Finance Blog number 1

The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center has added $3.5 million in advanced corn fractionation technology, provided by Cereal Process Technologies LLC of Overland Park, Kan., with support from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Located on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the nonprofit research center focuses on improving efficiencies in the production of ethanol for fuel. The new equipment will enhance advanced ethanol research and career training programs at the center payday loans direct lenders.

Kenneth “Pete” Moss, vice president of marketing for Cereal Process Technologies, said the company’s fractionation technology is “the foundation for a revitalized ethanol industry.” He said it enables ethanol plants to reduce energy consumption while producing more ethanol and edible corn oil.

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BANGKOK

Markets plunged Tuesday on fears that Europe’s plan to save the euro was already unraveling after the shock decision by Greek Prime Minister to call a referendum on the country’s latest rescue.

Stock markets plunged across Europe on Tuesday, with the Athens exchange losing almost 7 percent, while the euro fell another 1.2 percent, on worries the Greek government could lose the referendum vote with the potentially devastating consequence of a disorderly debt default and Greece’s exit from the common currency.

George Papandreou stunned investors, as well as his own citizens and his partners in the eurozone, by announcing late Monday that a plebiscite will be held in what he called “a supreme act of democracy and of patriotism for the people to make their own decision.” A confidence vote in the Socialist government will also take place at the end of this week.

The referendum _ the country’s first since 1974 _ is expected to be held early next year. The renewed uncertainty it creates deflated any remnants of optimism over last week’s grand European plan to contain the debt crisis. After weeks of complex negotiations, eurozone leaders agreed last Thursday that private holders of Greek bonds should take a 50 percent loss on their holdings, reducing Greece’s debt burden to 120 percent of national income by 2020 from around 180 percent at present.

“While it may be the democratic thing to do … what happen if Greece votes ‘no’, which is possible given how unpopular the bailout plan appears to be amongst Greece’s voters,” said Michael Hewson, markets analyst at CMC Markets. “The resulting fallout could well result in a complete meltdown of the European banking system and throw Europe into turmoil.”

News that Greece’s Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos went to a clinic after suffering stomach pains added to the renewed bout of fears in the markets.

Unsurprisingly, Greek shares led the retreat. The Athens Stock Exchange’s benchmark General Index fell 6.8 percent just after trading started Tuesday, with the bank index losing more than 13 percent.

All other markets were sharply lower too. Germany’s DAX was 3.6 percent lower, while France’s CAC-40 dropped 3.2 percent. The euro fell to a daily low of 1.37 while borrowing rates jumped higher for Italy and Spain, considered the next weakest links in the crisis.

A recent opinion poll suggested that 60 percent of Greeks were against the austerity measures that have been required by international creditors from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund in return for crucial bailout loans bad credit pay day loans. However, other polls show broad support for remaining in the eurozone.

Given that Greece is heading for its fourth year of recession next year, investors aren’t hopeful that Papandreou will be able to pull off a victory. Success in the referendum, however, could shore up Europe’s battle to contain its crippling debt crisis.

Even before Papandreou’s pledge, the shine from last week’s three-pronged plan to contain the crisis was wearing off. As well as increasing the private sector involvement in the Greek bailout, eurozone leaders agreed to boost the firepower of the bailout fund to euro1 trillion ($1.37 trillion) and a recapitalization of the banking sector.

Jacques Cailloux, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland, noted that Papandreou’s referendum pledge is likely to derail any hopes that the international community will contribute to the plan to boost Europe’s bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, at the upcoming summit of the Group of 20 leaders in Cannes, France.

“The added uncertainty surrounding a potential referendum in Greece will likely block any new potential financial support from countries outside the monetary union given the potential implications for the future of the Union,” Cailloux said. “We thus view this as a major negative for Greece and the rest of the momentary union.”

Greece’s main opposition conservatives called for Papandreou’s resignation, accusing him of incompetence and blackmail.

“Mr Papandreou is unscrupulous and dangerous,” party spokesman Yiannis Michelakis said late Monday. “He has tossed Greece’s participation in Europe into the air like a coin. … Instead of seeking ways to extract us from our impasse, he is presenting the Greek people with the ultimate blackmail.”

Respected conservative Kathimerini daily called Papandreou’s announcement “a high-risk initiative” that further dents the country’s international image and will accelerate the country’s return to its old national currency, the drachma.

