Actual finance blog

Premier Mario Monti convened a Cabinet meeting in Rome on Sunday to discuss emergency austerity and growth measures aimed at saving the euro currency from collapse.

Monti is under extreme pressure to come up with speedy and credible measures that will persuade markets to stop betting against the common currency.

The Cabinet was originally scheduled to meet Monday, but was moved up following Monti’s weekend of meetings with political parties, unions, business groups and consumer lobbies.

The premier hasn’t disclosed details of his rescue plan, but has said it includes both austerity cuts and measures to boost growth in Italy’s anemic economy. He has promised it would be socially equitable, and that it would go after those who hadn’t paid their share of taxes before.

With the meeting still under way, Monti’s office issued a statement saying the package was still under discussion.

The various parties briefed have said the package likely includes reinstating an unpopular home property tax abolished by Berlusconi, raising the sales tax and the income tax at the highest brackets by a few percentage points, and requiring Italians to work more than the 40 years now needed to receive a pension.

The head of Italy’s industrial lobby said Sunday that the survival of the common euro currency depends on Italy’s coming up with very strong austerity and growth measures _ followed by a concerted effort at the European level so that Italian sacrifices are not in vain.

Confindustria President Emma Marcegaglia told reporters after meeting with Monti that the measures are “very heavy.”

The coming days “will decided if the euro will survive or not no fax payday loans. The first move to save the euro is in Italian hands, with a very strong measures,” Marcegaglia said. The measures will be “fundamental to saving Italy and to saving the euro.”

Italian borrowing costs have spiked, which could spell disaster if Italy is unable to keep up on payments to service its enormous debt of euro1.9 trillion ($2.57 trillion), or 120 percent of its GDP.

Unlike Greece, Portugal and Ireland, which got bailouts after their borrowing rates skyrocketed, the eurozone’s third-largest economy is considered to be too big to bail out. An Italian default would be disastrous for the 17-member eurozone and reverberate throughout the global economy.

Union head Raffaele Bonnani, however, urged Monti to reconsider raising the pension age across the board, saying that workers in hard labor should be allowed to retire without added requirements, and that women who join the work force after raising children might have to work well into old age if the 40-year seniority requirement were raised.

But he said he was against calling a general strike at this sensitive moment, and would instead pursue a policy of negotiation with the government.

Marcegaglia said the measures were concentrated on raising taxes _ and to balance that she called for an immediate look at ways to cut political and bureaucratic spending. “This kind of fiscal pressure is not sustainable,” she said.

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A new report says a record number of shoppers made purchases online on the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, pushing sales up 33 percent.

The report from IBM Benchmark says the average order rose 2.6 percent to $193.24 on the day known as “Cyber Monday,” when retailers amp up online promotions. The data says about 80 percent of retailers offered online deals.

It says traffic peaked at 2:05 p.m. Eastern.

About 6.6 percent used a mobile device to shop, up from 2.3 percent in 2010. The Cyber Monday numbers point to Americans’ growing comfort with using their personal computers, tablets and smartphones to shop.

A clearer picture of how holiday sales are shaping up will come on Thursday, when major retailers report November sales.

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Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday as the results of a meeting among leaders of Europe’s biggest economies disappointed investors and Portugal’s credit rating was lowered to junk.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell marginally to 8,161.87 while South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.9 percent at 1,779.93. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.8 percent to 17,790.54 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.4 percent at 3,989.

Investment sentiment continued to wane after a meeting Thursday in Strasbourg, France of the leaders of the three biggest euro economies: Italian Premier Mario Monti, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The three leaders pledged to push for changes to European Union treaties to bring the fiscal policies of countries using the euro common currency more in line with each other.

Many investors were hoping Merkel might drop her steadfast opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank or the creation of a eurobond that would pool the debts of all countries in the currency union. Some experts believe the ECB is the only institution capable of getting Europe past its debt crisis.

