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Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with its emphasis on low prices and improved merchandise, is stealing market share from competitors and is well-positioned for the holiday season, CEO and President Lee Scott told investors Monday.

The company, nevertheless, is scaling back the growth of its namesake stores in the U.S. and focusing on remodeling existing locations as it responds to a tough consumer spending climate.

"It is clear in this environment that the customer is more cautious and more thoughtful about what they buy and they’re more thoughtful about when they buy it," Scott said in an address to analysts gathered on the first day of the company’s two-day investor meeting in Bentonville, Ark.

Nevertheless, he said, "We see this as an opportunity to widen our moat. … This is Wal-Mart time."

Eduardo Castro-Wright, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart’s U.S. division, told analysts that the company plans to open 191 stores in fiscal 2009 and from 142 to 157 stores in fiscal 2010. That compares to 218 stores opened in fiscal 2008.

As a result, capital expenditures will come in at $5.8 billion to $6.4 billion for fiscal 2009 and $6.3 billion to $6.8 billion in fiscal 2010. That’s down from the $9.1 billion the company had in capital expenditures in its last fiscal year.

Wal-Mart officials are expected to offer the capital expenditures forecast for the entire company on Tuesday.

Monday’s meeting featured addresses by merchandising executives who discussed how Wal-Mart will be emphasizing the price message in its advertising and in its stores this holiday season, while pushing for friendlier service, cleaner stores and faster checkout. Wal-Mart is rolling out Christmas shops, which feature wrapping paper and other decor, but will also be more aggressive in designating holiday gifts throughout the store.

Wal-Mart has found itself in the right spot as it pushes the right mix of merchandise and marketing to complement its renewed focus on price just as the economic slowdown worsened. The company has also focused on inventory management and has improved capital efficiencies http://paydayintime.com.

As a result, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) shares, which had been in a funk for several years, rebounded starting in September 2007, rising about 50% to $64 in early September. However, the stock has lost about 17% of its value in recent weeks as the financial meltdown has intensified. Shares slipped $1.73, or more than 3 percent, to close at $49.67 on Monday, close to the low end of its 52-week range of $42.50 to $63.85 per share.

Meanwhile, cheap chic rival Target Corp. (TGT, Fortune 500) has fallen behind Wal-Mart because its heavy emphasis on nonessentials such as trendy clothes makes it more vulnerable to the spending slowdown. Target’s profits are also being squeezed amid rising delinquencies in store credit card payments. Its shares have lost half their value since a peak of about $70 in July 2007. They fell 23 cents to $32.69 on Monday, at the low end of the 52-week range of $63.86 to $30.45.

Wal-Mart officials noted that their company - considered a barometer of the pulse of the American consumer - continues to see firsthand how the mounting financial crisis, including tightening credit, is putting more strain on its shoppers. Castro-Wright noted that credit card payments as a percentage of total payments is down 7.4% so far in fiscal 2009. That means that customers are maxing out on their credit cards, says Castro-Wright. That’s a big reversal from the robust double-digit growth rates in credit cards over the past three year.

Wal-Mart noted that it’s focusing on expanding its store-label food business as shoppers look to save more money on their food bill amid soaring inflation. As part of the strategy, the company is reformulating 1,200 food items, including cold cereal, cookies and yogurt, from the 5,000 food items it tested to improve the taste. 

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Chrysler Canada says it is cutting its salaried, white-collar workforce by 25 per cent, or almost 240 jobs, as the downturn in the North American auto industry deepens.

In announcing a continent-wide reduction of staff and contract workers, the company’s Detroit-based parent said yesterday it would achieve the reduction through lucrative voluntary retirement incentives, buyout programs and layoffs during the next few months.

When the Canadian subsidiary completes the reduction, its salaried workforce will fall to about 700 – down 465 jobs or almost 40 per cent from five years ago.

Bob Nardelli, chair and chief executive officer for Chrysler LLC, said the "unprecedented decline" in the global auto industry meant the company needed to take the action to remain competitive.

