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South Korean manufacturers' confidence declined from a three-month high on concern soaring raw material costs will reduce profits.

The index measuring expectations for April fell to 88 from 90 the previous month, according to a survey of 1,434 manufacturers released by the Bank of Korea in Seoul today. A score lower than 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists.

Higher costs may damp consumer spending and prompt South Korean companies to pare investment and hiring as their earnings are crimped. That may cool an economy that already is facing slowing exports as a looming U.S. recession damps global growth.

The benchmark Kospi index of shares has dropped 10 percent this year. Rising raw-material prices are the biggest concern for Samsung Electronics Co. and other manufacturers, the central bank said in today's confidence report.

South Korea's Posco said last week it plans to increase product prices in April to try to pass on higher coal and iron- ore costs to customers and halt a slide in earnings.

Chief Executive Officer Lee Ku Taek said last month that the business environment this year would be “tougher'' because of rising costs and a global economic slowdown. Asia's third- biggest steelmaker reported a 20 percent decline in fourth- quarter profit.

Companies and consumers across Asia are paying more for fuel, food and other commodities, prompting governments in the region to stockpile goods, regulate prices and subsidize utility bills in efforts to ease cost pressures 500 fast cash payday advance.

Tariffs Removed

South Korea's government said this month it will temporarily remove tariffs on 70 items, including grains and oil, in an effort to damp inflation.

South Korea purchases 97 percent of its energy needs from overseas, making it the world's fifth-biggest importer of crude oil. The price of Dubai crude, an Asian benchmark, has surged 74 percent since the start of 2007, reaching a record this month.

An index measuring manufacturers' expectations for domestic sales fell to 104 from 107, while that for exports rose to 107 from 106.

The government had forecast that increased spending by households and companies would take over from exports as the main drivers of economic growth this year.

An index of non-manufacturing companies' expectations for April dropped to 79 from 90 on growing concern that sales and profits may slow and because they are facing a shortage of labor, today's report showed.

The Bank of Korea surveyed the manufacturers and 717 non- manufacturers from March 17 to March 24.

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KB Home reported a loss in its first quarter, due to impairment charges and a 75 percent drop in net orders, the company said Friday.

In the quarter, the company reported $794.2 million in revenue, down 43 percent from $1.4 billion in the year-ago period. Net loss was $268.2 million, or $3.47 a share, compared to net income of $27.6 million, or 34 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

KB Home delivered 2,928 homes in the quarter at an average selling price of $248,200, compared to 5,136 homes at an average selling price of $267,400 in the year-ago period. The company reported a cancellation rate of 53 percent in the quarter, down from 58 percent in the last quarter pay day loans cash till payday.

Los Angeles-based KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. The company, also one of the largest production home builders in New Mexico, announced early this month that it was closing its Albuquerque office and will no longer build in the state. KB said it would complete homes that are in progress.

The Los Angeles Bizjournals.com affiliate first reported this story.

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The Bank of Japan should keep its policy of gradually raising interest rates, board member Miyako Suda said, while acknowledging the need for flexibility given that growth may fall short of the central bank's forecast.

“It is natural to continue pursuing higher interest rates'' because monetary conditions are “very accommodative,'' Suda said in a speech today in Miyazaki, southern Japan. As growth may slow and global financial markets remain volatile, “it is time for us to examine both upside and downside risks closely without any preconceptions,'' she added.

The risk of a recession and worsening sentiment among businesses and consumers have investors betting the central bank will reverse its policy and cut rates this year. Deputy Governor Kiyohiko Nishimura also stressed the need for flexibility in parliamentary testimony today, as did acting Governor Masaaki Shirakawa this week, when he said the economy faces uncertainty.

“The bottom line of Suda's speech is to emphasize that the central bank can take flexible steps,'' said Yoshimasa Maruyama, a senior economist at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. That suggests “she hasn't ruled out the possibility of cutting rates.''

Investors see a 49 percent chance the central bank will cut the benchmark interest rate from 0.5 percent by December, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. calculations. Japan's key rate is already the lowest among major economies.

U.S. Slowdown

The yen traded at 98.96 against the dollar as of 1:47 p.m. in Tokyo from 98.74 before the speech. The yield on Japan's five-year note fell 2 basis points to 0.725 percent.