Piled onto the disappointment from the Strasbourg summit was a debt demotion for Portugal cash advance flexible payments.

Fitch Ratings, citing Portugal’s large fiscal imbalances, its high indebtedness across all sectors and an adverse macroeconomic outlook, reduced the country’s credit rating to BB+. That means Portugal is considered non-investment grade by Fitch, making it even more difficult for the struggling country to return to the bond markets.

In the U.S., markets were closed for the Thanksgiving on Thursday. A crucial test comes on so-called Black Friday _ the day that kicks off the holiday shopping season.

How well retailers do during the biggest shopping season of the year will have consequences for the still-fragile U.S. economic recovery.

The spending of consumers, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, can impact stores’ expansion plans and inventory decisions into the new year. That trickles through the rest of the economy, from suppliers to jobs.

The November-December period accounts for 25-40 percent of annual sales. About a quarter of jobs in the U.S. are directly or indirectly supported by the retail industry.

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President Barack Obama has signed legislation giving tax breaks to companies that hire unemployed veterans, telling businesses “if you are hiring, hire a veteran.”

Obama says Monday that the legislation will help about 850,000 veterans who are currently unemployed and tens of thousands who will be returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming months.

The bill passed Congress last week with rare bipartisan support.

The brief moment of unity was overshadowed by the apparent failure of lawmakers from both parties on a special panel to reach an agreement on $1.2 trillion in savings ahead of a Wednesday deadline low fee payday advance.

The legislation signed by Obama creates tax breaks for companies that hire jobless veterans and helps provide vets with job training and counseling. It also repeals a 2006 law that would require the federal, state and local governments to withhold 3 percent of their payments to contractors.

The veterans’ legislation is the first proposal included in Obama’s $447 billion bill to win congressional approval.

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U.S. manufacturing is recovering from a slump, and inflation may be peaking. The latest government reports suggest businesses and consumers may be seeing some relief after the economy stumbled earlier this year.

Industrial production rose in October at the fastest pace in three months. Factories made more trucks, electronics and business equipment.

At the same time, Americans paid less for gas, cars and computers last month as overall prices fell for the first time since June.

The data follow a strong report on retail sales in October and point to an economy that is growing at a solid pace in the October-December quarter. Still, the resurgence in the price of oil and a possible recession in Europe threaten to drain the economy’s momentum.

“The continued resilience of manufacturing is encouraging, since this should be the sector most exposed to the global economic slowdown,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist with Capital Economics.

Output at the nation’s factories, utilities and mines rose 0.7 percent last month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Factory output, the largest component of industrial production, increased a solid 0.5 percent. It was the fourth straight monthly gain.

Production of autos and auto parts surged. Business equipment rose for the sixth straight month. Electrical equipment, appliances and transportation equipment all climbed.

Manufacturers “are benefiting from the strong growth in emerging markets, and domestic businesses are confident enough in the future to continue expanding purchases of capital equipment,” said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a trade group.

Production was dragged down this spring after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disrupted key supply chains for automakers and other manufacturers. Rising food and gas costs and shaky financial markets caused consumers to cut back on big purchases.

The auto industry has rebounded to drive most of the growth in factory output. Many U.S. auto plants, which depend upon parts from Japan to produce various models, are seeing supply chains flow more freely.

Higher output at auto plants has allowed dealers to stock popular models that were in demand this spring. As a result, October sales were 7 percent higher than the same month last year. Light trucks were the biggest contributor.

A steep drop in gas prices was a key reason the Consumer Price Index dropped 0.1 percent in October, the Labor Department said. Food prices did rise, but at the slowest pace this year.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called “core” prices rose 0.1 percent.

Slower inflation could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to lower long-term interest rates to help the economy.

Still, oil prices have been climbing in recent weeks and hit $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time in four months. They have been rising as the economy improves while tensions rise in countries that hold some of the world’s major sources of crude.

