Finance and Economic

Greece replaced its debt management chief as declines in the country’s bonds roil European markets.

Petros Christodoulou, general manager of treasury and global markets at National Bank of Greece SA, the country’s biggest lender, will take over from Spyros Papanicolaou as head of the Athens-based Public Debt Management Agency, the country’s Finance Ministry said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

“The incoming guy is walking into a tough mandate,” said Charles Diebel, senior interest-rate strategist at Nomura International Plc in London. “Such is the sentiment towards Greece at the moment, a new broom could be a positive.”

Greek bonds have slumped in the past two months, driving yields to the highest in 10 years, on concern the government will struggle to narrow a budget deficit that is more than four times the European Union limit. Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government needs to sell 53 billion euros ($72 billion) of debt this year, the equivalent of 20 percent of gross domestic product.

Papanicolaou, a former central bank official, was appointed general director of the debt office by the previous New Democracy government in January 2005. His predecessor, Christopher Sardelis, had held the role since 1999, when the organization was created.

“I’m not stepping down,” Papanicolaou said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It’s normal” that a new government changes staff, he said. “It’s a long tradition. Whether it’s good or not, that’s another story,” he said.

Rising Yields

The Greek government is under pressure to show that it can reduce a budget deficit that was equivalent to 12.7 percent of gross domestic product last year after the EU this week stopped short of offering financial support.

The yield on Greek two-year notes has remained above 5 percent, the highest in the euro region, even after officials this week urged the nation to reduce the deficit. The premium investors demand to hold the notes instead of benchmark German securities has held above 4 percentage points, the most since the Mediterranean nation joined the euro and more than 10 times its 37 basis point average the past decade.

The yield on two-year Greek government notes yesterday rose 31 basis points to 5.67 percent. The 10-year bond yield added 16 basis points to 6.54 percent.

“It’s a very challenging job,” Papanicolaou said. “We are going through a very difficult period.”

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Stocks erased big losses by the close Friday, with technology shares leading the advance, following a three-session rout that had taken the market to its lowest point since last fall.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 10 points, or 0.1%, ending at 10.012. The Dow had fallen as low as 9,835 earlier.

The S&P 500 index (SPX) rose 3 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 16 points or 0.7%. All three major indexes had touched three-month lows before recovering.

Stocks fell sharply in the afternoon as worries about a growing debt crisis in Europe exacerbated uncertainty about the U.S. economic outlook. But the market changed direction as the dollar trimmed bigger gains and some of the selling pressure gave way.

"There may be some late-day buying coming in because the market has sold off pretty dramatically over the last few days," said Haag Sherman, managing director at Salient Partners.

Worries about the Euro zone caused investors to dump riskier assets and plow money into the U.S. dollar and government debt. The greenback rose to a more than 6-month high versus the euro and also gained against the yen. The dollar’s strength then dragged on commodity prices, oil and gold stocks and companies and sectors that have been benefiting from a weaker dollar.

"A lot of the selling that we’re seeing is technical, and it’s all being driven by the dollar," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.

He said that because there’s a flight to quality into the dollar, assets that have been benefiting from a weak dollar are getting hit. However, he said that the trend was temporary and that once the panic washed out, buyers would move back into riskier assets.

Debt crisis: Stocks plunged Thursday on worries that rising debt problems in Greece, Portugal and Spain could throw a wrench into any economic recovery in Europe, which would then influence the United States.

The news that the opposition parties defeated the Portuguese government’s austerity plan provided another reminder, if any were needed, that European countries will find it extremely difficult to get a grip on their public finances.

Global markets continued to slide Friday, with Asian and European markets ending lower.

The global jitters overshadowed a U.S. government report that showed moderating job losses despite an improved unemployment rate.

"The employment report was a mixed bag overall, but the market is more focused on what is happening globally," said David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates.

He said that with heightened concerns over nations’ debt, risk premiums go up and the outlook for the economy and stock market gets cloudier.

Rosenberg said U.S. investors are focused on whether there will be a default or bailout in Greece, and how this will affect the euro and the dollar. "All of this is going to impact U.S. markets," he said.

On the move: The strong dollar again dragged on commodity prices, and energy and metal stocks fell through most of the session. But in the last hour turnaround, oil and gold stocks cut losses or turned higher.

