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Source: FULL ARTICLE at AOL
Filed under: Personal Finance, Automotive Industry, Manufacturing, Auto Loans, Economy
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
DETROIT — U.S. car and truck sales are expected to hit their highest level in nearly six years in March, as buyers armed with tax refund checks were lured by flashy new vehicles and low interest rates.
Auto companies release U.S. sales figures Tuesday.
Analysts predict total sales of nearly 1.5 million cars and trucks, a number not seen since May 2007. That’s almost double the 855,000 vehicles sold in March 2009, the low point for sales during the economic downturn, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank. Sales are expected to be up 3 to 5 percent over last March.
Alec Gutierrez, a senior market analyst with the car pricing company Kelley Blue Book, said the improving job market is boosting sales. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to a five-year low during March. Low interest rates are also making new-car purchases more appealing, Gutierrez said. The average rate for a 60-month new-car loan is now 4.12 percent, down from 4.52 percent at this time last year, according to Bankrate.com.
And Gutierrez says tax refunds can also spur purchases. The average federal tax refund this year is nearly $3,000, or enough to cover the down payment on a three-year lease of a Toyota Camry hybrid or a BMW 3-Series sedan.
Full-size pickup truck sales are expected to rise nearly 15 percent in March, following big gains in February, Kelley Blue Book said. Construction companies are rapidly replacing their truck fleets as the economy improves and they win more business.
Gutierrez said incentive deals — such as the $7,500 cash back now offered for the Chevrolet Silverado pickup — are helping truck sales, and should continue for a while. General Motors Co. (Ford Motor Co. (GM wants to clear out older models before introducing its new Chevrolet Silverado in a few months.
"Consumers looking for a new pickup truck should not hesitate to pull the trigger," he said.
Crossovers are also gaining, thanks to redesigned models like the Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4. Small cars are down slightly, in part because gas prices are relatively low. Gas averaged $3.64 per gallon at the end of March, down from $3.78 at the end of February and $3.91 in March of 2012, according to AAA.
Honda Motor Co.'s (HMC) sales gain should be among the best for March. Sales rose nearly 9 percent, according ...read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Danny King
Filed under:
A pair of US lawmakers told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that ethanol credits are leading to some deficits. Attempting to stem what they say could be an additional boost in gas prices prior to the busy summer-driving months, David Vitter (R-LA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are raising questions, Reuters reports.
In a letter to the EPA, the two senators say fuel suppliers are having a progressively harder time buying enough credits, or RINs (Renewable Identification Number), from renewable fuel producers to keep up with federal mandates.
Central to the issue is the fact that prices for RINs have jumped higher than Superman on his best day. They are now worth more than a dollar a gallon, up from one cent a gallon (!) in December. With ethanol accounting for about 10 percent of gasoline, the RIN price jump translates to a 10-cent-a gallon increase in gas prices. Average fuel prices are up about 40 cents a gallon compared to December, to about $3.70 a gallon, according to AAA.
Other senators from ethanol producing states say the jump in RIN prices has less to do with demand or stiffening biofuel mandates and may have more to do with speculators playing the RIN market. Recently, a 12-year-sentence was handed down to a fraudster misrepresenting biodiesel RIN credits.
Lawmakers ask EPA to look into gas price increase as ethanol credits rise originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 23 Mar 2013 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
Insurance premiums remain among the costliest components of auto ownership, with the average rates for family sedans rising by 3.4 percent last year, according to the AAA in Orlando, Fla. While premiums are largely based on one’s driving record and personal profile, the make, model and type of car owned and how many miles it’s driven a year, a motorist’s address can make a major difference in what he or she pays for car insurance. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Yager, the European studio behind 2012’s cult favorite Spec Ops: The Line, is officially working on a new game. Epic Games has revealed that the company has licensed its new, next-generation engine – Unreal Engine 4 – to Yager for use in an “unannounced next-generation AAA game.”
