Actual finance blog

OAKVILLE, ONT.

British police made six arrests early Tuesday in the British media’s phone hacking scandal, including Rebekah Brooks, the former top executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, The Associated Press has learned.

Police did not identify those arrested, but a person who had been briefed on the details said Brooks and her husband, a prominent horse breeder and a friend of Prime Minister David Cameron, were arrested at their house.

The six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, police said in a statement. The charge is an indication that investigators may be focusing on a possible coverup of the scope of phone hacking.

The investigation stems from widespread wrongdoing at Rupert Murdoch’s now-closed News of the World tabloid. The victims have ranged from celebrities and major politicians to the families of crime victims.

News International, which operates Murdoch’s British newspapers, confirmed that its head of security, Mark Hanna, was also one of those arrested. A spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said she had no information about where he was arrested.

The Metropolitan Police said five men and a woman were arrested in various locations in and around London in a series of raids conducted between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Police said a 43-year-old woman was arrested at her home in Oxfordshire. In addition, police said a 49-year-old man was also arrested in Oxfordshire at his home. Brooks, 43, and her husband, horse trainer Charlie Brooks, live in Oxfordshire in the town of Chipping Norton.

Cameron has recently described Charlie Brooks as “a good friend” and neighbor. The two have gone riding together in the countryside outside Chipping Norton.

Police also arrested a 39-year-old man in Hampshire, a 46-year-old man in West London, a 38-year-old man in Hertforshire and a 48-year-old man in East London.

A judge-led inquiry into media ethics has heard extensive testimony about wrongdoing by tabloid journalists, and Murdoch’s company has reached cash settlements with a number of victims.

There is also a simultaneous investigation into corrupt relations between the police and the press, which has yielded a number of arrests in recent weeks.

An inquiry panel appointed by Cameron is trying to determine why an initial police investigation into phone hacking in 2006 failed to reveal the scope of the problem.

At the time, Murdoch’s executives claimed the wrongdoing was limited to one scurrilous reporter and an unprincipled private detective, both of whom were jailed.

The dormant police investigation was reopened last year after reporters were found to have hacked into the voicemail of a missing schoolgirl who was later found to have been murdered.

That investigation led to the resignation of Cameron’s top media adviser, Andy Coulson, who had been the editor of the News of the World.

It also led to the arrest of Brooks, who was later released on bail. Both have denied wrongdoing.

Murdoch’s company has reached cash settlements with various hacking victims, including actress Sienna Miller and singer Charlotte Church, but many new cases are being brought against News International, the U.K. newspaper branch of Murdoch’s global media empire.

The scandal also scuttled Murdoch’s plans to purchase full control of the British broadcaster BSkyB.

______

Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed to this report.

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President Barack Obama called for $1.4 trillion in fresh revenue from Americans at the top of the income scale, proposing higher taxes on wages and investments and limiting breaks for retirement savings and health insurance.

The tax proposals in the administration

On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank, BP officials warned in an internal memo that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million gallons higher than what the government later believed spilled daily from the site.

The email conversation, which BP agreed to release Friday as part of federal court proceedings, suggests BP managers recognized the potential of the disaster in its early hours, and company officials sought to make sure that the model-developed information wasn’t shared with outsiders. The emails also suggest BP was having heated discussions with Coast Guard officials over the potential of the oil spill.

The memo was released as part of the court proceedings to determine the division of responsibility for the nation’s worst offshore oil disaster, which began when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 men about 50 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The first phase of the trial is set to start Feb. 27.

BP officials declined to comment on the emails late Friday.

The official amount of oil that flowed from the well was pegged at 206 million gallons from at least April 22 until the well was capped on July 15, a period of 85 days. That’s a daily flow rate of about 2.4 million gallons _ two-thirds of the way to BP’s projection of what could leak from the well if it was an “open hole.” BP has disputed the government’s estimates.

Having an accurate flow rate estimate is needed to determine how much in civil and criminal penalties BP and the other companies drilling the well face under the Clean Water Act.

In the memo, a BP official urges not to share the flow-rate projections and refers to the “difficult discussions” the company was having at the time with the Coast Guard guaranteed personal loan approval.

Gary Imm, a BP manager, told Rob Marshall, BP’s subsea manager in the Gulf, to tell the modeler doing the estimates “not to communicate to anyone on this.”

