Investors fled stocks and made a rush toward the safety of U.S. Treasuries Thursday, sending 10-year yield to a record low close, as worries about Greece’s future in the eurozone continued to escalate.
The Dow Jones industrial average () dropped 156 points, or 1.2%, and the S&P 500 () lost 20 points, or 1.5%. The day’s retreat marked the fifth day of declines for the Dow and S&P 500.
The Nasdaq () closed in the red for a fourth consecutive session, shedding 60 points, or 2.2%.
All three indexes ended at the lowest levels since January.
Concerns about Greece’s place in the 17-nation eurozone continued to build, pushing investors toward U.S. government debt, which is perceived as a safe haven investment. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was 1.706% Thursday, the lowest closing level on record.
Greece downgraded deeper into junk
European leaders voiced support Wednesday for keeping Greece in the body, but said the debt-ridden country must stick with unpopular austerity measures if it wants to continue receiving help.
Greek voters rebelled against those measures in the May 6 elections, denying the ruling coalition — which had agreed to the bailout terms — the votes needed to form a new government. Greek voters will go to the polls again on June 17.
Though the ability to form a governing coalition remains uncertain, the main fear is that an anti-austerity ruling party could cause the bailout deal to unravel, leading to a Greek default and an exit from the euro.
Citing the "heightened risk that Greece may not be able to sustain its membership of Economic and Monetary Union," Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece’s credit rating by one notch to CCC.
Adding to those concerns, the European Central Bank has suspended its lending to some Greek banks that need to sufficiently boost their capital.
Meanwhile, a growing number of depositors are withdrawing their money amid worries that their savings could be converted to a devalued currency if Greece drops the euro.
The rapid withdrawals add pressure on the Greek banking system, which is the "primary trigger for some from of the eurozone break-up," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics.
Investors remain worried about what a Greek exit from the eurozone would mean for global financial systems.
"Not surprisingly, concerns are growing that bank runs could soon become a regular feature in other troubled countries in the region deemed at risk of following Greece’s lead," said Loynes.
Adding to Europe’s troubles, Spain got yet another slap in the face Thursday, when Moody’s Investors Service downgraded sixteen Spanish banks including giants Banco Santander and BBVA, saying the Spanish government’s "ability to provide support to the banks has reduced." Earlier the ratings agency downgraded four of the country’s regional governments.
Stocks finished in the red Wednesday, as positive economic data in the U.S. failed to counter increasing pessimism over Greece’s fiscal woes.
Companies: Facebook ()priced its initial public offering at $38 a share after the closing bell Thursday. Shares of Facebook will begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq.
The offering raised $16 billion, making it the most valuable tech IPO in history.
Facebook’s IPO price: $38 per share
Retail giants Wal-Mart (, Fortune 500) and Sears Holdings (, Fortune 500) were among the biggest gainers Thursday. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and sales.
Rival Sears also reported a profit, even as sales declined, thanks to a boost from selling real estate assets. The retailer also announced it was looking at a partial spin-off of its Canadian operations.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase (, Fortune 500) fell Thursday, a day after the director of the FBI confirmed his agency had launched an initial investigation into a $2 billion trading loss suffered by the bank.
Economy: Initial jobless claims were unchanged in the week ended May 12 from the revised figure of 370,000. The number came in weaker than expected.
Foreclosures fell for the third straight month in April, reaching the lowest level since 2007, according to tracking service RealtyTrac.
A Philadelphia Fed report showed that regional manufacturing unexpectedly plunged in May for the first time in eight months. The Philly Fed index fell to -5.8 from 8.5 in April. Economists were expecting the index to increase to 8.8. Any reading below zero indicates weakness.
The index of leading indicators, which gauges the economy’s performance over the next three to six months, was also discouraging. The index fell 0.1% in April, disappointing economists who expected it to rise 0.2%.
World markets: European stocks slid on Thursday. Britain’s FTSE 100 () and the DAX () in Germany slipped 1.2% and France’s CAC 40 () fell 1.1%.
