DailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comDailyFinance.comhttp://o.aolcdn.com/os/df/2013/img/2-dailyfinance_logo_m.pngDailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comen-usCopyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Lowe's Profit Hurt by Cooler Weather, Competitionhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/22/lowes-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/22/lowes-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/22/lowes-earnings/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

lowe's employee shopper store Chicago Illinois
Scott Olson/Getty Images
By Dhanya Skariachan

Lowe's reported a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, hurt by colder-than-usual weather at the start of the spring selling season and strong competition from larger rival Home Depot.

The results contrasted sharply with those of Home Depot and signaled that Lowe's Cos. (LOW), the world's No. 2 home improvement chain, was still struggling to narrow the performance gap with the industry leader.
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Lowe's sales fell 0.5 percent to $13.09 billion in the first quarter ended on May 3, missing the analysts' average estimate of $13.45 billion. The company's shares fell 3.3 percent to $42.45 in trading before the market opened.

Sales at stores open at least a year dipped 0.7 percent. It was the 16th straight quarter that Lowe's posted weaker same-store sales than Home Depot.

"The spread between Home Depot and Lowe's [same-store sales] expanded in the first quarter, something we had worried might happen," said Janney Capital Markets analyst David Strasser.

Lowe's stocked more lawn and garden products than Home Depot Inc. (HD) and therefore suffered more from the unfavorable weather, Strasser said. At the same time, he said, Home Depot had more of a presence in California, where housing has made a strong comeback.

While Lowe's has been working to improve product selection and customer service, it has yet to turn around its business.

As part of its makeover, the company has started offering everyday low prices and products targeted to specific geographic markets. It made its stores more appealing with improved signs, television displays that stream videos on how-to-do projects, and lower racks to make items easier to reach.

Lowe's has also increased its assortment of products available online and started mylowes.com, a site that allows shoppers to save their room dimensions, create a shopping list and set reminders to buy items such as air filters and batteries for smoke alarms.

Lowe's, which was also slower than Home Depot to cut costs in the years after the housing collapse, said its first-quarter net earnings rose to $540 million, or 49 cents a share, from $527 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected a profit of 51 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Gallery: America's Most Popular Stores

10. Target9. Taco Bell8. CVS7. Walgreens6. Wendy's

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]]>diyeconomyHome Depothome improvementlowesretailReutersWed, 22 May 2013 08:05:00 ESTToll Brothers Profit Rises as Housing Market Reboundshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/22/toll-brothers-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/22/toll-brothers-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/22/toll-brothers-earnings/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

toll brothers housing development barrington illinois
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Toll Brothers posted a 46 percent rise in quarterly profit as the largest U.S. luxury homebuilder sold more homes at higher prices, indicating that the housing recovery is spreading across the industry.

Record-low interest rates and rising rents have encouraged people to buy homes. Ground-breaking to build new homes in the United States rose 7 percent in March to the highest level since June 2008.

Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL) said its quarterly orders were the highest in seven years. New orders, a key indicator for builders who don't recognize revenue until they close on a home, rose 36 percent to 1,753 homes.

The value of the orders jumped 57 percent to $1.19 billion.

"Buyers who have been on the sidelines for six years are jumping in," Chief Executive Douglas Yearley said in a statement.

Toll Brothers, which targets high earners, said its average home-sales price increased 3.6 percent in the second quarter to $577,000 compared with a year earlier.

Net income rose to $24.7 million, or 14 cents a share, from $16.9 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. The profit included a pretax gain of $13.2 million.

Revenue rose 38 percent to $516 million.

Toll's shares, which have gained about 11 percent so far this year, closed at $36.01 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Gallery: 9 Numbers That'll Tell You How the Economy's Really Doing

1. Gross Domestic Product2. Consumer Price Index3. Unemployment Rate4. Trade Deficit5 & 6. Personal Income and Personal Spending

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]]>constructionearningseconomic recoveryeconomyhome buildersinterest ratesmortgagesstockstoll brothersReutersWed, 22 May 2013 07:46:00 ESTDow, S&P End at Records on Fed Officials' Reassurancehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/dow-sandp-records-federal-reserve/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/dow-sandp-records-federal-reserve/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/dow-sandp-records-federal-reserve/#commentsFiled under: ,

People applaud at the closing bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street
Getty Images
By Angela Moon

NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing at new all-time highs as Federal Reserve officials' comments eased some concerns that the central bank could start reducing its stimulus program.

Dow component Home Depot (HD) gave the market a lift after the world's largest home improvement chain raised its profit outlook, driving its stock to a record intraday high.

JPMorgan (JPM) also bolstered the Dow, rising more than 1 percent to a 52-week high after the bank's chief executive won a vote of confidence from shareholders.

Stocks extended gains in afternoon trade after New York Fed President William Dudley said he cannot be sure whether policymakers will next reduce or increase the amount of purchases, due to the "uncertain" economic outlook.

Earlier, James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, had urged the European Central Bank to consider employing a U.S.-style quantitative easing program to counter slowing inflation and recession in the euro zone.

"There's been increasing concerns that the time has come for the Fed to take some of the stimulus out of this market, especially with stocks at these levels. What we heard from the Fed officials today basically gave a temporary additional shot to the market," said Rick Meckler, president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"But there is only so much you can move from the low interest-rate policy," Meckler said. "It has got to translate into economic news or earnings news and that's why the market has remained largely unchanged."

The Fed's $85 billion-per-month bond buying program has played a significant role in the market's rally and investors have recently become nervous over when the central bank will alter or halt the program.

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) gained 52.30 points, or 0.34 percent, to end at a record 15,387.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^GSPC) added 2.87 points, or 0.17 percent, to finish at a record 1,669.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMPX) advanced 5.69 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 3,502.12 -- its highest close since October 2000.

The Dow climbed to an all-time intraday high at 15,434.50, while the S&P 500 hit a record intraday high at 1,674.93.

The Nasdaq set a fresh 52-week high at 3,512.15.

After a rally of about 17 percent for the major U.S. stock indexes since the start of the year, investors are trying to assess how much further equities can run.

Goldman Sachs (GS) said in a note to clients dated May 20 that it sees the S&P 500 at 1,750 by the end of the year -- up 5 percent from Monday's close -- and expects a 12-month rally to 1,825.

The bank's economists forecast above-trend growth in U.S. gross domestic product in 2014 - for the first time in six years.

The small- and mid-cap Russell 2000 (IWM) continued to face technical resistance at the 1,000-point level, but the index hovered around its all-time closing high.

The housing market's recovery helped Home Depot report higher quarterly sales and earnings, prompting the world's largest home improvement chain to raise its sales outlook for the year. Home Depot was the Dow's second-biggest percentage gainer, rising 2.5 percent to close at $78.71 after hitting an intraday record high of $79.46.

JPMorgan Chase & Co shareholders voted to allow CEO Jamie Dimon to keep his chairman title, sending the bank's shares up 1.4 percent to $53.02 at the close. Earlier, the stock set a fresh 52-week high at $53.67.

On Wednesday morning, investors will be parsing testimony by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke before a congressional panel, the Joint Economic Committee. The minutes of the Fed's latest policy-setting meeting will be released on Wednesday afternoon.

"Central banks have been flooding the world with liquidity, and one place that's gone is into the stock markets," said Brian Gendreau, market strategist at Cetera Financial Group, based in Los Angeles.

Still, a reduction or end of the current quantitative easing program wouldn't necessarily mean the end of the rally, as a better economic outlook should offset the change to monetary policy, Gendreau said.

Apple (AAPL) Chief Executive Tim Cook testified before Congress after a U.S. Senate report on the company's offshore tax structure said the iPhone maker has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries to pay little or no taxes to any government. Apple shares fell 0.7 percent to $439.66.

Volume was roughly 6.15 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, slightly lower than the year-to-date average daily closing volume of about 6.34 billion.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a ratio of 8 to 7, while on the Nasdaq, about 13 stocks rose for every 12 that fell.

Gallery: 7 Companies That Behave Like 'Star Trek' Aliens

1. Apple2. BlackBerry3. Cisco Systems4. eBay5. Facebook

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]]>Federal ReserveHome DepotJPMorgan Chasemarket newsReutersTue, 21 May 2013 17:05:00 ESTApple's Low Tax Rate Not Our Fault, Ireland Sayshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/apple-low-tax-rate-ireland/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/apple-low-tax-rate-ireland/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/apple-low-tax-rate-ireland/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Apple CEO Tim Cook Senate testimony ireland
J. Scott Applewhite/APApple Inc. CEO Tim Cook testifies before a Senate committee Tuesday about the $1 billion the company holds in an Irish subsidiary as a tax strategy.
By Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN and CORK, Ireland -- Ireland said Tuesday it wasn't to blame for Apple's low global tax payments and had no special rate deal with the company, after the U.S. Senate said it paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries.

