Money world

The General Motors plant in Wentzville has completed the hiring of 437 employees who will work a second shift that’s set to begin in early January, which will mark the first time in two years that the plant has run more than a single shift.

GM, which builds the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans in Wentzville, will add a second shift of van production on Jan.3, bringing the total employment at the plant to 1,940 hourly workers and 155 salaried employees.

Of the 437 hourly employees added for the second shift, 235 are new hires, said Tom Brune, UAW communications coordinator for Local 2250, which represents hourly workers at the plant. GM also recalled 38 employees to the plant and transferred 164 GM employees from across the country.

“It’s a long time coming,” Brune said about the second shift, which was announced in September as part of a new labor contract.

Plant manager John Dansby said many of the transferred employees planned to move their families to the St. Louis region over the holidays.

“We’ve gotten them familiar with the plant and have them working side by side with current employees to understand how we work and how the plant works,” he said of the new employees.

Recalling laid-off workers and preparing for a second shift has “been a great boost to morale,” Dansby added.

The second shift isn’t the only new development at the Wentzville plant. GM also plans to build the next generation of its Colorado midsize pickup there, which will bring an additional 1,260 hourly and salaried jobs in 2013.

To prepare for the line, the automaker plans to invest $380 million in the plant, including the construction of a 500,000-square-foot addition to the current 3.7 million square feet.

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Rite Aid Corp. says its third quarter loss narrowed, as sales at stores open at least a year improved and the drugstore operator more than doubled the number of flu shots delivered.

The third-largest U.S. drugstore chain says it lost $54.5 million, or 6 cents per share, after paying preferred dividends in the latest quarter. That compares to a loss of $81.5 million, or 9 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue climbed nearly 2 percent to $6.31 billion.

Analysts were expecting a loss of 12 cents per share on $6.29 billion in revenue.

The Camp Hill, Pa., company says sales at stores open at least a year climbed 2 percent, driven by an increase in pharmacy business.

Rite Aid had 4,679 stores as of Nov. 26, down 62 from a year ago.

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Asian stocks fell Wednesday after the Federal Reserve offered no new initiatives to help a slowly recovering U.S. economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent to 8,498.63. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5 percent at 1,854 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.7 percent to 18,326.98. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 4,184.80. Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan fell while mainland China rose.

U.S. stocks gave up gains Tuesday after the Fed released a policy statement that made clear it was not offering any new steps to help the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.6 percent to close at 11,954.94. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.9 percent to 1,225.73. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.3 percent to 2,579.27.

The Dow dropped more than 70 points in the last hour of trading and had risen as high as 126 points earlier Tuesday after two strong auctions of European debt. The Spanish government was able to sell short-term debt at much lower interest rates compared with a month ago, a signal that markets are becoming less fearful about the government’s ability to repay its debt.

And in its first sale of short-term bills, the European Financial Stability Fund raised 1.9 billion euros ($2.6 billion).

Still, investor sentiment remained fragile amid threats by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the credit ratings of 15 countries that use the euro because of the region’s debt crisis.

“We are likely to continue seeing some cautious trading as the threat of S&P coming out to issue some downgrades at some stage this week looms,” said Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne, Australia.

“Some would argue that this is already priced in, but it will still likely rock the boat should it happen.”

Benchmark oil for January delivery was down 28 cents to $99.86 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.37 to finish at $100.14 an ounce on the Nymex on Tuesday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3031 from $1.3043 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar rose to 77.99 yen from 77.97 yen.

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Ralcorp Holdings is two months away from completing the spin-off of its branded cereal business, Post Holdings, yet company officials say they remain in buy mode.

In a conference call with analysts today, St. Louis-based Ralcorp’s executives said the spin-off of Post as a separate, publicly traded company will occur by the end of January 2012. Ralcorp, which has grown through acquisitions over the past decade, plans to focus on private label cereal, pasta, frozen bakery goods and other foods.  

“As the leader in private brand foods, we continue to be excited about the opportunities that exist in the private brand, or store-brand market,” Kevin Hunt, Ralcorp’s co-chief executive and president said in the call. 

Ralcorp completed its acquisition of Kansas City-based American Italian Pasta Co. for $1.2 billion in July 2010, which helped boost Ralcorp’s net sales to $4.7 billion in fiscal 2011, up from $4 billion in 2010.