Most Asian markets ended higher following a report that showed the Japanese economy grew 1% in the first quarter, which was much better than forecasts. Tokyo’s Nikkei () gained 0.9% on the news, while the Shanghai Composite () rose 1.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng () slipped 0.3%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the Japanese yen, but edged higher against the euro and British pound.
Oil for June delivery edged down 25 cents to settle at $92.56 a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery rose $38.30 to settle at $1,5574.90 an ounce.
We provide no fax payday loans up to $1500, In 1-6 hours money direct in to yours bank account.
Stocks plunged Friday after the government reported that hiring slowed sharply last month. The report confirmed investors’ fears that the U.S. economic recovery is faltering.
The losses in the market were widespread. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 168 points and the Nasdaq composite had its worst day since Nov. 9. Both the Nasdaq and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed out their worst weeks of the year. The Dow had its second-worst.
The dollar and U.S. Treasury prices rose as investors dumped risky assets and moved money into lower-risk investments. Energy stocks were among the hardest hit after the price of oil fell below $100 a barrel for the first time since February. Only one of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, utilities, which investors tend to buy when they’re nervous about the economy.
“The jobs numbers were a disappointment,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors.
It was the third straight daily loss for the Dow, but it’s too early to know if it’s the start of a correction in the market. Even after its 1.4 percent decline this week, the Dow is still up 6.7 percent this year.
Investors are on edge about Europe once again as France and Greece both hold elections over the weekend. In France the socialist candidate Francois Hollande has a chance to unseat the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been at the forefront of fashioning Europe’s efforts to prevent its share currency from collapsing.
Crude oil plunged $4 to $98.49 a barrel on worries that demand would drop because of a weakening world economy. It was the first time oil has dropped below $100 since February 13.
The late slump in the week was a stark contrast to Monday, when the Dow closed at its highest level more than four years, propelled by a report that showed a pickup in manufacturing. All that become a distant memory after a slew of poor economic reports were released in the rest of the week.
On Thursday major retailers including Costco and Macy’s reported that April sales inched up less that 1 percent, the worst performance since 2009. Thursday also brought news that U.S. service companies expanded their business more slowly in April.
The Dow closed down 168.32 points, or 1.3 percent, at 13,038. All 30 companies that make up the index fell, led by Bank of America and Cisco.
The S&P 500 slipped 22.47 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,369, while the Nasdaq index fell 67.96 points, or 2.2 percent, to 2,956.
For the week, the S&P lost 2.4 percent, the Nasdaq 3.7 percent.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped sharply to 1.88 percent from 1.92 percent late Thursday as demand increased for safe investments payday loan lenders. The yield hasn’t settled that low since early February.
The culprit for the distress in financial markets was a report from the Labor Department Friday showing that U.S. job growth slumped in April for a second straight month. The 115,000 jobs added were fewer than the 154,000 jobs created in March.
Job creation is the fuel for the nation’s economic growth. When more people have jobs, they have more money to spend.
Orlando noted that the first few months of the year were marked by a number of abnormal conditions including an uncharacteristically warm January and February. That led to a spurt in hiring which usually occurs in spring.
Retail sales and hiring were also affected by an earlier Easter, which fell on April 8 this year, 16 days earlier than last year. That pushed some retail sales ahead to March, leaving April’s numbers weaker than they might have been. Retailers also blamed a late Mother’s Day for pushing some sales out of April and into May. Unusually warm weather in February and March also pulled forward some sales that would have normally occurred in April.
“The surge in hiring and spending that usually occurs in March through April, occurred earlier in the year this year,” said Orlando. “We have to wait for economic numbers from May and June to get a better idea of the underlying strength of this economy.”
After the price of oil fell, energy company stocks turned lower in response. Southwestern Energy Co. fell 7 percent and Marathon Oil Corp. fell 3 percent.
In other trading:
_ Warnaco Group Inc. dropped over 6 percent after the clothing maker lowered its 2012 forecast and said that its first-quarter net income fell, hurt by the weak European economy.
