
TiVo Gets Patent On Technologies; Net Loss Widens | TiVo Inc. said it received an important patent associated with disc-based video recorders but also announced a fiscal first-quarter net loss that more than doubled from a year earlier.</br></br>Analysts said the patent boosts the prospects for TiVo to get additional revenue from licensing its technologies. TiVo said it already has a licensing agreement with the original equipment makers that manufacture its recorders. But with the patent, it has the right to license its technologies to cable providers, competitors and other companies. In response, TiVo's shares rose $3.56, or 72%, to $8.50 at 4 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market.</br></br>Personal video recorders such as TiVo's record TV programming work in a way that, among other things, let users effectively pause live broadcasts or skip over commercials.</br></br>The Alviso, Calif., company said the patent covers many of the inventions associated with the devices, including a method for recording a TV program while playing back another or watching a program as it is being recorded; a method for processing various multimedia streams such as video and audio at low cost; and a storage format that allows users to pause and scan through a live TV broadcast.</br></br>TiVo could use a boost. The company reported after the market closed that its net loss for the period ended April 30 widened to $49.1 million, or $1.20 a share, from $23.5 million, or 66 cents a share, a year earlier. | no | 0 |
Business and Finance | PROFITS SANK 16% in the first quarter from already-depressed year-earlier levels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of 646 major companies. The drop was greater than many analysts expected, but some said the worst may be over.</br></br>The unemployment rate fell to 6.6% in April from 6.8% in March. But the surprising decline, the first drop in nearly a year, may be a fluke. The number of jobs, meanwhile, continued to decline, but at a slower pace.</br></br>Bond prices plunged and the dollar surged on the employment reports, but stock prices were little changed.</br></br>---</br></br>Exxon and Alaska withdrew a proposed settlement of civil claims over the Valdez spill. The company and U.S. and state officials are considering other ways to avoid a court battle. | yes | 1 |
Local Income Tax Pushed; N.Va. Delegates Try to Sell School Financing Option | Northern Virginia Republicans in the House of Delegates rallied support today for a local income tax to fund school construction in their region, an option they view as a prime source of money now that the House speaker is poised to kill a Senate bill for statewide education assistance.</br></br>With House Speaker S. Vance Wilkins Jr. (R-Amherst) planning the demise of the statewide bill on Monday, GOP delegates from Northern Virginia scrambled to line up support for a replacement bill for education improvements back home -- and to fund them through a new income tax that would require the approval of local county boards.</br></br>"I'm working my darnedest to see what I can do," said Del. Jeannemarie A. Devolites (Fairfax), who was taking the lead role of rounding up votes for the income tax measure. "This is the better way to go: It would keep every dollar raised at home."</br></br>After winning Wilkins's permission in a 9 a.m. meeting, Devolites and other suburban Republicans spent the day trying out the income tax concept on colleagues. Devolites, one of Wilkins's lieutenants on the House floor, said the reception was "mixed." Some rural Republicans complained that without the Senate bill, school systems in their districts stood to win no new money at all.</br></br>Wilkins and Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) have been sparring for several days over Senate Bill 170, sponsored by Democrat Charles J. Colgan of Prince William County, which would place two issues affecting Northern Virginia on the Nov. 5 election ballot. One would be a statewide referendum to raise the state's 4.5 percent sales tax by a half-cent to fund education programs; the other, for Northern Virginia only, would raise the sales tax locally by the same amount and earmark the proceeds for regional transportation projects. | no | 0 |
Stocks Stage Late Rally; Bonds Rise --- Oil Prices Aid Energy Shares, Hurt Airlines; Treasurys Pose Puzzle | NEW YORK -- The stock market pulled out of a morning dive and closed higher, with rising bond prices, strong oil issues and program buying pulling blue-chip issues out of the depths.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 18.82 to 2917.33. Oil stocks led the rebound. Gains in Chevron, Exxon and Texaco accounted for about half of the average's overall advance.</br></br>Rising oil prices hurt airline stocks, however. The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 9.67 to 1125.00. UAL's 6 1/8-point decline to 156 7/8 accounted for part of that move, but most other airline shares were lower because investors think higher fuel costs will erode their profits in the next several months. AMR, parent of American Airlines, fell 7/8 to 55 3/4.</br></br>But a 17-cent rise in September crude oil futures to $20.21 a barrel had little effect on the Treasury bond market, which typically falls when oil prices gush. Bonds opened higher and kept climbing. The Treasury's benchmark 30-year bond rose nearly 7/8 of a point, or $8.75 for each $1,000 face amount.</br></br>Traders had trouble identifying the bond bulls. "If there are people driving the market, it's not the foreign investor," said George Gianaris, sales manager at Daiwa Securities America. The yield advantage of a U.S. 10-year note over a Japanese issue is about three-quarters of a percentage point, the narrowest in years, "and that's before you even start thinking about currency risk," Mr. Gianaris said. | yes | 1 |
Most Rates Edge Higher on Nervousness That Fed May Tighten Credit Grip Soon | NEW YORK -- Most interest rates edged higher yesterday amid nervousness that the Federal Reserve System may tighten its credit clamp soon in an effort to keep the economy from overheating.</br></br>The economy's strong performance in January, coupled with rapid money-supply growth in recent months, has prompted many analysts to predict that the Fed will adopt a tougher credit stance, pushing up interest rates.</br></br>"There is a pretty strong consensus right now that the next move by the Fed will be a tightening move," said Edward J. Sawicz, a vice president and economist at Discount Corp. of New York, a securities firm.</br></br>Some analysts contend that the Fed may already be moving toward a more restrictive credit policy. "There is some possibility that the Fed may be tightening already," said Elliott Platt, a senior vice president and economist at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.</br></br>The interest rate on federal funds, which often provides clues to changes in Fed policy, has risen in recent days. Yesterday the rate hovered between 9 5/8% and 9 3/4%, up from an average of 9.6% in the week ended Wednesday. Federal funds are reserves that banks lend one another overnight. | yes | 1 |
Carter Jawbones Chemical Executives | President meets witlr chemical firmsÛª leaders: ÛÏRestrain your price increases below wbat yon would have done.Û</br></br>President Carter, seeking to shore up his anti-inflation program, yesterday called in 30 executives of the nationÛªs industrial chemicals industry and asked them to hold down their price increases even if it means lower profits.</br></br>In a brief session In the Roosevelt Room, Carter criticized the industry's recent price increases as ÛÏvery highÛ and asked the executives who attended to ÛÏrestrain your price increases below what you would have done otherwise.Û</br></br>However, White House officials said there were no firm commitments from any of the executives present, except to agree to name a five-member task force to hold further talks with administration inflation-fighters.</br></br>The session was one of a series Carter has been holding with various industry groups. The president already has met with leaders of the food, medical and beverage industries, and will meet with metal industry executives on April 24. | no | 0 |
Stock-Market Jitters Put Investors at Ease; Recent Turbulence Is Seen as a Healthy Sign | For some money managers, the recent turbulence in the stock market isn't a reason to worry. It is a healthy sign.</br></br>Markets were rattled last week as the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 3.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 2.4%. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all down for the year after advancing earlier in 2014, following a sharp reversal in once-hot corners of the market such as initial public offerings and the shares of young biotechnology and Internet companies.</br></br>The pullback underscores concern over the broader outlook for share prices following a 30% rise in the S&P 500 last year. Valuations remain above long-term averages, while U.S. growth and corporate earnings have hit a soft patch. That is exactly kind of environment that calls for a bumpier stock market, investors say.</br></br>"You don't want a market to go just straight up to the sky," says Lew Piantedosi, manager of the $142 million Eaton Vance Large-Cap Growth Fund, which has lost 5.5% over the past month but is up 19% over the past year. "When you go straight up, there's not a lot of support on the way down."</br></br>After a run such as the nearly 30% gain in the S&P 500 in 2013, it is better for stocks to level off for a bit, he said. "We're seeing that now," he said. He expects that as investors get more comfortable with the global economic outlook, stocks will resume their rally. | no | 0 |
Fear of U.S. Interest-Rate Increases Sends Chills Through Markets From Latin America to Europe | German and British stocks dropped as fallout from U.S. interest-rate concerns spread from emerging markets to the more mature markets of Europe.</br></br>Taking their cue from sharp declines in U.S. stocks on Monday, London's FTSE 100 Index fell 1.2% to 6249.3, while in Frankfurt, the Xetra DAX Index declined 88.05 points, or 1.7% to 5165.72. Only four components of the blue-chip DAX index managed to end the day higher.</br></br>European markets slumped even though the Continent is unlikely to face the same threat of higher interest rates that U.S. investors now confront. Indeed, last month European central bankers slashed key lending rates, while Federal Reserve policy makers have shifted their bias in favor of raising rates in the U.S.</br></br>"Looking at European equities in isolation, there's little reason to be concerned about valuations or earnings," said Ian Scott, European equity strategist at Lehman Brothers in London. "The threats to Europe come from outside the Continent."</br></br>Meanwhile, Brazilian stocks were pummeled for the second consecutive session that together have trimmed nearly 10% of the market's value. The benchmark Bovespa Index closed down 552.43 to 10602.10, ruffled by interest-rate concerns and yet another market rumor, this time allegations linking President Fernando Cardoso to a recent privatization controversy. | yes | 1 |
How Long a Recession?: Different Durations for Different People | President Ford told the country at his news conference May 6, ÛÏI think we are at the end of the recession. I believe... we can look forward to some improvement economically in the third and fourth quarters of 1975, and . . . in 1976."</br></br>That same day, just a block from the White House, Û¢the, AFL-CKTs executive council, expressed an opposite view. Û÷Û÷The bottom has not yet been reached," the council said in a resolution. ÛÏThere is no upturn in sight.Û already the worst since the Depression of the 1930s, The unemployment rate last month was 8.9 per cent: there were 8.2 million people officially classified as unemployedÛÓone ' willing worker out of every 11ÛÓand that did not count the 1.1 million who had simply given up looking, nor the additional 3.9 million who were working only part-time because they could not . find full-time jobs.</br></br>The economists will tell us the recession is over in that calendar quarter, whenever it comes, when total economic output stops its decline of the last year and a half and starts to rise ] again,.They will regard that quarter as the turning point.</br></br>For the general population, however, the recession will not end that neatly, all in three months. Recessions last a great deal longer for some people than for others.</br></br>have been affected only indirectly. Bad as it has been, it has existed for them mainly in the headlines or on the nightly news. They have not lost their jobs. Far from being losers, in fact, it could be argued they have come out winners: inflation is down, and a tax cut has come on top of that. | no | 0 |
Growth Put At 3.5% in 3rd Quarter: Inflation Rate Cut, Output Gain ... | The nationÛªs economy grew substan-" tially more rapidly last quarter than? had been estimated previously, while* inflation was not quite so virulent, thej government reported yesterday. * Meanwhile, corporate _ profits re-J bounded. f</br></br>Revised figures on the gross na-åÈ tional product showed the economyÛªs!; total output, adjusted for inflation,åÈ rose at a respectable annual rate of ; 3.5 percent between July and Septem-; ber, not 2.4 percent as reported be-1 fore. *</br></br>At the same time, the GNP price in-C dex, the' governmentÛªs most compre-' hensive measure of inflation, showedåÇ prices climbed at an 8 percent annual J rate over the quarter rather than 8.4åÇ percent, as estimated earlier. *</br></br>The report on corporate profits * showed before-tax earnings of Amen-1 can firms up 6.4 percent in the third å¨ quarter, reversing a 2.3 percent decline during the April-June period. Af- -ter-tax profits jumped 6.2 percent. I However, a substantial portion of, the third-quarter rise stemmed from. sharply higher foreign earnings by J U.S. oil companies and banks rather * than from any general rebound among domestic operations. *</br></br>Although profits from domestic ven-* tures fared relatively robustly in theÛª trade and refining industries, earn-, ings of the major automakers plunged' sharply, and profits in other indus-Û¢ tries were lackluster. .! | yes | 1 |
Japan's Economic Policies Criticized; G-7 Nations Call for Tax Cuts, Public-Works Spending to End Slump | Japan found itself uncomfortably in the spotlight today as top officials from the other industrialized countries declared that Tokyo had not done enough to stimulate its economy and help lift its Asian neighbors out of their economic crisis.</br></br>Emerging from a daylong conference around the corner from Buckingham Palace, finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations said that additional tax cuts and public-works spending would be necessary for Japan to recover from its seven-year economic slump.</br></br>"The broadly shared view coming out of our meeting was that it was important for the rest of Asia that Japan once again have strong economic growth," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin.</br></br>But Tokyo's new finance minister, Hikaru Matsunaga, adopted a defiant stance following the meeting, where he told his Western counterparts that a recently announced package of financial reforms and limited tax cuts for businesses and investors had not been given a fair hearing nor sufficient time to work.</br></br>"I do think the measures that have been taken so far are not too small," said Matsunaga, who emphasized that his government has no plans to announce any further steps. | no | 0 |