The Irish government, which has seen the luring of U.S. multinationals with low taxes as a key part of its economic policy since the 1960s, said its system was transparent and other countries were responsible if the tax rate paid by Apple Inc. (AAPL) was too low.

"They are issues that arise from the taxation systems in other jurisdictions, and that is an issue that has to be addressed first of all in those jurisdictions," deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore told national broadcaster RTE Tuesday.

In a 40-page memorandum released ahead of an appearance by Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook before Congress on Tuesday, a Senate subcommittee identified three subsidiaries that have no tax residency either in Ireland, where they are incorporated, or in the United States, where those companies are managed.
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The main subsidiary, a holding company that includes Apple's retail stores throughout Europe, hasn't paid any corporate income tax in the last five years, the report said.

Apple's arrangement has allowed it to pay just 1.9 percent tax on its $37 billion in overseas profits in 2012, despite the fact that the average tax rate in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, its main markets, was 24 percent in 2012.

The report said "Ireland has essentially functioned as a tax haven for Apple."

Gilmore said Ireland was pursuing the issue of international tax avoidance "very strongly" at the European Union and the OECD, which is spearheading initiatives.

The issue will be discussed at a meeting of European Union officials on Tuesday, he said.

The Senate report said a subsidiary with a mailing address in Cork, Ireland's second-largest city, received $29.9 billion in dividends from lower-tiered offshore affiliates from 2009 to 2012, comprising 30 percent of Apple's global net profits.

It said it exploited a difference between Irish and U.S. tax residency rules.

'No Special Rates'

Apple said in a comment posted online on Monday it didn't use "tax gimmicks." It said the existence of its subsidiary Apple Operations International in Ireland didn't reduce Apple's U.S. tax liability, and the company would pay more than $7 billion in U.S. taxes in fiscal 2013.

A number of U.S. multinationals including web search leader Google Inc. (GOOG), online retailer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and coffee-chain Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) have come under criticism for arranging their affairs in a way that leaves them liable to low rates of tax on billions of dollars of overseas sales.

Apple's auditor, Ernst & Young, which also audits Google and Amazon.com, declined immediate comment.

According to the congressional report, Apple's tax operations head Phillip Bullock told the subcommittee that the company had obtained a special low tax rate through negotiations with the Irish government below the already low standard rate of 12.5 percent. Apple said this had been 2 percent or less for the last 10 years.

Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny denied there was any special rate agreement.

"Ireland does not, I will repeat, doesn't do special tax rate deals with companies; we don't have any special extra-low corporate tax rate for multinational companies."

A spokesman for Ireland's finance department said Ireland's tax system was statute based, so there was "no possibility of individual special tax rate deals for companies."

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Revenue Commissioners said she couldn't comment on individual cases as that would breach taxpayer confidentiality, but she also denied that the tax authority agreed special low tax rates with multinationals.

"All companies in Ireland pay the standard 12.5 percent rate on their trading profits arising in Ireland, and they pay a corporation tax rate of 25 percent on their Irish non-trading income," she said.

Unemployed Cork local Tom Falvey, 55, who got 10 weeks' work attaching cladding to the exterior of Apple's three-story headquarters in the early 1990s, said Ireland's jobless would pay the price for any rise in taxes.

"The companies will just say 'take a jump' and move somewhere else more obliging. Our unemployment is high enough as it is," he said, as he walked his dog past the sprawling complex 3 miles from the city center.

A dozen or so casually dressed Apple workers, most in their 20s and 30s, who were smoking cigarettes outside the 1990s office building, said they couldn't talk to the press.

Alongside, builders are working on a sleek new glass and concrete extension. Michael Ambrose, a 58-year-old former construction worker walking by, said the government was powerless to get more tax out of Apple.

"We're a small country and feel we can't say no. We know they'll just go off to one of these Asian countries. They're a law unto themselves."

Fiscal Attraction

Apple said last year it would add 500 more people to its Cork workforce of 2,800.

Ireland's pro-business tax structures have attracted U.S. multinationals including Google, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Facebook Inc. (FB), big employers who have helped offset an unemployment rate stuck above 14 percent, but its low corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent has drawn criticism elsewhere in Europe.

The government regularly touts its success in attracting international investment as one of its main achievements, and multinationals, which account for almost 10 percent of Ireland's workforce, have taken the sting out of austerity measures prescribed under an EU/IMF bailout by creating jobs.

U.S. firms invested $30 billion in Ireland last year, more than in China and the rest of emerging Asia combined, according to the American Chamber of Commerce.

In the 1960s Ireland turned around its economy by attracting foreign businesses with tax holidays. After joining what later became the European Union, it was no longer able to do this and instead shifted to a system of low tax rates -- currently 12.5 percent -- and a light touch approach to tax administration that allows companies to reduce their effective rate much lower.

A raft of mainly U.S. companies have taken advantage of Ireland's tax regime to minimize their tax bills.

Microsoft's Irish base, along with another operation in low-tax Singapore, helped the company pay tax of just 9.4 percent on $21 billion of non-U.S. earnings last year. Google channels most of its overseas profits through Ireland, a practice that allowed it to pay tax at a rate of just 2.6 percent on $6 billion of foreign profits in 2012.

Patrick Coveney, the chief executive of Greencore, one of Ireland largest companies, told RTE radio that it was politicians across the world who were responsible for these tax treaties and tax structures.

"I find it frankly a little frustrating that it is them who are piling in and criticizing international traded businesses who are merely availing of the tax environment that they have put in place," said Coveney, a former president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

Irish opposition party Sinn Fein, which has 14 seats in Ireland's parliament, said the companies should be invited before a parliamentary committee when it holds hearings shortly to discuss corporation tax.

"This Government continues to protest that our tax system is transparent. It is transparently flawed," said the party's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty. "Our tax code has been written for the benefit of large companies and the wealthiest in society. This is what I want to get to the bottom of in the Committee hearings."

Additional reporting by Tom Bergin.



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]]>Appleapple ireland taxcorporate taxesEUeuropefacebookgoogleirelandOECDoffshore tax havensoverseas profitsstarbuckstax ratestim cookReutersTue, 21 May 2013 13:45:00 ESTJPMorgan Investors on Edge Over Vote on Dimonhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/jpmorgan-shareholder-vote-jamie-dimon/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/jpmorgan-shareholder-vote-jamie-dimon/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/21/jpmorgan-shareholder-vote-jamie-dimon/#commentsFiled under: , ,

JPMorgan Chase Chairman CEO Jamie Dimon
J. Scott Applewhite/APJPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.
By David Henry

TAMPA, Fla. -- As final ballots come in on a proposal to strip JPMorgan Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon of his chairman title, some worry about what will happen if shareholders win what will likely be a close vote.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) annual meeting Tuesday will bring to head a months-long and bitter shareholder campaign demanding more oversight of Dimon, who has suggested that he may eventually leave the bank if he loses the vote.

Investors say that while Dimon, 57, may need more oversight after the bank posted $6.2 billion in losses from failed derivative trades last year, they do not want him to quit.

Among big bank CEOs, Dimon ranks first for stock returns and has been praised for leading the bank through the financial crisis with no quarterly losses and a strong balance sheet.

If Dimon were to leave, the bank's shares could fall as much as 10 percent and erase about $20 billion of market value, according to Mike Mayo, a bank analyst with brokerage CLSA.
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JPMorgan also has no ready replacement for Dimon, Mayo wrote in a research note, adding that the two lieutenants best positioned to succeed him -- Matt Zames, 42, and Mike Cavanagh, 47 -- seem to be about three years short of being ready for the job.

Zames became sole chief operating officer of the largest U.S. bank in April. Last year, Cavanagh became co-CEO of the company's reconstituted corporate and investment banking segment following a stint as head of treasury and securities services and several years as chief financial officer.

JPMorgan wasn't immediately available for comment.

"Take a winning football team. One could always ask the question whether the team would have been as effective without the quarterback," said Benjamin Ram, a co-manager of the $1.6 billion Oppenheimer Main Street Select fund.

"The team gets part of the credit, but Jamie Dimon as the leader also gets the credit," Ram added.

Ram's fund has 6.4 percent of its assets in JPMorgan shares, more than any other diversified fund, according to Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company.

The shareholder proposal is non-binding, meaning the bank's board doesn't have to follow through with the recommendation even if the measure gets majority shareholder support. Still, a defeat would be an unpleasant rebuke for Dimon.

A similar shareholder proposal last year won 40 percent of the vote, before most of the trading losses from the so-called "London Whale" imbroglio came to light.

Obliged to Make Changes?

JPMorgan's board has recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal and the bank has been lobbying hard against the measure, with tensions rising in the run-up to the meeting.

