Financial thoughts

Boeing Co. says federal labor regulators unfairly twisted or misquoted statements by company executives to make a case that the company illegally retaliated against union workers.

The company is urging the National Labor Relations Board to withdraw a complaint that accuses Boeing of locating a new plant in South Carolina in part to avoid future labor disruptions in Washington state.

Boeing says its decision to place a new 787 assembly line in South Carolina did not remove or transfer any existing work from Washington state, where the aircraft is assembled by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The Chicago-based company also disputes government assertions it wanted to punish union workers for past strikes. The NLRB wants Boeing to move all assembly work back to Washington state.

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France’s foreign minister says NATO should be doing more to take out heavy weaponry targeting civilians in Libya.

Alain Juppe says NATO’s actions are “not enough.” He says NATO should be firing on the weapons used by Moammar Gadhafi’s forces to target civilians in the rebel-held city of Misrata.

Juppe spoke on France-Info radio Tuesday, the day after Libyan rebels rejected a cease-fire proposal by African mediators because it did not insist that Moammar Gadhafi relinquish power low fee payday advance.

Juppe says, “NATO has to play its role in full. NATO wanted to take the military command of the operations.”

He also urged the European Union to do more to get humanitarian aid to Misrata.

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It could take several more months to bring Japan’s tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant under control, a safety agency spokesman said Sunday as engineers tried to find a way to stop highly radioactive water from pouring into the Pacific.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex has been spewing radioactivity since the March 11 tsunami carved a path of destruction along Japan’s northeastern coast, killing as many as 25,000 people. The final death toll is not known because many are still missing.

Nuclear safety agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama on Sunday offered the first sense of how long it might take to bring an end to the nuclear crisis, which has forced people within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant to abandon their homes due to radiation concerns.

“It would take a few months until we finally get things under control and have a better idea about the future,” Nishiyama said. “We’ll face a crucial turning point within the next few months, but that is not the end.”

Bringing the reactors at the plant under control will require permanently restoring cooling systems knocked out by the tsunami that prevent reactors from dangerously overheating. That task has been complicated by dangerous conditions at the plant that have often forced workers to stop what they are doing.

Some new problem crops up at the complex nearly every day. Workers discovered an 8-inch (20 centimeter) crack in a maintenance pit Saturday and said they believe water from it may be the source of some of the high levels of radioactive iodine that have been found in the ocean for more than a week.

They have had trouble telling where the water is coming from, and this is the first time they have found it leaking directly into the sea. A picture released by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. shows water shooting some distance away from a wall and splashing into the ocean, though the amount is not clear.

The contaminated water dissipates quickly in the ocean but could pose a danger to workers at the plant.

Engineers tried to seal the crack with concrete on Saturday, but that didn’t work. So on Sunday they injected a mix of sawdust, shredded newspaper and a polymer that can expand to 50 times its normal size when combined with water quick pay day loan. The polymer mix had not yet stopped the leak Sunday night but engineers have not given up hope and should know by Monday morning whether it will work.

TEPCO on Sunday confirmed the first tsunami deaths at the plant itself, saying a 21-year-old and a 24-year-old were conducting regular checks when the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that preceded the tsunami hit.

They apparently ran to a basement turbine room, which is where they were when the massive wave swept over the plant.

“It pains us to have lost these two young workers who were trying to protect the power plant amid the earthquake and tsunami,” TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said in a statement.

The high levels of radioactivity at the plant made searching for the men dangerous. Their bodies were not discovered until Wednesday and had to be decontaminated. The announcement was delayed while authorities notified their families, TEPCO spokesman Kazufumi Suzuki said.

The nuclear crisis has compounded the suffering of people in the northeast and, at times, overshadowed their plight. Tens of thousands have lost their homes and are living in shelters, 200,000 households do not have water, and 170,000 do not have electricity.

Running water was just restored in the port city of Kesennuma on Saturday, and residents lined up Sunday to see a dentist who had flown in from the country’s far north to offer his services. Many were elderly and complaining of problems with their dentures.

Overhead and throughout the coastal region, meanwhile, helicopters and planes roared by as U.S. and Japanese forces finished their all-out search for bodies.

The effort, which ends Sunday, is probably the final hope for retrieving the dead, though limited operations may continue. It has turned up nearly 50 bodies in the past two days.

In all, more than 12,000 deaths have been confirmed, and another 15,500 people are missing.

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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.

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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.

J.C. Penney Co. and Macy’s Inc. (M) were among retailers that topped analysts’ sales estimates, a sign household spending regained momentum after a weather-restrained January. While higher fuel costs may be concerning Americans, bigger paychecks thanks to the tax compromise reached by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans are probably preventing demand from slipping for now.