U.S. Stocks Rise a Bit; Bonds Ease --- Big Board Volume Is Light Following Tokyo Market's Slide | U.S. stock prices edged fractionally higher in thin trading after the Tokyo stock market plunged below an important threshold. Bond prices eased and the dollar was mixed.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 0.45 to 3236.36 in lackluster trading. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was up 0.55 to 406.39. But the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.68 to 617.94.</br></br>Traders in the U.S. were braced for some selling after the Nikkei index fell below the psychologically important 20,000 level to 19,837.16, the lowest it has been since February 1987. The decline in Tokyo indicated investors expect Japan's weakening economy to get worse before improving.</br></br>The Japanese market's effect on U.S. stocks was depressing, keeping the industrials in negative territory until moments before the closing bell. Absence of news about the U.S. economy held trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange to a relatively slim 151.3 million shares.</br></br>Traders said investors are awaiting several economic releases this morning, including housing starts, industrial production and consumer prices, all for February. If projections are accurate, the data could lift stock prices more: Both housing starts and industrial production are expected to show some strength and consumer prices to rise modestly. | yes | 1 |
Mexico Charts Shifts in Relations With U.S. --- Mexico's Fox Plans For Broader Policy On U.S. Immigration | MEXICO CITY -- A sharp increase in the number of U.S. visas granted to Mexican nationals will be a foreign-policy priority for incoming President Vicente Fox Quesada, according to a campaign working paper.</br></br>The policy memorandum, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, says Mexico should consider negotiating a broad new immigration agreement with the U.S. The proposed plan would commit the U.S. to granting Mexicans many more visas in exchange for what would be unprecedented Mexican cooperation in reducing the northward flow of illegal immigrants.</br></br>A U.S. State Department spokesman said any change in the number of Mexican immigrants allowed into the U.S. would have to be approved by Congress. Nevertheless, he said "we look forward to working with Mr. Fox on the major issues of the relationship, especially immigration and economic issues."</br></br>A top adviser to Mr. Fox says Mexico also should endorse a recent AFL-CIO initiative to grant an amnesty to illegal immigrants living in the U.S. An estimated eight million Mexicans live in the U.S., with about half believed to have entered without documents. While many are able to legalize their status through marriage or other means, the number of undocumented arrivals is growing faster than ever -- about 300,000 this year.</br></br>In comparison, the number of Mexicans entering with visas is small, about 70,000 a year, according to the adviser. Despite increased patrolling along the border, migrants keep crossing. Already this year, more than 100 migrants have died attempting to enter the U.S. | no | 0 |
U.S. News: Fed Nominees Back Policies to Reduce Unemployment | WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's nominees to the Federal Reserve Board stressed the importance of fighting a weak economy, indicating support for policies aimed at reducing the high unemployment rate.</br></br>"Over the next few years, the Fed must craft policies that ensure that our economy accelerates its progress along the recovery path it has begun to trace," Janet Yellen, the nominee for Fed vice chairman who has served as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco since 2004, told the Senate Banking Committee. "With unemployment still painfully high, job creation must be a high priority of monetary policy."</br></br>Ms. Yellen appeared at a confirmation hearing Thursday alongside two other nominees to become Fed governors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Peter Diamond and Maryland financial regulator Sarah Bloom Raskin.</br></br>If confirmed to the seven-member Fed board, the trio would likely push the balance of power at the Fed toward those who worry more that the economy isn't expanding quickly enough rather than those worried about the risk of unwelcome inflation.</br></br>Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) noted that recent data suggested that the economy was moving toward price deflation. "It is evident that the economy is going to need all the help the Fed can provide over the coming year," he said. | no | 0 |
DIGEST | has found more signs of inflation in a vibrant economy. The Fed's most recent survey of business conditions around the nation, prepared for a two-day meeting of the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee that begins Jan. 31, found continued economic strength and more widespread signs of price pressures.</br></br>who served as general counsel of the Federal Reserve Board in the mid-1970s, has emerged as the Treasury's leading candidate to become Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, administration officials said. Except for his three-year stint at the Fed, Hawke, 61, has spent his legal career at the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter.</br></br>posted higher fourth-quarter profits fueled by higher interest income, as solid loan growth and acquisitions added to their base of assets. San Francisco-based BankAmerica said profit rose 19 percent, Minneapolis-based Norwest reported an 84 percent surge in earnings and Philadelphia-based Corestates Financial said net income was up 17 percent. Fleet said expensive reductions boosted earnings 21 percent.</br></br>tapped former senator Howard H. Baker Jr. to head their lobbying effort as Congress begins rewriting federal communications laws. The Tennessee Republican was Senate majority leader in the early 1980s and served as President Reagan's chief of staff. Baker, who runs a Washington law firm, also is a former board member of AT&T.</br></br>had a record year in 1994 despite continued weakness in its commercial aircraft business, with its profit up more than $200 million to $598 million. For the fourth quarter, McDonnell Douglas earned $165 million, compared with a profit of $143 million in the 1993 period. | no | 0 |
GATT Ministers Scold U.S., but Some Fear Deficit's End | One after another, trade ministers stepped to the podium here this week and called on the United States to put its fiscal house in order.</br></br>But the paradox underlying the meeting here of the 95 nations that belong to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is that many countries fear that the Reagan administration and Congress actually will get together and make meaningful cuts in the U.S. budget deficit.</br></br>That would likely cause a contraction in the U.S. economy, which other countries expect would hurt sales of their exports to the United States.</br></br>While this would help ease the United States' stubborn trade deficit, which has soared to record heights for four straight years, it could plunge many countries whose growth depends on exports to the United States into economic recession or worse.</br></br>For while the budget deficit has brought instability and uncertainty to world financial markets and caused the U.S. dollar to plunge to record lows, it also has fed economic expansion in the United States, which has become the locomotive for world growth in this decade. | no | 0 |
Here's a Guarantee You Can't 'Always' Take to the Bank | NEW YORK -- How long is "always" on Wall Street?</br></br>At Irving Trust Co., it seems, always is about seven months. That's how long ago the bank promised to "always" pay a special high interest rate on its biggest deposits. Now, however, Irving has decided to renege.</br></br>In a brochure last September promoting its special "One Wall Street" account -- named after the bank's address -- Irving said balances of $15,000 and up were "guaranteed always to pay you" at least one half of a percentage point over the Donoghue Money Fund average, a standard benchmark for short-term interest rates.</br></br>This month, however, Irving Vice President Cynthia Cole sent out a letter saying, "Dear Customer: I am writing to inform you of some changes in the way in which interest will be calculated on your One Wall Street Account."</br></br>Effective April 14, Ms. Cole said, balances under $50,000 will receive interest equal to the Donoghue average. Balances between $50,000 and $100,000 are entitled to the same average plus one tenth of a percentage point. Beyond that, balances earn a maximum of one quarter of a percentage point over the average. | no | 0 |
U.S. Trade Gap Grew Slightly In September --- Increase in Imports of 3.2% Offset 2.9% Export Gain; Mosbacher Hails News | WASHINGTON -- The U.S. merchandise trade deficit widened slightly to $6.79 billion in September, the Commerce Department said, with modest increases in both exports and imports.</br></br>The Commerce Department said exports increased by 2.9% to $35.43 billion in September while imports rose by 3.2% to $42.22 billion. The August deficit was $6.53 billion.</br></br>The Bush administration hailed the news as an indication of economic recovery. "The slight increase in the overall deficit reflected a growing U.S. economy, with strong purchases by Americans of consumer and capital goods," said Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher in a statement. "With three quarters of 1991 in the bank, a very good trade year is shaping up."</br></br>But several private economists suggested Mr. Mosbacher's analysis was overly optimistic, particularly on the import side. Bruce Steinberg, senior economist with Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York, said the growth in imports doesn't really reflect a pickup in consumer demand, but rather the purchase of previously ordered goods. "Unfortunately, most of the increase in imports was in retail inventories, {orders made} when people thought the recession was over," said Mr. Steinberg.</br></br>Other government reports suggest that increases in domestic demand noticed earlier in the year have begun to taper off. | yes | 1 |
The Washington Post Monday, August 5, 1985 A13 | The recent decision by the Federal Reserve BoardÛªs Open Market Committee not to apply monetary brakes despite a surge in the money supply since last winter is not only a major shift in monetary strategy but also a daring gamble.</br></br>The strategy may provide just the stimulus the economy will need to maintain the recovery in 1986. But it carries with it the risk of a sharp increase in inflation, especially if significant deficit reduction is not forthcoming.</br></br>In testimony to the House Banking Committee, Fed Chairman Paul Volcker sketched out the background conditions leading to the policy change. During the first half of this year, the basic measure of the money supply. MlÛÓor currency and checkable depositsÛÓhas increased much more rapidly than anticipated. And after April that increase became even more pronounced.</br></br>The response of the Fed to this increase in the money supply has been unusual, though not unprecedented. The normal Fed reaction to unexpectedly rapid growth in money should be to take counteractive, contractionary measures. Instead, the Fed has said, in effect, letÛªs start all overÛÓletÛªs keep the same general target range for the money growth rate that was set at the beginning of the year, but start that growth from the new, higher level of the money stock that resulted from the rapid increase of money since the year began.</br></br>For the rest of this year, the Fed will aim to keep the annual rate of increase of Ml in a range of 3 to 8 percent. But because that increase is now starting from a higher level, the increase in the money stock for 1985 as a whole will be more than 8 percent, even if the Fed is able to stay at the midpoint of its target range for the remainder of the year. | no | 0 |
Jump in D.C. Jobless Blamed on Students | Unemployment in the District of Columbia rose substantially from May to June. The increase resulted primarily from the addition of students on summer vacation to the work force, city officials said yesterday.</br></br>Figures released by the D.C. Department of Employment Services showed that unemployment in the District for June was 7 percent, compared with 6.2 percent in May. But the 7 percent figure was lower than the 8.2 percent unemployment suffered by Washington residents in June. 1979.</br></br>Unemployment in the metropolitan area as a whole also increased, from 3.9 percent in May to 4.7 percent in June. In June, 1979, unemployment for</br></br>In a related announcement, the department said yesterday that registration now is open for an additional 1,300 jobs under the cityÛªs troubled summer employment program for youth.</br></br>The jobs, to be filled on a first-come, first-served basis by low-income youths from 16 to 21 years old, were made possible by a supplemental federal grant under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. The jobs program has been plagued by bureaucratic foulups and extensive delays in processing paychecks for the youths. | no | 0 |
Nonmarital Births: As Rates Soar, Theories Abound; Levels Once Seen as Aberration Among Blacks Have Become `Norm for the Entire Culture' | In the summer of 1965, one of the most explosive government reports ever written disclosed that one-quarter of all black children were born out of wedlock.</br></br>The report, by then-Assistant Labor Secretary Daniel Patrick Moynihan, touched off waves of alarm, then defensiveness, then recrimination. The subject proved so sensitive that public policy-makers became convinced there was nothing they could do to address it. Eventually, a protective silence descended.</br></br>Twenty-five years later, there is a new statistic: More than one-quarter of all children born in America are born out of wedlock.</br></br>The black out-of-wedlock rate has more than doubled to 63.5 percent (in 1988, the last year for which figures are available). But the white rate has risen faster, more than quadrupling from just over 4 percent in 1965 to 17.8 percent in 1988. Of all the babies born out of wedlock in 1988, 539,696 were white and 426,665 were black.</br></br>"Illegitimacy levels that were viewed as an aberration of a particular subculture 25 years ago have become the norm for the entire culture," said Moynihan, now a Democratic senator from New York. | no | 0 |