Proponents of the independent chair proposal said that if the measure gets 40 percent or more of the vote for a second consecutive year that the board should feel obligated to make at least some changes to increase its oversight of management.

Last week, the company that collects votes from investors, Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc, stopped telling shareholders how votes had been cast so far for this and other measures. Investors use this information to determine how to tailor their campaigns.

JPMorgan decided to release the results to shareholders after the New York Attorney General's office intervened over the weekend, a source familiar with the situation said Monday.

"We were cut off from the tallies during the crucial week leading up to the meeting," said Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of the CtW Investment Group, which advises pensions that were voting against the bank in a separate measure regarding the reelection of directors.

Waizenegger said receiving the information at this late stage was of limited use.

The vote comes amid a growing trend in U.S. corporate governance to have an independent chairman lead the board. Many investors believe that doing so ensures that the chief executive does not have too much sway over the board and leads to better outcomes for shareholders overall. The debate, however, is far from settled.

Even if Dimon wins the vote, some shareholders plan to keep the pressure on the bank's board. Two major JPMorgan investors have told Reuters that they will continue to press directors behind the scenes to increase their oversight over management.

One investor said that they will likely encourage the bank to give more authority to its lead independent director, former ExxonMobil (XOM) Chief Executive Lee Raymond.

Gallery: America's Nine Most Damaged Brands

9. J.P. Morgan8. BlackBerry7. Groupon6. Best Buy5. J.C. Penney

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]]>annual shareholders meetingjamie dimonlondon whalemanagementshareholdersReutersTue, 21 May 2013 06:12:00 ESTAlong the Road to a Greener America, an Awful Lot of Roadkillhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/20/green-energy-failures/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/20/green-energy-failures/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/20/green-energy-failures/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Fisker Karma electric car
Geoff Robins/Getty Images/AFPDespite government help and a fairly large infusion of venture capital, Fisker barely got the Karma rolling off the assembly line before the electric vehicle company ran out of cash.
By Nichola Groom

In October 2004, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled up to a pioneering fueling station at Los Angeles International Airport in a hydrogen-powered metallic blue Hummer loaned to him by General Motors (GM).

The "California Hydrogen Highway," Schwarzenegger's vision to ensure that every Californian would have access to a hydrogen fueling station by the end of 2010, called for the state to spend more than $50 million to help deploy up to 100 hydrogen fuel stations that would serve 2,000 fuel cell vehicles. "We got 200 stakeholders around a table, literally, and mapped out who could get stations where," said Terry Tamminen, a top adviser to Schwarzenegger.

But nearly nine years later, California has just nine hydrogen stations open for the public, and only about 200 fuel cell cars that can use them.

The global financial crisis helped slam the brakes on dreams of a Hydrogen Highway, but the roots of green energy's mid-life crisis -- marked by a rash of recent corporate collapses in everything from electric cars to solar panels -- run far deeper.

Other factors have contributed to the shakeout, which has happened as climate change has dropped down the list of Americans' top concerns. Many new companies were far too optimistic about their prospects and were selling products that could not compete on price against traditional transport and energy sources, not to mention increasingly cheap imports from China. Many were -- and are -- very reliant on fickle government support, and some were simply mismanaged.

Whether it's survival of the fittest or survival of the subsidized, there have been success stories, and there's even a little froth in the stock market. But as the sector moves beyond its youthful phase, it faces many of the same problems and nobody will be surprised by more failures.

"The general economic thesis of the renewable energy sector hasn't changed," said Karl Miller, chairman of Newco Energy Acquisition Holdings, which acquires energy-related assets. "It's still a heavily subsidized industry. It requires a major federal tax credit to make it work." It still doesn't appeal as "a capital market investment," he said.

Electric Dreams

Apart from the relative success of Tesla Motors (TSLA) in putting nearly 10,000 of its pricey luxury electric cars on the road, the electric vehicle sector has been among the biggest duds in clean tech.

Major automakers like Nissan Motor (NSANY), with its all-electric Leaf, and GM, with the Chevrolet Volt, bet heavily on electric vehicles. But they are struggling to get over the high cost and lack of charging infrastructure, as well as questions about the short driving range of some models. Both Leaf and Volt sales have lagged well behind company expectations, and vehicles from startups like Fisker Automotive and Coda Holdings barely made it off the assembly line before the companies ran out of cash.

Nissan Chief Carlos Ghosn, who plowed $5 billion into battery-electric technology, has backed down from an earlier forecast of 10 percent market share for electric cars by 2020. Ghosn's company sold 9,819 Leafs last year in the United States, well under its target of 20,000.

The Obama administration has pulled back from its aggressive goal of putting 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015. Total plug-in car sales last year were only around 50,000 in the United States.

"EVs are a really difficult sell today," the CEO of Toyota's (TM) North American business, Jim Lentz, said in an interview. "Until we see substantial change in battery technology it's going to be difficult to see EVs really take off."


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Even as electric car technology has proved disappointing, the clean-tech movement has helped make traditional combustion engines less polluting, with new models showing fuel efficiency gains that are popular with consumers both for environmental and economic reasons. A push to run more vehicles, especially trucks, on cleaner-burning natural gas is also gaining momentum.

Automakers are also heading back toward Schwarzenegger's old friend: hydrogen fuel cells.

Daimler (DDAIF), Ford (F) and Nissan plan to launch affordable fuel-cell cars within five years, while Toyota and BMW aim to do so by 2020. Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which emit only water vapor, can cover much longer distances and refuel more quickly than electric cars.

Toyota's Lentz even used Schwarzenegger's term "hydrogen highway" to describe a network of fueling stations he expected to see between Los Angeles and San Francisco in the next few years. The Golden State last year unveiled a revamped goal that envisions 68 hydrogen stations by 2016 that will serve 10,000 to 30,000 vehicles. The stations, some of which are already in the works, are expected to cost about $160 million. California has awarded nearly $28 million for stations under development and allocated an additional $29.9 million for future stations.

Boom, Boom

Development of renewable energy technology has been undermined by an explosion in fossil fuel production in the United States, particularly cleaner-burning natural gas -- a development that wasn't expected when many green energy projects were being dreamt up.

Cheap natural gas "clearly has an impact on how much renewables we'll do," said Alex Urquhart, CEO of GE Energy Financial Services, the unit of General Electric (GE) that invests in energy projects.

The shale oil and gas boom in the United States has also provided opportunities for companies that had been more focused on pure green tech.

Take OriginOil, a U.S. startup that developed a process to convert algae into renewable crude oil. It now markets technology to oil and gas producers for the cleanup of water that is contaminated in the fracking process used to extract shale oil and gas.

Other water-focused startups, too -- like Houston-based 212 Resources Corp and Everett, Washington-based WaterTectonics -- are counting on the oil and gas industry's need to clean and recycle the millions of gallons of water that is mixed with chemicals and sand and injected into the ground to "frack" wells.

GE is one of the world's top two makers of wind turbines, but it isn't just banking on renewables. It is making significant bets on shale, scooping up oilfield pump maker Lufkin Industries Inc for $2.98 billion to add to the well services business it bought from John Wood Group in 2011.

Walking on Sunshine

Some of the biggest failures in the green-tech sector have been in the solar energy sector - notably Solyndra, the maker of next-generation solar panels that collapsed in 2011 after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. Its failure sparked an 18-month investigation by Republicans who faulted President Barack Obama's administration for failing to cut the government's losses, and suggested the loan was made in part as a favor to a Democratic donor. The White House said the decision to make the loan was "merit-based."

More than 18 months after Solyndra's fall, there's a lot more road-kill in the green energy sector. China's Suntech Power Holdings, once the world's largest solar company, filed for insolvency in the last few weeks, following the path of battery maker A123. And tiny SoloPower, which was awarded a $197 million DOE loan guarantee and opened a factory in Portland in September to much fanfare, has said it will suspend operations.

Clean-tech initial public offerings in the last year have either been canceled, as in the case of BrightSource Energy, or priced below targets, like SolarCity and Enphase Energy. With investment "exits" a challenge, venture capital funding for clean-tech startups slid 29 percent last year to $3.33 billion after peaking at $4.6 billion in 2011, according to the National Venture Capital Association.

The U.S. solar market has suffered because top market Europe pared back its price guarantees to generators of solar power just as China built hundreds of panel factories that flooded the market with cheap products. In 2012 alone, the price of solar panels slid 50 percent, hammering industry profits and scaring investors away from clean-tech stocks.

But in the bigger picture, solar energy is still making strides.

Cheaper solar panels have made the clean energy source more affordable to many. Worldwide, photovoltaic solar installations are expected to increase 12 percent this year to 35 GW as growth in the Middle East, Africa, the U.S. and Asia will offset declines in Europe.

