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European finance chiefs said Greece may have to step up its efforts to tackle a national fiscal crisis that threatens to spread to other countries across the region.

“The Greek government is aware of the magnitude of the problems facing the country,” Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Brussels late yesterday after leading a meeting of euro-area finance ministers that discussed Greece’s budget plan. “The measures are a step in the right direction. We’ll have to see whether they’re enough.”

Greece last week presented its plan to push down a budget deficit that is still more than four times the European Union limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on Jan. 14 turned up the pressure on Greece, saying no nation can expect any “special treatment” after rating downgrades sparked a rout in Greece’s bonds in December and fueled concerns about default.

The Greek government’s latest proposals call for about 10 billion euros ($14.4 billion) of spending cuts and revenue increases this year to bring the budget shortfall from 12.7 percent of output to 8.7 percent by year end.

“The Greek plan leans heavily on the income side,” Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said after yesterday’s meeting. “It leans heavily on one-time measures,” he said, adding that the program “needs to be more substantial.”

More-Reliable Statistics

The government in Athens presented a “very ambitious” budget-cutting program, Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told reporters yesterday. Greek officials also pledged to provide more-reliable statistics after the EU said earlier this month that the country’s data contained “severe irregularities.”

While the Greek government still has “difficult work to do,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the “serious reforms made to their statistics will help detect and avoid more problems like this in the future.” Bos said a “strong exercise” is required to make Greek data “reliable again.”

Juncker, who serves as Luxembourg’s premier and treasury minister, won a new term as head of the so-called eurogroup at yesterday’s meeting. He was unanimously appointed to a fresh term of two and half years under the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force in December.

The finance chiefs delayed until next month a decision on who will succeed Lucas Papademos as vice president of the European Central Bank, Juncker said. Luxembourg central bank chief Yves Mersch, his Portuguese counterpart Vitor Constancio and ECB Banking Supervision Committee Chairman Peter Praet are the three candidates being considered for the post.

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Call it financial literacy for the rich.

Bank of Montreal’s private banking division will start offering cross-Canada seminars next month specially designed for affluent adults, including those who marry into money.

The invitation-only program enables a high net-worth client to enrol a spouse or another adult relative in a financial boot camp of sorts that teaches the basics of money management and keeping the family fortune intact.

BMO’s "Financial Focus" part-day seminars tackle a variety of day-to-day issues such as budgeting, mortgages, banking, cash-flow management, credit, investing and estate planning.

It launched the program at the urging of its well-off clients. Many believe a spouse or an adult family member lacks experience with personal finances, said Sara Plant, vice-president and national director of wealth services with BMO Harris Private Banking.

"We’re often having very personal discussions with them about their families. And in those discussions, it comes to light that our clients are experiencing some kind of change or transition," Plant said.

"There may be a marriage, a divorce, a death in the family, an inheritance or selling a business, a retirement – these are sort of transitional changes that we find our clients up against."

A high net-worth client is someone with investable assets of at least $500,000. The new spousal seminars are the latest evolution of a program the bank launched last year to educate rich youth, aged 18 to 25, on money management.

Its staff had received a flood of requests for training. Some clients worried their children would squander inheritances, while others believed their offspring were "under the influence" of an untrustworthy person such as a devious spouse or business partner.

"Individual clients have said, `I know you’ve got one for young people, but do you have one for adults to deal with the issues that we face?’" Plant said.

The bank held a pilot version of its new adult course in Toronto on Nov. 3. Women mostly attended but the seminar is geared toward both sexes. Sessions will be held in major cities from February to April cash advance payday loans.

BMO is not the only bank coaching clients on coping with the pressures of being rich. TD Waterhouse Private Client Services offers special seminars for wealthy women called "Securing Your Future" and a guide book for the children of prosperous clients.

Its high net-worth planning group, meanwhile, provides a "Monte Carlo" analysis to clients – a computer simulation that outlines the trade-offs between short-term wants and long-term capital preservation.

