Finance and Economic

Buffalo Wings & Rings restaurant is opening a franchise in south Charlotte.

The restaurant is scheduled to open Wednesday at 16715 Orchard Stone Run in Ballantyne.

The facility features a bar and 23 high-definition plasma televisions. It has seating for 172 diners indoors and 72 on the patio.

The menu will include Buffalo-style wings, chicken tenders, burgers, salads, gyros and appetizers such as nachos, popcorn shrimp and mozzarella sticks. The eatery will operate from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Last year, Entrepreneur magazine named Buffalo Wings & Rings one of the top 500 franchises.

The company, based in Cincinnati, was founded in 1988. The chain has N.C. locations in Roanoke Rapids, Greensboro and Morrisville.

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No faxing fast cash advance gets you cash fast and easily.

Bank of Japan board members were divided over how financial markets might interpret their range for price stability in December, minutes show.

Some members said it “might be acceptable” for investors and traders to see the inflation range of up to 2 percent as indicating the duration for maintaining the central bank’s low interest-rate policy, according to minutes of the Dec. 17-18 meeting released today in Tokyo. Another member said the range “wasn’t aimed at the so-called policy duration effect.”

Bank of Japan policy makers this week affirmed their forecasts that consumer prices will keep falling through March 2012, marking a third consecutive year of declines. Keisuke Tsumura, a parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, said yesterday that he assumes the BOJ’s range is “effectively inflation targeting” and indicates the bank is far from ending its accommodative monetary stance.

“Given that the Bank of Japan predicted prices won’t rise for a few more years, it can’t be helped that the range is regarded as some kind of policy commitment,” said Mari Iwashita, chief market economist at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. in Tokyo.

Japan’s central bank has kept interest rates at 0.1 percent since December 2008 as the country grapples with deflation. Consumer prices excluding fresh food fell 1.3 percent in December from a year earlier, a 10th monthly decline, government figures showed today.

Deflation Spurs Bonds

Bond yields are close to the lowest level this year as signs that deflation will linger underpin demand for government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond was at 1.315 percent as of the morning close in Tokyo after earlier reaching 1.305 percent, the lowest since Jan. 4.

BOJ policy makers said at last month’s meeting that they consider consumer prices to be stable as long as they stay in a positive range of 2 percent or below over the medium to long term. The board said it “doesn’t tolerate” price declines and the median estimate is about 1 percent.

Kazumasa Iwata, a deputy governor until 2008, speaking at the same event as Tsumura yesterday said the bank’s range is vague and policy makers should clearly state that they consider prices to be stable is 1 percent.

Variety of Risks

Some members said the bank needs to assess a variety of risks when it sets policy, not just price stability. The board should consider factors such as asset prices and imbalances in financial markets, taking a lesson from “the experience of the recent global financial crisis,” the minutes show.

The central bank has specified policy-duration commitments in the past. When it introduced a quantitative-easing policy of pumping cash into the banking system in March 2001, it said the measure would remain until consumer prices stopped falling.

The central bank today also released minutes from a Dec. 1 emergency meeting at which it unveiled a 10 trillion yen ($112 billion) credit program.

At that gathering, the board judged that reducing short- term interest rates would be the most effective way to support the recovery and concluded that a volatile yen poses a threat to the economy, the minutes show.

“Given that the overnight call rate had been virtually at zero percent, encouraging a further decline in interest rates on term instruments in the money market would be most effective” to guide borrowing costs lower, many members said.

Surging Yen

The central bank introduced the facility for commercial lenders after the yen reached a 14-year high against the dollar and Cabinet ministers urged it to step up its fight against deflation. Governor Masaaki Shirakawa has said the bank can lend beyond the limit should demand for the program increase.

“The Bank of Japan still has policy options, and the first choice is probably to increase the size of the loan program or extend the period of lending,” said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.

One board member said recent discussions about Japan’s deflation might have “negative effects on household and business confidence” and “intensify the downward pressure on economic activity,” the minutes show.

The government in November declared a state of deflation for the first time in three years, and Finance Minister Naoto Kan has been leading calls for the central bank to do more to stem price declines.

