Finance Blog number 1

A call center for 21st Century Insurance and Financial Services Inc. will be filling 40 positions at a job fair on Monday.

The company, which has about 200 people at its call center in Phoenix that it shares with its parent, Farmers Group Inc., plans to split the positions among customers service and sales, said Deb West, the company’s director of operations.

The jobs will be full-time, and the company also is looking for some people with bilingual skills.

The job fair runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again from 4 to 7 p.m. at the call center, 16001 N. 28th Ave.

Those interested also can apply online at www.farmers.com and clicking on “corporate careers.”

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Denise Rehg, president of Culture Works, has stepped down to take a new position.

Rehg, who headed the Dayton-based arts funding, services and advocacy group for nine years, has taken the position of assistant senior vice president for major gifts with the United Way of Central Ohio, according to a press release.

Until a new president is found, Kathy Hollingsworth will be the interim president and chief executive officer, effective Aug. 2. Hollingsworth co-founded Innovative InterChange Associates, a Dayton consulting company low rates payday advance.

Culture Works provides some general operating support to the largest performing arts and arts education organizations in greater Dayton including: Cityfolk, Dayton Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Dayton Opera, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, The Human Race Theatre Company and Muse Machine, among others.

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Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on Thursday reported earnings of $500,000 for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, compared with a loss of $300,000 during the same period a year ago.

The Winston-Salem-based company said it nearly broke even for the full year, ending with a net loss of $200,000, compared with a loss of $4.1 million in 2009.

The company has not had a profitable full year since 2004. In its outlook, Krispy Kreme expects a net profit in fiscal 2011.

“During fiscal 2010, we made substantial progress in building a stronger foundation for our company and improving our business model,” said Jim Morgan, Krispy Kreme’s president and CEO. “The improvements in our operating results and financial position are a testament to the soundness of our business strategy, and reflect our ongoing efforts to enhance shareholder value over the long term.”

During the fourth quarter, revenues were $86.8 million, a 5.6 percent decline from the year earlier. But operating income increased 65 percent to $2.4 million, from $1.5 million. Sales at company-owned stores open at least a year rose by 1 overnight pay day loans.1 percent, making the fifth straight quarterly increase.

The company owns 83 of the 582 Krispy Kreme stores worldwide. The other 499 are franchise locations.

For the full year, revenues were down 10 percent from $385.5 million to $346.5 million. Company-owned same-store sales rose 3.5 percent from 2009, and operating income more than doubled to $11.8 million from $4.8 million.

Krispy Kreme was also able to reduce its debt by $31.4 million during its fiscal 2010, to $43.4 million.

The company increased its number of stores worldwide by 59 over the past year. Looking ahead to fiscal 2011, Krispy Kreme expects to add seven to 10 company stores and 35 to 45 domestic and international franchise shops. While most of its growth recently has been abroad, Krispy Kreme expects the number of domestic stores to rise for the first time since 2005.

The company anticipates operating income in 2011 of $10 million to $13 million.

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Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said today the government has no plans for new measures to curb the European Union’s largest deficit.

Plans to tame the government finances are “credible,” he told reporters in New Delhi. The EU backed on Feb. 3 the government’s proposals to trim the deficit after Papandreou pledged to raise fuel taxes and the retirement age and extended a wage freeze to all public workers.

Papandreou said today the proposals need to be implemented to achieve their goals, and the nation has substantial funds available from the EU. Yesterday the International Monetary fund said the Greek plan is “appropriate” and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he’s confident Greece can get the deficit under control.

The risk premium investors demand to buy Greek debt over comparable German 10-year bonds widened 10 basis points to 364 basis points the highest in a week. The benchmark ASE stock index fell for a third day, declining 2 percent, bringing its slide for this week to more than 9 percent.

The deficit reached 12.7 percent of gross domestic product last year, and officials are battling to convince investors it can shrink the shortfall to within the EU’S 3 percent limit in 2012 and avoid a bailout. Yesterday Greece’s biggest union approved the second mass strike this month and tax collectors began a 48-hour walkout, suggesting that workers are ignoring Papandreou’s call for sacrifice.