Rosy Goes to Toronto | Forget the economic summit that just concluded here and turn your attention to the one that will count-in France in 1989: they had to hold this one because it is an annual event.</br></br>For President Reagan, the Toronto summit provided a convenient backdrop of nostalgia and looking back. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher-Reagan's closest ideological partner-pronounced her blessing, as a spokesman for her put it, by crediting Reagan for moving the world away "from the locomotive theory to prudent economic theory." That means, he said, that a policy "of throwing money" at problems has been abandoned.</br></br>The mutual admiration society apart, the president and the other heads of government said they are content with the current short-term outlook, and chose not to rock the boat by dwelling on the medium- and long-term issues. So the main product of the Toronto summit was a global "Rosy Scenario."</br></br>But in private conversations, lesser officials were not kidding themselves: they know that the hard problems, not discussed here, have been swept under the rug until next year, when there will be a new American president.</br></br>"At the 1989 summit, you will have the key new participant-either Bush or Dukakis," said a Canadian official. "And Bush or Dukakis will have to face all of the big issues-the American budget deficit, trade imbalances, Third World debt and these huge farm subsidies." | no | 0 |
Asia's Reckoning: Asia's Crisis Fuels U.S. Boom | There is little doubt that the economic crisis now gripping East Asia is the most severe shock to the global economy since the end of the Cold War. But it would be wrong to attribute the recent weakness on Wall Street to the crisis.</br></br>There is no reason for the Asian crisis to depress the growth rate of the U.S. economy. Instead, it is likely to change the sectoral composition of growth within the economy. The crisis will set the stage for poor performance in companies producing tradable goods, but it will also create opportunities for profit in companies catering to domestic consumption.</br></br>The data on the U.S. gross domestic product for the first half of 1998 illustrate how the crisis has changed the U.S. economy's growth mix. There was an unprecedented expansion of the trade deficit, to $252.9 billion during the second quarter of 1998 from $149 billion during the fourth quarter of 1997. This reduced real annual GDP growth by about 2.4% during the first half of 1998. But total annual output growth still averaged about 3.5% because domestic demand grew at a 6.5% annual rate compared with 2.4% during the fourth quarter of 1997. This upsurge was not a lucky accident, but the result of three positive side effects the crisis has had on the U.S. economy.</br></br>First, the risk of further financial collapse in Asia and elsewhere has deterred the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates to slow the growth of domestic spending. As a result, the U.S. economy is enjoying higher growth rates for home building, commercial construction and retail sales than it would have without the Asian crisis.</br></br>Second, increased foreign demand for American equities and other U.S. financial assets has helped the U.S. withstand the Asia trade shock. The Asia crisis created a surplus pool of global liquidity that has driven U.S. equity prices to unprecedented levels. Foreign investors purchased U.S. equities at an annual rate exceeding $100 billion during the first quarter of 1998, compared with $66 billion during the whole of 1997. The buoyancy of the equity market has boosted household wealth while sending the household savings rate down to only 0.6% during the second quarter, from 2.6% one year ago. | no | 0 |
Investing Chief Rises to MetLife's Top Spot | Author: Leslie Scism</br></br>MetLife Inc. said its chief investment officer, widely credited with helping the giant insurer come through the financial crisis with minimal damage, will become its next president and chief executive.</br></br>Steven A. Kandarian, 59 years old, will succeed C. Robert Henrikson, who in 2012 will reach the company's executive-management mandatory-retirement age of 65.</br></br>Mr. Kandarian will assume the posts on May 1 of this year and will also be nominated for election to MetLife's board at the company's annual shareholder meeting in April. Mr. Henrikson, 63, will continue to serve as chairman during a transition period through the end of 2011.</br></br>While Mr. Henrikson's is a classic insurance-industry success story--he started as a MetLife agent selling policies over kitchen tables and rose through the ranks--Mr. Kandarian is one of a number of leaders in the industry with investment backgrounds. | no | 0 |
Russia's President Faces an Uneasy U.S. Congress | Instead of a big package of aid for his country, Congress is giving Russian President Boris Yeltsin a lesson in the mixed blessings of legislative democracy, American style.</br></br>When Yeltsin mounts the podium in the House chamber today as the first Russian leader to address a joint meeting of Congress, he will be greeted with applause, for himself and for the historic moment he represents.</br></br>So why, Yeltsin might ask, are these friendly people balking at passing legislation sought by President Bush more than two months ago to authorize a $12 billion increase in the U.S. commitment to the International Monetary Fund and other steps to aid republics of the former Soviet Union?</br></br>The answer can be found in a rule made famous by former House speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.): All politics is local, even global politics - especially when it deals with the politically touchy issue of foreign aid.</br></br>Yeltsin's bid for help as Russia makes the difficult transition from a state-controlled to market economy came at an awkward time here, coinciding with election campaigns, a lingering recession, severe budget constraints and mounting pressures for spending to ease unemployment and urban tensions. | no | 0 |
Proxmire Urges LBJ to Reverse Tax Stand: Business Leaders Foresee Expansion | YEAR-END FRIVOLITYÛÓThe final work day of the year celebrated with showers of torn paper and calendars,</br></br>YEAR-END FRIVOLITYÛÓThe final work day of the year celebrated with showers of torn paper and calendars, for employes in San FranciscoÛªs financial district was This sports car seems to have been a prime target.</br></br>United Press International The chairman of the House-Senate Economic Committee urged President Johnson yesterday to drop plans for a tax increase in 1968 and battle inflation with a tight Federal budget and wage-price guidelines.</br></br>Sen. William Proxmire (D Wis.), said an income tax in crease next year could be a se rious mistake and might bur the economy. He said Con gross was ÛÏdead rightÛ in re fusing to act on the Presi</br></br>In a statement, Proxmire said a 1967 tax increase would have been an ÛÏeconomic blunder,Û further restricting operations of the industrial plants, which were at only 84 per cent of capacity. Hundreds and thousands of jobs would have been eliminated, the Senator said, and corporate lax increases would be passed along to consumers. | no | 0 |
Hong Kong Residential Real Estate Is Having Its Problems | HONG KONG -- If the time to buy is when nobody else likes a particular sector, this is the week to snap up shares in Hong Kong residential real-estate developers.</br></br>Then again, all of those people bidding down the stocks are probably right to sell, at least if they want to make a profit in the next year or so.</br></br>This is a sector with problems: Most of the tycoons who own the companies have yet to weigh in with anything positive, such as share purchases, and real-estate prices in Hong Kong remain stuck about 50% below their 1997 peaks. Prices had looked as if they were bottoming out two weeks ago. But then came the terrorist attacks in the U.S., which analyst Andrew Lawrence at Deutsche Bank says knocked 5% to 10% off prices of used apartments.</br></br>So, while Hong Kong property may still be expensive by world standards, by the city's measure it is going cheap. Gloom emanates from the city's boardrooms.</br></br>This was Ronnie Chan, chairman of the Hang Lung Group, reporting results Monday for one of the few stocks in the sector analysts seem to like: "In view of the very weak market with much uncertainty, land acquisition must be done with extreme caution. Prices, profit margins and transaction volumes are all falling and will likely stay low for the foreseeable future." | no | 0 |
Grab a Fixed Rate Now | If you've been sitting on the home-mortgage sidelines waiting for the return of single-digit fixed rates before you buy, sell or refinance, get on your feet. Rates below 10 percent are back and they're turning adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) into second choices for smart-money shoppers nationwide.</br></br>Here's why: Thanks to changes in the bond markets and a voracious appetite by institutional investors for mortgage securities, rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have been sliding steadily for weeks.</br></br>Although national indexes maintained by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) and others haven't yet dipped below the magic 10 percent line, they're close. And in major markets across the country, heavy competition is under way among aggressive lenders to woo mortgage borrowers with 9 1/2 and 9 3/4 percent fixed-rate mortgages.</br></br>Equally important: Lenders have refrained from cutting rates on the loan product that's been racking up two-thirds of their business this fall: adjustable-rate mortgages. Statistics released last week reveal that the rate gap between fixed and adjustable loans-the main reason why consumers overwhelmingly have chosen the latter in 1988-has narrowed dramatically.</br></br>The spread between 30-year fixed and one-year ARMs is now barely 2 percentage points. In August, by contrast, it was 2 3/4 points. Any time the differential gets below 2 1/4 points, mortgage experts say, consumers begin voting for fixed rates rather than adjustable. | no | 0 |
World Watch | Europe</br></br>Fiscal discipline will be a cornerstone of Hungary's European Union presidency, the country's Minister of State for EU Affairs said in an interview. Budapest takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU in January, with stringent economic and fiscal policies and a pro-economic growth approach as its main target areas.</br></br>***</br></br>U.S.</br></br>In Texas, a polygamist sect leader remained mute during an arraignment on bigamy and child sex abuse charges, forcing the court to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf. Warren Jeffs, the 55-year-old ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said nothing as prosecutors read a sexual assault charge accusing him of having sex with a girl younger than 17. | no | 0 |
Comeback Sends Dow Up 85; Nasdaq Off | Blue-chip stocks broke a three-day losing streak in a volatile day on Wall Street as investors looked for bargains and shunned usually hot technology stocks.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down as much as 115 points early in the day, rallied in the afternoon to close up 85.32 at 10,304.84.</br></br>The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index, however, was unable to shake off concerns about interest rates and fell 29.62, to 4382.12. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 6.08, to 1352.17.</br></br>Today's performance was a marked change from the recent trend on Wall Street that has pushed the Nasdaq up more than 8 percent this year and the Dow down 11 percent.</br></br>"What you are really seeing today is what has been oversold, the Dow, is coming back. And what was overbought, the Nasdaq, is having a correction," said Rao Chalasani, chief investment strategist at First Union Securities in Chicago. | no | 0 |
U.S. News: Food Stamps Surge in West --- Sharp Rise Since Bottom Fell Out of Region's Boom Clashes With Go-It-Alone Ethos | BOISE, Idaho -- Before the recession hit, Idaho, Nevada and Utah had some of the lowest rates of food stamp use in the nation. It was a boom time in a region that has always prided itself on self-reliance and a disdain for government handouts.</br></br>But since the recession began, these three states have the fastest growth rates in the nation of participation in the federal program, recently released figures show. Utah saw a nearly 34% jump in food-stamp participation in December from the same month a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nevada had the second fastest growth rate at 25%, followed by Idaho at 24%.</br></br>For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, those three states plus Wyoming ranked among the top 10 in food-stamp growth, with Idaho leading with a 42% jump from 2009, according to USDA figures.</br></br>It's a striking shift for the area, reflecting a post-boom fallout that has been compounded by the many new residents drawn to the region by a hot economy who lacked a support network when jobs disappeared.</br></br>"This is a pick-you-up-by-the-bootstraps type of state, which is why the food-stamp participation has [historically] been low," said Rose Andueza, program manager of Idaho's Division of Welfare. "But I think now people have just run out of options." | yes | 1 |
New Check Account Rules Cause Confusion, Anxious Moments at Area Banks on First Day | A teller at Citizens Bank of Maryland on the University of Maryland campus was having a hard time yesterday.</br></br>As new students arrived from out of town to open their bank accounts, the teller had to explain that because of complex new rules passed by Congress last year, many of their checks could be held for seven business days before funds would be available.</br></br>"They have a lot of questions," said the teller, who asked to remain anonymous. "A lot of them think that, no matter what, their money will be available the next day."</br></br>To add insult to injury, some of them were told they had endorsed their checks in the wrong spot, and were asked to endorse them again.</br></br>While some bank tellers and branch managers in the Washington area said there were few questions yesterday about the new rules, mandated by the Expedited Funds Availability Act, most agree that there is bound to be some anxiety and confusion when bank customers become more aware of the changes that affect them. | no | 0 |
