France 'set for 2009 recession'

France will enter recession in 2009, according to Insee, the country's national statistics agency.

The agency says the French economy has shrunk by 0.8% in the last three months of 2008 and will contract by another 0.4% in the first quarter of 2009.

The figures are worse than predictions, which said the economy would shrink by just 0.1% from October and December.

France is eurozone's second biggest economy, and would be the latest major world economy to enter recession.

Figures have already shown that Germany and Japan have endured two quarters of negative economic growth, while economists in the US have declared that its economy has been in recession since earlier in 2008.

France only narrowly avoided negative economic growth between July and September, posting growth of 0.1%.

Insee also predicted that unemployment in France would rise to 8% by the middle of next year, up from 7.7% at the moment.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Surprise rise in UK retail sales

UK retail sales rose unexpectedly last month, official figures have shown.

Total sales volumes climbed 0.3% in November from the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said. Sales were up 1.5% from a year ago.

Analysts had been expecting sales to fall in November, and recent surveys have suggested trading has been weak.

The rise in monthly sales was led by household goods, which were up 3.9% in November - their biggest monthly increase since July 2007.

Food sales were up 0.2% for the month, while those of clothing and footwear were down 0.1%.

The level of overall retail sales made via the internet was 3.8%, up from 3.2% in October.

'Doesn't tally'

Analysts had been expecting retail sales to fall 0.6% in November."Early Christmas shopping could explain part of the strength, but it doesn't really tally with the weakness in consumer confidence nor the data seen in the CBI and British Retail Consortium (BRC) surveys," said James Knightley, an economist at ING.

BRC director general Stephen Robertson said the rise in the official figure for November was "hard to explain".

However, he put the increase down to high profile price cuts and promotions, combined with the recent falls in interest rates and VAT.

"Some retailers will now dare to breathe a sigh of relief that customers are simply deferring their Christmas spending rather than cancelling it entirely," he said.

The BRC said last week that total UK retail sales had fallen in consecutive months for the first time in at least 13 years.

It found that sales were November were down 0.4% from a year earlier, following a 0.1% dip in October.

And more timely figures from Experian, which track "footfalls" or the number of people out on the High Street, suggest that the number of shoppers has dropped by 11.5% in the first three days of this week compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, official data on Wednesday showed that the number of people out of work in the UK rose by 137,000 to 1.86 million in the three months to October - the highest level since 1997.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

German confidence at 18-year low

German business confidence dropped sharply in December to its lowest level in 18 years, according to a business index from the Ifo research institute.

Exporters were suffering particularly badly as the global economy turns down, it said.

Ifo's business climate index, based on a poll of 7,000 firms, fell to 82.6 in December from 84.0 in November.

The institute said that such a low reading had not been seen since German reunification in 1990.

And Ifo said it had go back to 1982 to find such a weak index level for business sentiment in the former West Germany.

'Cloudy prospects'

"The dominant feature of the December decline is the worsening of the firms' current business situation," Ifo said.

"With regard to the six-month business outlook, the scepticism of the survey participants remains nearly unchanged."

The gloomy figure had been widely expected.

"German economic prospects remain clouded and as such the new data is not surprising. Germany's GDP will continue to weaken and so far an end to the recession is not in sight," said economist Ralf Umlauf of Helaba bank.

"Pressure on the European Central Bank to make further clear cuts in interest rates to fight against the crisis ought to increase because of this," he added.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Did Bernard Madoff act alone? Investors doubt it

Did Bernard Madoff act alone? Investors doubt it, investigators look for accomplices

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bernard Madoff's contention that he pulled off one of the biggest financial frauds in history without any help is being met with disbelief by his investors and experts in the securities industry. It normally takes a team of accountants, stock brokers, lawyers and more to operate the kind of multibillion-dollar investment fund that Madoff ran from the 17th floor of his Manhattan headquarters.The firm had clients around the globe. Simply generating the detailed financial statements investors got in the mail every month would have been a monumental effort for just one person, observers said, even if those reports were pure fantasy.

"Someone had to create them. Someone had to create the appearance that there were returns," said attorney Harry Susman, who represents several Madoff investors.

"The guy was 70 years old. Could he have done it himself? The computer systems would have needed to be extensive. Supposedly, he's selling puts, buying puts, selling calls, buying stocks. Somebody had to sit there and buy stocks. Where are these people?"

Federal investigators are still in the early stages of trying to answer those same questions as they decipher Madoff's operation. Already, they have discovered multiple sets of books and what appear to be fraudulent documents in his Manhattan offices, raising the question of who prepared them. It may take time before they can say whether he had accomplices.

Investigators have started serving grand jury subpoenas requiring witnesses to testify and seeking documents, according to an official familiar with the case. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, declined to identify who was served or specify what documents were wanted.

The investigation has been unfolding in a Manhattan office that was once Madoff's sanctuary but is now the site of a nonstop hunt for incriminating documents, with boxes of confiscated records stacked in the hallway.

"Every time I go out my office door to go to the ladies' room I've been tripping over FBI agents," said Muriel "Mickie" Siebert, whose namesake brokerage firm shares the 17th floor of the office building.

The investigation is being led by the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission -- agencies already challenged with unearthing other financial scandals since the Wall Street meltdown.

One potential subject of the inquiry is the role played by Frank DiPascali, a top financial officer at Madoff's investment advisory business.

Several investors, their lawyers and a former Madoff employee who spoke to The Associated Press described DiPascali, of Bridgewater, N.J., as the man who appeared to be most responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business.

When clients had questions about the firm's investment strategy or its performance, DiPascali was the one who got on the phone. If they wanted to add or subtract money from their accounts, DiPascali made the arrangements and distributed the checks.

Authorities haven't publicly accused DiPascali of any wrongdoing. His attorney, Marc Mukasey, on Thursday declined to discuss his client's role or say whether he became aware of the fraud prior to Madoff's arrest.

"We are sitting with our client and reviewing his career at Madoff and his duties and responsibilities," said Mukasey, the son of U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. "I understand that people are extremely frustrated and upset ... We would love to see people get as much of their money back as possible."

Questions also loom about Madoff's auditor, Friehling & Horowitz, a relatively unknown accountant in the city's northern suburbs who appeared to operate from a one-room office with irregular business hours and a bare-bones staff.

Those audits apparently failed to detect the fraud, which Madoff told investigators was a Ponzi scheme that lost an estimated $50 billion.

The firm's principal, David G. Friehling, has not answered his telephone in days. His attorney, Andrew Lankler, declined to comment Thursday.

Investigators were also expected to look at the potential involvement of several Madoff relatives who worked for his firm, including his brother, two sons and others who worked for his various business entities. His wife has also come under scrutiny.

To date, however, they also have not been formally accused of any wrongdoing.

The law firm representing Madoff's sons, Andrew and Marc, released a statement saying they first learned of the fraud just days ago, when their father tearfully confessed, and immediately turned him in. The two are said to have worked predominantly in another division of their father's company, not in the secretive unit that handled investor money.

By some accounts, Bernard Madoff appeared to take unusual steps to limit the number of people and outside companies that had a hand in running the business.

Much of the recruiting of new investors to his funds was done informally, by friends, or through a group of large, independently managed feeder funds, who also took most of the management fees for handling the investments. They included the Fairfield Greenwich Group, which put all $7.3 billion of its Fairfield Sentry Fund in Madoff's hands.

It was unclear whether authorities were looking to see whether any of those funds, whose investors have emerged as some of Madoff's largest victims, may have been complicit in the scheme. Each has claimed no knowledge that anything was amiss.

Usually, a fund like Madoff's would use an outside brokerage firm to complete its stock trades. In his case, those duties -- if they actually occurred -- were apparently handled in-house.

He appeared not to have hired outside professional services firms to help calculate his performance or to produce electronic data for investors.

