Business News

[alevin]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080620/big-businesses-seek-out-solar-sector-heats.htm

Big businesses seek out solar as sector heats up. This month, several of the world's biggest technology and manufacturing companies -- including Intel Corp and International Business Machines Corp -- made major moves into the burgeoning solar power business.
That could be the start of a trend as corporate giants look to capitalize on the growing demand for cleaner energy sources.
"These announcements are a great indication of where the solar industry is going," Rhone Resch, president of industry trade group the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Renewable Energy Finance Forum conference in New York this week. "This is the beginning of both high-tech and energy companies getting into solar."

"These announcements are a great indication of where the solar industry is going," Rhone Resch, president of industry trade group the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Renewable Energy Finance Forum conference in New York this week. "This is the beginning of both high-tech and energy companies getting into solar."
Solar power still makes up a tiny fraction of the world's energy consumption, but the makers of panels that transform sunlight into electricity are enjoying supercharged growth due to heightened concerns about climate change and rising prices on fossil fuels.

"What the strategic players bring is that ability to bring large-scale manufacturing," said Kevin Genieser, who heads Morgan Stanley's renewable energy investment banking practice. "We're expecting to see merger and acquisition activity ramp up in the solar space," he said at the conference./QUOTE]

Finally, solar is starting to get the recognition and investment it warrants considering intermediate and longterm world energy supply-demand prospects. Just wish I had the spare cash sitting around to go long myself in ETF TAN which I just learned about yesterday. Alas a reroofing job comes first.

 

[Fivetears]

Auto sales: bleak, but is it the bottom?
U.S. auto sales in June are expected to post a double-digit decline, dropping to a 15-year low as record gas prices killed the market for trucks and SUVs and made it impossible for many drivers to swap out for more fuel-efficient, new cars. Major automakers, including Ford Motor Co (F.N) and General Motors Corp (GM.N), and leading dealerships have warned that June sales plummeted and shoppers grew suddenly scarce.

Now the urgent question for investors has become whether the world's largest car market has hit bottom or whether an even deeper downturn awaits over the remainder of the year due to $4 per gallon gasoline and tighter credit. Evidence of a prolonged slump would also add to concerns that Detroit's automakers, saddled with truck-heavy lineups and mounting losses, may not have enough cash to ride out the current tailspin.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080627/bs_nm/usa_autos_sales_dc_1;_ylt=AgReVXEuwXQ1aObTisHztxsE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

Detroit's mood grim as automakers face the brink
GM, once an emblem of U.S. post-war economic might, is being driven to the brink by dwindling sales that are expected to test cash reserves and the nerves of investors in the months ahead. Crosstown rivals Ford Motor Co and privately held Chrysler LLC face similar pressures. Automakers will be weighing their options to ride out the industry's most-trying slump in 25 years. Last week, GM shares skidded to their lowest level since 1955. The stock had its worst week since trading in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, with Wall Street analysts handicapping when and how it will raise new capital. GM's sales have dropped 15 percent so far this year, and its share of the U.S. market is down to just 21 percent. When major automakers report sales for June on Tuesday, there is a chance that GM will be overtaken by Toyota Motor Co (7203.T) as the monthly sales leader, a reversal that points to the popularity of small cars like the Yaris and the abandonment of SUVs and trucks like the Yukon and Silverado. GM has responded by slashing costs, cutting truck production and slashing its factory work force to less than half of the 118,000 it employed four years ago.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080629/bs_nm/usa_automakers_dc_1;_ylt=AkPuMSSoS1F_HKYcQbLisEME1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

Central bankers unite vs inflation
Central bankers issued a stern warning on Sunday against the dangers of surging inflation, saying rising energy costs risk damaging growth in rich and poor countries alike. Policymakers attending talks at the annual meeting of the Bank for International Settlements said they were on high alert to the dangers posed by rising inflation and slowing growth, but there was no one-size-fits-all solution. Officials from more than 100 central banks exchanged views on the global economic outlook on Saturday and agreed oil prices -- which surged past $142 a barrel for the first time last week -- were a major concern. In emerging economies, where consumers spend more of their income on food than in industrialized nations, inflation is no longer just a monetary policy problem but a social one.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080629/bs_nm/bis_dc_1;_ylt=Au3HYHDnNhZx9QTUugu3t.IE1vAI

 

[Silverbird]

The Gulf States expect us to raise interest rates so they think the dollar peg is ok? Hrmm, well I guess it's better than for them to say, they have mounted the tiger and now have to ride.

