German unemployment dropped more than economists forecast to a two-decade low in January, bolstering economic growth as the euro region
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Attention college students: The interest rate on federal student loans is scheduled to double this summer unless Congress acts soon.
Loans taken out for the current school year carried an interest rate of 3.4%, thanks to a 2007 law that phased in rate reductions for subsidized Stafford loans to undergraduate students. But the law did not specify the rate after this year. So unless something is done, rates on new loans will revert back to 6.8% — where they were in 2007.
President Obama urged lawmakers in his State of the Union address Tuesday to stop this rate hike from going into effect. He also asked Congress to extend the enhanced Hope Scholarship program, which increased the maximum tax credit to $2,500. And he wants to double the number of federal work-study jobs.
But it remains to be seen whether this deficit-conscious Congress will act, especially since extending the 3.4% rate would cost $5.6 billion a year, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org. All told, Obama’s proposals would total at least $10 billion a year.
While the president has focused on expanding access to college for low- and middle-income children, lawmakers have taken several steps to whittle away at student aid.
5 colleges slashing tuition
Congress has eliminated subsidized loans for graduate students, as well as most discounts. They also cut $8 billion out of the Pell Grant program for low-income students and reduced the income threshold for eligibility for a full Pell Grant.
"[Since] Congress just passed legislation cutting student financial aid funding, it’s unlikely they’ll pass legislation increasing student aid funding," Kantrowitz said.
Raising student loan rates will prove costly, said Lauren Asher, president of the Project on Student Debt. Someone who graduates with $23,000 in debt will pay an additional $4,600 in interest over 10 years.
Two-thirds of college seniors graduating in 2010 had student loan debt, and the average balance was more than $25,000, the project found.
"In this tough economy, people are concerned about the cost of college and the burden of debt to follow," Asher said.
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It’s a move that Ameren Missouri’s founders couldn’t have possibly imagined more than a century ago: Utility officials on Friday proposed spending $145 million over three years to reduce electricity use.
The filing comes three months after Ameren made deep and widely criticized cuts to its existing efficiency programs, saying they penalized shareholders by not compensating the company for lost energy sales.
The program proposed on Friday would more than double what Ameren Missouri was spending on energy efficiency before the cuts, and promises to save its customers 800 million kilowatt-hours a year, an amount of equal to the energy use of 60,000 homes.
Of course, energy efficiency programs aren’t free — and Ameren wants ratepayers to finance them. From 2013 through the end of 2015, Ameren would collect the cost of implementing the plan through a surcharge on customer bills that would equal a rate increase of a little more than 3 percent, said Warren Wood, the utility’s vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs.
But all of Ameren’s 1.2 million customers will benefit from a reduction in energy use, Wood said.
“This filing aligns the business interests of the utilities and their customers,” he said.
The Public Service Commission has 120 days to review Ameren’s proposal. If approved, it would take effect in January 2013.
The plan is the first filed by St. Louis-based Ameren under the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act. The law, signed by Gov. Jay Nixon in 2009, was designed to encourage reductions in energy use by allowing utilities to earn the same profit on energy efficiency investments that they do on investments in power plants, poles and wires. The PSC, utilities and other groups have spent the past two years debating rules to implement the law.
Ameren spent $70 million on efficiency from 2009 to 2011, helping customers save more than 550 million kilowatt-hours. But the those efforts led to $26.4 million in losses, according to Wood. That amount will grow to $60 million by 2014 — the reason why Ameren killed many of the rebates and other incentives at the end of September to the chagrin of energy efficiency advocates.
Wood explained the problem like this: Every time a customer pays their electric bill, some of the money is used to pay for variable costs like coal and other fuel used to run power plants. Another piece goes to cover fixed costs like poles, wires and substations — infrastructure that’s needed regardless of how many electrons flow through the grid.
When electricity demand declines, so does revenue, including that portion that goes to cover fixed costs. Friday’s proposal would compensate Ameren for that lost revenue while still producing tangible benefits for consumers, he said.
Efficiency and consumer advocates hadn’t read through all of the hundreds of pages that Ameren filed as of Friday afternoon.
While they would welcome an increase in efficiency spending in Ameren’s plan, they said they need to analyze the details before endorsing or opposing the plan.
“Are they seeking to be overcompensated (for efficiency investments)? Are they overreaching?” asked Lewis Mills Jr., Missouri’s Public Counsel. “That’s my biggest concern.”
Rebecca Stanfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Chicago office said it’s time for Ameren, regulators, and consumer and environmental groups to make energy efficiency work in Missouri.