"He was still doing it the way you did it in the 1960s, with a paper ticket," said Suzanne Murphy, a hedge fund consultant who had examined Madoff's business two years ago before deciding not to invest in it.

"In most hedge funds, you have many partners in deals, but he was doing everything in a self-contained way," said Jake Walthour, head of advisory services for the due diligence firm Aksia LLC, which also examined Madoff's operation and decided something was wrong.

That lack of partners made it tough to verify that Madoff's business was really achieving good returns. It may also reflect an effort to limit the number of possible accomplices.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Bush considering 'orderly' auto bankruptcy

White House considering 'orderly' bankruptcy to deal with ailing automakers, Paulson says WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is looking at "orderly" bankruptcy as a possible way to deal with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday as carmakers readied more plant closings and a half million new jobless claims underscored the deteriorating national economy.With General Motors, Chrysler and the rest of Detroit anxiously awaiting a White House decision on billions of dollars in emergency federal loans, Paulson said bankruptcy for Detroit automakers should be avoided if possible but that an orderly reorganization may be the best option to keep them from collapsing.

"If the right outcome is reorganization or bankruptcy, then isn't it better to get there through an orderly process?" Paulson said in a speech to a business forum Thursday night in New York.

Paulson said it was too risky to simply let the automakers fail.

"When you look at the size of this industry and look at all those that it touches in terms of suppliers and dealers ... it would seem to be an imprudent risk to take," he said.

President George W. Bush, asked earlier about an auto bailout, said he hadn't decided what he would do but didn't want to leave a mess for Barack Obama who takes office a month from Saturday. A White House decision on helping the troubled automakers could come as early as Friday.

Bush, like Paulson, spoke of the idea of bankruptcies orchestrated by the federal government as a possible way to go -- without committing to it.

"Under normal circumstances, no question bankruptcy court is the best way to work through credit and debt and restructuring," he said during a speech and question-and-answer session at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank. "These aren't normal circumstances. That's the problem."

Paulson said Bush wants to avoid automakers filing for bankruptcy protection but that the No. 1 priority is putting automakers back on a viable path. Part of that effort, he said, would require all sides coming together to make sacrifices to boost competitiveness.

"It's difficult to do such things outside of reorganization. But sometimes that can be successfully done," Paulson said.

White House press secretary Dana Perino addressed the bankruptcy question earlier in the day and emphasized there were still several possible approaches to assisting the automakers, including short-term loans from the Treasury Department's $700 billion Wall Street bailout program.

The Big Three automakers said anew that bankruptcy wasn't the answer, as did an official of the United Auto Workers who called the idea unworkable and even dangerous. GM said a report that it and Chrysler had restarted talks to combine was untrue.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Capitol Hill that grim new unemployment data heightened the urgency for the administration "to prevent the imminent insolvency of the domestic auto industry."

The California Democrat said Bush has the legal authority to act now, and should attach the accountability standards that were included in a $14 billion House-passed and Bush-supported carmaker bailout that died in the Senate last week. That plan would have given the government, through a Bush-appointed "car czar," veto power over major business decisions at any auto company that received federal loans.

Pelosi spoke after the government announced that initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 554,000 last week.

The comments in Washington came a day after Chrysler LLC announced it was closing all its North American manufacturing plants for at least a month as it, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. await word on government action. General Motors also has been closing plants, and it and Chrysler have said they might not have enough money to pay their bills in a matter of weeks.

Separately, there were worries that GMAC LLC, which provides financing for GM vehicle and dealer loans along with home mortgages, could be forced to file for bankruptcy itself. GMAC was having trouble finding adequate support from its bondholders for a debt transaction that would allow it to become a bank holding company and gain eligibility for the $700 billion rescue package.

Prices of GM and Ford stocks fell sharply Thursday after the remarks out of the White House. Ford, unlike General Motors and Chrysler, is not seeking billions in federal bailout loans, but a collapse of the other two could hurt Ford as well.

Alan Reuther, the United Auto Workers' legislative director, said the union urged the administration during a meeting this week to follow the provisions included in the House-passed auto aid bill.

"It's our hope that the House bill that was passed is what they will use as a guide, so to speak, when they start releasing funds," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told WXYZ-TV in Detroit.

Congressional aides in both parties who have been closely following the discussions suggested the talk of bankruptcy could be a tactic to extract more hefty concessions from the companies and union in exchange for granting short-term loans from Treasury's financial industry rescue fund.

Perino said one factor preventing an announcement of action by the administration is that discussions continue with the various sides that would have to sign on to a managed bankruptcy -- entities such as labor and equity holders in addition to the companies themselves.

A senior administration official said the talks between Bush officials and the Big Three and their stakeholders amount to information-gathering, not negotiating.

The White House has repeatedly emphasized its opposition to "disorderly bankruptcy" -- presumably a Chapter 7 filing that would effectively shut down a company and require liquidation of assets. That has left on the table the possibility of forcing one or more automakers into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows a firm to keep operating while under a court's purview.

Harlan Platt, who teaches corporate turnarounds at Northeastern University in Boston, said the government may be waiting for an offer of an ownership stake in the companies, much as it received in return for capital plowed into banks. "You really have to ask the question: If this is good enough for Wall Street, why isn't it good enough for Detroit?" he said.

On Thursday, spokesmen for Chrysler, GM and Ford generally referred to their previous comments that bankruptcy was not a workable solution. The car companies argue that no one would buy a vehicle from a bankrupt company for fear that the company might not be around to honor warranties.

"We continue to work with the administration to find a solution to this liquidity crisis," said GM spokesman Tony Cervone.

Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan noted previous statements against bankruptcy by CEO Robert Nardelli. Financing even a prepackaged bankruptcy would be difficult in the current tight credit market, Chrysler has said.

Cerberus Capital Management LP owns 80.1 percent of Chrysler and a 51 percent stake in GMAC. The New York private equity firm has said its investors are composed of pension funds, university endowments and family investors who are limited in the amount of additional money they can provide to Chrysler.

The National Automobile Dealers Association also spoke out against bankruptcy for car companies "in any way shape or form, orderly or disorderly, prepackaged or unpackaged, managed or unmanaged," said spokesman Bailey Wood.

Bush said the auto industry is "obviously very fragile" and he is worried about what an out-and-out collapse without Washington involvement "would do to the psychology" of the markets.

"There still is a lot of uncertainty," he said.

At the same time, the president said anew that he is worried about "putting good money after bad," meaning taxpayer dollars shouldn't be used to prop up companies that can't survive the long term.

He revealed one other consideration -- that Obama will become president in just over a month.

"I thought about what it would be like for me to become president during this period. I believe that good policy is not to dump him a major catastrophe on his first day in office," Bush said.

Associated Press writers Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Ken Thomas in Washington, Tom Krisher and David Goodman in Detroit and Bree Fowler and Stevenson Jacobs in New York contributed to this story.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Housing starts fall more than expected

Housing starts, building permits fall more than expected in November to record lows

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The construction of new homes plummeted in November by the largest amount in almost a quarter-century as builders slashed production in the face of a recessionary economy.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that new home starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 625,000 from a downwardly revised level of 771,000 in October.That is a drop of 18.9 percent, the steepest since March 1984. The total is far below the 740,000 pace that Wall Street economists expected.

Applications for building permits, considered a good sign of future activity, fell by 15.6 percent to 616,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 730,000 in October. Economists expected an annual rate of 700,000 permits, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

The housing starts and permit figures are at all-time lows, breaking records that were set last month.

Builders continue to be discouraged by the prospects of a housing turnaround amid what's likely to be the worst recession in decades, spurring rising unemployment and foreclosures.

More dour housing news came Monday, as the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index held at a record-low level of nine in December for the second straight month.

"It is going to be a very cold winter indeed for homebuilders," Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist for forecasting firm MFR Inc., wrote in a note to clients Monday.

