Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties continued to see upward movement in the number of bankruptcy filings last month.
Only Palm Beach County showed some moderation in the number of business bankruptcies when compared to August 2009.
In the three-county area, personal bankruptcy filings were up 59 percent, to 3,387 from 2,127 in August 2009, and up 6 percent from July. Business bankruptcy filings rose 7 percent, to 119 from 111, a year earlier, but were down 17 percent from July.
In Miami-Dade County, personal bankruptcy filings rose 74 percent, year-over-year, to 1,788 cases opened, and 5 percent over July. There were 49 new business bankruptcies for Miami-Dade in August, up from 40 last year, but down from 57 in July.
Personal bankruptcy filings in Broward rose 50 percent over last year, to 1,067 cases opened, and rose 12 percent compared to July. There were 43 new business bankruptcies filed in Broward County in August, up from 41 last year, but down from 47 in July.
Palm Beach County personal bankruptcies rose 36 percent, year-over-year, to 532, but decreased by 4 percent compared to July. There were 27 new business bankruptcy filings in Palm Beach County in August, down from 30 cases last year and 40 cases in July.
The American Bankruptcy Institute said August consumer filings nationwide rose 6 percent to 127,028 from 119,874 a year earlier, but fell 8 percent from the July total.
“While monthly filings are volatile, consumer bankruptcies are still the highest they have been since Congress overhauled the bankruptcy law in 2005,” ABI Executive Director Samuel Gerdano said. “Consumer filings remain on track to top 1.6 million filings in 2010.”
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Maintenance and procedural problems at a Gilead Sciences Inc. manufacturing and distribution facility could land the HIV drug maker a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday, Foster City-based Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) said a routine FDA inspection of its San Dimas facility in February raised concerns from the agency about maintenance of aseptic processing conditions in the manufacturing area for its AmBisome anti-fungal product. The agency also cited environmental maintenance issues in the warehouse, batch sampling and the timeliness of completion of annual product quality reports.
Gilead, which said it has addressed all of the FDA’s concerns, learned in May that the agency “may be considering” issuing a warning letter as a result of the inspection, according to the SEC filing guaranteed payday loan.
A warning letter could hurt Gilead’s ability to receive export certificates or approvals of regulatory applications associated with “the products at issue,” the company said, and “decrease our revenues and harm our business.”
Gilead makes AmBisome and Cayston, a recently approved inhaled drug to treat cystic fibrosis symptoms, at San Dimas. It also fills and finishes Macugen, an injectable drug marketed by Eyetech Inc. to treat age-related macular degeneration, at the facility.
AmBisome had sales of $155.2 million in the first half, Gilead’s largest-selling drug outside of its antiviral products.
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MicroStrategy Inc. reported net income of $11.6 million for the second quarter, compared to $10 million a year ago.
Revenues for the quarter increased 23 percent to $107.5 million from $87.8 million in the same quarter last year.
The McLean-based business software company (NASDAQ: MSTR) product licenses revenue for the second quarter was $28.9 million versus $20.5 million for the second quarter of 2009, a 41 percent increase. Product support and other services revenue for MicroStrategy's core business intelligence business in the second quarter was $74.5 million versus $64.1 million for the second quarter of 2009, a 16 percent increase.
MicroStrategy saw gains in both software licensing sales and product support and services, which now accounts for the majority of its revenue.
Operating expenses for the second quarter were $68.8 million versus $55.3 million for the second quarter of 2009, a 24 percent increase. During the second quarter, MicroStrategy capitalized $2.2 million in research and development costs associated with the development of its MicroStrategy Mobile software, while no software development costs were capitalized during the second quarter of 2009.
MicroStrategy Mobile, a platform that extends business intelligence apps to the iPhone and iPad, was made generally available on June 30, and introduced at MicroStrategy's user conference in Cannes, France, on July 6.
In a statement MicroStrategy President and CEO Michael Saylor said: "The mobile Internet is the next wave of information technology. Many people prefer to consume business intelligence on their mobile devices rather than on their desktop computers, since mobile devices are more portable, always on, and always connected."
Even during the darkest days of the financial crisis, nearly twenty financial firms managed to shell out an estimated $1.6 billion in "ill-advised" payments to their executives, according to a federal report issued Friday.
In his latest review of compensation practices at companies that were bailed out by American taxpayers, White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg condemned those companies for how they rewarded employees between late 2008 and early 2009.
"These 17 exercised poor judgment," said Feinberg. "They shouldn’t have made these payments."
The review was part of a previously-announced effort to shed light on whether any of the early recipients of funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, made excessive payments to employees before Congress passed legislation in February of 2009 requiring greater oversight at bailed-out firms.
Those implicated in Friday’s report included some of the biggest recipients of taxpayer aid. Wall Street investment houses like Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) were both cited as firms that made excessive payments to executives. More traditional lenders like PNC (PNC, Fortune 500) and Buffalo, NY-based M&T Bank (MTB) were included on the list, as was the troubled insurance giant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) and small-business lender CIT Group (CIT).
