Mark Vickers of Belleville has already gone back to his habit during the Great Recession of taking his lunch to work instead of eating out free credit score.
That’s what happens, he said, when he has to spend $65 to $70 at the fuel pump every week
Greenpeace demonstrators have brought hearings into new nuclear reactors to a halt.
Around 9 a.m., demonstrations began by nine protesters, four of whom chained themselves to a table at the front of the room in a church in Courtice where a panel is hearing safety and environmental issues on the proposed new reactors.
Shortly after 11 a.m., a police officer and hearing officials asked the four chained protesters if they would move to the back of the room.
If they didn’t move, the officer said,
South Korea’s won rose, reversing earlier losses, as gains in the stock market helped offset concern rising oil prices will slow global economic growth.
The benchmark Kospi stock index advanced for a fourth day as neighboring Japan had some success cooling reactors at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. The U.S., U.K. and France launched cruise missiles and airstrikes at targets in Libya at the weekend, spurring renewed speculation oil supplies may be disrupted.
“Stocks are up; that’s why the Korean won is gaining a little bit,” said Ko Yun Jin, a currency trader at Kookmin Bank in Seoul. “We are looking at two things: Japan and the Middle East for financial stability, not only for the Korean won but also the global markets.”
The won advanced 0.2 percent to 1,124.80 per dollar at the 3 p.m. close in Seoul, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It earlier fell as much as 0.2 percent today. Crude rose 2 percent to $103.13 per barrel in New York.
Foreign investors bought more Korean stocks that they sold for a third day, according to exchange data. Using a helicopter with infrared equipment, officials determined that the pools atop the Japanese nuclear plant’s six reactors were below 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit), the boiling point of water, Japan Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said.
Ten-year government bonds fell for a fourth day, with the yield on the 5 percent note due June 2020 increasing four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 4.50 percent, according to prices from Korea Stock Exchange.
South Korea sold 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion) of 10-year notes at a yield of 4.5 percent at an auction today, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said. Investors bid to buy 5.84 trillion won of treasuries, or 3.65 times the amount on offer, the ministry said on its website.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet indicated the bank still plans to raise interest rates next month, saying he doesn’t want to change his message on the need to contain inflation.
“I have nothing to add, nothing to withdraw,” Trichet told reporters today in Frankfurt when asked if policy makers are still in a posture of strong vigilance, ECB code words for an imminent rate increase. “No new message at all,” he said.
Trichet took investors by surprise earlier this month when he announced the ECB may raise its benchmark rate from a record low of 1 percent in April. Since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan on March 11, triggering a nuclear crisis that threatens to erode confidence on financial markets and hurt economic growth, investors have pared bets on higher ECB rates.
“The potential impact of the earthquake and aftermath is something we will be thinking deeply about in the coming days,” Trichet said.
Euribor futures and German two-year notes extended declines and the euro advanced after Trichet’s comments free business cards.
The yield on the Euribor futures contract expiring in December jumped nine basis points to 2.03 percent as of 4:15 p.m. in London. The two-year German note yield was also nine basis points higher at 1.66 percent.
Euro-area inflation accelerated to 2.4 percent last month and has exceeded the ECB’s 2 percent limit since December.
“We are extremely attentive to preserve the appropriate anchoring of inflation expectations,” Trichet said.
Crude oil prices rose to a 29-month high of close to $107 a barrel on March 7 as escalating violence in Libya renewed concern that supply disruptions may spread through the Middle East and North Africa. Oil traded as high as $103 a barrel today.
ECB policy makers are concerned about so-called second- round effects, when companies increase prices and boost wages to compensate for higher costs, entrenching faster inflation.
Mortars killed up to 30 people in an Abidjan market Thursday, the United Nations said _ the latest in a string of street battles to grip the city as Ivory Coast’s political crisis deepens.
Witnesses said the shells were fired from a military police base controlled by the country’s sitting president into a neighborhood loyal to the man who beat him in last year’s election, according to international observers.
The United Nations deployed a convoy of peacekeepers to the area soon after the shelling. It said in a statement that the peacekeepers had observed that Laurent Gbagbo’s armed forces had fired at least six projectiles on and around the market “killing 25 to 30 persons and wounding 40 to 60 others.”
