Actual finance blog

Air Canada has reported a third-quarter loss of $132 million during the busy summer travel season, citing rising fuel costs and the impact of fuel-hedging contracts negotiated before the price of oil tumbled.

The country’s largest airline, which is flying out of a period of record fuel prices into a global economic recession, said it lost $1.32 per share during the three-month period versus a profit of $273 million, or $2.73 a share, in the year-earlier period.

Sales, meanwhile, rose 4.1 per cent to $3 billion.

Investors, who had expected a profit, responded by pushing the airline’s stock down 91 cents, or nearly 17 per cent, to $4.49 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Montie Brewer, the airline’s chief executive, told analysts during a conference call that high fuel prices still hurt operations during the third quarter, even as the price of oil began to fall after hitting a high of $147 (U.S.) per barrel in July.

"As the great proportion of our tickets are sold in advance of the date of travel, the prices we charge simply could not match the pace in the rise of fuel prices," Brewer said.

Air Canada said its fuel expenses increased $348 million in the third quarter to $1 cheapest cash advance.1 billion, up 49 per cent, compared with the third quarter of 2007.

At the same time, the airline incurred mark-to-market losses of $93 million on financial instruments, consisting mostly of fuel hedge contracts, and net losses on foreign currency of $87 million.

Analysts expressed concern that Air Canada’s liquidity situation was tightening just as it headed into a seasonally weak period. As well, the opportunity to borrow money is limited by the ongoing credit crunch.

In June, Air Canada said it was scaling back flying by 7 per cent and slashing up to 2,000 jobs to combat a fuel bill expected to soar by nearly $1 billion for the year.

Brewer said yesterday that the recent fall in oil prices – a barrel of crude now trades for about $60 (U.S.) – does not change Air Canada’s plan to cut back flights.

"Although oil prices have since retreated, the tight capacity strategy remains valid as we are expecting demand to weaken, given the global financial crisis and weakening customer confidence."

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South Korea’s central bank cut interest rates for the third time in a month on Friday to soothe markets and shore up its economy, after a flurry of deep rate cuts across Europe failed to calm panicky investors.

Central bank action could not halt a slide in global stock markets and coincided with a warning by the International Monetary Fund that the developed economies were headed for the first full-year contraction since the World War Two in 2009.

“Increasingly, the signs point to a deep and synchronized global recession that began last quarter and has gathered momentum,” said Bruce Kasman, an economist at JPMorgan Chase in New York.

The IMF cut its 2009 global growth forecast to 2.2 percent from 3 percent, a prediction made only last month, and urged governments to ramp up spending to support the economy.

Asian stocks fell for a third day and commodity prices also tumbled, as layoffs and corporate profit warnings piled up.

Later on Friday, Barack Obama is due to hold his first news conference since winning the U.S. presidency after a meeting with his economic team, as the world awaits signs of how he might tackle the economic crisis.

Markets are particularly keen to learn who will become Obama’s Treasury Secretary, but it was not clear when he might announce his choice.

Among those seen as leading candidates for the job are Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; and former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker easy online payday loans.

Investors also looked anxiously ahead to Friday’s U.S. jobs payroll report for October, which is expected to further underscore the weakening economy.

According to the median of a Reuters forecast of 87 economists another 200,000 non-farm jobs were shed last month, which would be the largest monthly cut in jobs since March 2003 and would mark a 10th straight month of losses.

CORPORATE WOES

In Asia, Toyota saw its stock overwhelmed with sell orders and tumbling as much as 12 percent, after it halved its profit forecast because of dwindling demand. The carmaker’s stock had fallen 10 percent on Thursday ahead of the profit warning.

Its woes illustrate how the financial crisis, which started when the housing boom in the United States turned sour 15 months ago, has spread from Wall Street to Main Street.

Hit by economic slowdown, sliding property prices and a sharp fall in its capital markets business, Singapore’s DBS Group, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, suffered a bigger-than-expected 38 percent drop in profit, as bad debt charges quadrupled. Its shares fell 9 percent.

As investors are bracing themselves for a dismal set of quarterly results from General Motors and Ford on Friday, industry sources said their chief executives sought a $50 billion federal bailout to survive a financial crunch blamed on a worsening economy and the “near collapse” in demand for cars. 