"The first million dollars seems like it will last forever, which isn’t true," said Dave Kelly, group head of the Private Investment Counsel at TD Waterhouse Private Client Services. "For anyone who is new into wealth – whether that’s a lottery win, inheriting or marrying into – … the concept of $5 million, $10 million, $20 million is awfully hard to appreciate when you haven’t had it before."

Last month, RBC Private Banking launched a financial literacy kit for clients’ children, in addition to individual education sessions. "One of their top concerns is preserving wealth for future generations," RBC says.

The Bank of Nova Scotia’s Private Client Group, meanwhile, held a one-day money management pilot program called "Let’s Talk $" for its clients’ adult kids, aged 22 to 27, in November. It will hold at least two more seminars this year and one will be in Toronto.

A number of foreign banks, including Citigroup, JP Morgan and UBS, are also offering so-called "affluenza" courses. Those programs teach skills such as distinguishing between gold diggers and true friends, according to press reports.

Barron’s, meanwhile, ran a 2005 story stating the "Brat Patrol" was the new "battleground" for private bankers. "Among wealthy parents and their bankers, the rallying cry is: `Don’t let the kids become the next Paris Hilton,’" the article said.

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Personal income posted its largest gain in half a year in November and spending by individuals rose for a second straight month, according to government data released Wednesday.

The Commerce Department said income climbed by 0.4%, or $49.7 billion, during the month, after an upwardly revised 0.3% rise in October. That was the biggest gain since May, when it rose 1.5%. The figure was still below a consensus estimate of a 0.5% rise collected by Briefing.com.

Spending by individuals rose 0.5% last month, or $47.9 billion, below analysts’ expectations of a 0.7% hike. Personal spending was up 0 emergency payday loan.6% in October.

Personal savings totaled $521.1 billion in November, or 4.7% of disposable income, compared to $516.7 billion in October.

The report came one day after the government said that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, grew 2.2% in the third quarter.

Tuesday’s report showed that consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s economy, was weaker than previously thought. 

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Home building is picking up once again in the St. Louis region.

The number of permits for new single-family homes jumped 69 percent in November from the same month last year, according to new figures from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis.

The sharp jump was due in part to better weather, and to an exceptionally slow November last year, but it was the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year gains and echoed a national increase reported last week.

The numbers add to the growing sentiment that the market for new homes has bottomed out and that the supply of new construction is coming back into line with demand, after overbuilding in recent years. That has some market-watchers predicting a home building rebound in the spring.

Still, the market has a long way to go to return to past heights. For the year through November, local permits were running 17 percent behind last year’s pace and two-thirds off their peak in 2005.

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The Dallas real estate community lost an industry icon with the death Saturday of Henry S. Miller Jr.

Miller Jr., who was 95, greatly expanded the real estate company his father started in 1914. He joined Henry S. Miller Co. in 1946, became chairman and CEO in 1960, and is known for building the firm's expertise in brokerage, property management, as well as the development of shopping centers and office buildings.

Under Miller Jr.’s leadership, the Henry S. Miller Co. helped launch the careers of many notable real estate professionals who went on to form their own companies, including Roger Staubach, Herb Weitzman and Wayne Swearingen.

Henry S. Miller III said Sunday that his father pioneered the concept of specialization of services in different areas of commercial real estate.

“Before, it was all generalists,” Miller III said. “We were the first real estate company to break it up into divisions,” such as retail, multifamily, industrial, office and investment properties.

“We contended that that was the best way for people to really become expert in their fields,” Miller III said.

Other Henry S. Miller Co. innovations included establishing pension and profit-sharing trusts for employees and using psychological assessments for prospective employees, as well as formulizing training for new brokers, according to “The Book,” profiles of Dallas real estate pioneers published in 2008 by the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors.

Miller III said his father’s business success began with his philosophy of treating everybody equally.

“He was so humble,” Miller III said. “He couldn’t have done all the things that he did if he had an ego that got in the way. He never claimed credit for anything, so it was easy for other people to work with him. They didn’t feel like somebody else was competing with them.”

