Finance and Economic

Colleges are bracing for another year of high demand for financial aid — and that means students need to get their applications in as quickly as possible.

Federal student loans remain plentiful, but other types of aid from states and colleges are more limited. By missing one of the many deadlines, students could receive fewer sought-after grants and scholarships that don’t have to be repaid, and end up having to apply for loans that do.

Blame the continued weak economy for the stiff competition for aid. Unemployment remains high. Families that have burned through cash reserves now are applying for aid for the first time, aid officials say.

In addition, a bumper crop of high school seniors and more people returning to school for advanced degrees will add to the aid demand, says Patricia Nash Christel, a spokeswoman for student loan giant Sallie Mae.

The first step to getting aid is filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid at fafsa.ed.gov. It not only will determine your federal aid, but states and colleges also use the FAFSA to award their money.

The earliest you can submit a FAFSA is Jan. 1. States and schools set their own deadlines for when the FAFSA must be submitted.

Schools often set priority deadlines so applications submitted by that date will be the first batch looked at. Deadlines can differ widely, so check your school’s website.

Parents often want to file their tax returns before filling out the FAFSA. Although having an up-to-date tax return makes filling out the application easier, it’s better to get the application in by the deadline using last year’s tax return and then correcting the information later.

Besides the FAFSA, many schools are creating their own aid forms or requiring families to submit additional documents to make sure the aid is going to students in need.

What if you blow all the deadlines? You can still qualify for federal Stafford student loans by submitting the FAFSA any time during the academic year.

Source

cheap payday loans are easy to qualify for with no credit checks and no hassles. Get approved for your payday loan instantly!

All 50 states were hit with increases of more than one percentage point in their unemployment rates last year, according to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The sharpest rise occurred in Michigan, where the average jobless rate for 2009 was 13.6 percent, up 5.3 points from 2008’s average of 8.3 percent.

The only other state with an increase of more than five points was Nevada, which soared from an average unemployment rate of 6.7 percent two years ago to 11.8 percent last year.

New York’s increase was 3.1 points — from an annual jobless rate of 5 freecreditscore.3 percent in 2008 to 8.4 percent in 2009.

The figures were contained in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ yearend report for 2009, which included a full set of annual averages. The results for all 50 states and the District of Columbia can be accessed by clicking here.

North Dakota was the most stable state in 2009. Its annual unemployment rate of 4.3 percent was just 1.1 points higher than its 2008 average of 3.2 percent.

Source

After four years of relative stability, Savvis Inc. is again looking for a new chief executive.

Phil Koen, who took the helm of the Town and Country-based company during a turbulent time, resigned abruptly Friday.

Koen will be replaced temporarily by Savvis Chairman Jim Ousley while the company searches for a more permanent option. The search is expected to take three to six months.

On Monday, Ousley said Koen’s departure is simply part of the company’s evolution. Koen joined the cloud computing firm — it provides information technology services and data storage for other companies — after former CEO Robert McCormick’s ugly departure. He left in late 2005 amid controversy over a $241,000 bill at a New York topless club that had been charged to a company credit card.

During Koen’s tenure, the company remade itself through acquisitions and the construction of data centers.

"The new CEO will have different traits than Phil. But Phil’s were ideal for that time," Ousley said.

Where Koen excelled in operational and financial areas, the new leader will be expected to have strong business development and sales and marketing skills, he said.

There’s certainly a challenge awaiting the company’s next chief executive.

After several years of significant losses following the dot-com bust, the firm finally turned a profit in 2007, only to slip again when the economy failed. Still, Ousley said Savvis is confident it is positioned to take advantage of an improving economic environment.

As to the suddenness of Koen’s departure, Ousley said it followed lengthy discussions about the company’s future and whether Koen wanted to commit another three to four years. Once the decision was made, there was no reason to put it off, with a considerable amount of strategic planning about be done, Ousley said.

"It came quicker just because it was the end of the year," he said.

In a company release, Koen cited the strength of the company’s management team and said "this is an excellent time for me to move on to a new opportunity and to watch Savvis continue to grow and excel."