“A number of people have been looking at this we already have had difficult discussions with the USCG on the numbers,” Imm said in the email string, referring to the Coast Guard and flow estimates.

On April 23, 2010, the Coast Guard, relying on BP’s remotely operated vehicles, said no oil was leaking from the well a mile under the sea. A day later, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry announced that oil was leaking an estimated rate of 42,000 gallons a day. The Coast Guard and BP did not divulge how they reached that figure.

In the second week after the spill, the official flow rate was increased to 210,000 gallons a day, an estimate the government continued to use until May 27.

On May 24, BP informed Congress they used an “undisclosed method to generate much higher figures” than the official estimates, according to a report from a presidential commission investigating the spill. BP estimated that the flow rates were between 210,000 gallons and 1.6 million gallons a day, the January 2011 report said.

As the spill grew into weeks and months, and soiled fishing grounds, beaches and coastal marshes, independent scientists questioned the official flow rates. Eventually, the federal government convened teams of government and independent scientists to determine how much oil leaked out of the well. They came up with an official estimate of about 2.4 million gallons of oil a day on average.

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Swedish inflation-linked bonds may be understating the risk of price gains in the largest Nordic economy as most forecasters, including the central bank, predict inflation will outpace market bets.

The breakeven rate on Sweden

Strong corporate earnings reports and the lowest unemployment claims in almost four years gave investors more reasons Thursday to take risks on stocks, and the market continued its quiet but solid January climb.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 45.03 points to close at 12,623.98. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 6.46 points to close at 1,314.50. Both averages are at their highest since July.

Volume was slightly above average. The market has been subdued this year: The S&P has moved up or down 1 percent or more only twice, and the Dow has moved 100 points only once, a 179-point gain on opening day, Jan. 3.

But the gains have been steady. The S&P has closed higher 12 of 14 days, and all three major averages have recorded healthy advances for the young year _ 3.3 percent for the Dow, 4.4 percent for the S&P and 7 percent for the Nasdaq composite index.

Investors appear ready to believe that the economic recovery is for real and getting stronger.

“The market is screaming loud and clear,” said Doug Cote, chief market strategist with ING Investment Management. “Prices have lagged fundamentals, and now they’re catching up.”

After the market closed, Google stock plunged more than 10 percent after its earnings per share badly missed Wall Street expectations. Intel and Microsoft rose slightly in after-hours trading after more encouraging reports.

In a sign of a bigger appetite for risk, investors moved money out of U.S. debt, a haven during the stock market’s volatile second half of 2011. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note increased to 1.98 percent from 1.90 percent Wednesday.

The market was led by industries that tend to perform best when the economy is getting stronger _ consumer discretionary stocks, financials and industrial companies.

Of the 10 categories of stocks in the S&P 500, the only one that lost considerable ground was utilities _ a safe play for investors during turbulent times and the best-performing category last year.

Cote said the market’s gains could accelerate as investors begin to focus more on economic fundamentals in the United States instead of worries about their exposure to risk.

And the economic news Thursday was good: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008 payday loans guaranteed no fax. The decline added to evidence that the job market is strengthening.

U.S. consumer prices were unchanged last month, a signal inflation is under control. In the housing market, a third straight increase in single-family home building in December was offset by a drop in apartment construction.

France and Spain also held successful bond auctions, easing concerns about the debt crisis in Europe. As global risk factors subside, Cote predicts that markets will see “a strong snap-back rally.”

Bank of America rose 2 percent and Morgan Stanley rose 5 percent after reporting encouraging financial results. Bank of America returned to a profit in the last three months of 2011, while Morgan Stanley’s loss was much less than forecast.

Renewable Energy Group Inc., the nation’s largest producer of biodiesel, edged up 10 cents to $10.10 on its first day of trading. It was the first initial public offering of stock this year.

Trading was halted in shares of Eastman Kodak, the iconic photography company, after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Kodak could not find a buyer for its trove of 1,100 digital imaging patents.

The Dow’s gain for the day amounted to 0.4 percent. The S&P’s came to 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq added 18.62 points, or 18.62 points, to close at 2,788.33.

Among other stocks in the news:

_ eBay Inc., the online auction company, rose 3.9 percent after it beat Wall Street earnings forecasts and gave a healthy outlook for the year.

