Gold Again Tops $1,500 an Ounce
The price of gold set a record high for a second straight day Wednesday as investors looked for an alternative to a weakening U.S. dollar.
Various unsettling events in the world in the last few months — such as the political unrest in the Middle East and then the earthquake and tsunami in Japan — have pushed some investors to look for what they view as a secure commodity. Increasingly, they have bought gold and other precious metals in what analysts call a “flight to quality.”
The price of gold edged just above the $1,500 mark Tuesday, after the Standard & Poor's financial services firm lowered its economic outlook for the United States from “stable” to “negative” on fears that the country's leaders will not be able to reach a deal to rein in the growing U.S. governmental debt. Wednesday, the price of gold topped $1,506 an ounce.
Some analysts say the price of gold could increase further. Investors have also bought another much cheaper precious metal — silver. It has risen to more than $45 an ounce for the first time since 1980 when its price reached a record $50.35. Prices for palladium and platinum have also been increasing over the last year.
Eritreans Rally in Ethiopia to Demand Afwerki Ouster
Hundreds of Eritrean exiles rallied in neighboring Ethiopia Wednesday to demand the ouster of what they call Eritrea's repressive government.
More than 600 Eritreans gathered in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, wearing hats printed with the word “Enough” to show they want no more of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's 18-year rule.
Organizers say other Eritrean exiles held similar rallies in at least four refugee camps in northern Ethiopia's Tigray and Afar regions, which border Eritrea.
Some protesters called for an end to the Eritrean government's policy of forcibly conscripting citizens into military service. Others appealed to the international community to impose sanctions on Asmara.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000 and their relations remain hostile. About 60,000 Eritrean refugees live in Ethiopia, whose government approved Wednesday's rallies.
Rally organizer Kibrom Sibhatu says his Eritrean Urban Refugees Association wants to bring down Mr. Afwerki's government through peaceful protests inspired by other recent uprisings against autocratic rulers in the Middle East.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi also faces the prospect of protests against his government in the coming weeks, organized by Ethiopian activists who see him as authoritarian.
Next month marks the 20th anniversary of the coup that brought Mr. Meles' Tigrayan Marxist rebel group to power.
US Official Confident Congress Will Pass Trade Deals
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk says he is confident lawmakers will approve free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea.
However, Kirk said Wednesday he thought it was “highly unlikely” the Obama administration would submit the deals to Congress in one legislative package because of procedural concerns.
Kirk spoke at a breakfast meeting hosted by the moderate think tank Third Way in Washington.
Administration officials said Tuesday that they decided to move forward on the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement after Panama met a series of requirements, including ratifying a tax treaty and reforming labor laws.
President Obama is expected to meet with Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli next week to discuss the accord and a new regional security initiative.
Administration officials have not put forward a specific timeline for bringing the trade accords to Congress for ratification. But officials said in a telephone news conference that the Panama and South Korea accords are at a stage where the process of formulating legislation with Congress can begin.
The U.S. is waiting for Colombia to meet goals specified in an “action plan” aimed at bringing about legal reforms to strengthen rights and protections for workers and labor organizers.
An Obama administration official said the United States will evaluate Colombia's progress on its commitments to the plan and make a judgment.
U.S. business associations generally support the administration's push to complete the three trade agreements. But the head of the largest U.S. trade confederation, Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO, recently renewed his criticism of the accords, including the Colombia agreement. He questioned whether they would help the U.S. economy or do enough to protect workers in the countries concerned.
Maine Democratic Representative Mike Michaud also issued a statement Tuesday calling all three agreements flawed, adding that he and others in Congress would work to defeat them.
British Insurance broker wants closer look at vehicles on Provo Roads
Ian Belsman, a leading share holder of a British based Insurance company, after a two week visit to the TCI is calling on the authorities to crack down and monitor the number of illegal vehicles on the roads.
Belsman, who told Radio RTC that he thoroughly enjoyed the beaches and fine weather, was a bit taken back by the number of vehicles he saw on the road with expired road tax certificates and the general state of some vehicles which he deemed not road worthy.
“In England and in many parts of the road these vehicles would never pass the inspection tests and they are a danger to passengers and motorists. If one of these unregistered vehicles were to crash say into a taxi there would be no insurance to cover the injured parties because they are not registered or insured.”
The retired gentleman added that he has nothing against the lesser cars on the roads he saw but maintained that they should be licensed and registered before causing serious injury. “I inquired our driver about them and he said they were jitneys and hustlers but while I know people need income at what price is person’s safety. The police and Insurance companies should really look into this,” he added.
Royal honeymoon in TCI?
The Turks and Caicos could soon be in the news again for all the right reasons if according to bookmakers and travel experts the new Royal couple chooses the TCI as their honeymoon destination.
Odds compilers have TCI installed as second favorites behind Africa for Prince William and Kate Middleton to have their lavish honeymoon after they tie the knot on April 29th.
Adding fuel to the fire is a recent visit to the Islands by Robert Hannigan, who sits on the board of directors at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office specializing in defence and intelligence.
