Iraq began loading crude oil Friday from a second offshore export terminal in the Persian Gulf, part of a major project to boost Iraq’s income.
Also Friday, the government agreed to allow ExxonMobil Corp. to continue working in one of Iraq’s biggest oil fields.
Dhia Jaafar, the head of State-run South Oil Company, said that the pumping started late Thursday from the terminal when a ship with a capacity of 2 million barrels docked near its platform to be loaded with oil.
The crude is being pumped from the terminal at a rate of 35,000 barrels an hour.
The new terminal is the second of five that will eventually handle about 5 million barrels a day. They will help Iraq to bring in sorely needed cash for reconstruction after decades of war and international sanctions.
With the opening of the two terminals, Basra export capacity has been raised to around 3.5 million barrels a day, he said.
Jaafar also said ExxonMobil Corp payday advance. will continue working in the 8.6 billion-barrel West Qurna Stage 1 field in Basra province, even though it has been banned from bidding on developing gas fields next month.
Iraq said that Exxon is not allowed to bid in the May auction of 12 exploration blocks nationwide because of its refusal to abandon its deals with the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The Texas-based Exxon signed six deal with the Kurds last October to search for oil in six areas, bypassing the Baghdad government, which maintains that it must ratify all such contracts.
“ExxonMobil has given assurances that it will sort out its problems in Kurdistan,” Jaafar explained. “Therefore, the government allowed it to continue working in West Qurna.”
Stocks in the U.S. fell slightly at midday Thursday as investors weighed stronger corporate earnings against disappointing economic reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 23 points to 13,010 at noon. The S&P 500 dropped 3 points to 1,382.
Morgan Stanley rose 1.4 percent after the bank trounced Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates. UnitedHealth Group Inc. rose 2.7 percent after reporting higher profits. EBay, Southwest Airlines and Bank of America also beat forecasts.
Stock indexes fell after two relatively weak economic reports came out mid-morning. An index of regional manufacturing compiled by the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve dropped sharply, and the National Association of Realtors said home sales fell 2.6 percent last month.
Earlier, the Labor Department said applications for unemployment benefits dipped 2,000 to 386,000. When the number is above 375,000, investors take it as a sign that hiring isn’t strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.
“None of these (reports) were disastrous, but they’re not as strong as we like to see,” said Brian Lazorishak, a portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Va. Still, he added, “We’ve had good numbers out of some companies, so maybe we have some room for upside here.”
In other trading, the Nasdaq composite index fell one point to 3,030.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks fell on worries that European efforts to help governments there pay off their debt could hit new roadblocks bad credit personal loan lenders. The Bank of Spain had reported that bad loans at the country’s banks had hit an 18-year high.
Before the opening bell Thursday, investors were nervously watching a sale of new Spanish government bonds. The auction met with high demand, and more bonds were sold than expected. But yields rose anyway. The yield on Spanish 10-year notes rose to 5.87 percent, an increase of 0.06 percentage point.
European markets mostly fell. Spain’s IBEX index fell 2.4 percent, Greece’s main index 1.8 percent and France’s CAC-40 fell 2 percent.
In other corporate news, Tumi Holdings, a maker of high-end luggage, jumped 47 percent to $26.50 on its first day of trading.
The U.S.-listed shares of cell phone maker Nokia sank 3.6 percent after the Finnish company reported a loss for the first three months of the year and a 40 percent plunge in device sales. The company faces fierce competition from Apple’s iPhone and handset makers that use Google’s Android software.
Human Genome Sciences doubled to $14.31 after the company spurned a takeover offer from GlaxoSmithKline of $13 per share, saying it undervalues the company. The biotech drug maker, which produces the lupus treatment Benlysta, said it would consider other options including a sale of the company.
The Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday that its net income rose 8 percent in the first quarter as it hiked prices and sold more of its beverages around the world.
Although volume growth came from all regions, the world’s largest drink maker said increases were far greater in emerging markets. In the Eurasia and Africa region, for example, volume grew 9 percent, compared with a 2 percent increase in North America.
The company also had strong growth beyond its soda as consumers increasingly have become concerned about drinking and eating healthy. Global volume for bottled water grew 15 percent in the quarter, while energy drinks volume rose 25 percent. That surpassed the volume gains in the company’s namesake Coca-Cola soda, which increased 4 percent.
Even the slight bump in volume in North America was driven largely by the company’s Powerade energy drinks, Dasani bottled water and zero-calorie vitaminwater.
Despite the competition and market saturation at home, CEO Muhtar Kent said: “We believe North America is a growth market for our business.”
Total revenue was $11.14 billion for the three months ended March 30, up 6 percent from $10.52 billion a year ago, in large part because of higher prices in areas like North America. Analysts expected revenue of $10.82 billion for the latest quarter.
Coke said it earned $2.05 billion, or 89 cents per share, a penny per share above what analysts polled by FactSet had expected. In the year-ago period, it had net income of $1.9 billion, or 82 cents per share.
