| A Wahoo to WaMu - community blog from Chris Skinner
Leaving Las Vegas is always a bitter pill. On the one hand, you're leaving behind all the bright lights, shows, drinks, girls ... you name it - what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas ... on the other, my pocket is a few thousand dollars lighter and so it's nice to escape before bankruptcy or Chapter 11 or whatever it is occurs. The BAI Retail Delivery show has been top heavy with big hitters: Geldof, Greenspan and Forbes; and the message seems to be one where America's cup is either half-full or half-empty. The half-full would say that America's just going through a minor market hiccup. What's interesting there is that it used to be that when America sneezed, the world got flu. Now, if America sneezes, it's just Europe that gets the Lemsip, for the half-empty glass watchers are saying that China, India and the BRIC economies are fast rising and America is no longer the resilient currency. That's why the dollar is weak and the subprime is being offset by Europe and not Asia. Asia is meantime investing in the next BRIC economy: Africa.
Entergy 3Q Profit Rises 19 Percent
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street bounded higher Tuesday as investors still mindful of widening credit problems nonetheless went in search of bargain stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 117 points, with soaring oil and precious metals prices driving up the companies that produce those commodities. Investors remain haunted by the big debt problems at banks, notably Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. But companies outside of the banking, lending and housing industries have been posting strong financial results - on Tuesday, Tenet Healthcare Corp., Nortel Networks Corp. and Archer Daniels Midland Co. impressed Wall Street with their quarterly earnings. And with no major bad news to follow up Citigroup's Sunday announcement that it was preparing to mark down another $8 billion to $11 billion of subprime debt, even bank stocks, pummeled in recent months, looked like bargains.
Banking on what really matters
If Welsh businesses ditched traditional accounting practices in favour of a more direct banker's analysis, they will not only be focusing on the numbers that really matter in their business, but also be able to make better, more strategic decisions says Nick Setchell, Vistage International (UK) IN today's society even the most basic items come packaged with masses of information. If you buy a mobile phone, for example, the booklet accompanying the phone often weighs more than the phone itself. Similarly when running a business, the amount of knowledge and know-how executives, managing directors and CEOs are expected to have mastered and be able to filter through to make effective decisions is incredible. It is not surprising that most managing directors and CEOs, who are expected to have an oversight of the vision and strategy, demonstrate strong leadership and motivation and understand the operations, do not have a strong financial background.
Whole Foods changes ethics policy; oil breaks records; markets rebound; Radiohead rebuffed
Whole Foods Market Inc. has changed its code of business conduct policies to prohibit executives from participating in online message boards. The policy change comes three months after it was discovered that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey had posted for eight years under a pseudonym on Yahoo message boards, often praising his company and criticizing competitors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an informal investigation into the postings. The company's board concluded its own investigation in October and affirmed support for Mackey. The official policy says that no member of "company leadership" may make a posting on any noncompany-sponsored "Internet chat room, message board, web log, or similar forum, concerning any matter involving the company, its competitors or vendors, either under their name, anonymously, under a screen name, or communicating through another person." Violating the policy is grounds for dismissal.
(AFX UK Focus) 2007-08-13 13:12 GMT: India's ICICI Bank in MoU with MITCON on services for carbon credit businesses
MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - India's largest private sector bank ICICI Bank Ltd said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with MITCON Consultancy Services Ltd to service firms engaged in "clean development mechanism (CDM) projects and emissions trade including carbon credit business." Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Under the terms of the proposed deal, both companies will work together to generate business leads. MITCON will provide services related to project identification, registration with the CDM executive board and recurring verifications while ICICI Bank will provide services related to commercialisation of certified emission reduction certificates (CERs), coordination services and banking-related services. "With global warming becoming a concern worldwide and the industry sensing the need to move onto CDM and green projects, this MoU will be our platform to facilitate SMEs (small and medium enterprises)to make this movement towards such projects," Sanjeev Mantri, general manager of ICICI Bank.
p0632 BC-GlobalContagion 08-12 1161 8/12/2007 In an interconnected world, American homeowner woes can be felt from ...
Eds: Moving on general news and financial services. By MATT MOORE AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The latest crisis in financial markets has once again served as a reminder of how vital and interconnected the health of the U.S. economy is to that of the rest of the world. From New York to Frankfurt to Tokyo, markets were jolted in the past week by fears that Americans are failing to keep up with their mortgage payments and the ripple effects that could have on the global banking and financial system. The fallout could further depress U.S. housing prices by making it harder to find buyers for a glut of foreclosed homes. That, coupled with a drop in the value of investments, could leave U.S. consumers feeling poorer and less likely to spend on domestic and imported goods.
Forest One merges, changes name
JACKSON — Forest One Inc., a provider of land and real estate business intelligence services, has merged with Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based The Westervelt Company. Terms were not disclosed. Forest One has changed its name to Lanworth, but will continue to operate as an independent company. Clark Love and Shailu Verma founded Forest One in 2000. Today, Forest One serves almost every major forest products company in the U.S., as well as the EPA, the U.S. Forest Service, Georgia Power Company, the World Bank Group and numerous other clients in other industries. Since its founding, Forest One has grown from three employees to more than 20 employees and has sustained significant top line and bottom line growth rates. Forest One has offices in Jackson and Itasca, Ill., and as a result of the merger will be expanding to Tuscaloosa.
Citigroup posts 18 percent jump in 2Q profit on record revenue
Citigroup Inc. said Friday its second-quarter profit rose 18 percent as strong overseas operations helped the biggest U.S. bank pull in record revenues. The New York-based bank, like its competitors, has taken advantage of faster-growing markets around the world as the sluggish U.S. housing market and other factors slow domestic business. Citigroup said net income rose to $6.23 billion, or $1.24 per share, in the April to June period, from $5.27 billion, or $1.05 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter grew 20 percent to a record $26.63 billion from $22.18 billion a year earlier. International revenue soared 34 percent to $12.56 billion. The results beat the average forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial of earnings of $1.13 a share and revenue of $24.89 billion.
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