“We’ve had three years of positioning and brinksmanship on this issue,” she said. “All of the parties need to recognize that there’s tremendous value in what can be created with these programs. Lets look at the big picture of what we could achieve if they are successful.”
No one disputes that energy efficiency must be a significant part of the state’s energy policy. That includes Ameren, which has identified efficiency as the cheapest way to meet energy demand in the future.
Missouri has long been dependent on relatively cheap coal to meet its electricity needs. But prices for the fuel and cost of hauling it from mines in Wyoming have been increasing. And new environmental regulations aimed at cutting back on air and water pollution from coal-fired power plants are certain to lead to further increases.
The state also continues to lag behind most others when it comes to policies to reduce energy use. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranks Missouri 44th in the nation for energy efficiency.
In Illinois, meanwhile, utilities are increasing spending on energy efficiency programs. That includes Ameren’s sister utility, which sells electricity to customers across much of central and southern Illinois.
Ameren Illinois will spend $78 million this year on discounts and rebates for energy saving lighting and appliances to its 1.2 million electric customers and 800,000 gas customers.
One key difference is that Illinois has an energy efficiency standard. The law requires Ameren and the state’s other investor-owned utility, ComEd, to cut energy use by 25 percent from 2007 levels by 2025.
Without a mandate, Missouri utilities must be willing to aggressively push efficiency programs on their own. How to get them do that has been a contentious issue.
Mills, the main advocate for consumers on utility issues, realizes some Ameren customers may chafe at the idea of seeing bills go up, at least initially, to pay for energy efficiency programs.
But energy efficiency can benefit all consumers — even those who don’t take advantage of rebates and other incentives — by lowering statewide energy use, Mills said. That can help utilities defer or avoid building new power plants or running more expensive plants when electricity demand spikes.
“While it looks like rates are going to be going up,” he said, “they’re going to be going up more if we don’t do this.”
Asian stock markets were mixed early Thursday, following flat trading on Wall Street as renewed worries over Europe’s banking system and a strong yen weighed on investor sentiment.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5 percent to 8,514.03, while South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.2 percent to 1,870.96. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 percent to 18,787.21. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 fell 1.2 percent at 4,139.70.
Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan were higher while those in Malaysia and New Zealand were lower.
In Tokyo, the yen’s rise against the euro elicited fears of more pain ahead for Japanese exporters. The euro sank to 98.71 yen on Monday in European trading, which Japan’s Kyodo News said was an 11-year low. The euro remained under selling pressure as it hovered around 99.72 yen Thursday.
On Wednesday, European markets declined after another increase in Italy’s borrowing costs renewed worries about the continent’s efforts to restore confidence in its debt-hobbled governments. Additionally, UniCredit _ Italy’s biggest bank _ said it would offer stock at a 69 percent discount to raise cash guaranteed unsecured personal loan. The size of the discount escalated worries about the state of Europe’s banking sector.
Stocks barely budged in the U.S. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.2 percent to close at 12,418.42. The Dow opened the year Tuesday with a 180-point gain that brought it to its highest level since July.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up less than 0.1 percent to close at 1,277.30. The Nasdaq fell marginally to 2,648.36.
Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 35 cents to $102.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 26 cents to end at $103.22 per barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2930 from $1.2938 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 76.72 yen from 76.75 yen.
World stocks markets fell Wednesday, with trading thinned by year-end holidays and mixed economic news out of the U.S. and Japan.
Benchmark oil hovered above $101 per barrel while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.
European stocks dropped in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent to 5,501.25. Germany’s DAX was 0.9 percent lower at 5,839.98 and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.4 percent to 3,092.01. Wall Street also appeared headed for a lower opening. Dow Jones industrial futures rose 0.2 percent to 12,199 while S&P 500 futures dipped 0.3 percent to 1,256.60.
Earlier in Asia, trading was subdued, as it typically is between the Christmas holiday and New Year’s.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2 percent to close at 8,423.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.6 percent to 18,518.67, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.9 percent to 1,825.12. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 lost 1.3 percent to 4,088.80. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia were also lower.
Japan’s industrial output dropped a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent last month _ the first decline in two months. But the negative news was mitigated by expectations of rebounding manufacturing and production this month and next, which helped to mute stock market losses.
The Shanghai Composite Index reversed course after early losses, rising 0.2 percent to 2,170.01. But the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index sank 0.5 percent at 849.76.
Some investors were “dumping shares” because Beijing has failed to take steps they expected to stimulate slowing economic growth, said Peter Lai, investment manager for DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.
“Some investors believed there would be a reduction in interest rates or the bank reserve ratio. But this hasn’t happened,” Lai said.