Earlier this week, the company accelerated the closure of an assembly plant in Delaware and cut a shift at another plant in Ohio. Chrysler also slowed down output at its Windsor minivan complex this month by cutting one shift for two weeks and possibly three.

In the past five years, Chrysler Canada’s hourly-paid production workforce has dropped more than 1,000 jobs to 8,925. The company has eliminated a shift at its Brampton assembly plant and trimmed the Windsor workforce by a few hundred jobs.

Chrysler would not comment on how many contract workers it currently employs in Canada who also face an overall cut of 25 per cent.

People familiar with the latest incentive program said staff in the U.S. between 51 and 62 with 10 or more years of service who earn less than $100,000 annually can receive full retirement benefits and health-care credits. Selected staff between 53 and 62 who earn more than $100,000 can also qualify for full retiree benefits.

Furthermore, workers 60 or older with more than 10 years’ service can get $50,000 in cash, a $25,000 voucher for a new Chrysler model and 100 per cent in health-care credits internet payday loan.

The company will offer U.S. employees with less than 10 years of service a $50,000 cash buyout, a $25,000 vehicle voucher, plus six months of health care. Employees with more than 10 years’ service who aren’t old enough to qualify for the early retirement offer or incentives to leave the company can get $75,000 in cash, the vehicle voucher and six months of health care.

Chrysler spokesperson David Elshoff said employees in Canada will receive "equivalent value" offers.

If not enough workers accept, the company would then lay off staff.

General Motors of Canada Ltd. and Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. have also significantly reduced salaried workforces in recent years.

Cerberus Capital Management, Chrysler’s owner, is currently trying to find merger partners. Reports indicate Cerberus is talking to General Motors and has discussed the idea with Nissan and Renault.

Meanwhile, auto analysts expect the Canadian auto market will soon start sliding, in view of the major plunge south of the border in recent months. Despite U.S. turmoil, the Canadian auto market has improved almost 1.5 per cent this year.

"We question whether the Canadian market’s relative buoyancy will survive this fall," DesRosiers Automotive Consultants said in a note to clients earlier this month.

The decline in the U.S. market has cut vehicle and parts output here significantly. Canada exports more than 80 per cent of new vehicles and 60 per cent of parts to the U.S.

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DETROIT — The carnage in the ever-shrinking U.S. auto industry continues.

Chrysler LLC on Thursday announced it would cut 1,825 factory jobs. And General Motors Corp. trimmed some benefits and said it would make further white-collar cuts.

As the slumping U.S. economy speeds the industry’s slide, and tight credit cuts into sales, Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler said the jobs will be eliminated at the end of the year when it closes a Newark, Del., sport utility vehicle plant ahead of schedule and eliminates a shift at a Toledo, Ohio, Jeep plant.

At GM, senior managers sent a memo to executives Wednesday saying early retirement and buyout offers to white-collar workers had been well-received but that the company still would have to make involuntary layoffs.

More job cuts are likely if the U.S. auto sales volume continues to decline into 2009, said Laurie Harbour-Felax, president of the Harbour-Felax Group, a Detroit-area auto industry consulting company.

"If volume continues to fall through the tank as we go into 2009, then they’re going to be left with a whole bunch more people," she said.

If recent talk about a potential acquisition of Chrysler by GM comes true, even more job losses are likely, she said.

"The whole thing becomes somewhat scary of a concept to think about, more job losses, especially in Michigan," she said.

Chrysler’s job cuts Thursday amount to about 6 percent of its U.S. hourly work force. They include the indefinite layoff of about 825 workers at the Toledo North Assembly Plant, where the company makes the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro.

The Newark Assembly plant, where 1,000 people make Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs, originally was expected to shut down at the end of 2009, and its hastened closure puts in doubt whether the company will keep making the large truck-based SUVs.

Chrysler spokesmen wouldn’t say if production would be sent to another factory. They said, however, that a plant in Detroit was being retooled to make several sport utility vehicles.

