Russia refrained from cutting interest rates after a surprise reduction in December, signaling for the first time since August that borrowing costs may remain unchanged in the
Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday ahead of a U.S. jobs report that is a key gauge of how robust the world’s No. 1 economy is.
Benchmark oil was nearly unchanged at $96 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and the yen.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5 percent to 8,829.69. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1 percent to 1,964.78 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.1 percent to 20,719.23.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent at 4,249.40. Benchmarks in India, Thailand and New Zealand fell while Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia rose.
Later Friday, the U.S. government releases its report on January job creation and the unemployment rate. In December, the country added 200,000 jobs, and the jobless rate was 8.5 percent.
Some analysts said they are not expecting a strong increase in jobs, based on a report Wednesday from private payroll agency ADP. The report said private-sector employment rose by 170,000 in January from the previous month _ fewer jobs than expected.
“The two series continue to track fairly closely and both show what everyone has rightfully fretted about for the past 18 months: there hasn’t been any trend improvement in job growth since mid-2010,” said analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore.
Traders were largely refraining from big moves ahead of the employment data in case it turns out to be worse than expected.
“For right now, for major indexes like Dow Jones, the Hang Seng and also Germany’s DAX, they are already at a relatively high level,” said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. “For major indexes which shot up to high levels, we need more information for markets to expand the uptrend.”
The results of earnings reports, meanwhile, reverberated across markets. Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. jumped 7.3 percent after the electronics maker maintained its earlier earnings projection for the business year to March 31.
But Singapore Airlines fell 2.5 percent a day after announcing that quarterly profit plunged 53 percent as passenger demand slowed while higher fuel prices sent costs up. South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries plummeted 7.2 percent after posting a 91 percent plunge in fourth-quarter net profit, Yonhap News agency said.
Elsewhere, Australian miner Lynas Corp. tumbled 9.4 percent amid opposition to its rare earths plant in Malaysia’s central Pahang state that is scheduled to begin operations later this year.
Stocks were largely unchanged on Wall Street on Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down less than 0.1 percent at 12,705.41. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.1 percent to 1,325.54. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent to 2,859.68.
Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 4 cents to $96.39 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $1.25 to end at $96.36 per barrel in New York on Thursday.
In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3131 from $1.3141 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 76.18 yen from 76.16 yen.
Seeking cooperation in a polarized climate, President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to act quickly on bipartisan measures that would extend tax breaks for small businesses and help startup companies raise money. He said he would sign the legislation “right away.”
Obama plans to include in his 2013 budget proposal later this month a series of business measures that have been percolating in Congress or that already have passed the Republican-controlled House to give entrepreneurs incentives to expand their businesses or start new ones.
Obama made his remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. He noted that for the first time, the head of the Small Business Administration, Karen Mills, was participating as a full member of the Cabinet.
“It is a symbol of how important it is for us to spur entrepreneurship, to help startups, to move aggressively so that we can assure more companies that create the most jobs in our economy are getting a leg up from various programs that we have in our government,” Obama said.
The White House legislative agenda for small businesses includes permanently eliminating taxes on capital gains from investments in small businesses and a one-year extension on the ability of all businesses to immediately deduct all of the costs of equipment and software purchases.
The Obama administration also is seeking a new 10 percent tax credit for small businesses that add jobs or increase wages in 2012.
In addition, the president’s proposals would make it easier for new startup companies to raise money and to go public, embracing a series of measures that already have passed the House or that have bipartisan support in the Senate. Obama also is proposing expanding a government small business investment program from $3 billion to $4 billion.
“The president has made small businesses and particularly startups a key aspect of his economic growth agenda because he understands how much the newest and fastest-growing small businesses drive job growth in our economy,” said Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council.
Obama said the Homeland Security Department also is seeking ways to change the visa process to attract foreign-born entrepreneurs and high-skilled immigrants to invest in the United States or start new businesses. The State Department also plans a change in regulations to provide longer visas for workers whose employers transfer them from overseas to the United States guaranteed high risk personal loans.
The measures are modest by comparison to Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus or to last year’s jobs bill. But they borrow from past Obama initiatives and from bipartisan legislation that has passed or been proposed in Congress.
Obama’s package includes proposals offered in the Senate by Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, and another plan by Republican Jerry Moran of Kansas and Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia.