“He can’t come out and say more needs to be done, he has to talk the plans up,” said Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank AG in London. “The question becomes whether Greece can follow through with the plans they put in place and whether they are enough. The jury is still out on that.”

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Anheuser-Busch InBev said Thursday that it plans to fire 10 percent of its work force in Belgium, home to its international headquarters.

The world’s biggest beermaker blamed the cuts on Belgians drinking less beer. A total of 263 jobs out of about 2,700 will be lost. Cuts include 73 executives.

The company also planned to close a brewery in Luxembourg, moving production of beers like Diekirch and Mousel to other facilities. Job losses also come from changing distribution patterns.

One industry analyst said the layoffs reflect A-B InBev’s relentless focus on cutting costs, a pressure that would exist even without the $17 billion debt remaining from the $54.8 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by InBev in 2008.

"These guys are just obsessive about constantly cutting costs. It’s just an obsession," Trevor Stirling, senior research analyst at Sanford Bernstein in London, told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday no teletrack payday loans.

The job cuts in Belgium show that A-B InBev does not expect to find all of its cost-savings by slashing jobs in St. Louis, home to the company’s North American headquarters.

But the company has wielded a heavy ax in St. Louis, slashing 1,000 employees from a work force that once numbered 6,000.

In Belgium, the job cuts were met with displeasure by a union official.

"InBev promised us that they will try to avoid forced layoffs through early retirement," Carlo Rombauts with the ABVV union told Bloomberg News, "but we’re contemplating actions right now."

Last March, A-B InBev said it hoped to ferret out $2.25 billion in cost-savings over the next three years.

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The euro rose against the dollar Thursday after the European Central Bank hinted it would slowly start withdrawing emergency liquidity while the yen fell amid fears Japan may move to weaken its currency.

Though the ECB at a meeting left interest rates at record lows, its president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said the next 12-month refinancing operation for banks would be the last. The bank also lifted its economic growth forecast for 2010.

The euro neared a 16-month high around $1.5140 and rose against the yen but it gave up some gains when Trichet said plans to wind down some emergency programs were not a signal that interest rates may be about to change.

"He hinted that they’ll do something about an exit policy, so the first knee-jerk reaction was euro positive, but he’s not ready to endorse a full exit quite yet, so it’s really neither overly supportive of, nor detrimental to, the euro," said Boris Schlossberg, head of research at GFT Forex in New York.

Ultra-loose monetary policy tends to undermine a currency’s value because it increases money supply and risks inflation.

The euro rose 0.3% to $1.5085 and 1.1% to ¥132.94.

The euro got a modest boost when Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) said it would repay bailout funds to the U.S. government. That increased risk appetite and suggested banking sector improvement.

The yen was under pressure for the second straight day after the Bank of Japan said this week it would provide new three-month funding to banks to combat deflation and after top officials warned that the currency had grown too strong.

The dollar was up 0.8% at ¥88.15, off a 14-year low of of ¥84 no fax pay day loan.82 plumbed last week.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank does not target foreign exchange for monetary policy but "if the bank’s easy stance becomes widely known in markets, it will have certain effects on the currency market in the long run."

Sterling fell 0.3% to $1.6575 while the dollar fell 0.3% to 0.9989 Swiss francs.

Trichet, Bernanke speak

Analysts said Trichet had to walk a fine line as any hint of a rate rise would prompt traders to bid up the euro, especially as the U.S. Federal Reserve has said it would keep its own rates low for an extended time.

"He’s saying the outlook for economic growth is still uncertain, which means he’s not overly confident, and it seems that is capping the euro gains," said Hidetoshi Yanagihara, senior FX trader at Mizuho Corporate Bank in New York.

In Washington, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made his case for a second term in testimony before Congress, telling lawmakers the Fed’s forceful actions have prevented a devastating crisis from turning into something even worse.

