Archive for May 2, 2008
{ May 2, 2008 @ 10:49 pm }
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{ Chevron, prices }
{ Tags: Chevron, Gas, higher, net, prices, rises }
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Rounding out an impressive set of results from the major oil producers, Chevron Corp. on Friday said first-quarter net income climbed 10% as revenue jumped on higher prices for crude oil, natural gas and refined products.
The San Ramon, Calif. integrated oil and gas giant said earnings for the three months ended March 31 increased to $5.17 billion, or $2.48 a share, from $4.72 billion, or $2.18 a share in the year-ago period, which included a one-time $700 million gain.
Revenue rose to $65 billion from $46 billion, as the company’s oil and gas production business grew, even as its refining and marketing results were essentially break-even for the period.
Wall Street analysts expected Chevron (CVX:chevron corp new com
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Last: 95.32+0.38+0.40%
4:01pm 05/02/2008
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CVX 95.32, +0.38, +0.4%) to earn $2.39 a share, according to a survey by FactSet.
“Upstream earnings benefited from a significant increase in the price of crude oil from a year ago,” said Chairman and CEO Dave O’Reilly. “However, market conditions prevented our downstream business from fully recovering these higher costs through the price of gasoline and other refined products.”
Shares of Chevron, which rejoined the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJ:Dow Jones Industrial Average
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Last: 13,058.20+48.20+0.37% … continue reading this entry.
{ May 2, 2008 @ 10:47 pm }
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{ Amazon, Careers Employment, Customer Service, Tax, York }
{ Tags: Amazon, for, Law, New, Sues, Tax, York }
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Web retailer Amazon.com Inc. sued New York state and its taxation department to contest the constitutionality of a new state law requiring out-of-state Internet retailers to collect New York state taxes.
The law, which went into effect April 23, requires that out-of-state Web retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in the state if the retailers have New York-based representatives soliciting business on their behalf. The state considers Amazon and other retailers to be subject to this law because they have “affiliate” marketing arrangements. An “affiliate” is someone who advertises Amazon on his Web site and receives sales commissions after a Web site visitor makes a purchase on Amazon.
In its complaint filed April 25 in New York’s Supreme Court, Amazon alleges the law violates several aspects of the U.S. Constitution in its “impermissibly vague and overbroad” nature of requiring Amazon, which has no physical presence or employees based in New York, to collect sales taxes. … continue reading this entry.
{ May 2, 2008 @ 10:46 pm }
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{ Clinton, Fundraising, McCain, Panned }
{ Tags: Break, Clinton, Economists, Gas, McCain, Panned, Push, Tax, Update }
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May 2 (Bloomberg) — Hillary Clinton and John McCain are both pushing a “gas-tax holiday” to give consumers an 18.4- cent-a-gallon price break. Clinton says the plan will take excess profits from oil companies. McCain says it will help families buy school supplies.
Economists have a different take: They say the oil companies may end up the biggest beneficiaries, while the aid to families wouldn’t be enough to buy a $35 backpack.
The trouble with the plan, they say, is that oil prices are rising because of low supplies, and companies will continue to charge the average $3.60 a gallon and just pocket the money that would have gone to federal taxes.
“That’s $10 billion, and it’s going into the pockets of oil refiners,” said Leonard Burman of the Tax Policy Center in Washington. “The last time I checked, they didn’t need it.”
Supplies are “being cleared at the current price,” said Donald Parsons, an economics professor at George Washington University in Washington. “If you take away the tax, you’ll have the same number of consumers willing to buy the gas at the same total price.”
Senator Clinton, 60, a New York Democrat, embraced the proposal that McCain, 71, an Arizona Republican, floated in a speech on April 15. McCain’s idea originated not with his economic advisers but with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
“I don’t know any prominent economist who favors this McCain-Clinton proposal,” Greg Mankiw, former chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and author of a bestselling economics text, said on his blog. … continue reading this entry.
{ May 2, 2008 @ 10:39 pm }
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{ Blackberry, Industrial Mechanical, Internet Business, Over, iPhone }
{ Tags: Battle, Be, Blackberry, Fought, iPhone, Keyboards, Over, Will }
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While Apple may be planning to use its iPhone for a major assault on Research in Motion’s corporate fortress, the maker of the BlackBerry appears to be preparing to turn the tables on Apple.
RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) has been seeking engineers steeped in Apple technology to mount a counter attack of its own.
More Personal Tech InsightsWhite PapersWhy Virtual Worlds Can Matter Introducing DLP 3-D TV Security Evaluation of Apple’s iPhone In spite of all the well-deserved hoopla about the iPhone, RIM still has an impregnable position in enterprise and corporate markets — its tactile QWERTY keyboard is way more accurate than Apple’s glass keyboard and corporate types are less tolerant of e-mail errors than rank and file consumers.
