Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Business

1 Japan business confidence dives after quake: BoJ

AFP

Mon Apr 4, 1:20 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese business confidence in the outlook for the next three months has plunged following the March 11 earthquake-tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

The central bank re-released Friday’s quarterly Tankan survey to show the breakdown in the replies it received before and after the disasters.

With most of the responses from companies received before March 11, the survey does not fully reflect the impact of the quake.

AFP

2 Stars align for unstoppable Aussie dollar

by Amy Coopes, AFP

Sun Apr 3, 5:49 pm ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Floods, cyclones, earthquakes — even a nuclear crisis and revolt in the Middle East have been unable to slow the Australian dollar’s record-breaking ascent.

Known among traders as the “Aussie”, the commodities-linked currency surged to new highs against the greenback last week, touching $1.0389 in late trade on Friday.

It dipped briefly to around 97 US cents after a devastating 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami triggered a nuclear emergency in Japan, but the speed and scale of its recovery has stunned the market.

Because traders are morons.

3 Japan disaster to cost Australia $2 bln in lost trade

by Martin Parry, AFP

Sun Apr 3, 3:00 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan will cost Australia some Aus$2 billion (US$2.07 billion) in lost export earnings, trimming economic growth, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sunday.

Japan is the country’s second-largest trade partner after China and the seafloor quake and tsunami on March 11, which left about 28,000 people dead or missing, damaged ports and power stations.

Australia is the world’s biggest shipper of coal and iron ore and Swan admitted the catastrophe would leave its mark on the Australian economy.

4 Australia floods may cost coal business $8 bln

by Madeleine Coorey, AFP

Sat Apr 2, 2:38 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Devastating floods could cost Australia up to $8.3 billion in lost coal production, new estimates show — a sharp increase on earlier projected losses.

The huge deluge that swamped coal-producing Queensland state in January caused significant damage, halting mine production and cutting key transport infrastructure, the Treasury said in its latest economic round-up released on Saturday.

“Contacts suggested that the loss of coal production is estimated to be between 20 million and 30 million tonnes,” it said.

5 European bank appears set for landmark rate hike

by William Ickes, AFP

Sat Apr 2, 11:12 pm ET

FRANKFURT (AFP) – The European Central Bank is expected to announce its first interest rate hike since July 2008 this week even as the eurozone crisis deepens with three members missing key deficit targets.

“Only a severe escalation of the situation in Japan or a crisis in the financial markets is likely to prevent the ECB from raising rates” on Thursday, Commerzbank economist Michael Schubert said.

It would be the first change to the record low rate of 1.0 percent in effect since May 2009 but could raise pressure on eurozone members Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

6 Obama, Republicans seek spending cut endgame

AFP

Sun Apr 3, 12:44 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama and his Republican foes, spurred on by arch-conservatives irate over gaping deficits, have until Friday to agree on what may be the deepest spending cuts in US history.

Key lawmakers, joined by top Obama aides, are inching privately towards a deal to fund the government to October 1 and avert a partial federal shutdown triggered when a short-term funding measure expires at midnight on Friday.

Republicans dispute a Democratic claim that the two sides have agreed to slash $33 billion and are now arguing over where to make the cuts, saying no single component is set in stone until a comprehensive deal is reached.

7 Booming Kazakhstan fears ‘middle income trap’

by Dmitry Zaks, AFP

Sat Apr 2, 8:12 am ET

ASTANA (AFP) – Kazakhstan is facing an economic dilemma its poorer neighbours might resent: its economy is booming off high energy prices and it now fears falling into a dreaded “middle income trap”.

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov said he takes seriously World Bank warnings about how most poor nations reaching middle income status get stuck in dangerous complacency that puts a fatal lid on growth.

Economists point to current example such as the Philippines and question whether Kazakhstan’s decade of 8.5 percent annual growth is sustainable in a country where court independence and infrastructure are fragile at best.

8 Ford beats GM in US auto sales race

by Mira Oberman, AFP

Fri Apr 1, 5:52 pm ET

CHICAGO (AFP) – Ford knocked General Motors out of the top spot for US auto sales last month, a feat it had managed only once before since 1998, industry data showed Friday.

