ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial services company, received a bid for Latin American insurance assets from a group that includes Chile’s Luksic family and Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
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Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, was sued for more than $1 billion by the U.S. government for allegedly selecting mortgages “recklessly” for inclusion in a government insurance program.
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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims remained above the 400,000 mark for the second week in a row with 403,000 Americans filing for benefits during the week ending April 16, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
That number was down 13,000 from the previous week’s filings of 416,000 first time claims for unemployment compensation insurance benefits.
Moreover, the number of jobless people covered by unemployment compensation insurance remained stable at 2.9 percent.
The less volatile 4-week moving average was 3,716,750, a drop of 17,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 3,734,250.
However, there were still 8,299,810 claiming jobless benefits in all programs for the week ending April 2.
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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The number of first-time applicants for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose for the week ending April 9 by 27,000 to 412,000.
Analysts had expected the number to remain in the 380,000 range.
Some analysts now say the jump in claims signals uncertainty over recovery in the labor market, while others view it as an anomaly caused by large mass layoffs at the end of the quarter.
Regardless, so far the U.S. recovery from recession has largely been confined to the economic markets with labor not sharing in the nation’s ongoing recovery.
For the week ending April 2 there were 385,000 new claims for unemployment compensation insurance payments, the U.S. Department of Labor said. Initial jobless claims had been trending downward and it was below the 400,000 mark. This marked the first time in five weeks that claims rose above that mark.
Moreover, the four-week moving average, a figure less volatile than the weekly claim numbers, is trending upward again. It increased by 5,500 to 395,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 390,250, DOL officials said.
In addition, the seasonally adjusted rate of jobless workers covered by the unemployment compensation insurance program for the week ending April 2 fell to 2.9 percent from the prior week’s rate of 3 percent.
DOL officials say that there were a total of 8,517,545 people claiming jobless benefits in all programs for the week ending March 26.
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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The number of jobless Americans filing first time claims for unemployment compensation benefits fell by 6,000 to 388,000 for the week ending March 26, the Labor Department said Thursday.
While the weekly number fell, the four-week moving average rose slightly by 3,250 claimants to 394,250, from the previous week’s revised average of 391,000. The jobless rate bounces around slightly from week-to-week, but it has generally been trending downward since the beginning of the year.
The percentage of unemployed Americans covered by unemployment compensation insurance remained stable at 3 percent for the week ending March 19, unchanged from the previous week.
The number of people filing ongoing claims for jobless benefits dropped by a modest 51,000 claims to 3,714,000 during the week ending March 19, the most recent week that data is available.
A total of 8,770,443 Americans claimed benefits in all jobless programs for the week ending March 12, the latest week for which such data is available.
In addition, extended benefits were available in 35 states and the District of Columbia for the week ending March 12. That number has remained stable since last year.
Those states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
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Somerset, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Luxury goods retailer Mulberry postponed plans Thursday to open a second factory in Britain because of the high tax rates in the country. Mulberry Chief Executive Godrey Davis pinpointed the impact of rising National Insurance rates on operating costs.
However, Davis admitted the company would inevitably have to open a second factory in 2012 to meet the high demand for its high-end handbags. Because of the popularity of Mulberry’s bags, such as the Tillie and Alexa models, its one factory in Somerset can hardly cope with the high demand and is hiking production capacity by 80 percent.
The Alexa bags, priced at a minimum of $1,200 (GBP 800) per piece, helped propel Mulberry’s pre-tax profits for the first half of 2010 to $7.05 million (GBP 4.7 million). As a result, the company’s share prices rose to almost 900 pence from 100 pence in November 2009.
Davis said the political and economic climate in the U.K. has not been conducive to businesses in the past decade, particularly new investments. He proposed NI holidays for manufacturers. Employer NI contributions will go up in April to 13.8 percent from 12.8 percent for workers earning over $204 (GBP 136) a week.
Samantha Cameron, wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron and ambassador of the British Fashion Council, acknowledged last week that the fashion sector helps boost economic growth in the country.
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Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (AHN) – Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah returned home Wednesday after months of recuperation abroad and immediately ordered an increase in social benefits for citizens.
The king, who underwent spinal surgery in the U.S. in November and stayed in New York and Morocco to recuperate, issued royal decrees increasing the country’s development fund and the state bank’s capital to provide more interest-free loans for use in building homes, getting married or starting up a business.
Abdullah also increased the social insurance fund and the number of beneficiaries to 15 from eight per family. He allocated $933 million in assistance for the poor so they can repair their homes and pay utility bills. Another $320,000 was allocated for vocational training courses for women to increase employment of the youth.
A foreign scholarship program was extended for five more years while salaries and benefits of government workers were increased 15 percent.
The king vowed to tackle youth unemployment that currently stands at 40 percent.
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Asian stocks fluctuated as exporters advanced after Americans filing for unemployment insurance fell to the lowest level since July 2008 last week, countering concerns Egypt’s crisis will escalate.
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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Two million Americans are set to lose their insurance after jobless claims expire on Tuesday. Lawmakers returned from their Thanksgiving break on Monday without voting on extending them.
About 800,000 workers who have been searching for jobs for at least six months will spend the holidays without unemployment insurance, and 2 million by New Year’s Eve. Another 2 million will see their benefits expire by the end of February.
A bill extending unemployment insurance during the holidays failed in the House on Nov. 18 before Congress went on its Thanksgiving recess. Republicans blocked the measure, saying it would add to the deficit.
Lawmakers voted 258-154, short of the two-thirds required to pass the bill. All except 11 votes opposing the measure were from the GOP.
The bill introduced by Reps. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Sander Levin (D-MI) temporarily extends benefits for three months until February 2011.
Republicans oppose the measure because it would increase the deficit by $12 billion, and add to the $13.795 trillion national debt.
The GOP also argues that some economists believe “prolonged unemployment benefits can theoretically increase unemployment duration by delaying individuals’ intensity to search for work.”
Unemployment nationwide remained 9.6 percent in October. In the long-term, 41 percent of jobless workers have been unemployed for at least six months.
“We are experiencing what can only be described as a jobs crisis, a sustained period of chronic unemployment; and two years of policies that have vastly increased the size and scope of government and added trillions to the debt and have done little to alleviate this problem,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in last week’s weekly Republican address.
Democrats, however, cite a study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office saying unemployment benefits increase consumer demand and spending by returning $2 into the economy for every $1 invested.
The AFL-CIO has also stated that, “With five job hunters for every one opening, long-term jobless workers have nowhere else to turn.”
The last extension in July was passed after three attempts that were blocked by Republicans, which means the expiring benefits may still be extended through Democratic efforts in Congress’ lame-duck session during the remainder of the year.
But no vote has been scheduled for the extension, with many bills in the backlog, including an extension of tax cuts for the middle class that Republicans also want for high-income earners. Lawmakers also need to work on a dozen annual appropriations bills for the 2011 fiscal year. They passed a stopgap measure on their last day of session in September before the mid-term elections, temporarily funding government operations.
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With the finance minister directing all public sector banks, financial institutions and insurance companies to carry out an independent evaluation of their assets and the documentation they have given loans on the basis of, it does look as if the implication of the arrest of the LIC Housing Finance chief could be a lot bigger than we think.
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