More households are expecting prices to fall over the next year, a central bank survey showed this month. The government’s declaration was a “big factor” in fueling people’s expectations for lower prices, said Izuru Kato, chief market economist at Totan Research Co. in Tokyo.

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A Toronto group could be closing in on a purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team.

The National Hockey League could finalize a deal for Ice Edge Holdings to buy the Coyotes in the coming days, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Officials familiar with the negotiations between the NHL and various ownership groups said that other groups are still talking to the NHL but Ice Edge was the farthest along in the talks. They also said Ice Edge was talking to the NHL regarding some unconventional financing to help get the deal done.

Details of what the entails were not disclosed. Ice Edge has been meeting with NHL officials as well as the city of Glendale. The Phoenix suburb owns Jobing.com Arena where the Coyotes play.

The team is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is owned by the NHL. The league bought the team for $140 million in October after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge turned down a $243 million offer by Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie to buy the team from the then owner Jerry Moyes and move them to Hamilton, Ontario.

Ice Edge had put in a $148 million bid for the Coyotes this summer during bankruptcy proceedings but pulled back that offer. The investment group restarted talks with the NHL after the league acquired the financially struggling team no fax payday loans.

Ice Edge had talked about keeping the team in Arizona but playing some Coyotes home games outside of the Phoenix market in Canadian cities without NHL teams. The ownership group won’t start formal arena lease negotiations with Glendale until after a deal with the NHL is struck.

The Coyotes have done well on the ice this year but struggle with attendance and finances. The team is averaging 9,774 announced fans per game, according to ESPN. That’s the lowest average in the NHL and among the major pro sports leagues in the U.S.

In November, Forbes magazine pegged the Coyotes as being worth $138 million, the lowest value in the NHL.

Neither Ice Edge or the NHL responded to requests for comment. Coyotes spokesman Rob Crean referred questions to the NHL. Glendale spokeswoman Jennifer Stein declined comment.

The Coyotes have lost $300 million since moving to the Phoenix market from Winnipeg in 2002. They’ve not made the NHL playoffs since 2002 and lost many of its ticket buyers after Moyes put the team into Chapter 11 in May.

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South Korea’s won, Asia’s second best-performing currency this year, may be “affected” as the nation’s current-account surplus narrows by about 50 percent in 2010 and capital inflows slow, a central bank official said.

The surplus, forecast to widen to more than $40 billion this year, will decrease by “half next year as domestic demand revives, imports increase and oil prices continue a modest rise,” Ahn Byung Chan, head of the international bureau at the Bank of Korea, said in an interview yesterday. Inflows of investment may be slowed by the global financial crisis, he said.

“The unrest in the international financial markets won’t evolve into a systemic risk but if the wobbles are prolonged, the Korean won rate will be affected,” Ahn said, declining to comment on any level or direction for the currency. “Capital inflows won’t be larger than this year.”

Finance Minister Yoon Jeung Hyun said in October it is “premature” to unwind expansionary policies as the nation still faces risks from a possible delay in the global economic recovery and asset price instability. Exporters helped drive acceleration in economic growth to 2.9 percent last quarter from the previous three months, the fastest pace in seven years.

“This is probably mostly an attempt to talk down the won,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd. in Hong Kong. “A lot of the economic pickup this year has been due to the earlier won weakness. They wouldn’t want to lose the edge the currency has provided.”

Bullish Forecasts

The won was little changed at 1,155 per at 9:16 a.m. in Seoul, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It touched 1,149.4 on Nov. 17, the strongest level since September 2008. The currency strengthened 9 percent this year, second in Asia only to the 16 percent gain in the Indonesian rupiah.

The won will rise to 1,070 per dollar by the end of June, Kowalczyk predicted. That is more bullish than the 1,110 median forecast of 22 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey.

The current account swung to a $37 billion surplus in the first 10 months of the year after a deficit of $6.41 billion in 2008, the first shortfall since 1997, central bank data showed. The current account is the broadest measure of trade, tracking the flow of goods, services and investment income.

Foreign-exchange reserves climbed to a record $270.9 billion last month from $264.2 billion at the end of October, the Bank of Korea said yesterday. Reserves slumped to their lowest level in almost four years in November 2008 after the won declined and the global financial crisis made it difficult for companies to refinance overseas debt.