The upset came as the US auto industry continues to rebound strongly, with the overall sales rate rising for the sixth consecutive quarter.

March sales increased 16.9 percent from a year earlier to 2.5 million vehicles, according to Autodata.

9 Portugal pays high rates, Fitch slashes ratings

AFP

Fri Apr 1, 3:34 pm ET

LISBON (AFP) – Debt-burdened Portugal had to pay sharply higher returns Friday to raise fresh funds as Fitch slashed its ratings on concerns upcoming polls will make life even more difficult for the country.

The national debt agency said it raised 1.645 billion euros ($2.33 billion) in one-year bonds at an average yield — the return paid to buyers — of 5.793 percent, up from 4.331 percent at a similar sale on March 16.

Although analysts said they had expected Lisbon to have to pay even more, anything above 5.0 percent on short-term debt is very high, with the markets betting Portugal will need external help to overcome its debt problems.

10 Nasdaq, ICE bid to buy New York Stock Exchange

AFP

Fri Apr 1, 3:17 pm ET

NEW YORK (AFP) – US securities exchanges Nasdaq and ICE joined forces Friday to make an $11.3 billion bid for NYSE Euronext, putting a spoiler on a rival bid to create the world’s biggest exchange.

Moving to secure their own futures as exchanges around the world consolidate, Nasdaq and the Intercontinental Exchange offered NYSE shareholders 19 percent more per share than a rival bid from Deutsche Boerse.

The deal would would see markets in Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon and New York change hands, while keeping Wall Street’s fabled exchange under US ownership.

11 S&P downgrades Ireland on debt concerns

AFP

Fri Apr 1, 12:33 pm ET

DUBLIN (AFP) – Standard & Poor’s on Friday downgraded its credit rating on beleaguered Ireland over debt concerns but gave the eurozone country a “stable” outlook after welcoming its plans to prop up sinking banks.

S&P cut its rating by one notch to BBB+ from A-, saying that investors in Irish state bonds could lose out under the terms of a new eurozone bailout system.

In a separate statement, rival agency Fitch said it had placed its ratings on Ireland on “negative watch” — indicating a heightened probability of a downgrade in the near term.

Reuters

12 More customers exposed as big data breach grows

By Jonathan Spicer and Maria Aspan, Reuters

Sun Apr 3, 7:27 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The names and e-mails of customers of Citigroup Inc and other large U.S. companies, as well as College Board students, were exposed in a massive and growing data breach after a computer hacker penetrated online marketer Epsilon.

In what could be one of the biggest such breaches in U.S. history, a diverse swath of companies that did business with Epsilon stepped forward over the weekend to warn customers some of their electronic information could have been exposed.

Drugstore Walgreen, Video recorder TiVo Inc, credit card lender Capital One Financial Corp and teleshopping company HSN Inc all added their names to a list of targets that also includes some of the nation’s largest banks.

13 China’s Minmetals offers $6.5 billion for Equinox

By Michael Smith and Sonali Paul, Reuters

1 hr 17 mins ago

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Minmetals Resources (1208.HK), China’s biggest metals trading firm, on Monday offered $6.5 billion to buy Equinox Minerals (EQN.AX)(EQN.TO), chasing the target company’s copper assets in Zambia and Saudi Arabia.

China, which accounts for 40 percent of the world’s demand for copper, is on a mining acquisition spree as prices for the red metal hover near record highs.

Minmetals, which owns mining operations in Australia and Asia, said it would offer C$7 per share for Equinox, a 23 percent premium to Equinox’s close in Toronto last Friday of C$5.71. It would be China’s fourth-biggest outbound M&A deal, according to Thomson Reuters data.

14 Decks clear for April launch of Glencore mega-float

By Kylie MacLellan, Reuters

Sun Apr 3, 7:33 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Glencore has cleared the decks to launch its much-anticipated $10-billion listing around the middle of the month, receiving the nod from the Hong Kong stock exchange and positive signals from debt markets.