If those prices translate into higher gas prices, consumers could pull back on spending and slow economic growth.

Strong consumer spending helped the economy grow at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September quarter. The October gain in retail sales suggests similar growth in the final three months of the year.

Instability in Europe might also hurt the U.S. economy. A shaky euro would likely strengthen the dollar, making U.S. goods appear more expensive to overseas buyers. And exports to Europe already account for about one-fourth of U.S. corporate revenue, analysts say.

Europe’s economy is barely growing, and sharp government spending cuts might tip it back into recession. If that happens, slowing output by U.S. manufacturers could hinder the broader economic recovery.

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Surrounded by dozens of cardboard boxes packed with 4 million petition signatures, the presidents of major Japanese automakers demanded Monday the end of what they called exorbitant taxes on cars that threaten to hollow out manufacturing and wipe out jobs.

The plea from the heads of Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. as well as representatives from auto unions and dealers _ a rare show of combined forces _ underlines the industry’s crisis from the March tsunami disaster, the surging yen and stagnant sales.

“This goes beyond the problem of a hollowing out of the economy. The industry could be destroyed,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said after standing with other officials with clenched fists. “Once jobs are lost overseas, it is impossible to recover them.”

The officials said they want to retain manufacturing in Japan as much as possible to keep technological development going, as well as protecting jobs.

But the odds are stacked against them, they said, partly because of a complex system of taxation on cars estimated to be about twice or triple those in Great Britain and Germany, and a whopping 49 times the U.S.

Also battering Japan’s manufacturers has been the strong yen, which eats away at the value of overseas sales. Each time the dollar falls by one yen, the eight major Japanese automakers lose 80 billion yen ($1 billion).

The auto execs appear to have public opinion on their side. They were taking to the government a petition demanding the end of such taxes, signed by more than 4.3 million people in just two months.

Japanese taxeswhich are paid each year for ownership in addition to the time of purchase, are so high that over a decade a car owner pays more in taxes than their original outlay on the vehicle, they said.

Reducing the tax burden would potentially add some 920,000 vehicles to annual auto sales in Japan, according to a government estimate.

Japan’s annual sales of new autos have shrunk to about 4.25 million vehicles, falling from a peak 7.8 million vehicles in 1990.

Studies show younger people’s interest in cars has been fading rapidly, especially in urban areas. Rural residents tend to need more than one car per household, but are suffering from the heavy tax burden.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan disrupted parts supplies and slowed production, battering the profits at the Japanese automakers. Just as they were starting to recover and make up for lost production, the recent flooding in Thailand has disrupted the supply chain again.

Toyoda said Japan needs to recover from the disaster, and help for the auto industry is critical in the recovery.

“Please look at all of us who are here today,” he told reporters at a Tokyo hotel. “We want to speed up the recovery so we are all here.”

The representatives also asked that tax breaks on green cars, which began in 2008 and are set to end next year, be continued to keep sales of hybrids and electric vehicles going.

“The sense of crisis we have is unprecedented,” said Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga.

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Stocks rose sharply Thursday amid mounting expectations that a Greek referendum on a European bailout plan will be abandoned and a surprise rate cut from the European Central Bank.

In Athens, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou came under intense pressure from his own party and opposition lawmakers to resign and let a coalition government approve a European bailout plan instead of holding a risky referendum on it.

Papandreou’s unexpected announcement Monday that he intended to put the hard-fought bailout package to a referendum horrified Greece’s international partners and creditors, triggering turmoil in financial markets as investors fretted over the prospect of a disorderly default and the country’s exit from the 17-nation eurozone.

“Markets have rallied …. on the expectation that the referendum will be cancelled,” said Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.1 percent at 5,546. France’s CAC-40 rose 3 percent 3,204 while Germany’s DAX was also 3 percent higher at 6,144.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.2 percent, to 11,974 while the broader S&P 500 index rose 1 percent to 1,251.