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U.S. consumers slashed spending in October, shunning purchases of items over $1,000, as a global financial crisis battered their savings accounts and their psyches, according to figures released on Wednesday by SpendingPulse, the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors.

“The numbers for October are very negative across the board,” said Michael McNamara, vice president at MasterCard Advisors, of sales figures tracked by SpendingPulse.

“Any area that deals with consumer durables, especially areas like furniture, electronics and appliances … that relies heavily on sales purchases that exceed $1,000 in value are under significant pressure,” he said.

SpendingPulse data is derived from aggregate sales in the MasterCard U.S. payment network, coupled with estimates on all other payments including cash and checks.

The data provides an early glimpse into the strength of retailers’ monthly sales, which will be released by chains like Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Saks Inc (SKS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), later this week.

Wall Street is already bracing for weak sales. Consumers clamped down on spending as the financial crisis that began in September swept into October, roiling stock markets, erasing trillions of dollars in wealth and raising the prospect of a deep global recession.

According to SpendingPulse, October specialty apparel sales fell 12.2 percent from a year earlier. Women’s apparel sales dropped 18 low fee pay day loans.2 percent, while men’s apparel sales fell 8.3 percent. Footwear sales dropped 9.7 percent.

Sales of electronics and appliances tumbled 19.9 percent, compared with a decline of 13.8 percent in September.

“If you take out the purchases above $1,000, the sector is really down about 10 percent,” McNamara said. “Sales above $1,000 just aren’t really moving.”

That trend, along with further weakness in the housing sector, also hurt demand for home-related merchandise. Furniture sales dropped 15.1 percent in October from a year ago, while sales of home furnishings, or decor, fell 20.6 percent.

High-end retailers took a hit, with luxury sales dropping 20.1 percent, compared with a 4.8 percent drop in September.

“The sector has been down five consecutive months, but October was a more significant decline,” he said.

While luxury shoppers continued spending in the face of rising fuel and food prices earlier this year, the group has retrenched as the global financial crisis hits investment portfolios and devalues real estate holdings.

SpendingPulse also found that e-commerce sales declined 3.9 percent. McNamara said purchasing volume rose, but shoppers were buying cheaper items, driving down total sales results.

In a bright spot, restaurant sales rose three-tenths of one percent in October, with sales at fast food restaurants rising 1 percent. 

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Insurance firm Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said Monday its capital position should be sufficient to maintain "AA" ratings levels at the end of the year, even assuming further deterioration in the markets.

Hartford Financial (HIG, Fortune 500) said that, to maintain investment-grade "AA" level ratings, it would need to have excess capital of about $2 billion if the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell to 900. The company said its capital reserve totaled about $3.5 billion as of Oct. 6.

The S&P 500 closed Friday at 968.75.

The insurance firm also said its risk-based capital ratio was well above the levels historically associated with "AA" level ratings.

Should further capital be needed, Hartford Financial said it would not have to tap public markets during the ongoing credit crisis and instead could use a $500 million contingent capital facility and a $1 loan till payday.9 billion bank credit facility. Amid the downturn in credit markets, it has become difficult and expensive for financial firms to raise new cash.

Shares of Hartford Financial fell sharply last week after the company said it lost $2.6 billion, or $8.74 per share, during the third quarter, compared with a profit of $851 million, or $2.68 per share, in the year-ago period.

Hartford Financial shares plummeted 58% during the week, to close at $10.32. Shares fell as low as $8.23 during the week. 

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As the impact of the economic crisis takes hold, employees from Wall Street to Main Street are feeling nervous about their jobs, and with good reason.

As of September, 760,000 jobs have already been lost this year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And a quarter of U.S. employers expect to make layoffs in the next 12 months, according to a recent report by consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

But which industries will suffer the most? Experts say certain sectors are more vulnerable to layoffs than others.

Housing: Jobs in the housing sector were the first to go when the mortgage meltdown took hold. But with the industry outlook at an all-time low, even more layoffs could follow.

Beyond mortgage lenders and homebuilders, jobs in commercial real-estate and at real-estate agencies will be the next to go, according to Dean Baker, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.

With the worst September for new home sales since 1981, "some of the big [real-estate] chains will do some consolidation," Baker said, "clearly you need fewer offices," Baker said.