Walmart Stores (WMT), which began installing solar on its big box stores in 2007, plans to put panels on at least 1,000 of its buildings by 2020, up from about 200 currently.

"We really feel comfortable with where the prices and the technology are going," said Walmart's vice president of energy, Kim Saylors-Laster.

The retailer initially focused its solar program on California and Hawaii, where high power prices make solar more competitive with electricity from the grid, but cheaper solar has helped it expand to new markets. Walmart has saved $2 million since 2007 by using the renewable power generated on its rooftops.

Companies that install those panels are growing rapidly. SolarCity (SCTY), which put up many of Walmart's solar systems, has seen its share price soar to $45 since December, when it struggled to get its IPO done at $8 a share. The company, which is backed by Tesla's Elon Musk, offers homeowners the chance to pay a monthly fee for solar, eliminating the large upfront investment.

Further signs of life in the sector: Swiss industrial group ABB made a $1 billion bet on solar with plans to buy U.S. solar inverter maker Power-One Inc at a premium of 57 percent; and First Solar Inc's shares rallied by 45 percent on April 9 after forecasting better-than-expected results for the next three years.

Money, Money, Money

That kind of outsize stock move is a trademark of green tech. Tesla stock has soared 64 percent since May 8, when it reported its first ever quarterly profit after selling more battery-powered luxury cars than expected, and SolarCity stock jumped 40 percent in two days after announcing on Thursday it had secured $500 million in financing from Goldman Sachs (GS).

The overall direction of the market, however, has been down. You can get a sense of the amount of money that has been lost by investors from the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, which tracks the performance of publicly traded green energy stocks ranging from solar and wind to rare earth minerals and water companies. The market value of the companies in the index has fallen from a peak level of $231 billion in late December 2007 to about $108 billion today, a decline of 53 percent, according to Reuters data. The S&P 500 over that period is up around 9 percent to an all-time high. And while the number of components in the WilderHill index has risen to 51 from 42 since 2007, the average market value of those companies has tumbled to $2.1 billion from $5.5 billion.

Moreover, the index only reflects publicly traded companies. More has been lost by venture capital firms and other early investors in companies that never got much past the start-up phase. Fisker and Solyndra, for instance, each raised close to $1 billion in venture capital money.

Some advocates for green investing say that thanks to a more realistic assessment of risk, a period of relative stability is setting in for green companies and their investors. The WilderHill Clean Energy index may be much lower than it was in 2004, but it is up 31 percent this year.

"The industry has become much more efficient, much more purposeful. There's not this sort of green hype," said Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems who later joined Kleiner Perkins. In 2004, he launched Khosla Ventures, which is known for investing in next-generation energy companies such as biofuels maker KiOR. "What has changed is we make fewer bets and we plan on investing more in them and take more time."

But investors like Shawn Kravetz, who manages several funds for Boston-based Esplanade Capital, including one focused on the solar industry, compares investing in the sector to "a long and bumpy flight."

"It will remain turbulent because policies change, companies will have issues," Kravetz said. "It's wise to keep your seatbelt fastened."

Wind Beneath My Wings

Government support has been a double-edged sword. It's hard for businesses and investors alike to make plans for the future in an environment of tight budgets and opposition from conservative lawmakers to taxpayer money being spent to favor one sector over another.

In the solar sector, for example, a 30 percent tax credit for solar system owners is set to fall to 10 percent at the end of 2016. Solar proponents want a more gradual decline and point to the experience of the U.S. wind industry, which is struggling with a dependency on a tax credit that keeps being extended by Congress in one-year increments.

GE has seen the impact of that directly. Wind turbine sales slowed in 2012 because a key tax credit had been expected to expire. It was renewed at the eleventh hour shortly after the new year, and that has helped GE sell 1 GW of wind turbines since January.

"The economics associated with the tax credits are how these projects get done," said GE's Urquhart. "Without those credits, investments would be far less attractive."

President Barack Obama's 2009 economic stimulus program allotted $90 billion to various clean energy programs, but those funds have been tapped. Big European players like Germany have slashed their generous green subsidies. And U.S. states that are requiring utilities to buy more renewable energy are close to fulfilling their goals.

U.S. green energy companies face a somewhat chaotic environment at the state level, with efforts underway in 16 states to weaken renewable energy mandates that have been key support mechanisms for solar and wind power. At the same time, 18 states have moved to strengthen those mandates.

That patchwork of policies in countries like the United States and India -- which also has policies that vary from state to state -- is a major concern.

"There is no way any reasonable management team of a company can do meaningful corporate planning without an understanding of what the rules of the road are," said Jonathan Silver, who oversaw the Department of Energy loan guarantee program from 2009 to 2011. "We've made it incredibly difficult for people in the energy industry."

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]]>Barack ObamaBMWChevrolet VoltDaimlerDepartment of EnergyElon MuskFinanceFirst SolarFirst Solar IncFiskerFord MotorGeneral ElectricGeneral MotorsHydrogen highwayKiORNissanNissan LeafNissan MotorPower OneSolarCitySoloPowerSolyndraSuntech Power Holdings Co LtdTesla MotorsToyotaWalmartReutersMon, 20 May 2013 11:45:00 ESTEconomy Shrugging off Spring Slowdown, Reports Suggesthttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/17/consumer-sentiment-rises-may/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/17/consumer-sentiment-rises-may/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/17/consumer-sentiment-rises-may/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

shoppers downtown portland oregon
Natalie Behring/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By Leah Schnurr and Lucia Mutikani

NEW YORK -- U.S. consumer sentiment rebounded in early May to the highest level in nearly six years as Americans felt better about their financial and economic prospects, particularly among upper-income households, a survey released on Friday showed.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment rose to 83.7 from 76.4 in April, topping economist expectations for 78.
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It was the highest level since July 2007.

The barometer of current economic conditions jumped to 97.5 from 89.9, the highest since October 2007, while the gauge of consumer expectations gained to 74.8 from 67.8.

More consumers gave a favorable view of their personal finances than in anytime since 2007, with the largest gains among households in the upper third of income levels. More respondents also thought the economy would continue to improve in the year ahead.

Shopping plans were similarly encouraging, with the gauge of buying attitudes for durable goods rising to 148 from 137.

The survey's one-year inflation expectation was unchanged at 3.1 percent, while the survey's five-to-10-year inflation outlook edged down to 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent.

Economic Indicators Also on the Rise

A separate report released Friday showed U.S. economic activity in April rose to its highest level in nearly five years as firming housing and labor market conditions offset weakness in manufacturing, suggesting an anticipated growth slowdown would be temporary.

The Conference Board said Friday that its Leading Economic Index increased 0.6 percent to 95.0 last month, the highest level since June 2008. The index had slipped 0.2 percent in March.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the index to rise only 0.2 percent in April.

Economic activity is expected to slow in the second quarter as the effects of higher taxes and deep government spending cuts kick in. However, housing and employment are showing some resilience, while manufacturing is showing some strain.

"The biggest positive factor is the potential for improvement in the recovering housing and labor markets," Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement. "The biggest unknown is the resiliency in confidence, both consumer and business."

Gallery: 9 Numbers That'll Tell You How the Economy's Really Doing

1. Gross Domestic Product2. Consumer Price Index3. Unemployment Rate4. Trade Deficit5 & 6. Personal Income and Personal Spending

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]]>conference boardconsumer confidenceconsumer sentimentconsumer spendingeconomic activityEconomic Indicatorseconomic recoveryeconomymanufacturingshoppinguniversity of michiganReutersFri, 17 May 2013 10:16:00 ESTDell First-Quarter Profit Dives as PC Sales Slidehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/17/dell-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/17/dell-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/17/dell-earnings/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Dell logo
Paul Sakuma/AP
By Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dell, the subject of a takeover battle between activist investor Carl Icahn and the company's billionaire founder, reported a 79 percent slide in profit as personal computer sales continued to shrink.

The disappointing results lend weight to Michael Dell's effort. The man who started Dell Inc. (DELL) from a college dorm room wants to take the world's No. 3 PC maker private for $24.4 billion, arguing that its transformation into a provider of enterprise computing services, from mainly a computer maker in a shrinking market, is best done away from public scrutiny.
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Reflecting that shift in focus, Dell said Thursday that revenue from enterprise solutions, services and software jumped 12 percent to $5.5 billion, while overall revenue slipped 2 percent. Its "end-user computing division," linked to PC sales, slid 9 percent.

To augment its enterprise business and go head-to-head with more established players such as IBM (IBM) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Dell is investing heavily on research and sales to retain customers.

Icahn and major stakeholder Southeastern Asset Management, however, dismiss Michael Dell's go-private deal as too cheap for a company trying to become a major provider of enterprise computing. They are proposing new leadership and additional cash or stock for shareholders.

