By the time it marks its first year this May, Branson Airport will be reachable by air service from seven cities — compared with one today.
Earlier this month, Denver-based Frontier Airlines announced new flights between Denver and Branson beginning in April. Then last week, Branson Airport officials announced that scheduled charter flights will begin serving five new markets in May on the newly minted Branson AirExpress.
"Things are expanding and growing like we hoped they would," said Branson Airport Director Jeff Bourk.
The $155 million privately developed airport opened last May. AirTran Airways would not discuss passenger loads on its daily flights between Atlanta and Branson, but spokesman Christopher White said the airline was "very happy" with its first year of service.
Bourk said AirTran provided a link to the eastern United States through its Atlanta hub, and Frontier will provide low-cost flights to destinations west of the Ozark entertainment venue. The new charter service, by contrast, will be more of a regional feed from Houston; Austin, Texas; Terre Haute, Ind.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Shreveport, La.
"Scheduled public charters are not unique," Bourk said last week. "What makes it unique is the relationship between … our community here and their airports out there and their communities."
Introductory fares on Branson AirExpress will start at $39 one way for the Terre Haute, Shreveport and Des Moines markets, and $49 one way for Austin and Houston travelers. It will be operated by ExpressJet Airlines using 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jets.
Terre Haute, which has been without commercial air service for more than a decade, is looking forward to the business, said airport director Dennis Wiss.
"No. 1, it’s activity," Wiss said. "We need the activity at the airport. We stand to make a small amount of revenue. If this model works, we hope to expand and add more flights."
In Des Moines, airport officials helped put Branson AirExpress in touch with Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, which will help "mitigate some risk," said Roy Criss, a spokesman at Des Moines International Airport payday loans with no fax.
Branson provided data showing about 1,200 Iowans visit the Missouri resort area each week during its peak season from May 17 to Dec. 11, Criss said. To make the air service profitable, he said, it would have to capture only one-sixth of that, or 200 passengers a week.
A secondary benefit is that travelers would be able to connect through Branson to cities such as Austin and Houston, he said.
If the Branson charter service demonstrates strong demand, Bourk said, a commercial airline could step in and take over one or more of the routes.
"We are not an airline," he said. "That is a very important distinction. We are trying to prove these routes to other airlines. If somebody wanted to come in and take the Houston route, a major airline, we would be happy to see that happen."
The Branson Airport opened during one of the worst commercial aviation slumps in U.S. history. But Bourk said the low fares and the affordable nature of Branson had helped offset the recessionary effects.
Branson airport officials expected as many as 300,000 passenger boardings in the first year of operation. Airport officials did not provide actual figures by late Friday.
Meantime, passenger numbers have climbed 55 miles away at Springfield-Branson National Airport.
In 2009, passenger numbers grew 4 percent at Springfield-Branson, despite an 11 percent cut in its flight schedule. No other airports in the region were seeing growth, said airport spokesman Kent Boyd.
Boyd credits low fares, the growth of Allegiant Air in the market, the relatively strong performance of the southwest Missouri economy and the heightened awareness of the new passenger terminal at the airport.
Bourk said Springfield-Branson served business travelers "very well," but it is not the type of service that will bring leisure travelers into the market.
He is hoping the new charter service will help to do that.
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The government is expected to unveil a new program in the next couple of months that if approved may reimburse homeowners for up to half the cost of making their homes more efficient, but don’t start shopping for new kitchens just yet.
Homeowners will get the most return for the money in simple upgrades like caulking the windows, putting insulation in the attic, and changing the light bulbs - not new windows, refrigerators or dishwashers.
What’s on the table
The average American home wastes a lot of energy.
A complete energy retrofit - which could include caulking and insulation as well as new windows, appliances and boiler, could slice a home’s energy consumption in half, according to Lane Burt, manager of building energy policy at Natural Resources Defense Council.
But getting all that work done might run into the tens of thousands of dollars. And any new federal program - which is still being drafted and is not guaranteed to become law - would cap the government reimbursements at $12,000, said Burt.
Homeowners need not despair. There are some simple improvements that are relatively cheap and can pay for themselves quickly.
Just adding the insulation, caulking and lights might run an average homeowner $5,000 to $7,000, he said. That could shave about 30% off a home’s energy bill each month. And if the government picks up half the cost, the payback time for homeowners would be just a few years.
"It’s a win-win-win," said Burt. "It creates jobs, it saves energy, and it saves consumers money."