The company said it would work with the United Auto Workers union to handle the layoffs in a "socially responsible manner." In the past, it has offered buyout and early retirement programs to workers affected by plant slowdowns and closures free credit report online.

Chrysler said in a statement that the changes will adjust inventory to better match consumer demand. Through the first nine months of the year, the company’s U.S. sales have fallen 25 percent from the same period last year, the largest decline of any major automaker. U.S. sales industrywide are down 13 percent from a year earlier.

The sales slump showed up on Daimler AG’s bottom line Thursday. Daimler’s third-quarter earnings release showed a $154.5 million operating loss for its 19.9 percent share of Chrysler, indicating that Chrysler lost about $772.5 million in the second quarter as its U.S. sales slumped.

Chrysler is privately owned and does not have to report its earnings, but issued a statement saying its second-quarter loss totaled $660 million when taking into account the differences between international and U.S. accounting standards.

Chrysler’s majority owner, New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, has been talking to GM, the combined Nissan Motor Co.-Renault SA and others about a possible sale or merger, or Chrysler could be sold in pieces to other companies, according to people briefed on the talks. The people have asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

Meanwhile, Cerberus has said it’s in talks with Daimler to buy the German company’s stake in the struggling U.S. automaker. On a conference call Thursday, Daimler Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber said those negotiations continue.

At GM, the company decided it will temporarily stop matching salaried employees’ 401(k) contributions as of Nov. 1, and it will suspend tuition reimbursement and adoption assistance programs at the end of this year.

Spokesman Tom Wilkinson would not say how many white-collar workers had accepted offers to leave, nor would he say if the company has a goal for reducing their ranks.

GM has reported losing $57.5 billion in the last 20 months, including a $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter. Its vehicle sales declined 18 percent in the first nine months of this year, and it is burning through $1 billion in cash per month.

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PepsiAmericas Inc. said Wednesday third-quarter profit rose 2% as the bottler of Pepsi beverages raised prices and sales climbed in Eastern and Central Europe.

Profit rose to $73.1 million, or 58 cents per share, from $71.5 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier. Results in the most recent quarter included 11 cents in charges.

Sales rose 12% to $1.33 billion from $1.18 billion, helped by acquisitions, currency benefits and higher pricing to help cover higher raw material costs. A lower tax rate also boosted results.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who usually exclude one-time items from their estimates, expected profit of 62 cents per share and sales of $1.30 billion.

"We successfully navigated what continues to be a challenging U advance america cash advance.S. environment through disciplined pricing, strong marketplace execution and effective productivity initiatives," Chairman and Chief Executive Robert C. Pohlad said.

Total U.S. pricing rose 3.2% to help cover higher raw material costs. Average net pricing rose 18.4% internationally, boosted by exchange rates, PepsiAmericas (PAS) said.

Total volume, or the number of cases sold either directly or indirectly to consumers, rose almost 8%.

For the full-year, the company expects adjusted earnings per share between $1.92 and $1.96. Analysts expect $1.93 for the year. 

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Speculation continued to swirl Monday that a deal for General Motors Corp. to buy Chrysler LLC from New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP could come soon.

Both sides have been talking for months, but the pace recently has increased. A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press Friday that officials were trying to work out a deal by the end of the month.

Cerberus wants out of the auto business. And as the credit markets have dried up, GM (GM, Fortune 500), worried about running too low on cash before the U.S. auto market rebounds, wants Chrysler’s currency stockpile.

The person said that the talks have advanced to the point where top executives of both companies have looked at a deal and asked for refinements. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are secret.

In August, Chrysler said it had accumulated $11.7 billion in cash and marketable securities as of June 30. That figure remains around $11 billion, the person said, despite the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker’s U.S. sales being down 25% in the year through September, the largest decline of any major automaker.