"Hardware margins were pretty abysmal, which should generally support [Michael] Dell's bid," said Morningstar analyst Carr Lanphier. "But Michael Dell's strategy is also to be aggressive in pricing, to win key contracts."

"It doesn't seal the case one way or the other."

A Future

Icahn's and Michael Dell's battle over what direction to take the company underscores the uncertainty in the PC industry, which enjoyed more than a decade of roaring growth until the advent of smartphones and tablets ended that era.

Now, the company that had been upheld as a model of innovation as recently as the early 2000s is steadily ceding ground to lower-cost Asian rivals and mobile hardware makers like Apple Inc. (AAPL).

"We made progress in building our enterprise solutions capabilities in the first quarter," Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said. "We have taken actions to improve our competitive position in key areas of the business, especially in end-user computing, and it has affected profitability."

Margins based on generally accepted accounting principles slid to 19.5 percent from 21.3 percent a year earlier, as total operating expenses climbed 12 percent.

Net income fell to $130 million from $635 million a year earlier. Excluding certain items, income was down 51 percent to $372 million, or 21 cents a share, from $761 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier.

That lagged by far the 35 cents Wall Street had expected.

Revenue in its fiscal first quarter ended May 3 fell to $14.1 billion, higher than the average analyst estimate of $13.5 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company said it couldn't provide a financial outlook because it was in the midst of Michael Dell's go-private deal.

Shares in Dell slid 3 cents to $13.40 in after-hours trade, after closing at $13.43 on Nasdaq.

Gallery: CEO Flameouts

Ron JohnsonCarol BartzLeo ApothekerCharles ConawayBob Nardelli

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]]>Carl IcahnConsumer ElectronicsdellDell earningsearningsmichael dellpc saleswall streetReutersFri, 17 May 2013 06:12:00 ESTWall Street Sags After Fed Comments, But Cisco Surgeshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/16/stock-market-news-fed-cisco/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/16/stock-market-news-fed-cisco/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/16/stock-market-news-fed-cisco/#commentsFiled under: , ,

NYSE traders
Getty Images
By Leah Schnurr

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, with the downturn accelerating late in the day after a Federal Reserve official said the central bank could begin easing up on its monetary stimulus this summer.

The three major U.S. stock indexes had earlier traded in a tight range, supported by a gain of more than 12 percent in Cisco Systems (CSCO) shares and as investors took in a batch of economic data that pointed to slower growth.

But the S&P 500 finished near its session low following the comments from John Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, who also said the Fed could end its bond purchases later this year, assuming the labor market continues to grow stronger. Williams is not a voter on the Fed's policy-setting panel this year.

"When a Fed governor is out there and mentions this possibility, it does spook the market a little because I don't think anybody quite knows how the stock market is going to react once (the stimulus) is taken away," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.

The Fed's purchases of $85 billion a month in bonds has been a significant driver of the rally in equities that has taken indexes to record highs and pushed the S&P 500 up nearly 16 percent this year.

Analysts also said the comments could have been viewed as a reason to take a pause after such a strong run-up in stocks.

"It turned a boring day into a bit of profit taking," Ghriskey said.

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) dropped 42.47 points, or 0.28 percent, to 15,233.22 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^GSPC) fell 8.31 points, or 0.50 percent, to end at 1,650.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMPX) slipped 6.37 points, or 0.18 percent, to finish at 3,465.24.

Earlier, the Dow reached a fresh all-time intraday high at 15,302.49.

The Nasdaq fared better than the other two major indexes as Cisco shot up 12.6 percent at $23.89 after the network equipment maker posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and said current-quarter revenue could increase.

Economic data had set a lackluster tone in markets early in the day as factory activity in the mid-Atlanticregion contracted, while U.S. housing starts plummeted 16.5 percent in April. New claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly jumped last week.

However, investors had speculated that soft underlying inflation also means the Fed has room to continue its economic stimulus.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) fell 1.7 percent to $78.50 and dragged on the Dow after the world's largest retailer posted a quarterly profit that missed expectations, with sales down 1.4 percent at U.S. stores open at least a year.

Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) shares gained 8.7 percent to $92.25 after the electric carmaker said it aims to raise $830 million through a stock-and-debt offering that will be used to repay its U.S. Department of Energy loans with interest. The stock has surged more than 50 percent since the company reported earnings last week.

Gallery: Invest Like a Cicada: 5 Stocks to Buy and Hold Until 2030

FordAppleWalmartProcter & GambleDisney

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]]>ciscoFederal Reservemarket newsteslawalmartReutersThu, 16 May 2013 16:55:00 ESTConsumer Prices Tumble in April, Driven Down by Gas Priceshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/16/consumer-prices-tumble-april-gas-prices/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/16/consumer-prices-tumble-april-gas-prices/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/16/consumer-prices-tumble-april-gas-prices/#commentsFiled under: , ,

gas prices on display at a station in Montpelier, Vt.
Toby Talbot/AP
WASHINGTON -- A sharp drop in gasoline costs led U.S. consumer prices to tumble in April by the most in more than four years, while a gauge of underlying inflation was so weak it could worry the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Labor Department said Thursday its Consumer Price Index slipped 0.4 percent, the biggest decline since December 2008 when America was suffering some of the darkest days of its financial crisis. Analysts had expected a more modest 0.2 percent decline in last month's prices.

The signs of muted inflation pressures could bolster the case for the Fed to remain on its very easy monetary policy path, despite divisions among policymakers over money printing to buy bonds.
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In the 12 months through April, consumer prices rose 1.1 percent. That is well below the Fed's 2 percent inflation goal. The U.S. central bank targets a different gauge of prices that tends to run cooler than the Labor Department's index.

Much of April's decline in prices was fueled by an 8.1 percent dive in gasoline costs, the biggest decline since December 2008.

However, the weakness in the index also extended to a measure of underlying inflation that strips out volatile energy and food prices.

That gauge rose just 0.1 percent, and was up only 1.7 percent from a year earlier. Apparel prices dropped 0.3 percent.

The annual reading for core inflation was at its lowest since June 2011 and could stoke concerns over cooling demand in the U.S. economy, or perhaps even the risk of outright deflation.

Most economists and investors don't think deflation is very likely for America in the coming years, but it would be a central banker's nightmare. Deflation involves spiraling declines in prices and wages and is difficult for policymakers to combat.

Gallery: 9 Numbers That'll Tell You How the Economy's Really Doing

1. Gross Domestic Product2. Consumer Price Index3. Unemployment Rate4. Trade Deficit5 & 6. Personal Income and Personal Spending

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]]>consumer price indexcpiEconomic Indicatorseconomic recoveryeconomygas pricesReutersThu, 16 May 2013 08:58:00 ESTDow, S&P 500 End At Record Highs Againhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/dow-sandp-500-new-records/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/dow-sandp-500-new-records/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/dow-sandp-500-new-records/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Trader on the floor of the NYSE
Getty Images
By Angela Moon

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting new all-time highs in a broad market rally as the recent upward momentum persisted.

The Nasdaq also hit its highest level since November 2000 although gains were limited by a steep decline in Apple (AAPL). Shares of the tech giant sold off in late afternoon trading after filings from hedge funds showed that the one-time Wall Street darling was dropped by more famous hedge fund managers in the first quarter.

But shares of Apple's rival Google (GOOG) shot up to a new record high at $916.38 on news that it has adopted a streaming music business model.

The day's gains were broad, with nine of the S&P 500's 10 sectors ending higher. Among the top gainers were the consumer staples sector index, up 1 percent, and the financial sector, also up 1 percent. The only decliner was the energy sector index, down 0.4 percent.

The overall market showed further signs of strength despite the S&P 500 rising to a record for the fourth session in a row. The broad market index has recorded 15 new closing highs this year.

An options gauge looking at the level of anxiety showed signs that investors are placing optimistic wagers on the stock market, positioning for the current run-up to extend for the next three months.

Equities have rallied in recent weeks as investors bet that central bank stimulus measures will keep supporting market gains.

Such policies have helped spur advances of about 15 percent in major U.S. indexes this year despite data showing some signs of lackluster growth.

In the latest reads on the economy, activity in New York state's manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted in May. Another report showed that U.S. industrial production fell more than expected in April.

"It's disconcerting that the data was so much lower than what we were looking for, but there's no reason for investors to sell," said Michael Binger, senior portfolio manager at Gradient Investments inMinneapolis.

"The main things driving the market - the Fed, earnings, consumer confidence - are holding up, and people put money in the market on any down day. I still see a lot of value."

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) rose 60.44 points, or 0.40 percent, to a record 15,275.69 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^GSPC) added 8.44 points, or 0.51 percent, to finish at a record 1,658.78. TheNasdaq Composite Index (COMPX) gained 9.01 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 3,471.62.