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The European Central Bank may today announce plans to scale back its emergency lending while keeping interest rates at a record low to foster an economic recovery.

ECB policy makers meeting in Frankfurt will leave the benchmark interest rate at 1 percent, according to all 54 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. President Jean-Claude Trichet will say the ECB’s third offer of 12-month loans to banks on Dec. 15 will be the last and may also signal a reduction in other lending operations, economists said.

The ECB, which has been flooding banks with cheap cash to fight Europe’s worst recession since World War II, said last month it will gradually withdraw the extra liquidity to prevent inflation as the economy gathers strength. At the same time, officials don’t want to give the impression they’re moving closer to rate increases, people familiar with their discussions said. Any indication that the ECB could tighten policy sooner than the Federal Reserve may fuel further gains in the euro.

“This is going to be the big one,” said James Nixon, co- chief European economist at Societe Generale SA in London. “They need to very, very carefully set out a timetable for how liquidity will be drawn down, but they don’t want to plant expectations that the exit implies they’ll raise interest rates.”

The ECB announces its rate decision at 1:45 p.m. and Trichet holds a press conference 45 minutes later.

Global Stimulus

While Australia’s central bank has raised rates three times in as many months, the Fed and the Bank of England have signaled they’re in no rush to increase borrowing costs from record lows as their economies struggle to shake off the effects of the biggest global slump since the Great Depression. The Bank of Japan announced new measures this week, saying it will offer three-month loans to banks at 0.1 percent to combat deflation.

Trichet will today unveil the ECB’s new staff projections, including the first forecasts for 2011. Governing Council members such as Luxembourg’s Yves Mersch and Slovakia’s Ivan Sramko have said they expect the bank to revise up its outlook for the 16-nation economy, which emerged from recession in the third quarter.

In September, the central bank said it expected gross domestic product to grow 0.2 percent in 2010 after shrinking 4.1 this year. It projected inflation of 0.4 percent this year and 1.2 percent next year. The ECB aims to keep inflation just below 2 percent over the medium term.

‘Gradual Recovery’

The December projections will show “a gradual recovery and moderately positive inflation,” said Nick Matthews, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “They’ll be consistent with the view that the policy rate can remain low for a long time.”

The euro has gained 20 percent against the dollar since mid-February, rising above $1.51 yesterday, which is threatening to hurt European exports.

Some policy makers have nevertheless expressed concern that banks are becoming too reliant on ECB cash, and are pushing for the extraordinary lending measures to be withdrawn.

“Not all our liquidity measures will be needed to the same extent as in the past,” Trichet said on Nov. 20. “Eventually, the administration of painkillers must be stopped if patients are to get on their own two feet.”

Trichet signaled on Nov. 5 that the ECB is unlikely to renew its 12-month loans to banks after December’s offering and promised to give details today. He’ll also say whether the ECB has decided to alter the interest rate on the loans. People familiar with the deliberations said last week that policy makers were leaning toward keeping the rate fixed at 1 percent.

‘Balancing Act’

The ECB may announce plans to reduce the frequency of its three-month and six-month loans, which it currently offers every month. The “first steps of a gradual phasing-out of non- standard measures” may include “a lower frequency for three- month and six-month refinancing operations,” Belgian council member Guy Quaden said Nov. 16.

Trichet could also field questions about Dubai’s decision to seek to delay debt repayments, which roiled financial markets this week, and Greece’s ballooning budget deficit. ECB Vice President Lucas Papademos met with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou last weekend to discuss the issue.

With markets still jittery about the sustainability of the economic recovery, the ECB will be wary of upsetting the apple cart, said Colin Ellis, an economist at Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe Ltd. in London.

“The message Trichet wants to convey is that the ECB is well placed to remove its monetary stimulus and has a strategy for doing so, but that it’s not going to do it too quickly,” he said. “It’s a bit of a balancing act.”

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The first official holiday retail weekend closes with Cyber Monday, a day that didn't exist before online stores.