Ousley also said the company has no plans to leave the St. Louis area.

Source

NEW YORK–AT&T Inc. said Thursday it would no longer sponsor Tiger Woods, joining Accenture in dropping support for the world’s top golfer, who’s taking a break from the sport to focus on his marriage after his admitted infidelity.

The phone company hasn’t used Woods’ image extensively in advertising, but its logo appeared on his golf bag. That deal had been billed as a "multiyear" agreement when it was signed early in 2009, after Buick ended its endorsement one year early because of its financial woes.

Woods has also been the host of the AT&T National PGA Tour event since it started in 2007. Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said that since Woods is on indefinite leave from professional golf, he will not serve as host for the 2010 event. However, his Tiger Woods Foundation will continue to be the beneficiary of the AT&T National, under a contract that runs through 2014, Votaw said.

AT&T said it would continue to sponsor the event.

Woods won the 2009 AT&T National in July at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

The AT&T National tournament is moving to Aronomick Country Club in eastern Pennsylvania for the next two years as Congressional prepares to play host to the 2011 U.S. Open.

AT&T has also been the presenting sponsor of the annual Tiger Jam concert event in Las Vegas.

AT&T, which is based in Dallas, did not comment on its reasons for dropping Woods, or how much the relationship was worth.

Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, had no comment on AT&T’s decision.

Woods’ image has taken a beating since a late November car accident at the golfer’s Florida home was followed by an admission of extramarital "transgressions."

Consulting firm Accenture dropped the athlete two weeks ago, saying he was "no longer the right representative" of the company’s values.

Gillette, a unit of the Procter & Gamble Co., also has said it won’t air ads for its razors that include Woods or include him in public appearances.

Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, a unit of luxury goods empire LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also said that it would "downscale” its use of golfer Tiger Woods’ image in its advertising campaigns for the foreseeable future.

Electronic Arts Inc., which puts out the "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" series of golf video games, has not said what its plans are for the franchise.

Nike Inc. and PepsiCo Inc.’s Gatorade are other big sponsors that haven’t severed their ties.

Source

Local builder Clayco Inc. was recognized by the Design-Build Institute of America for its work on the Chevron NorthPark Office Building Project near New Orleans. The project received this year’s national Design-Build Award for exceptional construction of the 300,000-square-foot, fast-tracked Chevron headquarters building.

Chevron moved most of its business operations and a staff of 750 from downtown New Orleans to the new building on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain at Covington, La., outside the most hurricane-prone area.

Clayco is a real estate development, design and construction firm. It has branch offices in the Chicago and Detroit areas.

Source

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. 

Read more

Australian exports of commodities will benefit from China’s commitment to maintain policies that support economic growth, Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said.

China’s economy expanded 8.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace in a year, as stimulus spending and record lending growth helped the nation lead the world out of recession. China’s cabinet said Oct. 21 that it will continue with monetary and fiscal stimulus measures even after the economy’s expansion exceeded officials’ expectations.

China’s commitment to stimulate growth “will provide further support to Chinese demand for commodity and capital- goods imports, with implications for exports here in Australia,” Swan said in an e-mailed note. “As a resource-rich nation on Asia’s doorstep, Australia is uniquely placed to capitalize on this Asian century.”

Australia’s proximity to Asia is helping it rebound faster than most other developed economies. Trade figures show the nation’s largest export customers this year are China, Japan, South Korea, India and the U.S. Six years ago, the U.S. was ranked second.

Source

Morgan Stanley’s riskier trading operations have stolen the thunder from its growing brokerage — at least for now.

Strong fixed income sales and trading revenue and improved investment banking underwriting results broke a three-quarter losing streak as Morgan Stanley belatedly joined rivals like Goldman Sachs Group Inc in returning to the black after the collapse of the financial sector a year ago.

The New York-based bank reported third quarter net income of $498 million, or 38 cents a share, beating analysts’ average forecast of 27 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Morgan Stanley shares were up 7 percent to $34.80 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange after earlier touching a 13-month high of $35.00.