“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.”

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(Corrects index levels in second paragraph of article published on March 3.)

U.S. consumer confidence last week held close to the highest level in almost three years as more Americans said their finances were in good shape.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, formerly the ABC News U.S. Weekly Consumer Comfort Index, was minus 39.7 in the period to Feb. 27, compared with minus 39.6 the prior week, a report today showed. Respondents’ view of their financial situation climbed to an almost two-year high.

A two-percentage-point cut in payroll taxes this year, part of the compromise reached by President Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans, is trickling into consumers’ bank accounts. The extra cash and an improving job market are helping cushion the pinch from the biggest one-week jump in gasoline prices since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“Consumers are comfortable with where we are right now,” said Lindsey Piegza, an economist at FTN Financial in New York. “It’s very likely we’ll see the income from the tax cuts seep into retail sales. There’s increasing optimism on better times to come, even though rising gas prices are a cause for some concern.”

Stocks rose as an unexpected drop in jobless claims bolstered confidence the labor market is improving. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 1.3 percent to 1,325.36 at 11 a.m. in New York. Treasury securities dropped, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-Year Treasury note up to 3.53 percent from 3.47 percent late yesterday.

Employment Forecast

Payrolls rose by 195,000 workers in February, the biggest advance since May, after a 36,000 gain the previous month, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed before a Labor Department report tomorrow. The acceleration in hiring reflects a pickup in growth and a rebound from the weather- depressed January level, economists said.

The comfort reading for week ended Feb. 20 was the highest since April 2008.

The comfort index of personal finances rose to 2.4 last week, the highest since May 2009, from minus 2.3. Fifty-one percent of those polled held positive views on their financial situation, up from 49 percent the previous week and the first time since January 2010 that the reading topped 50 percent.

A gauge of Americans’ views of the economy fell to minus 70.6 last week from minus 69.4. The share of households with a positive view of the economy held at 15 percent for a second week, matching the highest since September 2008.

An index of the buying climate fell to minus 50.9 from minus 47.1. Those people saying it was a good time to buy needed items dropped to 25 percent from 27 percent the previous week.

Improving Sales

J.C. Penney Co., Kohl’s Corp. (KSS) and Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) were among retailers today reporting February same-store sales that topped analysts’ estimates. Purchases at stores open at least a year climbed 6.4 percent at J.C. Penney, 5 percent at Kohl’s and 3 percent at Ross, company data showed payday loans online.

“We are encouraged by our solid start to the year,” Michael Balmuth, chief executive officer of Pleasanton, California-based discounter Ross Stores, said in a statement. Even so, “the much more important March/April holiday selling period is still ahead.”

The average price of regular gasoline at the pump jumped 20 cents to $3.37 a gallon in the week ended Feb. 27, according to AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring organization. It was the biggest increase since the period ended Sept. 5, 2005, after Katrina slammed into New Orleans.

“The key question is what lies ahead for prices at the pump,” Gary Langer, president of Langer Research Associates LLC in New York, which compiles the index for Bloomberg, said in a statement. “A long run-up will do far more damage than a short spurt.”

Bernanke’s View

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke echoed that view in testimony before Congress this week.

“Sustained rises in the prices of oil or other commodities would represent a threat both to economic growth and to overall price stability, particularly if they were to cause inflation expectations to become less well anchored,” Bernanke told legislators in his semiannual comments on monetary policy.

Gasoline prices and the comfort index have shown a strong inverse correlation since 2004, according to calculations by Joseph Brusuelas, a senior economist at Bloomberg LP in New York. Additionally, changes in the four-week average of claims for jobless benefits have been in sync with the comfort gauge about 72 percent of the time.

Jobless Claims

Another report today showed claims unexpectedly declined last week to the lowest level since May 2008. Applications decreased by 20,000 to 368,000 in the week ended Feb. 26, according to the Labor Department. Economists forecast claims would climb to 395,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Renters, who have less at stake as home prices fall, were among the categories in the comfort survey that showed the most improvement last week, according to today’s report. Their outlook gauge rose to minus 41.1 last week, the highest since March 2008.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index is based on responses to telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,000 consumers aged 18 and over.

Each week, 250 respondents are asked for their views on the economy, personal finances and buying climate; the percentage of negative responses is subtracted from the share of positive views and divided by three.

Margin of Error

The comfort index can range from 100, indicating every participant in the survey had a positive response to all three components, to minus 100, signaling all views were negative. The margin of error for the headline reading is 3 percentage points.

The responses are broken down by participants’ sex, age, income level, race, region of residence, political affiliation, marital and employment status.