White House officials would not disclose the total cost of the president’s package, but Sperling said it would be more than covered by proposals to reduce tax expenditures and by closed loopholes the administration will call for in its 2013 budget.
With the presidential election set to become the main political preoccupation of 2012, the White House initiative is designed to take advantage of cooperative attempts by Republicans and Democrats to find modest remedies to spur the economy. Most of those efforts have been overshadowed by congressional bickering, the Republican presidential primary and Obama’s growing attention to his re-election.
The proposals come a year after the administration launched a consolidated effort to spur new startup businesses with a high-profile White House event featuring scores of entrepreneurs, some of whom offered testimonials to the job creation possibilities that new businesses can bring to the economy.
Besides the tax breaks, a central element of the Obama package is to assist new entrepreneurs by making it easier for them to raise money, reducing taxes on their startup expenses and removing securities barriers for new companies that have gone public.
“Our small business agenda has a specific focus on removing the barriers that have for too long blocked startups and entrepreneurs from getting the financing they need to accelerate their growth and hiring,” Sperling said.
One of the Obama provisions would increase the amount of money that can be raised through small public offerings that don’t require companies to undergo an extensive Securities and Exchange Commission registration process. The limit for such “mini public offerings” would increase from $5 million a year to $50 million.
The House passed similar legislation last year.
Developing countries seeking to raise their standards of living should focus on educating girls, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said.
Greece’s prime minister resumed talks late Thursday with top bank negotiators to try and overcome obstacles to a major debt-relief deal needed to avoid bankruptcy.
Premier Lucas Papademos met with Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance, a banking lobby, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of French bank BNP Paribas.
Private bondholders are being asked to forgive half their Greek debt, and in return accept cash payments and new bonds with longer maturities. The deal is required for a second international bailout with a looming euro14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20 that carries a serious threat of bankruptcy for Greece.
Top eurozone officials are pressing private bondholders to accept the new bonds at a lower interest rate.
A senior Greek government official said, despite delays in concluding the negotiations, Greece was still aiming to submit its formal offer for the bond-swap deal to banks and other private creditors by Feb. 13. The official asked not to be named because the talks are ongoing.
Dallara resumed the talks in Athens for a third successive week.
Eurozone countries have taken a tough stance with the IIF because they would have to provide additional help to Greece if the bond-swap deal falls short of expectations.
“To ensure debt sustainability for Greece, it is essential that a new program be supported by a combination of private sector involvement and official sector support,” William Murray, an IMF spokesman, said late Wednesday.
Murray said the IMF has not asked the European Central Bank, which holds more than euro40 billion ($52 billion) in Greek government bonds, to play any specific role in relieving Greece’s debt pile.
The ECB, as a public sector holder of Greek debt, is protected from any writedown.
“The Fund has no view on the relative contribution of private sector involvement and official sector support in achieving” the target of cutting Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio to 120 percent, Murray said.
Greece is currently surviving on a euro110-billion loan package from eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, and has been promised an additional euro130 billion in rescue aid if the bond-swap deal goes through.
EU-IMF debt inspectors are currently in Athens for talks with the Papademos government, to set conditions for the second package that are expected to produce more austerity measures in the recession-hit country.
Hardship facing many Greeks has spurred a huge drop in support for the country’s Socialist party, which won the last general election in 2009 with nearly 44 percent of the vote, and formed a coalition government with rival conservatives two months ago.
A nationwide opinion poll published Thursday found support for the Socialists has dropped to 12 percent, just behind three opposition left-wing parties.
The VPRC survey for the Epikaira news magazine gave the conservatives 30.5 percent support. Sample data was not immediately available.
General elections are expected in late April.
European leaders will this week try to rescue under-fire efforts to deliver new fiscal rules and cut Greece
A judge has appointed a receiver for the Ridge Point Crossing apartments in St. Louis County, a two-property complex that’s owned by an affiliate of Gannon International.
The appointment is the latest of a string of apartment properties owned by Creve-Coeur based Gannon that have been put in receivership following loan defaults in the past year.
Ridge Point Crossing includes 292 units at 11251 Graben Drive in St. Ann and 96 apartments at 11302 Bonanza Drive in Maryland Heights.