Detroit-based GM is burning up more than $1 billion per month, with several analysts predicting it will reach its minimum operating cash level of $14 billion sometime next year. GM’s sales are down 18%, and the company has lost $57.5 billion in the past 18 months, although much of that comes from noncash tax accounting changes.

Chrysler’s money pile would help solve GM’s cash problem if credit remains unavailable 24 hour payday advances.

Both automakers have had to deny bankruptcy rumors in recent weeks, saying consumers won’t buy cars from a company that looks like it could go out of business.

According to the person familiar with the negotiations, the deal being discussed calls for Cerberus to hand over Chrysler in exchange for GM’s 49% stake in GMAC Financial Services. GM sold a 51% stake in its finance arm to Cerberus in 2006.

Cerberus also would get an equity stake in GM, hoping to get a good return should GM recover when U.S. auto sales bounce back from a serious slump.

Other automakers, including the allied companies of Renault SA (RNO) and Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY), also are in discussions about Chrysler, the person said. Simultaneously, Cerberus, which bought 80.1% of Chrysler from Daimler AG (DAI) in a $7.4 billion deal last year, is negotiating to acquire Daimler’s 19.9% stake.

GM and Cerberus are still a long way from a deal, according to the person, and GM’s board reportedly is cool to the idea.

All that GM, Chrysler and Cerberus have said about the negotiations is that automakers meet all the time. Chrysler Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said Thursday the auto sales drop has created an environment that favors consolidation. 

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But the changes are only temporary, intended to restore confidence and help ease the credit crunch.

On Tuesday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. offered to insure all bank deposits in non-interest-bearing deposit transaction accounts through Dec. 31, 2009 (banks would have to pay a fee to offer the insurance, intended primarily for payment-processing accounts used by small businesses). Also, back on Oct. 3, Congress raised the basic FDIC coverage on all bank accounts from $100,000 to $250,000 per depositor per institution.

But — nobody who has written to me seemed to realize it — this $250,000 insurance limit reverts to $100,000 after Dec. 31, 2009.

"This is even the case for customers who set up long-term certificates of deposit," explained David Barr, an FDIC spokesman. Opening a 15-month or longer CD for more than $100,000 today won’t extend the insurance limit beyond $100,000 after year-end 2009.
Similarly, the basic insurance limit on National Credit Union Administration protection was raised to $250,000 but goes back to $100,000 after Dec. 31, 2009.

With FDIC and NCUA coverage, you can combine account registration categories (such as single and joint accounts, retirement and trust accounts) to protect well in excess of $250,000. For specific rules, the latest information (which can change quickly), and to make sure your bank or credit union is insured, check with the FDIC at 1-877-275-3342 or at www.fdic.gov, or with the NCUA at 1-800-755-1030 or www.ncua.gov. Both FDIC and NCUA are government agencies backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

The FDIC also insures "brokered CDs," which are certificates of deposit issued by member banks but sold through brokerage houses. When buying a brokered CD, "make sure you know from which bank it is, whether the bank is FDIC insured and whether you already have existing deposits with that bank" that may push you beyond the insurance limit, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate fast cash advance loan.com.

With the higher $250,000 limit, "an investor needs to buy only from four banks to get $1 million of FDIC insured money," said Tom Ricketts, CEO of Incapital, a global investment banking firm (but remember the higher limit is good only through Dec. 31, 2009).

Also, when calculating your insurance limit, you must total all identically registered accounts you own in the same bank, cautioned Lewis Altfest, a certified financial planner in New York City. Some readers believed incorrectly they could open an unlimited number of accounts at one bank as long as each account had a different account number and was under the insurance limit.

Another temporary protection is the government backing of money market mutual funds. The U.S. Treasury is guaranteeing the $1-dollar-a share price of any publicly offered eligible money market mutual fund that pays a fee to participate in the guarantee program.

All major money market funds, including those from fund giants Fidelity, Vanguard and T. Rowe Price, are participating. Investors cannot choose or decline to participate. Coverage is limited to the number of shares an investor owned as of the market close on Sept. 19.