_ Aon Corp. fell almost 6 percent after the insurance broker reported first-quarter net income fell 3 percent due to higher costs and unfavorable currency exchange rates.
_ LinkedIn Corp. rose 7 percent after announcing late Thursday that its first-quarter profit more than doubled, topping expectations. The social networking company also announced an acquisition.
_ Tilly’s Inc. climbed 8 percent in the clothing retailer’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Tilly’s sells surf-inspired and casual West Coast-styled clothing and accessories.
_ Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc. soared 19 percent after the owner of bagel chain Noah’s Bagels said it is considering strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company
.
If you would like to learn more about the convenience of pay day loans or how to apply for one, simply visit our site.
British Prime Minister David Cameron says he discussed News Corp.’s bid to take full control of a British broadcaster with James Murdoch, but denies promising to support the deal in return for favorable coverage from the media giant’s newspapers.
A judge-led inquiry into media ethics in Britain has raised questions about the government’s links to News Corp., particularly as it deliberated on whether the firm should be authorized to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting, in which it holds a 39 percent stake.
Cameron told BBC television Sunday that had chatted about the takeover bid with James Murdoch at a Christmas party, but insisted he had not brokered any tit-for-tat deal with him or his media mogul father Rupert Murdoch.
A feud over the riches of South Korea’s Samsung business empire has erupted in public as family members prepare to take an inheritance battle to court.
Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., which is the flagship company of the Samsung conglomerate, is facing off against his older brother, a sister and a nephew’s wife who all want a bigger piece of the Samsung cake.
The court battle might upset a dynastic succession in Samsung’s leadership as it could result in the unraveling of a cross-shareholding structure that allows Lee Kun-hee to control the group as a minority shareholder.
Lee, who is South Korea’s wealthiest individual, on Tuesday took the rare step of publicly attacking his brother, Lee Meng-hee, declaring on YTN television that the 81-year-old “has been already kicked out from our home.” Lee Meng-hee had earlier called his brother “greedy” and “childlike.”
Battles for control of Chaebol, South Korea’s family-controlled industrial groups that wield immense power over the economy, are not uncommon but it is unusual for the internal wrangling to become public.
Lee Meng-hee filed a lawsuit in February, demanding more than 700 billion won ($613 million) of shares in Samsung Life Insurance Co. and other companies. Similar claims followed by Lee’s older sister and the wife of a dead nephew.
Lee Kun-hee, the third son of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, was tapped in 1979 by his father to lead what would become South Korea’s most valuable company. The decision apparently disappointed Lee Meng-hee who later wrote in his autobiography that he had thought his father would turn over the throne to him.
The 70-year-old Samsung chairman has refused to settle the dispute out of court. A date for the first hearing in the case will be announced after the court reviews responses from Samsung, said lawyer Jeong Jin-su of Yoon & Yang LLC, which represents the three plaintiffs.
The family members have taken to public denunciations that are being lappped up by local media.
“I’m trying to retrieve my property that Lee Kun-hee has been hiding for 25 years,” his sister Lee Suk-hee said in a statement released by the law firm.
European officials travel to Washington this week seeking a bigger global war chest to combat the debt crisis as Spain
President Obama on Tuesday continued to beat the drum for the Buffett Rule, his campaign-ready tax proposal aimed at millionaires and billionaires.
A central message of Obama’s re-election campaign is his argument that the very rich should pay more in taxes.
Quiz: What the rich really pay in taxes
"When it comes to paying down the deficit and investing in our future, should we ask middle-class Americans to pay even more at a time when their budgets are already stretched to the breaking point? Or should we ask some of the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share?" Obama said recently.
Obama’s not alone in pushing the Buffett Rule. Next week, Senate Democrats hope to vote on legislation modeled on Obama’s proposal.
The legislation is not expected to advance very far, if at all. But you’ll be hearing a lot about the Buffett Rule in coming months.
And like most campaign planks, the Buffett Rule doesn’t necessarily make for the best policy, at least from the perspective of many tax experts.