_ Southwest Airlines Co. rose 3.1 percent after it said its fourth-quarter net income and revenue jumped. Southwest said it expects strong revenue in the first quarter too, based on passenger-booking trends.

_ Johnson Controls Inc., an auto parts and building equipment maker based in Milwaukee, fell 8.8 percent. Its profit and revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. It also cut its forecasts, blaming weaker auto production in Europe, a lower euro and poor demand for batteries.

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South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said a new era in inter-Korean relations was possible if the North begins behaving sincerely, after the nuclear-armed nation accused Lee of

Italy’s borrowing costs fell for a second day Thursday but the country’s new premier said his government has more to do before it convinces financial markets it can manage the heavy debts that have made it the focus of the eurozone crisis.

Mario Monti said he was encouraged by bond auctions at which interest costs demanded by bond investors eased. He said his government of technocrats, in office for just a month and a half following the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi, was preparing a package of measures to get the Italian economy moving again, including efforts to boost competition and liberalize the labor market.

“We absolutely don’t consider the market turbulence to be over,” he said at a news conference after the Italian treasury tapped investors for around euro7 billion ($9.2 billion).

The most keenly awaited result from Thursday’s batch of auctions was the euro2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) sale of ten-year bonds at an average yield of 6.98 percent.

That’s lower than the record 7.56 percent it had to pay at an equivalent auction last month, when investor concerns over the ability of the country to service its massive debts became particularly acute.

However, the country’s borrowing rate on the key 10-year bond remains uncomfortably close to the 7 percent level widely considered to be unsustainable in the long run. Greece, Ireland and Portugal all had to request financial bailouts after their 10-year bond yields pushed above 7 percent. In the secondary markets, Italy’s yield continues to hover around the 7 percent mark.

The 17 countries that use the euro are struggling with a crisis over heavy levels of government debt in several countries. Fears of default on those debts mean that bond investors demand ever higher interest. If a country can no longer borrow affordably to pay off bonds that are maturing, it winds up needing a bailout or defaulting.

Markets had grown fearful over the past few months over Italy’s massive debt burden of euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion). Next year alone, the eurozone’s third largest economy has some euro330 billion ($431 bill.

That means Italy has far to go before it convinces markets it will avoid a disastrous default that could cause another banking crisis and sink the European and global economies.

Italy also sold euro2.54 billion ($3.3 billion) of 3 year bonds at an average interest rate of 5.62 percent, far lower than the 7.89 percent rate it had to pay last month. It also raised euro803 million ($1.05 billion) in the 7-year auction at a rate of 7.42 percent and euro1.18 billion ($1.54 billion) in nine-year bonds at a yield of 6.7 percent.

Thursday’s results come a day after Italy raised euro10.7 billion ($14 billion) in a pair of auctions, again at sharply lower rates than those it was forced to pay just a month ago.

The sharp decline in Italy’s borrowing costs over the past couple of days suggests that commercial banks from the 17 countries that use the euro may have diverted some money they tapped from emergency loans from the European Central Bank last week to buy the bonds of heavily indebted governments.

It may also suggest rising investor confidence in Italy’s recent efforts to reduce its long-term debt through tax increases, pension changes and spending cuts.

Monti’s technocratic government got parliamentary approval last week for more spending cuts and tax increases intended to save the country from financial disaster. One of the most controversial aspects of the austerity package is reform of Italy’s bloated pension system.

Economists say the long term problem is the country’s weak growth, since stronger growth both increases tax revenues and shrinks the size of debt relative to the economy. European Central Bank head Mario Draghi has said Italy must undertake deeper economic reforms to improve its economic performance.