The program will run until Dec. 18. The Secretary of the Treasury has the authority to renew it up through Sept. 18, 2009. For additional information, check the Treasury’s website, www.ustreas.gov, particularly the frequently asked questions at www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1163.htm.

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Qwest Communications International Inc. said Saturday it has reached a tentative agreement for a four-year contract with a union representing about 20,000 employees.

Members of the Communications Workers of America last month rejected a tentative three-year agreement with Denver-based Qwest (Q, Fortune 500), after the previous contract expired Aug. 16.

Results of a ratification vote on the new agreement by union members are expected by Oct. 31.

The new deal calls for a 12 http://payday-advance-i.com.5% raise over the course of the contract and a pension increase of 3% for those who are eligible and retire from the company after Oct. 12.

The CWA represents Qwest workers in 13 states.

Qwest shares closed Friday at $2.18, down 10 cents. 

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Free trade, a strong Canadian dollar, the weak U.S. economy and a disinvestment on the part of the federal government have all been blamed for the demise of Ontario’s manufacturing sector.

But what solutions, if any, could reverse the sector’s misfortunes?

Politicians from all major parties have varying proposals to stop the sector from dying. But does its survival lie in government help? And whose plan is best suited to stop the 250,000 manufacturing job losses some economists expect in the next five years?

The answers remain unclear, but most agree the province needs a new, green and technologically advanced manufacturing sector to remain productive.

"The traditional manufacturing sector, it is a declining number," says Carol Wilding, president and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade, adding that the province’s promotion of innovation is a step in the right direction.

"I don’t think there’s any one particular answer to these problems. Injecting cash and funds isn’t going to do it. Governments need to make incentives for innovative ideas to be produced here. That’s the new manufacturing sector. That’s the new economy."

John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, says that while shifting to green manufactured goods and environmentally friendly innovation will create a strong, new green economy, the government must not forget about the existing manufacturing sector.

"We need strong policies that protect existing manufacturers, that include reversing unequal trade policies" that are allowing cheap imports to erode the Canadian manufacturers’ share of the Canadian market.

"Secondly, we’ve got to invest in the new economy, and there are all kinds of examples of how that can result in hundreds of thousands of jobs in the new economy," he says.

For example, if buildings were required to have stricter energy-efficiency standards, and alternative energy sources were developed, Ontario could build a manufacturing economy around that shift. Local companies could build solar energy and geothermal systems, and develop an array of new technology such as intelligent lighting systems, heat-recovery systems, "green" building materials and fuel cells. There’s no reason Ontario couldn’t mass-produce electric vehicles and the battery packs that power them.

To be sure, "we’re always going to need smokestacks in Ontario," Cartwright says. "It’s important to protect the existing manufacturers. People need furniture. People need mattresses. People need all kinds of materials that are still made here."

Meanwhile Chris Piper, associate professor at the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business, says the onus is on the manufacturers themselves to assure their own competitiveness.

"It has become commonplace for manufacturers these past few years to throw up their hands and say that they just can’t find a way to compete," he says.

"But while we may lament those many factory shutterings, we would do well to wonder what at least some of those manufacturers could have done to forestall the inevitable, or even to reverse their fortunes."

He says Canadian manufacturers need to do a better job of finding niche markets where labour costs aren’t an issue.

While many manufacturers, especially those exporting their goods abroad, have been citing the high dollar as the nail being driven through their heads, TD economist Derek Burleton says it’s foolhardy to view the loonie’s recent plunge as the remedy to the manufacturing sector’s woes.

"It’s hard to get too excited about the declining Canadian dollar when it reflects global economic turmoil," he says. "The softness of the loonie will likely be temporary."

Jim Stanford, vice-chair of the Ontario Manufacturing Council, says the solution lies in a systematic strategy to address the manufacturing trade deficit that exists between the number of manufactured goods coming into Canada vs. the number leaving Canada.