Two sources familiar with the matter said that Glencore, expected to list in both London and Hong Kong, was planning to issue a so-called Intention to Float document in London around mid-April, though this timeline could still change.

If the company makes a final decision to go ahead with the listing, it would likely be completed by around mid-May.

15 Deutsche Boerse awaits reactions before further NYSE move

By Edward Taylor and Philipp Halstrick, Reuters

2 hrs 52 mins ago

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Boerse won’t make a decision on a higher bid for NYSE Euronext until the U.S. exchange’s board reacts to last week’s counter-offer from Nasdaq and IntercontinentalExchange, sources said.

The German exchanges operator is also waiting to see how credit rating agencies score Nasdaq’s move, two people familiar with Deutsche Boerse’s (DB1Gn.DE) strategy said on Monday.

“Rating agencies as well as the NYSE Euronext board have not yet reacted to the offer, so it’s far too early to say what Boerse’s next move will be,” said one of the two sources.

16 Gambling on a stocks break-out

By Edward Krudy, Reuters

Sun Apr 3, 11:35 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is poised to hit its highest mark in nearly three years this week after more signs of life from the jobs market, but think twice before betting the house.

Many investors are coming to the view that the U.S. employment situation has turned a corner, but the risks that sent stocks cascading between mid-February and mid-March are as real as ever.

In addition, the surprisingly robust recovery shown in recent economic data has some investors nervous that the Federal Reserve may end its easy money policies before schedule and increase interest rates in the second half of the year.

17 IMF denies pressing Greece to restructure debt

Reuters

Sat Apr 2, 6:59 pm ET

WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund on Saturday denied a report in German magazine Der Spiegel that it was privately pressing Greece to restructure its debt.

“As we have said consistently, the IMF supports the Greek government’s position of no debt restructuring and its determination to fully service its debt obligations. Any reports claiming otherwise are wrong,” an IMF spokeswoman told Reuters.

Without citing any sources, Der Spiegel reported that the IMF had reversed its previous opposition to the idea of a Greek restructuring and now believed one was necessary soon.

18 Supply woes, high prices changing chocolate treats

By Marcy Nicholson, Reuters

Sat Apr 2, 2:07 pm ET

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (Reuters) – Chocolate treats will continue to get a little less chocolaty if the cost of the key ingredient cocoa rises further and the long-term supply concerns become a reality, one U.S. manufacturer told Reuters.

“There’s been clearly over the last couple of years, a reduction in unit size of a lot of products. That’s really a manifestation of demand rationalization,” said Peter W. Blommer, president and chief operating officer of the Blommer Chocolate Company in the United States.

U.S. cocoa futures prices hit a 32-year high last month at $3,775 per tonne, when agricultural commodities overall were rallying. They were spurred even higher by an export ban in top grower Ivory Coast as the political crisis there worsened.

19 Nasdaq, ICE bid to snatch NYSE from Germans

By Jonathan Spicer and Lauren Tara LaCapra, Reuters

Fri Apr 1, 7:19 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange bid $11.3 billion for NYSE Euronext in an effort to trump Deutsche Boerse’s deal, and pushed their case with an appeal to U.S. patriotism.

The counterbid — unveiled on Friday to some skepticism it can succeed — would redraw the world’s capital markets so that Americans have a stronger hand than Europeans as exchange operators globally maneuver to come out on top.

The move presents U.S. lawmakers and regulators with a dilemma: whether to allow a German exchange to take control of the venerable New York Stock Exchange, or to allow the creation of a dominant American-run platform with massive market power.

20 Fed’s Dudley warns of over-optimism, counters hawks

By Kristina Cooke, Reuters

Fri Apr 1, 5:46 pm ET

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) – One of the Federal Reserve’s most powerful policy makers pushed back against an increasingly hawkish tone from other Fed officials worried about inflation, saying he saw no need for the U.S. central bank to reverse course.

William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, said on Friday the Fed was “still very far away” from achieving its mandate of maximum sustainable employment and price stability, even though the economy is on a firmer footing.

His caution contrasted with comments from three other Fed officials on Friday who focused on the risks that the U.S. central bank’s policies could fuel inflation.