Unfortunately, little else is known about Yager’s project apart from the engine it will be running on. While Spec Ops: The Line was a great game, it’s unlikely it sold well enough to warrant a sequel. However, when we hear more about what the 100+ man team at Yager is working on with more specificity, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
By Morgan Housel, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Tim Geithner have probably been criticized and critiqued more than any other trio in the history of business for the Wall Street bailouts they designed in 2008 — as they should be.
But criticizing is one thing; saying, “Here’s what I would have done differently, and here’s why it would have been better,” is quite another, and something that happens far less often.
Last week, I sat down with former AIG chairman and CEO Hank Greenberg (who left AIG in 2005, before the company’s downfall and bailout). I asked him what Paulson, Bernanke, and Geithner should have done differently in 2008. Here’s what he had to say (transcript follows):
Morgan Housel: How should Paulson, Bernanke, and Tim Geithner have responded in September 2008?
Hank Greenberg: They had their mind made up. They wanted to use AIG as a back-door bailout. You had Goldman Sachs, you had Morgan Stanley, you had many institutions who were using AIG to get them funds, and they did.
Now, they could have had access to the window, and they ultimately got access to the window, but they would have gotten a lot more access to the window. Their debt would have been much greater. This eliminated a lot of debt that they otherwise would have had to come up with.
Morgan Housel: What did you think about the terms and the validity of the other bailouts that were given to companies like Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs?
Hank Greenberg: The Fed guaranteed — Citi and a number of others — guaranteed a lot of their assets at a fraction of the cost. If the Fed, as an example, had guaranteed AIG FB for whatever; 100 or 200 basis points…
Morgan Housel That was the Financial Products division of AIG that was running the derivatives?
Hank Greenberg: Yeah. It all would have been over. AIG would have regained its AAA rating, and there would have been no collateral calls necessary, and a lot of those assets came back. In fact, AIG was buying some of them last year. Buying them out of the Fed, so clearly if they hadn’t lost their nerve and they’d done it the right way, it all would have been over.
For more on AIG
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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
After seven consecutive days of gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is taking a breather today. With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the blue-chip index is down by 12 points, or 0.08%.
While it was a relatively quiet day on the economic front, there were nevertheless two releases that caught my colleague Dan Dzombak’s eye. First, the National Federation of Independent Business updated its index of small-business optimism this morning. For the month of February, the index increased 1.9 points to 90.8. According to the press release, “While a nice improvement over the last several reports, the Index remains on par with the 2008 average and below the trough of the 1991-92 and 2001-02 recessions.”
And second, the Department of Labor released its estimate of job openings for the month of January. The report showed that there were 3.7 million jobs at the end of the month, an improvement of 80,000 compared with December. As Dan noted: “The jobs market is a key factor for the U.S. economy, and it has been holding back the domestic recovery as the unemployment rate stays high. Rising job openings show a healthier economy as companies look for more employees.”
In terms of individual stocks, the Dow is being weighed down by both technology companies and financials. Among others, shares of Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft are all lower in afternoon trading. The sector has struggled over the last year as political and economic uncertainty continues to take its toll on business investment.
Political infighting in 2011 over the debt ceiling caused the United States to lose its “AAA” credit rating. At the end of last year, it was the fiscal cliff, which was narrowly averted. Then the sequester was triggered at the end of February. And today, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the Republican party’s “most provocative fiscal framework in years, calling for Medicare and Medicaid overhauls and new limits on defense spending not previously endorsed by party leaders,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
With respect to financial stocks, both Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are floundering on the heels of last week’s Federal Reserve-administered stress tests. While both lenders made it through the central bank’s hypothetical economic gauntlet in one piece, it remains to be seen whether they’ll be given the go-ahead from regulators this Thursday to increase capital distributions to shareholders.
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By sai2013
I have a requirement to monitor a srver log file realtime for a word ‘Started’. Once found, I invoke another program tp perform additional processing.
The code below meets my requirement.
tail -f nohup.out |
while read line ; do
echo “$line” | grep -i “Started”
if [ $? = 0 ]
then
java AAA.jar $1 $2 >>../AAA/logs/$3
break
fi
done
However, I have another script that has the exact code which greps for ‘Shutdown’ in the same file ‘nohup.out’. This does not capture the word and shutdown does not complete entirely.