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+%3Cp%3EDeserted+by+many+of+his+fellow+Republicans%2C+U.S.+House+Speaker+John+Boehner+surrendered+to+attacks+from+President+Barack+Obama+and+congressional+Democrats+and+agreed+to+a+two-month+extension+of+a+payroll+tax+cut+that+he+derided+hours+earlier.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+decision+kicks+the+fight+over+extending+the+tax+cut+for+160+million+U.S.+workers+into+early+next+year+without+resolving+deep+divides+over+how+to+cover+the+cost+through+2012.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EDemocrats+are+focused+on+imposing+a+new+tax+on+income+exceeding+%241+million+while+Republicans+want+to+cut+the+federal+work+force+and+freeze+pay+for+government+workers.+Republicans+also+want+to+attach+policies+to+a+payroll+tax+cut+extension+–+opposed+by+Democrats+–+such+as+a+rewrite+of+the+unemployment+system+or+weaker+rules+for+industrial+emissions.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+deal+that+Boehner+and+Senate+Majority+Leader+Harry+Reid%2C+a+Nevada+Democrat%2C+agreed+to+yesterday+includes+language+that+calls+on+Obama+to+accelerate+approval+of+the+Keystone+XL+Canadian+oil+pipeline.+Both+chambers+plan+to+pass+the+tax+cut+deal+today+by+unanimous+consent%2C+which+means+most+lawmakers+won%92t+have+to+return+to+Washington+over+the+holiday+recess.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EBoehner+could+be+in+a+weaker+position+entering+the+2012+negotiations+after+presiding+over+the+tumult+of+recent+days%2C+in+which+Senate+Republicans+opposed+Boehner%92s+stance+and+some+House+Republicans+had+begun+to+defect+as+well.+The+talks+next+year+will+unfold+in+the+months+ahead+of+a+presidential+election%2C+making+Boehner%92s+task+more+difficult.+%3C%2Fp%3E+No+Time+for+Celebration++%3Cp%3E%93I+don%92t+think+it%92s+a+time+for+celebration%2C%94+the+Ohio+Republican+told+reporters+yesterday.+%93Our+economy+is+struggling.+We%92ve+got+a+lot+of+work+ahead+of+us+in+the+coming+year.%94+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EAfter+days+of+relentless+attacks+from+Democrats+and+negative+headlines+in+the+press%2C+some+Republicans+were+pleased+to+see+Boehner+cut+his+losses.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%93The+great+danger+would+have+been+if+we+continued%2C%94+said+Representative+Tom+Cole+of+Oklahoma.+%93We+made+our+points.+We%92ve+gotten+some+modifications.%94+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+pressure+for+Boehner+to+cut+a+deal+was+building+for+days.+Republican+Senators+Olympia+Snowe+of+Maine%2C+Scott+Brown+of+Massachusetts%2C+John+McCain+of+Arizona+and+Bob+Corker+of+Tennessee%2C+criticized+Boehner%92s+move+to+reject+the+bipartisan+two-month+extension+after+it+passed+the+Senate+on+Dec.+17%2C+just+two+weeks+before+the+tax+cut+was+set+to+expire.+%3C%2Fp%3E+Isolation+in+Opposition++%3Cp%3EBoehner+became+more+isolated+in+his+opposition+to+the+Senate-passed+bipartisan+bill+after+the+top+Republican+in+the+Senate%2C+Mitch+McConnell+of+Kentucky%2C+issued+a+statement+before+lunchtime+yesterday+urging+the+House+to+pass+the+short-term+measure.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EMcConnell+said+the+House+should+pass+a+bill+that+averts+%93any+disruption+in+the+payroll+tax+holiday+or+other+expiring+provisions+and+allows+Congress+to+work+on+a+solution+for+the+longer+extensions.%94+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThat+statement+%93sealed+the+deal%94+in+ending+the+standoff%2C+said+Brian+Gardner%2C+the+senior+vice+president+for+Washington+research+at+KBW+Inc.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EBoehner+held+a+conference+call+with+Republicans+yesterday.+On+a+similar+conference+call+following+the+Dec.+17+Senate+passage+of+the+two-month+extension%2C+rank-and-file+Republicans+pressed+Boehner+to+oppose+the+measure.+They+did+so+on+Dec.+20+as+the+House+rejected+the+Senate+bill+229-193.+%3C%2Fp%3E+Different+Tone++%3Cp%3EHouse+Republicans+who+participated+in+yesterday%92s+call+said+the+tone+was+much+different+than+after+the+Senate+vote.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%93It+wasn%92t+truly+a+conference+call%2C%94+Representative+Jack+Kingston%2C+a+Georgia+Republican%2C+said.+%93It+wasn%92t+a+solicitation+of+opinion.%94+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThough+most+House+Republicans+still+want+a+yearlong+deal%2C+Kingston+said+that+it+was+time+for+the+party+to+move+forward.