Some argue that it's a recent tradition whose days are numbered, but Apple Inc. and major retailers are doing their part to keep it alive with special deals.

Cyber Monday was born back when not many Americans had high-speed Internet access at home and large numbers of them logged in for their online holiday shopping at the office on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

But an estimated 60 percent of U.S. homes now have broadband access to the Web, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, meaning fewer have to do their online shopping at work.

And a report from Neilsen earlier this month showed the number of people in the U.S. who plan to shop online has dropped this year to 63 percent, down 10 points from two years ago. The number of people who said they will do no online shopping rose to 7 percent from 1 percent in that same time frame.

But retailers are still offering special online deals Monday, including an offer from Cupertino-based Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) of free shipping on any item purchased for more than $50.

Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) is offering steep discounts on some PCs as well as free shipping on orders that cost more than $59.99. HP, however, didn't actually wait to launch its Cyber Monday specials on the first day of the work week, launching its specials on Sunday and making them good until Wednesday.

Other major online retailers offering Cyber Monday specials are Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

The National Retail Federation has launched a Web site that aggregates all of the special offers in one place in an effort to promote the unofficial shopping holiday. It can be accessed here.

While the NRF says the number of shoppers who say they will buy something online at work this season has dropped (68.8 million in 2009 vs. 72.8 million in 2008), the number of retailers making Cyber Monday promotions has gone up (87.7 percent this year vs. 83.7 percent last year.).

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A key measure of consumer confidence gained slightly in November, snapping a two-month declining streak, a research group said Tuesday.

The Conference Board, the New York-based research group, said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 49.5 in November from an upwardly revised 48.7 in October.

Economists were expecting the index to dip to 47.5, according to a Briefing.com consensus survey. The figure, which is based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. households, is closely watched because consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity.

The overall index remains at historically low levels. A reading above 90 indicates the economy is solid, and 100 or above signals strong growth.

Despite the modestly upbeat figure, Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board, said "consumers are entering the holiday season in a very frugal mood."

The index component that evaluates consumers’ judgment of the present situation was virtually unchanged, slipping to 21 in November from 21.1 the previous month. The measure stands at the lowest level since the 17.5 measured in February 1983.

Consumers’ assessment of the job market also continued to deteriorate. The percentage of those claiming that jobs are currently hard to get reached a new high of 49.8%, while the number of consumers claiming that jobs are "plentiful" hit a new low at 3.2%.

Employers continued to cut jobs from their payrolls in October, as the unemployment rate rose to 10.2% and hit another 26-year high last month, according to a report from the Labor Department.

The percentage of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined to 10% from 10.7%.

Despite their current outlook, however, consumers are optimistic about a recovery.

The expectation index, which measures consumers’ outlook over the next few months, climbed to 68 payday loan no fax no credit check.5 from 67 last month.

Franco said the "moderate improvement was a result of a decrease in the percent of consumers expecting business and labor market conditions to worsen, as opposed to an increase in the percent of consumers expecting conditions to improve."

While the percentage of those expecting the job market to improve edged down to 15.2% from 16.8%, the percentage of consumers expecting fewer jobs dropped to 23.1% from 26.1%.

Likewise, the percentage of consumers expecting an improvement in business conditions over the next six months dropped to 20% from 20.8%, but those expecting conditions to worsen decreased to 15.1% to 18.2%.

But even the "underlying data is abysmal," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo.

"Fewer people think things will get worse, which isn’t very comforting. You’d have to be a real pessimist to think things will get worse than they already are," said Vitner, adding that the consumers’ assessment of the economy might be "overly bleak."

Given the amount of stimulus the government has pumped into the economy, Vitner said he is "disappointed that this is all we’re getting in consumer sentiment for economic recovery."

For a healthier reading, Vitner said consumers need to believe jobs will be created and incomes will rise so they will increase spending.

The data followed a government report that said GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity, rose at an annual rate of 2.8% in the third quarter of this year, less than the 3.5% it originally reported. 

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Consumer confidence in Italy unexpectedly rose in November after the economy emerged from its worst recession since World War II.