During the session, the Dow touched an all-time intraday high at 15,301.34, while the S&P 500 reached a record intraday peak at 1,661.49. Earlier, the Nasdaq had hit a fresh 52-week high at 3,475.48.

In signs that the rally may strengthen from the current levels, the Credit Suisse Fear Barometer, known as the CSFB Index, fell 11.4 points over the past two weeks - the largest decline on record - and is now at a one-year low of 21.73.

"A low CSFB reading is a constructive signal for the market," Credit Suisse equity derivatives strategist Mandy Xu wrote in a note to clients.

The indicator essentially tracks the willingness of investors to pay for downside protection with zero-premium so-called collar trades that expire in three months, using S&P 500 index options.

Agilent Tech (A) was one of the S&P 500's top percentage gainers, up 3.9 percent to $45.68, a day after the company posted adjusted earnings that beat expectations and doubled its stock-buyback program to $1 billion.

Tech shares also got a lift from Netflix Inc (NFLX), up 4 percent at $243.40, and Yahoo Inc, up 2.6 percent at $27.34. In contrast, Computer Sciences Corp was the S&P 500's biggest loser, dropping 9.7 percent to $44.71 after reporting results.

Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) rose 5.1 percent to $44.34 in anticipation of favorable data from clinical trials of its melanoma drug. Limited data is expected to be released this evening ahead of the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, which begins on May 31.

In other data released on Wednesday, the U.S. Producer Price Index recorded its largest drop in three years in April, falling a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent.

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]]>market newsReutersWed, 15 May 2013 17:15:00 ESTProducer Prices Post Biggest Drop in Three Yearshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/producer-prices-fall-april/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/producer-prices-fall-april/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/producer-prices-fall-april/#commentsFiled under: , ,

consumer pumping gas
Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesProducer prices in April fell the most in three years, led in part by a drop in gasoline prices.
By Lucia Mutikani

U.S. producer prices recorded their largest drop in three years in April as gasoline and food costs tumbled, pointing to weak inflation pressures that should give the Federal Reserve latitude to keep monetary policy very accommodative.

The Labor Department said Wednesday its seasonally adjusted producer price index fell 0.7 percent last month, the biggest decline since February 2010. Wholesale prices had dropped 0.6 percent in March.

A Reuters survey of economists had forecast prices received by the nation's farms, factories and refineries dropping 0.6 percent last month.
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In the 12 months through April, wholesale prices were up only 0.6 percent, the smallest increase since July last year. Prices had increased 1.1 percent in March. Underscoring the tame inflation environment, wholesale prices excluding volatile food and energy costs nudged up 0.1 percent, the smallest increase since November.

The so-called core PPI had risen 0.2 percent in each of the previous four months. In the 12 months through April, core PPI advanced 1.7 percent after rising by the same margin in March.

"With previous falls in some commodity prices still to feed through, a further fall in producer price inflation is on the cards, said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics in London.

"This is especially the case when the weak activity climate is preventing producers from raising margins," he said.

The report was the latest suggestion that disinflation was starting to creep in against the backdrop of lackluster domestic and global demand.

Consumer inflation was muted in March, with a measure closely watched by the Fed slowing sharply below its 2 percent target during the 12-month period. With little sign of pipeline price pressures, consumer inflation should remain low this year.

That should give the U.S. central bank room to maintain its monthly $85 billion purchases of mortgage and Treasury bonds to keep rates low and speed up job growth.

Factories Struggling

Weak domestic and global demand are hurting the nation's factories. A second report showed manufacturing activity in New York state unexpectedly contracted in May as new orders and shipments of finished goods fell.

The New York Federal Reserve's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 1.43 this month from 3.05 in April. Economists had expected the index to rise to 4.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rallied on the reports, while the dollar trimmed gains versus the euro and the yen.

Last month, wholesale gasoline prices fell 6.0 percent after dropping 6.8 percent the prior month. That drop helped to push wholesale energy prices down 2.5 percent.

Weak energy prices accounted for over 80 percent of the drop in wholesale prices last month.

Producer prices were also dampened by a 0.8 percent decline in food prices, the largest fall since May 2011. Food prices were held down by a collapse in the wholesales prices of strawberries, eggs and fresh and dry vegetables.

Away from food and gasoline, passenger car prices slipped 0.2 percent, while light truck prices dipped 0.1 percent.

Gallery: 9 Numbers That'll Tell You How the Economy's Really Doing

1. Gross Domestic Product2. Consumer Price Index3. Unemployment Rate4. Trade Deficit5 & 6. Personal Income and Personal Spending

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]]>Economic Indicatorseconomic recoveryeconomyFederal Reservefood pricesgas pricesinflationppiwholesale pricesReutersWed, 15 May 2013 08:57:00 ESTMacy's Quarterly Profit Rises Along with Same-Store Saleshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/macys-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/macys-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/macys-earnings/#commentsFiled under: , ,

macy's shopper san francisco
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Macy's reported higher first-quarter profit and sales Wednesday despite weak demand from some of its customers, and the department-store operator raised its quarterly dividend 25 percent.

The retailer, which operates the Macy's and Bloomingdale's chains, said comparable sales rose 3.8 percent, below the 4.3 percent jump analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Overall sales were in line with projections, increasing 4 percent to $6.39 billion.
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Macy's Inc. (M) has benefited from large investments in technology, which have allowed it to use its stores to deliver orders placed online, fueling its e-commerce. It has also benefited from a sharp sales decline at rival J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) and a middling performance at Kohl's Corp. (KSS).

Still, Macy's Chief Executive Terry Lundgren said the company saw "weakness" in parts of its clientele, including among its more affluent customers.

U.S. retail sales in April were dented by cool weather in large parts of the country that prompted many consumers to delay spring shopping.

Macy's posted net income of $217 million, or 55 cents a share, for the quarter that ended May 4, up from $181 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier, and topping analysts' average forecast by 2 cents.

Despite the higher-than-expected profit, Macy's stood by its previous forecast for earnings of $3.90 to $3.95 a share for the full year, and a same-store sales rise of 3.5 percent.

The company boosted its quarterly dividend to 25 cents a share from 20 cents and increased its share repurchase authorization by $1.5 billion.

Macy's shares were up 2.7 percent to $48.65 in premarket trading. On Tuesday, the shares hit their highest levels in decades.

Gallery: America's Most Popular Stores

10. Target9. Taco Bell8. CVS7. Walgreens6. Wendy's

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]]>company newsearningseconomyJcPenneykohlsmacysmacys earningsretailsame store salesterry lundgrenReutersWed, 15 May 2013 08:31:00 ESTDeere Posts Higher Earnings, but Warns of Challengeshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/deere-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/deere-earnings/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/15/deere-earnings/#commentsFiled under: , ,

deere tractor farming
Danny Johnston/AP
Deere reported higher-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday and forecast a record profit for the full year, but it said it was cautious because of "global financial pressures as well as adverse weather patterns."

Shares of the Moline, Ill.-based maker of tractors, harvesters and other agricultural equipment fell 4.6 percent to $89.50 in trading before the market opened.
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Deere & Co. (DE) said it earned $1.08 billion, or $2.76 a share, in the second quarter ended April 30, up from $1.06 billion, or $2.61 a share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 9 percent to $10.91 billion.

Analysts on average expected Deere, the world's largest farm equipment manufacturer, to report a profit of $2.72 a share on sales of $9.85 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

In a statement, Chief Executive Officer Samuel Allen said the results reflected a strong global farm economy.

But Allen added, "Deere's near-term forecast is being tempered by lingering economic concerns in many parts of the world, which are restraining business confidence and growth."

Allen also said cool, wet weather in North America had delayed crop planting, slowed construction activity and hurt Deere's sales of turf-care equipment.

Gallery: 9 Numbers That'll Tell You How the Economy's Really Doing

1. Gross Domestic Product2. Consumer Price Index3. Unemployment Rate4. Trade Deficit5 & 6. Personal Income and Personal Spending

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]]>agricultureclimate changecompany newsDeereearningseconomyfarm machineryfarmingglobal warmingstocksReutersWed, 15 May 2013 07:41:00 ESTStock Markets Jump as Banks Lead Dow, S&P to New Highshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/14/stock-markets-jump-banks-lead-dow-sandp-new-highs/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/14/stock-markets-jump-banks-lead-dow-sandp-new-highs/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/14/stock-markets-jump-banks-lead-dow-sandp-new-highs/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

New York Stock Exchange
Richard Drew, AP
By Leah Schnurr

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks rallied to fresh highs on Tuesday as investors picked up large-cap companies' shares on the expectation that central bank stimulus will help propel the rally further.

Gains were broad, but growth sectors outperformed their peers with bank stocks leading the way. Bank of America (BAC), up 2.8 percent at $13.34, was the Dow's biggest percentage gainer, while Citigroup (C) rose 2.4 percent to $50.09.