On the other hand, RIM, which has been advertising for experienced Apple technology experts, may be able to replicate the Apple touch screen — other handset makers have similar handset touch screens — easier than Apple can come up with an accurate enough keyboard to satisfy corporate users.
According to Appleinsider Web site, an internal job listing at RIM reads: “As part of a newly-created team, you’ll influence the development and design of BlackBerry software.” The listing goes on to cite a range of requirements running from experience with Mac development, JavaScript, XML, and Mac Sync services. … continue reading this entry.
{ May 2, 2008 @ 10:30 pm }
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{ Entrepreneurialism, Internet Business, Rating }
{ Tags: By, Countrywide, Cut, Junk, Poor, Rating, Standard }
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May 2 (Bloomberg) — Countrywide Financial Corp.’s credit rating was unexpectedly cut to junk by Standard & Poor’s Corp., which cited doubt about whether Bank of America Corp. will back the home lender’s debt after a pending takeover is completed.
The revision reflects “the new level of uncertainty as to the ultimate legal status of Countrywide’s creditors” after the lender’s sale to Bank of America, Standard & Poor’s said in a statement today. Prices on some of Countrywide’s $97.2 billion in debt tumbled and instruments that protect investors from default posted their biggest jump in almost four months.
S&P made the cut just two days after saying it might raise Countrywide’s ratings. The reversal squelched expectations among bond owners that their holdings would become more secure after Bank of America buys Countrywide, and renewed doubts among analysts about whether the $4 billion stock-swap will be completed at all.
“There’s no way that bondholders come out of this with anything but a severe haircut,” said Christopher Whalen, managing director at Institutional Risk Analytics, a banking research firm in Torrance, California. Bank of America may be trying to compensate for the anticipated cost of lawsuits tied to Countrywide mortgages that have gone sour, he said.
Raising Doubt
Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, agreed in January to buy Countrywide, the largest U.S. mortgage lender. The bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, rose 1 percent to $39.79 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Countrywide, based in Calabasas, California, dropped 1.1 percent to $5.98. … continue reading this entry.
{ May 2, 2008 @ 10:29 pm }
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{ Addresses, Microsoft }
{ Tags: Addresses, Ballmer, Employees, Microsoft }
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The following are excerpts of a transcript from a meeting Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer held with Microsoft employees May 1. The company disclosed the comments in an SEC filing. The filing only includes excerpts related to Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo Inc.
STEVE BALLMER: Yeah, anybody live got a question, fine, I’m going to take the first question that was presubmitted. Forty percent of our questions basically are these two.
We’ve been reading a lot about the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal in the newspaper, and recently read a few articles about Yahoo! partnering with Google to avoid being overtaken by Microsoft. As an employee, we would like to understand what’s there in Yahoo! that is attracting Microsoft to buy it.
Two, related, what are our plans to quickly get onto number two position if the Yahoo! bid doesn’t work?
I’ll consider that open season to kind of talk about what we’re trying to get done with Yahoo! — not open season on Yahoo!, open season on what we’re trying to get done — (laughter) — with Yahoo!
There’s a few things people have to have in their minds, because it’s really important, and then I’ll give you a context as to the tactics and what’s going on in the newspaper.
We are absolutely 100 percent determined to build the most interesting position in the world in online advertising, media, and the kind of social connected search and media experiences that go along with that.
The future of the way people consume information, the way people socialize and connect is going to change a lot more in the next 10 years even than in the last 10. How you find information, how you consume it, how you share it and connect with your friends while you’re in the middle of that, how it gets paid for using advertising and other techniques, dramatic changes. We are absolutely committed to be the leading player in that endeavor. … continue reading this entry.
{ May 2, 2008 @ 10:27 pm }
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{ Blogroll, card, moves }
{ Tags: card, crackdown, credit, Fed, moves }
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Federal Reserve on Friday pushed ahead with a proposal to stop abuses by credit card issuers, a day after two other key bank regulatory agencies proposed effectively the same package of new rules.
The move comes at a time when the $2 trillion industry has come under increasing scrutiny.
“The proposed rules are intended to establish a new baseline for fairness in how credit card plans operate,” said Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, which regulates many U.S. banks. “Consumers relying on credit cards should be better able to predict how their decisions and actions will affect their costs.”
Among other things, the plan would allow consumers more time to pay monthly bills. It would also prevent companies from applying interest-rate increases retroactively to pre-existing balances. And it would ban “double cycle billing,” a practice that computes finance charges based on previous billing cycles.
A top financial services lobbyist blasted the plan.
“The Federal Reserve’s proposal is an unprecedented regulatory intrusion into marketplace pricing and product offerings,” said Edward Yingling, chief executive of the American Bankers Association.
On Thursday, the Office of Thrift Supervision, responsible for overseeing the nation’s savings and loans, and the National Credit Union Administration, approved proposed rules the Fed “substantively similar.”
The reforms will be subject to public comment for 75 days. The agencies expect to finalize any new regulatory changes by the end of the year. … continue reading this entry.