Finance: Few in the financial sector are feeling secure about their positions. The latest employment figures from the Department of Labor show financial firms have eliminated an estimated 110,000 jobs over the past year through September, and experts say there will be even more losses in the months ahead.

As financial firms reorganize and consolidate, there are going to be a lot more layoffs, Baker said.

"Financial services firms have cut tremendously and I don’t think that’s over," echoed Lee Pinkowitz, associate professor at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

Retail: Before the credit crunch, retailers were already struggling with soft sales as high gas prices and falling home equity forced consumers to curtail non-essential purchases. Now retail sales are dismal heading into the holiday season. "This could be the weakest holiday hiring season since 2001," said John Challenger, chief executive of global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, and that’s not good for those employed in the retail industry.

"I doubt we’ll see the pick up in seasonal hiring that we’d normally see," Pinkowitz said.

But while department stores and high-end boutiques may be particularly hard hit, discount retailers, like Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) could fare well in the current climate, Challenger said. Wal-Mart is also the nation’s largest private-sector employer, and could be a safe haven for those who work there.

Publishing: As consumers cut back, advertisers follow, and that means tough times for print publications, including newspapers and magazines, experts say creditreport.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, employment in the publishing industry has been contracting since the beginning of last year.

But the "grand decline" of jobs in the media industry, which also includes broadcast and digital media, began with the dot-com bust in 2001, noted Heidi Shierholz an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a research group based in Washington. Now a loss of jobs in traditional publishing is being exacerbated, in part, by the move away from print toward digital media.

"Every time you have a recession it pushes companies that have been holding on by their fingernails out of business," Challenger said. "It clears away an old generation of companies and I think we’ll see that with print."

Autos: While sales at the Big Three automakers have fallen 20% this year and are likely to tumble further, trouble in the auto sector is not confined to manufacturing. All told, about 2 million Americans work in the industry.

While declining sales will likely lead to more job losses, those in "the tentacles of the auto industry" could be particularly hard hit in the coming months, Pinkowitz said, which includes those jobs at dealerships and suppliers.

Travel: Airlines have already announced layoffs across the board, but as consumers and businesses continue to scale back discretionary spending on travel, the implications go far beyond flying.

"All the industries under the umbrella of travel are going to be at risk" Challenger said, including rental cars, hotels and even restaurants.

If people are cutting back, travel and leisure activities are the easiest things to do without, explained Baker. Big restaurant chains will close locations, he said, which means eliminating many wait staff and service jobs, while some smaller restaurants will be forced out of business entirely.

But despite the mostly doom-and-gloom predictions, some say there are some bright spots ahead for American workers.

"Even if you’re in an industry where there has been some job downturns, there still can be some opportunities," said Kimberly Bishop, vice chairman of Chicago-based executive search firm Slayton Search Partners.

Bishop suggests focusing on those skills and experiences that can translate beyond the industry in which you work. There are certain roles that every organization needs, she said, and you may be able to fulfill that role in another industry that has more promise. 

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Bush administration officials have had talks with the nation’s automakers about providing possible federal help for the cash-starved companies, a White House spokeswoman said Monday.

Spokeswoman Dana Perino, responding to questions at her daily press briefing, said a decision had not yet been made about whether federal help will be offered to General Motors (GM, Fortune 500), Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) and Chrysler LLC.

A number of experts have expressed concern that the automakers, which have suffered a sharp plunge in sales, could run through their cash reserves by next year.

The automakers could get help through the $700 billion Wall Street bailout passed by Congress earlier this month. The bailout was designed to prompt banks and securities firms to loan money to businesses and consumers, but automakers might qualify for help through their finance arms, Perino said.

"It’s possible that some of those financing arms could be a part of the rescue package, the TARP, as they call it, at the Treasury Department," Perino said. "That’s one of the reasons Treasury has been in contact with them."

Earlier this year, Congress approved a separate $25 billion loan program to help the automakers finance a switch in production from larger vehicles, such as pickups and full-size SUVs, to more fuel efficient vehicles.

The government has not started dispersing money under that program. The Department of Energy is working on regulations to govern the loans.

"I think that it’s clear that the automakers are dealing with a very serious situation," Perino said. "They have been for some time."

GM spokesman Greg Martin acknowledged Monday that automakers are interested in getting help from the federal government.