Index readings higher than 50 indicate positive sentiment about the market. But the index has drifted below 50 since May 2006 and has been below 20 since April.

Builders began new single-family homes at an annual rate of 441,000 last month, the department said, 16.9 percent below October's figure of 531,000. That is the steepest drop in single-family home starts since January 1991.

Tighter lending standards, rising defaults and fear about the housing market's future have sidelined buyers, an absence felt acutely by homebuilders such as D.R. Horton Inc., Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Goldman Sachs posts first loss since going public

Goldman loses $2.29 billion during fiscal 4th quarter as value of assets, investments plummet

NEW YORK (AP) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Tuesday reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999, losing $2.29 billion during its fiscal fourth quarter.

The loss proves the turmoil in the financial markets has tripped up even the best-run financial institutions. The New York-based bank has long been considered the premier investment bank on Wall Street, and in recent quarters, the sturdiest bank amid the market turmoil.The venerable Wall Street company lost $4.97 per share in the quarter ended Nov. 30. In the year-ago quarter, Goldman earned $3.17 billion, or $7.01 per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, forecast a loss of $3.73 per share for the latest quarter. Over the past several weeks, analysts sharply slashed their estimates amid ongoing concern about investment losses. Just a month ago, analysts predicted Goldman would lose just 28 cents per share, with some analysts still predicting a quarterly profit.

The investment banking sector was turned on its head in September when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Goldman and Morgan Stanley became bank holding companies. Like most banks, Goldman was tripped up by the plunging value of its investments, especially at its principal trading desk.

Goldman reported negative revenue of $4.36 billion in its trading and principal investments unit, which includes its fixed income, equities and principal investments divisions.

Overall, Goldman reported negative revenue of $1.58 billion, compared with revenue of $10.74 billion during the year-ago quarter. Analysts were expected quarterly revenue of $662.8 million.

The principal investments division recorded a net loss of $3.6 billion during the quarter. The division lost $2 billion on corporate investments, $961 million from real estate investments and $631 million tied to the firm's investment in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

Negative revenue in the fixed income division totaled $3.4 billion. The weakness was attributed to losses on investments including corporate debt, private and public equities and trading in credit products. The division's losses included $1.3 billion from non-investment-grade credit origination activities and $700 million on commercial mortgage loans and securities.

For the full year, Goldman earned $2.04 billion, or $4.47 per share. Goldman had remained profitable through the beginning of the year, while other financial firms posted huge losses tied to the troubled housing and credit markets.

Shares of Goldman rose $2.42, or 3.6 percent, to $68.88 in premarket trading. Goldman shares traded as high as $71.45 earlier in the morning.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Stock futures up after data on inflation, housing

Wall Street heads for higher open as data show drops in consumer inflation, housing starts

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is headed for a higher open, even after the government reported huge declines in consumer inflation and new home construction.

The two reports suggest that the U.S. economy is getting weaker. But economists expect the Federal Reserve on Tuesday to lower the key interest rate in response to the anemic economy and volatile markets.

The Commerce Department says housing starts fell for the fifth straight month by nearly 19 percent in November, and the Labor Department says consumer prices fell a larger-than-expected 1.7 percent.

Ahead of the market's open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 43, or 0.50 percent, to 8,624.( "Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

LA hospital CEO pleads guilty to health care fraud

LA hospital CEO pleads guilty to billing government for unnecessary care given to the homeless

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A former hospital executive admitted Friday he paid a man to recruit homeless people for unnecessary medical treatment in a scheme to bilk government health programs out of millions of dollars.Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, who ran City of Angels Medical Center, faces up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to paying a recruiter nearly $500,000 to find Skid Row homeless people with Medi-Cal or Medicare cards and transport them to the hospital.

In his plea agreement, which remains under seal, Sabaratnam also agreed to pay more than $4.1 million in restitution to Medicare and Medi-Cal.

Sabaratnam, 64, is scheduled to be sentenced June 8 on two counts of illegal patient referrals.

Messages left with City of Angels and Sabaratnam's attorney were not immediately returned Friday.

U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said the doctor masterminded a sophisticated scheme to cheat the government out of millions of dollars from about August 2004 to October 2007.

The investigation was sparked in 2006 as Los Angeles police looked into reports that hospitals were dumping homeless patients on Skid Row streets.

Federal prosecutors said the homeless people -- often drug addicts or mentally ill -- were brought to the hospital and given unnecessary treatments in exchange for $100 or less. Often they were diagnosed with minor problems that didn't require hospitalization, such as dehydration, exhaustion or yeast infections.

The government was sent the bill for the treatments, which would sometimes last days.

Sabaratnam and the recruiter, Estill Mitts, 64, were arrested after federal prosecutors issued a 21-count indictment in August.

Mitts, operator of a Skid Row health assessment center, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.

Since the arrests, people at a Skid Row homeless shelter have noticed less suspicious traffic in the area. Orlando Ward, a spokesman for the Midnight Mission homeless shelter, said he often saw vans that used to circle the neighborhood looking for would-be patients.

Assistant United States Attorney Vince Farhat said the government's investigation into a wider problem is ongoing.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Administration unwilling to see automakers fail

Administration unwilling to see automakers fail; working on conditions, timing of bailout

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration simply wasn't willing to stand by and watch the American auto industry financially collapse -- the stakes were too huge.

So the administration committed Friday to step in and help avoid the collapse of the industry that was once the backbone of the nation's economy. Administration officials are talking with those automakers about conditions that must be met to get the aid and have not made final decisions on the size or duration of the help.
"A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy, and it would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilize our economy at this time," Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said. She noted that in normal times the administration would prefer to let the markets determine the fate of private firms, but these times are far from normal.

She said that because of the current state of the economy the administration would consider various options, including use of the TARP program, which has been aimed at bailing out the nation's finance system. TARP is the $700 billion Troubled Assets Recovery Program, the financial industry bailout plan enacted in October and the White House has long insisted that money should be reserved for stabilizing markets.

Perino said that while "the federal government may need to step in to prevent an immediate failure, the auto companies, their labor unions, and all other stakeholders must be prepared to make the meaningful concessions necessary to become viable."

The White House comments were welcomed by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

"The effort to provide emergency bridge loans to U.S. automakers is still very much alive," Levin said. "I am encouraged that the White House said today that they will consider other options to assist the auto companies, including use of the TARP program."

Wall Street rebounded from an early sell-off Friday to finish in positive territory after word that the government would assist U.S. automakers.

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have warned they are running out of cash and face bankruptcy without some form of assistance. Ford Motor Co., which is in somewhat better shape financially, has been seeking access to a line of credit.

Highlighting those difficulties, GM announced Friday it would cut another 250,000 vehicles from its first-quarter production schedule -- a third of its normal output -- by temporarily closing 20 factories across North America. The move affects most plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Many will be shut the whole month of January.

Congressional efforts to aid the industry ran aground Thursday. The White House and congressional Democrats agreed on a $14 billion measure that would have extended short-term financing to the industry while establishing a powerful new "car czar" to make sure the money was used to turn the Big Three into competitive companies. That bill passed the House on Wednesday but immediately ran into opposition from Senate Republicans who said it did not go far enough.

On Thursday, the GOP lawmakers demanded the United Auto Workers union agree to accept a lower pay and benefits package that would be in line with compensation earned by workers at U.S. factories producing cars for Japanese companies such as Honda, Toyota and Nissan. Those companies have plants in the states represented by some of the most ardent critics of bailing out Detroit. The effort ultimately collapsed when the UAW balked at the terms demanded.

"We've already stepped forward and made enormous concessions," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said Friday at a news conference. "But as we made it clear ... , we were prepared to make further sacrifices. But we could not accept the effort by the Senate GOP caucus to single out workers and retirees for different treatment and to make them shoulder the entire burden of any restructuring."