Shells fell without warning on a market in front of the mayor’s office in Abobo, a district held by fighters loyal to Alassane Ouattara. At one market stall, an elderly woman lost both her legs, a witness said.
Earlier in the day, pro-Ouattara fighters ambushed a police station in the Adjame district of Abidjan, though it was unclear whether anyone was killed.
Adjame resident Idrissa Ouedraogo said commandos loyal to Ouattara went around the Ouattara-friendly neighborhood and warned people to stay inside just minutes before the morning attack. Police loyal to Gbagbo were later seen fleeing the scene, he said.
Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s biggest city, has seen daily battles between the supporters of each man claiming to be president for weeks, leaving hundreds dead. Fighting was initially confined to pro-Ouattara neighborhoods but has now spread across the city, breaking out in different locations each day.
“The situation is very serious there for the plight of civilians,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, speaking in Dakar, Senegal, on Wednesday. “My staff are unable to visit certain sites … they went to meet with victims where four children were killed and they had to literally run out from there because they then were threatened in return. The situation is grave.”
The U.N. sent in armored patrols and helicopters after a grenade attack in the Attecoube district, across the street from their headquarters, on Wednesday. U.N. doctors treated 55 people, four of whom died, bringing the total number of deaths since November’s election to 410.
In Yopougon, a slum reputed for its fervent support of Gbagbo, residents reported heavy fighting all day Wednesday and through the night.
“We can’t sleep, the gunfire didn’t stop until 5 a.m.,” said Karim Coulibaly, a taxi driver who lives in central Yopougon. “(Pro-Gbagbo youth) go from house to house calling for people to join them in the streets _ no one went out.”
Hundreds of roadblocks have sprung up around the city, making it nearly impossible to move around. Roadblocks run by the police or military tend to be professional, but others run by local youth often turn violent, with frequent reports of assaults on drivers, smashed windshields and extortion.
The violence reached a new level after Gbagbo rejected last week’s African Union decision to endorse Ouattara’s victory. The decision, which is supposed to be binding, is the latest in a half-dozen failed negotiation attempts and contributes to the widespread fear that now only violence will resolve the deadlock.
Fighters loyal to Ouattara have been stepping up their tactics. In the first months following the election, unarmed protesters confronted Gbagbo’s police and were killed by the dozen. In February, a group calling themselves the “Invisible Commandos” emerged to protect Ouattara supporters. Now, after having taken control of the Ouattara strongholds of Abobo and PK-18, those fighters are moving south, closer to the commercial center of the city and the presidential palace.
Ouattara’s camp denies that the Invisible Commandos act under their orders and draws a line between them and the New Forces rebels, who act as Ouattara’s de facto army.
Those professional forces have been focusing their efforts far from Abidjan in the west. New Forces have taken four towns along the Liberian border in the last weeks, claiming to have cut off weapons smuggling and the recruitment of Liberian mercenaries.
The U.N. reports that more than 90,000 people have fled across the border to Liberia to escape the fighting. This is in addition to the 300,000 who have fled fighting in Abidjan.
In Brussels, the European Commission announced Thursday it would increase humanitarian aid for victims of the violence from euro5 million ($7 million) to euro30 million ($42 million).
The commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, said the money would help people in need inside Ivory Coast, as well as refugees who have fled to neighboring countries.
A report released earlier this week by Human Rights Watch accused pro-Gbagbo security forces of war crimes, including killings, torture, rape and arbitrary arrest.
Officials from the Hague-based International Criminal Court are monitoring the events closely, said Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. The ICC, however, cannot open an official investigation until it can protect the witnesses they expose, she said.
“If we are not in a position to protect them, it would not be a good time for us to intervene,” she said. “We are monitoring (Ivory Coast) very, very, closely.”
After more than three months of being blocked by pro-Gbagbo security forces, the U.N. was finally able to reach the site of an alleged mass grave this week, said local U.N. spokesman Hamadoun Toure. The found no evidence of a mass grave, he said, though he wasn’t able to rule out that the bodies were moved before they got there.
A fire broke out at a nuclear reactor again Wednesday, a day after the power plant emitted a burst of radiation that panicked an already edgy Japan and left the government struggling to contain a spiraling crisis caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami.