"We have been in contact with a variety of federal officials for some time during this extraordinary and difficult economic period," said Martin, who is the automaker’s Washington-based spokesman.

Martin declined to elaborate on the discussions. "We have said publicly that we believe the federal government should consider all of the tools available to it - some recently enacted - to support industries that are in distress and that are essential to the U.S. economy."

A Chrysler spokesperson said the company "worked hard" after the bailout was proposed last month "to be sure it was broad enough to offer the tools to address the automotive credit liquidity problem."

Ford declined to comment. Industry officials suggested that Ford was the least likely to be pushing for bailout funds because it had the strongest cash position of the three U.S. automakers.

Last week, Michigan’s 17-member congressional delegation signed a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke asking that the federal government help the U.S. automakers. The delegation is made up of nine Republican members of the House and seven Democrats, along with the two Democratic senators.

"There is no single segment of America’s economy that is more critical to the financial well-being of millions of Americans than the automotive industry," the letter stated. "One in ten American jobs is related to auto manufacturing one hour cash loan.

"In this current economic environment it is imperative that the government ensures that liquidity is restored so that the U.S. auto industry is able to function until normalcy is restored to credit markets," the letter continued.

Officials with the presidential campaigns of Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have said they want the original $25 billion loan money made available to automakers more quickly. The loan money was originally authorized last year and finally enacted this year as part of an energy bill.

"It should not take 18 months to issue loans that were authorized in 2007," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s senior economic policy adviser.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening that the Department of Energy may release to GM $5 billion from the $25 billion loan program.

Both presidential campaigns said they are open to using the Wall Street bailout program to help automakers, but they didn’t make firm commitments.

Jason Furman, Obama’s top economic policy adviser, said his candidate wants Treasury and the Federal Reserve to explore the subject.

"At the end of the day, Senator Obama has pledged that all options will be on the table to help our nation’s auto industry succeed," Furman said.

Holtz-Eakin said that McCain supports using the Wall Street bailout to help any industry that qualifies.

"It seems pretty clear that GMAC does, although Treasury will have to decide for others," he said. General Motors owns 49% of GMAC, a finance company that has an extensive home loan portfolio in addition to auto loans.

All of the automakers have announced plant closings and payroll reductions in recent years to stem losses from their core North American auto operations. Their combined U.S. sales in the first nine months of this year are down nearly 20% from year-ago levels.

Just last week, privately-held Chrysler LLC announced it would eliminate one in four salaried jobs at the company. It also said it would cut a shift at an Ohio plant and accelerate the planned closure of a Delaware assembly line.

Also last week, GM said that it is on track to meet its goal of a 20% reduction in salaried staff costs, and added that further cuts could be needed because of the weak sales environment.

GM and Chrysler are reported to be in talks about a possible merger that could eliminate tens of thousands of additional jobs in an effort to save billions of dollars. But finding financing for such a deal in the current environment has proved difficult.

Investors have also been scared away from the sector. Last week financier Kirk Kerkorian, the largest individual investor at Ford outside of the Ford family, announced that he had sold 7.3 million shares of Ford and was looking to sell his remaining 133 million shares. The sale means he’ll take a big loss on the Ford stake he purchased earlier this year. 

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EDINBURGH–Fresh from a surprise election victory, Scotland’s leader, Alex Salmond, vowed last year to win independence from the United Kingdom and with it, bring a wave of prosperity.

Salmond, whose separatist Scottish National Party won control of Scotland’s national Parliament last May from Britain’s governing Labour Party, has long aspired to end the 300-year union with England. He wants to take control of lucrative oil and natural gas reserves, slash corporate tax rates and transform this country of five million into an economic powerhouse.

But that was before the global financial meltdown redrew the economic map. Salmond once dreamed of a North Atlantic "arc of prosperity" stretching from Ireland through Iceland and Scotland to Norway. Now, his nation’s similar-sized neighbours are struggling with the ravages of the downturn.

Iceland, held up by Scottish nationalists as an example of how smaller nations can transform their fortunes, is possibly headed toward bankruptcy, while Ireland has slumped into recession.

At home, two of Scotland’s iconic businesses – the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Halifax Bank of Scotland – have found themselves savaged by the economic turmoil.