Bernanke also pledged to maintain price stability and said fiscal deficits eventually have to come down. Some analysts have worried that rising U.S. debt and deficits will undermine the dollar further and eventually provoke higher inflation.

In separate remarks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated the importance of a strong dollar and said the United States must persuade the world it will be more fiscally responsible. 

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General Electric Co. and Comcast Corp have agreed on a valuation of around $30 billion for NBC Universal, ironing out what has been a key obstacle in talks to form a joint venture between NBC Universal and Comcast, a source familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

French media conglomerate Vivendi, which owns 20 percent of NBC Universal, has not yet agreed to a deal between GE and Comcast. GE owns 80 percent of NBC Universal.

(Reporting by Jui Chakravorty Das, writing by Megan Davies; Editing Bernard Orr)

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Wolfgang Schaeuble, who headed talks that led to German reunification and was forced out as Christian Democratic Union party chairman in a bribery scandal a decade later, was named finance minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new government.

Merkel kept control of the coffers away from her Free Democratic allies, who advocated more aggressive tax cuts than the chancellor. Schaeuble, 67, will have to rein in a record post-World War II budget deficit, warding off calls for ever- lower taxes and increased spending as the economy recovers from the deepest slump since the Great Depression.

“He has the strength to drive things through,” Stefan Bielmeier, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG, said in an interview from Frankfurt.

The Finance Ministry was the most disputed post in coalition talks between the CDU, its Christian Social Union Bavarian sister party and the Free Democratic Party. FDP leader Guido Westerwelle, 47, who has never held a government post, will become foreign minister. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, 37, will take over the defense ministry and will be replaced as economy minister by the FDP’s Rainer Bruederle.

Merkel and her allies completed a coalition deal in the early hours today to set up a second-term government that points Germany toward tax cuts and a reprieve for nuclear energy.

Wheelchair-bound Schaeuble, who was paralyzed from the chest down by a deranged gunman at a political rally in 1990, served as interior minister for four years under Merkel. Schaeuble aided Merkel’s ascent in politics. She toppled him from the party chairmanship in 2000 because of his links to a party-financing scandal under former Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

West German Veteran

As Kohl’s chief of staff in the mid-1980s, Schaeuble (pronounced SHOY-blah) is the only minister to have held a government post in pre-unification West Germany. He was chief negotiator for the West for the 1990 treaty that merged communist East Germany into the federal republic. He has served in parliament since 1972.

A native of the southwestern city of Freiburg, Schaeuble was assailed as interior minister by civil-liberties and privacy advocates who blasted plans to search personal computers, monitor online activity and deploy the military for domestic security.

He may make more enemies as he tries to rein in spending for a government that’s accumulated record debt.

Schaeuble has previously involved himself in finance issues. He championed a CDU plan to simplify the tax system in the late 1990s as leader of the party’s parliamentary group. Last year he pilloried executives earning inflated salaries soon after the financial system nearly collapsed.

Correcting ‘Excesses’

“It wouldn’t be bad if this crisis led to a correction of excesses,” Schaeuble said in an interview with Stern magazine last November. He cited “self-serving attitudes — a clique of managers endorses three-digit-million checks in a closed system that nobody can leave once he’s inside it.”

Schaeuble’s most testing time came when he became embroiled in the CDU funding scandal. He admitted to accepting 100,000 marks ($77,000) in cash from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber without ensuring it was registered in the party accounts. Pressure on Schaeuble to resign as CDU chairman mounted after he admitted he had lied by denying a second meeting with Schreiber. That cleared the way for Merkel’s ascent.

The CDU’s seizure of the finance ministry was a blow to the FDP’s Hermann Otto Solms, who had been touted by some analysts as a candidate. Solms advocates replacing the progressive income tax and its multitude of exemptions with three fixed brackets.

International Posts

The highest FDP post went to Westerwelle, whose lack of experience in foreign affairs has led to doubts about his credentials for the post, which traditionally goes to the leader of the junior party in a governing coalition.