The central bank probably bought dollars to slow gains in the won, Mitul Kotecha, Hong Kong-based head of global foreign- exchange strategy at Calyon, said yesterday.

‘No Complaints’

November’s reserves were boosted by investment inflows and a weaker U.S. dollar which increased the value of holdings in euros and yen. Ahn said the greenback will weaken until the Federal Reserve increases interest rates. He said a stronger greenback won’t necessarily translate to won appreciation.

The competitiveness of Korean companies contributed more to the recovery in exports than a weaker currency, Ahn said. Hyundai Motor Co., the nation’s largest automaker, more than tripled third-quarter profit from a year earlier on a weaker won and surging sales in the U.S. and China.

South Korea’s exports rose 18.8 percent in November from a year earlier, the first increase in more than a year, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Dec. 1. Imports rose 4.7 percent, driven by higher consumer spending and fuel costs. Crude oil gained 74 percent this year.

“The Korean won appreciated a lot since March, but still our exports are growing,” he said. “These days there are no complaints among exporters and importers. We decide our exchange rate policy. Their opinion is not important.”

Capital Movements

Foreign investors bought $22.9 billion more local shares than they sold this year through yesterday, helping drive the Kospi stock index 42 percent higher. Stocks fell 4.7 percent on Nov. 27 after Dubai World sought to delay payments on its debt.

“Any similar case to the Dubai shock will slow the inflows,” Ahn said. “A rise in stock prices towards 1,600 reduces incentives for foreigners to jump in.”

South Korea may discuss measures to address inflows of speculative capital that are causing the currency to strengthen, Kim Jong Chang, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said on Nov. 19.

“We will watch the global discussions about imposing taxes on capital movements,” said Ahn. “So far, we think capital inflows haven’t had any side effects on the Korean financial market. We are monitoring it carefully.”

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The solicitations have been flooding people’s mailboxes lately: Pay a bit more on your electricity bill for 100 percent clean wind power. Or, the fliers say, buy "green power certificates" to offset your global warming emissions.

Close to a million electricity customers have signed up for such payments voluntarily, and the amount of electricity sold in this way has nearly tripled since 2005. But the participants are in a distinct minority, with a sign-up rate of only about 2 percent in programs run by utilities.

The government has looked at the question of whether these programs really cause more renewable energy projects to get built, and says it is difficult to draw an overall conclusion. Its experts say they believe that some green power programs work better than others.

At least one major program has come under fire from regulators. Last year, a Florida Power and Light green power program was terminated by the state’s Public Service Commission after an audit found that promised solar power facilities were far behind schedule. The program had more than 38,000 customers, and was once the sixth-largest in the country. The audit also found that the vast majority of homeowners’ payments went into marketing and administration.

About a quarter of the country’s utilities offer green power programs, and the way they are structured varies. In practice, no big utility delivers 100 percent renewable power to any customer, because electricity from all sources — coal plants, wind farms, solar panels — is mingled in the same wires. The utilities are essentially collecting extra money that they promise to use to support the development of renewable energy, a pitch that some customers find persuasive.

"It’s about what’s good for the planet," said Mark Renfrow, a Dallas homeowner who this summer began paying an extra $26 or so a month to his electric company, Direct Energy, for 100 percent wind power.

But some advocates for electricity consumers argue that the payments make little difference. Matthew Freedman, a staff lawyer with the Utility Reform Network, a ratepayer advocacy group in California, said, "There is very little evidence to suggest that customer subscriptions have resulted in any new additions of renewable power."

Early this year, the city government of Durango, Colo., stopped buying renewable power from its utility, saving $45,000 a year. The clean electricity had cost 40 percent extra — and the city manager, Ron LeBlanc, was irked that part of the payment went into putting solar panels on a school in a different city.

"Paying more and then investing in a community 16 miles away was offensive to a lot of us," he said.

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The U.S. trade deficit widened in September by an unexpectedly large 18.2 percent, the largest increase in more than 10 years, as oil prices rose for the seventh straight month and imports from China bounded higher.