RBS is now partly owned by British – not just Scottish – taxpayers, who’ll also have a major stake in HBOS if it finalizes a combination with Lloyds TSB after a rescue deal was brokered by Salmond’s nemesis and fellow Scot, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

It has left Salmond’s claims that Scotland can cope without leadership from London, and his hopes of winning an independence vote in 2010, in tatters.

A year ago, RBS – Scotland’s largest business – was a proud emblem of economic prowess as it led buyouts of Dutch bank ABN AMRO and the Belgian-Dutch Fortis bank, turning in pre-tax profits in 2007 of £10 billion, or $20 internet pay day loans.3 billion (Canadian). Now it’s partly nationalized and has taken a £20 billion handout from the British government. If the combination of HBOS and Lloyds TSB goes ahead, the new bank will take a similar £16 billion cash injection.

Brown – a robust defender of the United Kingdom – claims that without England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland could never have afforded to bail out its own banks. He suggests an independent Scotland would have an annual GDP of only about £100 billion, in contrast to a British annual total of around £2 trillion.

But Salmond argues that membership in the United Kingdom seems only to be dragging Scotland down.

Unemployment in Scotland rose by 19,000 people in September, economic growth slowed to 0.1 per cent and, according to the Nationwide Building Society, the nation’s once-booming housing sector saw prices drop by 5 per cent.

He said Brown’s "age of irresponsibility" was over. "The new age of responsibility means Scotland taking charge of its own destiny with independence," Salmond wrote.

Though Salmond, a former economist with RBS, has enjoyed an extended honeymoon in the 18 months since his party took power as a minority government at the Scottish Parliament, support for independence remains low. Most polls show that less than a third of Scots currently want to leave the union.

But Salmond’s SNP trounced Brown’s Labour Party in a special election for a British Parliament seat in Glasgow in July and is predicted to win again on Nov. 6 when a second special election takes place.

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For most banks, lending is all about the numbers.

If a customer has the right credit score, good financial records and a believable plan, the bank is interested in doing business. If they don’t, well, no dice, particularly in this economy.

Some banks are going beyond the numbers to develop long-term relationships, digging deeper to make sure business customers are doing all they can to survive the turbulent economy. It’s a long tradition among community banks, which focus on serving businesses, consumers and farmers in their local market areas.

The extra attention ranges from financial checkups or priority-setting sessions at Commerce Bancshares Inc. and National City to Enterprise Bank & Trust Co.’s college-style courses.

Sandy Washington, senior vice president of small-business banking at Commerce, said the bank has been doing its checkups for years, but customers are more receptive to them in the current environment.

"The more we understand what their goals and their objectives are, the more we can help them," Washington said.

Rick Sems, Missouri banking president for National City, said building relationships with business customers is nothing new for the bank. Twice a year, customers have a business priority agenda session with an account manager, a local branch manager and a cash management officer.

Jim Watson, president of Midwest BankCentre, said the bank also does checkups and sponsors regular gatherings with speakers who can help customers understand the economy.

"Communications is a mutual responsibility," Watson said. "Even our customers today are very concerned about how their bank is doing."

Kevin Eichner, who retired as chief executive of Enterprise Bank in May to become president of Ottawa University, said the bank started Enterprise University to give its business customers a chance to continue their education in a way that fit their schedules and their budgets.

"It’s part of a consultative approach" at Enterprise, said Jerry Mueller, the bank’s senior vice president of marketing. "The idea is, we want to partner with our clients and help them be more successful."

On a recent Wednesday morning, 20 executives sat at tables scattered around a classroom in an industrial building in Olivette.

Lori Lewis, Enterprise’s director of organizational development, was leading a class on "Managing Your Energy," based in part on "The Power of Full Engagement," a book by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

For nearly three hours, Lewis led the executives through exercises designed to help them manage their business and personal lives more effectively. Lewis, who has a doctorate in organizational psychology, sprinkled her lecture with a clip from National Public Radio, a Power Point presentation, handouts and a Sudoku puzzle.

Classes at Enterprise University range from marketing, sales and financial management to leadership effectiveness and personal financial planning. Some are taught by bank executives like Lewis or Stephen Marsh, the bank’s president. Other teachers include lawyers, business consultants or experts in things such as energy conservation.