Fed Officials Tussle Over Labor Market Slack; Yellen Differs With Some Colleagues Over Effect on Inflation and Wages | Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen has argued consistently in recent months that labor markets are abundant with slack that will hold inflation and wages down. But she hasn't convinced all her colleagues.</br></br>Minutes of the Fed's April 29-30 policy meeting showed a lengthy debate on this subject and suggested labor-market slack will become an important battleground in the central bank's coming discussions about how long to continue its low-interest-rate policies.</br></br>Many economists believe lots of slack in the labor market--large numbers of unemployed or underutilized workers--means the Fed can keep interest rates very low to help boost economic growth without generating high inflation. Conversely, they think that if there isn't much slack, or that it decreases rapidly, the central bank should raise rates more quickly to keep price pressures under control.</br></br>The unemployment rate fell to 6.3% in April, not far from its long-run average of 5.8%. Ms. Yellen has argued other measures--such as the nation's many part-time workers who want full-time work--represent slack holding wages down. While that view is broadly held at the Fed, the minutes showed she faced some pushback at the last meeting.</br></br>"Some participants reported that labor markets were tight in their districts or that contacts indicated some sectors or occupations were experiencing shortages of workers," the minutes said about the Fed's discussions, without identifying the participants by name or specifying the number holding certain views. | no | 0 |
Many Retirees Face Prospect of Outliving Savings, Study Says | Nearly three out of five middle-class retirees will probably run out of money if they maintain their pre-retirement lifestyles, a new study from Ernst & Young has concluded.</br></br>The study, set to be released tomorrow, finds that Americans will have to drastically reduce their standard of living before retirement to live comfortably, or even avoid destitution, later in life. Middle-income Americans entering retirement now will have to reduce their standard of living by an average of 24 percent to minimize their chances of outliving their financial assets, the study found. Workers seven years from retirement will have to cut their spending by even more -- 37 percent.</br></br>"People are going to have to adapt in a number of ways that they weren't anticipating or hoping for," said Tom Neubig, national director of the Quantitative Economics and Statistics practice at Ernst & Young. "I think a lot of people are hoping to maintain roughly the same standard of living after retirement. Our study suggests they are going to have to make some changes."</br></br>About 77 million baby boomers are expected to retire over the next few years. The study warns of an impending national crisis if workers, and lawmakers, do not react now to the changing pension structures in corporate America. Most companies have moved away from defined-benefit plans, in which they provided their retirees with a set benefit each month, to defined-contribution plans such as 401(k)s, in which the employee takes most of the responsibility for saving money. But with the U.S. savings rate abysmally low and people underestimating their life spans, economists warn that aspiring retirees will have to work longer if they do not spend less, no small feat at a time when inflation and the cost of living are rising. Fluctuating investment returns on 401(k)-style plans in this wobbly stock market are not helping matters.</br></br>"Most people, if they look at their life expectancy and they think they will live to 90, they are nuts to retire at 60. They're going to be living in poverty at 80," said Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland. "I think it's a wake-up call to baby boomers to get serious about getting their houses in order." | no | 0 |
Funds That Show Power of Just One | As the Dow Jones industrial average hurtles toward 10,000, putting journalists in a quandary about whether to use a comma, investors are pouring more and more money into mutual funds -- a record $37.5 billion in net new cash in March. In 1980, fund investments totaled $100 billion in 12 million accounts; today, $5 trillion in 170 million accounts.</br></br>Still, the majority of Americans have exactly zero dollars invested in the stock market. Some of them simply don't have the money, but many others are confused and scared, and don't know where to begin. They think they need special expertise, and they worry about being burned by unscrupulous brokers or stock manipulators. That's a shame, considering how easy it has become to own stocks and how fair and efficient our markets are.</br></br>The best way to get into the stock market is to buy shares in an equity mutual fund, which is a portfolio of stocks chosen by a professional manager. When you own a share in a fund, you own pieces of all the stocks in the portfolio. While I think it's a good idea to own three or four funds, it's possible -- even prudent -- to own just one. But which fund? That is this week's question, both for investment novices and for more seasoned mavens who want to ponder an interesting intellectual question.</br></br>Here is what I want in just-one-fund: relatively low risk; broad exposure to stocks, including at least a few international ones; strong, consistent performance; and a seasoned manager. I'd like to beat the market, but with few unsettling dips. The ideal fund would not be too big. New research from Morningstar Mutual Funds shows that returns decline as oversized large-cap funds (but, curiously, not small-cap funds) grow to behemoths. Also, expenses should be reasonable, and turnover (which boosts tax bills) should be relatively low.</br></br>One of the few funds that meets these criteria is Dreyfus Disciplined Stock (1-800-645-6561), which has two of my favorite words in its title. The manager, Bert Mullins, has been running the fund since it began 10 years ago under the aegis of Mellon Bank Corp., a conservative Pittsburgh-based institution that merged recently with Dreyfus. Mellon had only a few funds, which were excellent but poorly marketed. Dreyfus had lots of funds, many of which were not stellar performers but were brilliantly sold. It was a match made in Wall Street heaven. | yes | 1 |
Worthen Banking weighs merger, other options | LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Worthen Banking Corp. indicated it is considering a possible merger or sale of the company.</br></br>Worthen said that it is evaluating "various strategic alternatives"</br></br>and that one of those alternatives is remaining independent. The</br></br>company, which didn't elaborate, has hired PaineWebber Inc. to help it</br></br>review the possibilities. | no | 0 |
Ahead of the Tape | [Today's Market Forecast]</br></br>Sticky Situation</br></br>Ah, that sweltering feeling of the season. Moist palms, soaked-through shirts, sweating brows. Welcome to the bond market.</br></br>After an intense tryst with deflation, the bond market has grown wary about its love affair with falling prices during the past several days. Last week, the yield on the 10-year Treasury moved so low -- the lowest in 45 years -- that one of two scenarios seemed plausible: Either a nasty deflationary cycle was looming (good for Treasurys) or the bond market had turned Bubblicious (not).</br></br>As the herd focuses on whiffs of economic stirring, rather than on the nervous utterings of Fed Chief Sir Alan Greenspan, the stickier version of events seems more plausible. Yields on the 10-year, have risen smartly during the past two sessions. Given how richly priced bonds have become, it doesn't take much to rattle the market. | yes | 1 |
Health Care Tax Proposal Drawing Fire in Virginia | Struggling to balance Virginia's budget despite soaring health care costs for the poor, Gov. L. Douglas Wilder last week made a spicy proposal buried beneath a bland name.</br></br>"Shared Provider Financial Participation" is Wilder's bulky euphemism for the tax he wants to impose on most of the medical industry to help offset the state's growing spending on the federally mandated Medicaid program.</br></br>Just a few days into the 1992 General Assembly session, the Medicaid proposal already has emerged as one of the year's biggest battles. A high-stakes contest is underway pitting Wilder's legislative influence against some of the state's most powerful interest groups.</br></br>Wilder's plan would raise $68 million during the next two-year budget cycle by taxing from one-half percent to 1 percent of the gross receipts of hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies, and putting a $200 annual surcharge on physicians.</br></br>Wilder and his advisers argue that the health care providers can absorb the tax by making their operations more efficient and modestly pinching profits. Proponents of the tax say health care profits are high in part because of rapidly escalating Medicaid payments that, unlike most state government programs, are adjusted upward to account for inflation. | no | 0 |
White House Raises Forecast Of 1988 GNP --- Economic Growth Set at 3%; Interest Rates Are Seen Higher Than Predicted | WASHINGTON -- The Reagan administration raised its official forecast of economic growth to 3% for 1988 from the projection of 2.4% it made in February.</br></br>White House economist Beryl Sprinkel said the change reflected significantly stronger growth than expected at the beginning of the year. "Our rosy forecast wasn't rosy enough," he said, chiding congressional critics who complained earlier in the year that the White House forecast was too optimistic.</br></br>The administration acknowledged, however, that interest rates were likely to remain substantially higher than it had previously forecast.</br></br>Mr. Sprinkel said the new numbers were consistent with a revised report from the Commerce Department, also released yesterday, showing first-quarter economic growth at a robust annual rate of 3.6%, after taking account of inflation. An estimate released last month put the growth rate in the "real" gross national product at 3.9%.</br></br>The new forecast will be used to calculate the administration's midyear review of the budget. Mr. Sprinkel said that although the higher-than-expected growth will boost Treasury revenue, higher-than-expected interest rates will increase government spending on debt service. As a result, the new forecast will do little to help reduce the budget deficit. | no | 0 |
Fed Considers More Action Amid New Recovery Doubts | Disappointing U.S. economic data, new strains in financial markets and deepening worries about Europe's fiscal crisis have prompted a shift at the Federal Reserve, putting back on the table the possibility of action to spur the recovery.</br></br>Such action seemed highly unlikely at the central bank's April meeting, when forecasts for growth and employment were brightening. At their policy meeting this month, Fed officials will weigh whether the U.S. economic outlook is deteriorating enough to justify new measures to boost growth, according to interviews and Fed speeches.</br></br>The Fed's next meeting, June 19 and 20, could be too soon for conclusive decisions. Fed policy makers have many unanswered questions and have had trouble forming consensus in the past. Top Fed officials have said that they would support new measures if they became convinced the U.S. wasn't making progress on bringing down unemployment. Recent disappointing employment reports have raised this possibility, but the data might be a temporary blip. Moreover, the Fed's options for more easing are sure to stir internal resistance at the central bank if they are considered.</br></br>Their options include doing nothing and continuing to assess the economic outlook--or more strongly signaling a willingness to act later if the outlook more clearly worsens. Fed policy makers could take a small precautionary measure, like extending for a short period its "Operation Twist" program, in which the Fed is selling short-term securities and using the proceeds to buy long-term securities. Or, policy makers could take bolder action such as launching another large round of bond purchases if they become convinced of a significant slowdown.</br></br>The landscape for the Fed is complicated by the presidential election. Mindful of his own legacy and the Fed's independence, Chairman Ben Bernanke seems unlikely to allow the political calendar to sway his decisions. He appears especially immune from politics now, with just 18 months left in his term as chairman and little indication that he wants another. Still, some investors speculate the Fed has an incentive to decide quickly to avoid shifting policies close to the November vote. | yes | 1 |
Greenspan Backs Banking Overhaul Opposed by Rubin | WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, splitting with Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, said he backs a financial-services bill being pushed by the Republican leadership in the House.</br></br>Mr. Greenspan's endorsement, expressed in a letter to House Banking Committee Chairman James Leach (R., Iowa), came one day after a top Treasury Department official criticized the bill as a backward step for the banking industry.</br></br>The Fed chief, however, said passage of the bill would be "an historic achievement that would update the increasingly antiquated laws that constrain the development and competitiveness of our financial system." Mr. Greenspan said the bill would remove "obsolete barriers" that prevent banks, securities and insurance companies from merging. The bill would require any bank that affiliates with other firms to do so within a holding company, over which the Fed would have regulatory authority.</br></br>The Treasury Department believes that a national bank should be able to conduct any new securities and insurance activities through an affiliate of the bank itself. That corporate structure falls under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an arm of the Treasury Department.</br></br>In a letter to House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R., Ga.) released earlier this week, Mr. Rubin said flatly that "we oppose this bill and would not recommend its enactment." | no | 0 |
Dollar Tumbles 2.5 Percent Against Yen, Pound, Mark; Crisis of Confidence Blamed for Decline | In what analysts called the biggest single-day drop in years, the dollar plummeted today as traders who had been powering the currency's long rally suffered a sudden crisis of confidence.</br></br>Market watchers said there was no apparent fundamental news to account for the dollar's drop, which amounted to 2.5 percent or more against the British pound, West German mark and Japanese yen.</br></br>Instead, traders said the dollar appeared to have risen too far, too fast in recent weeks and may have been ripe for a selloff by speculators anxious to cash in their gains.</br></br>"It was just inevitable we would reach some level where there were just no more buyers and the sellers would gain the advantage," said Bob Giordano, chief dealer at Bank Leumi Trust Co. in New York.</br></br>Analysts say a market rally often breaks when market sentiment is strongest that the advance is unstoppable, because there is no one left to persuade and therefore no fresh cash available to enter the market. | yes | 1 |