Wells Fargo sought a receiver for Ridge Point Crossing last month after an affiliate of Gannon defaulted on a $9.9 million loan secured by the property, according to court filings.
The Gannon affiliate “has failed to make debt service payments, make critical vendor payments and keep up with payroll obligations,” St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Robert Cohen wrote in his order appointing Nolan Real Estate Services receiver of Ridge Point Crossing on Dec. 13.
As receiver, Nolan Real Estate will collect rent at the property, make repairs and pay utilities.
Bill Schierholz, president of Gannon’s real estate group, could not be reached for comment payday loan. Daniel Spirn, an attorney representing Wells Fargo, declined to comment.
The appointment of a receiver at Ridge Point Crossing follows similar appointments at Gannon-owned apartment complexes in the past year.
In April, a receiver was appointed for the 272-unit Springwood Apartments in Bel-Ridge after PNC Bank alleged Gannon defaulted on a $5.7 million loan secured by Springwood and failed to properly maintain the apartments. Springwood has since been sold.
In June, a receiver was appointed for the 336-unit Suson Pines Apartments at 5625 Suson Hills Drive in south St. Louis County after PNC alleged Gannon defaulted on a promissory note and owes the bank more than $13 million.
The real estate arm of Gannon International, which is owned by Chief Executive William Franke, owns nine apartment properties in the St. Louis area.
Wallets may soon be going the way of typewriters, pay phones and videocassette recorders.
Oh, they’ll still be a great place to carry photos, receipts and odd slips of paper, but technology forecasters say we’ll soon be reaching for cellphones when it’s time to pay or be paid.
It’s a dream that Kevin Stock is ready to live.
For nearly a year, Stock, of St. Louis, has been carrying around a small white plastic device he can attach to his phone at a moment’s notice, creating his very own credit card terminal. All he needs is someone willing to play along.
“I’ve looked for opportunities, for sure,” Stock said. “But I haven’t been too successful.”
So far, the only taker has been his roommate. Once a month they tally up their bills, and Stock collects what he is owed through a swipe of his roommate’s credit card.
And while Stock has been able to travel no further down the mobile payment path, industry experts say it’s only a matter of time — most say it’s several years out — before we witness a radical shift in the way we exchange cash.
“I don’t think it’s going to go away overnight or in the next year. But mobile payments is where it’s headed,” said Trevor Dryer, head of product management, mobile payments and point-of-sale for financial software maker Intuit.
Already, the financial sector is crawling with companies hoping to carve out a piece of a market that sees billions upon billions of dollars changing hands every year in the form of cash.
Much of that exchanging is done by choice, with some people simply preferring to deal in cash or checks. But there’s also the fact that small businesses often find it too expensive to maintain a merchant account — required to accept credit card payments.
Getting around that was the inspiration behind the Square device carried by Stock.
Square, whose founders include St. Louis native and Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey, offers credit card processing services to pretty much anyone with the right smartphone — most iPhones and Android-based phones.
The service is easy to use. An application links your phone and bank account, while the small card reader (the company gives them away) plugs into the earplug jack. From there, you just need someone willing to hand you a credit card and sign the screen with their finger. A day or so later, the money shows up in your bank about, minus a 2.75 percent fee.
The 2-year-old firm has shipped more than 800,000 card readers — 2,500 to St. Louis — and is now processing $2 billion in payments annually. But while that sounds like a lot of money, keep in mind that the nation rings up some $2 trillion annually in credit card charges.
Square is proving popular with a wide range of users, including musicians, massage therapists, restaurants and craft fair vendors.
“Right now, there are 26 million small businesses (in the nation) that only accept cash. It’s a huge market,” said spokeswoman Lindsay Wiese.
Until September, that market included St. Louis Osuwa Taiko, a traditional Japanese drum group that now uses Square a couple of times a month to sell CDs, T-shirts and other souvenirs after shows.
So far, it’s tough to say how much of a boost they’re getting from the device. But Junsei Ito, the group’s treasurer, said they made 20 credit card sales during a three-day Japanese festival over Labor Day Weekend.
“It seems like people buy more,” Ito said. “They don’t tend to carry a lot of cash these days. And they don’t carry checks, either.”
