KBR has won two contracts by the Republic of Iraq Ministry of Oil through the South Refineries Co.
KBR will provide licensing and basic engineering services for the construction of fluid catalytic cracking and solvent deasphalting units at the planned grassroots Maissan Refinery in Maissan, Iraq. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Houston-based KBR (NSYE: KBR) plans to license its FCC Technology for an anticipated 47,500 barrels per day FCC unit and its “Rose” technology for a 45,000 barrels per day SDA unit poor credit personal loans.
KBR and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. have formed a joint marketing alliance to work on the FCC unit.
“These awards mark the first wins for KBR’s technology business in Iraq and provide KBR the opportunity to introduce two of its leading refining technologies into an important, emerging market,” Tim Challand, president of KBR Technology, said in a statement.
100% Online payday loans. No Fax. Instant Approval. Bad Credit OK!
Financial services security software firm Perimeter Internetworking Corp. has hired a dozen engineers to establish a research-and-development center at 60 State Street in Boston, the Milford, Conn., company is expected to announce Tuesday.
Perimeter, which does business as Perimeter E-Security, plans to hire eight more in the next 18 to 24 months, said Chief Marketing Officer Kurt Heinemann.
“We’re making it our headquarters for many of our developers, and the core location for what we’re doing in engineering and development,” Heinemann said.
To make the move, Perimeter cut some offshore engineering resources based in India, Heinemann said. The company employs about 300, globally.
Heinemann declined to discuss revenue numbers, but said Perimeter is seeing growth in encrypted e-mail, vulnerability scanning and firewall intrusion defense — especially where regulation requires reporting and backup related to those services.
However, if you are online you might notice there are many websites who claim to offer a freecreditscore check.
Citigroup posted second-quarter earnings of $2.7 billion Friday, marking its second consecutive profit and beating Wall Street expectations, thanks to improving credit trends.
But the stock fell along with other banks as worries about the broader economy and financial reform continued to plague the markets.
Earnings for the banking giant came in at 9 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn 5 cents for the quarter.
Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) shares slipped 4% Friday, however. Despite beating estimates, profits were 37% lower than the second quarter of 2009.
Revenue from the bank was weaker than expected, falling 33% to $22.1 billion. That was driven by a 26% decline in revenues from its securities and banking unit, which was widely expected as a result of increased market volatility.
During a conference call with analysts. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said he isn’t too concerned about the sweeping Wall Street reform, which is expected to be signed into law by President Obama next week.
"I’ve been an advocate since the start of regulatory reform and am quite pleased we’re moving forward," he said. "The ultimate impact won’t be clear until we know all of the details, but we have been managing the business and selling assets in line with the principles of reform."
He added that the bill, which calls for most derivatives to be bought and sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, won’t have a major impact on much of its derivatives business.
Beyond the Wall Street side of Citigroup’s operations, the bank’s consumer businesses delivered strong performances during the quarter. Credit losses decreased by $422 million, or 5%, to $8 billion as fewer loans failed.
In a statement, Pandit noted that "credit improved for the fourth consecutive quarter" and that the bank was also helped by international growth in Latin America and Asia.
"In terms of credit quality, everything is moving in the right direction," said Amanda Larsen, analyst at Raymond James, highlighting that reserves for credit losses fell to the lowest level since the third quarter of 2007 and delinquencies on Citi-branded cards also edged lower.
"The market has been freaking out about the health of the consumer as of late, and bank earnings are giving us solace that it’s not as bad as the market is making it out to be," Larsen added.
The bank also continued to pare back its Citi Holdings division, which was created to house the firm’s so-called "troubled assets" and businesses it is looking to get rid of. Citi Holdings reduced its assets by $38 billion during the quarter, and those assets now represents less than quarter of Citigroup’s total.
Larsen said that at this pace, the bank is on track to shed a majority of its Citi Holdings over the next three years.
The latest results from New York City-based bank are further evidence that the bank is bouncing back after being one of the hardest hit institutions during the financial crisis. Last quarter, Citigroup reported $4.4 billion in earnings.
The Treasury Department, which took a sizeable stake in the bank as part of the government’s bailout of Citigroup, is continuing to trim its stake. Earlier this month, the government said it sold 1.1 billion shares of the bank and plans to unwind the remainder of its 5.1 billion shares by the end of the year.