What is the Buffett Rule exactly? The general principle behind the proposal is that millionaires and billionaires like investor Warren Buffett shouldn’t pay a lower percentage of their income in federal taxes than middle-class households.
Obama has even set a threshold for how much they should pay: At least 30% of their income.
The president proposed the rule last year as a guiding principle for tax reform, and he later touted it as a replacement for the Alternative Minimum Tax.
11 audit red flags
On Capitol Hill, the Senate will hold a procedural vote on one version that would apply to today’s tax code and serve as an "interim step" to tax reform.
The "Paying a Fair Share Act," introduced by Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, would apply to anyone whose adjustable gross income exceeds $1 million. Those who itemize their deductions would get a credit equal to the value of their charitable contribution deductions, so as not to discourage charitable giving.
To measure whether a millionaire is paying at least 30% of his income in taxes, the bill would take into account what the individual paid in federal income and payroll taxes plus the new 3.8% Medicare surtax set to take effect in 2013.
The minimum effective tax rate would be phased in for those with incomes between $1 million and $2 million electronic check payday advance.
The independent Tax Policy Center estimates that 35% of the richest would pay higher taxes under the bill than they do today.
How much revenue would it raise? The Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzes tax legislation, has estimated that the "Paying a Fair Share Act" would raise $47 billion over 10 years, or an average of less than $5 billion a year, assuming the Bush tax cuts expire.
That wouldn’t do much to help reduce federal deficits. In recent years, annual deficits have ranged from several hundred billion dollars to more than $1 trillion.
And if the rule were to serve as a replacement for the AMT, as Obama has proposed, it wouldn’t come close to making up for the $1 trillion-plus in revenue that the AMT is expected to generate over 10 years.
What do independent tax experts think of the Buffett Rule? Tuning out the partisan rhetoric on both sides, tax experts say the Buffett Rule would further complicate an already complex tax code by adding a new minimum tax on top of the old AMT.
What’s more, the evidence that the Buffett Rule is correcting a big disparity in the tax code is not so clear cut.
For example, even without a Buffett Rule, most millionaires already pay more in taxes as a percentage of their income than those in the middle class, said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. Not always as much as 30%, but a higher percentage of their income than the vast majority of the middle class.
And the Congressional Research Service notes that today’s tax code doesn’t violate the Buffett rule as egregiously as Warren Buffett and others have asserted. Using 2006 data, the CRS found the average tax rate among millionaires is almost 30% — with about a tenth of them paying a rate higher than 35% and another tenth paying a rate below 24%.
Lastly, tax reform done right shouldn’t create a need for a Buffett Rule, an AMT or any other accessory to the tax code, Williams said.
The only reason policymakers call for such measures is when they don’t like the outcomes of the system they’ve got. Tax reform is their chance to design a better system. And if one goal is to tax the rich more, they can do that in a simpler, more effective way than the Buffett Rule.
New Zealand authorities have filed charges against the owners of a cargo ship that ran aground on a reef here six months ago, creating what authorities describe as the country’s worst maritime environmental disaster.
Maritime New Zealand on Thursday charged Daina Shipping with discharging harmful substances from the vessel Rena. The charge carries a maximum fine of 600,000 New Zealand dollars ($489,000) plus another 10,000 New Zealand dollars ($8,100) for each day the offending continues.
The Rena ran aground Oct. 5 on the Astrolabe reef near Tauranga, spilling 400 tons of fuel oil.
Daina Shipping, incorporated in Liberia, is one of 80 subsidiaries of Greek shipping giant Costamare. Costamare reported 2011 profits of $88 million on revenues of $382 million.
Increased domestic sales helped Synergetics USA Inc. raise profits in the second quarter of fiscal 2012, which ended on January 31.
The O’Fallon, Mo.-based maker of equipment for eye and brain surgeries reported a net income of about $1.9 million, or 7 cents a share, compared to $1 cashadvance.3 million, or 5 cents a share, a year ago. Sales rose 14 percent to $15.1 million.
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.
India
Powered by WordPress -- XHTML 1.0