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who played a leading role in the Republican effort, said the likelihood that the White House would step in probably made sure there would be no deal with the UAW.

And Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who has been one of the most strident critics of bailing out the Big Three, said any plan by the Bush administration to give the automakers TARP money should require them to restructure their companies.

"If they're going to give them TARP money, this administration ought to have the courage in its last 40 days to stand up and say, If you're going to get that money, you're going to restructure,"he told CNBC. "I don't believe the Bush administration will do that."("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Wall Street tumbles on auto bailout worries

Stocks retreat as investors worry government won't extend aid to automakers; Dow falls 196

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street's anxiety about Detroit automakers welled up Thursday, sending stocks sharply lower in an afternoon sell-off as investors grew fearful that a bill to rescue the companies wouldn't make it through the Senate.
The pullback follows mostly moderate moves in stocks since mid-November and is a fresh reminder of investors' fears about the economy.

Prospects for the $14 billion in loans to cash-starved General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC dimmed Thursday afternoon as opposition from both parties mounted. At the close of trading, the bill was stalled in the Senate, though negotiations were continuing, according to congressional staffers.

Lawmakers opposed to the plan argued that any government support should require significant cuts in wages and benefits for autoworkers. The House approved the plan late Wednesday on a vote of 237-170 to infuse money within days to the two struggling automakers. Ford Motor Co. has said it does not need aid.

The heads of the three automakers said that even one of the companies going into bankruptcy would slam an already battered economy with thousands of job losses. The government reported a surprise jump in weekly unemployment claims Thursday, nearly a week after it said the nation's unemployment rose to a 15-year high in November.

Wall Street has been betting Washington would extend a lifeline to the automakers and even recovered early Thursday from a sell-off at the opening bell that followed the unemployment report and a surprise increase in the nation's trade deficit. But the worries about the carmakers overtook a market that managed to trade flat for much of the session.

"What we had was a little bit of a jumping of the gun, overreaction to the auto-rescue bill," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers Montreal. "The Dow tried to put a good face on things, but at the end of the day, reality set in."

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 196.33, or 2.24 percent, to 8,565.09. The decline left the blue chips with a 0.81 percent loss for the week going into Friday's session.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 25.65, or 2.85 percent, to 873.59, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 57.60, or 3.68 percent, to 1,507.88.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies tumbled 25.19, or 5.3 percent, to 451.21 as investors looked for the safety of larger companies expected to fare better in a weak economy.

Declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange outnumbered advancers by more than 3 to 1, while consolidated trading volume came to a moderate 5.39 billion shares compared with 5.1 billion shares traded Wednesday. Lighter trading can exacerbate the market's swings.

"What's going to happen in the Senate is really weighing on the market in a big way," said Robert Froehlich, chief investment strategist for DWS Investments. He contends that a failure of the auto bailout would trigger a reaction similar to what occurred when the government's financial sector rescue plan didn't make it out of Congress on the first try. The Dow tumbled 777 points on Sept. 29 as the plan failed an initial House vote.

Even with Thursday's pullback, stock trading has been generally more orderly since the S&P 500 and the Dow hit multiyear lows on Nov. 20. The Dow remains up 13.4 percent since then, while the S&P 500 is up 16.1 percent. Even some big moves in stocks in recent weeks don't compare with the enormous swings in September and October.

One measure of unease in the market is still elevated but well off its highs. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, known as the VIX, is at 56. Ordinarily what's known as Wall Street's fear gauge might be in the 20s and 30s but it had near 90 in October.

Ed Hyland, global investment specialist for J.P. Morgan's Private Bank, said investors are hoping the government's medicine, from interest rate cuts to financial infusions in banks, will eventually help lift the economy but that it remain unclear how long a recovery might take.

"There is still a high degree of uncertainty out there," he said. "All you have to do is look at the Treasury market to get a gauge of how much fear there is in the overall investment community."

In Treasurys, the yield on the three-month T-bill stood at 0.01 percent, down from 0.02 percent late Wednesday. The modest yield still indicates a high degree of investor unease. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which also moves opposite its price, fell to 2.66 percent from 2.69 percent late Wednesday.

The one-month T-bill's yield was at 0.02 percent, down from 0.04 percent late Wednesday. It was auctioned on Tuesday with a yield of zero percent, a sign that institutional and foreign investors were so eager to preserve principal they were willing to forgo interest.

The dollar was mostly lower against most other major currencies, while gold rose.

Oil prices surged 10 percent as the dollar weakened and as investors hoped for a significant OPEC production cut next week to boost the market. Light, sweet crude jumped $4.46 to settle at $47.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Chevron Corp. rose $1.02, or 1.3 percent, to $79.46 following the jump in oil, while Hess Corp. advanced $3.02, or 6.8 percent, to $47.71.

Automakers declined as investors worried about the prospects for a bailout. GM fell 48 cents, or 10.4 percent, to $4.12, while Ford fell 35 cents, or 10.8 percent, to $2.90. Chrysler isn't publicly traded.

Financials fell amid worries about their balance sheets. US Bancorp warned it is earmarking more than $1 billion in the fourth quarter for bad loans. US Bancorp fell $2.82, or 10.2 percent, to $24.85. JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell $3.58, or 10.7 percent, to $29.94, while Wells Fargo & Co. declined $3.29, or 11.3 percent, to $25.90. of Wall Street's projections.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.70 percent. Britain's FTSE-100 rose 0.49 percent, Germany's DAX fell 0.78 percent, and France's CAC-40 lost 0.43 percent.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

BofA plans up to 35,000 job cuts in next 3 years

Bank of America expects to cut up to 35,000 jobs in next 3 years as it absorbs Merrill

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bank of America Corp. said Thursday it expects to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over the next three years, as it faces a deteriorating economic environment and tries to absorb Merrill Lynch & Co.The final number could be even higher, analysts say. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America said it hasn't yet completed its analysis for eliminating positions, and won't until early next year. The company and Merrill have about 308,000 employees in total, and the cuts will affect workers from both companies and all types of businesses.

Bank of America is considered one of the country's healthier banks, and its decision to slash so many jobs illustrates the breadth of the layoffs hitting the United States. The nation lost more than half a million jobs in November alone, and economists expect many more to come.

Bank of America's action is a particularly hard blow for Charlotte -- which is also home to the beleaguered Wachovia Corp., a once strong bank that is now being acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in what amounts to a fire sale. Just three months ago, when the Merrill Lynch deal was announced, Charlotte was dubbed Wall Street South; now, the banking center is being hit as hard as Wall Street and other towns across America, where people go to work in the morning unsure if they will still have a job that night.

Thursday's announcement of job cuts at Bank of America was hardly unexpected, considering the merger and the wave of job losses seen in the banking industry and in other sectors over the past few months. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have already eliminated thousands of investment banking jobs over the past year, as have other banks, in an effort to lower costs as they face increasing defaults in mortgages, credit card debt and other loans.

With no end in sight yet to the economy's troubles, Bank of America might have to slash even more jobs as loan losses mount, said Alois Pirker, a senior analyst at Boston-based research firm Aite Group. If the company's earnings worsen from this year to next, "I think that might lead to more reductions."

Other big banks -- which have all received loans from the government's bailout fund -- have been cutting jobs as well.

New York-based Citigroup Inc. has been slashing jobs the most. By next year, Citigroup expects to have shrunk its work force by 75,000, or 20 percent, since its headcount peaked in late 2007.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is shedding about 7,000 employees, or 10 percent, of its investment bank staff, and cutting 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual Inc., the bank it acquired in September. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, are reducing their staffs by about 10 percent.

The massive layoffs have raised questions about executive pay: With so many people losing their jobs, should the companies' executives still receive lucrative packages? CEOs at Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. have yet to reveal whether they will receive bonuses this year, but those at Merrill, Morgan Stanley and Goldman have announced that they will forgo them.