Tokyo Electric Power plunged 11.8 percent, a day after Japanese Industry Minister Yukio Edano suggested that the embattled utility be put under temporary state control and warned the company against resorting to electricity bill hikes.
TEPCO operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which was heavily damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami, and owes massive compensation payments to people and companies harmed by a nuclear disaster at the plant faxless pay day loans.
Hong Kong-listed property shares also slumped. China Overseas Land & Investment slid 3 percent. China Resources Land lost 2.7 percent.
China Mengniu Dairy, the country’s biggest dairy company, plummeted 24 percent in Hong Kong after acknowledging that a cancer-causing toxin had been found in milk produced by the company. Mengniu apologized and said no tainted milk had made it to the market. The government blamed the problem on bad feed given to cows.
Retail shares also slid on growing anxiety over the global economy in 2012. Hong Kong-listed jewelry retailer Chow Sang Sang shed 4 percent. Australian department store chain David Jones fell 2.1 percent and Woolworth’s lost 0.9 percent.
On Wall Street on Tuesday, the Dow Jones lost less than 0.1 percent to close at 12,291.35. The S&P 500 was up marginally to 1,265.43. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 percent to 2,625.20.
U.S. consumer confidence surged to an eight-month high, but home prices fell in 19 of the 20 cities tracked by the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index. That report dampened investors’ enthusiasm about a jump in consumer confidence to the highest level since April.
Benchmark crude oil rose 2 cents to $101.36 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.66 to finish at $101.34 per barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.
In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3075 from $1.3069 late Tuesday in New York. The euro has been weak because of worries about Europe’s government debt crisis. It is still trading just above an 11-month low of $1.2943 reached on Dec. 14.
The dollar fell to 77.73 yen from 77.85 yen.
We want gift cards and like to give them, but for some reason we don’t always use them and wind up wasting billions of dollars.
A recent poll by Consumer Reports, for instance, found that one-quarter of people who received a card as a holiday gift last year still haven’t used it, and more than half of those had two or more unredeemed cards.
We have lots of excuses. We forgot about the card or lost it. The store didn’t have any merchandise we wanted. Or the retailer isn’t nearby, or we don’t like the store.
This has spawned an online secondary market where gift card exchange sites, such as PlasticJungle.com, Cardpool.com, MonsterGiftCard.com and GiftCardRescue.com, help consumers buy and sell unwanted retail gift cards at a discount. Sellers can get around 70 percent to 90 percent of the value of their cards. The more popular the retailer, the higher the price.
“It at least gives consumers the option to get something for an unused gift card,” said Tod Marks, senior editor at Consumer Reports. “It’s like life support for unwanted gift cards.”
Of course, one way to avoid unwanted or forgotten cards is by giving cash or checks instead. It’s unlikely that someone will fail to spend money that’s in their wallet or deposited in the bank. Another benefit: Shoppers tend to spend more at a store than the amount on the gift card. Not so with cash.
But card experts and consumer advocates cringe at my suggestion of cash, saying bills are “gauche.” At least a gift card to a favorite retailer, they say, makes it seem as if you gave some thought to what the recipient would want.
And besides, some say, people want gift cards. They are the No. 1 requested gift this season and are at the top of most shopping lists, according to the National Retail Federation.
Gift card sales are expected to reach a record $100 billion this year, up nearly 10 percent from the year before, according to TowerGroup, a research and advisory firm. About $2 billion of that, though, will be lost through fees and expired, stolen or misplaced cards.
The losses were much worse before federal protections kicked in last year that, among other things, prevent cards from expiring within the first five years.
Still, $2 billion is a lot of money to leave on the table. And if we don’t use it, somebody else will.
Some retailers recognize unredeemed cards as income after a long period of inactivity. Starbucks Corp., for example, reported $46.9 million in income from unredeemed cards for the year ended in October.
And more than a dozen states now recover funds on unredeemed cards, similar to other unclaimed property, said Brian Riley, senior research director at TowerGroup.
So if you are going to give a gift card, make sure it’s from a retailer that the recipient patronizes. Or if you’re not sure, consider a general-purpose gift card that can be used at any store, although you’ll pay a fee to buy the card. American Express, for instance, offers such cards for a $3.95 fee.
And if you’re stuck after the holidays with cards you don’t want, here’s some advice for getting rid of them:
DON’T SPEND, INVEST • The most innovative use of unwanted gift cards this season goes to GoalMine, which caters to small investors by helping them set goals and begin investing for as little as $25.