21 Gas-sipping cars drive March sales gain

By Deepa Seetharaman and Ben Klayman, Reuters

Fri Apr 1, 5:22 pm ET

DETROIT (Reuters) – Sales of small cars raced ahead in March as buyers flocked to more fuel-efficient vehicles, a trend major U.S. automakers expect to persist if gasoline prices continue to rise.

In addition to gas-sipping cars, the improving U.S. job market helped most major automakers race past expectations for U.S. sales in March with the main exception being General Motors Co (GM.N), which pulled back on its incentives.

“When I look at the overall picture, I say ‘Hey, this recovery’s intact. It’s still going strong in the U.S.,'” said Gary Bradshaw, a portfolio manager with Hodges Capital Management, which owns Ford shares. “More people going back to work, they can afford cars.”

22 Fitch says Portugal needs bailout while S&P cuts Ireland

By Andrei Khalip and Carmel Crimmins, Reuters

Fri Apr 1, 2:39 pm ET

LISBON/DUBLIN (Reuters) – Credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Portugal on Friday saying the debt-laden country needed a bailout, while rival agency S&P cut Ireland’s rating after bank stress tests revealed another black hole.

Despite a successful Portuguese debt sale on Friday, Fitch slashed its rating to the lowest investment grade rank of BBB-.

“The severity of the downgrade by three notches mainly reflects Fitch’s concern that timely external support is much less likely in the near term following yesterday’s announcement of general elections to take place on 5 June,” said Douglas Renwick, Director in Fitch’s Sovereign Ratings Group.

AP

23 Italy recognizes rebels as legitimate Libyan voice

By RYAN LUCAS and ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press

26 mins ago

BREGA, Libya – Italy recognized opponents of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as the country’s only legitimate voice on Monday as the rebels advanced on a war-battered oil town and a Gadhafi envoy pressed other European countries for help in ending the crisis.

Italy is only the third country, after France and Qatar, to recognize the rebel-led Libyan National Transitional Council as North Africa nation’s only legitimate governing body. After speaking with the council’s foreign envoy, Ali al-Essawi, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini announced the decision and said the only way to resolve the conflict in the former Italian colony is for Gadhafi to leave – along with his sons, who lead the militias that are attacking rebel forces.

“Any solution for the future of Libya has a precondition: that Gadhafi’s regime leaves … That Gadhafi himself and the family leave the country,” Frattini said.

24 Search for radiation leak turns desperate in Japan

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press

1 hr 29 mins ago

TOKYO – Workers used a milky bathwater dye Monday as they frantically tried to trace the path of radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan’s tsunami-damaged nuclear plant.

The crack in a maintenance pit discovered over the weekend was the latest confirmation that radioactivity continues to spill into the environment. The leak is a symptom of the primary difficulty at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex: Radioactive water is pooling around the plant and preventing workers from powering up cooling systems needed to stabilize dangerously vulnerable fuel rods.

The plant operators also deliberately dumped 10,000 tons of tainted water – measuring about 500 times above the legal limit for radiactivity – into the ocean Monday to make space at a storage site for water that is even more highly radiactive.

25 Japan’s dim capital faces further power crunch

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer

Sun Apr 3, 11:44 pm ET

TOKYO – When a boiling summer hits power-starved Tokyo, even Japan’s culture of self-restraint will reach its limit.

The March 11 tsunami that smashed into Japan’s northeast coast, killing as many as 25,000 people and knocking out nuclear power generation, has transformed this usually bright, bustling metropolis into a dark, humbler version of itself.

Running on eco-mode in the cool spring invites few complaints as citizens bundle up, leave work early and even go to bed around sundown. Escalators are still, trains run without air conditioning, and popular night time baseball games have been suspended. Many say any complaints are hollow compared to the deprivation and destruction further north.

26 NTSB: Cracks found in 3 grounded Southwest planes

By BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press

2 hrs 20 mins ago

YUMA, Ariz. – Three more Southwest Airlines jetliners have small, subsurface cracks that are similar to the cracks suspected of playing a role in the fuselage tear of a Boeing 737-300, causing the aircraft to lose pressure and forcing a frightening emergency landing, officials say.