Some argue, though, that the shotgun deal between Bank of America and Merrill, valued at $50 billion when it was initially announced in September, may have saved jobs in the end. It was struck as the solvency of investment banks was in grave doubt, and kept Merrill from a complete meltdown like the one suffered by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which was forced to file for bankruptcy. Shareholders of both companies voted to approve the deal last week and it is expected to close by Jan. 1.

Bank of America shares fell $1.78, or 11 percent, to close at $14.91 on Thursday, while Merrill shares fell $1.43, or 10 percent, to $12.67.

In after-hours trading, Bank of America shares rose 12 cents to $15.03, and Merrill shares rose a penny to $12.68.

AP Business Writers Sara Lepro in New York and Ieva Augstums in Charlotte, N.C., contributed to this report.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Pound in another record euro low

The British pound has continued its sharp decline against the euro, reaching a new record low of 1.1238 euros on Thursday.

It is at the lowest level since the euro was launched in 1999.

Meanwhile, the pound gained one cent against the US dollar, reaching $1.4924 in afternoon trading.

The dollar also fell against other currencies, hitting the lowest level against the euro and the Japanese yen for the past six weeks.

Sterling was pushed lower after figures from the Confederation of British Industry confirmed a sharp downward trend in manufacturing.

The UK currency is expected to remain under broad selling pressure amid a grim outlook for the British economy.However, some analysts have expressed doubts that the rise of the euro against the pound is a sustainable trend, particularly if European economies also continue to weaken.

"If the eurozone is being perceived to still have rates at substantially higher levels, then obviously there's a positive rate spread, but I'm not convinced that its ultimately going to be positive as the dynamics of the eurozone economy are pretty weak," Rabobank markets strategist Jeremy Stretch said.

Interest rates have been cut both in the UK and in the eurozone, but they remain higher in the 15-member euro currency area.

The Bank of England has made two sharp cuts in rates, bringing them down to 2%, and many analysts expect more in the pipeline.

Lower interest rates make it less attractive for foreigners to hold pounds.

A weaker pound is better for the UK exporters but is bad news for British holidaymakers who plan to go abroad during the Christmas season, and also makes imported goods more expensive.

Meanwhile, the dollar's weakness has been attributed to the growing difficulties of the auto industry, whose $34bn bail-out is being negotiated in Congress.

US publisher in bankruptcy move

US media group Tribune has filed for bankruptcy protection as it struggles with $13bn (£8.7bn) of debt.

The owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times has been hit by the industry-wide slump in newspaper advertising revenues throughout 2008.

Tribune is owned by real estate billionaire Sam Zell, who borrowed heavily to buy the firm in June 2007.

Under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection law a firm can keep trading while it aims to sort out its finances.

Baseball team

Tribune is also the owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and the club's famous Wrigley Field stadium, although neither are included in the bankruptcy protection move.It is continuing efforts to sell both.

Tribune said the firm's newspapers and TV stations would continue to operate as normal.

Analysts say that most of the debt was created by Mr Zell's purchase of the company.

While the next major interest payment is not said to be due until June 2009, Tribune is said to be at risk of missing certain financial targets set by the banks.

Tribune said its main creditors included JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch.

"This restructuring focuses on our debt, not on our operations," said Mr Zell.

"We believe that this restructuring will bring the level of our debt in line with current economic realities, and will take pressure off our operations."("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Sony to cut plants and 8,000 jobs

Sony has announced plans to cut 8,000 electronics jobs - 5% of the division - as well as shutting 10% of its manufacturing sites.

The company said the jobs would be cut by April 2010 but did not say in which countries the staff would go.

Sony said it had been trying to reduce production because of the downturn but warned it still had to do more.

The news came as Japan said its economy had shrunk between July and September by much more than initially estimated.

The Cabinet Office said the economy had shrunk at an annual rate of 1.8% in the quarter, compared with its original estimate of 0.4%.

Investment cut

Sony aims to generate cost savings of about 100bn yen ($1.1bn; £730m) by the end of the next financial year.

It will cut its investment in electronic operations by 30% and shut down about 10% of its 57 production facilities.

"The number sounds big, but this staff reduction won't be enough," said Katsuhiko Mori, a fund manager at Daiwa SB Investments.

"Sony doesn't have any core businesses that generate stable profits - the next thing we want to see is what is going to be the business that will drive the company."("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Retail sales 'fall still further'

Total UK retail sales have fallen in consecutive months for the first time in at least 13 years, a closely-watched survey has said.

Sales in November were down 0.4% from a year earlier, said the latest British Retail Consortium-KPMG retail survey.

Following a 0.1% decline in October, it was the first drop in overall sales for two months in a row since the survey was first released in January 2005.

The report said retailers were now facing a "nerve-wracking Christmas".

However, BBC correspondent Nils Blythe said the BRC figures "give only modest support to the view that a savage downturn on the High Street is already under way".

On a like-for-like basis - which pulls out the impact of new store openings and closures - the survey found that sales in November were down 2.6%.This was the sixth month in a row to see like-for-like sales decline, but our correspondent said the fall in sales "partly reflects the large number of new shops" that were opened this year.

Total sales were up 2% in November when the figures are measured on a 12-month moving average.

'Food sales up'

The British Retail Consortium said food and drink was the only sector to see sales rise last month, lifted by continuing heavy discounting by the supermarkets.

It added that it hoped the cut in VAT from 17.5% to 15% would now help to lift sales.

"There is little doubt that Christmas will arrive late for many retailers, leaving them with a very nerve-wracking couple of weeks to come," said Helen Dickinson, head of retail at KPMG.

For retailers, Christmas is a key trading period and for some firms it can represent more than three quarters of annual revenues.

As High Street firms such as Woolworths enter administration, there are fears that other firms could see a similar fate.

Stephen Robertson, the BRC's director-general said: "The numbers speak for themselves - these are clearly tough times."

But he added that it was hoped the "extraordinary" number of discounts and promotions would encourage some shoppers to spend more.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Congress, White House nears deal on auto bailout

Congress, White House nearing deal on $15 billion bailout for Big Three automakers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal "car czar" would oversee a government-run restructuring of U.S. auto companies in return for a $15 billion bailout of the beleaguered industry under an emerging deal between the White House and Congress.Negotiators worked through the night Monday narrowing differences on a bill to rush short-term loans to the struggling carmakers through a plan that requires that the industry reinvent itself to survive -- and pay back the government if it doesn't. The package could come to a vote as early as Wednesday.

The measure would put a government overseer named by President George W. Bush in charge of setting guidelines for an industrywide overhaul, with the power to revoke the loans if the automakers fail to do what's necessary to become viable. The White House was seeking tougher consequences, including allowing the overseer -- being called a car czar -- to force the companies into bankruptcy if they weren't doing enough to cut labor costs, restructure their debt and downsize to stay afloat.

Despite optimism on both sides that Congress and the White House could reach a swift agreement on the measure, it was still a tough sell on Capitol Hill. With lawmakers in both parties still bitter over the Bush administration's use of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, many of them were preparing to hold their noses and vote for yet another federal rescue to avert deeper economic disaster.

"While we take no satisfaction in loaning taxpayer money to these companies, we know it must be done," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. "This is no blank check or blind hope."

The developing plan would dole out auto industry loans right away, drawing the money from an existing program meant to help the carmakers retool their factories to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. Then the czar would write guidelines, due on the first of the year, for restructuring the companies.

The proposal would attach an array of conditions to the auto bailout money, including some of the same restrictions imposed on banks as part of the Wall Street rescue. Among them are limits on executive compensation, a prohibition on paying dividends, and requirements that the government share in future profits and taxpayers be repaid before any other shareholders.