“The last thing Greece needs right now is additional uncertainty,” the paper said. “It is certain that the country will be paralyzed and will be caught in an endless debate lasting weeks, during which obviously neither the state nor the government nor any other institution will function.”

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Pylas contributed from London

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Slovakia’s prime minister has raised the stakes ahead of a crucial vote on expanding Europe’s bailout fund, by linking it to a confidence vote in her government.

Ahead of talks with her coalition partners, Iveta Radicova confirmed that a coalition partner has not accepted a compromise offer and added that the vote later in Parliament “will be linked to a confidence vote in this government.”

That suggests her government will fall if the vote is not carried, though it does not necessarily mean early elections under the terms of the Slovak constitution.

On Monday, the four-party coalition, which met for three hours, was unable to agree on a compromise deal.

The 17 nations that use the euro must all approve expanding the powers of the bailout fund, which is designed to shore up Europe’s defenses against the debt crisis.

Slovakia’s “no” would be a bad signal for already nervous financial markets. Ahead of the vote, European markets were giving up some of their recent gains though remained sharply higher on the week. The euro meanwhile was solid above $1.36.

All other EU nations have backed the expanded powers for the EU bailout fund.

Slovakia, a nation of 5.5 million people, would contribute about 1 percent, or euro7.7 billion ($10.5 billion). With the help of EU funds and foreign investments, it has benefited significantly from its membership in the eurozone and the EU and become a leading European car exporter.

The outcome of the Slovak parliamentary vote is uncertain because a junior member of the four-party governing coalition is strictly opposed to boosting the fund.

The Freedom and Solidarity Party’s chairman, Richard Sulik recently described the expanded bailout fund “a road to hell” and vowed again Monday to block it.

Without the votes from Sulik’s party, the coalition government would have to rely on the opposition, but it’s unlikely to provide any help.

The major opposition party, Smer-Social Democracy of former Prime Minister Robert Fico, supports the fund expansion in principle but was ready to vote for it in exchange for nothing less than early elections.

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The more than 1,000 hourly employees at the General Motors plant in Wentzville are voting today on a local contract.

Voting began at 4 a.m. and will run until 7 p.m., said Tom Brune, communications coordinator for United Auto Workers Local 2250. The local contract covers work rules, transfers and job classifications.

Last week, Local 2250 employees voted overwhelmingly to approve a national four-year contract with GM. Local 2250 represents the 1,196 hourly workers at the Wentzville plant. As part of the new contract, GM is proposing investing $380 million in the Wentzville facility and adding 1,850 jobs.

Some of those new jobs will be added in the coming weeks. GM spokesman Greg Martin said Wentzville employees were told today that a second shift at the plant for full-size van production will be added in early 2012, adding about 400 jobs easy payday loans. The plant currently produces GMC Savana and Chevrolet Express vans.

“We’ll start bringing them on as soon as we can,” Martin said. Workers for the second shift will start to receive training within the next month, he said.

GM has not yet offered details about the addition of a mid-size pickup slated for Wentzville, which union officials announced as part of the national contract last month. Analysts have speculated that GM will begin producing the next generation Colorado pickup in Wentzville. Colorados are currently produced at a plant in Shreveport, La., which is slated to close.

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U.S. stock futures are rising sharply ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank that could provide solutions to Europe’s debt crisis.

Investors expect that officials at the European Central Bank will announce plans to provide support to the region’s struggling banks.

In the U.S., investors will be looking toward a report on first-time applications for unemployment benefits last week.

Shares of Apple Inc. fell 1 percent in premarket trading. The company says co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs died Wednesday.

Two hours before the opening bell, Dow futures rose 115 points, or 1.1 percent, to 10,953. S&P 500 futures rose 12, or 1 percent, to 1,147. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 16, or 0.7 percent, to 2,183.

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NEW YORK, N.Y.

As the prospect of a disastrous debt default hung over Greece, the government faced more strikes and protests against its new austerity measures needed to appease the country’s rescue creditors.

Athens commuters faced more misery as metro, tram and suburban rail workers were on a 24-hour strike, while buses and trolleys were to stop operating for several hours in the middle of the day. Airline passengers also faced delays as air traffic controllers implemented work-to-rule action, refusing to work overtime. A 48-hour strike by all transport workers is expected later this week.

Greek police held their own protest, with the force’s Special Guards unit hanging a giant black banner from the top of Lycabettus Hill in the capital reading “Pay day, day of mourning.”