The classes are open to anyone with an interest in the topics covered. There is no charge, and it’s up to attendees whether they’d like to be contacted by the bank after the class.

Kay Erb, registrar for the classes and a member of the bank’s marketing department, says between 300 and 500 people attend Enterprise University classes every semester. About 80 percent are presidents or top managers of their companies.

Jeffrey Jappa, president of JMC Manufacturing in Bridgeton, said the classes gave him a good introduction to the bank. He had been considering changing banks after he bought the wood products company from his father absolutely free credit report.

"Other banks sponsor seminars," Jappa said, "but not one that’s really put together like a university with a course load that’s really targeted to the small-business owner. Even though I was already interested in the bank, there was no selling whatsoever."

Jappa has since become an Enterprise customer, and likes their approach.

"Other banks just let you run, and you only hear from them when things are going wrong," he said. "My account manager is very interested in my business. He’s worked hard to create compliance targets that are reasonable and can be attained."

Mueller said Enterprise University has been a great way to set the bank apart.

"It enhances the relationship," Mueller said. "We can help (customers) improve their skills and show them ways to make their businesses more efficient."

Commerce Bank’s financial checkups include an hour-long meeting to review financial statements. Customers are encouraged to bring their tax advisers along. The bank may ask about the customer’s goals, the ways they’re collecting receivables or managing cash. Personal finance can be on the agenda as well.

"We always have an open door," Washington said. "We encourage our customers to meet with us regularly. As economic conditions change, so does the bank’s appetite to supply credit to particular businesses."

Washington said the bank recently worked with a family-owned bakery facing a downturn in its business because of a decline in the market for sweet goods.

"We sat down with the family and provided some reality checks," Washington said. The bank was able to help the business improve its collections and worked with an accountant to help the bakery manage its finances.

At National City, the agenda-setting sessions range from reviews of financial statements to discussions about cash management. Small-business customers’ personal wealth often is tied up in the company. Owners need to make sure their families are protected while they run the business, Sems said.

The bank has had to get more creative on loans lately, tapping Community Development Corp. programs and working with business development groups to arrange financing or equity injections, he said. Recently, customers have been more concerned about how their accounts are titled to ensure that they have the maximum insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"I really try to push that what we’re trying to do is advise, not prod and poke so much," Sems said.

Wayne Kissel, owner of K1 Creative, a design firm in Eureka, said sessions with his National City banker have shown him how to protect assets, change investment strategy and handle employee benefits. Kissel said he went with National City after looking at proposals from six different banks.

"My personal lender has been down to earth and easy to work with," Kissel said. The bank was instrumental in helping the business build its own building after years in less desirable rented space.

Bankers have to be careful about how much advice they give because of potential liability if a customer feels he or she was pushed to make a decision that turns out badly, said Rick Palank, senior vice president for finance at the St. Louis County Economic Council.

Palank said it’s rare for banks to go beyond the numbers, especially now.

"They’re very, very conservative now," Palank said.

jerristroud@post-dispatch.com

314-340-8384

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Wachovia reported a massive loss of nearly $24 billion Wednesday, in what was expected to be its last quarter as an independent company.

The struggling Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, which agreed to be acquired by Wells Fargo earlier this month, reported a net loss of $23.9 billion, or $11.18 a share, which included a whopping $18.8 billion impairment charge partly related to the planned merger.

Just a year ago, the company reported a profit of $1.62 billion, or 85 cents a share.

Despite the recent turmoil in financial markets, analysts were actually expecting the company to report a third-quarter profit of $547 million, or 2 cents a share.

Wachovia (WB, Fortune 500) shares fell 1.6% in early NYSE trading.

Wells Fargo execs, including CEO John Stumpf, said Wachovia’s results were about as dreary as they expected after poring over the company’s books and agreeing to buy the bank earlier this month.

"Wachovia’s third-quarter results were very much in line with our expectations," Stumpf said in a statement.

Like many of its peers, Wachovia was hit hard this quarter by issues of credit and bad bets on the U.S. mortgage market, most notably its 2006 purchase of the California mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp.

Over the last three months, the company said it set aside $4.8 billion for loan losses, as the economy showed increasing signs of weakness and the housing market continued to deteriorate in already hard-hit parts of the country such as California and Florida.

