Money world

When faced with a financial crisis, consumers more often are opting to pay their credit-card bills first before turning to their mortgage payments, according to a report released by Trans Union Wednesday.

In the past, strapped consumers typically would let their credit cards slide and make sure their mortgages were covered, said Sean Reardon, the study’s author and a consultant at the Chicago-based credit bureau. But those priorities flipped in the first quarter of 2008, according to the study, and the trend has been picking up steam.

In fact, 6.6% of consumers were delinquent on their mortgages, but current on their credit cards in the third quarter of 2009, according to the most recent data available. Meanwhile, just 3.6% were behind on their credit cards and current on their mortgages.

Why the change? A "perfect storm" of deteriorating housing prices and rising unemployment is likely the reason, Reardon said. It’s much easier for consumers to walk away from mortgage payments when their homes aren’t building equity, he said, than to neglect their credit cards when that may be the only way they’re covering daily expenses.

Just two years earlier, in the third quarter of 2007, the situation was reversed: 3.95% of consumers were delinquent on their mortgages, and current on their credit cards, while 4.6% were behind on their credit cards and current on their mortgages.

In California and Florida — two of the states hit hardest by the burst housing bubble — consumers were even more likely to pay their credit cards before their mortgages.

In California, 10.2% were delinquent on their mortgages but current on their credit cards in the third quarter of 2009, vs. 2.7% in the reverse situation. In Florida, 12.4% were behind on their mortgages and current on their credit cards, compared to 3.9% in the opposite situation.

Trans Union conducted the study among consumers that had at least one credit card and one mortgage, and examined 30-day credit card and mortgage delinquency data between the second quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2009.  

Source

Payday loans online from $100 to 1000 loan payday with no faxing. Get cash advance loans now. Click here for immediate funding.

"Avatar" kept its stranglehold on the top spot in the domestic box office as it passed the $2 billion mark in worldwide gross, according to Box Office Mojo, a Web site that tracks box-office revenues.

The movie also continued to close in on one of the few box-office records it has not yet attained — all-time biggest domestic gross, which is still held by "Titanic."

During the weekend, the top five grossing movies, along with their studio estimates, were:

• "Avatar" from 20th Century Fox — $30 million
• "Edge of Darkness" from Warner Bros. — $17.12 million
• "When in Rome" from Disney — $12.065 million
• "The Tooth Fairy" from 20th Century Fox — $10 million
• "The Book of Eli" from Warner Bros. — $8.77 million

The weekend marked the seventh-straight weekend that "Avatar" was number one at the box office.

Of the top five, "Edge of Darkness" and "When in Rome" were in their first weekends in theaters. According to a report from Box Office Mojo, "Edge of Darkness" was shown on about 3,600 screens at 3,066 site, and "When in Rome" was shown on about 2,600 screens at 2,456 sites.

On the all-time domestic gross list, "Avatar" has pulled in $594,472,000, second to "Titanic's" $600,788,188, which "Avatar" should pass this weekend.

"Avatar" also climbed the list of all-time domestic grosses, taking inflation into account. The movie was 26th on that list last week and 21st this week. To break into the top 20, "Avatar" will need to pass Disney's "Fantasia," which has an adjusted gross of $619,504,300.

Source

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. led Arizona stocks in 2009 riding a wave of increasing metals prices for a gain of more than 200 percent.

Three other companies posted triple digit gains in 2009, according to the Phoenix Business Journal’s analysis that runs from Dec. 31, 2008, to Dec. 18, 2009. Six of the 21 billion-dollar companies posted a decline during the year, which saw stock indexes begin to climb out of their recession low in March.

As for 2010, analysts predict all of the top five and bottom five companies will see an improved bottom line, however, equipment rental firm RSC Holdings and US Airways Group are expected to remain in the red. No estimates were available for Mesa Air Group, which has struggled with the recession as well as a contract dispute with Delta Airlines.

Over the same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 18 percent from 8,776 to 10,329. The Nasdaq Composite gained 40 percent closing at 2,122 Dec. 18.

Click here to see how Arizona’s billion-dollar companies performed for the fourth quarter of 2009. Click here to see performance since December of 2007, when the recession took hold, which significantly changes the fortunes for Freeport and some of the other top companies.

Source

The Toronto stock market ended Friday in negative territory as weakness in base metals and materials edged out gold and better-than-expected earnings from BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed 9.66 points lower to 11,463.40 in a volatile session that slipped into the red during the final hour on high volume trading.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.38 of a cent to 93.81 cents (U.S.)

Pulling the index lower was weakness in the base metals sector, which fell 1.4 per cent with HudBay Minerals down nearly 9 per cent to $12.83 (Canadian).