Readings of minus 40 for the index, which is based on a four-week average, have historically been the threshold indicating Americans think a recovery from recession has begun, said Langer.

Field work for the index is done by SSRS/Social Science Research Solutions in Media, Pennsylvania.

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It’s been 26 years since Lew Prince paid the first premium to provide health insurance for the staff of his small business, Vintage Vinyl in the Delmar Loop.

Back then, Prince sought to honor his father

The yen and Swiss franc advanced against a majority of their most-traded peers on concern unrest spreading through the Middle East and North Africa will derail a global economic recovery.

The euro touched its lowest level in almost three weeks against the yen on speculation a new Irish government will seek to share the burden of rescuing the country’s financial system with senior bank bondholders. Australia’s dollar fell, snapping a three-day gain versus the greenback, after China’s Premier Wen Jiabao lowered the Asian nation’s economic-growth forecasts.

“There’s still some spreading of political unrest in the Middle East, with Oman starting to get involved as well,” said Darryl Conroy, financial markets analyst at Suncorp-Metway Ltd. in Brisbane. “The yen and the franc are likely to be supported in this uncertain environment.”

The franc traded at 92.73 centimes per dollar at 1:40 p.m. in Tokyo, from 92.82 on Feb. 25, when it touched 92.28, the strongest since at least 1971, when Bloomberg records began. The franc has risen 1.8 percent versus the dollar since Jan. 31, headed for a monthly gain versus 12 of its 16 major counterparts. The yen bought 81.67 per dollar from 81.68, after trading as strong as 81.62, the highest level since Feb. 4.

The euro was at 112.32 yen from 112.35 last week, after touching 111.96 yen, the least since Feb. 8. The common currency was unchanged at $1.3754 from last week, when it reached $1.3838, the most since Feb. 2.

Middle East

The unrest that swept the Middle East in the past month, ousting President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from Tunisia and Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, spread to Oman, where protesters clashed with security forces in the province of Sohar yesterday. In Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, in power since 1969, is facing a rebellion that has taken over the eastern part of the nation.

U.S. officials will meet foreign counterparts in Geneva today to discuss Libya, including measures to pressure Qaddafi out of power while building ties to opposition leaders. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said for the first time yesterday that the U.S. has begun “reaching out” to Libyans organizing for a post-Qaddafi era.

The Swiss and Japanese currencies tend to strengthen in times of political unrest because their export-reliant economies don’t need foreign capital to balance current accounts, which are the broadest measure of trade.

Political Shift

The euro retreated from a more than three-week high against the dollar after Enda Kenny, leader of Ireland’s Fine Gael party, said he’ll push for the quick formation of government and the re-negotiation of an international bailout.

“Ireland’s election outcome suggests there may be renegotiations over the bailout, which are unlikely to go well,” said Yuji Saito, director of the foreign-exchange department at Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in Tokyo. “It’s negative for the euro.”

Kenny may lead a new coalition Irish government after the collapse of the banking system and an external bailout pushed the Fianna Fail party to a record defeat. Kenny will fly to Helsinki on March 4 to meet leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a gathering of the European People’s Party.

The leader of Ireland’s Fine Gael party that won the most seats in a Feb. 25 election said on broadcaster RTE that he will start the process of reopening the terms of the bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund last year. He’s seeking to lower the 5.8 percent interest rate on the bailout loans and end the protection of senior bank bondholders.

The result follows a defeat earlier this month for Merkel’s party in the first of seven state elections which threaten to limit her scope to tackle the region’s debt crisis.

China’s Growth

“We’ve got a political shift in Ireland and Germany and a banking system that’s hooked on European Central Bank cash,” said Robert Rennie, Sydney-based chief currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp., Australia’s second-largest lender. “The euro is looking expensive.”

China’s government set an annual economic expansion target of 7 percent for the 12th 5-year plan period, which covers 2011 through 2015, Wen said in response to questions yesterday on the website of the official Xinhua News Agency. Wen also pledged to punish abuse of power by officials and narrow the growing wealth gap as police blanketed Beijing and Shanghai to head off planned protests inspired by revolts in the Middle East.

China’s plan “should be seen as negative for the Aussie in the near term,” said Khoon Goh, head of market economics and strategy at ANZ National Bank Ltd. in Wellington.

Australia’s dollar declined to $1.0162 from $1.0177 last week. The currency slipped 0.1 percent to 83.00 yen.

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Stocks fell for a third day Thursday as concerns continued over how violent clashes in Libya would affect the global oil market. Major indexes pared steeper losses in the afternoon after oil prices fell for the first time in nine days.