The 5-foot-long hole tore open in the passenger cabin roof area shortly after the plane left Phoenix for Sacramento, Calif., Friday afternoon. None of the 118 people aboard was seriously hurt as the plane descended from 34,400 feet to a military base in Yuma, 150 miles southwest of Phoenix.

Since then Southwest grounded its 79 other Boeing 737-300s and began inspecting them.

27 Google profile in China shrinking

By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer

Sun Apr 3, 11:35 pm ET

BEIJING – A year after a public spat with Beijing over censorship, Google Inc. says its business with Chinese advertisers is growing even as the Internet giant’s share of online searches in China plunges.

A major Chinese portal announced last week it would no longer use Google for search, compounding its rapid loss of market share since March last year when it closed its local search engine. The future of a Google map service that is a key part of its remaining appeal in China is in doubt.

Google’s main presence in China has become its advertising sales offices, an unusual situation for a company that dominates the Internet elsewhere.

28 Air France plane crash parts found; no black boxes

By ANGELA CHARLTON, Associated Press

Mon Apr 4, 5:28 am ET

PARIS – Undersea robots have located bodies, motors and a “large part” of an Air France jet that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, but haven’t yet found its black box flight recorders, French officials said Monday.

Victims’ families cautiously welcomed the surprise announcement that search teams have located pieces of the plane, after nearly two years of fruitless efforts to determine what caused it to crash. Investigators have said without the recorders, the cause may never be determined.

All 228 people aboard the plane were killed when the flight, en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, slammed into the ocean June 1, 2009, after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm.

29 GOP 2012 budget to make $4 trillion-plus in cuts

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press

Sun Apr 3, 9:53 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A Republican plan for the 2012 budget would cut more than $4 trillion over the next decade, more than even the president’s debt commission proposed, with spending caps as well as changes in the Medicare and Medicaid health programs, its principal author said Sunday.

The spending blueprint from Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is to be released Tuesday. It deals with the budget year that begins Oct. 1, not the current one that is the subject of negotiations aimed at preventing a partial government shutdown on Friday.

In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Ryan said budget writers are working out the 2012 numbers with the Congressional Budget Office, but he said the overall spending reductions would come to “a lot more” than $4 trillion. The debt commission appointed by President Barack Obama recommended a plan that it said would achieve nearly $4 trillion in deficit reduction.

30 Experts: Farmers not to blame for high food prices

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press

Mon Apr 4, 3:34 am ET

DES MOINES, Iowa – Farmers and ethanol producers have braced for what they expect could be widespread criticism as corn prices are rising rapidly and other food costs are following.

A similar increase five years ago generated a storm of criticism, with many in the food industry blaming the ethanol industry for buying up corn that could be used for food and faulting farmers for capitalizing on the higher prices. Many farmers and ethanol producers worried then the complaints would force a change in agriculture and energy policies and fewer subsidies for their industries, but prices came down and that didn’t happen.

Now, they’re concerned again as corn prices rose even higher last week following an announcement that U.S. farmers are planting the second largest corn crop since 1944, but it won’t be enough to meet growing worldwide demand. Corn has traded at more than $7 a bushel this month, more than double last summer’s $3.50, and many traders say it could pass the record $7.65 set in 2008.

31 Reporting from Tripoli, chafing on Gadhafi’s leash

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press

Sun Apr 3, 2:32 pm ET

TRIPOLI, Libya – At the Rixos Hotel, Moammar Gadhafi’s gilded cage for foreign journalists, fistfights break out. Paranoia is high. And the Libyan government is on unblinking watch for any deviation in the official script.

Waitresses who serve coffee with smiles on their faces act more like trained intelligence agents hours later, when a woman bursts in claiming that militiamen had raped her. They expertly wrestle her to the ground.

Government minders feed reporters the narrative of a nation united behind its longtime leader, then arrest or even expel those who sneak away to find out for themselves. Government-led trips dubbed “magical mystery tours” by the press corps sometimes turn perilous.