Strength in big tech stocks such as Cisco Systems (CSCO, Fortune 500), Intel (INTC, Fortune 500), IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) helped temper broader losses and eventually led a comeback.

In other news, Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) has surprised many on Wall Street by announcing that it is paying CEO Lloyd Blankfein $9 million in company-restricted stock as his bonus. Blankfein was expected to receive a heftier payment.

Earlier, JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) said CEO Jamie Dimon was given a $16 million bonus last year, in restricted stock and options.

Market breadth turned mixed after being negative through most of the session. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers topped winners by nine to seven on volume of around 1.56 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners seven to six on volume of 2.84 billion shares.

Rally hits a roadblock: The S&P 500 surged 23% in 2009, and 65% after hitting a 12-year low on March 9 of last year. That momentum propelled stocks into the first half of January. But by the second half of the month, the tone had turned more sour and investors had begun to step back.

Between rally highs hit on Jan. 19 and Friday’s lows, the S&P 500 lost 9.2%, getting close to the technical definition of a correction - a loss of 10%.

Jobs: Employers cut 20,000 jobs from their payrolls last month, according to a Labor Department report released before the start of trading. Employers had been expected to add about 15,000 jobs, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Employers cut a bigger-than-initially reported 150,000 jobs from their payrolls in December.

The January report had some positive signs, including an increase in the work week and an increase in temp agency employment — both of which are seen as leading indicators.

But the report also showed that the impact of the recession on the labor market was far worse than initially reported — making the recovery process all the more arduous.

The unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, fell to 9.7% from 10% in December. Economists expected it to hold steady at 10%.

Toyota: The troubled company’s chief executive apologized Friday for the recall of 8 million cars. However, he did not announce a new recall of the popular Prius Hybrid, despite reports of brake problems.

Earlier, the company said it is also examining the brake systems of the Lexus hybrid vehicles since they used the same system as the 2010 Prius.

Toyota (TM) shares gained 3.5%.

Commodities: COMEX gold for April delivery fell $10.20 to settle at $1,052.80 an ounce, after slumping $49 Thursday.

U.S. light crude oil for March delivery fell $1.95 to settle at $71.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bonds: Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.54% from 3.61% late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. 

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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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Federal subsidies for COBRA insurance coverage for involuntary terminated workers have been extended to 15 months – a move hailed by North Carolina’s insurance commissioner.

The subsidy, part of the federal stimulus plan, pays for 65 percent of the COBRA and mini-COBRA premiums for workers laid off from their jobs between Sept. 1, 2008 and Feb. 28, 2010. Previously, the subsidy ran out after nine months, after which the unemployed would have to pay the full COBRA premium.

“The COBRA subsidy extension is great news for North Carolinians who have been laid off and couldn’t continue their health insurance because of the often impossibly expensive premiums,” said state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin. “Many citizens in our state were approaching the subsidy’s original cutoff date and just didn’t know how they could pay for the full coverage premiums – or worse, they were forced to cancel their coverage once the subsidy ran out. I’m so pleased that these folks will have the opportunity to maintain their coverage.”

The extension applies to those who are currently receiving the subsidies and to those who have already exhausted their initial nine months of subsidies business card templates. Unemployed workers who are eligible for the subsidies will be notified by their former employers’ insurance provider.

Workers who dropped COBRA after the subsidies ran out because they could not afford the full premiums re-enroll and receive the extended subsidy. Workers who have been paying the full premium since the subsidies ran out should contact their plan administrator or sponsor about receiving future credits or reimbursements for their past payments.

COBRA allows many workers and their families to continue receiving health insurnace coverage that had been provided through their former employer. However, the worker is responsible for paying up to 102 percent of the total cost of the insurance, much of which may have been paid for by the employer.

Mini-COBRA is provided for workers of companies with fewer than 20 employees.

Individuals with questions about COBRA benefits should contact the N.C. Department of Insurance at (800) 546-5664 or go online to www.dol.gov/cobra.

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Accounting firm Watkins Meegan LLC has hired the managing partner of Sturn Wagner Lombardo & Co. LLC, a dissolving Annapolis accounting and consulting firm.

Kurt Sturn, founder of Sturn Wagner Lobardo, will join Bethesda-based Watkins Meegan Jan. 1 and will bring his entire book of business and five to 10 other professional employees with him, said Sean Roddy, chief operating officer of Watkins Meegan, which already has an Annapolis office with about 15 employees.