The materials sector also dropped 0.8 per cent with shares in Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan 6 per cent lower to $112.00 on concerns about potash prices.

Soleil Securities downgraded the company’s stock to "sell" from "hold" on weakening prices, particularly in China.

On the upside, gold stocks were up 0.9 per cent as the February bullion contract closed $4.10 (U.S.) higher to $1,111.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The TSX energy sector slipped 0.9 per cent as reports surfaced from the Iraqi government that an oil well had been taken over by a group of armed Iranians. The February crude contract gained 34 cents to close at $74 personal loan for poor credit.42, while the less active January contract ended 71 cents higher to $73.36.

RIM, a heavyweight on the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index, was ahead 10 per cent after managing to beat expectations in an earnings report issued after the closing bell Thursday. The TSX Venture Exchange was up 9.05 to 1,430.20.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials rose 20.63 points to 10,328.89. The Nasdaq composite index was up 31.64 points to 2,211.69, while the S&P 500 index increased 6.31 points to 1,102.39.

Statistics Canada said wholesale sales edged up 0.3 per cent to $41.1 billion (Canadian) in October, the fourth increase in five months.

Drugmaker Patheon said its fourth-quarter earnings were $4.6 million, down from a year-ago profit of $37.3 million. The Canadian company’s shares rose five cents to $2.47.

Bombardier Transportation signed a $138 million contract with a Chinese rail company to provide metro cars and training. Its shares closed up five cents at $4.78.

From the Star’s wire services

Source

A key House committee, culminating months of debate over how to reform bank rules, voted Wednesday in favor of legislation that aims to prevent firms from growing too big and threatening the financial system.

The House Financial Services Committee passed the bill by a margin of 31-27 along strict party lines, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. The bill, which proponents consider key to preventing the kinds of problems that caused last year’s crisis, will now move to the full House of Representatives for debate and a vote.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, said Wednesday that he believes the full House will consider and vote on the package next week.

The bill would impose stronger supervision of Wall Street and impose tougher capital requirements for banks, while proposing a new way to take over big firms such as American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500). It also includes legislation to regulate derivatives and create a consumer financial protection agency.

But on the Senate side of Capitol Hill, the bill is moving much more slowly and final passage is likely months away.

Also, the bill faces a potential hangup in the House, as the Congressional Black Congress (CBC) on Wednesday announced its displeasure with the lack of support for minority communities in prior financial sector bailout legislation. The CBC said its support for such bills that do not support minority communities, which were hit particularly hard during the recession, "stops today."

"This particular moment provides an opportunity," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a member of the Financial Services Committee and the CBC. "If we’re going to support this bill, which gives regulators extraordinary powers, we have to make sure those powers will benefit small and minority owned businesses as well."

The House bill creates a new kind of unwinding process for big firms, and forces them adhere to stronger supervision mostly by the Federal Reserve working with an oversight council.

Most observers, including those in the financial industry, agree that government officials didn’t have the right tools to properly manage the failures of insurer AIG and investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The bill would also tax big banks to create a $10 billion fund to pay for government takeovers.

One of the most controversial parts of the House bill is a provision to allow the Government Accountability Office to audit Fed activities. Some fear the proposal would interfere with the central bank’s ability to carry out independent monetary policy online payday loans.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, decried the proposal and one in the Senate bill that aims to strip the Fed of its regulatory powers over banks.

"These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States," Bernanke wrote.

House Republicans have generally opposed the "too big to fail" package, because they say it gives government too much power. They would prefer that Congress establish a special bankruptcy process to allow big firms to be liquidated through the court system.

Senate moving slower

The Senate, led by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn, lags the House in trying to reform financial regulation.

Dodd’s bill, only recently unveiled, includes several far-reaching proposals, such as the creation of a super-regulator for all banks — a move the Fed opposes.

Dodd had also said he wants the Senate Banking committee to start working on his bill next week. But myriad objections to the legislation, coming from both Republicans and fellow Democrats on his committee, has pushed the bill into closed-door negotiations that could last a few weeks.

"Barney Frank will get a bill out of committee and through the House, and it will look pretty similar to what he’s been proposing," said Brookings Institution economist Douglas Elliott, a former J.P. Morgan investment banker. "The bigger wild card is the Senate. It’s not clear whether Sen. Dodd has sufficient level of his support for his ideas."

Additionally, the creation of a consumer financial protection agency, already passed by the House committee, could be a deal-breaker for Senate Republicans. The proposed agency would be charged with ensuring that personal financial products, such as mortgages and credit cards, are fair to consumers.

While the new consumer agency is a White House priority, ranking Republicans in the Senate really don’t like it and could filibuster to prevent it from coming to the floor if their demands aren’t met, Elliott said.