The outer housing of the containment vessel at the No. 4 unit at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex erupted in flames early Wednesday, said Hajimi Motujuku, a spokesman for the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
On Tuesday, a fire broke out in the same reactor’s fuel storage pond _ an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool _ causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere. Tokyo Electric Power said the new blaze erupted because the initial fire had not been fully extinguished.
About three hours after the blaze erupted Wednesday, Japan’s nuclear safety agency said fire and smoke could no longer be seen at Unit 4, but that it was unable to confirm that the blaze had been put out.
Also Wednesday, Japan’s nuclear safety agency said 70 percent of the nuclear fuel rods may have been damaged at another Fukushima Dai-ichi reactor that was first stricken last week, triggering the crisis.
“But we don’t know the nature of the damage, and it could be either melting, or there might be some holes in them,” said an agency spokesman, Minoru Ohgoda.
Japan’s national news agency, Kyodo, said 33 percent of the fuel rods at a second reactor were also damaged.
Radiation levels in areas around the nuclear plant rose early Tuesday afternoon but appeared to subside by evening, officials said. But the unease remained in a country trying to recover from the massive disasters that are believed to have killed more than 10,000 people and battered the world’s third-largest economy.
The radiation leak caused the government to order 140,000 people living within 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the plant to seal themselves indoors to avoid exposure, and authorities declared a ban on commercial air traffic through the area. Worries about radiation rippled through Tokyo and other areas far beyond that cordon. The stock market plunged for a second day, dropping 10 percent.
European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said it’s not the bank’s job to repair the finances of lenders reliant on it for funding.
“It is the primary responsibility of the national governments involved to take care of the problem of specific banks,” Nowotny said in an interview in Vienna today. “This is not the task of the ECB. The ECB never had a policy which is geared toward specific countries or specific banks.”
Some banks in peripheral euro-region countries like Ireland, Spain, Greece and Portugal are still frozen out of the interbank lending market, rendering them reliant on the ECB for their funding. This is complicating the ECB’s exit from its emergency measures, which include lending banks as much money as they need for up to three months, as well as government bond purchases.
European leaders frustrated ECB officials’ bid to relinquish the central bank’s role as buyer of last resort of bonds from struggling euro nations on March 12, when they agreed to let the European rescue fund buy bonds directly from governments, rather than in the secondary market, where the ECB purchases them guaranteed online personal loans.
“We have started developments in the right direction,” Nowotny said, when asked if he was disappointed with the outcome. “Included in these decisions is the possibility to buy government bonds directly and one has to be aware that the underlying philosophy is that every assistance should be coupled with some conditionality and some direct involvement.”
ECB policy makers have also signaled they want to raise interest rates next month to stem increasing inflation pressures. Asked if the economic uncertainty resulting from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and political tensions in North Africa could prompt officials to change their mind, Nowotny said that officials follow developments “very closely” and that it’s “too early” for any conclusions.
What’s for dinner tonight?
How about a fresh garden salad from a QuikTrip or a chicken salad sandwich from 7-Eleven?
Mostly known for beef jerky and hot dogs that have been sitting there for who-knows-how-long, convenience stores have recently been adding more quick meals, salads, deli products, fresh meat and even fish to their aisles.
You can now buy everything from breakfast to dinner at convenience stores.
“That’s kind of scary,” said Mark Wuller, the St. Louis-based national retail leader for the accounting firm Grant Thornton.
Food service accounted for 9.2 percent of convenience store sales in 2009
U.S. retail sales probably climbed in February by the most in four months, spurred by job growth and more seasonable temperatures, economists said before a report today.
The projected 1 percent gain would follow a 0.3 percent January increase, according to the median forecast of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Other data may show business inventories rose and consumer sentiment declined.
“Consumers have better job security and there is pent-up demand for goods and services,” said John Herrmann, a senior fixed-income strategist at State Street Global Markets LLC in Boston. “For consumers to be buying like that in the face of rising gasoline prices is pretty noteworthy.”
The Commerce Department’s sales figures are due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. Economists’ estimates ranged from a gain of 0.4 percent to a rise of 1.9 percent.