Spokespeople for several of the 17 companies either declined to comment or were not immediately available.
But others said they supported Feinberg’s efforts to reform compensation practices and said they planned to review the proposal.
"Getting our compensation structure right is a priority for us," said a statement issued by a spokesman for Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), which also made the list.
More than 400 companies underwent review, although less than half of that number actually warranted a closer look because their executives made less than $500,000 payday loan. That was the cutoff point that was established when the program was announced last March.
Despite the breadth of the study, it offered few details about the size of payouts made by individual firms, or how much specific executives were paid — although Feinberg said that several people received more than $10 million during that period.
In a briefing with reporters in Washington Friday, Feinberg said the payouts were "not illegal" and not "contrary to the public interest." He added that he did not have the power to force companies to claw back those payments to employees.
"His mandate was very limited," said Alan Levine, an executive compensation and benefits partner with the New York-based law firm Morrison Cohen.
Feinberg did however, encourage the 17 firms to adopt new rules that would allow them to restructure or cancel pay packages in the event of another financial crisis.
"That’s all I can do," he said. Friday’s report represents the latest, and perhaps the last, ruling by Washington’s pay czar.
Last October, Feinberg slashed pay for top executives at the seven companies that were rescued more than once by the federal government — AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) , Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.
Two months later, he capped salaries for lower-level executives at those same firms at $500,000. Both rulings served as a benchmark for employee pay levels in 2010.
His role at the Treasury Department however is expected to quickly come to a close. He was recently appointed to handle claims related to the BP (BP) oil spill.
The Texas Tribune picked up two more leadership staff Monday, including a former Texas Monthly publisher.
April Hinkle spent 21 years as publisher of Austin-based Texas Monthly magazine, working her way up through various director, manager and executive roles. She will now act as business development director for the nonprofit news website, working to secure more corporate sponsorships.
At the same time, former Deloitte Consulting senior consultant Shadi Afshar was hired to lead audience development. The recent McCombs School of Business graduate is charged with increasing Web traffic, recruiting new members and publicizing editorial projects and events.
In January, the Tribune picked board member and former AOL and Examiner.com executive Michael Sherrod as its first publisher. Two months previous, it removed its general manager position close after hiring Austin Technology Council President Alisha Ring.
Goldman Sachs brought its campaign to improve its image directly to investors Friday as Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the investment bank will do better at "listening to the concerns of our shareholders."
Blankfein also told the company’s annual meeting that Goldman is creating a business standards committee to study its practices as it fights civil fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We need a rigorous self-examination," Blankfein told investors at the meeting, which attracted about 300 people. "Our firm must review our core principles."
The committee, which will report to the Goldman board of directors, will review both services and products Goldman offers, Blankfein said.
Blankfein, who has responded to the SEC charges by saying Goldman has done nothing wrong, offered a softer side Friday. He pledged that the company will be more introspective and listen to issues raised by shareholders quick pay day loan.
Blankfein noted there is a "disconnect" between how the company views itself and how outsiders see Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Blankfein noted that in the last few weeks, questions have been raised about how "we treat our clients."
Regaining the confidence of clients and shareholders is essential, he said.
In the past, Goldman has focused on its big institutional clients and not enough on the public, he said. The company has come under sharp criticism before and after the SEC charges were filed April 16, partly because of the high pay its executives and traders received during the financial crisis and recession.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the city of Sacramento $200,000 to clean up and revitalize the Jibboom Street Power Station in preparation for future development, Rep. Doris Matsui, a Sacramento Democrat, announced Thursday.
Efforts are being made to raise $50 million to build a new Discovery Museum Science and Space Center in the old Pcific Gas & Electric Co. powerhouse there along the Sacramento River.
The award is a part of a $2.6 million package that was awarded to communities across Northern California through the EPA’s Brownfields Program. The program encourages redevelopment of an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.
Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. CEO Tamara Lundgren on Thursday said Portland is uniquely positioned to profit from the nation’s economic rebound.
In a keynote speech at the Portland Business Journal’s annual Women in Business Awards luncheon, Lundgren said exports and sustainability — both strengths of the Portland economy — will be the “dominant drivers” as the U.S. emerges from recession.
Oregon is the ninth-most trade dependent state in the U.S., Lundgren said, but only accounts for 1.4 percent of the national export total, giving it significant room for economic growth.
“With demand from Asia expected to continue, our region is well-placed to grab a bigger portion of the American export pie,” Lundgren said.
Lundgren also said the city’s reputation as a sustainabilty mecca will continue to provide the region economic opportunities.
“This is not a passing fad that will evaporate at the first sign of an economic rebound,” Lundgren said.
Lundgren also weighed in on a controversial plan to limit development on the north reaches of the Willamette River, where Schnitzer owns a scrap metal export facility.
“I don’t intend to wade into the thicket of the city’s River Plan debate, except to say that in the city’s push to make a short-term political decision, it risks the long-term economic and environmental benefits of a balanced plan.”