Consumer watchdog groups back up Burt’s claim.
"I don’t know of anyone who’s looked at them and said they are not a good idea," said Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America. "The average consumer can save a big chunk of change by getting the work done."
What to look for
Experts say there are a few things to look for when getting an energy audit and retrofit work done.
First, find a contractor licensed by the Building Performance Institute or the Residential Energy Services Network. These contractors have been trained to first test a home and see how much energy it is losing, then make renovations on all the systems in the building instant payday loans.
As of now there are no incentives in the proposed program for do-it-yourselfers. That’s partly because the program is designed to create jobs by putting out-of-work contractors back on the job. But it’s also done to ensure the work is done right - a house that’s sealed up too tight could rot from mold or trap too much carbon monoxide.
Second, hire an energy contractor using the same diligence you would with any other contractor. Call around for price quotes and check references. If you have any problems report them to your state’s attorney general.
The big picture
The proposed program is part of a broader jobs initiative designed first and foremost to put people back to work.
The original proposal, which called for $23 billion to be spent on energy retrofits, was estimated to create over half a million jobs, according to CleanEdison, an association of green building professionals.
Those familiar with the proposal say the final bill may set aside $10 billion for energy retrofits. Still, it’s a lot more than is currently being done - while some states have reimbursement programs, there is no federal plan. The original stimulus bill contained $5 billion for low income homeowners and money to retrofit federal buildings, but nothing for middle income Americans. The new proposal has no income restriction.
But in addition to creating jobs and saving consumers money, it also lays the framework for an energy efficient economy and achieving the 80% reduction in greenhouse gases most scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
That’s a target that can’t be hit with building wind farms and solar plants alone.
Some 40% of all energy used in this country goes to buildings, mostly in the form of heating, cooling and lighting.
"You don’t get an 80% reduction by 2050 without retrofitting nearly every building in the country," said Burt.
First Banks’ plan to sell its Texas banking operation fell through on Monday.
The Clayton-based bank and Sterling Bancshares announced that the deal was off. "This was a mutual decision by the parties after it was determined that the transaction could not be completed by Dec. 31," the banks said in a news release.
Troubled by large losses, largely in California development loans, First Banks has been trying to sell off assets in order to shore up its capital. First Banks, the holding company for First Bank, is based in Clayton.
The Texas deal involved 19 Texas branches, including $500 million in deposits and $230 million in loans. The sale represented 5.8 percent of the First Bank’s deposits and 2.8 percent of its loans. First Bank has also signed deals to sell its 24 Chicago bank branches and a St. Louis insurance operation.
Sterling Bancshares of Houston last month announced a $24 million loss for the third quarter as it sold off $51 million in troubled loans to investor groups.
First Banks lost $91 million in the third quarter, and $274 million through the first nine months of the year.
Sterling and First Banks said the sale of Texas branches "could still be beneficial." But they noted that the "current environment" makes regulatory approval a "longer than anticipated process."
No further details were disclosed.
The U.S. jobless rate continues to affect Cintas Corp.’s business, and the uniform maker saw drops in profits and revenues during its fiscal second quarter.
Cintas posted second-quarter net income of $57.2 million, or 37 cents per share, compared to $71.8 million or 47 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Total revenue was $884.5 million versus $985.2 million in second-quarter 2008. Analysts on average had expected revenues of $890 million and earnings per share of 43 cents.
“While job losses have moderated recently, 1.2 million jobs were lost during the last six months and we do not know when positive job growth will return,” said CEO Scott Farmer in a news release.
For the first half of fiscal 2010, Cintas reported net income of $111.2 million, or 72 cents per share, versus $150.5 million, or 98 cents per share in the same 2009 period. Total revenue fell to $1.78 billion from $2 billion.
Cintas (NASDAQ: CTAS) manufactures and supplies corporate identity uniforms and provides ancillary products and services to businesses worldwide.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is in settlement talks with several large financial institutions to resolve investigations into the awarding of municipal investment contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
UBS and Bank of America Corp are among a few firms negotiating settlements with the SEC, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report comes after the three-year investigation led to indictments on Thursday against CDR Financial Products Inc and some of its current and former executives, for bid-rigging and fraud related to municipal bond contracts.
The charges were the first to be filed in the U.S. Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into bid-rigging in the municipal bond industry fast payday loan no faxing.