Adding urgency to talks President Barack Obama will have with Chinese leaders in coming days, the monthly trade gap grew to $36.5 billion, from a slightly revised estimate of $30.8 billion in August, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

The monthly trade gap grew to $36.5 billion, from a slightly revised estimate of $30.8 billion in August, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

Wall Street analysts had expected the shortfall to grow modestly in September to around $31.65 billion.

Both U.S. exports and imports had their best month since December 2008. But in a sign of renewed U.S. economic growth, imports grew 5.8 percent in September, the biggest monthly gain since March 1993, while exports rose 2.9 percent.

Some analysts had expected more of an export boost because the drop in the value of the dollar against other major currencies makes American goods more competitive overseas.

But “the overall upturn in U.S. demand is trumping the fall of the dollar,” said Craig Peckham, an equity trading strategist with Jefferies and Company in New York payday loan companies.

TRADE FLOWS PICKING UP

Imports of industrial supplies and materials showed the biggest gain in September, suggesting that U.S. manufacturers are ramping up for production.

International trade flows are picking up as massive stimulus from governments and central banks lift the global economy out of its deepest swoon since the 1930s.

The EU statistics office Eurostate said the euro-zone economy grew 0.4 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter, snapping the region’s recession. For details, see

The U.S. government said last month the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate 3.5 percent in the third quarter after four contractionary quarters.

The average price for imported oil leapt to $68.17 per barrel and imports from the Organization of Petroleum Export Countries increased to $11.9 billion in September, both the highest since November 2008.

A separate report showed U.S. import prices rose for the third straight month in October, pushed up by a jump in the cost of fuel imports and the depreciating dollar. 

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Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg expressed confidence on Saturday that Germany could address EU concerns about a sale of carmaker Opel to Canada’s Magna, saying they did not put the deal at risk.

The European Commission announced late on Friday that Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes had written to Guttenberg voicing doubts about Germany’s offer to provide 4.5 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in financial aid for Opel as part of the deal with Magna.

In the letter, Kroes said there were “significant indications” that Germany had made the aid for Opel contingent on Magna being chosen as the winning bidder — a stance that would run counter to EU competition rules.

Speaking to reporters in Berlin on Saturday morning, Guttenberg said the deal was “on track” and voiced confidence that Germany could resolve the questions raised by Kroes.

Asked whether her concerns could doom the sale to Magna, he replied: “No, I don’t believe that.”

Magna, a car parts group whose bid for Opel is backed by Russian investors, had been in competition with private equity investor RHJ International, and before that with Fiat and China’s BAIC, for control of the General Motors unit. RHJ was not immediately available for comment.

But the German government said repeatedly it had a “clear preference” for the Magna bid as it offered Opel the most promising future and would protect German jobs.

It linked its offer of 4.5 billion euros in aid for Opel to a Magna takeover, with Chancellor Angela Merkel promising to intervene, if necessary, to ensure Magna won the bid battle.

Under pressure from Germany, GM chose Magna as its preferred bidder last month. Under a deal that had been expected to be signed this week but was delayed amid EU doubts, GM plans to sell a 55 percent stake in Opel to Magna and Russian state-owned bank Sberbank.

GM would retain a 35 percent stake in Opel under the deal and workers would hold the remaining 10 percent.

ROADBLOCK?

Kroes said GM and the trust set up to keep Opel separate from its U.S. parent’s recent bankruptcy in the United States should be allowed to reconsider the decision to sell to Magna.

“GM and the Opel Trust should be given the opportunity to reconsider the outcome of the bidding process,” Kroes said in the statement.

If GM is forced to reopen the bidding for Opel, or the closing of the deal faces significant delays, Opel could face a cash crunch based on previous projections by the automaker.

“GM is very fragile. An Opel bankruptcy and loss of numerous jobs is a realistic scenario if the sale is stopped,” said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, an auto expert at Duisburg-Essen University. 

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Citigroup Inc is expected to be fined $600,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over derivatives transactions that helped foreign clients avoid taxes on dividends, the Financial Times reported on its website on Sunday.

The fine against Citigroup Global Markets is expected to be announced on Monday, the paper said payday loan lenders.