The FDP will also take over the Economy Ministry with the appointment of Rainer Bruederle. He’ll succeed Guttenberg, who will now oversee the presence of more than 4,300 German troops in Afghanistan. The post would give an international profile to a CSU politician who previously focused on domestic affairs.

The youngest minister will be Philipp Roesler, 36, at the health ministry. He’d been deputy premier of the state of Lower Saxony.

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The number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest since January, a sign the labor market is deteriorating more slowly as the economy emerges from the recession.

Applications fell by 33,000 to 521,000, lower than forecast, in the week ended Oct. 3, from a revised 554,000 the week before, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The total number of people collecting unemployment insurance dropped in the prior week to the least since March.

While the figures indicate improvement, government data last week showed more job cuts than forecast for September and a rising jobless rate. President Barack Obama pledged to “explore any and all additional measures” to spur growth, as last week’s report underscored that gains in consumer spending may be hard to sustain once stimulus programs expire.

“Companies are now in a situation where they’ve cut enough jobs, but they’re still not hiring enough,” said Harm Bandholz, a U.S. economist at UniCredit Global Research in New York. “Consumer spending will be very slow until the middle of next year. We’re in a moderate recovery.”

U.S. stocks extended gains as the report bolstered optimism that the economy is pulling out of the worst slump since the Great Depression. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 0.6 percent to 1,063.84 at 10:17 a.m. in New York.

Forecasts

Economists forecast weekly claims would drop to 540,000 from a previously reported 551,000, according to the median of 45 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from 530,000 to 560,000.

Continuing claims dropped by 72,000 to 6.04 million in the week ended Sept. 26 from 6.11 million in the prior week.

A Commerce Department report today showed inventories at U.S. wholesalers dropped in August for a 12th consecutive month, clearing the way for a pickup in orders as sales improve. The 1.3 percent decrease in stockpiles was larger than anticipated and followed a revised 1.6 percent drop in July. Sales climbed 1 percent, the biggest gain since June 2008.

The jobless claims report showed the four-week moving average of initial applications, a less volatile measure, fell to 539,750 last week from 548,750.

The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits, which tends to track the jobless rate, decreased to 4.5 percent in the week ended Sept. 26, from 4 quick pay day loan.6 percent the prior week.

States and Territories

Twenty-seven states and territories reported a decrease in claims, while 26 reported an increase. These data are reported with a one-week lag.

Initial jobless claims reflect weekly firings and tend to rise as job growth — measured by the monthly non-farm payrolls report — slows.

The Labor Department said last week that employers cut 263,000 jobs in September after a 201,000 drop in August, while unemployment climbed to 9.8 percent, the highest level since 1983. The U.S. has lost 7.2 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

The government also projected that payrolls may have fallen by 824,000 more than previously thought in the year ended March.

Nonetheless, economists surveyed by Bloomberg in September estimated the U.S. returned to growth last quarter after contracting in the first six months.

Tepid Growth

Growth next year probably won’t be strong enough to “substantially” bring down unemployment, which may remain above 9 percent at the end of 2010, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers on Oct. 1.

Companies looking to add staff include Richfield, Minnesota- based Best Buy Co. The world’s largest electronics retailer last month said it plans to hire more seasonal holiday workers this year to help meet demand for Internet-connected flat-panel televisions and mobile phones.

Those cutting jobs include Windstream Corp., a Little Rock, Arkansas-based fixed-line phone company, which said last week it plans to trim about 350 positions, or 4.9 percent of its workforce, by the end of the year. The cuts are needed as the company changes its business model, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gardner said in a Sept. 30 statement.

Legislation to extend unemployment benefits is being delayed in the U.S. Senate by a dispute among lawmakers over which states ought to receive the relief.

The House approved legislation last week that would extend benefits by 13 weeks for people in 27 states with jobless rates of at least 8.5 percent in August. Democrats had said they wanted to forward the bill to Obama by the end of September, when benefits ran out for about 400,000 Americans.

