On Wednesday January 5, 2011, 6:06 pm EST
Private report: US added
300,000 jobs in December
NEW YORK (AP) -- Companies
added nearly 300,000 jobs in December, according to an unofficial count by a
private payroll firm -- more than in any month in the past decade. The news
raised hopes that the government's official report Friday on last month's job
creation could be a blockbuster.
While there were reasons to
doubt the numbers, the report from Automatic Data Processing, and another
showing strength in the nation's service industries, reversed what was shaping
up to be an ugly day on Wall Street. It also generated optimism that the
unemployment rate might finally start to fall.
Some economists expressed
skepticism about ADP's monthly figures because they often don't track the
official government employment data. Others said that the report's estimate of
job gains was so high that it at least reinforced evidence that hiring is
picking up as employers gain more confidence.
Service firms grow at
fastest pace since 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Strong
consumer demand pushed a key measure of the economy's service sector to its
highest level in more than four years, the latest evidence that the economy is
gaining strength and job growth could pick up in the new year.
The Institute for Supply
Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Wednesday that its
index of service sector activity rose to 57.1 in December. Any reading above 50
indicates growth.
Last month's reading was
the highest since May 2006 and marked the 12th straight month of expansion for
the sector, which employs 80 percent of the work force. The index plummeted to
37.2 in November 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. The sector
contracted for all but two months in 2009, then began expanding last year.
A major reason for the
gains is that people are spending more money. Companies covered by the survey
-- everything from health care to retail to financial services -- received the
highest number of orders for business in five years. That, along with a solid
year of expansion, suggests the broadly defined sector could be an engine of
job growth in 2011.
Economists say increased
demand for services could set off a virtuous cycle: Rising employment gives
consumers the confidence -- and cash -- to spend more, and that prompts
businesses to increase hiring.
BJs cuts almost 500 jobs
and closes 5 stores
NEW YORK (AP) -- BJ's
Wholesale Club, a potential takeover target, will shave hundreds of jobs and
close five stores by the end of the month, the company said Wednesday.
Three stores in the Atlanta
area will be shuttered, along with one in Sunrise, Fla., and one in Charlotte,
N.C., resulting in 380 job cuts.
The company also says it's
cutting 114 corporate-level jobs, 61 of them at the company's Natick, Mass.,
headquarters and 53 field positions.
Automakers spending more on
Detroit auto show
DETROIT (AP) -- Automakers
are spending more money on glitzy, state-of-the-art exhibits at the North
American International Auto Show in Detroit -- something organizers of the
annual event believe is a good sign for the industry as well as the
economically embattled city and region.
Many of the displays being
erected this week at Cobo Center are larger than in past years, according to
auto show co-chair Bill Perkins who helped lead reporters Wednesday on a tour
of the venue, which also got a face-lift of its own for this year's gathering.
The Detroit auto show
begins next Monday and runs through Jan. 23. It opens to the public Jan. 15.
It follows a strong 2010
for U.S. auto sales, which rose for the first time since the recession. New car
and truck sales came in last year at 11.6 million, up 11 percent from 2009.
December sales rose to 1.14 million, an 11 percent leap from a year earlier.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) --
Portugal successfully raised 500 million euros in a Treasury bill sale
Wednesday but had to pay sharply higher interest to attract investors, fueling
fears its borrowing costs could spiral and force it to follow Greece and
Ireland in seeking a multibillion-euro bailout.
The auction showed that the
debt crisis that plagued Europe all last year is still very much around despite
efforts to calm markets with a new bailout fund to backstop governments that
get into trouble.
Though debt-laden Portugal
is one of the eurozone's smallest economies, representing less than 2 percent
of the bloc's gross domestic product, Europe may need to assist Portugal to
prevent the continent's financial crisis spreading to much bigger Spain.
The EU also wants to shield
banks and pension funds across Europe from potentially huge losses on their
Portuguese holdings, losses that could deliver another shock to a financial
system still recovering from global financial turmoil.
Panel: Massive oil spill
could happen again
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
presidential panel investigating the BP oil well blowout says that a series of
risky decisions that saved time and money caused the disaster -- and the
incident could happen again without significant reforms.
That conclusion is the
final word on what led to the massive Gulf oil spill from the seven-member
panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate it.
In a 48-page excerpt
obtained by The Associated Press, the commission says that the largest offshore
oil spill in history can be explained by a single failure -- industry
management.
Personnel working for the
three main companies -- BP, Halliburton and Transocean -- did not adequately
consider how decisions would increase risk. If they had, the blowout would have
been prevented, the commission says.
World Bank issues its 1st
yuan bonds in Hong Kong
HONG KONG (AP) -- The World
Bank is issuing its first bonds denominated in China's yuan in Hong Kong,
joining a growing number of borrowers tapping the new debt market as Beijing
gradually promotes its tightly controlled currency abroad.
The World Bank said buyers
of its 500 million yuan ($76 million), two-year bond were mainly Hong
Kong-based financial institutions, companies and wealthy individuals. It said
the money will go into its general fund, rather than being raised for a
specific purpose.
The yuan is not traded on
global currency markets but Beijing has loosened controls and allows Hong Kong
banks to use it. Hong Kong is Chinese territory but has its own currency and a
Western-style legal system and often is used as a site for mainland companies
to interact with foreign investors.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones Industrial
gained 31.71 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,722.8. It closed at its highest
level since August 11, 2008.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index rose 6.36, or 0.5 percent, to 1,276.56. The Nasdaq rose 20.95, or 0.8
percent, to 2,702.20.
After falling as low as
$88.10 a barrel, benchmark oil reversed course at midday and went on to settle
92 cents higher at $90.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading in
February contracts, heating oil added 3.57 cents to settle at $2.5422 a gallon
and gasoline gained 3.11 cents to settle at $2.4451 per gallon. February
natural gas futures fell 19.6 cents to settle at $4.473 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude rose
$1.97 to settle at $95.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.