Despite Thursday’s recovery, markets remain jittery about how Europe will resolve its debt crisis, especially now that it’s been openly admitted that a country can actually leave the euro.

This week’s instability in Greece has sent immediate ripples throughout Europe. Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s government in Italy was teetering as well after it failed to come up with a credible plan to deal with its dangerously high debts, and Portugal demanded more flexible terms for its own bailout.

Markets were thrown into turmoil on Monday after Papandreou’s referendum proposal. It horrified Greece’s international partners and creditors, triggering market worries that Greece may default on its debts and exit the eurozone.

This week’s turmoil was also a clear factor in the European Central Bank’s surprise decision Thursday to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.25 percent. That helped shore up stock markets too.

The move, which comes earlier than expected by many economists, takes the bank’s benchmark rate to 1.25 percent.

European growth is expected to slow to near or below zero in the last three months of the year.

Uncertainty from Europe’s debt crisis is a factor. Business and consumers are reluctant to spend and investors because they fear more financial turmoil if Greece defaults on its debts.

The euro suffered a bout of selling after Draghi signaled that the ECB’s bond purchases, which have been keeping down borrowing rates for financially weak countries like Italy, are temporary and limited.

However, the retreat was short-lived as investors breathed a sigh of relief over the apparent scrapping of the referendum pledge. The euro was up 0.6 percent at $1.3771.

Though Greece’s political developments were the main point of interest in the markets, investors are keeping a close watch on the French resort of Cannes where the Group of 20 leaders from the industrial and developing world are meeting.

In Cannes, President Barack Obama pledged world leaders would flesh out details of a plan to resolve the European financial crisis.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng retreated 2.5 percent to close at 19,242.50. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.5 percent to 1,869.96 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 percent to 4,171.80.

Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday. Mainland Chinese shares rose, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.2 percent to 2,508.09.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up $1.16 at $92.67 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Thailand’s flood crisis deepened Tuesday after floodwaters breached barriers protecting Bangkok’s second airport, effectively forcing a halt to commercial flights there after airlines using it suspended operations.

It was not immediately clear how much water had entered Don Muang airport. But the news was sure to further erode the credibility of a government that has repeatedly sent mixed signals about its ability to defend the heart of an increasingly anxious capital from the worst floods to hit Thailand in nearly 60 years.

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, the country’s main international gateway, has yet to be affected by flooding and flights there were operating normally. Most of the city has been spared inundation so far.

Budget airline Nok Air suspended operations at Don Muang until Nov. 1 “because water has entered the north side of the airport already,” the company’s CEO Patee Sarasin told The Associated Press. He said all airborne aircraft would be diverted to Suvarnabhumi.

The only other main carrier using Don Muang, Orient Thai Airlines, also said it was suspending flights and would transfer domestic operations to Suvarnabhumi.

An airport official confirmed water had crept inside the airport compound, but he said runways were unaffected. An Associated Press reporter at the airport was not immediately allowed to inspect the area where water had entered.

Don Muang has come to symbolize the gravity of Thailand’s catastrophic floods, which have swamped a third of the country’s provinces and killed 366 people over three months. It houses the government’s emergency Flood Relief Operations Center, and one of its terminals is home to thousands of people who have been forced to flee their homes.

Floodwaters have been pouring into the Don Muang district, located on Bangkok’s northernmost outskirts, for several days payday loans. The waist-high water has entered homes and blocked streets running to the airport.

Don Muang is among seven of the capital’s 50 districts that the government has declared at risk. Those zones, located in the north and northwest, are all experiencing minor flooding.

The latest to be added to the list was the northwestern district of Bang Phlat. Late Monday, Gov. Suhumbhand Paribatra warned residents there to move their belongings to higher ground after water from the Chao Phraya River crept in through a subway construction site.

Also Tuesday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration declared Oct. 27-31 public holidays in affected areas, including Bangkok, government spokesman Thitima Chaisaeng said.