The deal is part of a new acquisition strategy for Watkins Meegan, the second-largest locally-based accounting firm in the Washington area with about 240 employees and four offices.

“We’re hoping to double over the next five years,” Roddy said.

Over the last five years, the firm has grown its staff 33 percent, according to the Washington Business Journal list of accounting firms — all of it organic.

The firm also is talking to a few potential acquisition targets, Roddy said.

With the current deal, Sturn approached Watkins Meegan, saying he and his partners were going in different directions and were thinking about dissolving, Roddy said.

The firm signed a deal with Sturn last week and is still in negotiations to bring on some of the other accountants that worked under him.

“I am both proud and confident that this merger brings together the best and brightest to serve the Annapolis business community and provide it with the resources of exceptionally trained professionals,” Sturn said in a statement.

Sturn Wagner Lobardo was founded in 1990 and began dissolving several weeks ago. As of a couple of years ago, it had about 33 accountants, though that has been reduced to about 20, Roddy said.

It has offices in Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington, according to its Web site.

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Citigroup will suspend foreclosures and evictions for 30 days, giving 4,000 at-risk borrowers a break during the holiday season, the company said Thursday.

The New York-based bank said distressed homeowners with first mortgage loans owned by CitiMortgage or CityFinancial North America who also meet certain other criteria will not be subject to foreclosure sales or notifications between Dec. 18 and Jan. 17.

"We hope that with this suspension we can make the holidays a little less stressful for our customers who are going through a very difficult time," said Sanjiv Das, chief executive of CitiMortgage, in a statement.

Citi (C, Fortune 500) said the suspension affects 2,000 borrowers scheduled to have foreclosure sales and another 2,000 that were to receive foreclosure notices during the period, which amounts to approximately 20% of the company’s $746 billion mortgage servicing and lending portfolio low interest personal loan.

Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) also announced Thursday that it was suspending all foreclosure evictions from Dec. 19 through Jan. 3. All owners and tenants living in foreclosed properties that the mortgage financing company holds will not be subject to evictions during the holidays. 

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Thirty-eight percent of seniors who graduated from Florida colleges or universities last year were in debt, with the average amount owed on student loans at $18,621.

By comparison, the average national debt among college grads was $23,200, according to The Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt report, which includes debt levels for the 50 states and District of Columbia and nearly 2,000 U.S. colleges and universities.

“With debt and unemployment at record levels, young college graduates may feel stuck between a rock and hard place.” said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, which produced the report. “Rising student debt is a serious problem, but struggling borrowers do have options to help manage their federal student loan debt, such as unemployment deferments and the new Income-Based Repayment program.”

In South Florida, students graduating from Nova Southeastern University in Davie had the most debt at $35,798, followed by Lynn University, a private institution in Boca Raton, with $30,175 payday loans. The proportion of students with debt from those schools was 76 percent and 37 percent respectively.

Fifty-six percent of those who graduated last year from the University of Miami were in debt. The average amount owed was $24,500. At Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, 69 percent of students owed money with an average debt of $19,420, while 29 percent of students from Florida International University in Miami had student loans with an average debt of $10,899.

Click here to see the state data.

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The St. Louis chapter of the Public Relations Society of America is celebrating its 60th anniversary. It was founded in 1949 by 14 local public relations professionals as the organization’s seventh chapter.

The society now has 110 professional chapters in 10 districts nationwide advance payday loans.

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Japan’s trade minister apologized on Monday for disclosing market sensitive third-quarter GDP figures to oil industry executives ahead of its official release, in an embarrassing slip for a government that took power two months ago.

The much-stronger-than-expected third-quarter growth figures caused Japanese bond prices to dip after the official release by the Cabinet Office at 8:50 a.m. (6:50 p.m. EST), although they later recovered as analysts warned the outlook was less rosy.

Masayuki Naoshima, the minister of economy, trade and industry, said that he told industry officials about GDP data because of concerns about the economy and he did not know the data was due later.

“I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t know it was due to be released at 8:50 a.m. so I thought it would be OK to talk about it,” Naoshima told reporters.

“I apologize for causing trouble and I’ll be careful from now on.”

Japan’s economy grew 1.2 percent in the third quarter, its fastest pace in more than two years as stimulus lifted consumer spending and capital spending bottomed out.