If William and Kate do spend the first days of their married life soaking up the TCI sun, it will be worth millions and millions of dollars to the country.
If the TCI fails to prove the destination of choice for William and Kate, the country will get a second chance to host a Royal honeymoon later this year.
Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Phillips, marries England rugby captain, Mike Tindall, on July 30 and already speculation has started as to where they will be heading.
PDM leader, Doug Parnell, who successfully campaigned for the wedding day to be made a public holiday, wrote to the couple before Christmas inviting them to holiday in the Islands.
“It’s true that I sent an official invite to the couple inviting them to honeymoon here and obviously I hope they take up the invitation. But at this stage the destination is a closely guarded secret so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
US Announces New Terror Threat Advisory System
The United States is replacing its color-coded terror threat alerts with a new advisory system that will inform the public about specific threats.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the National Terrorism Advisory System on Wednesday, and said it goes into effect next week.
She said the new alerts are designed for when there is a specific, credible terrorist threat.
The Homeland Security department says the alerts may include the geographic region, mode of transportation or type of infrastructure potentially affected by the threat, as well as steps individuals and communities can take to help prevent, mitigate or respond to the threat.
The alerts will be shared with the public through the media and online.
The current advisory system, in place since 2002, was established in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It assigned color rankings to indicate how severe the national threat level was at any given time, with red being the highest and green being the lowest. Critics of that system said it provided information that was too vague to be of any value.
The Homeland Security department says the new system will include information specific to the particular threat and will not use a color-coded scale.
If authorities have no specific information about the timing or location of a threat, the advisory will label the threat as “elevated.” If authorities believe the threat is impending, it will be referred to as “imminent.”
Napolitano said the alerts will expire automatically in two weeks unless the intelligence community recommends they be extended.
World Bank, IMF say Caribbean needs help in reaching MDG targets
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) say while two-thirds of developing countries are on track or close to meeting key targets for tackling extreme poverty and hunger, the Caribbean and other poor countries need urgent help in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
In the 2011 Global Monitoring Report titled Improving the Odds of Achieving the MDGs, the Washington-based financial institutions said most of the developing countries falling short of the MDGs, were close to becoming on-track.
"With improved policies and faster growth, these countries can still achieve the targets in 2015 or soon after," said the financial institutions said in a statement.
Director of development prospects at the World Bank, Hans Timmer said while reaching the MDGs is a "significant achievement" for developing countries, "there still is much to do in reducing poverty and improving health outcomes even in the successful countries.
"Donors should build on this success and help countries make the next step through investments in effective service delivery," he said.
On the whole, the financial institutions said the fight against poverty is progressing well, pointing out that based on current economic projections, the world remains on track to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty.
They said the number of people living on less than US$1.25 a day is projected to be 883 million in 2015, compared with 1.4 billion in 2005 and 1.8 billion in 1990.
The World Bank and the IMF said developing countries will also likely achieve the MDGs for gender parity in primary and secondary education and for access to safe drinking water, and will be very close on hunger and on primary education completion.
"But progress is slow, and targets may be missed on others," they warned, stating that among developing countries, 45 per cent are far from meeting the target on access to sanitation; 39 per cent and 38 per cent are far from the maternal and child mortality targets, respectively.
"Good macroeconomic policies remain crucial to progress toward the MDGs," said Hugh Bredenkamp, deputy director of the IMF's Strategy, Policy, and Review Department.
"The challenge in low-income countries is to sustain and accelerate growth through better policies that will create jobs and greater opportunities for the private sector," he said.
"Advanced economies need to do their part to secure the global recovery, by repairing and reforming their financial systems and tackling their fiscal imbalances," he added.
The financial institutions said, in some countries, it will be important to focus on support for the world's socially-excluded groups, including indigenous people, as well as ethnic and linguistic minorities.
They said most MDG, indicators among these groups are far worse than in the general population, especially in terms of income poverty.
The banks said that regaining momentum towards achieving the MDGs will require international cooperation on three fronts.
First, they said, low-income countries in particular will need a "strong and stable global economic environment in which to continue growing".
Second, actions are needed to help low-income countries "achieve and sustain more rapid economic growth and restore their policy buffers," they said.
Third, the banks said, fragile states that lag the furthest behind in reaching the MDGs require additional support, to help in building institutions and "moving toward a virtuous circle of development, peace, and security".
Citigroup’s profit plunges 32 per cent
Citigroup Inc’s first-quarter profit fell 32 per cent as shrinking loans and poor trading results pressured revenue while expenses surged. The results highlighted how the third-largest US bank, which teetered on the brink of collapse in the financial crisis, has stabilised but is still struggling to generate real growth. The results were better than expected, which supported Citigroup’s stock on a day when the US equity market was falling.
But like other big banks, the company’s profit came mainly from dipping into money previously set aside to cover bad loans. “We’re not seeing a lot of revenues being thrown off by main businesses...They haven’t been able to turn recovery into growth,” said Len Blum, a managing partner of investment firm Westwood Capital, who personally owns bank stocks.