Faced with mounting anger from the country’s international creditors, the government recently announced a raft of new austerity measures in an effort to secure the next euro8 billion ($10.7 billion) installment of bailout loans from the euro110 billion rescue package it has been dependent on since last year. Without the funds, Greece only has enough funds to see it through mid-October, when it faces the prospect of a messy default.

In July, when it became clear that Athens needed more help, eurozone leaders agreed on a second, euro109 billion bailout, although several aspects of that deal still need to be finalized guaranteed fast personal loans.

The government’s new measures include a new property tax to be paid through electricity bills to make it easier for the state to collect, as well as pension cuts and more tax hikes. Greeks have been outraged by the new steps, as they come on top of previous austerity measures which failed to sufficiently reduce the country’s budget deficit.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital’s central Syntagma Square on Sunday night, scuffling briefly with police who pushed them back with truncheons and small amounts of tear gas.

Debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank, known collectively as the troika, are expected to return to Athens this week to resume a review suspended earlier this month amid talk of delayed implementation of reforms. No specific date has been set for their return, however.

Prime Minister George Papandreou heads to Berlin on Tuesday, where he will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of a parliamentary vote there on approving plans to beef up the eurozone rescue fund. German lawmakers vote on Thursday on expanding the powers of the euro440 billion ($595 billion) the European Financial Stability Facility.

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TORONTO — The loonie tumbled more than two cents in early trading Thursday as investors turned to the U.S. dollar as a safe haven and commodity prices continued to fall.

The Canadian dollar was down 2.47 cents to 96.96 cents US on financial markets.

The decline came as the U.S. dollar held steady against the euro.

Rising global economic uncertainty has pushed investors to the greenback as it is perceived as a safe option during times of financial turbulence. More: World stocks nosedive after Fed releases gloomy assessment Whenever there is a flight to quality towards the U.S. currency — even amid a slumping American economy — the Canadian dollar usually gets caught in the crossfire.

Besides a move toward the greenback by international money traders, falling commodity prices have also hit the Canadian currency, which is seen as linked to the price of oil, minerals and other resources.

Earlier Thursday, oil prices fell below US$85 a barrel in Asia, extending losses from the previous session after the U.S. central bank warned of major risks to economic growth.

Benchmark oil for November delivery was down $1.35 at $84.57 at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude dropped $1.00 to settle at $85.92 on Wednesday.

Elsewhere Wednesday, global mining giant Rio Tinto plc said some of its customers are asking the company to delay shipments of iron ore and other metals — the latest sign the global economic slowdown is squeezing the resources sector.

“It is noticeable that markets are somewhat weaker,” Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese said in an interview with the Financial Times of London published Wednesday business

Irene is gone, and East Coast airports are reopening. But it will take at least several days to get hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded by the storm to their final destinations.

Behind the scenes, ground crews worked through the night to get planes ready, air traffic controllers prepared for a deluge of landings and takeoffs and extra pilots were called into action.

Airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia bustled Monday after being closed for part or all of the weekend. The week before Labor Day is always a busy one for airlines, so they struggled to cram travelers stranded by Irene onto already-packed planes.

To make matters worse, more than 1,600 flight were cancelled Monday, adding to the nearly 12,000 grounded this weekend, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. The service estimates that 650,000 passengers have been stuck on the ground since Irene hit, but some experts think it’s a million or more.

Delays of mass transit are slowing airlines’ efforts to get stranded passengers back in the air.

Some passengers opted for other means of travel.

Joseph McCann, 22, of Northern Ireland, was waiting with a friend at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to catch a bus to New York no faxing pay day loans.

The pair, who had been visiting California, flew into Philadelphia on Monday morning and were supposed to catch a connecting plane to Newark, N.J., but the flight was canceled. Friends suggested the bus.

McCann will arrive in New York about five hours later than originally scheduled, but said it could have been worse.

“I’d say we were lucky in comparison,” McCann said.

The storm is expected to cost U.S. airlines $200 million in revenue _ between lost flying and ticket-change fee waivers. Airline officials estimate it will take about two days to get every plane and crew member back in place.

“The next couple of days are going to be trying,” said Mike Flores, a US Airways flight attendant and union president. “Once we get to work we’re going to be dealing with a lot people who have been up for 24 hours, camped out in airports.”

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AP Airlines Writer Scott Mayerowitz in New York and AP Writer Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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