32 Government appeals judge’s health care ruling

By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press

Sun Apr 3, 1:43 pm ET

ATLANTA – The federal health care overhaul’s core requirement to make virtually all citizens buy health insurance or face tax penalties is constitutional because Congress has the authority to regulate interstate business, the Justice Department said in its appeal of a ruling that struck down the Obama administration’s signature legislation.

The government’s 62-page motion filed Friday to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals argued that Congress had the power to enact the overhaul’s minimum coverage requirements because it is a “rational means of regulating the way participants in the health care market pay for their services.”

The motion also warned other pieces of the overhaul, including a law that blocks insurers from denying coverage to people because of pre-existing conditions, would be “unworkable” without a minimum coverage provision.

33 Tweaking the climate to save it: Who decides?

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

Sun Apr 3, 8:21 am ET

CHICHELEY, England – To the quiet green solitude of an English country estate they retreated, to think the unthinkable.

Scientists of earth, sea and sky, scholars of law, politics and philosophy: In three intense days cloistered behind Chicheley Hall’s old brick walls, four dozen thinkers pondered the planet’s fate as it grows warmer, weighed the idea of reflecting the sun to cool the atmosphere and debated the question of who would make the decision to interfere with nature to try to save the planet.

The unknown risks of “geoengineering” – in this case, tweaking Earth’s climate by dimming the skies – left many uneasy.

34 Report: Lithium batteries on crashed UPS plane

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

Sun Apr 3, 8:15 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The cargo of a United Parcel Service plane that caught fire and crashed last year included lithium batteries that should have been declared as hazardous cargo, but weren’t, according to an accident report released Sunday by the Dubai government’s civil aviation authority.

The report also paints a harrowing picture of two pilots struggling desperately to land their plane while running low on emergency oxygen and fighting smoke so thick they couldn’t see their flight instruments or change radio frequencies.

The Boeing 747-400 crashed near the Dubai airport on Sept. 3 as the flight’s first officer attempted an emergency landing. Both pilots were killed.

35 Rescued Libyans describe attacks in besieged city

By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press

Sun Apr 3, 6:14 pm ET

BENGHAZI, Libya – From makeshift beds inside a cruise-ship-turned-hospital, wounded residents of a besieged Libyan city told Sunday of daily shelling, looting and sniping by Moammar Gadhafi’s forces and called for the end of the Libyan ruler’s 42-year reign.

The ship, carrying hundreds from Misrata to Turkey for care, made a brief stop in Benghazi, where rebel youth gathered on the dock to welcome them and seek news from an embattled city that has been largely cut off from the world for weeks.

Dozens of men, many nursing gunshot wounds and missing limbs, lay on thin mats in the ship’s hull, speaking of brutal government attacks and young rebels struggling to fend them off.

36 State budget crises push sentencing reforms

By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press

Sat Apr 2, 11:32 am ET

ATLANTA – As costs to house state inmates have soared in recent years, many conservatives are reconsidering a tough-on-crime era that has led to stiffer sentences, overcrowded prisons and bloated corrections budgets.

Ongoing budget deficits and steep drops in tax revenue in most states are forcing the issue, with law-and-order Republican governors and state legislators beginning to overhaul years of policies that were designed to lock up more criminals and put them away for longer periods of time.

“There has been a dramatic shift in the political landscape on this issue in the last few years,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States. “Conservatives have led the charge for more prisons and tougher sentencing, but now they realize they need to be just as tough on criminal justice spending.”

37 High-end medical option prompts Medicare worries

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

Sun Apr 3, 12:17 am ET

WASHINGTON – Every year, thousands of people make a deal with their doctor: I’ll pay you a fixed annual fee, whether or not I need your services, and in return you’ll see me the day I call, remember who I am and what ails me, and give me your undivided attention.

But this arrangement potentially poses a big threat to Medicare and to the new world of medical care envisioned under President Barack Obama’s health overhaul.

The spread of “concierge medicine,” where doctors limit their practice to patients who pay a fee of about $1,500 a year, could drive a wedge among the insured. Eventually, people unable to afford the retainer might find themselves stuck on a lower tier, facing less time with doctors and longer waits.