Is it because the tail -f command is still open? How can i avoid this?
Thanks.
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The UNIX and Linux Forums
By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Columbia’s largest company, Ecopetrol , said this morning that Fitch Ratings maintained its international ratings for the company’s local and foreign currency at BBB and BBB-, respectively, and has revised the rating outlook from “stable” to “positive.” The action occurred on Friday.
The rating action affects approximately $1.5 billion of notes outstanding.
The government of Colombia owns 88.5% of Ecopetrol’s business. Fitch recently upgraded Colombia‘s ratings, so this helped lead to its upgrade to “positive” on the company, which Fitch said also has a strong financial profile and improving production levels.
Fitch expects Colombia to become a net sovereign external creditor in 2013 because of its continued international reserve accumulation. Moreover, the government‘s debt burden continues to decline as “fiscal consolidation and economic growth” work in tandem to allow debt to fall to an estimated 36.3% of GDP in 2012, said Fitch, in line with its estimates.
As a result, Fitch affirmed Ecopetrol’s foreign currency and local currency issuer default ratings that affect approximately $1.5 billion of notes outstanding. Fitch has also affirmed Ecopetrol’s national short- and long-term issuer default ratings at F1+ and AAA, respectively.
Fitch says further upgrades could result from an upgrade of Colombia‘s ratings coupled with continued strong operating and financial performance, though a downgrade is possible if Colombia‘s sovereign ratings are downgraded or conditions otherwise deteriorate.
Ecopetrol is one of the 50 largest oil companies in the world.
The article Fitch Upgrades Ecopetrol’s Rating Outlook originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Tony Reading, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
LONDON — So far this year, the pound has fallen more than 7% against the dollar, and it’s now trading at its lowest level since July 2010.
It looks likely to get worse before it gets better, with fears of a triple-dip recession, the loss of the AAA rating, fudged coalition politics, Mervyn King voting for more QE, and an even more inflation-tolerant Bank of England Governor waiting in the wings.
Dividends
With 70% of FTSE 100 company earnings coming from overseas, a weak pound can be a boost for the index. It should also be good news for dividends.
Brokers Shore Capital estimate that dividend growth in the FTSE 350 could double if sterling continues to fall against the dollar. Some of the big beneficiaries are the miners, which I looked at last week. But they start from a low base yield.
So I’ve trawled the FTSE‘s top 20 highest-yield stocks to screen for those with substantial overseas earnings, especially U.S.-based. With the euro looking at least as vulnerable as the pound, I’ve screened out companies with high European earnings.
These are the five high-income stocks, all with prospective yields of more than 4.5%, which should benefit most from sterling’s woes:
1. BAE Systems
The U.S. is by far the most important market for BAE Systems , accounting for nearly half its revenues. The U.K. contributes a fifth, and my guess is that much of BAE‘s other revenues are dollar denominated.
The imminent impact of sequestration is a threat to BAE‘s U.S. sales, but, ultimately, I don’t believe the U.S. will allow its national defense to be compromised. So I see BAE as a good long-term buy, with a prospective yield of 5.8%.
2. GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline‘s response to the patent cliff — moving into over-the-counter medicines and emerging markets — shows up in its revenue split. Just 6% of sales are in the U.K., with the U.S. contributing a third of the total.
Pharmaceutical shares demonstrated their defensive mettle in the 2007/2008 crash, losing just 15% as the FTSE halved. With a broad spread of revenues, a growing emerging markets franchise, and a yield of 5.3%, GSK is all things to all men. Why wouldn’t you own it?
3. AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca gets nearly 40% of its revenues from the Americas, with a quarter each from the U.K. and continental Europe. At 6%, it has one of the FTSE‘s highest yields, with fears over the company’s patent cliff weighing on the shares. Already, it’s seeing declining revenues.