Wall Street has rallied without a significant correction since the start of the year, pushing major indexes to all-time records and pushing the S&P 500 up almost 16 percent for 2013 so far. The ascent has been driven in large part by the Federal Reserve's easy monetary policy, designed to stimulate the economy, though investors' focus has turned to when the Fed may start to rein in its bond-purchase program.

"The developed economies of the world are all easing aggressively, the money is looking for a home, and it's ending up in the stock markets," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

For now, investors are betting that the central bank will be careful not to remove its support too soon in order to not disrupt the economic recovery it is trying to foster, Hellwig said. So far, declines in the market have been met with buying and investors are trying to gauge how long that can last.

"People are indeed trying to participate in the rally, but at the same time, they're trying to be cautious," said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer of Commonwealth Financial, based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The S&P 500 financial sector index rose 1.7 percent, while the S&P transports group index gained 1.4 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 123.57 points, or 0.82 percent, to a record 15,215.25 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 16.57 points, or 1.01 percent, to end at a record 1,650.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 23.82 points, or 0.69 percent, to 3,462.61, its highest close since November 2000.

During the session, the Dow hit an all-time intraday high of 15,219.55, while the S&P 500 climbed to an all-time intraday high of 1,651.10. The Nasdaq touched a fresh 52-week high of 3,468.67.

The market had traded sideways for the past three sessions, showing a gain of just 0.07 percent as the winding down of the quarterly earnings season and a light economic calendar have left investors without a strong catalyst for further gains.

The Dow's gains were limited by weakness in Intel (INTC), down 1 percent at $23.84, and UnitedHealth Group (UNH), off 1.1 percent at $61.73.

U.S.-listed shares of Sony (SNE) jumped 9.9 percent to $20.76 after billionaire hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb called on the company to spin off its lucrative entertainment arm.

Nokia (NOK) unveiled a new version of its Lumia smartphone line, but U.S.-listed shares fell 5.2 percent to $3.64. Research company Gartner said Nokia lost 5 percentage points of market share in the first quarter, falling to 14.8 percent.

Solar power companies' shares fell after Trina Solar (TSL) estimated lower panel shipments than a previous outlook and said its results would be hurt by a foreign currency exchange loss. The stock fell 8.8 percent to $5.41, while Yingli Green Energy (YGE) slid 6.3 percent to $2.36.

Most corporate earnings have been better than expected this quarter. With 90 percent of the S&P 500 companies having reported results so far, 67.2 percent have topped earnings expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, which is even with the average over the past four quarters. However, only 46.9 percent have beaten revenue expectations, below the 52 percent average over the past four quarters.

Gallery: 16 Big Bubbles That Are Getting Ready To Burst

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]]>CitigroupDJIADow Jones Industrial AverageFederal Reserve SystemFinanceIndexIntelNASDAQNasdaq CompositeNokia OYJSolar PowerSonySP 500Standard Poorsstock market todayTrina Solar LtdUnitedHealth GroupWall StreetYingliReutersTue, 14 May 2013 17:00:00 ESTCheaper Oil Drives Import Prices Down in Aprilhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/14/cheaper-oil-drives-import-prices-down-april/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/14/cheaper-oil-drives-import-prices-down-april/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/14/cheaper-oil-drives-import-prices-down-april/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

driver pumps gas
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
By Jason Lange

WASHINGTON -- U.S. import prices fell in April due to a drop in oil costs, a positive sign for household finances that also pointed to benign inflation pressures.

Import prices slipped 0.5 percent last month, the biggest decline since December, the Labor Department said on Tuesday. March's data was revised to show a 0.2 percent decline instead of the previously reported 0.5 percent drop.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices to fall 0.5 percent last month. In the 12 months to April, import prices fell 2.6 percent.
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Stripping out petroleum, import prices dropped 0.1 percent.

The tame inflation environment should allow the Federal Reserve to stay on its ultra-easy monetary policy course as it tries to nurse the economy back to health.

At its policy meeting earlier this month the central bank decided to continue buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month to push long-term interest rates downward.

At the same time, the economy has lately shown signs of resilience despite austerity measures enacted this year by Washington.

The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its gauge of confidence for small U.S. businesses rose in April to its highest in six months.

Lower oil prices are also helping household finances. The United States imports much of the fuel it consumes. Last month, imported petroleum prices fell 1.9 percent.

The Labor Department report also showed export prices fell 0.7 percent last month, the largest decline since June.

Gallery: 9 Numbers That'll Tell You How the Economy's Really Doing

1. Gross Domestic Product2. Consumer Price Index3. Unemployment Rate4. Trade Deficit5 & 6. Personal Income and Personal Spending

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]]>aprileconomic dataEconomic Indicatorseconomic recoveryeconomyhousehold financesimport pricesLabor Departmentoil pricesReutersTue, 14 May 2013 08:45:00 ESTU.S. Retail Sales Rise Unexpectedly in Aprilhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/april-retail-sales/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/april-retail-sales/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/april-retail-sales/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

shoppers clothing store retail sales april
Toby Talbot/AP
By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON -- U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in April as households bought automobiles, building materials and a range of other goods, pointing to underlying strength in the economy.

The Commerce Department said Monday retail sales edged up 0.1 percent after a revised 0.5 percent decline in March.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected retail sales, which account for about 30 percent of consumer spending, to drop 0.3 percent last month after a previously reported 0.4 percent decline in March.

So-called core sales, which strip out automobiles, gasoline and building materials and correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, increased 0.5 percent after nudging up 0.1 percent in March.
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The increase in core sales, coming on the heels of relatively strong job growth during the last three months, should help to ally fears of an abrupt slowdown in the economy early in the second quarter even as government austerity is starting to put a strain on manufacturing.

"Consumer spending looks to have started the second quarter off on a solid note," said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.

U.S. stock index futures trimmed losses, while the dollar rose against the yen and the euro. Prices for U.S. Treasury debt fell.

Households are spending despite incomes being pinched by the end of a 2 percent payroll tax cut on Jan. 1. In addition, across-the-board government spending cuts kicked in March 1.

The economy grew at a modest 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter. The second-quarter growth pace is seen below 2 percent.

The tone of the retail sales report was mostly firm. Receipts at auto dealerships rose 1.0 percent after falling 0.6 percent in March. Excluding autos, sales dropped 0.1 percent after falling 0.4 percent in March.

Though falling gasoline prices pushed down receipts at gasoline stations, sales excluding gasoline recorded their largest increase since December.

Stripping out gasoline and autos, sales rose 0.6 percent.

Sales at building materials and garden equipment suppliers increased 1.5 percent, the largest rise since September. That reflects gains in homebuilding as the housing market recovery gains momentum.

Receipts at clothing stores rose 1.2 percent, the biggest increase since February last year.

Sales at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores gained 0.5 percent. Receipts at electronics and appliances stores increased 0.8 percent, while sales at furniture stores were flat. Sales at restaurants and bars also increased.

However, receipts at grocery stores fell.

Gallery: 9 Numbers That'll Tell You How the Economy's Really Doing

1. Gross Domestic Product2. Consumer Price Index3. Unemployment Rate4. Trade Deficit5 & 6. Personal Income and Personal Spending

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]]>april retail salesautomobilebuildingconstructionconsumer spendingEconomic Indicatorseconomic recoveryeconomyretail salesReutersMon, 13 May 2013 08:48:00 ESTBloomberg Probed Over Reporters' Access to Client Datahttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/bloomberg-probed-reporters-access-client-data/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/bloomberg-probed-reporters-access-client-data/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/bloomberg-probed-reporters-access-client-data/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Bloomberg computer terminal
AlamyA Bloomberg LP financial-data terminal.
By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Jennifer Saba

Bloomberg customers, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury, were examining Saturday whether there could have been leaks of confidential information, even as the media company restricted its reporters' access to client data and created a position to oversee compliance in a bid to assuage privacy concerns.

The financial data and news company, whose computer terminals are widely used on Wall Street, had allowed journalists to see some information about terminal usage, including when customers had last logged in, and how often they used messaging or looked up data on broad categories, such as equities or bonds.

Bloomberg LP CEO Daniel Doctoroff said in a statement Friday that the firm restricted reporters' access last month after a client complained.

The client, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), flagged the matter to Bloomberg after a news service reporter in Hong Kong asked the bank about a partner's employment status, noting the person had not logged on in some time. Goldman found that journalists had access to far more information than the bank had known, and argued the information was sensitive and shouldn't be seen by reporters.
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"Having recognized this mistake, we took immediate action," Doctoroff said in the statement posted on Bloomberg's blog. He said the company had created a position of client data compliance officer to ensure its news operations never have access to confidential customer data. He added that even under the previous policy, Bloomberg reporters could not see which particular news stories clients read, or the specific securities they viewed. Bloomberg has about 2,400 journalists worldwide.