Seventeen senators objected to the House plan because their states would be excluded.

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Manufacturing in the U.S. expanded less than anticipated by economists and more Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits, pointing to a recovery that will be slow to generate jobs.

The Institute for Supply Management’s factory gauge decreased to 52.6 in September from 52.9 in August, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said today. Fifty is the dividing line between expansion and contraction. The number of jobless claims climbed to 551,000 last week, more than economists forecast, figures from the Labor Department showed.

Coming a day before the September jobs report, the figures caused stocks to slump on growing concern the seven-month rally has outpaced prospects for economic growth. Consumer spending, boosted last quarter by government programs such as “cash for clunkers,” may not be able to keep rising as quickly once the stimulus expires and unemployment keeps climbing.

“The balance of data is still pointing to the economy getting better,” said Conrad DeQuadros, a senior economist at RDQ Economics in New York. “The consumer is still facing significant headwinds in the labor market. I wouldn’t look for the consumer to significantly boost growth over the next couple of months.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed down 2.6 percent at 1,029.85 today in New York, a day after completing its biggest back-to-back quarterly rally since 1975. Treasury securities jumped, sending the yield on the 10-year note down to 3.18 percent from 3.31 percent late yesterday.

Unexpected Drop

The ISM index, which dropped for the first time this year, was forecast to rise to 54, according to the median of 80 estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Projections ranged from 51.5 to 56. Manufacturing accounts for about 12 percent of the world’s largest economy.

“We’re still in positive territory but we’re just not advancing at quite the same rate,” said Brian Bethune, chief financial economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Retailers are anticipating a weak sales season and they’re playing it conservative on orders and hiring.”

The ISM report showed orders and production advanced at a slower pace last month, while the magnitude of reductions in inventories also cooled.

“The inventory correction, with the exception of a few industries,” has played out, Norbert Ore, chairman of the ISM’s factory survey, said in a press conference. “Overall, September was a good month. For the balance of the year, we should expect to see manufacturing holding this level, possibly improving from this level.”

More Claims

Last week’s jobless claims figures overshot the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News which projected an increase to 535,000, raising concern tomorrow’s jobs report will also disappoint expectations that payroll decreases are slowing.

The Labor Department may say tomorrow that job losses in September totaled 175,000, according to the survey median, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, the highest since 1983.

The economy has lost 6.9 million jobs since the recession started in December 2007, the most of any downturn since the Great Depression. The 216,000 drop in payrolls reported for August, meanwhile, was the smallest in a year.

Autos, Houses

So far, the Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus plan, which included the auto incentives and an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, is giving consumers reason to buy cars and houses.

Household purchases jumped 1.3 percent in August, the largest gain since October 2001, data from the Commerce Department also showed today. Incomes climbed 0.2 percent for a second month and inflation decelerated, the report also showed.

Inflation-adjusted spending on durable goods, including autos, furniture, and other long-lasting items, jumped 5.8 percent in August, also the most since the month after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Then, the introduction of zero-percent financing to revive sales boosted spending on durable goods by 14 percent.

Auto sales fell 35 percent in September from the previous month to a 9.2 million annual rate, after the clunkers plan expired, according to Bloomberg data.

Pending Sales

Lower home prices and mortgage rates combined with the first-time buyer credit have helped end the housing-market meltdown that sparked the financial crisis. The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home sales, jumped 6.4 percent in August, a seventh consecutive increase, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington.

The tax credit is due to expire at the end of November, raising concern sales will again slow.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., the largest U.S. home-furnishings retailer, last month said second-quarter profit rose 14 percent, fueled by rebounding home sales. The Union, New Jersey-based chain also increased its annual profit forecast.

Even so, “looking ahead to the remainder of our fiscal year 2009, we have assumed that the overall business climate will remain challenging,” Chief Financial Officer Eugene Castagna said on a conference call on Sept. 23.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg earlier this month projected the economy will expand at an average 2.6 percent annual rate and grow 2.4 percent in 2010.

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