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%93This+takes+the+whole+thing+off+the+front+page+and+that%92s+a+good+thing%2C%94+he+said.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3ESome+House+Republicans+said+yesterday+they+don%92t+think+Boehner%92s+agreement+to+pass+the+two-month+extension+puts+him+in+immediate+danger+of+losing+the+support+of+the+Republican+majority+he+leads.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3ERepresentative+Sean+Duffy%2C+a+freshman+Republican+from+Wisconsin%2C+said+Boehner+was+trying+to+reflect+the+views+of+his+colleagues.+Duffy+said+he+is+pleased+that+a+tax+increase+will+be+avoided+in+January+and+doesn%92t+think+the+saga+would+hurt+Republicans+in+the+2012+election.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%93I+think+the+American+public+will+look+at+the+economy+and+job+growth+and+the+lack+thereof%2C%94+Duffy+said.+%93I+don%92t+think+this+is+an+indicator+of+what+will+happen+next+year.+%3C%2Fp%3E+Provisions+Extended++%3Cp%3EWithout+congressional+action%2C+the+payroll+tax+for+employees+would+rise+in+January+to+6.2+percent+from+the+current+4.2+percent.+The+tax+funds+Social+Security.+The+deal+also+averts+an+end+to+emergency+unemployment+benefits+set+to+expire+on+Dec.+31+and+assures+doctors+their+Medicare+reimbursement+rates+won%92t+be+reduced+starting+in+January.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EMichael+Feroli%2C+%3Ca+topic_url%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Ftopics.bloomberg.com%2Fjpmorgan-chase-%26amp%3B-co%2F%22+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fapps%2Fquote%3Fticker%3DJPM%3AUS%22+density%3D%22sparse%22+title%3D%22Get+Quote%22+ticker%3D%22JPM%3AUS%22+class%3D%22web_ticker%22%3EJPMorgan+Chase+%26amp%3B+Co.+%28JPM%29%92s+New+York-based+chief+U.S.+economist%2C+said+economic+growth+would+be+reduced+by+0.5+percentage+points+in+the+first+quarter+and+1.5+percentage+points+in+the+second+quarter+of+2012+if+the+payroll+tax+cut+and+expanded+unemployment+benefits+weren%92t+continued.+If+they+are+extended+for+the+year%2C+he+expects+growth+of+2.5+percent+in+the+first+half+of+the+year%2C+he+said+in+a+Dec.+16+note+to+clients.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EHouse+Ways+and+Means+Committee+Chairman+Dave+Camp%2C+a+Michigan+Republican%2C+will+introduce+the+legislation+in+the+House+today+that+will+implement+the+agreement.+%3C%2Fp%3E+Unanimous+Consent++%3Cp%3EThe+measure+will+be+brought+up+in+the+House+under+unanimous+consent+to+avoid+requiring+lawmakers+to+return+and+could+be+cleared+in+the+Senate+later+in+the+day+using+the+same+process.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+legislation+includes+one+difference+from+the+version+passed+by+the+Senate.+A+yearlong+payroll+tax+cut+extension+would+apply+to+the+first+%24110%2C100+in+wages.+To+prevent+someone+from+shifting+all+their+income+into+the+first+two+months+of+the+year%2C+the+Senate+bill+limited+the+tax+break+to+the+first+%2418%2C350+a+worker+earns.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3ERepublicans+changed+the+bill+to+apply+the+tax+cut+to+the+full+%24110%2C100+in+wages%2C+according+to+information+provided+by+Camp%92s+office.+That+makes+it+easier+for+payroll+processors+to+continue+the+tax+cut+if+it+is+extended+beyond+February.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EWorkers+who+earn+more+than+%2418%2C350+during+the+first+two+months+of+the+year+will+pay+an+additional+2+percentage+point+tax+when+they+file+their+returns+in+2013.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+bill+is+HR+3630.+%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fnews%2F2011-12-22%2Fhouse-s-boehner-senate-s-reid-said-to-agree-on-u-s-payroll-tax-cut-plan.html%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+

Shops in India have closed their doors in observance of a nationwide strike to protest the government’s decision to allow big-box retailers in the country.

Hundreds of traders marched on New Delhi streets Thursday demanding the Cabinet revoke its decision. The strike was only partially observed in New Delhi, Mumbai and other cities.

The government provoked furor last week by deciding foreign retailers could own up to 51 percent of supermarkets and 100 percent of single-brand stores. Shopowners fear that the entry of companies such as Wal-Mart and Tesco will crush local mom-and-pop stores.

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