The SEC had no immediate comment on Saturday. Officials at the Justice Department, Bank of America and UBS could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bank of America entered into a leniency agreement with the Justice Department in connection with a probe into bidding practices, the bank said in February 2007. In a leniency agreement, the Justice Department promises not to bring criminal charges in exchange for the company’s information about wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Tiffany Wu and Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Eric Beech)
Google will soon allow users to to listen to music and buy songs on its search results page, according to several news reports.
The search leader has partnered with streaming music sites Lala.com and iLike.com to give searchers the ability to stream music directly from Google. If a listener wants to purchase the song, links will take them to Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iTunes Store or Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) to buy the music, the reports said, citing sources.
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) did not return requests for comment for this story.
The music results will appear at the top of Google’s search results page, displayed similarly to results for weather forecast searches and movie searches. The music search initiative is expected to launch next week.
All four major record labels — Warner Music Group (WMG), EMI Group, Sony Music Entertainment (SNE) and Universal Music Group — have licensed their music to Google for the music search results.
Google is not expected to get any direct revenue from the purchases or streams.
Russia will need as long as 15 years to free itself of its reliance on raw materials and become a modern economy, President Dmitry Medvedev said.
“That is a perfectly plausible time frame in which to create a new economy, an economy that will be competitive with other major world economies,” Medvedev said in a television interview last night. “Once a significant portion of our revenue is generated by something other than energy exports, let’s say at least 30 or 40 percent of it, then we would already be living in a different economy and a different country.”
Russia entered the credit crisis with its budget and current account in surplus and with the government assuming the world’s third-biggest currency reserves would shield it from the worst of the global recession. Slumping commodity prices shattered that assumption and helped plunge the economy into its worst decline for a decade, forcing the central bank to manage a 35 percent ruble decline in the six months through January.
“I must admit that we sank below our lowest expectations,” Medvedev aid. “The real damage to our economy was far greater than anything predicted by ourselves, the World Bank, and other expert organizations.”
Volatile commodity prices have continued to undermine stability in the world’s biggest energy exporter. Urals crude oil, Russia’s main export blend, fell $100 a barrel between its peak in July last year and the beginning of 2009.
‘Everything Was OK’
Energy, including oil and natural gas, accounted for 69.1 percent of exports to countries outside the former Soviet Union and the Baltic states in the first seven months, according to the Federal Customs Service. About 30 percent of Russian gross domestic product comes from oil and gas, the government says.
“Everything was okay as long as prices for energy and raw materials were high,” Medvedev said. “Then those prices fell. Our economy was hit hard. Our citizens were hit hard.”
Russia should pursue energy efficiency, including creation of new fuels and energy saving, develop nuclear power, information infrastructure, and produce its own medicines, the president said saving account payday loan.
Medvedev, who has called Russia’s raw material dependency “humiliating” and “primitive,” said the economy will contract a “very serious” 7.5 percent this year, compared with an official government forecast for an 8.5 percent decline.
The government predicted last month that the economy will return to growth in 2010.
Clear Challenge
Unemployment remains “very high,” making it “a clear challenge for the president, the Cabinet and other government authorities,” Medvedev said.
The jobless rate fell to 7.8 percent in August, lower than previously estimated, from 8.3 percent in July on rising seasonal demand for agriculture and construction. The number of unemployed was 6 million, the Federal Statistics Service said.
Russia aims to bring down inflation, which was “rampant in this country,” to a range between 5 percent and 7 percent or less, according to the president.
“Then we will be able to lend at normal rates,” he said. “Then our citizens will be able to obtain mortgages and consumer loans at reasonable rates.”
The annual inflation rate fell to 10.7 percent last month from 11.6 percent in August, according to the Federal Statistics Service. Inflation has averaged more than 14 percent a year since 1998.
Russia’s goal is “to achieve a balanced budget or a budget with a minimal deficit within a year,” Medvedev said. “‘All the government’s efforts and decisions should be directed toward this end.”
The deficit held steady at 4.7 percent of gross domestic product in the year through September as the government spent 1.35 trillion rubles ($43.9 billion) more than it collected, the Finance Ministry reported Oct. 9.
Stocks slipped Tuesday after a surprise drop in consumer confidence countered a better-than-expected housing market report. That added to lingering questions about the strength of an economic recovery.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 47 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 (SPX) index lost 2 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 2 points, or 0.2%.