It was the first GDP data released after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s new government took power in mid-September in the wake of an election that ousted the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party.

The government under the LDP had become more careful with handling the GDP data after a newspaper reported the figures ahead of the release a decade ago, forcing policymakers to confirm the figures.

(Additional reporting by Sumio Ito and Yoko Nishikawa; Writing by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Rodney Joyce)

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Time Warner Inc. said Wednesday that its business outlook has improved, after the company posted quarterly profit and sales that fell from year-ago results but beat Wall Street’s forecasts.

The recession has cut into the company’s media subscriptions and advertising sales, which are its primary revenue streams. But its television and film units outperformed expectations in the quarter, raising the company’s hopes that it has turned a corner.

"Time Warner is firmly on track to post solid results this year in spite of the tough economic environment," said Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s CEO, on a conference call with investors.

The media conglomerate raised its full-year guidance, saying it expects to earn $2.05 per share for 2009. That’s better than the $1.98 per share estimate the company provided in April and is slightly higher than analysts’ consensus expectation of $2.02 per share.

The outlook excludes the effects of a $100 million restructuring at publishing unit Time Inc., which the company expects to incur in the current quarter. Time Warner confirmed that the cost-cutting would come in the form of layoffs at Time Inc. during this quarter, but the company didn’t disclose the number or timing of those job cuts.

A source familiar with the job cuts said the company had offered voluntary buyouts Tuesday night to Time Inc. employees who are members of the Newspaper Guild. Most of those employees work for Fortune, Fortune Small Business, Money, Time, Sports Illustrated and People. The company is expected meet with the remaining staff members on Wednesday, with total job cuts reaching about 500, according to the source.

Time Warner also said it still plans to spin off its AOL unit by the end of the year.

The AOL spin off will follow other recent moves at Time Warner to focus on the company’s core businesses. Earlier this year, the company completed a spinoff of its cable service provider Time Warner Cable (TWC), and the company began to reorganize Time Inc. in late 2008, laying off 600 and stopping publication of a handful of magazines in the process.

"I’m confident that the new content-focused Time Warner will be well positioned to deliver steady and attractive stockholder returns in 2010 and beyond," Bewkes added.

Shares of Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500) fell 1% in premarket trading.

Income falls on AOL, Time Inc: The New York-based parent company of CNNMoney.com and Fortune said its net income fell to $662 million, or 56 cents per share, down 38% from a year earlier payday loans online. Results included a charge of 5 cents per share.

Without the charge, Time Warner said it earned 61 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items from their estimates, forecasted earnings of 53 cents per share.

The company said adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (adjusted OIBDA), a commonly used profit metric for media companies, fell 9% to $1.8 billion, topping analysts’ expectations of $1.7 billion. Adjusted OIBDA declines at AOL and Time Inc. negated moderate growth at the company’s television networks and film units.

Profit rose modestly in the company’s TV networks and film units, but earnings were halved at AOL and Time Inc.

Advertising, magazine sales tumble: Sales for the company fell 6% to $7.13 billion, just topping analysts’ forecasts of $7.07 billion.

Revenue fell in every segment except for the company’s TV networks unit. Network sales rose 5% in the quarter, despite a 1% dip in advertising sales from the same period a year ago.

The biggest decline in sales came from the Time Inc. unit, in which revenue dove 18%. Ad sales fell 22% at the company’s publishing arm, and subscriptions were down 24% in the quarter.

The company’s filmed entertainment segment, which includes film studio Warner Bros., posted sales that fell 4% in the quarter. That decline was mostly due to a difficult comparison to the same period last year, which brought in hefty revenue from the blockbuster "The Dark Knight." The company said the new Harry Potter movie and "Final Destination" performed very well, and it was still taking in carryover ticket sales from the summer blockbuster "The Hangover."

Sales at AOL, which the company has been planning to spin off since May, fell 23% on an 18% decline in online ad revenue.

Time Warner’s results come a day after rival Viacom (VIA) reported profit jumped 15%, even as advertising sales slumped.

Also on Wednesday morning, cable provider Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) reported 22.5% earnings growth. Comcast is reportedly in negotiations to buy General Electric’s (GE, Fortune 500) NBC Universal unit, but some analysts believe Time Warner is also in the running for the Peacock Network. 

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