There also would be rigorous government oversight, with the special inspector general monitoring the Wall Street rescue also keeping tabs on the carmaker bailout. The Senate on Monday confirmed Neil M. Barofsky, a federal prosecutor in New York, to be the special inspector general.

The proposal gives the car czar say-so over any major business decisions by the automakers while they're taking advantage of federal aid. The companies would have to open their books to the government, including informing the overseer of any transaction of $25 million or more.

Also under discussion is a requirement that the carmakers taking federal aid get rid of their corporate jets -- which became a potent symbol of the industry's ineptitude when the Big Three CEOs used them for their initial trips to Washington to plead before Congress for government assistance.

Still, the White House wanted clearer consequences for the automakers if a company was not meeting its own promises for long-term viability, according to officials who would comment on the continuing negotiations only on condition of anonymity.

Under Democrat's proposal, if the Big Three didn't come up with suitable restructuring plans by the end of March, the czar would have to submit his own blueprint to Congress for a government-mandated overhaul.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a key ally of the auto industry, said getting the roughly 15 Republicans needed to support the plan was an uphill battle.

"This is a real hill to climb even if we can get agreement between the White House and congressional leaders," he said.

Even sympathetic Republicans weren't ready to sign on. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, has "numerous concerns" about the bill, including the strength of the taxpayer protections and the role of the car czar, said spokesman Chris Paulitz.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Growing farmers in the inner cities

MacArthur Fellow Will Allen turned the last two acres of farmland in Milwaukee into the headquarters for an urban agriculture resurgence.(Fortune Small Business) -- The son of a South Carolina sharecropper, Will Allen likes to say he was getting back to his roots in 1993 when he purchased the last remaining farmland within Milwaukee's city limits.

Allen, 59, had just retired from a career in corporate marketing at Procter & Gamble (PG, Fortune 500) that had followed a couple of seasons as a professional basketball player. He turned his two acres into the business headquarters, training grounds, retail distribution center and laboratory for Growing Power, an agricultural enterprise that brings fresh produce to "food deserts" - inner-city neighborhoods with no produce stores. His efforts recently won him a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

FSB: How would you describe the Growing Power business model?

WILL ALLEN: Taking advantage of a major imbalance between supply and demand. Right now, less than 1% of food consumed in major cities is produced locally, whereas in survey after survey, the majority of urban residents declare a strong preference for locally grown food. The crisis of climate change is helping drive that demand too. So are the imported-food scares. Urban ag is hot right now. People want to know their farmers again.

FSB: Any lessons learned in professional basketball that apply to business?

ALLEN: Actually, there are. I run Growing Power like it's a sports franchise, basing the organization on team-oriented concepts. That means we have stars and coaches and role-players with specialized skills, but we're all treated as equally important. Also, we understand that we don't have to be successful every single day to be successful overall. Instead, the goal is to have substantially more winning days than losing days.

FSB: What challenges have you encountered in developing a workforce among inner-city youth?

ALLEN: Overcoming their negative association with farming, because slavery didn't end with the Civil War. In a way it continued with sharecropping. And a lot of kids in low-income neighborhoods equate farming with being used and abused as cheap labor. So part of our system is to re-engineer their mind-set, to inspire and engage them and the larger community. We're not just growing food, we're growing farmers.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Weakened labor market hits small biz

A new study finds that small firms are undergoing their worst employment contraction in nearly seven years.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- For the second month in a row, employment among small businesses is down, according to estimates from payroll processor ADP. The drop marks the first time since early 2002 that the nation's most resilient job sector has shown two consecutive months of contraction.

Companies with fewer than 50 employees shed 79,000 employees in November, according to the ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday. Total U.S.employment at companies of all sizes dropped by 250,000.

"Consistent with the contracting economy, I think the magnitude of the decline didn't surprise many people, but for first time in the ADP report, there is evidence that job losses are spreading beyond construction and manufacturing sectors," said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, which partners with ADP to compile the monthly report.

Medium-sized businesses, defined as those employing between 50 and 500 workers, have seen declines each month since April, losing 130,000 employees this month. Large businesses with more than 500 employees have not seen gains since January, and this month lost 41,000 workers.

"The larger losses in medium and small sized firms are indicative of the ripple effect of this economy. The waves are crashing on the shores of industries and companies previously not impacted," Prakken said.

Another economic research firm, Sageworks, points to declining sales across all industries as a catalyst for the widespread job losses. The Raleigh firm tracks sales by aggregating data from its financial management software. Among companies with less than $10 million in annual revenue, sales per employee fell by 6% this year in the retail trade, which traditionally generates the highest per-staffer returns. Financial services was the hardest-hit industry, with a 25% drop in sales per employee.

Prakken's take: "The declines across the board mean it's going to get worse before it gets better."("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

UK car parts firm jobs threatened

The UK arm of leading European car parts business, Wagon Automotive, looks likely to go into administration.

A last-minute bank refinancing deal to tide it over the next few months is understood to have fallen through.

Birmingham-based Wagon Automotive employs 500 workers in the West Midlands and supplies parts to Ford, Honda, General Motors and Nissan.

The company, which employs 4,500 people across Europe, has struggled because of the slump in the car market.

Several of its customers have cut back production or temporarily shut plants in order to reduce their own costs.

While Wagon Automotive's UK business is expected to go into administration this week, the future of its other factories is still to be worked out.

All Wagon Automotive's plants are expected to remain in operation while buyers are sought.

Funding problems

Shares in Wagon were suspended in October after it reported a "steep deterioration" in the European car market and said it was in talks with lenders about its funding situation.

The firm - which is controlled by the American billionaire Wilbur Ross - is facing administration because it has failed to persuade its banks to led it more money.

The banks, led by the Royal Bank of Scotland and also including Lloyds TSB, both of which are now largely controlled by the government, declined to contribute 12m euros (£10.3m; $15.2m) to a 50m-euro funding package.

Wagon's carmaking clients had put up 30m euros and Mr Ross was understood to have been prepared to contribute 10m euros through the purchase of one of its subsidiaries.

The funding package would have kept the firm running for another three months. The banks had already agreed loans totalling 155m euros during the summer.

The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is set to chair the inaugural meeting of the Lending Panel later this week, which was set up in the pre-Budget report to monitor closely banks' lending practices to companies and individuals.

The company traces its roots back to Wagon Repairs, a business set up at the end of World War I to maintain railway rolling stock.

The BBC's business correspondent, Joe Lynam, said: "The British car industry faces its biggest challenge since the 1970s.

"Car sales and production are down 37% and 25% respectively in the past month as consumers postpone or cancel big ticket purchases," he said.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Obama vows aid for car industry

US President-elect Barack Obama says he will not allow the country's car industry to collapse, but any state help must come with strict conditions.

The industry and its stakeholders would have to restructure, he told NBC television's Meet the Press.

Congress and the White House have been holding talks on a plan to rescue the beleaguered US car industry.

Mr Obama warned the economy would get worse before it improved, but any aid plan needed strong regulations.

He also named Japanese-American General Eric Shinseki as Veterans' Affairs chief.

He said Gen Shinseki was exactly the right person to honour returning soldiers.

The general left his former job as US Army chief of staff after disagreeing with the then Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, over the number of US troops needed to control Iraq after the invasion.

Financial controls

The country's struggling carmakers have asked for a $34bn (£23bn) rescue plan. Congress and the White House have been holding weekend talks to find a solution.There had been disagreement over where the money should come from, with Congressional Democrats opposing President George Bush's proposal to modify a $25bn fund which was set up to promote fuel-efficient technologies.

But according to Congressional sources, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, has suggested that the fund could be used under certain conditions.

The plan is a stop-gap measure intended to help the three firms survive until Mr Obama's administration takes over in January and can craft a longer-term solution, correspondents say.

In the NBC interview, Mr Obama avoided going into detail about the car industry rescue plan, but said letting major carmakers such as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler go bankrupt was not an option.