The company also said that the cost-cutting program it began in the quarter is on track. When completed, the measures are expected to save up to $650 million annually by 2015.
Coke is looking to trim costs wherever possible to offset rising commodity prices, which continue to eat into profits for food and drink makers industry-wide. Coke said its cost of goods rose 10 percent in the quarter.
Kent noted that Coke’s global marketing campaign for the summer Olympics in London is set to strengthen its brands by “tapping into emotional passion points like sports and music.”
Shares of Coca-Cola rose $1.04, or 1.4 percent, to $73.48 in premarket trading.
NEW YORK, N.Y.
While the experts would have you believe that identity theft is a growing problem, the chance of losing money to this type of consumer fraud is actually fairly small. But while the dollar amount of losses and number of people it affects may not be big, if it does happen to you it can be a mess to untangle.
Identity theft is a broad term that includes things ranging from a credit or debit card being compromised to a more severe problem like real estate title fraud, when a thief mortgages your property and disappears with the money. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says about 18,500 Canadians were victims of identity theft in 2010, the latest year complete figures are available for. They lost a collective $9.4 million, or about $510 a person. In many cases banks and other lenders absorbed the losses when their customers were victimized.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Competition Bureau Canada jointly manage the CAFC. The agency says that the most likely targets of identity theft are between 50 and 59 and the victims are often duped into giving the information that leads to the fraud. One common scam is through phone calls and emails that claim you
Asian stock markets fell Thursday after a weak Spanish bond auction inflamed concerns about the European debt crisis and hopes faded for more help for the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1 percent to 9,717.93, after hitting its lowest intraday point since March 8 at 9,692.70.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 1.5 percent to 20,489.01 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8 percent to 2,002.69. Falling commodity prices dragged Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 down 0.9 percent to 4,296.80.
The debt crisis in Europe flared anew Wednesday after a disappointing auction of government debt in Spain signaled investor confidence in the country’s finances is weakening. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 125 points, and the price of gold plunged to its lowest level since January.
That compounded worries that arose Tuesday, when minutes released from the March meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee gave no hint of a third round of bond purchases, dubbed quantitative easing III or QE3, to support the U.S. economy.
The Fed has already carried out two rounds of bond-buying, most recently in August 2010, to drive down long-term interest rates easy pay day loans. Low bond yields generally encourage investors to shift money to buying stocks.
Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in an email that “markets remained under pressure with a further digestion of the Fed’s minutes which shows no hints for QE3.”
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 1 percent at 13,074.75. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished down 1 percent at 1,398.96. The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.5 percent to 3,068.09.
Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 48 cents to $101.95 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.54 to finish at $101.47 a barrel in New York on Wednesday. It had not closed below $102 per barrel since Feb. 15.
In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3152 from $1.3139 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 82.22 yen from 82.58 yen.
Oil prices fell to near $106 a barrel Monday in Asia as investors mulled how much the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program might disrupt global crude supplies.
Benchmark oil for May delivery was down 44 cents to $106.43 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.52 to $106.87 per barrel in New York on Friday.
Brent crude for May delivery was down 42 cents at $124.71 per barrel in London.
Crude has hovered between $105 and $110 for the last month, up from $75 in October, amid worries that a military strike by Israel or the U.S. on Iran’s nuclear facilities could disrupt supplies from the oil-rich Middle East. On Friday, reports said Iran’s crude exports fell sharply last month, suggesting sanctions imposed by Western powers have begun to impact that country’s economy.
President Barack Obama said Sunday that there is still time to resolve the dispute over Iran nuclear program diplomatically, but that the window is closing.
“A sizable risk premium is likely to remain in place for some time while the Iranian situation goes unresolved,” National Australia Bank said in a report. It “suggests that prices through 2012 will continue to sit north of $100.”
Signs of tepid crude demand in the U.S. and Europe and slowing economic growth in China were weighing on prices. Analysts are also concerned higher fuel costs will undermine consumer spending and trigger inflation.
“Elevated oil prices are beginning to take a toll on emerging market economies,” Morgan Stanley said in a report.
In other energy trading, heating oil was down 0.4 cent at $3.22 per gallon and gasoline futures fell 0.2 cents at $3.37 per gallon. Natural gas gained 1.4 cents at $2.29 per 1,000 cubic feet.
EDM Inc. named Chris Kerckhoff its director of business development.
Kerckhoff has more than 30 years of experience in construction/business development. He formerly was a principal with CS Consulting, and he was co-founder and principal in business development with CB&E, where he spent more than 10 years helping to guide that start-up business.
He is a member of AGC St. Louis-Green Building Task Force and Safety and Health Committee, the U payday loans.S. Green Building Council and the Landmarks Association of St. Louis.
Kerckhoff has a bachelor’s degree in real estate and construction management from the University of Denver.