A U.S. slowdown and the yen's 13 percent surge against the dollar this year are prompting caution among companies as the Japanese economy's longest postwar expansion loses steam. U.S. growth slowed to a near standstill in the fourth quarter, economists expect a government report to show today.

“The economic outlook is highly uncertain,'' Nishimura told an upper house parliamentary committee. “Without having any preconceptions, we will make a flexible policy judgment by examining our forecasts and the risks.''

Nishimura said the bank will retain its policy of gradually raising rates as long as Japan's economy keeps expanding fast payday loans payday loans. Suda, the policy board's longest-serving member, said the economy may grow at a slower pace this year than the central bank forecast.

“I see a high possibility that fiscal 2008 growth will be lower than projected and that the ability to forecast the outlook has been thickly clouded by increased instability in financial capital markets,'' she said.

Slower Growth

Growth could be as low as the mid-1 percent range in the year starting April 1, she said, slower than the Bank of Japan's 2.1 percent forecast made in October.

Production had its biggest drop in a year in January and profits fell last quarter, prompting the government to cut its evaluation of the economy for the second straight month in March.

The central bank's Tankan quarterly business survey on April 1 will show confidence among the nation's largest manufacturers falling to a four-year low, economists estimate.

Suda described a recent drop in Japan's stock market and the yen's rise to a 12-year high last week as “abrupt,'' and said the moves are “having a negative impact on sentiment to some degree.''

She said she will examine the Tankan survey for signs of how the financial-market turmoil affects capital spending plans and profits at “already-weak'' small and medium-sized companies.

Consumers probably won't be able to pick up the slack from companies. Falling wages, rising costs of food and oil and a slumping stock market dragged household sentiment to a five-year low in February. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average has lost 18 percent of its value this year.

Suda, a former economics professor at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, said the cycle of profits feeding into higher wages and household spending is weakening, though it remains intact.

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Confidence among Japan's largest manufacturers will probably fall to its lowest level in four years, as a stronger yen eats away at exporters' profits and the faltering U.S. economy slows global growth.

The Bank of Japan's Tankan index of manufacturer sentiment will slide for a second quarter to 12 points in March from 19 in December, according to the median estimate of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The report is due April 1 at 8:50 a.m.

The yen surged to a 12-year high against the dollar last week, oil prices are near a record, and sales to the U.S., the country's biggest market, have dropped five months running. That's taking a toll on Toyota Motor Corp. and other exporters, who generated more than half of Japan's growth last quarter.

“Everything is pointing toward a significant economic slowdown,'' said Tomoko Fujii, head of economics and strategy at Bank of America NA in Tokyo. “The question isn't whether things are good or bad. The question is: how bad?''

The risk of a recession and worsening sentiment among businesses and consumers has investors betting the Bank of Japan will cut interest rates this year. Traders see a 57 percent chance the central bank will lower the key rate from 0.5 percent before December, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. calculations.

A government survey yesterday showed big manufacturers became the most pessimistic they've been since the report was established in 2004.

Hurt by Yen

“Confidence among large companies has been hurt by slowing global demand and the strengthening of the yen,'' Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota said today. “We need to watch the depth and duration of the U.S. slowdown and the effect it will have on the corporate sector.''

Gains in the yen, which has surged 14 percent against the dollar since the December Tankan, may sour the outlook for big makers of cars and electronics. An index measuring large manufacturers' expectations for business conditions next June will slip to 9 from 15, economists said. If realized, that will be the lowest level since September 2003.

Toyota, Japan's biggest carmaker, last week said the company may miss its sales target this year because the yen's gains make its cars more expensive overseas. The rising cost of steel is also making each sale less profitable, it said.

“The rapid fluctuation of the currency and the surge in materials costs are headaches for us,'' Vice President Tokuichi Uranishi said last week. Japan's wholesale prices rose at the fastest pace in 27 years in February http://abc-cashadvance.com fast cash.

Stocks Rally

The yen traded at 100.26 against the dollar as of 12:20 p.m. in Tokyo from 100.74 late yesterday in New York. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.3 percent after U.S. existing home sales unexpectedly rose, boosting confidence consumption in Japan's biggest market will weather the economic slowdown.