In October, Ralcorp closed on its $545 million purchase of the North American refrigerated dough business from Sara Lee, which included Sara Lee’s private label biscuits, crescent rolls, pizza and pie crusts and toaster pastries cash advance now.

More acquisitions may be on the horizon. “When we look at the current acquisition pipeline, we’ve identified approximately $10 billion in additional annual sales representing 50 individual companies that meet our initial criteria for strategic acquisition, ranked by margins and synergies with our existing business,” Hunt said in the call.

Morningstar analyst Erin Lash wrote in a research note today that Ralcorp faces competitive pressures in the private label cereal business, however. “Branded firms like General Mills and Kellogg are prioritizing investments behind product innovation and marketing that resonate with consumers, which could further pressure Ralcorp’s cereal sales, in our view,” Lash wrote.

 

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Phone hacking by the media cost me my job advising Elle Macpherson, a business adviser told a U.K. inquiry Tuesday, describing how the Australian supermodel wrongly blamed her for leaking intimate secrets to the press.

Mary-Ellen Field told an inquiry into British media ethics that the leaks cast a shadow of suspicion over her, with Macpherson becoming convinced that Field was an alcoholic and ordering her to an American rehabilitation clinic. Field said she was shocked by the allegations that she was a drunk who’d been blabbing about her employer, but went along with Macpherson’s recommendation because she needed her job.

“I have a severely disabled child who can never look after himself so walking away from a high-paying position is not a good idea,” Field said.

The rehab was grueling _ she described it as being “like one of those CIA renditions, except they don’t put you in chains” _ but it didn’t do her much good.

Even though staff at the clinic said she was not an alcoholic, Macpherson fired her anyway, and Field lost her job at her firm shortly afterward. She told the inquiry there was no doubt the sacking was the result of what happened with Macpherson.

Field said her employer told her that “I’d been indiscreet, that the clients didn’t trust me.”

Although it has since emerged that the media leaks were the result of phone hacking not indiscretion, Field said she has not heard from fellow Australian Macpherson in years.

Field was one of several victims of press intrusion testifying Tuesday at Britain’s Royal Courts of Justice. The inquiry was set up after the scandal over phone hacking and other underhanded tactics used at the News of the World, which was closed in July amid allegations of widespread criminality no credit check payday loans.

Among those due to testify Tuesday were British comedian Steve Coogan, soccer player Garry Flitcroft, and Margaret Watson, whose daughter Diane was stabbed to death at her Scottish school two decades ago.

The parents of murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler and film star Hugh Grant were the first victims to testify on Monday, with Grant being particularly scathing.

He described mysterious break-ins, leaked medical details and hacked voice mails. Grant attacked the Mail on Sunday tabloid, accusing it of spying on his conversations. The paper denies the charge, but lawyers at the inquiry said Tuesday the tabloid’s response smacked of an attempt to intimidate witnesses.

David Sherborne and Neil Garnham pointed to an article on the Mail’s website describing Grant’s allegations as “mendacious smears driven by his hatred of the media.”

“(Is) everyone who has the temerity to give evidence critical of the press is going to face this the following morning?” Garnham asked.

Sherborne also invoked the Mail article when he said many witnesses were worried about “the sort of intimidatory tactics that we’ve seen in the press this morning.”

The Mail’s lead counsel was not at the hearing but was expected to reply later Tuesday.

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Stock indexes fell in afternoon trading Thursday as spiking bond yields in Spain brought new worries Europe’s debt crisis and overshadowed the latest signs of growth in the U.S. economy.

Technology stocks led the market lower after two companies disappointed investors with weaker earnings predictions. NetApp Inc. plunged 12 percent, the most in the S&P 500 index, after the data storage company forecast earnings that were below Wall Street’s estimates.

Applied Materials Inc. also said its earnings for the current quarter would be weaker than analysts’ forecasts. The company’s income fell 3 percent last quarter on lower demand fell for the semiconductor equipment it makes.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 159 points to 11,746 as of 1 p.m. Eastern time. It had wavered between gains and losses earlier in the day. Cisco Systems Inc. had the largest fall of the 30 stocks in the Dow, 2.7 percent. Intel Corp. dropped 2.4 percent.