– CNNMoney.com staff writer David Goldman contributed to this story 

Source

Crude oil prices rose over $77 a barrel Wednesday, supported by lower-than-expected builds in U.S. oil inventories last week, a weak U.S. dollar and gains on Wall Street.

Crude stocks rose 1.0 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said, less than the 1.2 million barrel increase forecast.

U.S. crude for January rose $1.94 to settle at $77.96 a barrel.

"The EIA report prompted some modest price support as the 1 million barrel crude stock build was slightly smaller than expectations and well below yesterday’s API guidance," said Jim Ritterbusch, president, Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois.

On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute released a report showing a 3.3 million-barrel rise in stocks.

Prices were also buoyed when the U.S. dollar fell to a 15-month low after U.S. data on jobless claims, personal consumption and new home sales fed economic optimism.

Consumer spending rose more than expected in the world’s largest economy, while new jobless benefits claims dropped. New U.S. home sales in October rose to their highest level in a year.

Wall Street stocks rose after the data, boosting crude, which has more than doubled from below $33 in December, though far below its record of more than $147 hit in July 2008.

Soft fundamentals

Analysts noted that the EIA data showed demand for crude oil is still weak.

"Fundamentals remain soft … there’s no reason to open the champagne here. Refinery runs are nothing to write home about, under 14 million barrels a day," said Antoine Halff, first vice president, deputy head of research, Newedge Group, New York.

Refinery utilization rates, while up 0.9% from the prior week, were still 5.9% below year-ago levels, according to the EIA data.

Gasoline inventories rose 1 million barrels to 210.1 million barrels, above analyst expectations for a 300,000 barrel rise.

Distillate stockpiles, which includes heating oil and diesel, dropped 500,000 barrels to 166.9 million barrels.

"The (distillate) draw was slightly larger than consensus expectations, but puts only a small dent in the major surplus," said Timothy Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York.

U.S. crude was expected to average $75.40 a barrel in 2010, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday, but analysts said ample supplies would keep short-term price growth in check. 

Source

Solon Gershman Inc. represented parties in these transactions:

— Metro Realty St. Peters LLC in the lease of 3,566 square feet of retail space at 4750 Mexico Road, St. Peters, to The Eye Center, represented by CB Richard Ellis.

— J&J Sales in the lease of 3,264 square feet of retail space at 532 St easy payday loan. Louis Avenue, St. Louis, from Harold Rue.

Source

Some positive American economic data and higher commodity prices pushed the Toronto stock market higher Wednesday.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 52.8 points to 11,592.4 after across the board weakness pushed the main index down 84 points on Tuesday.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose a brisk 0.7 per cent last month, following a 0.6 per cent pullback in September.

Incomes, the fuel for future spending, rose 0.2 per cent for the second straight month.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.98 of a cent to 95.5 cents US. Currency analysts at Scotiabank said the rise was due to news that the Russian central bank is preparing to invest some of its foreign exchange reserves in the loonie. No amount has been confirmed.

The gold sector was the best TSX performer, up almost one per cent as the December bullion contract on the Nymex continued to head higher into record territory, up $13.50 to US$1,179.30 an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX: ABX) rose 72 cents to C$46.29.

The base metals sector rose 0.73 per cent amid a three-cent rise in December copper to US$3.14 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX: TCK.B) advanced 38 cents to $36.67.

The financials sector also lent support, up 0.5 per cent. Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO) rose 41 cents to $53.55 after handing in an earnings report Tuesday that beat expectations.

The energy sector was little changed with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange off two cents to US$76 a barrel after losing ground Tuesday in the wake of soft U.S. economic growth and consumer sentiment data.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 19.55 points to 1,427.96.

New York indexes were little changed as investors took in other economic data ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed five points to 10,438.7 after drifting 17 points lower.

The Nasdaq composite index moved 5.4 points higher to 2,174.58 while the S&P index added 0.7 of a point to 1,106.35 as orders for big-ticket factory goods fell unexpectedly by 0.6 per cent in October. But much of the weakness came from an 18.4 per cent drop in orders for goods related to defence. Excluding those, orders for other types of manufactured goods rose 0.4 per cent in October.

Still, the performance was weaker than economists expected. They were forecasting orders for durable goods to grow 0.5 per cent.

Also, the Labour Department said new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 35,000 to 466,000. That's the fewest claims since the week ending Sept. 13, 2008, and was far better than the 500,000 that economists had expected cash advance loans.

Later in the day, the University of Michigan's final report on consumer sentiment for November in expected to be revised up to 67 from a preliminary reading of 66, but will still be below the October reading of 70.6.

Comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve Tuesday also drove investor sentiment as the central bank said the economy's contraction for all of this year won't be as deep as it thought in a forecast released in the summer. Growth next year should turn out slightly better than the Fed previously projected and it also expects slightly lower unemployment.