Based on the average price of $4.03 that Treasury has been able to sell shares at, U.S. tax payers could make a profit of $2.03 billion from the controversial bailout.
Citigroup’s report also matches results from rivals JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), which raked in $4.8 billion last quarter, and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), which earned $3.1 billion. Both banks beat forecasts and said that results were helped by improvement in consumer lending businesses.
But the report comes a day after the bank disclosed in an SEC filing how it made an accounting blunder that concealed billions of dollars in debt from investors by incorrectly identifying short-term trades as sales instead of borrowings.
"The impact of these transactions was never large enough to have a material impact on Citigroup’s financial statements or our published regulatory capital ratios, including our leverage ratios," Citigroup spokesman Jon Diat said.
The bank initially acknowledged the error in a filing in May.
As world leaders gather in Canada to discuss ways to strengthen the global economy, lawmakers in the United States finalized a bill Friday that would impose a $19 billion tax on financial institutions.
The tax, which is part of a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. financial system, comes after policymakers in the United Kingdom, France and Germany moved ahead with plans to impose new bank taxes this week.
Given those steps, analysts expect leaders to discuss bank taxes at the G-20 summit this weekend. In a Tuesday letter to fellow G-20 members, the leaders of France and Germany called for "an international agreement to introduce a levy or tax on financial institutions."
But plans to impose a global bank tax were scratched at the last G-20 meeting earlier this month in South Korea. Canada, Brazil and Japan opposed the idea, noting that banks in their countries did not require government aid during the financial crisis.
While the taxes vary from country to country, the reasoning behind them is basically the same: to ensure that banks are responsible for the risks they take and not taxpayers.
"The failures of the banks imposed a huge cost on the rest of society," said George Osborne, the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer. "I believe it is fair and it is right that in the future banks should make a more appropriate contribution, which reflects the many risks they generate."
Osborne made the remarks Tuesday in unveiling one of the most stringent budgets in decades lowest fee payday loans. The budget calls for a levy on bank liabilities that is expected to raise 2 billion British pounds annually.
In the United States, the proposed $19 billion tax would cover the cost of implementing financial reform. President Obama is expected to sign the bill in July.
The tax would apply to banks with more than $50 billion of assets and hedge funds with over $10 billion in assets. It would be assessed based on how much risk an institution takes and is expected to raise $4 billion a year over the next five years.
In addition, Congress is considering a $90 billion "financial crisis responsibility fee" as part of President Obama’s 2011 budget proposal. The so-called bailout tax would be paid largely by major financial institutions that contributed to the financial crisis, and were the biggest beneficiaries of extraordinary government actions.
While the banking industry supports some key principles of reform, bankers are concerned that certain regulations will hurt consumers, according to Edward Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association.
"The consequences involved are very real and will have a very negative impact on traditional banks, on consumers and on the broader economy," Yingling said in a statement.
The state has approved plans by Erie County Medical Center for a new hyperbaric wound-care center.
State Health Department officials approved a plan in late May for an $850,000 centralized hyperbaric and wound care center in a 3,500-square-foot space on the hospital’s ground floor.
ECMC plans to partner with a Diversified Clinical Services Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., the largest wound care company in the nation. The firm operates at more than 300 sites nationwide through collaborations with hospitals.
The therapy will complement services already offered in the hospital’s burn unit and rehab center.
The project includes the installation of two monoplace hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers, which use pressurized oxygen to treat a variety of wounds, including burns, diabetes-related injuries and vascular wounds, where patients are slow to heal because of poor blood flow.
The new center is expected to start up this summer.
ATHENS, Greece — Moody’s Investors Service slashed Greece’s credit rating to junk status Monday in a new blow to the debt-ridden country that is under international scrutiny after narrowly avoiding default last month.
A Moody’s statement said it was cutting Greece’s government bond ratings by four notches to Ba1 from A3, with a stable outlook for the next 12-18 months. It was the second of the three major agencies to accord Greek bonds junk status. Standard & Poor’s did the same in late April.
The downgrades reflect concern that the country could fail to meet its obligations to cut its deficit and pay down its debt — which the Greek government says is out of the question.