The Isae Institute’s consumer confidence index climbed to 112.8 from 111.7 in October, the Rome-based research center Isae said today in an e-mailed statement. Economists had forecast a drop to 111.5 for this month, the median of 13 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed.

“There is a widespread perception that the crisis is over and this is an encouraging sign,” said Luigi Speranza, an economist at BNP Paribas in London. “However, consumers are still cautious about the purchase of durable goods and the outlook for t employment, leaving a question mark on consumer spending in the months ahead.”

Italy’s economy emerged from its fourth recession since 2001 in the third quarter as the recovery in Europe boosted exports, and growth may accelerate to more than 1 percent in 2010, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said yesterday. Government stimulus measures, particularly car trade-in incentives, helped buffer the drop in consumer spending and benefited Fiat Spa, the country’s biggest manufacturer.

Those incentives are due to be phased out and unemployment is still rising, which may weigh on confidence in the coming months. The jobless rate may exceed 8 pay day advance.5 percent in 2010 from 7.4 percent in the second quarter, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said last week.

Holiday Spending

Those job concerns may slow consumer spending during the holiday season, hurting reatailers such as department story operator Coin SpA. A third of Italians say they will not buy planned Christmas presents this year, according to a survey released yesterday by retailers lobby Confcommercio. More than 11 percent said they still don’t know whether they will spend as much as last year on gifts, Confcommercio said.

“The pace of job destruction in Italy has started to slow,” Marco Valli, chief economist at UniCredit Mib in Milan, said on Nov. 23. “However, given the huge amount of slack in the labor market, genuine employment growth is a matter of 2011 at the earliest.”

Italian optimism contrasts with the mood in Germany. Consumer confidence in Europe’s biggest economy unexpectedly fell in November for a second month as households grew concerned about job security, a separate report said today.

Isae conducted its confidence survey between Nov. 2 and Nov. 17.

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Swiss food giant Nestle may consider a bid for Britain’s Cadbury to challenge a hostile 9.9 billion-pound bid by Kraft Foods Inc and a potential move by Hershey, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

Nestle was still weighing its options and could decide against a bid, Bloomberg said, citing two unnamed people with knowledge of the matter.

Nestle declined to comment on Sunday.

Italian chocolate maker Ferrero and U.S.-based Hershey, have teamed up and said on Wednesday they were reviewing a possible offer for Cadbury.

Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore has reported that Hershey executives will go to Italy to hold a definitive meeting with Ferrero in the coming days.

Ferrero was not available for a comment.

Meanwhile, Cadbury’s Chairman Roger Carr told the Sunday Telegraph his group would prefer a merger with U.S. chocolate maker Hershey rather than Kraft. But he added both bids could fail should they not be generous enough.

COMPETITION HEADACHE

Analysts had been viewing Nestle as a potential suitor for Cadbury. But such a deal may face some antitrust hurdles.

Nestle said in October it was likely to exercise its option beginning in January 2010 to sell its remaining 52 percent stake in Alcon, potentially raising up to $28 billion, so it could easily afford big buys fast payday loans.

The Swiss giant has declined to comment on Cadbury so far. It has said it does not plan any big acquisitions this year or next, but will focus on a strategy of “bolt-on” buys.

Due to competition issues, analysts had speculated that the Swiss company might consider a joint offer with U.S.-based Hershey Co, with the U.S. group seeking Cadbury’s chocolate interests and leaving Nestle with the Trident chewing gum business.

But Nestle has been silent since Hershey and Italy’s Ferrero said separately on Wednesday they were considering a bid.

Some market players have suggested Nestle could still help Hershey fund a bid by buying its U.S. license for the KitKat brand, potentially worth around $3 billion to 3.5 billion.

The Cadbury riddle is a difficult one to solve as virtually all players would face antitrust issues if they move, said an M&A expert who declined to be named.

(Writing by Lisa Jucca and Emma Thomasson; additional reporting by Jo Winterbottom in Milan; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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