On the corporate front, farm equipment maker Deere and Co. says big charges and lower sales of farm and construction equipment amid the economic downturn left it with a US$223 million loss for the fourth quarter. Deere says worldwide revenue dropped 28 per cent to US$5.33 billion. Its shares lost 62 cents to US$51.67.

Cossette Inc. (TSX: KOS) is recommending that shareholders reject the latest hostile takeover offer from Cosmos Capital Inc. The Quebec City-based advertising agency says it's not in company's best interests. The amended bid offers $7.87 per Cossette share and is subject to a due diligence condition which Cossette says cannot be satisfied. Its shares were unchanged at $8.02.

QLT Inc. (TSX: QLT) has agreed to pay US$20 million to settle a legal dispute with Massachusetts General Hospital, which had been seeking higher royalty payments from the sale of the Visudyne treatment for age-related blindness. In return for QLT's payment, the Boston-based hospital has agreed to dismiss its claims against the Vancouver-based drug developer. QLT shares ran up 25 cents to $4.23.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX: FFH) said Tuesday that it has received preliminary regulatory approval to establish of a new property and casualty insurance company in Brazil. The company plans to carry out its operations across Brazil, in all lines of commercial business, with a primary focus on property, energy, casualty, surety, marine, financial lines, special risks, hull and aviation. Fairfax shares dipped $1.23 to $373.77.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average advanced 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 0.8 per cent, and China's Shanghai benchmark rebounded from a big retreat the day before, closing up 2.1 per cent.

London's FTSE 100 index gained 0.74 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX was up 0.73 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 rose one per cent.

Source

In preparation for the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Wednesday that most of its stores will be open 24 hours for "post-Thanksgiving Day events."

Nearly all 2,737 Wal-Mart Supercenters are already 24 hours, but the change will apply to almost all of the retailer’s 810 discount stores. Local law in some areas prevent stores from operating 24 hours.

Last year, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) discount stores closed in the evening on Thanksgiving Day and reopened early for Black Friday. In some instances, shoppers became unruly, with one worker trampled to death at store in Valley Stream, N.Y low cost payday loans.

In a statement, Wal-Mart said store-specific plans "were developed in consultation with leading safety experts" to address how customers will enter, flow throughout the store and around sales merchandise and through checkout aisles.

"This is part of our overall program to make our stores safer and more convenient for our customers this year," said Daphne Moore, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart.

The in-store specials will be available in all stores beginning at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.  

Source

Sprint is betting the farm on the WiMax standard. The U.S. mobile phone carrier’s customers are melting away. Yet it has scrimped on cellular network capex to double down on wireless broadband. Putting another $1 billion into cash-burning partner Clearwire, while a rival technology is catching up, amounts to a binary bet for shareholders.

Sprint’s problem is simple — its customers are dissatisfied. It lost another 801,000 of its most profitable customers in the third quarter. More than four million have fled to other networks over the past year. Sprint’s bigger rivals scent blood and have been aggressively courting customers with advertising campaigns and handset offers.

Yet Sprint (S, Fortune 500) has slashed capital expenditure to an unsustainable level. Its current budget is equal to 7% of sales, which is less than half what rival AT&T (T, Fortune 500) spends — and AT&T’s revenues are more than 15 times as large as Sprint’s, so it has the advantage of scale as well.

Instead, Sprint is increasing its bet on Clearwire (CLWR), the company rolling out WiMax. This wireless technology could make broadband ubiquitous, even in rural areas. But it will face stiff competition. While WiMax is the only "4G" technology currently deployed, a rival technology backed by Sprint’s deeper-pocketed rivals will be available soon payday advance. This standard, called LTE, may be widely used within two years.

Moreover, Clearwire may need even more cash. It thinks it will burn up to $1.3 billion in the second half of the year. The $4 billion it has in the bank after the current round won’t last long at that rate. If it needs more, Sprint would have to pony up to keep majority control. That might be difficult, as it is already heavily indebted — its market capitalization is $9 billion, while its net debt was almost $16 billion at the end of last quarter.

Sprint’s stock has really become a highly leveraged bet on WiMax. The payoff for success would be enormous. But WiMax has fewer than half a million customers. The odds of it becoming a widespread standard are low if it can’t quickly build on its temporary advantage before a more powerful competitor gets going. If WiMax doesn’t catch on, it would exacerbate Sprint’s troubles.

Handset makers don’t like designing equipment for second-tier standards, and customers tend to flock to operators with the best phones. At worst, Sprint could even be forced to adopt LTE, which would be a heavy burden for the already indebted company. The clock is ticking on Sprint. 

Source