Last week, Yingluck ordered key floodgates opened to help drain runoff through urban canals to the sea, but there is great concern that rising tides in the Gulf of Thailand this weekend could slow critical outflows and flood the city.

Late Monday, the flood relief center said water levels in the worst-hit parts of the country _ the submerged provinces north of Bangkok _ were stable or subsiding. But the massive runoff was still bearing down on the city as it flowed south toward the Gulf of Thailand.

While neighborhoods just across Bangkok’s boundaries are underwater, most of Bangkok is dry and has not been directly affected by deluge.

Anxious Bangkokians, though, have been raiding stores to stock up on emergency supplies, and many have been protecting homes and businesses with sandbags. Some have even erected sealed cement barriers across shop-fronts.

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China has given the go-ahead for several local authorities to sell bonds as it moves to bridge financing shortfalls and prevent debt defaults by overextended provinces.

The Ministry of Finance said in a notice Thursday that Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces and Shenzhen, a special economic zone bordering Hong Kong, would be allowed to issue three-year and five-year bonds on a trial basis, subject to quotas.

China normally prohibits local governments from issuing bonds directly or from taking bank loans, confining such bonds to those issued by the central government on their behalf.

Local governments owe about 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion) in debt through financing vehicles set up to support construction projects. Issuing bonds would help them to honor those obligations.

Instructions outlined by the ministry suggests plans for strict central government oversight of the program.

Bond quotas set for one year cannot be carried over to another, it says.

Funds raised by local government bond sales will be kept in a special account of the finance ministry which will oversee payment of interest and principal.

The ministry said the local governments also should provide timely information to the public regarding local economic and financial conditions.

With highway and railway projects running short of cash, Zhejiang province, west of Shanghai, plans to issue 8 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) worth of bonds to fund infrastructure projects this year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported earlier.

It characterized the plan as the beginning of a shift in how local government projects are financed.

Much of the money is also expected to be earmarked for so-called “affordable housing” projects.

Cities have been ordered to speed up construction of such housing, but many already debt-encumbered localities reportedly lack the financial wherewithal to follow through.

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Asian stock markets advanced Monday, bolstered by improved U.S. retail sales and Europe’s renewed efforts to contain its debt crisis.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.5 percent to 8,881.42, hitting a six-week intraday high at one point.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.7 percent to 18,824.07, South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.2 percent at 18,824.07 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.8 percent to 4,282.30.

Sentiment brightened after stronger retail sales data in the U.S., leading to gains on Wall Street before the weekend. The Dow Jones Industrials rose 1.4 percent to close at 11,644.49 on Friday.

Retail sales, which are a key barometer of consumer spending, recorded the biggest gain in seven months in September and double what economists were expecting. The data added to signs that the world’s biggest economy may avoid another recession.

Worries about Europe’s debt problems also eased following a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs over the weekend in Paris.

The group opened the door for the International Monetary Fund to play a bigger role in fighting the escalating debt troubles among countries that use the euro common currency. It also said eurozone ministers will “decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan” to be unveiled on Oct paydayloans. 23.

In currencies, the dollar edged up to 77.24 yen from 77.22 late Friday. The euro fell to $1.3851 from $1.3875.

With the dollar holding above the 77-yen line, investors sent Japanese exporters higher. Sony Corp. surged 4.6 percent, while Toyota Motor Corp. 2.4 percent.

Missing out on the rally was camera and precision instruments maker Olympus Corp., which plunged after firing its British CEO on Friday after just six months.

The issue tumbled more than 22 percent, following a double-digit slide before the weekend. Several ratings agencies issued downgrades, while media reports said Michael Woodford was dismissed after questioning Olympus executives about improper corporate governance and several acquisitions before he arrived.

Benchmark oil for November delivery was up 35 cents at $87.15 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.57 to settle at $86.80 in New York on Friday.

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