 

[Fivetears]

Chrysler cutting production, to shut minivan plant
Chrysler plans to cut production by closing a U.S. minivan plant and extending summer shutdowns at some of its other factories as the automaker battles slow vehicle sales amid record high gas prices. Chrysler will "indefinitely idle" the St. Louis South minivan assembly plant, effective October 31, due to volume declines in the total minivan vehicle segment. Under Chrysler's contract with the United Auto Workers, it cannot unilaterally close plants, but lists them as idled indefinitely. Chrysler expects to fully close the minivan plant.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080630/bs_nm/chrysler_production_dc_2;_ylt=AmzowEIXA1skwP0lLwS5IPoE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

Ford had talks with Renault to sell Volvo
Ford Motor Co has had exploratory talks with French automaker Renault SA to sell Volvo, but the talks ended quickly due to price differences. The two parties have spoken again after their initial discussions, which were held last fall. Ford has also had talks with China's third-largest automaker, Dongfeng Motor Group, as a potential partner for Volvo. Even though Ford has said it has no plans to sell Volvo, the automaker has been having informal talks with interested parties.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080630/bs_nm/ford_volvo_dc_4;_ylt=Al8Z_iAb0SJ4XLrGKIG9kVcE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

U.S. Seeks Names of UBS Clients
Federal authorities, turning up the pressure on UBS, the Swiss banking giant, asked a federal court on Monday to force the bank to turn over the names of wealthy American clients suspected of evading taxes through secret offshore accounts. The request, from the Justice Department, comes amid a widening federal investigation into the private banking services offered by UBS to Americans. While that investigation has centered on a former top UBS private banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, an American, it is rapidly broadening to include clients of the bank. The request was made in court papers filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami by R. Alexander Acosta, the top federal prosecutor in Florida. The papers are related to the separate criminal case against Mr. Birkenfeld, who pleaded guilty last month to a single fraud charge and is cooperating with investigators.

The investigation threatens to peel back layers of Swiss banking secrecy, a tradition that began in the Middle Ages. It also increasingly promises to put UBS, the world’s largest private bank, on a collision course with American prosecutors and regulators, who argue that Swiss secrecy laws do not apply to American clients who were sold UBS services.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/b...01ubs.html?_r=1&ref=worldbusiness&oref=slogin

 

[Fivetears]

Another EADS Executive Taken Into Custody
A judicial official says French police have detained a former Airbus president in an insider trading investigation at its parent company EADS. The former president, Gustav Humbert, was taken into custody Monday by the financial investigators in Paris in connection with the inquiry of the aerospace and defense giant. The French authorities have already filed preliminary charges against two former EADS executives — former co-chief executives Noel Forgeard and Jean-Paul Gut, a former deputy chief executive. Investigators are investigating share sales at EADS before a June 2006 announcement of delays for Airbus’ A380 superjumbo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/business/worldbusiness/01eads.html?ref=worldbusiness

 

[Fivetears]

Starbucks to cut up to 12,000 jobs, close 600 stores
Starbucks Corp plans to close 600 underperforming stores and eliminate as many as 12,000 full and part-time positions, lifting shares nearly 6 percent. The company, which has been grappling with the slowing U.S. economy and consumer spending at the same time that major competitors like McDonald's Corp have begun attacking its core business, now plans to close a total of 600 underperforming stores by the end of March 2009.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080701/bs_nm/starbucks_dc_3;_ylt=AoUsO8_zosrqXrHxqSMWhAoE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