Even if the large manufacturer index falls to 13 in next week's survey, it would still be well above the negative numbers recorded during Japan's last recession, which ended in 2002. The survey plunged to minus 51 in 1998, when Asia was in the throes of a currency crisis and the government had to buy failed lenders including Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan Ltd.

The index has been above zero, the threshold indicating optimists outnumber pessimists, since September 2003.

`Not Dreadful'

“Thirteen or 10 or 15, these kinds of numbers tell you economic conditions aren't dreadful. We're a world away from where we were five or six years ago,'' said Richard Jerram, chief economist at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Tokyo. “But things aren't as good as they were six months ago or even three months ago.''

Small businesses, which employ 70 percent of Japan's workers, are suffering more than their larger peers. Profit at small and midsized companies slid 9 percent in the fourth quarter from the same period a year earlier, compared with a 2 percent decline at bigger businesses.

The Bank of Japan's acting Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said last week that smaller companies are getting squeezed by the higher cost of oil and raw materials. That's held down wage growth and stymied consumer spending, which accounts for more than half of the economy.

“It's a tough time for the BOJ, but Shirakawa has said that current rates are already stimulative,'' Bank of America's Fujii said. “Our base scenario is for no rate cut. But if the Tankan's really bad, we'll reconsider.''

Confidence among the nation's largest non-manufacturers, whose customers tend to be domestic, probably fell to 12 from 16, according to economists. That would be the lowest in three years.

Large companies will say they plan to increase capital spending by 0.1 percent in the year starting April 1, economists estimated. Investment plans tend to be conservative at the start of the fiscal year.

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U.S. health insurer stocks appear cheap after a rash of profit warnings unleashed broad bearish sentiment. But even investors who like to capitalize on beaten-down shares fail to see a bargain — at least not yet.

Industry giant WellPoint Inc (WLP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) stunned the market earlier this month by cutting its 2008 profit forecast, creating fear the health insurance industry is entering a cyclical downturn. Several rivals followed by reexamining their outlooks or lowering their forecasts.

Investors want to wait at least until the companies report first-quarter results starting next month for assurance that medical cost and premium pricing trends are stable before diving in.

Some are further spooked by the U.S. political climate, worried that as the presidential race heats up it will bring attacks on health insurance companies throughout the year that could increase pressure on the stocks.

All three major U.S. presidential candidates are under pressure to bring down booming health-care costs — and one target could be reimbursement rates for the companies involving the Medicare government health plan for the elderly.

“We try to buy things that have blown up and we have a more contrarian bent,” said Derek Taner, a portfolio manager with the AIM Global Health Care Fund in San Francisco quick payday $500 payday loan. “But so many other areas are roughed up … areas with less government risk and good earnings visibility.”

“We’re not buying, we haven’t been buying and we’re kind of staying away from that group until we figure out what’s happening here,” Taner said.

No one doubts that the stocks suddenly look a lot cheaper after a broad sell-off precipitated by the WellPoint announcement and further profit warnings by Humana Inc (HUM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Coventry Health Care Inc (CVH.N: Quote, Profile, Research). 

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Palm, which makes the Treo smart phone, says it swung to a slightly larger loss in its fiscal third quarter than analysts expected as revenue fell 24%.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s loss applicable to common shareholders totaled $31.5 million, or 30 cents per share, in the quarter ended Feb. 28. That compares with a profit of $11.8 million, or 11 cents, in the same quarter a year before. Excluding certain items, Palm’s third-quarter loss totaled 16 cents.

Palm Inc. says its revenue fell year over year to $312.1 million from $410.5 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast a loss of 14 cents on $315.7 million in revenue creditreports paydayloans.com. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Palm says its smart phone revenue was $275.4 million during the quarter, driven by its lower-priced Centro model.

Shares of Palm (PALM) finished 3.7% higher Thursday on the Nasdaq. 

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Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel was huddling with regulators at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York the morning of March 14, when word came that President George W. Bush needed an update on the chaos enveloping financial markets.

Stocks were falling for a third straight week, and Bear Stearns Cos. was getting bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co. through an unprecedented Fed-backed infusion of cash. Steel, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's closest confidant, met Bush at a lower Manhattan heliport and briefed him in the 10-minute drive past Wall Street ahead of the president's speech to the Economic Club of New York.

