The British pound has become currency traders
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Parts of the Canadian housing market, especially condominiums in some major cities, have seen prices jump to levels that warrant caution, the head of the country
Fisker automotive executives said Wednesday the company is open to building its new Atlantic electric car someplace besides the former General Motors factory in Delaware where they originally planned the car’s assembly.
While they say they are still committed to the former GM plant, Fisker spokesman Russell Datz told CNNMoney that the company is flexible enough to make the car elsewhere, should a better offer materialize.
Company chairman Henrik Fisker told CNNMoney on Tuesday that the automaker has secured about $400 million in private equity financing.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Fisker had been waiting on funding from a $529 million U.S. government loan so it could begin retooling the Delaware factory. The plant used to make the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and Opel GT convertibles for GM (, Fortune 500).
Fisker has already received $193 million of the government money and recently began selling its luxury, $103,000 plug-in "range extended" electric car called the Karma.
But the rest of the money has been held up due to what Fisker says were some missed production targets with the Karma guaranteed pay day loans.
The Karma is assembled in Finland.
Vice President Joe Biden, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker were together in 2009 to announce plans for the Delaware production facility.
At the time, union workers were promised the chance to fill many of the 2,000 factory jobs producing the plug-in electric sedan.
Besides the money issues, Fisker has experienced other problems of late.
They include a battery recall and some less-than-positive reviews of the Karma. Critics say the car does not perform as well as it should to justify its price.
The DOE has also come under intense scrutiny for its loan program in light of Solyndra, the failed solar panel maker that got a $535 million government backed loan.
CNNMoney’s Peter Valdes-Dapena contributed to this report.
Bank of England policy makers will maintain the size of their bond-buying program next week amid a split over whether the economy needs more stimulus, economists forecast.
The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee led by Governor Mervyn King will hold the target at 325 billion pounds ($521 billion) on April 5, according to all 39 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. They will also leave their key interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent, said all 53 economists in a separate poll.
Divisions have emerged as a surge in oil prices threatens to stoke an inflation rate now in its third year above target while Europe
European markets recovered some ground Friday, after sharp losses this week, as finance ministers from the 17 euro countries discussed whether to increase the amount of resources at their disposal for future bailouts.
Though the target of (EURO)1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) requested by a number of international institutions, as well as the U.S. and China, is unlikely to be met, it appeared the ministers would agree to increase the firewall to around (EURO)800 billion.
Some (EURO)300 billion ($398 billion) of that has already been spent in the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, meaning (EURO)500 million would be left to fund new rescue packages.
Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy and the biggest contributor to the bailout funds, has signaled it would agree to such a proposal.
“The hope is that Germany will soften its stance and allow the various bailout funds to be enlarged, providing more firepower to combat the crisis,” said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index.
Many in the markets see increasing the firewall as a sure step in dampening down the debt crisis, which has crippled the eurozone for the past couple of years. The fear is that the euro bloc just won’t have enough resources to help out Spain and Italy, should they need outside help.
Worries that Spain will be dragged into the debt crisis mire has weighed on markets this week. The new Spanish government is expected to unveil a tough budget later as it attempts to get the deficit down to levels sanctioned by its partners.
Even if a deal to increase the bailout resources is approved at the euro meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, there are many doubts over whether Italy or Spain, the eurozone’s third and fourth largest economies could be saved if the markets lose confidence.
“The reality is that the firewall is likely to be both underwhelming and insufficient to deal with potential problems in Spain and Italy,” said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital pay day loans.
For now, European stocks have recovered some of their losses this week. Germany’s DAX was up 0.8 percent at 6,931 while the CAC-40 in France rose 0.9 percent to 3,413. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.5 percent to 5,769.
Wall Street was poised for a solid opening too, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.3 percent.
The euro was also 0.3 percent higher at $1.337, supported by figures showing inflation in the eurozone in March only fell to 2.6 percent from the previous month’s 2.7 percent. The market consensus had been for a fall to 2.5 percent.
Earlier in Asia, sentiment in stock markets was hurt by news that Japan’s factory production fell a worse-than-expected 1.2 percent in February _ its first decline in three months _ as demand for exports weakened. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell 0.3 percent to close at 10,083.56.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3 percent to 20,555.58, while mainland Chinese shares were mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 2,262.79 while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.4 percent to 891.84.
Oil prices bounced back alongside equities _ benchmark oil for May delivery was up 32 cents to $103.12 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract plunged $2.63 to $102.78 after French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said there’s a “good chance” that the U.S. and Europe will agree to release some of their oil reserves.
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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
The Senate on Thursday passed a bill making it easier for more companies to become publicly traded by bypassing audits and disclosures now required for investors.
The Senate voted 73-to-26 to pass the House version of the bill with one small change intended to help protect investors. Because of the change, the bill returns to the House.
"The bill is far from perfect, but it’s a good bill," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "It’ll help capital formation."
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor indicated support for the Senate change and promised quick passage of the bill, meaning it could arrive on President Obama’s desk next week.
Earlier this month, the House overwhelmingly passed the measure that rolls back some rules the Securities and Exchange Commission enforces on small and medium companies attempting to make an initial public offering.
The measure sparked concerned letters from investor groups, unions, consumer groups and even the head of the SEC. All of them said the bill could open the door for more failed IPOs and investor fraud.
In a letter last week, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro asked lawmakers for changes, saying "too often, investors are the target of fraudulent schemes disguised as investment opportunities."
The bill would relax SEC rules for small and medium-sized companies with less than $1 billion in gross revenue seeking to go public. The measure gives them up to five years, or until revenue tops $1 billion, to supply an independent audit and certain investor disclosures.