"That means we're going to have to figure out how to put the pressure in the same way a bankruptcy court would... but do so in a way that allows them to keep their factory doors open," he said.

The 2008 winner of the Nobel economics prize Paul Krugman said he doubted the US car sector would survive, but that it was worth supporting it in the short term.

"In the end these companies will probably disappear," the economics professor at Princeton University said.

Mr Obama said he also wanted to see tighter controls on the financial sector as a whole.

"As part of our economic recovery package what you will see coming out of my administration right at the centre is a strong set of financial regulations which banks, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers, a whole bunch of folks (will) start having to be much more accountable and behave much more responsibly."("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

US job losses surge in November

!US employers axed 533,000 jobs in November, the biggest monthly cut since 1974, the US Labor Department said.

In a dramatic indication of the worsening economic situation, the US jobless rate rose to a 15-year high of 6.7% from 6.5% in October.

Since these latest numbers were compiled, further jobs losses have been announced, including big cuts at AT&T.

Recent figures have fuelled fears that the world's biggest economy is set for a deep, long downturn.

The news pushed Wall Street share prices down 2.5% at one stage, but the market then rebounded and eventually closed up 3%.

US oil prices fell to a four-year low, before recovering slightly to close down $1.93 at $41.74 a barrel.

'Decline accelerating'

Four days after the government officially stated that the US economy was in a recession, President George W Bush himself publicly acknowledged the fact.

Speaking at the White House, Mr Bush said: "Our economy is in a recession. This is in large part because of severe problems in our housing, credit and financial markets."

Reacting to the unemployment data, US President-elect Barack Obama said: "There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better."Commentators said the jobs figures showed clearly how steeply the US economy was declining.

"This was much worse than was expected and represents wholesale capitulation. The threat of a widespread depression is now real and present," said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business.

"This clearly demonstrates that the decline is accelerating," said Tig Gilliam, chief executive of North American operations for Adecco, one of the world's biggest staffing firms.

"It looked mid-year like maybe things would get a little bit better, and now the numbers are just dropping dramatically," he said.

Recession year

The National Bureau of Economic Research said this week that the US entered a recession in December 2007.

Separately, a measure of US service sector activity, the Institute for Supply Management's index, dropped to a record low in November.The US service sector makes up about 80% of US economic activity.

November was the 11th month in a row that the economy lost jobs.

"In the past six months the US has lost 1.55 million jobs, almost as many as were lost in the whole 2001 recession," said Ian Shepherdson at High Frequency Economics.

"You can't get much uglier than this. The economy has just collapsed, and has gone into a free fall," said Richard Yamarone at Argus Research in New York.

Bleak outlook

The economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.5% from July to September due to the biggest fall in US consumer spending in 28 years.

Many economists believe the gross domestic product will fall even more sharply in the current quarter.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board painted a bleak picture of the US economy in its influential Beige Book, a report used to help determine US interest rates.

It said economic activity has weakened across the US in the past two months, with retail sales, and vehicle sales in particular, "down significantly".

US companies such as AT&T, DuPont, JPMorgan Chase and mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold have announced job cuts this month.

Analysts fear the trend will worsen further.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!)

Meltdown weakens NYC as global financial capital

Can New York keep title as global financial capital as Wall Street takes hits day by day?

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the hundreds of camera-toting tourists who visit Wall Street every day, the New York Stock Exchange presents an imposing sight.

The building-sized American flag draped over the exchange's towering Corinthian columns. The sculptures on the facade that symbolize the prosperity of a capitalist nation. The stern-looking statue of George Washington across the street.These icons of national pride mark Wall Street as both a site of business and a symbol of the risk-taking and financial success that have spurred American global dominance and helped shape this country's identity.

But with the nation's top investment houses shuttered, sold or changing into staid commercial operations, doubts have emerged about whether the city that for generations has been known as the world's financial capital can retain that title -- or the daredevil swagger that has defined Wall Street for so long.

It is a transformation that some say was under way long before the meltdown of 2008.

"It's going to be a long, slow process and take many years for us to really restore our leadership in the world," said Ron Chernow, who has written extensively on the history of Wall Street. "New York has been damaged, and some of it I think is permanent."

First, Bear Stearns nearly collapsed and was bought by JPMorgan Chase in a deal backed by $29 billion in federal money. Then Lehman Brothers filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history and the British bank Barclays PLC swept in to buy up key units of the firm. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley opted to become commercial banks. And even Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. -- long associated with Wall Street's iconic bull -- announced its sale to an out-of-town commercial bank, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp. Citigroup has been crumbling day by day in the last week.

At the same time, places like London, Tokyo and Hong Kong have become global financial centers on a scale that some believe already rival New York.

The New York Stock Exchange still far outweighs the London Stock Exchange -- with the value of shares traded at the NYSE in 2007 nearly triple the $10.33 trillion traded in London.

However, the financial sway of cities such as London has been growing faster than New York's. From 1997 to 2007, the new capital raised yearly in New York dropped by nearly one-quarter -- while in London the figure almost quadrupled, according to the World Federation of Exchanges.

Even the domestic market capitalization, or value of the market, has been growing faster in London than New York, the exchange federation says.

"In the short and medium term, the U.S. will still remain a very important financial center, and I think most likely the most important. But after the term of five years, I'm no more sure," said Lorenzo Gallai, economic statistician at the World Federation of Exchanges.

A loss of status in the world of finance could hurt the city on many levels. Money is stored here, higher-income jobs come here. This creates tax revenue and supports a higher quality of life, as businesses and cultural activities -- which themselves attract visitors -- spring up to support these workers, said Richard Sylla, a curator at the Museum of American Finance. He is also a professor of economics and financial history at the New York University Stern School of Business.

Last year, 11 percent of the city's employees worked in the finance and insurance industries, but they made nearly 40 percent of the city's income.

The meltdown is expected to wipe out tens of thousands of those jobs.

Even the top achievers in the financial field -- the people in pinstriped suits who live on adrenaline, bet big and reap even bigger rewards -- could be making less money.

As the major investment banks change their focus following the crisis and evolve into commercial banks, they will be more constrained by government regulation, limiting both their risk-taking and potential profits.

And the federal government's injection of hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out the banking industry also means that financial institutions will be forced to be more conservative in their investments, Chernow says. Taxpayers simply wouldn't stand for the kind of bold risk-taking that has defined Wall Street, he said.

"When you think of Wall Street ... one has an image of these very freewheeling, razzle-dazzle, buccaneering kinds of firms," Chernow said. "That style of business is now history."

David Henderson knows all about this history. He works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and is a fifth-generation Wall Street worker whose great-great grandfather started the family tradition in the 1860s.

Back then, London was the global financial capital. Although Wall Street traces its roots to the 1600s, it did not become the pre-eminent global financial center until after World War I.

Now Henderson wonders if he'll see that era end.

"This wheeling and dealing atmosphere we've had going on for umpteen years, that's going to be more contained," he said.

Others are not as ready to predict Wall Street's downfall, including Ted Weisberg, who has worked at the New York Stock Exchange for 40 years.

"When you walk outside the New York Stock Exchange every day, there are thousands and thousands of tourists taking pictures of a building that they're not even allowed to get inside," Weisberg said. "They're not standing out in front of the London stock exchange ... they're not standing out in front of NASDAQ."

Some observers say New York has slowly been losing ground as the world capital for years.

In 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer warned that New York risked being overtaken and they blamed what they said was a burdensome regulatory atmosphere.

The New York City comptroller's chief economist, Frank Braconi, warned in October that the meltdown had "sped up the process of financial dispersion that was already under way," adding that "in coming years, New York will have to share the financial stage."

It's not just other world capitals that could benefit.