Between Dec. 19 and the end of January, GoalMine is accepting unwanted gift cards with values of $25 and up that will be sold at PlasticJungle.com, a card exchange site. Consumers decide whether to deposit the proceeds in an FDIC-insured savings account or in a stock or bond mutual fund.
As a further incentive, GoalMine promises to redeem the first card for 150 percent of its value. The card can’t be worth more than $50.
GoalMine’s general manager, Rimmy Malhorta, said the company figured there were a lot of unredeemed cards that could be put to good use. “Wouldn’t it be great instead of letting Starbucks have that money or iTunes or whoever,” he said, “you could make that money for you and put it toward your kid’s college education, your family home or a rainy day fund?”
GIFT CARD EXCHANGES • These middleman websites for consumers wanting to buy, sell or swap cards have been growing. PlasticJungle, one of the major players, bought and sold cards worth about $18 million last year, three times the amount of the year before, said Chief Executive Bruce Bower. “We are having similar growth right now,” he added.
Sites deal in gift cards from hundreds of national retailers, so you likely won’t be able to sell a gift card from a local shop. Cards usually must have a value of $20 or $25 still on them.
Sellers send their cards to the exchange, which verifies the value. They can get as much as 92 percent of the value of the card, but that’s for the hottest retailers.
Buyers can pick up cards at a discount of up to 35 percent, although the saving is much less on popular cards.
Some sites offer a money-back guarantee if a card’s value turns out to be less than promised. That’s a big advantage over trying to sell a card on your own through Craigslist.
If you’re going to buy or sell on one of the exchange sites, check out more than one. CardHub.com has a gift card exchange feature that aggregates card deals from various sites.
Consumer Reports’ Marks, who researched gift card exchanges earlier this year, says no single site gave the best deal every time.
“The sites often had a different idea of the worth of the same card,” he added. The gap between the best and worst offers for a popular Whole Foods card, Marks said, was 22 percent.
Before buying or selling, read the terms, which also can vary among the sites. And buyers should make sure the site guarantees the cards it sells.
Also, buyers should beware of cards with a value that’s an odd number — say, $63.45 — which could signal that the card was given to a customer as a refund on a purchase, said TowerGroup’s Riley. Refund cards, he said, don’t have the same legal protections as gift cards.
If in doubt, he said, ask the site whether the card is from a refund.
Many of the gift card complaints to Maryland’s attorney general deal with the merchant going out of business. When that happens, card owners generally stand in line with all the other creditors and may get little or nothing. Try to avoid this by buying cards from healthy retailers.
You also can set up an account with ScripSmart.com, which sends out email alerts if a retailer appears headed for bankruptcy. ScripSmart also offers a “nag me” alert to remind you to use your gift card.
Jon Corzine is expected Tuesday to once again distance himself from an estimated $1.2 billion in customer money that vanished when MF Global collapsed this fall.
This time, Corzine will have company.
Bradley Abelow, MF Global’s president and chief operating officer, and Henri Steenkamp, the chief financial officer, are also scheduled to testify to the Senate Agriculture Committee.
All three say they don’t know where the money is, according to prepared remarks and Corzine’s previous testimony to a House panel last week. Nor do they take responsibility for authorizing the movement of money out of customer accoun.
Depending on the circumstances, transferring money from customers’ accounts could violate securities laws and, in some cases, could amount to a crime. Federal authorities have begun criminal investigations. And regulators are looking into whether the firm broke securities rules.
MF Global collapsed into the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Oct. 31 after a disastrous bet on European debt. Corzine stepped down as CEO on Nov. 4.
Corzine told the House Agriculture Committee last week that he didn’t know what happened to the money. He said he didn’t become aware of the shortfall until Oct. 30, one day before the firm filed for bankruptcy protection.
In his prepared testimony, Steenkamp says he had no direct involvement in the transfer of funds.
“Direct involvement with operational matters such as bank accounts or fund transfers has never been part of my duties,” Steenkamp says.
Abelow says he cannot explain what happened to the money without having access to MF Global documents, which a trustee now controls.
“At this time … I do not know the answers to those questions,” he says in his prepared testimony.
Anthony Sabino, a law professor at St. John’s University in New York, said Steenkamp and Abelow “are in a riskier position” than Corzine because they were responsible for day-to-day operations of MF Global.
Tuesday’s hearing will include an added element of drama because Corzine, a former Democratic senator from New Jersey, will be pressed by some senators he served with from 2000 through 2005 payday loans.
The Senate panel is one of three congressional committees to have issued subpoenas to compel Corzine’s testimony on the issue. It marked the first time a former senator has been subpoenaed by his former peers in more than 100 years, according to the Senate historian’s office.