38 Obama says spending deal close, Boehner doesn’t

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

Fri Apr 1, 9:23 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A bullish President Barack Obama said Friday that compromise is close with Republicans on $33 billion in budget cuts, and he warned that without a deal the ensuing government shutdown would “jeopardize our economic recovery” just as jobs are finally being created.

Despite his assessment, negotiators reported little progress, Senate Democrats backtracked on a key concession from earlier in the week and Congress’ top Republican sounded less optimistic than the president that a breakthrough was imminent.

“There is no number. There is no agreement on a number” on how much to cut, insisted House Speaker John Boehner, who is under pressure from tea party-backed conservatives not to give too much ground. Still, he added, “I am not preparing for a government shutdown.”

39 Administration approves bailout pay packages

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

Fri Apr 1, 8:49 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The four companies still receiving the largest amounts of government bailout aid won’t be able to raise the amount of cash they pay out to their top executives this year, the administration’s pay czar has ruled.

The decisions, released late Friday, cover 2011 compensation for the top 25 executives at General Motors Co., Chrysler, American International Group Inc. and Ally Financial Inc., the former financing arm of GM. The rulings clear the way for millions of dollars in salary and bonuses to be paid out by companies that are still repaying the billions in aid they received during the financial crisis from the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

While the companies can’t give cash raises, they are being allowed to boost the value of deferred stock awards to their executives. The Treasury Department defended that decision, saying it is in line with pay guidelines that it used to make compensation decisions in 2009 and 2010.

40 Auto sales up with economy, but buyers downsize

By TOM KRISHER and DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Auto Writers

Fri Apr 1, 6:24 pm ET

DETROIT – Americans bought smaller cars and SUVs in March, as higher gas prices made fuel efficiency a top priority and rising employment meant more first-time buyers bought a vehicle.

The trends lifted U.S. sales of new vehicles by 17 percent from a year earlier to 1.25 million, a healthy rate that shows the auto industry’s slow and steady recovery remains on track. The monthly sales pace, adjusted for seasonal differences and projected out for the year, came in at 13.1 million. That’s higher than last year, but still far below recent boom years when car sales hit 16 million a year.

The March 11 earthquake in Japan had little impact on sales, although automakers said supplies of some cars could be tighter as spring progresses.

41 Caribbean ship testing new anti-piracy system

By BEN FOX, Associated Press

Fri Apr 1, 6:10 pm ET

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – There are cameras that capture images clear enough to distinguish between a fishing vessel and a boatload of pirates 10 miles away. There are cascades of water and noxious compounds to repel invaders. And there are shields to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade.

A container ship that steamed into a Puerto Rican port Friday was old by commercial shipping standards but it had the latest in security measures, upgrades that convert it into a floating fortress designed to be impregnable to piracy.

The 720-foot Horizon Producer was temporarily outfitted as a training exercise for the crew, a demonstration for officials from Panama and Belize – both with major global shipping registries – and as an informercial for journalists. It also offers a window into the shipping industry’s debate about what measures to take amid a surge in pirate attacks.

42 Nasdaq joins in global merger fray in bid for NYSE

By PALLAVI GOGOI, AP Business Writer

Fri Apr 1, 5:47 pm ET

NEW YORK – Instead of fighting the NYSE, Nasdaq wants to own it.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and another U.S.-based market, the IntercontinentalExchange Inc., submitted a joint $11.3 billion bid Friday for NYSE Euronext, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The offer, which was expected, raises the possibility of a bidding war for the NYSE with Deutsche Boerse. NYSE agreed to a $10 billion deal with the German exchange operator in February.

The dueling bids for the NYSE show how intense the competition for trading in stocks, options and other investments has become. Though mergers between exchanges have little, if any, impact on small investors, they are a means for survival for these markets. Technology has driven down the cost of trading to almost nothing. Newer, smaller and more high-tech companies like the BATS Exchange and Direct Edge have emerged to give investors the opportunity to find the best price for a security in milliseconds. That has taken business away from institutions like the NYSE and Nasdaq.

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