Stocks churned in the early going, before turning lower after the 10 a.m. ET release of the consumer confidence report. By afternoon, stocks were volatile, bouncing across the unchanged line.
"Many people believe that you still need to see the consumer come back for the recovery to be sustainable," said Ron Kiddoo, chief investment officer at Cozad Asset Management. "If consumers aren’t confident, they’re not going to spend."
After sliding last week, stocks bounced back Monday as investors welcomed multi-billion dollar merger news involving Abbott Labs (ABT, Fortune 500) and Xerox (XRX, Fortune 500).
But the advance was short lived, with investors again showing caution after a seven-month rally that has left the leading indexes at nearly one-year highs.
"We continue to wait for the market to slow down," said Scott Armiger, portfolio manager at Christiana Bank & Trust.
Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the S&P 500 has gained just shy of 57% and the Dow has gained around 49%, as of Tuesday’s close. After hitting a six-year low, the Nasdaq has gained nearly 68%.
Bets that the economy is slowly starting to recover — plus the impact of extraordinary amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus — have fueled the market advance.
Despite pervasive calls for a September selloff, stocks have held on to gains and moved higher this month.
"You don’t know if a September selloff has just been pushed into October or if a big selloff can be avoided altogether," he said.
Economy: Consumer confidence dropped in September, potentially a bad sign ahead of the critical holiday retail sales period. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 53.1 from 54.5 in August. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting the index to rise to 57.
The pace of falling home prices continued to slow, according to a report released before the markets opened. The Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 1.6% in July from June, more than triple what economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting.
Prices dropped 13.3% in July versus a year ago, a decline that was slower than the drop of 14.2% economists were expecting. Prices fell 15.4% year-over-year in June.
Company news: CIT Group (CIT, Fortune 500), fighting to pay off debt and avoid bankruptcy, is reportedly negotiating a new credit facility that could total $10 billion. Shares of the lender jumped 31%. Earlier, reports said that hedge fund manager John Paulson was considering merging CIT with failed mortgage lender IndyMac.
Dell unveiled its newest high-end, super-thin personal computer late Monday. Called the Latitude Z, the 4.5-pound PC will retail for $1,999. Dell (DELL, Fortune 500) shares fell 3% Tuesday.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) said it is shuffling some of the management responsibilities of its successful investment banking and asset management units. Shares were little changed.
Drugstore chain Walgreen (WAG, Fortune 500) reported weaker quarterly earnings and higher quarterly revenue, both of which topped analysts’ estimates. Shares rose 9%.
Sequenom (SQNM)’s board said it has removed most of its management team, including the CEO, following a scandal involving mishandling of research and results on its prenatal Down syndrome test. Shares of the genetic analysis product developer fell 39% in unusually active NYSE trading.
Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers narrowly edged winners on volume of 1.18 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by five to four on volume of 2.11 billion shares.
One-year later: Tuesday is the first anniversary of the Dow’s biggest one-day point loss of all time, when the average plummeted 777.68 points and the broad market knocked out $1.2 trillion in value.
The plunge followed the House of Representatives’s decision to reject the government’s then $700 billion bank bailout plan. With banks around the globe teetering on the brink of collapse and credit nearly frozen, the decision sparked a panic that battered stocks in every sector.
The crash followed a brutal two-week roller-coaster, triggered by the near-meltdown of Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) and the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
World markets: Global markets were mixed. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 were little changed, while Germany’s DAX slipped. Asian markets rallied, with the Japanese Nikkei rising 0.9%.
Currency and commodities: The dollar rose versus the yen and euro, pushing higher after repeatedly hitting one-year lows against a basket of currencies over the last few weeks.
U.S. light crude oil for October delivery fell 13 cents to settle at $66.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for December delivery rose 30 cents to settle at $994.40 an ounce. Gold closed at a record high of $1,020.20 two weeks ago.
Bonds: Treasury prices slumped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.29% from 3.28% late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment insurance fell last week, while ongoing claims jumped, the government said Thursday.
There were 545,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Sept. 12, down 12,000 from a revised 557,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report.
A consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected 557,000 new claims.
The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 563,000, down 8,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 571,750.
"This looks good with claims down by 31,000 over the past four weeks, but the late Labor Day could well have distorted the latest data," wrote economist Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics in a research note.
"We need to see what happens over the next couple of weeks before we can be sure whether a downward trend is really in place," Shepherdson said.