U.S. auto sales hit 15-year low
U.S. auto sales plunged in June to a 15-year low, but a month-end clearance sale helped General Motors Corp retain its No. 1 spot and steer clear of the wipeout many had feared, sending its shares higher. Record gas prices and declining trade-in values for big trucks and SUVs hit truck sales hard while major automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp, struggled to keep up with demand for some popular smaller cars and hybrids. GM was the industry's main surprise after a sale featuring zero percent financing for six years allowed the U.S. automaker to avoid losing sales leadership in the month to Toyota. In a reversal of recent trends, Toyota trailed GM in June with a 21-percent sales decline, reflecting a 31-percent drop in sales of its trucks like the Tundra pickup.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080701/bs_nm/usa_autosales_dc_3;_ylt=AllATiMPqOnUva8ZpecNxBgE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

GM bankruptcy possible
General Motors Corp (GM.N) will need to raise as much as $15 billion in cash to shore up liquidity and bankruptcy is "not impossible" if the U.S. auto market continues to slump. Other analysts have suggested GM, whose shares fell to a new 54-year low on Wednesday, needs to raise funds to ride out the downturn in the U.S. auto market through 2009. But Merrill's estimate of GM's financing needs is the highest yet. It also carried the most stark warning of the bankruptcy risk for the largest U.S. automaker.

GM declined to comment directly on the Merrill Lynch report but it believes it has sufficient liquidity for 2008 despite lower volumes and could take more steps to cut costs if sales conditions worsen.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080702/bs_nm/gm_dc_3;_ylt=AlNwt9hykWlomUF7JjGL.Y4E1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

Lehman to pay employees more stock
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is paying more of employees' compensation in stock this year, the company said in a memo sent to employees. The shares were granted at $20.96, their closing price on July 1. In previous years, they were granted at a discount to their closing price. But the shares vest sooner, and the holding period is shorter, meaning employees will be able to sell the shares after just three years instead of the previous five years. The company's shares rose after the report of the share grant, which first appeared on CNBC.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080702/bs_nm/lehman_employees_dc_1;_ylt=AmFrbe54_x2gTctNiUsnurkE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

Airline pilots brace for downsizing, career change
Clearly, it's as gloomy a time as anyone who works at a major U.S. airline can remember. Thousands of workers -- from management down to baggage handlers -- face imminent jobs cuts and a terrible job market. Many airline employees will have to switch careers. But some employees, like pilots and flight attendants, are in a particularly tight spot because their careers are so closely connected to seniority at a single airline, which dictates pay, work rules, and routes they are assigned to fly. A further complication is that seniority does not transfer between airlines. A United pilot who takes a job at American, for example, goes to the bottom of American's seniority list. If a furloughed pilot wants to keep flying for an airline, the options are limited, especially in the United States. Some airlines have arrangements with regional partners to give preference to furloughed employees for open positions. Often, however, the pay is much less for a regional pilot, and those jobs also are scarce.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080702/bs_nm/usa_airlines_pilots_dc_1;_ylt=AqGGK1bK2SWUD4_6HwhWz1wE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

Brokerage-firm failure has to be an option: Paulson
Paulson said, "For market discipline to constrain risk effectively, financial institutions must be allowed to fail. It is clear that some institutions, if they fail, can have a systemic impact, so we must give regulators the authorities to limit that impact and facilitate an orderly failure. In my view, looking beyond the immediate market challenges of today, we need to create a resolution process that ensures the financial system can withstand the failure of a large complex financial firm. The Bear Stearns episode and market turmoil more generally have placed in stark relief the outdated nature of our financial regulatory system. In my view, looking beyond the immediate market challenges of today, we need to create a resolution process that ensures the financial system can withstand the failure of a large complex financial firm."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...x?guid={936261F7-D5AC-4CFB-82C6-470CA564E64C}
This appears to be a warning of things yet to come, IMHO.