China PMI Falls, Points To Need for Stimulus | BEIJING--A preliminary gauge of China's manufacturing activity showed more weakness in June, which appeared to strengthen the case for more stimulus measures to spur growth.</br></br>The HSBC initial, or "flash," measure of manufacturing also foreshadowed weakness in the months ahead as its barometer of new manufacturing orders, particularly export orders, showed further declines amid a lingering global economic slowdown.</br></br>China has already turned to an array of measures to boost growth, speeding up approvals on big projects, offering tax breaks and extending subsidies to promote consumer spending. A big unanswered question is whether the plethora of actions in the past month or so will be sufficient to boost growth during the second half of the year. If so, it could help strengthen global demand at a time when Europe is in recession and the U.S. is growing slowly.</br></br>The HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 48.1 in June compared with a final reading of 48.4 in May. It was the eighth straight month of a reading below 50, which indicates contraction, though Qu Hongbin, HSBC chief economist for China, noted that the pace of slowdown had eased slightly.</br></br>The drop was mainly driven by a further deterioration in new export orders, which fell by 2.6 points to 45.9 in June--the lowest reading since March 2009. Total new orders also slid to a seven-month low of 46.8 in June compared with 47.9 in May. China's economy slowed to 8.1% in the first quarter of 2012 compared with a year earlier, the slowest pace since the spring of 2009, and a number of analysts are expecting a further decline in the second quarter to roughly 7.5% year-over-year. | no | 0 |
Barry Making His Return In a Much Different D.C. | At the core of Marion Barry's quest for political revival are true believers like Benjy Little. In Barry's four terms as mayor, he funded Little's recreation center, employed his parents and gave him a series of summer jobs.</br></br>"I call him my father," said Little, 30, of Anacostia, who survived a bout of drug addiction to become a school mediation counselor and start a small music magazine. "Marion Barry is the only person I had."</br></br>But more than 20 years after Barry first rose to power, Washington has fewer and fewer Benjy Littles, with direct personal and economic ties to the political machine Barry built as the dominant power in city politics over decades.</br></br>As Barry mounts his latest comeback attempt, he faces a city that is wealthier and whiter -- and a government that is less devoted to political patronage -- than it was in his heyday. And much of his traditional constituency has moved to what Washingtonians jokingly call Ward 9 -- Prince George's County.</br></br>That Barry is still regarded as a formidable force is testimony to the enduring power of his politics. They are populist and personal, giving him a fighting chance to overcome demographics and voting patterns that are shifting against him. | no | 0 |
Stock-Split Talk Rallies Market: Cash Dividend Raised | I NEW YORK, Nov. 3 MV-A' proposed 3-for-l stock split by Standard Oil (NJ) today sparked the biggest stock market rally in three weeks.</br></br>Gains of about $1 to $3 a share were registered by pivotal stocks, with some ranging in the area of $5 advances.</br></br>Jersey Standard forged ahead $8.37 a share at one point before closing at $139.87 for a rise of $7.50 a share.</br></br>I NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (^ÛÓDirectors of Standard Oil Co. (N. J.) I today proposed a three-for-one split of the' common stock, bringing a notable addition to the long list of United States corporations w^hich have made or proposed stock splits in</br></br>With this action, the NationÛªs top three manufacturing firms ÛÓJersey Standard, General Motors Corp., and United States SteelÛÓall will have split their common stock during 1955. | no | 0 |
Economic View ..Credit Policy Not Causing Slump in Autos | LAST WEEK the president of General Motors Corp. reduced his forecast of 1956 automobile production by 15 per</br></br>LAST WEEK the president of General Motors Corp. reduced his forecast of 1956 automobile production by 15 per cent and seemed to place much of the blame for lower automo-.bile sales on the restrictive credit policies of the Federal Reserve Board. Certain facts suggest that he picked the wrong' "whipping boy"; the real culprit may be the automobile industry itself, and/or the fickle public.</br></br>Personal Disposable Income (after taxes) in the first quarter of this year showed a $16.1 billion (6.2 per cent) increase over the first quarter of last year, but an analysis of personal expenditures shows that, either by choice or by necessity, this increase in purchasing power was channeled to uses other than the purchase of automobiles,</br></br>In the first place, it is difficult to see how there could be any quarrel with a $16 billion increase in personal purchasing power, whether or not one chooses to criticize credit policies, An increase of that size is one of the best annual gains on record. Nor, do we see any reason to believe that credit policies had much influence on the. publicÛªs use of this increased purchasing power.</br></br>It so happened that the public decided that it wanted to spend $4.3 billion (annual rate) more for food and beverages in the first quarter of this year than it did a year earlier. So 27 per cent of the splendid increase in purchasing power was absorbed for these items. | no | 0 |
Proposals by Diamond Shamrock Corp., Pickens Don't Seem to Impress Investors | Neither institutional investors nor the stock market appear to be impressed with either Diamond Shamrock Corp.'s proposed restructuring or T. Boone Pickens's all-cash bid for the company.</br></br>Many institutional investors, who combined own almost 10% of Diamond Shamrock, say neither choice seems to represent a significant improvement over the stock's current value.</br></br>"It's going to be a difficult choice right down to the wire," said an executive of one of Diamond's largest shareholders.</br></br>As previously reported, the Dallas-based energy concern on Monday announced a major restructuring plan that calls for splitting the company into two and buying back 18% of its shares for $17 each. Mr. Pickens muddled the picture on Wednesday by making his third bid to buy the company, this time proposing to acquire the 105 million shares he doesn't already own for $15 a share, or about $2 billion.</br></br>Mr. Pickens asked Diamond Shamrock's board either to accept his offer or allow shareholders to vote on the two options. He requested a response by next Wednesday. | no | 0 |
Clinton aides see improving trend in productivity | WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's economic advisers say the trend in U.S. productivity growth may be improving, boosting the prospects for growth in living standards in coming years.</br></br>The Economic Report of the President, released yesterday, said the growth in U.S. productivity, which is a measure of the output per hour worked, has averaged about 2% a year since 1991 -- more than twice the 1978-87 average. Some of that may reflect a rebound from the recession; but even if measured from 1987, productivity has grown 1.2%, up from 0.9% in the 10 previous years.</br></br>"There may have, indeed, been a structural change" in productivity growth, said Laura Tyson, chairwoman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers. Such an increase could have positive implications for Americans' standards of living, which are ultimately determined by the productivity of American workers.</br></br>But the president's economic report also points out that it may be too soon to jump to conclusions about productivity growth. For one thing, the statistics can be misleading. If the trends are computed for different periods -- 1978-86 and 1986-94 -- productivity growth averages only 1.1% in the latest period, up from 1% in the earlier period, not much of a difference. Also, recently released Labor Department data on hours worked suggest that productivity could be revised downward by one-tenth of a percentage point in 1993 and 1994.</br></br>"While the evidence of a slight improvement in the productivity growth trend is encouraging, it is not yet decisive," the report said, adding that two more years of data may present a clearer picture. | yes | 1 |
Time for a Budget Game-Changer; Assurance that current tax levels will remain in place would provide an immediate stimulus. House Republican budget planners are on the right track. | Author: Gary S. Becker, George P. Shultz ; John B. Taylor</br></br>Wanted: A strategy for economic growth, full employment, and deficit reduction--all without inflation. Experience shows how to get there. Credible actions that reduce the rapid growth of federal spending and debt will raise economic growth and lower the unemployment rate. Higher private investment, not more government purchases, is the surest way to increase prosperity.</br></br>When private investment is high, unemployment is low. In 2006, investment--business fixed investment plus residential investment--as a share of GDP was high, at 17%, and unemployment was low, at 5%. By 2010 private investment as a share of GDP was down to 12%, and unemployment was up to more than 9%. In the year 2000, investment as a share of GDP was 17% while unemployment averaged around 4%. This is a regular pattern.</br></br>In contrast, higher government spending is not associated with lower unemployment. For example, when government purchases of goods and services came down as a share of GDP in the 1990s, unemployment didn't rise. In fact it fell, and the higher level of government purchases as a share of GDP since 2000 has clearly not been associated with lower unemployment.</br></br>To the extent that government spending crowds out job-creating private investment, it can actually worsen unemployment. Indeed, extensive government efforts to stimulate the economy and reduce joblessness by spending more have failed to reduce joblessness. | no | 0 |
Pan Am Criticizes Kahn For Anti-Merger Quotes | Pan American World Airways criticized Alfred Kahn, chief federal inflation fighter, yesterday for reportedly questioning the advisability of a merger Pan American seeks with National Airlines.</br></br>Pan American Is attempting to merge with National while Texas International Airlines is trying to acquire National through stock purchases. NationalÛªs management and directors have approved the merger with Pan Am and oppose the TXI takeover bid.</br></br>The Civil Aeronautics Board must decide both issues and has set next March as a target date. Hearings are being conducted before law Judge William H. Dapper.</br></br>Pan Am Chairman William T. Sea-well characterized as ÛÏdisturbingÛ a statement attributed to Kahn In a newspaper account.</br></br>Kahn was quoted last Thursday in the Miami News as saying he is skeptical that a Pan Am-National merger would stimulate the competition he feels is necessary in the airline industry. | no | 0 |
Interest Rates Will Fall in Near Future In Spite of Dollar's Problems, Many Say | NEW YORK -- Interest rates are likely to move lower in coming months despite the woes of the U.S. dollar in the foreign exchange markets, according to many bankers and economists.</br></br>Although the dollar's recent weakness caught forecasters off guard, these analysts say the currency turmoil only will delay the move toward lower interest rates. They predict business activity will slow sharply this quarter, leaving the Federal Reserve System with little choice but to ease credit conditions further.</br></br>The Fed will reduce its discount rate to 5% by late March, many analysts contend. The discount rate, now 5 1/2%, is the fee the Fed charges on loans to banks and savings institutions.</br></br>"I still think we'll see a further decline in short-term interest rates, although not as immediately as I would have expected" just a few weeks ago, said Kathleen Cooper, senior vice president and chief economist at Security Pacific National Bank in Los Angeles. The economy is "far from robust," she said, adding that a discount rate cut is likely late this quarter or early in the second quarter.</br></br>The Commerce Department is scheduled to release Thursday its preliminary estimate of the economy's growth in last year's fourth quarter. Analysts generally estimate that the report will show the gross national product expanded at an annual rate of between 2.5% and 3%, after adjusting for inflation. That would be little changed from the third quarter's 2.8% pace. | no | 0 |
President Ties Social Security's Future to Stocks; Market Experts Mostly Bullish On Proposal's Impact on Wall St. | President Clinton's proposal to have a small percentage of Social Security money invested in the stock market could be just the tonic Wall Street needs to keep its bullish streak running into the 21st century.</br></br>At least that's the conviction of market watchers, who note with glee how the invention of individual retirement accounts and 401(k) accounts have transformed the markets in the past two decades. Last year, almost $20 billion a month in new money flowed into the stock market from mutual funds.</br></br>But some experts caution that such a huge shift could further pump up stock prices that some already consider inflated, while possibly hurting the bond market.</br></br>Clinton is proposing diverting 62 percent of an anticipated $4 trillion federal budget surplus over the next 15 years to Social Security, then investing less than one-quarter of that amount in the equity markets instead of Treasury securities, in which the fund now invests.</br></br>Clinton also wants to take another 11 percent of the budget surplus to establish "universal savings accounts," which would be similar to the 401(k) accounts that many employers offer. Together, the two proposals could add as much as $6.5 billion or so a month to the market. | yes | 1 |
DIGEST | Banks saw a 42 percent jump in profits in the fourth quarter, swelling their earnings to a record $43.4 billion in 1993, shattering the previous annual high by more than a third, federal regulators said. The second straight yearly record came as banks benefited from the hefty spread between what they earned on loans and other assets and what they paid depositors.</br></br>Susan Ness, a banker who has specialized in communications companies, was nominated to a seat on the Federal Communications Commission by President Clinton. If confirmed, Ness, a Democrat, would fill out the five-member commission, giving it three Democrats and two Republicans.</br></br>Capital Cities-ABC proposed a 10-for-1 split of its common stock, a move that could make its high-priced shares more appealing to smaller investors. Capital Cities-ABC stock has been trading near the $700-a-share level, and the proposed split would presumably cut the price to a more affordable $70 a share.</br></br>Grumman said it will postpone its annual shareholders' meeting, originally set for April 21, because of competing tender offers for Grumman shares by Northrop and Martin Marietta. No new date has been set.</br></br>R.H. Macy stores said its profit rose nearly sevenfold, to $60.5 million from $8.9 million, in the second quarter after reducing expenses faster than the decline in its total sales. | no | 0 |