A Citigroup representative was not immediately available for comment.

FINRA could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Shares of large health insurers slumped on Thursday as a budget report issued on a key U.S. Senate healthcare reform bill fueled investor worries that a health overhaul would gain approval.

Nonpartisan budget analysts said late on Wednesday that a Senate Finance Committee health plan would cost $829 billion and cut the budget deficit by $81 billion over 10 years. The bill would meet President Barack Obama’s desire for a healthcare plan that does not increase the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Shares of WellPoint Inc fell more than 7 percent, while UnitedHealth Group Inc, Aetna Inc and Humana dropped more than 4.5 percent, bucking a positive overall market.

The determination of the finance committee bill’s impact on the deficit was seen as a “big stumbling block” for drawing support for the legislation, said Avik Roy, healthcare analyst with Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co.

With the favorable CBO analysis, Roy said, “the fear is that the bill will actually get through, and that increases the risk to the insurers.”

The Senate Finance Committee will vote on the bill next week following the CBO report.

“The successful CBO score increases the likelihood that a reform bill will pass and it also strengthens the (Senate Finance Committee) bill’s position as the bill that will drive the debate,” Wells Fargo analyst Matt Perry said in a research note.

Pressure on the stocks also may have been coming from news that U.S. Democrats were looking at a possible tax on insurers’ windfall profits as part of reform no fax pay day loans.

The share moves continued the declines since mid-September for health insurance stocks, which have proved extremely sensitive to reform developments in Washington.

“We continue to think managed care stocks will remain in flux until the ‘devils in the detail’ are resolved in final legislation,” Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Borsch said in a research note.

As the reform legislation has evolved, analysts have raised concerns about the status of “individual mandate” that would require people to buy health insurance. Amendments added to the Senate Finance bill have lowered the financial penalties for people if they choose not to buy health insurance.

With insurers being required to enroll people with pre-existing health conditions, the fear is that healthy Americans will choose to pay any penalties instead of insurance premiums. By losing out on that revenue while paying for coverage of the sick, insurers potentially would be hurt by higher medical costs.

“From the perspective of the insurance companies, if you require that everybody has health insurance, then you are able to counteract that tendency of people to only take coverage when they’re sick,” Roy said.

In the finance committee bill, he said, “the provisions around the individual mandate have been weakened.”

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf, editing by Dave Zimmerman and Gunna Dickson)

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The U.S. Federal Reserve is studying the idea of borrowing from money market mutual funds as part of eventual steps to withdraw stimulus, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The Fed would borrow from the funds via reverse repurchase agreements involving some of the huge portfolio of mortgage-backed securities and U.S. Treasuries that it acquired as it fought the financial crisis, the newspaper reported, without citing any sources.

This would drain liquidity from the financial system, helping to avoid a burst of inflation as the economy recovered.

The FT said Fed officials had in recent days held discussions with market participants on how it might implement such a scheme.

The Fed is considering whether to conduct a pilot scheme, but worries such a test might be seen as a signal that the central bank was about to drain liquidity on a large scale, the newspaper said. In the near term, a big drain remains unlikely, it added.

The central bank held interest rates at close to zero on Wednesday and upgraded its assessment of the U.S. economy, saying growth had returned after a deep recession.

The Fed also said it would slow its purchases of mortgage debt to extend that program’s life until the end of March, in a move toward withdrawing the central bank’s extraordinary support for the economy and markets during the contraction.

The idea of the Fed using reverse repos to help unwind policy is not new; Fed chairman Ben Bernanke identified them as a potential means of soaking up liquidity in July. But the market had previously expected the repos to be done with primary dealers, including former Wall Street investment banks.

The central bank is now considering dealing with money market funds because it does not think the primary dealers have the balance sheet capacity to provide more than about $100 billion, the Financial Times said.

Money market mutual funds have about $2.5 trillion under management so they could plausibly provide between $400 billion and $500 billion, it said.

The newspaper added that the Fed did not think it would need to drain liquidity all the way to where it was before the crisis, because it was confident it could raise interest rates even with a much larger amount of reserves in the system than existed before the crisis.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia, editing by Mike Peacock)

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