Critics said $1 billion is too high a threshold — some 80% of firms going public would be able to bypass disclosures.
It would also make it easier for companies with as many as 2,000 shareholders to avoid registering with regulators.
The bill would also exempt firms from nonbinding shareholder votes on executive pay and benefits packages, which just came as part of the Wall Street reform law paperless payday loans. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the law made it tougher for CEOs to reap bonuses tied to soaring stock prices — particularly when the company is over-leveraged and making risky bets.
Stocks: Retail investors ‘not in the game yet’
Critics, including the Council of Institutional Investors, said that easing the rules applied to far too many companies and could make investors wary of investing in them.
"A company (with $1 billion in revenues) has the resources to comply with disclosures," said Jeff Mahoney, general counsel to the Council of Institutional Investors.
The bill would also allow companies to solicit investors — including the use of advertisements — when going public, which is currently prohibited. And it would allow them to raise money from larger numbers of small, less sophisticated investors.
Barbara Roper of the Consumer Federation of America warned the provision would make it easier for companies to take advantage of seniors, luring them to sink their retirement savings into an IPO.
"A retiree who has that nest egg isn’t necessarily a sophisticated investor and shouldn’t be speculating on private offerings," Roper said.
The bill would also allow what’s called "crowd funding," allowing firms to bypass regulations to raise money from large pools of small investors by directly soliciting them over the Internet. Critics are concerned about the potential for fraud.
The only change that the Senate added was to require that those working as an intermediary to such crowd funding register with regulators.
– CNN’s Ted Barrett contributed to this story.
Euro-area finance ministers signed off on a second Greek bailout, clearing the way for the first payment from the 130 billion-euro package ($170 billion) to be made this month.
Direct Energy is changing its water heater rental contracts and making it more expensive for customers to switch suppliers or buy their own units.
Right now, customers can remove rented water heaters any time at no cost. They may pay a $75 fee if they want Direct Energy to disconnect, remove and retrieve the tank.
But under new contract terms to start April 2, customers who cancel their rental contracts will pay a buyout fee ranging from $100 to $1,000 or more, depending on the unit
India
Efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s disputed nuclear program appeared to get a boost Tuesday when world powers agreed to a new round of talks with Tehran, and Iran gave permission for inspectors to visit a site suspected of secret atomic work.
The two developments appeared to counter somewhat the crisis atmosphere over Iran’s nuclear program, the focus of talks in Washington between President Barack Obama and Israel’s visiting prime minister.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed to a new round of nuclear talks with Iran more than a year after they ended in failure. Previous talks have not achieved what the powers want _ an end to uranium enrichment on Iranian soil.
The U.S. and its allies say Iran is on a path that could eventually lead to the production of a nuclear weapon. Iran denies that, insisting that its program is for energy production and other peaceful purposes.
Ashton said in a statement that the EU hopes Iran “will now enter into a sustained process of constructive dialogue which will deliver real progress in resolving the international community’s long-standing concerns on its nuclear program.”
The time and venue of the new talks have not been set.
In Washington, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Iran must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions and stop uranium enrichment. “We still believe diplomacy coupled with strong pressure can achieve the long-term solution we seek,” he said in a statement.
Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said in a statement that the onus would “be on Iran to convince the international community that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called for a diplomatic solution. “A nuclear-armed Iran must be prevented,” he said.
Ashton was responding to a February letter from Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, in which he proposed new discussions.
This week Obama warned the U.S. would use military action to protect its interests if necessary, while appealing for time for sanctions against Iran to show their affects. In his public statements during a visit to Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Obama for his support but did little to counter concerns that Israel might go ahead on its own with an attack on Iran. Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its nuclear program and its references to destruction of the Jewish state low fee payday advance.
The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency last year published a report that included what it said was evidence of Iranian activity that could be linked to weapons development. The head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, said Monday that his organization has “serious concerns” that Iran may be hiding secret atomic weapons work, singling out the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran.
On Tuesday, Iran appeared to respond partially to those concerns, granting long-sought permission to IAEA inspectors to visit the Parchin compound. Iran describes the site as a military base, not a nuclear facility.
The semi-official ISNA news agency stated a key condition: such a visit would require an agreement between the two sides on guidelines.
“Given that Parchin is a military site, access to this facility is a time-consuming process, and it can’t be visited repeatedly,” ISNA quoted the Iranian statement as saying. It added that following repeated IAEA demands, “permission will be granted for access once more.”
Inspecting Parchin was a key request by senior IAEA teams that visited Tehran in January and February. Iran rebuffed those demands at the time, as well as attempts by the nuclear agency’s team to question Iranian officials and secure other information linked to the allegations of secret weapons work.
The Parchin complex has been often mentioned in the West as a suspected base for secret nuclear experiments _ a claim Iran consistently denies. IAEA inspectors visited the site in 2005, but only one of four areas on the grounds, reporting no unusual activities.
Last year, IAEA’s report said there were indications Tehran has conducted high-explosives testing to set off a nuclear charge at Parchin. Iran denied the atomic activity and insisted that any decision to open the site rests with the armed forces.
“We have our credible information that indicates that Iran engaged in activities relevant to the development of nuclear explosive devices,” Amano said told reporters Monday outside a 35-nation IAEA board meeting in Vienna, describing his sources as “old information and new information.”
Tehran has dismissed the charge, saying it was based on “fabricated documents” provided by a “few arrogant countries,” a phrase Iranian authorities often use to refer to the U.S. and its allies.
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