Many lawmakers have heard from farmers, ranchers and small business owners in their states who are missing money that was deposited with the firm. Agricultural businesses use brokerage firms like MF Global to help reduce their risks in an industry vulnerable to swings in oil, corn and other commodity prices.
Corzine, who also was New Jersey governor from 2006 until early 2010, told lawmakers last week that he never intended to authorize the transfer of funds from customer accounts. If any subordinates moved clients’ money in the belief that Corzine had authorized it, “it was a misunderstanding,” he said.
Along with Corzine, Steenkamp and Abelow have been sued in class-action complaints on behalf of MF Global shareholders. The lawsuits accuse the executives of making false and misleading statements about MF Global’s financial strength and cash balances.
MF Global didn’t list the European debt on its balance sheet for all to see. Instead, those holdings were shifted to the company’s “off-balance sheet,” deep in its financial statements. Some separate filings with regulators excluded the European debt entirely.
A lawyer for the trustee overseeing the liquidation of MF Global’s brokerage operations said in court Friday that the trustee’s staff has discovered some “suspicious” trades in MF Global customer accounts that were made in the last days before the firm failed. The lawyer didn’t provide details.
Corzine said last week that customers’ losses weigh heavily on him.
“I think about this every day,” he said. “I could not be more regretful, more distressed that we are ruining people’s lives.”
U.S. battery maker Johnson Controls is at odds with Shanghai’s environmental regulator over tests the company says show it was not responsible for severe lead poisoning cases in children discovered earlier this year.
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company said Wednesday that an investigation by the China Electric Equipment Industry Association found its battery factory in Shanghai’s eastern suburbs was not the cause of elevated blood-lead levels among children in a nearby community. Instead, it pinned blame on a recycling facility in the area.
Shanghai Environment Bureau official Ju Chunfang, who participated in testing the Johnson Control plant, questioned the investigation, saying it was not independent. Ju said the bureau began another investigation of its own last week.
Johnson Controls denied Ju’s contention that the company had agreed it was the largest source of lead emissions in the area.
Local officials insisted the plant, which is much larger than other battery factories in the area, had to be the cause of the poisoning cases. In an interview, Ju cited several instances of occasionally high emissions readings and prevailing wind patterns as the reason for that allegation.
Xia Qing, the scientist who led the probe cited by Johnson Controls, said it was commissioned by the Electric Equipment Industry Association and was not paid for by the battery maker.
The tests showed abnormally high lead levels at a waste recycling facility near the community whose children were poisoned, with lead levels three times the current national standard and 10 times a pending stricter national standard. Zinc levels were 15 times national standards.
“I have three conclusions. First, trust the Chinese environmental protection laws. Second, the lead poisonings were not caused by Johnson Controls. And third, pay more attention to the recycling stations and companies,” said Xia, an engineer with the China Research Academy of Environmental Science.
Soaring use of cars and electric scooters is driving strong demand for lead acid batteries, and their production and recycling are a key source of lead contamination.
China shut down hundreds of battery factories last spring after a slew of lead poisoning cases. Many have remained shut.
The lead contamination drew attention after families living in Kanghua New Village, a small block of apartment buildings erected to house farm families moved to make way for an industrial zone, said checks showed many of their children had abnormally high blood lead levels no fax payday loan.
The Johnson Controls factory suspended production in September after it reached its annual quota for lead use. The plant has sought permission to expand production, but local environmental officials say such requests will not be approved due to concerns over lead emissions.
Johnson Controls says it intends to resume production in January at the factory, which has an annual capacity of 2.5 million batteries.
“We’ve called our employees back. We’re pretty excited,” said Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions.
“The results corroborate our own data and prove that emissions from our battery plant could not be the cause of elevated blood-lead levels found in the community,” he said.
Johnson Controls, a major supplier to the automotive industry, had insisted all along that its plant’s emission controls would have prevented any significant contamination.
Production at a second, smaller battery plant in the area had also been stopped.
Kanghua is located just north of the zone and close to chemical, battery and electronics equipment factories.
Johnson Controls earlier said its factory has lead emissions at about one-seventh the Chinese national standard. Employees are regularly tested to ensure their blood lead levels remain low enough.
Some experts say that over time they expect use of lead-acid batteries to be phased out in favor of less toxic and more efficient charging methods, such as lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells.
But such changes could take decades.
Despite its difficulties over the Shanghai plant, the company is expanding in China, with annual capacity due to rise to 10.5 million batteries next year with the addition of a new plant in Changqing. A third plant, under construction, will have a capacity of 6 million batteries, and the company is considering locations for a fourth plant.
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Researcher Fu Ting contributed to this report.
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