More than 700 business executives attended the event. Lundgren was also honored as the Woman Executive of the Year for Large Businesses.
Retail gasoline prices are expected to steadily increase into the summer, thanks to a rise in the price of crude oil as more data indicated the U.S. economy may be on the rebound.
The price of crude oil jumped to $84.87 on Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Meanwhile, a pickup in manufacturing jobs and production was reported in the U.S., China, Japan and Europe, and is viewed as evidence of a rebound in international trade. In addition, U.S. companies added 162,000 jobs in March, with fewer Americans filing for unemployment, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
“We will most likely see crude oil stay above $80 a barrel for quite some time, causing retail gasoline prices to steadily increase into the summer,” said Jessica Brady, manager of public relations at AAA.
The national average price of regular retail gasoline is $2.82, a 2-cent increase from last week. Florida’s average price is $2.84, a 1-cent increase from last week, while Orlando’s average is $2.78, also up 1 cent from a week ago.
Bank of Korea Governor Lee Seong Tae kept interest rates unchanged at his final meeting, leaving it to his successor to address political pressure to stoke economic growth.
Lee held the seven-day repurchase rate at a record-low 2 percent in Seoul today after Finance Minister Yoon Jeung Hyun said this week that now “is not the right time” to boost borrowing costs. The decision was forecast by 13 of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. One expected a quarter- point increase.
The government pressed Lee, whose term expires March 31, to hold down rates as the economy shows mixed signs: growth slowed in the fourth quarter, unemployment soared in January, exports have risen for four months and manufacturers’ confidence is at a seven-year high. Since January, Governor Lee has had to accept a vice finance minister sitting in on rate meetings.
Lee appears to have decided to “leave it to his successor to deal with the Finance Ministry pressure resisting a rate hike,” said David Cohen, a Singapore-based economist at Action Economics. “The fact that inflation narrowed a little bit in the latest report gave them a good enough reason to hold off for another month.”
Stocks, Currency
The won weakened 0.2 percent to 1,132.80 per dollar at 12:02 p.m. in Seoul, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency earlier rose as much as 0.4 percent to 1,126.23. The benchmark Kospi stock index fell 0.2 percent to 1,659.15 as of 11:57 a.m. in Seoul today.
The Bank of Korea said in a statement it “will maintain the accommodative policy stance for the time being in such a way as to help sustain the trend of recovery in economic activity.”
“The central bank is unlikely to change the benchmark rate in the second quarter as it will be difficult to change the stance of monetary policy as soon as a new governor is appointed and financial-market concerns over the debt in some countries still linger,” said Lim Jiwon, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Seoul.
President Lee Myung Bak is considering five candidates to head the Bank of Korea, DongA Ilbo newspaper reported last month, citing unidentified central bank and government officials.
These include Euh Yoon Dae, head of a presidential council set up to promote South Korea internationally; ex-Finance Minister Kang Man Soo; Kim Jong Chang, head of the Financial Supervisory Service; Park Cheul, a former deputy governor of the central bank; and Kim Choong Soo, envoy to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the newspaper.
Markets Unconcerned
The failure to announce Governor Lee’s replacement three weeks before his term expires hasn’t spooked the markets instant credit report. The Kospi index has risen 3.8 percent in the past month and the won gained 2.2 percent over the same period.
Finance Minister Yoon told reporters on March 8 that “it is the government’s firm belief that it is not the right time for rate hikes” as business investment is weak and prices are at manageable levels.
Lee Sung Kwon, an economist at Shinhan Investment Corp. in Seoul, said policy makers may have held off on a rate increase as “concerns over tightening measures in China remain.”
China, South Korea’s biggest export market, in February ordered banks to set aside more deposits as reserves for the second time in a month to avert asset bubbles. In the fourth quarter, Chinese gross domestic product increased 10.7 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2007.
Unemployment Rises
In contrast, South Korea’s economy expanded 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter and unemployment surged to a 10-year high of 4.8 percent in January. President Lee has put unemployment at the top of the political agenda, vowing to cut the average jobless rate to about 3 percent this year.
The government boosted this year’s budget by 3 percent to 292.8 trillion won ($258 billion) and will accelerate distribution of funds as it seeks to maintain the recovery.
The central bank said the slowdown in growth in the fourth quarter was a temporary adjustment. In November, it widened the annual inflation target range to between 2 percent and 4 percent. Consumer prices increased 2.7 percent in February.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy is showing signs of strengthening. Exports climbed 31 percent in February from a year earlier, the fourth monthly increase. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s second-largest mobile-phone maker, said its handset shipments may expand about a fifth this year, helped by demand for smartphones.
Manufacturers’ confidence for March rose to the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2002, when the Bank of Korea published its confidence survey on a quarterly basis.
The central bank’s failure to raise rates last year confounded analysts, who forecast it to be one of the first in Asia to move after the economy expanded 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in seven years. Since then, Australia, China, India and Vietnam have tightened monetary policy as Asia leads the recovery from the global recession.
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