New CEO Pascal Soriot should update investors with his strategy this month. That seems aimed at repositioning Astra back to scientific innovation, with maybe some biotech acquisitions or joint ventures. It would be a markedly different strategy from rival GSK.
4. National Grid
Yielding 5.6%, National Grid is the monopoly owner of the country’s high-voltage network and high-pressure gas system. But nearly 60% of its revenues come from the U.S., where it’s the largest power producer in New York state and has large gas and electricity distribution …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Sam Robson, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
LONDON — Despite a strong start to the year for the FTSE 100, Britain is not yet out of the doldrums following rating agency Moody’s decision to deprive the U.K. of its top-notch AAA credit rating. Consumers continue to be canny, therefore, and that has only helped Moneysupermarket.com .
Today, the country’s leading price-comparison website released its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2012, with chief executive officer Peter Plumb commenting that “the UK has caught the money-saving bug.”
Moneysupermarket reported a 15% increase in adjusted revenue, up from 2011’s figure of 181 million pounds to 204.8 million pounds, while statutory profit after tax leaped 48% to reach 24.8 million pounds. Adjusted EBITDA rose by 26% to 66.5 million pounds, which led to an excellent cash conversion — 97% of EBITDA was converted to cash.
The company credited the success to its market-leading position and share maintained in a competitive marketplace, while “continued structural growth in our online markets and targeted investment in technology and brand building [is] helping to improve conversion rates.”
CEO Plumb went on to say:
We helped customers save over [1 billion pounds] in 2012 as households, faced with the uncertain outlook, sought savings on their bills.
The 15% rise in revenues, 26% increase in profits and 30% higher dividend to shareholders were only possible because of our continuing investment in the MoneySupermarket brand, in digital marketing and technology, and in making sure customers find us the best shop for comparing prices.
While the Government’s Funding For Lending scheme has affected demand for comparing savings products, we remain in a structurally growing market. We’ll continue to succeed by carrying on giving customers and product providers a better and broader service than others. That way we can save more people more money and continue to build our business.
The company also completed the acquisition for MoneySavingExpert on 21 September 2012 for up to 92.5 million pounds: an initial payment of 65.5 million pounds, and a deferred consideration up to 27 million pounds. Since the buyout, it continues to show strong trading, as Plumb continued:
MoneySavingExpert.com has added to what we offer consumers. Our brands-while continuing to operate independently-give us a greater ability to help more customers and will accelerate progress toward our goal of helping every consumer make the most of their money.
Following a 30% increase to the final dividend (3.94 pence), Moneysupermarket raised its ordinary dividend for the year by 27% to 5.74 pence. This is ahead of the previous year’s 4.53%; however, there was no special dividend this year in contrast to 2011’s additional 3.93 pence per share.
The company’s initial flotation in 2007 was generally considered a flop by analysts; having been originally priced at 170 pence, over the next couple of years the shares fell sharply down to 34.5 pence at 2009’s nadir. However, they have since then proved their worth and realized their growth potential, more than doubling by 2011 and increasing another twofold by the start of this …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
The British pound is recovering after dropping against the world’s leading currencies as markets reacted to a downgrade of the U.K.’s cherished triple-A credit rating.
During early trading Monday, sterling dropped to $1.5069 against the dollar — its lowest level since July 2010 — before bouncing back to $1.5144. Against the euro, the pound hovered around 18-month lows with one euro worth 0.8745 pound.
The pound was in focus in the wake of last Friday’s decision by Moody’s to downgrade the U.K.’s credit rating by one notch from the top AAA to AA1. The agency says sluggish growth and rising debt are weakening the British economy’s outlook.
Two other major rating agencies — Fitch and Standard & Poor’s — have also warned that they may downgrade the U.K. as well.