Wachovia added Wednesday that non-performing assets, or loans that are not collecting interest or principal payments, increased five-fold from a year earlier to just over 3% of all loans.

Still, much of the blame for Wednesday’s results was the $18.8 billion impairment related, in part, to the tie-up with Wells Fargo.

Morgan Keegan analyst Robert Patten said the charge represented just how hard the two companies were working to clean up Wachovia’s books before proceeding with the merger.

"You want to set up ‘09 to look as good as possible," he said direct payday loan cash advance.

Assuming the company’s anticipated merger with Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) comes off without a hitch, Wachovia’s latest quarterly numbers will prove largely moot.

Still, the results offer a glimpse into just how badly the company was faring when investors seemed all but certain that Wachovia was destined to collapse.

Fears about Wachovia’s ultimate demise first took hold in mid-September following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and shortly after Lehman rival Merrill Lynch was forced into the arms of Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500).

Speculation continued to swirl about the 129-year-old bank in the days that followed, including rumors of a possible merger with with investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500).

Even as Wachovia’s consumer customers remained relatively calm about the bank’s fate in the days that followed, Wednesday’s results revealed that commercial depositors feared that the bank could be next. In just one quarter, the amount of commercial core deposits plunged by a colossal 24% from the previous quarter to $83.4 billion.

(Big customers flee)

Regulators finally interceded on Wachovia’s behalf the last weekend in September, helping broker a $2.2 billion purchase of Wachovia’s banking assets by Citigroup (C, Fortune 500).

Wachovia had a change of heart just days later, as it agreed to a sweetened offer from San Francisco-based Wells Fargo for all of Wachovia’s operations.

After some legal wrangling, Citigroup eventually walked away, leaving Wells Fargo in control of Wachovia in a deal worth $11.7 billion.

Wachovia shareholders have yet to approve the deal, although they are widely expected to do so by year’s end.

The combination of the two firms would transform Wells Fargo into a major player in the U.S. banking industry, with approximately $1.4 trillion in assets, a footprint in 39 states and the nation’s second-biggest retail brokerage network. 

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The global financial crisis will add at least 20 million people to the world’s unemployed, bringing the total to 210 million by the end of next year, the U.N. labor agency said Monday.

That will be the first time in a decade of record keeping that the global total has been above 200 million people, said officials of the International Labor Organization.

Global leaders need to focus on the impact on individuals rather than just financial institutions when they devise rescue plans, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia told reporters.

"We thought it was not good to talk about the financial crisis exclusively in financial terms," Somavia said. "We have to talk about the financial crisis in terms of what happens to people and in terms of what happens to jobs and enterprises."

He said it is already clear that people are going to be hurt by the financial crisis and that measures should be taken to provide unemployment compensation and other social protection.

"If we have enough resources to pump into the financial system, this is not the moment to say, ‘Yes, but we don’t have the resources to care about people,"’ said Somavia.

He said the first step in a global rescue plan remains getting out of "the credit paralysis."

"Hopefully, the decisions that have been taken are going to work," he said, adding that all measures should be taken to contain as much as possible the fall of the real economy and reduce the recession possibilities as much as possible.

But then attention should turn to "taking care of those enterprises that produce the most jobs," Somavia said payday advance lenders. "Those tend to be the small enterprises."

"The financial system has to go back to its fundamental function," he said, meaning providing credit to people with entrepreneurial spirit to set up a company that will produce goods and services and create jobs.

Another issue is protecting pensions, especially for those whose funds are invested in the stock market, he said.

"You better give enough credit to the pension systems so they don’t have to sell [shares] in a battered market," said Somavia, noting that the U.S. Congress had passed a US$700 billion rescue plan for financial institutions.

"Make sure some of that money goes to the pension systems so that they can pay pensions," he added. "People are very afraid all over the world."

The ILO based its unemployment projection in part on the latest forecast by the International Monetary Fund that the economies of the United States and Europe would virtually stop growing and that Japan would have only 0.5% growth, Somavia said.

The agency also factored in data from the United Nations and from countries that have produced recent statistics, he said.

"The estimate that we are now making is that as compared with January 2008 to December 2009 we are probably going to have about 20 million jobs lost, and this may be underestimated," Somavia said.

He said the agency had yet to break the forecast down by region or country. 

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