Finance Ministry officials in Athens had no immediate reaction to the rating cut, which came as a delegation from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union started an interim review of the country’s efforts to pull itself out of a major debt crisis.
After amassing a vast public debt and overspending that sent its budget deficit spiraling to 13.6 percent of gross domestic product last year, Greece was saved from defaulting on its loans in May by the first installment of a joint EU and IMF bailout no credit check payday loans. It is to receive the second in September, pending implementation of a major austerity program that has sparked strong union reaction and a series of damaging strikes.
"The Ba1 rating reflects our analysis of the balance of the strengths and risks associated with the Eurozone/IMF support package," said Sarah Carlson, Moody’s lead analyst for Greece.
"The package effectively eliminates any near-term risk of a liquidity-driven default and encourages the implementation of a credible, feasible and incentive-compatible set of structural reforms, which have a high likelihood of stabilizing debt service requirements at manageable levels.
"Nevertheless, the macroeconomic and implementation risks associated with the program are substantial and more consistent with a Ba1 rating."
All dollar figures, except for per-share figures, are in millions.
Allied Healthcare Products Inc. Amdocs Ltd. Ameren Corp. American Railcar Industries Inc. Arch Coal Inc. Bakers Footwear Group Inc. Belden Inc. Brown Shoe Co Inc. Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. Cass Information Systems Inc. Centene Corp. Centrue Financial Corp. Commerce Bancshares Inc. CPI Corp. Emerson Electric Co. Energizer Holdings Inc. Enterprise Financial Services Corp. Esco Technologies Inc. Express Scripts Inc. First Clover Leaf Financial Corp. Furniture Brands International Inc. Insituform Technologies Inc. Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. KV Pharmaceutical Co.* LaBarge Inc. Laclede Group Inc . LMI Aerospace Inc. MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. Monsanto Co. Olin Corp. Panera Bread Co. Patriot Coal Corp. Peabody Energy Corp. Perficient Inc. Pulaski Financial Corp. Ralcorp Holdings Inc. RehabCare Group Inc. Reinsurance Group of America Inc. Reliv International Inc. Savvis Inc. Sigma-Aldrich Corp. Solutia Inc. Spartech Corp. Stereotaxis Inc. Stifel Financial Corp. Synergetics USA Inc. Thermadyne Holdings Corp. Viasystems Group Inc. ** Young Innovations Inc. Zoltek Cos Inc.
MidSouth Bank has raised about $5 million in a stock offering begun in March, a level that’s well beneath the $15 million maximum the Murfreesboro lender set, but in line with what its chief executive said his expectations were.
Lee Moss, chairman and CEO, said today is the last day the bank will receive payments for the public offering, which began with current shareholders then opened to the general public. He said the total will likely ring in at slightly more than $5 million, and that the bank had expected to raise between $5 million and $6 million.
“It will keep us well in excess of all the regulatory capital ratios for a well-capitalized bank,” Moss said.
Combined Austin Energy and Austin Water bonds totaling about $200 million garnered "AA-" ratings and are scheduled to sell next month, Fitch Ratings reported Friday.
The utility revenue refunding bonds were rated in two series of $98.8 million tax-exempt and $100.9 million in direct subsidy-build America bonds. The release said the bonds are expected to sell via negotiation early next month. They are secured through the utility company's net revenue.
The rating agency also reaffirmed grades for three city of Austin outstanding bonds: $498 million in outstanding combined utility system revenue bonds at "AA-"; $1 billion in outstanding city of Austin electric utility system revenue bonds at "AA-"; and $1.5 billion in outstanding water and wastewater system revenue bonds at "AA-."
Overall outlook was listed as stable cash advance companies. Fitch cited Austin Energy's stable service territory, diverse supply mix and competitive rates. The agency said rate increase delays could cause some concern to creditors and though Austin Energy has low debt, that could change as the company pursues 35 percent renewable energy by 2020.
"While rates are competitive and fuel adjustment charges are adjusted regularly, the utility's base rates have not been changed since 1994," Fitch said in the release. "Raising some concern about city council's willingness to raise rates in the face of declining financial performance"
Austin Energy powers more than 407,926 customers and Austin Water provides treated water and wastewater to about 209,994 and 196,842 customers, respectively.