Continuing claims: The government said 6,230,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended Sept. 5, the most recent data available. That’s up 129,000 from the preceding week’s revised 6,101,000 claims.
The 4-week moving average for ongoing claims fell by 5,500 to 6,180,250, down from the prior week’s revised average of 6,185,750.
The initial claims number identifies those filing for their first week of unemployment benefits. Continuing claims reflect people filing each week after their initial claim until the end of their standard benefits, which usually last 26 weeks.
The figures do not include those who have moved to state or federal extensions, nor people whose benefits have expired.
State-by-state data: A total of three states reported a decline in initial claims of more than 1,000 for the week ended Sept. 5, the most recent data available.
Claims in California fell the most, by 2,751, which a state-supplied comment said was due to fewer layoffs in the trade and services industries.
Six states said that claims increased by more than 1,000. Washington reported the most new claims at 2,620, which a state-supplied comment said was due to layoffs in the construction, service, public administration and manufacturing industries.
Outlook. Shepherdson said claims should continue to fall in the coming weeks as the economy expands and the pace of layoffs slows to reconcile with current GDP growth.
"Companies are profoundly skeptical about the sustainability of the upturn, but unless they believe the economy is about to suffer a serious broad relapse, we think they will have to reduce the rate of job losses," Shepherdson said.
Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, unveiled a summary of his long-awaited health plan Wednesday, setting the stage for a legislative showdown on President Obama’s top domestic priority.
(Read Baucus health plan.)
The bill would cost $856 billion over 10 years and mandate insurance coverage for every American.
Baucus, a Montana Democrat, claimed the bill — released with no Republican support — would not add to the federal deficit.
The measure drops the public health insurance option favored by Obama and many Democratic leaders, according to the summary. As expected, the plan instead calls for the creation of nonprofit health care cooperatives.
As with other proposals, the bill would bar insurance companies from dropping a policyholder in the event of illness if that person had paid his or her premium in full. It would add new protections for people with pre-existing conditions and establish tax credits to help low- and middle-income families purchase insurance coverage.
Insurance companies also would be barred from imposing annual caps or lifetime limits on coverage. Individuals, however, would be fined up to $950 annually for failing to obtain coverage; families could be fined as much as $3,800.
The plan would create health insurance exchanges to make it easier for small groups and individuals to buy insurance.
"The cost of America’s broken health care system has stretched families, businesses and the economy too far for too long. For too many, quality, affordable health care is simply out of reach," Baucus said in a written statement.
"This is a unique moment in history where we can finally reach an objective so many of us have sought for so long."
The Republican Senate leadership ripped the proposal, arguing it would impose unreasonable new tax burdens while cutting vital government programs.
"This partisan proposal cuts Medicare by nearly a half-trillion dollars, and puts massive new tax burdens on families and small businesses, to create yet another thousand-page, trillion-dollar government program," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"Only in Washington would anyone think that makes sense, especially in this economy personal loans for people with bad credit."
The Senate Finance Committee is the last of five congressional committees needed to approve health care proposals before the topic can be taken up by both the full Senate and the full House of Representatives.
Various forms of the legislation proposed by Democrats have already cleared three House committees, as well as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Baucus has led months of negotiations with five other Finance Committee members — three Republicans and two Democrats — on what has generally been considered to be the only proposal capable of winning bipartisan support in Congress.
But on Tuesday afternoon, hopes for a bipartisan consensus on Baucus’ bill appeared to wane. GOP senators Olympia Snowe of Maine, Charles Grassley of Iowa, and Mike Enzi of Wyoming — the three Republicans involved in the "Gang of Six" committee negotiations — all still had concerns that had not been sufficiently addressed, Snowe, Grassley and other Republican sources indicated.
The three Republicans did not say, however, that they would not ultimately support the compromise measure. Republican sources close to the senators stressed that they intend to keep negotiating and plan to offer amendments once Baucus introduces the measure.
On Wednesday morning, however, Baucus said he was optimistic that the bill will ultimately win Republican votes.
"I think when we finally vote on the bill … there will be Republican support," Baucus told reporters on Capitol Hill.
"They’ll become a little more familiar with it" in the days ahead, he said, and have several opportunities to offer amendments during the full committee’s consideration of the bill.
Indicating the potential for formation of a Democratic consensus around the bill, Baucus also noted that it is "very similar" to the framework laid out by Obama during the president’s speech to Congress last week.
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