While some said the concerns were overstated, the news triggered fears about privacy of sensitive data at Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) as well as at the Fed and some U.S. government departments that use Bloomberg terminals.

A Fed spokeswoman said Saturday that "we are looking into this situation and have been in touch with Bloomberg to learn more." A source briefed on the situation said the Treasury Department was looking into the question as well.

Senior Goldman executives argued that while the information Bloomberg reporters had was limited, a trader could easily make money just by knowing what type of securities some high-profile users were looking at, or what questions a government official raised with Bloomberg's help desk, people with direct knowledge of their views said.

They also began to worry about who else had access to such information. The issue made people inside the bank uncomfortable even with Bloomberg's marketing and sales team's access to information, they said.

For instance, if a trader pulls up quotes for a certain type of security several times, sometimes a message pops up from Bloomberg customer support staff offering other products and functions that might be useful. While this was once seen as a common practice, it has started to make traders uncomfortable about who has access to their personal information, the sources said.

Bloomberg pointed to Doctoroff's statement Friday and declined to comment further.

Privately held Bloomberg gets the bulk of its revenue from terminal sales to financial institutions. The company has more than 315,000 terminal subscribers globally, with each Bloomberg terminal costing more than $20,000 a year. Last year, it posted revenue of $7.9 billion.

A person briefed on the situation at Bloomberg said on Friday that no Bloomberg clients had so far canceled their subscriptions because of the issue.

John Brynjolfsson, chief investment officer of hedge fund Armored Wolf, said the concerns were overblown.

"Everyone, with a single brain cell, personally assesses the tension between their privacy and their productivity," Brynjolfsson said. "Some I know keep their Bloomberg -- and life more generally -- locked down, so people can't even find their name to message them. They give their ID to those they want."

Thomson Reuters, the parent of Reuters News, competes with Bloomberg. In a statement, Thomson Reuters said its news division operates "completely independently with reporters having no access to non-public data on its customers, especially any data relating to its customers' use of its products or services.

"Thomson Reuters collects and analyses customer data to improve product functionality and customer experience. No Reuters news staff have access to any of this data. There are strict controls in place that limit the access of this information amongst other Thomson Reuters staff," the company said.

Deeply Troubling

At Goldman Sachs and other big clients including JPMorgan, the level of information Bloomberg reporters had access to deeply troubled executives, who were stunned to learn that what they considered sensitive financial information could become public, sources with direct knowledge of discussions inside the firms said.

After the Bloomberg reporter in Hong Kong approached the bank in April, Goldman representatives took up the issue with Bloomberg editors and executives of the company, including Doctoroff. Goldman staff also called former Bloomberg journalists to find out whether the practice of using clients' login information was common, and to find out precisely what journalists could see, these sources said.

At JPMorgan, the bank's public relations staffers also fumed to one another last year that reporters called repeatedly to inquire whether Bruno Iskil, the "London Whale" trader who was part of a team that lost more than $6 billion in losses, had left the bank because he had not logged onto his terminal in several days, a source with direct knowledge of these discussions said.

JPMorgan didn't formally bring the matter to Bloomberg's attention, the source said. Bloomberg said it had no record of a complaint.

Bloomberg's terminal has various command codes that with the click of a few buttons allow users to look up news about specific companies or topics, and data on specific securities or broader markets. Subscribers can also see information on fellow Bloomberg users, such as phone numbers, work titles, email and Bloomberg messaging addresses. Inside Bloomberg, some employees have access to much more detailed and current user data, for sales and marketing purposes.

Journalists had access to some of that information, but not all of it.



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]]>bloombergDaniel DoctoroffFederal ReserveGoldman SachsjournalismJPMorgan Chaselondon whaleTreasuryReutersMon, 13 May 2013 08:16:00 ESTDimon May Leave JPMorgan If Stripped of Chairmanshiphttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/jamie-dimon-may-leave-jpmorgan/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/jamie-dimon-may-leave-jpmorgan/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/13/jamie-dimon-may-leave-jpmorgan/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

jpmorgan chase president chairman ceo jamie dimon
J. Scott Applewhite/APJPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.
JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said he may consider leaving the bank where he has held the top post since 2005, if shareholders vote to split his duties, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Shareholders will vote later this month at an annual meeting in Tampa, Fla., on a non-binding proposal to separate the chairman and chief executive roles after a more than $6 billion trading loss last year raised questions about risk oversight.
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At first, Dimon said he wouldn't comment publicly on what he would do if the vote went against him, but when pressed he added that the worst-case scenario would be to leave the bank, the newspaper said, citing sources that attended a private meeting at the company's New York headquarters.

Results of the vote will be announced on May 21, but it remains unclear what the board will do if the proposal passes.

Among the investors who attended Monday's meeting, the Journal said, were top 10 shareholders Fidelity Investments and MFS Investment Management, as well as TIAA-CREF Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Proxy advisory firms Institutional Investors Services and Glass Lewis & Co. said that the losing "London Whale" derivatives trades that cost the bank $6.2 billion last year showed the board had failed in its oversight of JPMorgan executives. The firms also recommended that some board members not be re-elected.

Two ranking JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) directors issued a letter to shareholders Friday, arguing against recommendations. The letter, signed by presiding director Lee Raymond and corporate governance and nominating committee chairman William Weldon, said the advisory firms focused too narrowly on the trading losses and that the changes would be disruptive and not in shareholders' best interests.

A similar proposal to split the roles garnered the approval of 40 percent of shareholders last year.

Gallery: America's Nine Most Damaged Brands

9. J.P. Morgan8. BlackBerry7. Groupon6. Best Buy5. J.C. Penney

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]]>banksceofinanceinvestorsjamie dimonJPMorgan Chaselondon whaleshareholdersReutersMon, 13 May 2013 07:53:00 ESTNews Corp Results Beat Estimates, Spin-Off On Trackhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/09/news-corp-results-spin-off/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/09/news-corp-results-spin-off/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/09/news-corp-results-spin-off/#commentsFiled under: , ,

News Corp headquarters
Getty Images
By Lisa Richwine

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS) reported quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, aided by growth at its cable networks, and said it is on track to split off its slow-growing publishing business by the end of June.

The company's cable and entertainment businesses, including movie studio 20th Century Fox, will constitute a renamed company under the same management, called 21st Century Fox. The spun-off print properties will be grouped together as News Corporation, with different executive leadership. (Quartz has published a helpful graphic on the spin-off plan.)

News Corp.'s revenue rose 14 percent from a year earlier to $9.5 billion in the quarter, ended March 31, News Corp. said Wednesday. The company posted adjusted earnings of 36 cents per share, just beating the 35 cents expected on average by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

News Corp. shares rose 3.6 percent to $33.00 in after-hours trading, after closing at $31.86 on the Nasdaq.

One-time items, including the purchase of a controlling stake in German pay TV operator Sky Deutschland and the sale of an ownership stake in New Zealand's Sky Network Television, helped lift net income to $2.85 billion, a jump from $937 million a year earlier.

The New York-based company said it is on track to separate its cable channels, movie studio and other fast growing entertainment assets from its newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, near the end of its fiscal year in June.

News Corp.'s entertainment assets helped boost revenue and earnings for the quarter, led by its cable networks business, which includes the Fox News Channel, FX and regional sports networks.

Operating income at the cable network programming unit rose 17 percent from a year earlier to $993 million, as channels in the United States and abroad commanded higher fees from cable operators and more advertising revenue.

News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said the company will invest to build new cable networks, with the launch in August of Fox Sports 1, a competitor to Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN, and FXX, aimed at young adults, in September. The company intends to spend "a couple hundred million and change" over the next year to build those channels and some international networks, Carey said.

The media company is also trying to improve the Fox broadcast network, whose ratings slid this fall as aging singing competition "American Idol" drew a smaller audience.

"We are clearly disappointed with this season's ratings at the Fox broadcast network, and are taking steps now to improve next season's lineup," Carey told analysts on a conference call.

Lower advertising revenue for "Idol" dragged down the performance of the television unit, whose operating income still increased 15 percent, the company said.

The 20th Century Fox movie studio gained from the success of Oscar-winning film "Life of Pi," which grossed $600 million at theaters worldwide, and home entertainment sales from thriller "Taken 2" and animated hit "Ice Age: Continental Drift."

Operating income at the publishing unit, which includes its newspapers and the HarperCollins book publishing business, declined to $85 million, from $130 million a year earlier.

The company recorded $42 million in the quarter for costs related to investigations of phone hacking at its newspapers in Britain.

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]]>earningsmedianews corprupert murdochspinoffReutersThu, 09 May 2013 09:10:00 EST