 

[Fivetears]

AMR cutting jobs to offset fuel prices
AMR Corp, parent of American Airlines, will reduce its employee headcount by about 8 percent as it cuts capacity to offset record-high fuel prices. In a letter from Jeff Brundage, AMR's senior vice president in charge of human resources, job cuts would be in line with the overall system capacity reductions, which are expected to total 8 percent. AMR, which currently has about 85,500 employees, has said it would reduce domestic capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent as part of the system-wide cuts. The airline industry, battered this year by record fuel prices, is cutting capacity and shrinking operations. Top airlines have announced job cuts that will total in the thousands. Earlier today the airline said that up to 900 of its flight attendants, or 5 percent, would be subject to furlough. An AMR spokesman said the company has notified the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the workers' union, that the furlough would be effective beginning August 31. The workers subject to involuntary furlough would be the carrier's most junior U.S.-based flight attendants. AMR said in a statement it hopes to limit involuntary layoffs by offering a voluntary retirement option to many U.S.-based and San Juan-based employees who are at least 50 years old with at least 15 years of service.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080702/bs_nm/amr_dc_1;_ylt=AsCsdRoPl2UfV0Sv67FQYesE1vAI

 

[Fivetears]

GM shares fall below $10 for first time since 1954
Shares of General Motors Corp. plunged today to close below $10 for the first time in more than half a century, on worries about the company's cash needs and speculation about a possible bankruptcy protection filing down the road. The drop came after a Merrill Lynch analyst cut his rating for GM to "Underperform" from "Buy" and slashed his price target for the company to $7 from $28, saying that the decline in automotive sales has been more severe than anyone expected and will likely continue through next year. Since July 2, 2007, GM shares have tumbled about 74 percent and the company's market capitalization has dropped to $5.65 billion from $21.5 billion.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/ap_on_bi_ge/auto_stocks;_ylt=AvEMs.9b2Nq3rM00nR62FPqb.HQA

 

[Fivetears]

UnitedHealth cuts 4,000 jobs and 2008 outlook
UnitedHealth Group Inc. cleared its decks of bad news today, announcing a lower profit outlook, a restructuring that will trim 4,000 jobs and a $900 million payout to settle a class-action lawsuit over options backdating. The company has been wrestling since 2006 with the backdating scandal, which led to the forced departure of CEO Bill McGuire. Shares in UnitedHealth Group fell 51 cents, or 2 percent, to close at $25.12 today after sliding to $25.04 earlier in the session, a level not reached since 2003.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702...lth_outlook;_ylt=AoYW.JnwtBovfZlC0DzO3Ydv24cA

 

[Fivetears]

Brazilian textiles company building plant in Texas
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said a Brazilian textiles company will open a denim manufacturing plant in Edinburg that will create 800 jobs. Perry made the announcement today that the state is giving $1.65 million to Santana Textiles to make its $170 million investment. It will be the first plant in the U.S. for the world's fifth-largest denim producer.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20080702&id=8857197

 

[luv2read]

Someone In The Government Actually Sees And Speaks The Truth!

brokerage-firm Failure Has To Be An Option: Paulson
Paulson Said, "for Market Discipline To Constrain Risk Effectively, Financial Institutions Must Be Allowed To Fail. It Is Clear That Some Institutions, If They Fail, Can Have A Systemic Impact, So We Must Give Regulators The Authorities To Limit That Impact And Facilitate An Orderly Failure. In My View, Looking Beyond The Immediate Market Challenges Of Today, We Need To Create A Resolution Process That Ensures The Financial System Can Withstand The Failure Of A Large Complex Financial Firm. The Bear Stearns Episode And Market Turmoil More Generally Have Placed In Stark Relief The Outdated Nature Of Our Financial Regulatory System. In My View, Looking Beyond The Immediate Market Challenges Of Today, We Need To Create A Resolution Process That Ensures The Financial System Can Withstand The Failure Of A Large Complex Financial Firm."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/brokerage-firm-failure-has-option-paulson/story.aspx?guid=%7b936261f7%2dd5ac%2d4cfb%2d82c6%2d470ca564e64c%7d
this Appears To Be A Warning Of Things Yet To Come, Imho.

Great post, thanks!