Retail sales excluding automobiles and gas stations rose 0.5 percent in February, more than twice the January gain, according to the Bloomberg survey.
Car Sales
Americans filed into dealer showrooms in February to take advantage of incentives. Auto sales rose to a 13.38 million annual rate, the highest level since August 2009 when the government’s cash-for-clunkers program boosted purchases, according to industry data.
“Growing consumer confidence combined with pent-up demand will continue to have a positive influence on industry sales going forward,” Donald R. Johnson, vice president for North American sales at Detroit-based General Motors Co. (GM), said in a March 1 teleconference. “We continue to believe that we’re going to see this slow-but-steady growth throughout the year.”
While February sales improved from a month earlier, the retail figures aren’t adjusted for changes in prices, in contrast to the consumer spending numbers in the Commerce Department’s report on gross domestic product. Combined with January, the February retail sales figures indicate first- quarter household purchases will cool from a 4.1 percent pace in the previous three months that was the fastest since 2006.
Higher Gasoline Prices
The retail sales data may reflect higher gasoline prices. Regular gas in February averaged $3.18 a gallon, 8 cents more than in January, according to AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring organization.
Higher prices at the pump may have damped Americans’ sentiment. The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary March index of consumer confidence eased to 76.3 from 77.5 at the end of February, according to economists’ forecasts. The figures are due at 9:55 a.m.
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index dropped to minus 44.5 in the week ended March 6 from the prior period’s 39.7. Gasoline costs through March 9 had increased every day expect one since mid-February.
Sales at stores open at least a year at the more than 30 chains tracked by Retail Metrics climbed 4.3 percent in February from a year earlier, an 18th straight gain, surpassing analysts’ estimates for a 3.8 percent increase. Purchases at stores open at least a year climbed 6.4 percent at Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney, and 5.8 percent at New York-based Macy’s, company data showed last week.
Retailer Shares
Investors have driven up retailer shares as spending increased. The Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Retailing Index, which includes Macy’s and Gap Inc., has gained 17 percent in the 12 months through yesterday, compared with a 13 percent advance for the broader S&P 500.
An improving labor market is boosting spending. Employers added 192,000 jobs in February, the most since last May, and the unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent, the lowest since April 2009, Labor Department figures showed last week.
The Federal Reserve last week said the labor market improved throughout the country early this year, driven by increasing retail sales and “solid growth” in manufacturing.
“Retail spending strengthened compared with a year ago across all Districts except Richmond and Atlanta,” the Fed’s Beige Book of regional economies said.
Another report from the Commerce Department at 10 a.m. may show business inventories climbed 0.8 percent in January for a second month, according to economists’ forecasts.