In the 2008 third quarter the bank earned $7.7 billion, or $7.38 a share, boosted by a one-time accounting gain from declines in the value of its debt.

Scarred by the collapse that claimed competitors like Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley has pledged to play a more conservative hand as it develops its brokerage business.

Co-president James Gorman is set to succeed Chief Executive John Mack — credited with keeping the bank alive during the darkest days of the crisis, but criticized for struggling to manage risk — early next year.

Many analysts view Gorman’s appointment as evidence that Morgan Stanley is trying to dial down the riskier trading business in favor of a steadier stream of income from the wealth management business payday loans with no fax.

MAKING UP GROUND

Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Colm Kelleher said in an interview that the third-quarter results were an “affirmation” that the firm’s strategy was bearing fruit.

The third-quarter rebound came largely because of solid results in trading, a riskier area of the business.

“They made up the ground on the trading side,” said Brad Hintz, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in New York and former treasurer at Morgan Stanley. “The issue that Morgan Stanley faced is they cut too deeply in fixed income and markets came back more quickly than they anticipated.”

Kelleher said during a call with analysts that the firm is about halfway through a hiring spree it initiated earlier this year to restock its trading and sales ranks. Kelleher said more than 400 were expected to be hired.

“It is good that they are starting to see some of the early benefits of that,” said Michael Hecht, an analyst with JMP Securities.

The firm’s institutional securities group, which includes the advisory, underwriting and trading units, posted pre-tax income of $1.3 billion in the quarter. 

Read more

Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. has announced plans to open its first Nordstrom Rack store in St. Louis. This will also be the first in the state.

The 34,000-square-foot store will be in the Brentwood Square shopping center — in the old Circuit City space. It is expected to open in fall 2010.

Now, don’t get confused. Nordstrom is still planning to open a regular Nordstrom store in the St. Louis Galleria mall down the street from this location in fall of 2011. There’s already a Nordstrom in West County Mall.

But Nordstrom Rack is a unit of the company’s off-price retail division that carries merchandise from Nordstrom stores and Nordstrom.com at 50 percent to 60 percent off original Nordstrom prices payday loans.

Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson said the company was able to take advantage of some of the effects of the economy with finding prime space for the store.

But he wouldn’t admit that an off-priced Nordstrom Rack is preceding the long-discussed and rescheduled opening of the regular Nordstrom store opening because of the economy.

Either way, we here at Style File are not complaining. Ever since Saks Off Fifth (at St. Louis Mills) left us a few years ago, our shopping life has not felt complete. (10/1)

Source

Northrop Grumman Corp beat rival Boeing Co to win a major $3.8 billion contract to maintain and service the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of KC-10 refueling tankers, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

Boeing holds the current contract for servicing the aircraft, which expires in January, and has provided support for the KC-10s for more than a decade.

Boeing said it was disappointed by the Pentagon’s decision.

“We presented a competitive proposal that leveraged Boeing’s tremendous experience from over 80 years of building and maintaining tankers as well as inventing boom technology,” Boeing spokesman Forrest Gossett said.

“We now need to review the Air Force’s selection decision and process before deciding on our next course of action.”

Large Pentagon contracts are often appealed to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the audit arm of Congress.

The Air Force had planned to award the contract in June 2008, but a decision was delayed because bidders submitted insufficient cost and pricing data.

“This is a stunning upset,” said defense analyst Loren Thompson with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute. Boeing has been servicing this plane since it was first introduced, Thompson said, adding “so for Boeing to lose to Northrop is truly amazing.”

Northrop, with its European partner, Airbus-maker EADS, is also in a battle with Boeing to win a contract to supply at least 179 new tankers to the Air Force, work that could be worth up to $50 billion.

The Air Force’s oldest tankers are the KC-135s, some of which are 50 years old.

The Air Force’s refueling fleet includes nearly 60 KC-10s, which were purchased in the 1970s and are modified DC-10 aircraft made by McDonnell Douglas, which was bought by Boeing in 1997.

(Reporting by Julie Vorman and Andrea Shalal-Esa; editing by Andre Grenon and Tim Dobbyn)

Read more