Stocks ended mixed after a choppy session Wednesday, as differing profit reports from Apple and Yahoo weighed on the tech sector and investors remained wary following strong quarterly reports from Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 8 points, or less than 0.1%, to end at 11,124.92. The S&P 500 index (SPX) fell 1 point, or 0.1%, to settle at 1,205.93, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) rose 4 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,504.61.
"As we get beyond earnings, attention is going to turn right back to the housing and job markets," said Dave Hinnenkamp, chief executive of KDV Wealth Management. "The downturn has left a really big scar, and investors who got burned will be cautious for some time."
Stocks finished Tuesday’s session in positive territory, thanks to better-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs and several consumer companies.
"Investors were holding their breath for this earnings season, and it looks like it’s going to be decent," Hinnenkamp said. "This makes people comfortable saying we’re in a recovery process, but it’s going to be a slow one."
Tech earnings: Late Tuesday, iPod and Mac maker Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) posted a record quarter that blew past Wall Street’s estimates. Apple shares ended more than 6.1% higher.
Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) also delivered earnings that beat expectations, but its sales came in below estimates. Shares closed down 4.9%.
"The tech sector leads out of the recession," Hinnenkamp said. "After that we’ll be looking for the industrial and material sectors to rise — and once we move forward, attention will turn to the energy sector."
Financial earnings: Earlier Wednesday, Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) said it swung to a $1.8 billion profit in the first quarter Wednesday before the bell, as strong trading revenue boosted the Wall Street firm’s latest results. Shares of Morgan ended 4.2% higher.
Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) reported a $2.5 billion profit before the bell, beating Wall Street expectations. The company said that credit conditions have "turned the corner" from the weakness of the financial crisis. Still, Wells shares fell almost 2% by the end of trading.
Overall, the finance sector ended 10.8% higher Wednesday.
"We’re not unreasonably priced at these levels, considering earnings," Hinnenkamp said, "but it’s not a deep-value market, either."
Other corporate results: In addition to banks, investors digested quarterly results from several Dow components:
– AT&T (T, Fortune 500) beat estimates on a boost from strong sales of Apple’s iPhone;
– Boeing (BA, Fortune 500)’s profit and revenue dropped amid fewer airplane deliveries;
– McDonalds (MCD, Fortune 500)’ earnings rose above predictions as sales rose across all its markets, especially Europe and Asia;
– United Technologies (UTX, Fortune 500) also beat estimates.
Also, Chrysler announced that it earned its first operating profit since exiting bankruptcy on June 10, 2009. The profit follows nearly $4 billion of losses logged by the automaker during that time.
The results continued after the markets closed, with Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) and other major names reporting results after the bell. The coffee chain handily beat profit and sales estimates, and the company lifted 2010 guidance. Shares were up 2% in after-hours trade.
In other company news, General Motors announced Wednesday morning that it had made a final payment of $5.8 billion late Tuesday to the U.S. and Canadian governments, paying off the last of its $6.7 billion in loans.
Outlook: "Psychological issues will continue to drive the markets," said KDV’s Hinnenkamp.
He expects a slow but continued higher trend, with the S&P around 1,200 in the coming weeks, and the Dow around 11,250.
"The economy is improving, but slowly," Hinnenkamp said. "Thus recovery wont come as quickly hoped for, and a sustained bounceback can come only once housing and jobs kick in."
But even negative news outside of the real estate and employment sectors could put a damper on the uptick, Hinnenkamp added.
"Any piece of bad news, people worry there’s an Armageddon," he said. "But there’s always good and bad news out there — it depends where you choose to focus."
World markets: European shares, including the FTSE 100 in Britain, France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX, ended lower.
Asian markets ended the session mixed. Japan’s Nikkei rallied 1.7% and the Shanghai Composite surged 1.8%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.5%.
Other markets: The dollar edged higher against the euro but remained weak versus the Japanese yen and the U.K. pound.
The price of oil fell 17 cents to settle at $83.68 a barrel. Wednesday marked the first day of the June contract.
COMEX gold for June delivery prices rose $9.60 to settle at $1,148.20 an ounce.
Treasury prices were higher, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note at 3.78%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Powered by WordPress -- XHTML 1.0