In Spain, an auction of 10-year government bonds left the country paying interest rates of nearly 7 percent. That’s the highest rate since 1997 and a level that economists see as unsustainable. Greece and Ireland received rescue loans from the European Union after their bond yields jumped above the same level.

Spain has much more debt than either Greece or Ireland, which would make it difficult for other countries to rescue. Like Italy, whose main borrowing rate also spiked above 7 percent in the last week, the country is burdened with high debts and slow growth.

Concerns about Europe’s debt crisis contrasted with better economic reports in the U.S. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in 7 months, a sign layoffs are easing.

“The economic data in the U.S. has been improving,” said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial in Westport, Conn. “If it weren’t for Europe, I think equity markets would be doing much better right now.”

The Spanish bond auction came a day after Fitch Ratings warned that major U.S. banks could be “greatly affected” if Europe’s debt crisis continues to spread beyond the financially troubled Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain.

Building permits jumped 10.9 percent, much higher than economists expected. That’s another sign that the U.S. may not be headed for another recession.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 21, or 1.8 percent, to 1,214. The Nasdaq composite slid 57, or 2.1 percent, to 2,582.

In corporate news:

_ Consumer review site Angie’s List soared 21 percent on the company’s first day of trading. Angie’s List Inc., which runs reviews of veterinarians, plumbers and other local services, priced its initial public offering of 8.8 million shares at $13 late Wednesday.

_ Sears Holdings Corp. fell 4.6 percent after its third-quarter results missed Wall Street’s expectations. The retailer’s sales were dragged down by declining consumer electronics sales and softer sales at its Kmart stores.

_ J.M. Smucker Co. lost 2.4 percent after reporting that rising costs for ingredients were cutting into profits.

_ Boeing Co. slipped 1 percent after the market turned lower in the afternoon. The company had traded higher after announcing its largest commercial airplane order. Lion Air, a private carrier in Indonesia, ordered a total of 230 airplanes at a list price of $21.7 billion.

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Nebraska rancher Bruce Boettcher was ecstatic when he learned the rumors swirling out of Washington were true: plans to build a 1,700-mile oil pipeline from Canada to Texas were on hold to study how environmentally sensitive areas in his state could be avoided.

He’d fought the project with neighbors whose land also sits atop the Ogallala aquifer, a massive underground water supply in the pipeline’s path _ and at the epicenter of the national debate. Nebraska officials including its Republican governor pushed against the project, as had environmentalists and national groups.

Until Thursday, when the U.S. State Department announced a delay in its federal permitting decision for the TransCanada Corp. pipeline, Boettcher wasn’t sure if the protests and public hearings had made a difference.

“I didn’t think we’d get this far this quick, to tell you the truth,” the 55-year-old, fourth-generation rancher said. “TransCanada is persistent. But when they get persistent, I get persistent.”

The Obama administration said other potential routes for the Keystone XL through Nebraska needed to be studied, creating a delay that likely puts off a final decision until after the 2012 election _ a move that didn’t go unnoticed by supporters and opponents of the project.

The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. TransCanada is seeking to build the 36-inch pipeline through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and CEO, called the pipeline “shovel-ready,” adding that it could create as many 20,000 jobs.

But Thursday’s announcement means the Calgary-based company will have to figure out how to move the pipeline around the Nebraska Sandhills region and the aquifer, which flows under eight states and provides water crucial to huge swaths of U.S. cropland.

An environmental review of the new section is expected to be completed in early 2013. The State Department has authority over the project because it crosses a U.S. border.

President Barack Obama said the pipeline could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment.

“We should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood,” Obama said in a statement.

The heavily contested project has become a political trap for Obama, who risks angering environmental supporters _ and losing re-election contributions from some liberal donors _ if he approves it, and criticism from labor and business groups for thwarting job creation if he rejects it.

The Keystone XL pipeline would carry as much as 700,000 barrels of oil a day, doubling the capacity of an existing pipeline operated by TransCanada in the upper Midwest. Supporters say the pipeline could significantly reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil while providing thousands of jobs.

Among its supporters are Oklahoma’s governor, congressional delegation and even the oil and gas industry. They say the Keystone XL would provide additional takeaway pipeline from large oil storage facilities in Cushing, a city in northwest Oklahoma dubbed the “Pipeline Crossroads of the World.”