The Washington Post Thursday, October 1, 198? A21 | or which rights. What baffles these senators is BorkÛªs recognition of the problem that a judge has to choose among rights and his effort to find some principled basis for the choice. In all of their sentimental demagoguery about rights his opponents have never explained whose rights they want to subordinate. I have heard nothing from Bork to deny that the definition and allocation of rights properly change over time, by legislative action or judicial decisions, in response to changing conditions, including community values. But what I do hear from him is a reluctance to make a leap in the dark, declaring rights in particular cases without weighing the indirect and future consequences of such declarations.</br></br>This brings up the question of precedents. There has been much discussion of whether Judge Bork properly respects the precedents created by previous court decisions. No attention has been paid to the question of a justiceÛªs respect for his successors, who may be bound by the precedents he sets. What I understand Bork to say is that a justice should not set precedents for his successors without carefully considering the full range of their implications.</br></br>The Gnsuxdd case, in which we have all had' an education in the last two weeks, is an example. Here was a stupid Connecticut law banning the use of contraceptives. The question is whether the best way to get rid of that stupid class. His iconodasm, while stimulating in a professor, can be disastrous in a judge. What is important is not how nimble his argument will be, but how his' decisions will affect millions of Americans who will have to live by them.</br></br>So ultimately what weÛªre asking is not only whatÛªs in Judge BorkÛªs mind but also whatÛªs in his heart Is he sensitive to human and racial problems?</br></br>I can hear his supporters saying that here comes the irrational argument. But it is prudence, not irrationality, to give as much emphasis to citizen BorkÛªs past views as to nominee BorkÛªs new views. His supporters say, "CanÛªt one change his views?Û Yes, certainly. Otherwise, how could we, in the last 32 years, have1 moved from a time when the air was heavy with racism to one in which the union of religious faith and civic action has begun to create a new American reality. So, yes, people can change. | no | 0 |
Breakaway (A Special Report) --- Technology: Using Office Design to Help Boost Productivity | John Vernon thinks of it as his Captain Kirk moment.</br></br>The president of consulting firm Approach Inc. stood in front of the six-pack of cubicles outside his office one day and realized that "office space is the final frontier" for boosting productivity. His vision: a sleek space allowing his information-technology consulting teams to serve clients at warp speed. His company's office in Valhalla, N.Y., had more in common with the cube farms of Dilbert cartoon fame.</br></br>"The offices were on the exterior of the floor, and I had the corner office, of course, because I was the president," the 38-year-old Texas native says sheepishly. "Everybody else was in a cubicle." If his firm of 60 employees was going to keep increasing revenue at more than 50% a year, he decided, the space needed to reflect the way his company actually did business.</br></br>Fast-forward two years to today. Poorly designed cubicles and window-hogging offices are history. In their place is a work space defined by vertical black-metal supports and clusters of glass-walled conference rooms, desktops with low-rise dividers and tables. Laptops and flat-panel computer screens are scattered across work surfaces, which can be quickly reconfigured. Copiers and such are a few steps away, not down the hall and take the second right.</br></br>"People used to play phone tag or wander around the office to set up meetings," Mr. Vernon says. "Now three guys working in the same area can just wheel their chairs around a computer terminal." As a result, Approach is getting its high-margin product -- client proposals -- to market at least 20% faster than before. "We think a significant portion of this improved performance is directly attributable to our new office space," Mr. Vernon says. | no | 0 |
Married With Conflicts: Bill & Hill & Rod & Carla & the Problem of Capital Power Couples | squeaky-clean governmentÛÓethics experts disagree passionately over how such conflicts should be handled. As a result, every case of spousal conflict is handled ad hocÛÓnot always to the satisfaction of the couples involved, nor in the best interests of the public, which should expect the highest standards of integrity from its government officials.</br></br>The Clintons are becoming the unwilling poster children of the power-couple syndrome, as they struggle to deal with the question that runs through many of the allegations known collectively as Whitewater: Why did Hillary Clinton do so much personal and legal business with Arkansas interests who could only gain by currying favor with the governorÛªs wife? It isnÛªt just her investment with and legal work for James McDougal, the owner of state-regulated Madison Guaranty. Her adviser on the commodities trades that rang up a $98,537 profit on a $1,000 investment was James B. Blair, outside counsel to Tyson Foods Inc., the state's biggest employer. Busi-See COUPLES, C4,CoLl</br></br>A POTENTIAL nominee to the Federal Reserve Board runs into a roadblock because his wife manages stock-market investments. Another Fed governorÛªs fiancee spurns lucrative job offers from banks and securities firms. A high-powered attorney, the wife of a governor, represents clients before state agenciesÛÓ and finds herself under fire for conflicts of interest a decade later.</br></br>Sound familiar? ÛÏThese kinds of things happen when you have married couples who have professions,Û President Clinton declared at his March 24 news conferenceÛÓand he should know. The Clintons stoutly maintain that Hillary Rodham Clinton did nothing wrong when she wrote letters on behalf of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan to then-governor ClintonÛªs appointees in Little Rock. But the Whitewater affair has turned a spotlight on the problems posed by power couplesÛÓproblems that Washington, coping with its first baby boomer administration, seems ill-equipped to handle.</br></br>With more and more women breaking through glass ceilings, couples who mix public-service and private-sector careers increasingly face legal or ethical conflicts. Caught between two articles of PC faithÛÓthe need for women to advance professionally and the demand for ÐÊ ness Week magazinethis week details how Hillary Clinton was recruited for her "marquee valueÛ to join a bid for a cellular-tele-phone franchise; she got back $45,998 on that $2,014 investment. While Hillary Clinton turned down her share of the Rose Law FinnÛªs partnership income earned on work done for the state (or, in the case of municipal bond work, accepted and then later turned back), she and the firm' prospered on fees paid by private clients drawn by her presence. | no | 0 |
Brady Confers with Japanese Minister in Effort to Reassure World's Markets | WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady met with Japanese Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to try to reassure international financial markets, particularly after recent sharp declines in the Tokyo stock market and in the yen.</br></br>In a joint statement after their meeting, the two financial leaders said that they "reaffirmed their commitment to economic policy coordination, including cooperation in the exchange markets."</br></br>In recent weeks, Japan and, to a lesser extent, the U.S. have intervened in foreign exchange markets to try to hold down the stronger dollar and prop up the weaker yen. But in briefings after the meeting, U.S. Treasury officials didn't outline any further specific steps the two men had agreed on during their five-hour talk Friday in Los Angeles.</br></br>Mr. Brady and Mr. Hashimoto met prior to a gathering of financial leaders of the Group of Seven industrial countries April 7 in Paris. The so-called G-7, which includes the U.S., Japan, West Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, strives to coordinate those nations' macroeconomic policies.</br></br>In their Friday discussions, the two men covered a variety of issues, including a proposed capital increase for the International Monetary Fund; continuing talks on barriers to the bilateral economic relationship; and the planned European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, which will lend to emerging democracies in Eastern Europe. | no | 0 |
The Local Economic Recovery Is Not Yet on the Horizon | Mitchell S. Fromstein, president of Manpower Inc., the big Milwaukee-based temporary help firm, recently concluded that there is yet no clear sign of economic recovery in the Washington area. Therefore, said Fromstein, summer employment levels are likely to fall short of those reached in prior years.</br></br>"While third-quarter hiring projections (in the Washington area) are stronger than they have been for the last six months, economic recovery is still not clearly on the local horizon," Fromstein said in conjunction with ManpowerÛªs release of its latest national employment outlook survey.</br></br>For Fromstein to conclude as he did that economic recovery is still not clearly on the local horizon is rather amazing, considering the limited scope of ManpowerÛªs employment survey in metropolitan Washington. Although it is sometimes a useful tool for forecasting the employment picture, the Manpower survey at best is a sampling of subjective employer responses. Employers in Alexandria, Arlington, most of Fairfax County and Prince William County, for example, aren't included in surveys conducted by Manpower in the Washington areaÛÓa major shortcoming that was pointed out to Manpower officials at least two years ago.</br></br>Still, Fromstein's conclusion about the timing of a recovery in the area is remarkably similar to that of the</br></br>Greater Washington Research Center, which just completed a more comprehensive assessment of the local economyÛªs performance. | no | 0 |
Let's Not Panic and Ruin the World | You can't move these days without bumping into an economic pessimist. "Recession in America looks increasingly likely," said the Economist magazine on Nov. 17. Two days later, in the International Herald Tribune, Nobel Prize winner Paul A. Samuelson brought up the specter of the Great Depression. And then, on Nov. 26, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers wrote in the Financial Times that, "the odds now favor a recession that slows growth significantly on a global basis."</br></br>The pressure on policy makers to do something is intense. Not only is there a desire to see the government get even more involved in the housing loan market -- witness the Bush administration's plan to freeze starter rates -- there is also tremendous pressure on the Fed to make another large 50 basis-point rate cut in attempt to alleviate credit-market problems.</br></br>This desire for government intervention to fix problems that grown adults have created for themselves is dangerous. Constantly counting on the government to save the economy undermines confidence in free markets, conditions people to believe they don't have to live with bad decisions, and creates a willingness to take imprudent risk. Actions to stabilize the economy in the short term can destabilize it in the longer term, and set the stage for even more intervention to fix the new problems at a later date.</br></br>Moreover, all this pessimism makes serious economic problems less likely. If it really happens, a recession in the next year could be the most anticipated ever. That fact alone makes it improbable. Recessions usually surprise the consensus. When a recession is expected, the odds of rapidly rising inventories, excessive investment, or a surprise drop in new orders are reduced.</br></br>In the past, when manufacturing was a larger share of the economy and inventory control was less exact, recessions often began abruptly, sometimes on the heels of very strong growth. Today, with services a larger share of the economy, and technology speeding up information flow, the economy tends to glide more gently into recession. Given this, all the doom and gloom seems unnecessary. | no | 0 |
Bonds Stumble Amid Concerns Rates Will Rise | Stocks pulled back and Treasury bonds plummeted after Alan Greenspan sparked fears of an interest-rate increase with an unexpectedly upbeat speech.</br></br>The stock decline was mild, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.46%, or 48.92 points, to 10525.37. The pullback probably had more to do with profit-taking after a big run-up than with anything the Federal Reserve chairman said to the Senate Banking Committee.</br></br>But bonds fell sharply, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to a level it hasn't seen for eight months. The reaction appeared to be a direct result of Mr. Greenspan rewriting the speech he had delivered last week to the House Financial Services Committee.</br></br>Last week, Mr. Greenspan said simply that the recession seemed to be bottoming out. Yesterday, he made several revisions, saying that "an economic expansion is already well under way." Some bond investors took that as a signal that the Fed could move to control the economic expansion by raising its target interest rates as soon as the second half of the year.</br></br>"The fact that his first speech was so dovish and his second speech changed over the course of just a few days really took the market by surprise," said Scott Gewirtz, head of U.S. Treasury trading at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Mr. Gewirtz said futures prices now suggest "that the Fed is going to raise interest rates about two percentage points over the next year." | no | 0 |
Ehrlich confirms he'll run again; Md. ex-governor says challenge to O'Malley isn't a grudge match | Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said Tuesday that he will try to win his old job back in November, confirming plans for a much-anticipated rematch with Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who defeated him in a bitter contest four years ago.</br></br>A formal announcement, planned for next Wednesday in Montgomery County, will set up a rematch between two of the state's dominant political personalities.</br></br>Both are fierce competitors. Their 2006 race was highly negative and at times intensely personal, with Ehrlich (R) repeatedly calling O'Malley "a whiner" and running ads that highlighted the homicide rate and struggling schools in Baltimore, where O'Malley was mayor. O'Malley (D) accused Ehrlich of dirty tricks and portrayed him as cozy with energy lobbyists and an unpopular President George W. Bush.</br></br>Ehrlich said Tuesday that he plans to run a forward-looking campaign, disputing characterizations of the race as a grudge match.</br></br>"The last thing that people want to see is a schoolyard, middle-school, who-struck-John, bully stuff right now," he said. "They want to hear your ideas about how you're going to fix it. They want to hear about your ideas about what you want to do." | no | 0 |