The worst credit crisis in at least two decades falls directly into Steel's responsibilities as head of Treasury's domestic finance division. In an interview yesterday, Steel, 56, was unapologetic about the administration's reluctance to back a taxpayer bailout of mortgages and said the early market response to the Fed action has been favorable.

“The real proof will be in the pudding longer term with markets being stable and orderly, but it's good to have an initial constructive reception,'' he said, hours before the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rallied 4.24 percent, the most in five years.

The Bush administration's reliance on markets to some analysts has prolonged the decline in the housing industry.

“They're going to have to recognize the reality that fiscal and monetary policy aren't going to be enough to get us out of this crisis,'' said Michael Barr, a former assistant to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and professor of law at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Goldman Ties

Steel, who worked under Paulson as head of equities and later vice chairman at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., used his 30 years of experience on Wall Street to help hammer out two deals culminating in JPMorgan Chase's purchase of Bear Stearns. Paulson said he chose Steel for the job in part because he “has worked through tough times in a calm manner.''

Starting at 5 a.m. on March 14, the two Treasury officials counseled the Fed and other regulators while participating in talks that culminated in the deal for JPMorgan to buy Bear for about $2 a share, or $240 million, before markets in Asia opened.

Throughout the crisis, Steel has been a surrogate for Paulson on Wall Street. On March 17, at a White House photo opportunity, Steel sat on one side of Bush and Paulson on the other as the president sought to reassure Americans that the administration was “on top'' of the situation.

No `Playbook'

Steel is “clearly the closest guy to Hank, based on the longevity of the relationship, comparable stamina, business acumen, intelligence and the typical Goldman zeal to get things done,'' said T. Timothy Ryan, chief executive officer of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

“They've had to make decisions — which so far have been very good decisions — without a playbook,'' said Ryan, who was director of the Office of Thrift Supervision during the savings- and-loan crisis from 1990 to 1992. “They are focused on the right issue, and the right issue for everybody is to assure that the capital markets function efficiently.''

Bear Stearns' selling price, at less than 10 percent of its market value, reflects the inevitable fallout from the credit crunch, in which banks and securities companies have lost some $190 billion since the start of 2007, Steel indicated free credit report without a credit card cash advance loans.

“I view the resolution as a logical one,'' Steel said. “Two dollars a share really says that there was pain, and in the current environment, we're focused on the stability of the market.''

Goldman Experience

Steel received a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. His Goldman career started in the bank's Chicago office in 1976 and his experience with markets and focus on stability wins him praise from former colleagues.

“Every day the markets are full of rumor and trivia, and he has an ability to cut through that and get to what is the heart of the problem,'' said Rick Rieder, managing director and head of Global Principal Strategies at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., who serves as vice chairman of the Treasury's bond borrowing advisory committee.

Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has led calls for lenders and loan servicing companies to modify mortgages for struggling homeowners, a more aggressive approach than that endorsed by Treasury. Still, she says Steel is “non- ideological'' in his desire to seek solutions.

“He's calm, he's a steady hand, he doesn't overreact,'' Bair said in an interview. “I'm very impressed with him. He's made his fortune, he doesn't need to think about his next career step, he's just here to do what he thinks is right.''

Political Donations

Steel, a married father of three daughters, has ties to leading lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans. He has donated more than $160,000 to campaigns of both political parties in recent years, giving to Republican Senators John McCain and Lamar Alexander and Democrats including Senators Charles Schumer and Bill Bradley.

Still, Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, rebuked the administration's response earlier this week to the economic slump.

“Hopefully, Bear's problems will wake this administration out of its torpor,'' Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said in a March 17 statement. “It is imperative that Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke persuade the president to remove his ideological blinders and act to stop the spread of these problems.''

Relations With Congress

When asked about criticism from Congress that the administration has moved too slowly, Steel said lawmakers haven't done their part to modernize the Federal Housing Administration and toughen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator.

“These two things are really important things that can help housing,'' said Steel, who has a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. “We don't want to think it's right to start using large amounts of government revenues to basically be bailing out the situation.''

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ML Macadamia Orchards said Monday that it lost $4 million, or 53 cents per share, on revenue of $11.3 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2007.

The Hilo-based company said the loss was mainly the result of lower nut prices, inventory write-downs and higher legal and administrative costs related to the attempted acquisition of Mac Farms of Hawaii and the inability of the partnership to find customers or processors for its entire 2007 crop.