Bloomberg Survey ============================================================== Retail Retail U of Mich Business Sales ex-autos Conf. Inv. MOM% MOM% Index MOM% ============================================================== Date of Release 03/11 03/11 03/11 03/11 Observation Period Feb. Feb. March P Jan. ————————————————————– Median 1.0% 0.7% 76.3 0.8% Average 1.0% 0.7% 76.5 0.8% High Forecast 1.9% 1.3% 80.0 1.1% Low Forecast 0.4% 0.0% 74.0 0.5% Number of Participants 82 72 68 47 Previous 0.3% 0.3% 77.5 0.8% ————————————————————– 4CAST Ltd. 1.6% 0.9% 75.0 — ABN Amro 0.9% — 77.0 — Action Economics 1.0% 0.9% 76.0 0.9% Aletti Gestielle 0.8% 0.6% 77.0 — Ameriprise Financial 1.0% 0.8% 76.3 0.7% Banesto 0.5% — 76.3 0.8% Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi 0.4% 0.0% 79.5 0.8% Bantleon Bank AG 1.0% 0.7% 76.0 — Barclays Capital 0.8% 0.5% 78.0 0.6% Bayerische Landesbank 1.0% 0.6% 76.0 — BBVA 0.6% 0.4% 77.0 0.7% BMO Capital Markets 1.0% 0.7% 76.4 0.8% BNP Paribas 1.0% 0.6% 75.0 0.6% BofA Merrill Lynch 1.3% 0.9% 75.5 0.8% Briefing.com 1.4% 1.0% 78.0 0.8% Capital Economics 1.3% 1.0% 75.0 0.6% CIBC World Markets 1.0% 0.6% — — Citi 1.1% 0.7% 76.0 0.9% ClearView Economics 1.0% 0.7% 78.5 0.6% Commerzbank AG 1.2% 0.9% 78.0 0.8% Credit Agricole CIB 0.9% 0.6% 76.5 — Credit Suisse 1.1% 0.8% 80.0 0.8% Daiwa Securities America 1.0% 0.7% 76.5 — DekaBank 1.0% 0.7% 76.0 0.7% Desjardins Group 1.1% 0.5% 75.0 0.6% Deutsche Bank Securities 1.0% 0.7% 78.0 1.0% Deutsche Postbank AG 1.1% 0.6% 77.0 — First Trust Advisors 1.2% 0.9% 77.5 1.0% FTN Financial 0.9% 0.7% 76.0 — Goldman, Sachs & Co. 1.6% 1.2% — — Helaba 1.1% 0.6% 77.5 0.7% Horizon Investments 1.1% 0.8% 76.0 0.6% HSBC Markets 0.9% — 75.0 — Hugh Johnson Advisors 0.8% 0.8% 78.0 0.5% Ibersecurities 0.4% — — — IDEAglobal 0.9% 0.7% 78.0 0.8% IHS Global Insight 1.6% 1.3% 75.0 — Informa Global Markets 1.1% 0.5% 76.0 1.0% ING Financial Markets 1.0% 0.8% 78.0 — Insight Economics 1.2% 0.8% 75.0 0.9% ITG Investment Research 1.3% 1.0% — — J.P. Morgan Chase 1.5% 1.1% 76.5 0.8% Janney Montgomery Scott 1.2% 0.7% — 0.9% Jefferies & Co. 0.8% 0.6% 76.0 0.7% Landesbank Berlin 1.0% 0.5% 75.0 0.6% Landesbank BW 0.8% — 77.5 — Manulife Asset Management 0.5% 0.4% 76.5 0.5% Maria Fiorini Ramirez 1.1% 0.7% — 0.9% MET Capital Advisors 0.4% — — — MF Global 1.2% 0.9% 76.0 — Mizuho Securities 0.5% 0.0% 76.0 1.0% Moody’s Analytics 1.3% 0.7% 75.0 0.8% Morgan Keegan & Co. 0.9% 0.6% — 1.1% Morgan Stanley & Co. 1.4% 0.9% — — National Bank Financial 1.2% 0.6% 77.0 — Natixis 1.4% 0.5% 75.0 — Newedge 0.8% 0.4% 77.0 — Nomura Securities Intl. 1.0% 0.8% — 0.7% Nord/LB 0.8% 0.6% 76.5 — OSK Group/DMG 1.0% 0.5% — — Parthenon Group 0.8% 0.3% 77.4 0.7% Pierpont Securities 1.3% 0.9% 79.0 — PineBridge Investments 0.9% — 77.0 1.0% PNC Bank 0.7% 0.5% — 0.7% Raiffeisenbank International 0.5% 0.5% 78.0 — Raymond James 0.9% 0.6% 75.0 — RBC Capital Markets 1.4% 1.0% 74.8 — RBS Securities 1.2% 0.9% 78.5 — Scotia Capital 0.7% 0.4% — — Societe Generale 1.7% 1.3% 80.0 0.9% Standard Chartered 1.5% — 75.5 — State Street Global Markets 1.3% 0.8% 76.0 1.1% Stone & McCarthy Research 1.4% 1.3% 75.5 0.8% TD Securities 1.2% 0.7% 77.0 0.7% Thomson Reuters/IFR 1.9% 1.0% 76.2 0.7% UBS 0.8% 0.5% 77.5 0.9% UniCredit Research 1.2% — 75.0 — University of Maryland 0.9% 0.4% 76.0 0.8% Wells Fargo & Co. 1.2% 0.9% — 0.8% WestLB AG 0.7% 0.6% 75.7 — Westpac Banking Co. 0.8% — 74.0 — Wrightson ICAP 1.2% 1.0% 75.5 0.9% ==============================================================
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net