REGIONS | More Trials Expected</br></br>For Great Lakes States</br></br>WHICH REGION will suffer most in the next recession? Data Resources says it's the same one that got stung worst in the last four economic downturns: the Great Lakes states.</br></br>The Lexington, Mass., economic-consulting firm has produced a scenario that assumes a relatively severe recession starting in late 1989, with the nation's economic output falling four percentage points by the fourth quarter of 1990 and interest rates surging. In this model, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin would lose 10% of their manufacturing jobs by the end of 1990.</br></br>Does all this sound familiar? In the major recessions of 1975 and 1982, and in the less severe slumps of 1960 and 1970, the Great Lakes states also sustained the biggest percentage job losses of any region. | yes | 1 |
Stocks, Bonds Hit by Worries About Inflation; Blue Chips Fall 198.94, While Treasury Yield Goes Above 5% Mark | Bond prices continued to march lower, pushing 10-year Treasury yields above the psychologically important 5% mark to the highest level in nearly 11 months.</br></br>Simmering inflation jitters also hammered stocks, which had been at records. The bond selloff helped to send the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower for a third straight day after Monday's high -- off 198.94 points yesterday, or 1.5%, to 13266.73.</br></br>The selling in both bonds and stocks accelerated in the afternoon after influential bond-fund manager Bill Gross of Pimco said he has turned bearish on bonds. The 10-year Treasury note's price plummeted 31/32, or $9.6875 per $1,000 invested, pushing the yield up to 5.10%.</br></br>In comments posted on Pimco's Web site, Mr. Gross said 10-year yields could reach 6.5% within five years due to strong global economic growth and possible inflation -- the enemy of bond investors everywhere because it eats into the value of the interest payments they receive.</br></br>"Over the next three to five years, our secular outlook suggests that global inflation, and certainly U.S. inflation, will accelerate mildly. . . . That combination is not necessarily bond-friendly," Mr. Gross wrote. He called his statements a "major shift" after 25 years of bullishness on the bond market. | yes | 1 |
Probable interest-rate increase by Fed won't necessarily affect dollar greatly | CHICAGO -- After a summer of calling for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, it now looks as if foreign-exchange traders will get their wish this week.</br></br>But don't expect a Fed tightening to automatically spark fireworks.</br></br>If the Fed raises short-term interest rates by 1/4 percentage point, as</br></br>many traders expect it will, traders say the dollar will be left</br></br>contained to well-defined ranges. They say the dollar could end up | no | 0 |
A 1 5 THE WASHINGTON POST, TUESDAY^ MARCH 7, 1978 | Despite all the talk of tough government action to end the coal strike, no good options are really open to President Carter. In practice, application of the Taft-Hartley Act, which the president invoked yesterday, will probably bring only a fraction of the men back to work, and seizure of the mines by the government poses immense political and managerial problems.</br></br>So the best hope is to continue the negotiations on a different level. Instead of industrywide bargaining, this time the talks would have to go on a state-bystate and district-by-district basis.</br></br>CarterÛªs invocation of Taft-Hartley, to be sure, looks inviting. It mandates a return to work for 80 days under the terms of the last best management offer, with a fact-finding board to try to sort out remaining differences. Thus the mines r,eopen, and there is a mechanism for adjusting unsettled issues.</br></br>But Taft-Hartley has a bad name with the unions and working people in general. Though the law provides sanctions for union officials who defy the return-to-work order, no action can be taken against spontaneous refusal to work by individual workers. The miners learned</br></br>Given the overwhelming opposition shown in the negative vote on the last offer, the strong expectation is that while union officials will urge compliance with the law, many miners will refuse. The best guess of one of the government officials who has been closest to the talks from the beginning is that not more than 20 percent of the miners will go back to work in response to a Taft-Hartley injuction. | no | 0 |
Stock Market Quarterly Review: Lots of Merger Activity -- A Few Big Deals; Bank of America Provides Final Flourish, While Bids From China Roil U.S. Politics | THE MERGERS TRAIN just keeps rolling along. The past three months of mergers and acquisitions produced the most active period since the end of 2000, with corporations and investors putting down $665.9 billion for deals around the world, 53% more than the year-earlier period.</br></br>From utilities and cable television to banks and real estate, companies showed they wouldn't shy away from doing deals even amid a lackluster stock market. If earnings improve and cash continues to pile up on corporate balance sheets, the next six months stand to produce a similar stream of deals, say the bankers and lawyers who put the transactions together. Still, there probably will be few blockbusters, such as the one announced yesterday: Bank of America's roughly $35 billion purchase of MBNA Corp. Instead, expect a procession of announcements driven by these M&A stalwarts: cost- cutting and modest geographic expansion.</br></br>"Boards are still cautious," says Boon Sim, head of mergers and acquisitions for the Americas, at Credit Suisse First Boston. "I don't think there are any 'concept' deals out there. The market is still pretty disciplined, and that trend will continue for the rest of the year."</br></br>Still, activity in the second quarter picked up by nearly every measure. In the U.S. alone, the amount spent on deals surged 73%, compared with the second quarter of 2004, and rose 20% from this year's first quarter. Private-equity firms continued their march into the fray, accounting for 17% of global M&A activity, a sharp increase from 11% last year, according to data from Thomson Financial.</br></br>Through the first-half of this year, the dollar volume of global deals involving retailers surged 137% according to data firm Dealogic, while oil and gas deals also leapt 137%, and technology rose 60%. | no | 0 |
Tata Consultancy Expects Operating Margin to Narrow | Author: Kenan Machado</br></br>MUMBAI - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. expects its operating margin to narrow to about 27%-28% this fiscal year through March 2012 from last year's 28.9%, as higher cost of salaries could dent the profitability of India's largest technology outsourcing company.</br></br>Chief Financial Officer S. Mahalingam said the pace of growth in business volume also won't exceed that of last year because of a higher comparison base. "But, volumes will be good," he said in an interview Monday.</br></br>TCS, part of the salt-to-software Tata group, posted a 29.7% rise in its volume of outsourcing work in the last fiscal year as global businesses, shrugging off the effects of the economic slowdown, continued to invest in technology services.</br></br>It also beat market expectations last week with a 23% jump in its fourth-quarter net profit, driven by higher non-operating income and increased demand for outsourced technology services. | no | 0 |
Banking: With a 'Microloan' for a Truck, Family Leaves Welfare | Kristen Boyer, a bank vice president accustomed to spreadsheets and interest rates, is inspecting the new paint job on James Metzgar's pickup in his backyard in rural Pike County, Ohio. "Jim's Pick 'Em Up and Recovery," the lettering on the bright blue truck reads.</br></br>"It really looks nice," the banker assures Mr. Metzgar, raising her voice above the barking of his dog, a black chow tied to a nearby tree.</br></br>It's an unlikely spot to find a business lender, but Ms. Boyer is a banker who operates in a realm where poverty policy converges with commerce. She serves on the board of the Pike County Community Action Committee, a close-knit group of bankers and community leaders that helps poor people gain a toehold in the working world.</br></br>The committee evaluates "microloan" applications to start tiny new businesses, and provides follow-up advice and training to help them along. Many borrowers are like Mr. Metzgar-struggling to leave the welfare rolls, but unable to find a job. "These are basically character loans," says Ms. Boyer.</br></br>The notion that small loans, in the hands of poor people, can make a huge difference had its genesis in Bangladesh and other underdeveloped countries, where groups of villagers extended tiny loans to one another to start cottage industries. The first microenterprise programs spread to the U.S. in the mid-1980s, often targeting women and minority entrepreneurs. Since then, the small-bite approach to poverty has become increasingly popular, as states take greater control of their welfare programs. | no | 0 |
Fed Data Suggest Export Boom Strains Manufacturers, May Stir Inflation Fears | WASHINGTON -- Two new Federal Reserve reports suggest the boom in exports is straining the nation's manufacturers, and could heighten fears of accelerating inflation.</br></br>A survey of economic conditions in the 12 Federal Reserve districts found signs that factories are facing shortages and sharp price boosts for various industrial materials and supplies. The Philadelphia Fed also uncovered evidence that factory wages are rising as a result of worker shortages.</br></br>And a separate Fed report said the nation's factories, mines and utilities operated at 82.9% of capacity in May, higher than at any time since March 1980. Economists say that the closer business gets to operating at full capacity, the greater the risks of a spurt in inflation.</br></br>Separately, the Commerce Department said business inventories grew 0.5% in April, largely reflecting a jump in wholesalers' inventories. Sales by manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers dropped 0.2%. As a result, the ratio of inventories-to-sales increased slightly to 1.51 in April from 1.50 in March, remaining within the range in which the ratio has traveled for the past year.</br></br>As the factory problems noted by the Fed may be interpreted by some as a sign of an overheating economy and more inflation, they could lead the central bank to boost interest rates in the coming months. The Fed's policy committee meets June 29 and 30 to review its credit stance. | yes | 1 |
Dollar Is Expected to Rise Against Yen, Euro as the U.S. Economy Surges Ahead | NEW YORK -- With the U.S. economy continuing to surge ahead, the dollar won't be far behind. It is only how fast it can travel this week that is in question.</br></br>Few disagree the dollar is headed higher against the yen and euro, guided by the U.S. economy's strength relative to Europe and Japan.</br></br>In fact, last Friday's higher-than-expected employment data took a lot of uncertainty out of the market over the need for a tightening of interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The figures again underlined the U.S. economy can grow at a strong pace without inflation.</br></br>While lower U.S. rates usually mean a weaker dollar as the yield on dollar-denominated deposits declines, capital flows into the U.S. currency are increasing in line with gains in the U.S. stock market, said Joe Yuska, foreign-exchange manager at Banc One International in Dallas.</br></br>"There is nothing in the horizon that will trip up the dollar," said Mr. Yuska, who expects the euro could pass last week's low of $1.0785 to test $1.0680. | yes | 1 |
New York Fed Sells Last of AIG Bonds, at a Profit | The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Thursday sold the last toxic assets it acquired from the bailout of American International Group Inc., closing the book on its most controversial intervention during the financial crisis with a large gain to taxpayers.</br></br>The regional Fed bank said it reaped $6.6 billion in profits from selling complex mortgage securities that it took on in late 2008 to stem AIG's cash bleed. The securities, known as collateralized debt obligations, were chiefly responsible for the New York-based insurer's near-collapse and government bailout after their market values plunged during the financial crisis.</br></br>The sales end one of the most contentious elements of the government's efforts to stabilize the financial system as markets were seizing up and banks and other financial institutions were collapsing. The rescue of AIG and the New York Fed's purchases of mortgage securities that AIG previously owned or insured saw tens of billions of taxpayer aid flow from the insurer to banks in the U.S. and overseas.</br></br>The Fed's moves were criticized from some quarters as a backdoor bailout for banks that exposed U.S. taxpayers to undue risks. But from the outset, Fed officials including Chairman Ben Bernanke said they were acting to protect the country from financial meltdown and expected to be fully repaid on loans provided to support AIG.</br></br>"It's a happy ending with the Fed making a handsome profit--but the purpose of the purchases was to stabilize the financial system and not to make money," said Sung-Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands. | no | 0 |
Retailers Say Consumers Spent More in January: Retailers Report Consumers Spent More in Jan | The Û÷ nationÛªs major retailers yesterday reported only modest sales gains for the last 12 months, but they recorded va surge in consumer spending that began the week before Christmas and continued in January.</br></br>Analyst^, said ,'tlie strong sales increases retailers reported for ^January were in part related to mild weather as well' as heavy jpfomotional sales. But analysts said the figures-aisojshowed a renewed willingness by consumers to spend irioney on general merchandise, especially on the part of better-heeled customers.</br></br>ÛÏItÛªs an.early sigh Of an economic recovery,Û said Monroe H. Greeristein of the brokerage firm Bear, -Stearns Inc. 'ÐÊ</br></br>Department stores and specialized retailers did better, both for January and for the year, than did mass merchandisers. But January sales gains for nearly all retailers were the best since summer, when a worsening recession prompted many to keep their wallets in their pockets.</br></br>Sears, Roebuck & Co., for example, said its sales for the 12 months ended Jan. 31 rose 2.6 percent, from $19.67 billion to $20.18 billion. But the nationÛªs biggest retailer said its January sales were $1.26 billion, 5.5 percent higher than in January 1982. | yes | 1 |