All three of the biggest US banks—Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup— have posted shrinking loan books for the first quarter, raising questions about the strength of US economic growth. The biggest boon for banks right now is that credit losses are dropping. Citigroup's credit losses fell 25 per cent in the quarter and steadily declined all last year, allowing it to dip into reserves previously set aside to cover losses.
Citigroup is among the most international of the major US banks, and that helped some businesses in its Citicorp unit, where the bank houses the operations it plans to continue operating over the long term. Citicorp’s Latin American consumer banking, investment banking and transaction-processing services all posted higher income from continuing operations, for example, even as North American investment banking and transaction-processing operations posted profit declines.
Beating estimates
Overall, Citigroup earned US$3.0 billion, or 10 cents per share, in the first quarter, beating analysts’ average forecast of 9 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. A year earlier it earned US$4.4 billion, or 15 cents per share. Revenue dropped 22 per cent to US$19.73 billion. In its securities and banking business, fixed income trading revenue fell 29 per cent to US$3.8 billion. Operating expenses rose 7 per cent to US$12.33 billion. Citigroup said this was in part due to higher legal expenses, but on a conference call with reporters, Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach declined to say why those costs had risen.
Gerspach said the bank will incur US$25 million to US$30 million in annual costs, as well as one-time charges of US$45 million to US$50 million over the "next few quarters," related to a foreclosure-related settlement with bank regulators. Last week, 14 banks including Citigroup agreed to overhaul their mortgage operations and compensate borrowers who were wrongly foreclosed upon, as part of a settlement with bank regulators. The foreclosure mess that began in the fourth quarter of 2010, with borrowers accusing major banks of repossessing homes without having the right paperwork in place, will increase costs at several large US banks. (Reuters)
TT PM wants audit of regional security agency
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she intends bringing allegations of corruption at the Trinidad-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Imple-mentation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) to regional leaders after a newspaper published details of what it said were acts of misappropriation of funds and other fraudulent accounting practices at the regional institution.
"Should the allegations be true, it is indeed cause for grave concern. Corruption of any kind is a cancer eating away at the heart of every person who should benefit from projects since every dollar corruptly taken means one dollar less for the benefit of people; and it would be even more appalling for an organisation charged with responsibility for assisting in the fight against crime to, itself, be ensnared in criminal activity," Persad-Bissessar said.
The Sunday Express newspaper ran a front-page story quoting "reliable sources" alleging the incidents of misappropriation of funds.
Persad-Bissessar, who has responsibility for security within the quasi CARICOM cabinet, told the newspaper that in the circumstances, she would bring the allegations to the attention of other regional leaders "and request that a full investigation be undertaken, including an audit, and for steps to be taken for transparency and accountability".
She said the funding for IMPACS remains a contentious issue particularly as several CARICOM states have not paid their contribution to the organisation, which together with its sub agencies, the Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre and Joint Regional Communications Centre are specifically geared towards strategic research, programme and project implementation, evaluation, analysis and mobilisation of resources to support the collective fight against serious crime and to counter other security threats in the region.
"This, we understand, is as a result of the downturn in the economy," she said, recalling that the last annual summit of regional leaders in Jamaica had dismissed a proposal calling for a US$5 on airline tickets to raise funds.
"Regional projects such as IMPACS are to be funded by contributions from CARICOM states. However, whilst Trinidad and Tobago has paid up its contributions (towards) IMPACS, some other states have not been able to pay up, thereby creating a deficit for funding of the project.
"Again, at the CARICOM heads meeting in Grenada this year, a similar proposal to raise funding by way of a fee on airline tickets was rejected," Persad-Bissessar said.
- CMC
Stocks sink after S&P issues warning on US debt
A warning from Standard & Poor's (S&P) that the agency might lower its rating on US government debt sent stocks on their steepest slide in a month yesterday.
S&P said there is a 33 per cent chance it would lower the country's credit rating from AAA in the next two years if Washington fails to pare the country's debts.
The Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq composite all had their sharpest falls since March 16.
The Dow fell 140.24 points, or 1.1 per cent, to close at 12,201.59. The S&P 500 fell 14.54, or 1.1 per cent, to 1,305.14. The Nasdaq composite fell 29.27, also 1.1 per cent, to 2,735.38.
S&P reaffirmed the US government's top credit rating of AAA but expressed doubts that Washington would move quickly to curb the country's mounting budget deficits.
US government bonds are widely seen as the benchmark for the safest kind of debt. The highly unusual move by the ratings agency to lower its outlook for US debt to "negative" from "stable" caught investors off guard.
wake-up call
"This is a wake-up call," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at New York-based brokerage house Avalon Partners Inc. "The government is now going to have to do something to cut the budget. That is a long-term positive for the stock market, though it might not be in the near term."
The change means that S&P could lower its rating on US government debt in the future. If that were to happen, the US government would have to pay more to borrow money when it issues bonds.
Since the government's borrowing rates are used as a benchmark for nearly all kinds of debt, many borrowers would also pay higher rates, including companies, homeowners and credit-card users. That would have a negative impact on spending in general and the overall economy.
- AP