“The influx of crude oil from Canada and increased production in the northern United States has overwhelmed outbound pipeline capacity at Cushing, forcing more oil into storage,” said Cody Bannister, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association.

Bannister said the excess oil is resulting in the estimated 60 million barrels of oil produced each year in Oklahoma selling for an average of $15 less per barrel than crude oil from other parts of the globe.

“In one year, the state would lose $63 million in gross production taxes,” Bannister said, adding the overall economic impact would be “far greater.”

But the project has become a focal point for environmental groups, which say the pipeline would bring “dirty oil” that requires huge amounts of energy to extract. They also worry that the pipeline could cause an ecological disaster in case of a spill.

Thousands of protesters gathered across from the White House on Sunday to oppose the pipeline, and celebrities including “Seinfeld” actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus have made videos against the pipeline.

Environmental activist Bill McKibben, who led protests against the pipeline and was arrested in a demonstration earlier this year, said on Twitter that the protests had an effect on the Obama administration.

“A done deal has come spectacularly undone!” he wrote.

But fellow environmentalist Matthew Tejada, executive director of the Houston Air Alliance, was more cautious.

“We just got a stay of execution,” Tejada said. “I don’t know that we’ve actually fundamentally changed the mind of anyone in the Obama administration.”

Tejada said the pipeline wouldn’t lead the U.S. toward a sustainable energy policy, but he doesn’t think that played into the State Department’s decision.

“This is more of a political calculation to get Keystone off the books of this next election cycle,” he said.

TransCanada said in a statement it was disappointed in the delay but confident that the project ultimately would be approved. The company previously said a delay could cost millions of dollars and keep thousands of people from getting jobs.

“If Keystone XL dies, Americans will still wake up the next morning and continue to import 10 million barrels of oil from repressive nations, without the benefit of thousands of jobs and long-term energy security,” said Girling, the company’s president and CEO.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s chief lobbying group, said the decision put election-year politics above job creation. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, used similar language, saying Obama had sacrificed thousands of jobs “solely to appease his liberal base. It’s a failure of leadership.”

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, through a spokesman, said he was disappointed. He also noted the lost job opportunities and “billions in economic growth on both sides of the border,” but remained hopeful the project would eventually be approved.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said the State Department decision was due largely to pressure from Nebraskans. Heineman called a special session of the Nebraska Legislature to address pipeline concerns, including a possible rerouting of the pipeline around the Sandhills, a region that includes a high concentration of wetlands and the Ogallala aquifer.

Heineman, a Republican, called the State Department decision “an exceptional moment for Nebraskans” and a sign their voices have been heard.

The decision to reroute the project comes as the State Department’s inspector general has begun a review of the administration’s handling of the pipeline request. That examination follows complaints from Democratic lawmakers about possible conflicts of interest in the review process.

The inspector generator will look at whether the State Department and others involved in the project followed federal regulations.

“I strongly believe that the more the American people learn about this project, the more they will understand that it would be disastrous for our environment and for our economy,” said Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., who requested the review.

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Japanese media are reporting Olympus Corp. has fired its vice president as a scandal over its past acquisitions and advisor fees shakes the company.

Japan’s Kyodo news service and public broadcaster NHK on Tuesday both reported the dismissal of the executive, Hisashi Mori.

Company officials were not immediately available for comment. Olympus president Shuichi Takayama was to hold a news conference Tuesday.

Olympus has been mired in a scandal over allegations that a $687 million payment for financial advice was excessive. Its chairman and president abruptly resigned last month in an effort to placate angry shareholders.

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Many people think being a landlord and investing in real estate is a way to make easy money. It can be financially rewarding if you do your homework and reduce your risks. But easy, it isn

From Europe to the Bank of Canada to Bay Street, investors can expect a week of announcements and forecasts that could provide a clearer picture of where the economy is headed.

Bank of Canada: On Tuesday, the central bank will give its latest decision on interest rates. Governor Mark Carney is expected to leave rates unchanged for the ninth consecutive time. But the statement that accompanies the decision will be closely scrutinized for discussion of where the world economy is headed, as well as inflation in Canada.

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