Similar to Square is Intuit’s GoPayment system, which also uses a card reader to send money either to a bank account or a prepaid credit card. Intuit’s mobile division is processing some $5 billion a year in credit card charges, said Dryer, the company’s mobile payments chief.
And while it started as a way to offer contractors, plumbers and electricians an easy way to take credit cards, the company loves to point out that Girl Scouts use the devices while hawking their cookies door to door.
“They are probably using their parents’ phones,” Dryer said. “But it’s a testament to how simple this product is that 9-year-old girls are using it.”
Other systems have looked for ways to remove the physical credit card from the equation. Among them are those using what’s known as near field communication, or NFC. Basically, it lets two devices exchange money when they come into contact with each other.
The technology is at the heart of MasterCard’s PayPass system, in which users tap their credit cards against a PayPass terminal to complete a purchase. In recent years, MasterCard has teamed with Google and several phone and financial services firms to create Google Wallet. Phones equipped with the technology can be used much like credit cards — they make payments simply by tapping them against an NFC terminal.
Several phone developers have included NFC in their devices, with BlackBerry and Nokia making plans to do so. Google’s Android-based devices have it, though the payment service suffered a blow recently when Verizon Wireless blocked its use in the new Galaxy Nexus phone. Verizon is part of a consortium called ISIS that is developing its own payment system.
While MasterCard sees potential in the technology — and the speed with which these trends can catch on — the company isn’t ready to sing the death of plastic. There are, after all, some advantages in having that physical card, said James Anderson, group head of mobile for MasterCard.
Among them, he said: “The batteries don’t go flat.”
One young startup in Des Moines, Iowa, however, is trying to create a new payment system in which credit cards never enter the picture.
Dwolla relies on bank accounts and actually prohibits the use of credit cards. Dwolla’s cost structure is simple: You pay 25 cents for any transaction, regardless of size.
Eliminating credit cards from the system removes the need to collect the types of fees — generally in the 3 percent range — charged on every credit card transaction, said Ben Milne, the company’s founder. Without the credit card fees, he said there’s no reason to base charges on the size of the transaction.
“The cost to move $1 million is the cost to move a dollar,” Milne said.
Not that they come close to moving that much money at any one time. The company’s average transaction is around $450, with a maximum of $10,000 for businesses and $5,000 for consumers. Still, Dwolla is on pace to handle more than $350 million worth of transactions over the next year.
And with some $20 trillion spent every year in cash transactions, Milne sees a lot of room for growth: “It’s likely the biggest market in the world.”
Still, for the Squares, Dwollas, Google Wallets, clearXchanges and GoPayments of the world to achieve widespread acceptance, some things need to happen. Among other things, experts say, there are too many participants. And they expect a wave of acquisitions and failures to thin the herd.
And many of the systems, at least in their present incarnations, are simply too cumbersome, they say.
Andy Schmidt, research director for Commercial Banking & Payments for TowerGroup, believes we’ll eventually get to the point where payments are all based on the simple exchange of phone numbers and email addresses.
As Stock from south St. Louis has seen, people are often reluctant to go through the hassle of pulling out their credit cards for minor exchanges.
“It’s not so much that you might capture my credit card information,” Schmidt said. “It’s that it’s quicker to give you cash. That’s what you are fighting.”
There also are concerns about the potential for identity theft and credit card fraud as credit card information is stored and transmitted through cellphones.
Michelle Jun, a senior attorney for Consumers Union, said consumers should make sure they are protected against fraud.
In general, the best protections are provided by those based on credit cards and, to a lesser degree, debit cards.
Both offer caps on liability in the event of fraud or identity theft. More vulnerable are those that rely on prepaid cards or that link directly to a cellphone account.
“Unfortunately, all of the different protections aren’t the same,” Jun said. “Make sure you know what you are getting into before you start charging away.”
Workers in the U.S. earning the minimum wage are worse off now than they were four decades ago.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows that after adjusting for inflation, the federal minimum wage dropped 20 percent from 1967 to 2010, even as the nominal figure climbed to $7.25 an hour from $1.40, a 418 percent gain.
The decline would have been worse if not for increases that took place from 2008 through 2010 in how much employers were legally obligated to pay. Combined with more stable consumer prices, those adjustments helped trim the reduction in earnings from 41 percent at the end of 2007, following a decade of no change in minimum pay.