Bidders on eBay will have the chance to win lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett next month.
Last year, two investors paid $650,100 for the chance to have lunch with the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A).
The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.
This will be the sixth year Buffett auctions a lunch on eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) and donates the proceeds to the foundation.
This year’s auction will begin at 7p.m. Pacific on June 22 and end at 7p.m. Pacific on June 27.
The winner and up to seven friends will dine with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York City.
A U.S. official urged China on Tuesday to join the International Energy Agency - a group of major oil consumers that includes the United States and European governments - and aid its efforts to keep petroleum markets stable in times of crisis.
"China’s participation in the IEA’s collective emergency response system would make the system stronger," Daniel S. Sullivan, an assistant U.S. secretary of state, said in a speech at a business conference.
China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer after the United States. Its surging demand for energy to fuel its booming economy has stirred unease abroad about the possible impact on global prices, as well as over China’s intentions as state-owned companies pursue access to supplies in Africa, Central Asia and elsewhere.
A key function of the 27-nation IEA is to coordinate the release of petroleum from national stockpiles to stabilize prices if crises threaten to disrupt supplies, Sullivan said. He said that was last done in 2005 in response to Hurricane Katrina in the United States.
"This helped calm oil markets, which clearly benefited the United States but also other major oil consumers like China," he said. "I believe it is important for China and other key economies in the world, such as India, to prepare to eventually join the IEA as full members."
The conference was organized by the Institute for 21st Century Energy, a Washington think tank created by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Sullivan, who is the American envoy to the Paris-based IEA, said the group has invited Beijing to take part in an exercise next month to practice responding to a possible emergency, and he urged the Chinese government to accept.
"China’s involvement would benefit China and it would benefit the IEA," he said. "China might also consider a declaration that it plans to pursue membership in the IEA. This could help the anxiety expressed in some quarters over China’s intentions as it pursues greater energy security."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry referred questions about whether Beijing might join the IEA to the Cabinet’s National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees energy policy. The NDRC did not immediately respond to requests by phone and fax for comment.
China long met its energy needs from domestic oil fields but became a net importer in the 1990s.
China is building a strategic oil reserve meant to help insulate it from possible disruption in foreign supplies. The United States maintains a similar stockpile.
Beijing and Washington agreed in December as part of their long-range Strategic Economic Dialogue to cooperate in constructing and managing oil stockpiles.
Sullivan noted that a precondition for joining the IEA is membership in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of major economies, a status that China lacks. But he said the United States doesn’t think that has to be mandatory for Beijing, given its importance in global energy issues.
The IEA also includes Japan, Australia and South Korea.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld long-standing state tax exemptions for municipal bonds.
In a 7-2 ruling in a case from Kentucky, the justices permitted states to exempt interest on their own bonds from taxation while taxing residents for interest on bonds issued by other states.
In the $2.5 trillion municipal bond market, 42 states exempt some or all interest on their bonds from income taxes, while taxing interest on bonds from other states.
The states have said that throwing out the system of exemptions that began 90 years ago would have a devastating impact on state finances.
Industry groups warned of possible turmoil in the municipal bond market if the existing setup were dismantled.
In the majority opinion, Justice David Souter said that Kentucky’s version of the tax exemption — similar to that in most other states — does not violate the Constitution’s commerce clause.
In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said the majority decision is protectionist and "invites other protectionist laws."
Rates on 30-year mortgages eased this week, but remained above 6%, as signs that the overall economy is recovering helped offset ongoing weakness in the housing market, mortgage backer Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Freddie Mac said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.01% this week with an average of 0.6 point, down from 6.05% last week. Last year at this time, the 30-year loan averaged 6.15%.
"Despite the bleak housing market, there was positive news on the overall state of the economy," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement.
Nothaft said comments made Tuesday by Federal Reserve officials, including Chairman Ben Bernanke, bolstered optimism that financial markets will recover later this year and "helped mortgage rates ease up a little this week."
A number of economic reports released this week also helped support the perception of recovery.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that total retail sales fell 0.2% in April, meeting economists’ expectations and reversing a gain of 0.2% in March. But minus volatile auto sales, retail sales rose 0.5% last month, topping the consensus forecast of a 0.2% increase.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation, rose at a slower-than-expected pace in March. The overall index rose 0.2% last month, compared to the 0.3% increase recorded the month before.