With just five days to go for nations to put forward nominees to lead the World Bank, there are few signs the United States has finalized its choice to lead the global development lender.
The United States has held the presidency of the Bank since its founding after World War Two, while a European has always led its sister institution - the International Monetary Fund.
But Washington has yet to publicly identify a candidate and some observers think the delay could signal that the White House is having a hard time convincing possible candidates to take the job. The White House and Treasury Department have declined to comment.
Sources with knowledge of the administration’s thinking say the hope was to convince a woman to enter the race to replace Robert Zoellick, who has said he will step down when his term expires at the end of June.
Naming a woman could go some way to address calls from emerging-market nations for a change in the status quo. A woman has never led the bank.
Two sources said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was a leading contender. However, it is not clear she wants the job. Rice’s name often surfaces as a possible candidate to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
When asked last week how she would help South Sudan if she was president of the World Bank, Rice replied: “Ridiculously hypothetical.”
Senator John Kerry and PepsiCo’s Indian-born CEO Indra Nooyi had also made an Obama administration short list, according to a source, although Kerry has publicly ruled out the job and another source said Nooyi was no longer in contention.
Another short-list member, Lawrence Summers, a former adviser to President Barack Obama and a one-time Treasury secretary, has declined to comment. He told Reuters he would leave the selection process to the officials in charge of it.
LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN
The delay in identifying a U.S. nominee could leave the door open to a dark-horse candidate from the United States. It has also given other nations time to consider their own nominees.
“It wouldn’t be the first time in history that the White House had to scramble a bit,” said Whitney Debevoise, a former director to the World Bank board.
“I think they have lost the opportunity to put a name out there early and make it uncontested,” he added. “Usually … if the U.S. puts a name out there, then nobody else wants to put their name up because they know they don’t have a chance.”
Emerging and developing countries have been pushing to have more say at both the World Bank and IMF, and have said the decision on Zoellick’s successor should be merit-based.
Developing and emerging market economies are currently in consultations on putting forward names of non-U.S. candidates. The dilemma for developing regions, however, is finding candidates willing to come forward in a race in which the outcome is felt to be pre-ordained.
Indeed, the two most talked about names among developing countries are former World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, now Nigeria’s finance minister, and Trevor Manuel, the South African national planning minister pay day loans. Former Indonesian finance minister and current World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and Mexico’s central bank governor Agustin Carstens have ruled themselves out.
World Bank board sources said there were also talks under way about possibly appointing a candidate from a developing or emerging economy to head the Bank’s private-sector lender, the International Finance Corp. IFC CEOs have mainly been European.
The World Bank’s 24-member board, which represents all of the institution’s 187 member countries, has set a deadline for Friday for nominations to lead the Bank, and has said it would decide on the next president within a month.
ONE MAN RACE
U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University, is the only formal candidate to have emerged so far. He has been formally nominated by Bhutan and a cluster of developing countries including East Timor, Jordan, Kenya, Namibia and Malaysia.
“Jeffrey Sachs is a good economist and a very good candidate, but we expect to see the rest of the names and what follows in the process,” Mexican Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said on Sunday.
Last week, 27 lawmakers wrote to President Barack Obama to “strongly” encourage him to nominate Sachs. Sachs, whose self-proclaimed candidacy aims to challenge what he sees as a history of political appointments by the White House, acknowledges he lacks the Obama administration’s support.
“They’re not talking to me,” he told Reuters.
With his early nomination, Sachs has had a head start in lobbying for support among developing countries where he has a proven track record on issues such as education, health, climate change and fighting poverty.
“I have spoken with at least a couple of dozen leaders around the world in the last week and believe I have strong worldwide support in every region of the developing countries, and a lot of support in Europe as well,” Sachs said.
“For the European countries, they are not surprisingly saying that they are overwhelmingly likely to defer to the U.S. nominee and that they are waiting for that,” he added.
Sachs said while the United States was still likely to determine who gets the job, a desire among developing countries to end tradition suggested that was not a sure bet.
“I don’t think it is automatic because of feelings that this is an important institution and an important moment, and I don’t think the U.S. has simply the green light to choose anybody.”
Officials argued that it is important for the United States to retain the presidency of the bank, otherwise political support and funding for the institution could erode, given that Congress is focused on budget cutting.
The United States is the World Bank’s largest donor.
(This version of the story has been corrected to fix the date in the dateline)
Sotheby’s auction house says News Corp. executive James Murdoch is stepping down from its board.
In a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the auctioneer said Murdoch had decided not to stand for re-election at Sotheby’s May 8 annual meeting in order to focus on his role as News Corp.’s deputy chief operating officer.
Murdoch, he younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has been shedding posts to concentrate on his role in his father’s television business.
Last month he quit as chairman of News International, News Corp.’s British newspaper division.
He has repeatedly denied knowing about widespread phone hacking at the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid, though his account has been contradicted by former associates.
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