"One thing New York did uniquely well was investment banking," Chernow said. "When they become commercial banks -- well, commercial banks can do very well in Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago, Ill.; or San Francisco, Calif. They don't need the New York ambience to flourish."

However the crisis plays out, Wall Street still looms large to people around the world.

Visiting Wall Street during a recent vacation, Dutch tourist Maryke Heyman said she wanted to see the NYSE because of all the turmoil in the market.

"I don't know where it ends. Maybe it's not anymore the big place in the world," she said. Not long ago, she added, "It was happening here. This was No. 1."("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Woolworths cuts 450 support jobs

The administrators of Woolworths have cut 450 jobs in support operations at Marylebone Road in London and Castleton in Rochdale.

Woolworths employs more than 25,000 people but no jobs have yet gone in any of its shops or distribution centres.

The firm, which collapsed last month, has also launched what administrators called its "biggest ever sale".

One retail analyst said it "looked like a closing down sale" but administrators said it was "ongoing".

'Unsold stock'

Discounts of up to 50% have been offered on toys and greeting cards, with prices for entertainment goods also being reduced across all ranges.

Administrators said they expected the stores to remain open after Christmas and that the sale would continue.

"There is continuing interest in the core Woolworths business and the sale will continue whilst potential buyers finalise their plans for the purchase of the business," said Neville Kahn, joint administrator at Deloitte.

Extra staff had been hired to cope with demand, he added.

But Nick Bubb, an analyst with stockbrokers Pali International, said the company was "trying to get rid of unsold stock and to empty shops".

"It looks like a closing down sale," he added.

Woolworths went into administration on 26 November and Deloitte is in talks with a number of companies said to be interested in Woolworths' assets.

On Thursday, Dragons' Den entrepreneur Theo Paphitis pulled out of the race to buy parts of Woolworths.

It is thought that Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco, the Co-op and discount chain Poundland are still interested in picking up some of the retailer's prime stores.

Christmas blitz

Other retailing groups have also started sales early this year, in an effort to bring hard hit customers back into the shops before Christmas.

Debenhams and fashion group Dorothy Perkins have held three-day 20%-off sale events, ending on Friday.

Similar discounts have been offered twice by Marks and Spencer in the past month. M&S said it wanted to give shoppers "a helping hand in the run-up to Christmas".("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

BMW sales dip more than a quarter

German carmaker BMW has seen its global monthly sales fall by more than a quarter, as consumers tighten their belts amid the economic slowdown.

BMW brand sales fell 26.2% in November from the same month a year ago, said the firm, while sales of its UK-based Mini subsidiary declined 20.8%.

The firm has already said its Mini plant in Oxford will close on Friday for an extended Christmas shutdown.

It is closing the factory for four weeks instead of the usual two.

November sales at BMW's luxury Rolls-Royce arm were down 18.5%.

For the whole BMW group, sales fell 25.4% to 96,570 in November, compared with a much slower decrease of 8.3% to 113,005 in October.

Profit fall

"During the period to the end of November the BMW group performed better than the overall premium segment, and has increased its market share in the segment," said BMW board member Ian Robertson.Last month BMW reported a sharp fall in profits and said it could not provide a forecast for 2008 and beyond because of the uncertain economic climate.

The German firm said net profit fell 63% for the three months to September to 298m euros ($375.5m; £236.5m).

During the quarter, sales dropped 9% to 12.6bn euros, from 14bn euros in the same three month period a year earlier.

Almost all of the world's carmakers have seen sales fall sharply since the summer, and Detroit's "Big Three" firms - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - have asked the US government for $34bn (£23bn; 26.6bn euros) in emergency loans.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)

Return to $1 gas? Energy prices evaporate

Collapsing oil prices bring back the unthinkable: Could gas fall below a $1 a gallon?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Oil prices hit four-year lows Friday as employers cut the highest number of jobs in 34 years. The continuing decline in prices is so dramatic and so sudden that it is raising the prospect that gas prices could soon fall below $1 a gallon.The worst jobs data in 34 years on Friday just added more fuel to the deepening global recession as U.S. employers slashed a far worse-than-expected 533,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate rose to a 15-year high of 6.7 percent.

A gallon of gasoline can be had for 50 cents less than it cost just last month, and people are starting to talk about $1 gas.

Granted, gas prices are a long way off from that magic number last seen in March 1999 when prices were at 97 cents a gallon, according to motor club AAA. Prices at the pump fell 1.6 cents overnight to $1.773 nationally, according to AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

But consider what has happened since July 11 when a barrel of oil hit a record $147.27 and a gallon of gas was $4.117 on July 17. In less than five months, oil has fallen 72 percent.

Just this week, in which the National Bureau of Economic Research determined that the U.S. is in recession, oil has fallen 25 percent.

On Friday, light, sweet crude for January delivery settled at $40.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down by nearly $3 per barrel. Prices fell as low at $40.50, levels last seen in December 2004.

Gasoline futures for January delivery tumbled to 90 cents.

For gas prices to get close to a $1, oil prices probably would need to fall another $10 a barrel -- something that would have impossible to fathom during first part of this year as oil prices soared near $150 per barrel.

"Just seeing that '1' up there is just hard to imagine," said Kevin Keating, 65, an attorney as he filled up his Volvo S60 at a station in Phoenix that advertised prices at $1.67. "Wasn't that long ago that we worried about the '4' being up there."

Prices in New York City are well above the national averages, but still well off their highs of nearly $5 this summer.

"When gas prices are OK, we make a little profit," said Mamady Kourouma, 36, a cab driver from Guinea who paid $2.41 a gallon at a station in Chelsea.

With wages stagnant, home prices plummeting and foreclosure rated soaring, dollar-a-gallon gas may help mom fill up in the family minivan and cab drivers in New York City, but prices that low also would truly speak to how rotten the economy has become.

"The economy at that point worldwide would be in a serious, serious deterioration," said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for AAA.

Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, said Thursday on his blog that retail prices could fetch $1.25 a gallon soon in parts of the Midwest, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.

Already, some parts of the country are seeing prices around that level. The Web site gasbuddy.com, where motorists can post local gas prices, motorists can fill up for $1.29 in Neelyville, Mo., a village of about 500 people near the Arkansas state line.

The jobs number suggests that demand for gasoline, which has been running well below year-ago levels even with the cheaper prices in the last several weeks, will fall even more in early 2009 as work-related driving plummets, said Kloza.

"I believe that January 2009 will represent the most 'challenging' and ugly economic month of my lifetime, and my first memory is of Sputnik," Kloza said.

There is plenty of reason to suspect Kloza is right.

Since the start of the recession, the economy has lost 1.9 million jobs, the number of unemployed people has increased by 2.7 million and the jobless rate is up 1.7 percentage points. The meltdown in financial markets has crushed lending, the Detroit 3 are on the brink of bankruptcy without a big government bailout.

Friday's report was much deeper than the 320,000 job cuts economists were forecasting. If there is a plus side it is that the unemployment rate did not climb to the 6.8 percent level economists were expecting.

Kloza does not believe prices will make it to a $1. Gas prices neared a dollar last time on Dec. 18, 2001, three months after the terrorist attacks and the country in its last recession, when prices hit $1.08 a gallon.

Though the weak gasoline prices point how bad the economy is, they also could help it turnaround.

"That could be one important spur to some kind of economic recovery," Sundstrom said.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures tumbled 6.83 cents to settle at 90 cents. Heating oil slid 8.26 cents to $1.4265 a gallon while natural gas for January delivery shed 24.7 cents to sell at $5.77 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, January Brent crude slipped by $2.42 cents to $39.86 on the ICE Futures exchange.

AP Energy Writers Ernest Scheyder in New York and Chris Kahn in Phoenix contributed to this story along with Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and Alex Kennedy in Singapore.("Here My Every News I'm providing like Hot syndication" And This sites every Ads also Erotic you May check it!!)