By Tim Worstall, Contributor Nor will much happen as a result of Moody’s downgrading the UK‘s formerly AAA credit rating. For a number of reasons, some rather minor, some of rather greater importance. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
LONDON (AP) — Credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Britain’s government bond rating one notch from the top AAA to AA1, citing weaknesses in the economy’s medium-term outlook. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Yahoo Business
By Dave Thier, Contributor The current pricing scheme for AAA games is going to stick around for a few more years. Sony America CEO Jack Tretton told CNBC that we can expect games for the PS4 to range from 99 cents to $60, meaning there’s no $10 price bump like there was from PS2 to PS3. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Prices at U.S. gasoline pumps have climbed for 32 consecutive days to a four-month high, as refinery closures cut output and higher crude prices raise costs.
The national retail gasoline price has risen 43 cents, or 13 percent, to $3.73 a gallon since Jan. 17, according to the Automobile Association of America.
Refinery shutdowns have “led to tighter supply, which also has driven up prices,” said AAA spokeswoman Heather Hunter.
Refineries normally schedule maintenance, which can run anywhere from a few days to several weeks, in January and February, as those two months among the lowest gasoline demand as inclement weather makes drivers more reluctant to take to the roads.
The problems were exacerbated by operational problems at oil terminals and refineries caused by superstorm Sandy, which slashed inventories.
World of Tanks developer Wargaming has acquired Gas Powered Games. Wargaming will take “full ownership” of the studio, “bringing into its fold a contingent of veteran developers, including CEO and company founder Chris Taylor.”
“Gas Powered Games’ heritage and development pedigree shows us just how valuable an addition Chris and his company will make to the Wargaming family,” said Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi. “Gas Powered Games has a long track record of providing incredibly engaging AAA gaming experiences and we can’t wait to start working with them.”
“Wargaming growth in recent years has been tremendous, and we’re looking forward to joining one of the fastest growing gaming companies in the world,” Taylor added. “I’m sure our experience and expertise will help us contribute even more to Wargaming’s global success.”
By Daniel Nye Griffiths, Contributor
The Last of Us Creative Director Neil Druckmann has announced in a PlayStation blog that the hotly anticipated not-quite-zombies adventure is being pushed back just over a month to a June 14th date. Said Druckmann: As we entered the final phase of development for The Last of Us, we came to realise just how massive Joel and Ellie’s journey is. But instead of cutting corners or compromising our vision, we came to the tough decision that the game deserved a few extra weeks to ensure every detail of The Last of Us was up to Naughty Dog’s internal high standards. As statements of delay go, this one is setting out a bullish case for the decision – the game will be delayed, it will be better, no need to thank us. However, it’s hard to begrudge Naughty Dog another five weeks on what looks like one of the most interesting AAA games of 2013, and a possible contender for the last great PS3 exclusive. As Satoru Iwata noted, a late game ceases to be late after a few years, whereas a bad game remains bad forever. (Gearbox, who have delivered a rapid patch for some of the problems recorded around Aliens: Colonial Marines since its release, may be hoping to upset this orthodoxy.) This is interesting to me in part because I spoke to Druckmann perhaps an hour before this announcement – reminding us once again of the unyielding timetables of this kind of revelation, and the implicit tensions between news management and disclosure. After a certain amount of delay – somewhere between BioShock Infinite and Duke Nukem Forever – a delayed game starts being described as “troubled”. But if Naughty Dog can stick to a June Release, they should be fine. Whether the game lives up to expectations is a far more important question. I hope to get hands-on shortly, and will report back. Infect me with a zombifying fungus on Twitter. Actually, please don’t. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Carol Pinchefsky, Contributor
Aliens: Colonial Marines isn’t a perfect game. The visuals are oddly crude for a AAA title, and pivotal plot reveals were more muddled than enlightening. However, with xenos coming at you from all angles, trying to give you the world’s worst hug, it is a relatively fun game, made more so by familiar faces…and a familiar arsenal …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Jason Evangelho, Contributor
Since Microsoft’s Surface Pro launched, I’ve engaged in fascinating discussions with my Twitter followers about its capabilities. In doing so, I’ve identified what could be an important area of opportunity for Microsoft’s marketing department: They need to play up the fact that this tablet/ultrabook hybrid is quite adept at running a wide range of AAA video games. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