"We’ve allowed resources to dictate our whole economic direction. That was a terrible approach. We need to diversify these manufacturing industries and nurture them for the future."

Last week, Premier Dalton McGuinty was criticized by political opponents for admitting he didn’t think Ontario’s lost manufacturing jobs would ever come back.

Opposition parties said this was the government’s acceptance of the loss of more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs in Ontario over the past five years.

But McGuinty’s finance minister, Dwight Duncan, says the government is trying to confront the "decline in our manufacturing sector" with a five-point plan that includes the government’s $500 million Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy, which provides repayable loans interest-free for up to five years to encourage companies to invest in leading-edge technologies and processes. The government has also enacted a $500 million Ontario Automotive Investment Strategy fund to try to curb the decline of the automotive sector by giving incentives to manufacture green automobiles in Ontario plants.

McGuinty and all the major federal parties seem to recognize the province’s shift away from traditional manufacturing jobs in furniture construction, textile production and assembly line work, and have each put forward plans to adjust the provincial infrastructure to be more innovation friendly.

In short, politicians see local innovators such as Research In Motion, the Waterloo-based manufacturer of the BlackBerry, as replacing factories like Gibbard Furniture – the soon-to-be-defunct Napanee-based manufacturer of Canada’s finest furniture – in the next generation of Ontario’s manufacturing sector.

The Ontario government has even set up the Ministry of Research and Innovation to help bring new, innovative manufacturers to the province.

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Pressure built on Morgan Stanley on Friday, with investors unconvinced about its deal with Mitsubishi UFJ and two analyst reports citing concerns about the bank’s earnings outlook.

The reports, one by brokerage Ladenburg Thalman, the other by ratings agency Moody’s, come at an extremely delicate time for the bank, with its stock falling 26 percent on Thursday and getting close to single digits.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest bank, said it has no plans to pull out of a planned $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley

Mitsubishi UFJ has said it expects the deal to take a 21 percent stake in Morgan Stanley will close by next week, but that has failed to calm investors.

Shares of Morgan Stanley have lost nearly half their value in the last three days, on concern Mitsubishi UFJ may back out of injecting the much-needed capital faxless payday loan online.

“We have seen this movie before,” Richard Bove, Ladenburg Thalman’s veteran Wall Street analyst said on Friday after cutting Morgan Stanley’s price target. “One must hold one’s breath at the moment and hope that this is a different movie.

Bove said the pressures on the company is “enormous” and that one of the concerns is that Morgan is believed to be counterparty to “numbers” of Lehman Brothers transactions. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy last month.

Separately, Moody’s on Friday warned it might cut the long-term debt ratings of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which would increase their cost of borrowing. 

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Easing monetary policy in Asia will support what is now the only source of growth for the world economy, but oversold regional stocks and short-maturity bonds will only get a lift when central banks globally follow suit.

Such moves could provide the trigger for many investors that have switched into cash or money-market mutual funds not only to avoid spikes in volatility but also so they are ready to pounce on attractive investments when the time is right.

Total assets in money market mutual funds have soared this year, data from the Investment Company Institute (ICI) shows, suggesting many investors are staying on the sidelines as valuations of stocks relative to long-maturity bonds get increasingly attractive.

“Coordinated central bank action including Asian central banks would be a powerful signal to global financial markets. I wouldn’t rule it out but international coordination is very difficult to achieve,” said Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia (pay day loans).

A big 1 percentage-point rate cut by Australia’s central bank provided investors with a taster on Tuesday. Markets jumped immediately, providing relief from a credit crisis that JPMorgan economists say is driving the world economy into recession.

The economists say developing Asia-ex Japan will be spared recession and grow 7.1 percent this year, although China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have sought some insurance by cutting policy rates in the wake of Lehman Brothers’ collapse last month.

Bond markets globally are starting to price in the risk of coordinated rate cuts among the world’s major central banks, which would be an about turn for many policy makers, who until recently were largely focused on keeping monetary policy tight to combat inflation.

But time is of the essence. 

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