In 2006, the company reported a profit of $804,000, or 11 cents per share on revenue of $17.2 million.

The company said it suspended its quarterly cash dividend because of the poor financial results pay day loan quick payday loans.

In a separate release Monday, the company announced that its shareholders voted at a special meeting March 10 to approve the company’s proposal to amend the partnership agreement to allow processing and marketing of macadamia nuts. The former business purpose was restricted solely to macadamia farming.

Shares of ML Macadamia Orchards (NYSE: NUT) closed down 4.5 percent to $3.34 on Monday.

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Air France-KLM is expected to formally submit a bid Friday for struggling Alitalia, despite union resistance and an upcoming Italian election that could threaten the deal.

The French-Dutch airline said Monday it would submit its bid to buy a majority stake in the flagship Italian carrier on Friday. Air France officials said the offer, which is conditional on Italian union approval, could come anytime before midnight.

Alitalia SpA shares dropped Friday, apparently on expectations that the value of the offer could be lower than initially proposed. After a sharp morning decline, the shares were trading down 3.8% in the afternoon, at 55 euro cents (86 cents).

The bid comes as Italy awaits elections April 13 to 14 that could bring conservative Silvio Berlusconi back to power, replacing the center-left government that negotiated the Air France-KLM takeover deal. Berlusconi has voiced opposition to downsizing Milan’s Malpensa hub as part of a sale to the Franco-Dutch airline.

Air France-KLM (AFLYY) has said it would wait for a new Italian government, which controls Alitalia with a 50% stake, to be formed after the elections before finalizing any deal.

Alitalia (ALAIF) unions have so far been split on the Air France-KLM offer, with those representing pilots and cabin crew broadly in favor, and those representing the airline’s loss-making ground services business generally against.

Air France-KLM Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta is expected to fly to Rome on Wednesday to meet with Alitalia’s labor unions, La Repubblica reported in its Friday Internet edition.

Alitalia’s board was to meet Saturday to examine progress in talks on the sale, as well as short-term financing needs for the cash-strapped airline.

Air France-KLM earlier proposed injecting €750 million ($1.15 billion) into Alitalia through a capital increase.

La Repubblica said the bid may come short of the initial offer of 35 euro cents for each Alitalia share, and will leave the Italian government a 2 percent stake in the airline against the 3 percent originally offered faxless online payday advances credit reports. The paper said Alitalia’s work force is expected to be slashed by 4,000 to 13,000 under the offer. 

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European Union leaders are counting on the slowing U.S. economy to rebound quickly, helping Europe avert a recession, Luxembourg Prime and Finance Minister Jean- Claude Juncker said.

The U.S. has “a strong economy and won't continue its downward slope for all eternity, so in Europe we don't face the risk of a recession,'' Juncker told reporters early today after the first session of an EU summit in Brussels.

EU leaders voiced concern that all-time highs for the euro and oil prices will combine with volatile financial markets to undermine growth, while stopping short of calling on the European Central Bank to reduce interest rates.

ECB officials have ruled out cuts in the main 4 percent interest rate, saying the economy can get along without a boost and warning that inflation will surpass the bank's 2 percent limit for a 10th year in 2008.

Juncker, who heads the panel of finance chiefs from the 15- nation euro region, said financial markets have punished the dollar because of undue pessimism about the U.S. economy.

The euro reached $1.5645 yesterday, the highest since its 1999 debut, adding to concern that European exports will suffer bad credit payday loans free credit report instantly.

Five U.S. rate cuts in the last six months along with steady rates in Europe have driven down the dollar, leading to “pressure on export industries in Europe,'' Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said. “And if you add to that also a rise in the oil price, you have enormous pressure.''

Euro-Area Growth

The ECB last week shaved its prediction for euro-area growth to about 1.7 percent in 2008 from a December forecast of 2 percent, and trimmed its 2009 forecast to 1.8 percent from 2.1 percent.

“The European economy can't be completely immune from certain developments that have already taken place in the financial markets,'' European Commission President Jose Barroso said.

The dollar's slump lured investors to commodity markets, pushing oil prices to a record $111 yesterday.

“The risks are now bigger than last year,'' Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said.

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