Big Fiscal Woes Await Governors in Northeast; Dukakis Leaves Amid Parallels to 1st Term | When Gov. Michael S. Dukakis (D) took over from a Republican, the economy was spiraling downward and the state budget was mired in red ink.</br></br>Sixteen years later, Dukakis passes the reins to another Republican and returns the fiscal favor. The economy is in the cellar and Gov.-elect William Weld faces painful budget cuts or tax increases.</br></br>Dukakis promised no new taxes in his 1974 gubernatorial campaign. And when he took office he adopted as a symbol a meat cleaver that he said would be needed to cut state government down to size.</br></br>But the state was in deep financial trouble. A modest surplus of six months earlier became, early in 1975, a deficit of between $350 million and $500 million - of a total budget of about $3 billion.</br></br>Less than a year after taking office, Dukakis had to eat his campaign promise and back the largest tax increase in the state's history. | no | 0 |
/ PAGE11 | NOT WORKING: An Oral History of the Unemployed. Û÷By Harry Maurer. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 297 pp. $12.95</br></br>IN THIS DISTURBING and important book, men and women of different ages, races and degrees of desperation talk about the effect of unemployment on the flesh and spirit of their lives. The great gray fiotillasof statistics in newspapers, accompanied by statements from government 'officials patting themselves on the back (or apologizing) because unemployment has dropped (or risen) by one-tenth of a percentage point, do not begin to illuminate the daily reality of being out of work in America. But listen to the words of a Birmingham, Alabama, auto worker as he talks about his wifeÛªs abortion when he was out of a job: ÛÏI figured, Û÷AinÛªt no use to let the baby come and have to starve.Ûª She really, felt upset about it, you know. She cried. My wife would call me up on the phone and -cry. But I didnÛªt see no other way around. ItÛªs a hurting feeling. It gets you down when you start thinking about it. You think, of what the baby could have been.Û</br></br>The speaker, a 24-year-old black man, supports author Harry MaurerÛªs observation that ÛÏunemployed people have been robbed of something, and they know it. The bewilderment they often express is like that of the homeowner who returns to find rooms ransacked; valuable and beloved objects missing ... It provides not simply a livelihoods but an essential passage into the human community. It makes us less alone.Û</br></br>Many of the young blacks Maurer interviewed, and nearly all of the middle-aged men and women of every race and economic background, shared the traditional view of work: Adults ought to earn their own living; the inability to support oneself introduces an element 'of humilating, child-like dependency Into adult life; quite apart from money,,. work is an important measure of personal worth. There is a former executive who wants work so badly that he tries to get a $3-an-hour job pumping gas and is devastated when he is turned down; a Chicano farm worker who tries to sleep late in the morning so he can get through the day on one meal and save more food for his children; a policeman, injured in the line of duty, who does housework just to keep busy.</br></br>Reading these interviews, one feels intense anger at an economic and political system that has denied work to people who want jobs so badly and have tried so hard to find them. These people played by the rules and lost. The realization that it could happen to any of us is one of the psychologically unsettling aspects of the book. | no | 0 |
Push for Cheaper Credit Hits Wall | The Federal Reserve's intensified campaign to push mortgage rates lower has hit a wall, in part because a shift in the lending landscape has made some banks unable, or unwilling, to pass along cheaper credit.</br></br>Since the Fed began buying mortgage-backed securities to lower interest rates four years ago, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have fallen nearly three percentage points and averaged 3.37% last week, according to Freddie Mac.</br></br>While current rates are the lowest in generations, some economists argue that they should be even lower -- perhaps 2.8% based on the historical relationship between mortgage rates and yields on mortgage-backed securities. The economists posit that banks are keeping the rates artificially high, boosting profits and depriving the economy of the full benefit of the Federal Reserve's efforts.</br></br>No bank-by-bank survey on the matter has been conducted. But some lenders say they are simply making a fair rate of return on a business that has much higher fixed costs than it used to. "We have a different cost structure now," said Stewart Larsen, who runs the mortgage banking division of Bank of the West.</br></br>Lenders profit on the gap, or spread, between their cost of obtaining money and the rate they charge when lending it out. Before the financial crisis, this spread averaged around 0.5 percentage point and widened to about 1 percentage point in the years after 2008. In October, after the Fed embarked on a new round of mortgage bond purchases, the spread leapt to 1.6 points and currently is hovering around 1.3 points. | no | 0 |
Draghi Opens Door to Bigger ECB Crisis Role | FRANKFURT--European Central Bank President Mario Draghi opened the door to an escalation in the central bank's efforts to battle the debt crisis, hinting that the bank would be willing, under certain conditions, to intervene more forcefully in financial markets.</br></br>Mr. Draghi stopped short of promising unlimited purchases of euro-zone bonds, as a number of European policy makers have recently demanded, but his comments nevertheless signal that the ECB is willing to do more.</br></br>In his first appearance before the European Parliament since taking the ECB helm last month, Mr. Draghi offered a road map for policy makers and investors as Europe's debt crisis reaches a critical phase next week, when the ECB has its monthly meeting and European leaders hold another crisis summit.</br></br>His call to politicians: Enact tough new rules to punish fiscal rule-breakers and follow through on pledges to pursue deficit-cutting measures. Mr. Draghi signaled the ECB is willing to help, if governments deliver.</br></br>"He ruled out a swift type of approach, but at least he has told the markets if these two things are being done [by governments], then he won't let market confidence deteriorate too much. I thought it was quite well done," said Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies. | no | 0 |
Global Finance: IMF: Size Gives Large Banks Big Funding Edge | The International Monetary Fund is the latest organization to weigh in on what many lawmakers have been saying since the financial crisis: Size does matter when it comes to being a bank.</br></br>Large U.S. banks received a funding advantage of as much as $70 billion between 2011 and 2012, as investors demanded lower interest rates because of a perception that the government wouldn't let such firms fail during turbulent times, an IMF study found.</br></br>The benefit is global: Big banks in the euro area received as much as $300 billion in funding-cost advantages during that period, varying from $25 billion to $110 billion in Japan and $20 billion to $110 billion in the U.K., based on the analysis by the international organization based in Washington.</br></br>The study suggests regulators have work to do to curb the perception that banks are "too big to fail." The IMF found the expected value of government guarantees for a distressed bank is roughly comparable to what they enjoyed before the 2008 financial crisis.</br></br>"The high degree of concentration carries with it a high degree of potential systemic risk," according to the study. "The distress or failure of one of the top three banks in a country, for example, could destabilize the country's entire financial system, in part because its activities may not easily be replaced by other institutions." | no | 0 |
Myerson Trial Scrutinizes Subject Close to Most Law Firms: Billing | Law-firm billing practices that have come under close scrutiny in recent years are getting additional attention at the criminal-fraud trial of attorney Harvey M. Myerson.</br></br>Mr. Myerson is defending himself against charges of overbilling clients by $2.5 million and defrauding partners of about $1 million when he ran the now-defunct New York law firm Myerson & Kuhn. During the trial, Mr. Myerson has argued that the overbilling was done by younger partners without his knowledge and that the $1 million in expenses he charged to the firm was an advance he intended to pay back.</br></br>Few people suggest that the widespread fraud Mr. Myerson is accused of organizing is common practice at the nation's law firms, but some of the testimony in this colorful trial in the Brooklyn, N.Y., federal courthouse is highlighting the potential pitfalls and ethical dilemmas that lawyers may face when billing a client.</br></br>Witnesses describing billing practices at Myerson & Kuhn have mentioned "using a heavy pen," which means rounding up to the next time unit in measuring fractions of hours worked on a client matter. The witnesses have also referred to "the smell test," a crude way lawyers can tell whether a weighty bill won't seem exorbitant to a client. Lawyers said in interviews that such phrases are not unheard of at other firms, although the lawyers point out that the legal recession, probably more than the threat of criminal action, is making firms more precise about their bills.</br></br>Government witnesses have also testified about adding "late time," or additional hours they didn't actually work, to bills. It was a client's analysis of such bills that eventually led to the criminal investigation of Myerson & Kuhn. | no | 0 |
Dollar Edges Up as Participants Await The Release of U.S. Employment Data | NEW YORK -- The dollar finished slightly higher yesterday following its sharp descent Wednesday.</br></br>Participants are awaiting today's release of U.S. employment data for June, the first major indicator of economic activity in the month, foreign exchange traders said.</br></br>They warned that the employment figures hold a greater potential for damaging the dollar further than for prompting a recovery.</br></br>The market remains preoccupied by the likelihood of easing U.S. interest rates, traders said. Slower than expected job growth will reinforce suspicions that the U.S. Federal Reserve will loosen credit, they said, but a pick-up in job activity won't eliminate those suspicions.</br></br>"If you're a betting man, you've got to say the dollar is going lower," said Robert Ryan, manager of foreign exchange at Irving Trust Co. in New York. | yes | 1 |
REITs Rally Again, Defying Predictions; Sector Climbs 14% This Year as Property Values Hold Up Despite Rising Rates; Should You Buy? | IT SEEMS TO DEFY common sense: Real-estate stocks continue to rally -- even as interest rates rise.</br></br>Eighteen months ago, many investors began to sell off their real- estate holdings amid warnings that the property market might have peaked. But real-estate investment trusts -- tax-advantaged investment companies whose shares trade on major exchanges -- have continued to outperform the market. This year alone, the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index is up almost 13%, compared with a gain of almost 4% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. It's the fastest run out of the starting gate for REIT stocks in six years, according to SNL Financial, a research firm in Charlottesville, Va.</br></br>"The run-up in REIT prices has certainly been surprising, even to boosters of the industry like us," says T. Ritson Ferguson, chief investment officer for ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, a Radnor, Pa., investment-management firm.</br></br>The rally has partly been driven by mutual funds and other big investors, some of whom bailed on the sector 15 to 18 months ago and are now buying the stocks again, egged on by recent improvements in the outlook for almost every sector, particularly hotels and offices. REITs have been helped by fund managers and other investors who missed the big run-up and now fear that not owning them is hurting performance records.</br></br>Some money managers, having been wrong once before, are reluctant to tell small investors to bail out of the sector. Others factor in an individual's total exposure to real estate -- including homes and investment properties -- to determine whether that person should also be owning real-estate stocks. | no | 0 |
Marketbeat / Market Insight From WSJ.com | Spending Crash: Market Takes Toll</br></br>---</br></br>As Dow Thrashes About, a Strategist Theorizes on Impact</br></br>To Consumers; Four Cents for Every Evaporated Dollar?</br></br>The market has recovered more than half of Monday's losses, and it's a good thing: The decline may have cost consumers billions of dollars in spending cash at a time when they could really use it. | no | 0 |
Hoover's Sunshine Campaign In '30 Didn't Stop Depression | By J. A. Livingston CH-H-H. IF YOU have a doubt about business in 1954, donÛªt ^ mention it. Recession is a naughty word. People wonÛªt like you if you have misgivings. Everything is going to be all right.</br></br>You donÛªt usually meet that sentiment in so many words. But William C. McKeehan, Jr.,åÈ vice president of J. Walter</br></br>Council t o pi wage a multi-f| million - dollar Ig prosperity cam- |||| paign to offset sg|;'? gloomy fore-Pill casts of a reces- Wå¨ sion.</br></br>the outlook for this year, would they try to shut up the prophets of recession and resort to namecalling? Or would they shrug them off as well-meaning fellows shouting economic gibberish into the wind?</br></br>It doesnÛªt make sense to enter into a Pollyanna conspiracy. It isnÛªt subersive to talk about the possibilities of a recession. Indeed, itÛªs bene-fical. If a slump comes, people will be prepared for it psychologically. And if it doesnÛªt, the talk will shut itself up. | yes | 1 |
Amtrak to eliminate 600 management jobs by end of the year | WASHINGTON -- Amtrak said it will cut 600 management jobs by the end of 1994 to help close a budget deficit estimated at $193 million for the fiscal year that will start Saturday.</br></br>The staff cuts, which would reduce management ranks by nearly 30%,</br></br>are part of an attempt to shift control over pricing, marketing and</br></br>service to local offices and train crews, according to Amtrak President</br></br>Thomas Downs, who said the passenger-rail service should become more | no | 0 |
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