Oil fell to $97.28 a barrel after the International Energy Agency said fighting between forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi and anti-government protesters in Libya were not affecting oil inventories as much as analysts had feared. Libya is the world’s 15th largest exporter of crude, accounting for 2 percent of global daily output. Oil had traded as high as $103.41 earlier in the day.

Traders are worried that fighting could threaten Libya’s oil production and spread to other countries in the region, such as oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Higher oil prices can also slow the U.S. economy by increasing transportation costs.

Reports of ample oil inventories “calmed some of the short-term fears in the market,” said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank. “But the fact that there is very little real information coming out the country is worrying.”

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 37.28 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,068.50. It had been down as many as 122 points earlier in the day.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.30, or 0.1 percent, to 1,306.10. The Nasdaq composite gained 14.91 points, or 0 saving account pay day loan.5 percent, to 2,737.90.

The mixed stock performance came the same day the Labor Department reported that fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the job market is recovering. The four-week average for applications, a figure closely watched by financial analysts, fell to its lowest level in more than two and a half years.

The housing market, however, continued to lag. The Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell significantly in January.

Several companies rose after announcing better than expected earnings.

Priceline.com11 Inc. jumped 8.5 percent after the online travel service reported a 73 percent surge in fourth-quarter earnings and raised its income forecast for the current quarter. Target Corp. rose 3.5 percent after the retailer reported an 11 percent gain in profit. H&R Block Inc. rose 5 percent after the tax preparation company said it expected to report near break-even earnings in its fiscal third quarter.

Bond prices rose, pushing their yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.46 percent from 3.49 percent late Wednesday.

Rising and falling shares were about even on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1.2 billion shares.

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Asian shares extended losses Wednesday as the unrest in Libya pushed oil prices higher and sent Wall Street sharply lower.

Oil prices rose to fresh two-year highs near $96 a barrel in Asia amid trader concern a violent power struggle in Libya could disrupt crude supplies. In currencies, the dollar fell against the yen and the euro.

Sentiment in the region remained fragile after a defiant Moammar Gadhafi vowed in a televised speech Tuesday to fight to his “last drop of blood” and roared at supporters to strike back against Libyan protesters to defend his embattled North African regime.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average shed 0.8 percent to 10,574.62. A stronger yen hurt exporters, with Nissan Motor Co. losing 2.3 percent, Toyota Motor Corp. down 1.3 percent and Canon Inc. dropping 1.3 percent.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.4 percent to 1,962.02, dragged down by high-tech giants. Samsung Electronics Co. lost 0.6 percent, Hynix Semiconductor slumped 3.8 percent and LG Electronics Inc. was down 1.3 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.4 percent to 22,906.91, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3 percent to 4,842.60. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Singapore also retreated.

New Zealand’s main stock index rose 0.4 percent to 3,372.07 a day after a powerful earthquake devastated the city of Christchurch. Prime Minister John Key declared a state of national emergency and said at a news conference that 75 people were confirmed to have been killed, with 55 of them identified.

Benchmarks in Shanghai and Bangkok also rose.

Political turmoil in the Arab world, rising oil prices and increasing costs of food combined to send traders out of equities in search of safer investments.

Strategists at Nomura International Ltd. in Hong Kong said that the unpredictability of events and the potential for the unrest to spread “mean that equity markets settling back into equilibrium is still some way off.”

“The biggest worry would be if social tensions appeared in Saudi Arabia,” the strategists said.

Rising food prices due to unseasonal weather also heightened risk, Nomura said. Although the exact causes of rising food prices are up for debate, one common factor is extreme weather.

Floods in Australia, Pakistan and India have forced up food prices, as have droughts in Argentina and Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, China’s worst drought in six decades is pushing up global wheat prices _ already up a third since mid-November.

In New York on Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average sank 178.46 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 12,212.79. Bond prices rose as investors sought safety.

Oil prices soared to the highest level in more than two years. The fight between protesters and forces loyal to Gadhafi threatens oil production from the world’s 15th largest oil exporter, accounting for 2 percent of global daily output. Libya also sits atop the largest oil reserves in Africa.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 27.57, or 2 percent, to 1,315.44. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 77.53, or 2.7 percent, to 2,756.42.

Meanwhile, U.S. investors are awaiting a report from the National Association of Realtors on January sales of previously owned homes later Wednesday.

In currencies, the dollar fell to 82.55 yen from 82.71 yen late Tuesday. The euro was up $1.3691 from $1.3662.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 30 cents at $95.72 a barrel, the highest since October 2008, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract jumped $5.71, or 6.4 percent, to settle at $95.42 on Tuesday.

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