But the component that measures food prices rose to an 18 year high, while the component that measures seasonally adjusted energy prices held steady.
Rates on other types of mortgages were unchanged or lower.
Freddie Mac said 15-year fixed-rate loans averaged 5.60% with an average 0.6 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago, the 15-year rate averaged 5.87%.
Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.57% this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.67%. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.89%.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.18% this week with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it was 5.29%. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.48%.
The popular online hangout MySpace has won a $234 million judgment over junk messages sent to its members in what is believed to be the largest anti-spam award ever, The Associated Press has learned.
A federal judge ruled against two of the Internet’s most prominent spam defendants, Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines, after the two failed to show up at a court hearing Monday.
Wallace has earned the nicknames "Spamford" and "spam king" for his past role as head of a company that sent as many as 30 million junk e-mails a day in the 1990s.
It’s a big victory for MySpace, although service providers often have a tough time collecting such awards. But even if the News Corp. (NWS.A)-owned site never collects, the company hopes the judgment will deter other spammers.
"Anybody who’s been thinking about engaging in spam are going to say, `Wow, I better not go there,"’ MySpace’s chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam, said. "Spammers don’t want to be prosecuted. They are there to make money. It’s our job to send a message to stop them."
There was no telephone listing for Wallace in the Las Vegas area. Service was disconnected for two listed numbers for Rines in Stratham, N.H.; a third number was unlisted.
Target says same-store sales increased in April but fell short of analyst expectations as consumers shopped for necessities such as food and skipped higher-priced items such as jewelry.
The Minneapolis-based discount retailer says same-store sales for the four-week period ended May 3 rose 3%, missing the 4.5% growth expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
The company said results were weakest where the housing slump hit hardest, including Florida, Arizona, Nevada and parts of California.
Total April sales rose 9% to $4.25 billion.
Year-to-date, same-store sales fell 0.7% while total sales rose 5% to $14.3 billion.
The company expects May same-store sales growth to range between a 1% decline to a 1% increase.
General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday has offered American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings (AXL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) $200 million in a bid to clinch a speedy resolution of a strike against a key supplier that has run for more than two months.
American Axle, which in ongoing talks has pressed the United Auto Workers union for deep concessions on labor costs, said the GM offer hinged on a quick resolution to the strike.
Analysts said the offer could also clear the way for GM to restart production of hot-selling models like the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Enclave.
GM said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it had agreed to provide American Axle with up to $200 million to help fund buyouts and one-time payouts for returning union workers to accept lower hourly wages.
“We believe that the offer will help bridge the gap between American Axle and the UAW and the two parties will be able to reach a mutually satisfactory settlement in the near future,” GM spokesman Dan Flores said.
A UAW spokesman was not available to comment.
American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers said the funds GM would provide would not have to be repaid by the supplier, which was spun off from the automaker in 1994.
In addition, GM has not asked for concessional pricing on future component shipments to offset the money it is offering to broker a quick end to the work stoppage, she said.
Employers trimmed jobs in April for the fourth straight month, according to a government report Friday that was not as weak as Wall Street’s expectations.
There was a net loss of 20,000 jobs in the month, according to the Labor Department report, compared to the revised loss of 81,000 jobs in the March reading. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 75,000 jobs in April.
The unemployment rate slipped to 5% from the 5.1% reading in March. Economists had been forecasting unemployment would rise to 5.2% in the latest report.
"It’s not good news, but it’s not as bad as we thought it would be," said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor’s. "It’s consistant with the view it’s going to be a mild recession, but an extended one, where you spend a lot of time bouncing around the bottom."
The report showed continued losses in the sectors battered in the recent economic slump. Construction lost 61,000 jobs in the month, and manufacturing shed 46,000 jobs. Retailers also trimmed payrolls by 27,000 in the face of a pullback in spending by consumers.
But some other sectors that had posted job losses in previous reports rebounded, such as business and professional services, which grew by 39,000 jobs after a loss of 44,000 the previous month. The financial sector, which has lost jobs each of the previous 8 months due to problems in the credit markets, ended that streak with a narrow 3,000 job gain.
Tig Gilliam, CEO of Adecco Group North America, the unit of the world’s largest employment firm, said he was encouraged by the turn around in those sectors, even though he expected job losses to continue in upcoming months.
"It’s hard to get real upset about 95% employment, given everything else going on with the credit markets and energy prices," he said. "The job market, as far as I’m concerned, is the silver lining in the storm cloud."
Still the private sector as a whole lost 29,000 jobs, marking the fifth straight month of job losses outside of government payrolls. Overall, the economy has suffered a net loss of 260,000 jobs so far in 2008, and many economists said this report did little to suggest there is a real turnaround in the market.
"There may be a limit to the downside as to how bad the economy will get, but don’t get too optimistic here," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia.
There were clear signs of weakness in the report. The average work week slipped to 33.7 hours from 33.8, a sign that some workers had difficulty finding full-time work.
There was a large jump, by 306,000, in the number of people who were working part-time who wanted full-time positions, a fact that helped to take the unemployment rate lower despite the weaker job market.
"These are not the types of jobs that durable economies are made," said Jeoff Hall, the chief U.S. economist for Thomson Financial. "I, for one, don’t think we’re in a recession. But tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their jobs in the last four months with no signs of them returning."
The average hourly wage edged up only a penny to $17.88, the smallest gain in almost two years. The slim increase in pay, coupled with reduced hours, led to the biggest drop in weekly wages in almost two years.
It left average weekly wages up only 3.1% in the last 12 months, less than the 4% rate of inflation in the 12 months ended in March, an indication that paychecks are not keeping up with prices.
Chevron says profits jumped more than 9% in the first quarter as higher oil prices made up for weakness on the refining and chemicals side of its business.
The second-largest U.S. oil company earned $5.17 billion, or $2.48 per share, up from $4.72 billion, or $2.18, a year earlier.
Analysts expected the company to earn $2.41 per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.
San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) says revenue rose to $65.95 billion, from $48.23 billion. Analysts predicted revenue of $75.64 billion, according to Thomson.
Chevron produced the equivalent of 2.6 million barrels of oil a day in the quarter, down 44,000 from a year ago.
Comcast Corp. on Thursday reported a 12.5% decline in first-quarter profits from a year ago, when the company’s earnings were inflated by a $300 million one-time gain.
The nation’s largest cable operator posted net income of $732 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with $837 million, or 26 cents, in the quarter a year ago.
Excluding one-time gains from dissolution of cable partnerships, Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) said quarterly profits were $588 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with $537 million, or 17 cents, last year.
That matched the average expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Comcast had a $144 million gain in the quarter after it split a joint venture cable partnership with Insight Communications Co. Comcast received cable systems in Illinois and Indiana. Last year, Comcast posted a $300 million gain from the dissolution of a cable partnership with Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), in which Comcast received cable systems in Houston.
Revenue was up 14% to $8.39 billion in the latest quarter. Analysts were expecting $8.17 billion.
Revenue rose as people spent more on cable television, which helped offset lower spending on the Philadelphia-based company’s phone and Internet services.
Operating income was up 23% to $1.55 billion while free cash flow — an important indicator for typically debt-laden industries such as cable — soared by 59% to $702 million.
But the slowing economy seems to have exerted a drag on signing new customers: Comcast added 1.46 million lines of service in the quarter, down 20% from a year ago.
The number of basic subscribers fell by 57,000, versus a gain of 83,000 a year ago. Digital cable added 494,000 subscribers compared with last year’s 658,000.
Comcast said last year’s digital rollout was heavier because it ramped up shipping of digital set-top boxes as a July federal deadline loomed to switch to set-tops with separable security.
The company added 492,000 new high-speed Internet customers, down 16% year-over-year.
But its digital voice service added 639,000 new customers, up 9% from last year. Its circuit-switched phone business, which Comcast is exiting, lost 110,000 customers.
Customers spent an average of $63.46 for cable TV, up from $59.97 in 2007’s first quarter. Cable TV revenue rose by 5% to $4.71 billion.
For Internet service, where Comcast faces more competition, customers spent an average of $42.18, down from $43.08. Revenue for this business rose by 12% to $1.75 billion.
For digital phone service, subscribers spent $40.24, down from $42.44. Revenue, however, more than doubled to $573 million as the company siphoned customers from phone companies.
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