Welcome to Finance World

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. Thursday posted sharply higher fourth-quarter profit as restaurant openings and higher menu prices helped push revenue up 12 percent.

The Denver-based fast-casual restaurant chain known for its bulging burritos (NYSE: CMG) posted quarterly net income of $31.6 million, or 99 cents a share, up from $17 million, or 52 cents a share, in the same quarter of 2008.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 81 cents a share, Thomson Reuters reported.

Revenue for the fourth quarter rose to $387.4 million from $345.3 million a year earlier. Analysts had forecast revenue of $388.2 million.

Chipotle opened 45 new restaurants in the quarter, bringing its total to 956 payday loans in 1 hour. Same-store restaurant sales rose 2 percent, largely on menu price increases.

Revenue-level operating margins were 24.5 percent, up from 21.1 percent a year earlier.

For full-year 2009, Chipotle reported net income of $126.8 million, or $3.95 a share, versus $78.2 million, or $2.36 a share, in 2008.

Full-year revenue was $1.518 billion, up from $1.331 billion the previous year.

Chipotle said it expects to open 120 to 130 new restaurants in 2010, with flat same-store sales. It plans a move into the United Kingdom by spring.

Source

Payday loans and instant cash advance. Get your first payday loan. Cash advance loans do not require any faxing.

Cincinnati–Swiffer kitties? Just attach little dusting pads to your feline’s paws, so they can help keep your floors clean while making their rounds. A bit far-fetched? Executives at consumer-products king Procter & Gamble Co. thought so, too, and sent the idea to the discard pile.

P&G also rejected pitches from outside inventors for a belly-button lint brush, a Knees and Toes body wash to complement Head and Shoulders shampoo, and a "man handle" to keep marital harmony in the bathroom by making it easier to raise and lower the toilet seat.

But there are success stories, too. The original Swiffer duster was developed by a Japanese company that P&G teamed up with to take it global. That’s why P&G keeps the door open to proposals.

The once-insular company is now considered a leader among the companies in many industries that are listening to outsiders they once might have shunned, including other businesses. "We don’t care where good ideas come from, as long as they come to us," said Jeff Weedman, a vice-president who helps lead P&G’s effort to solicit ideas online or from scouting by P&G employees around the globe.

"We’re not going to use everything that shows up, but we want to be the preferred partner."

Others noted for "open innovation" include IBM Corp., which runs online "innovation jams," and Eli Lilly & Co., which in 2001 created an InnoCentive branch to draw scientific help from around the globe.

Jeff DeGraff, a professor who focuses on managing innovation and creativity at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said P&G has helped popularize the approach.

"P&G was the poster child for this movement, showing large companies with growth challenges that this is not just for Silicon Valley or Ann Arbor (Mich business

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced Wednesday that the city has closed a section of Kapiolani Park frequented by homeless people.

The area, a grass strip between Kalakaua Avenue and the sidewalk, will be closed for “ongoing maintenance and beautification work,” according to Hannemann.

It was unclear how long the city would cordon off the grassy border along the street, but the homeless population in Kapiolani Park has been a growing concern for the past several years. Over the past month, dozens of homeless have set up tents and belongings on the grass strip in an effort to get around the city’s closure of the park.

Currently, portions of the park on the mountain side of Kalakaua are closed from midnight to 5 a.m., while portions of the park on the ocean side of Kalakaua are closed from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.

Overnight camping is also not permitted in the park, but that hasn’t stopped a determined core of homeless who set up tents and move only when prodded by police.

“We are committed to keeping Kapiolani Park clean and safe for everyone,” Hannemann said in a news release.

Source

European oil trader Trafigura Beheer BV said on Thursday the worst of the credit crisis was over, but cautioned that the oil market was still grappling with severe oversupply and current prices were too high.

“As far as we can see, liquidity is back, and there’s a lot of appetite from existing banks and new banks. As they reposition their portfolios, commodities continue to feature quite highly on their agenda,” Trafigura’s Chief Financial Officer Pierre Lorinet told Reuters in an interview.

But he warned that given the ballooning stockpiles of oil products stored on ships, the current crude price of $80 a barrel was not justified cash advance today.

“The level today seems too high compared to the pure fundamentals. But it goes back to how oil is trading today, and oil is trading like a financial asset.”

The severe oversupply would keep the market’s contango structure in place “for a while,” he added.

(Reporting by Jennifer Tan; Editing by Ramthan Hussain)

Read more

Gold is different from other commodities in many ways. Still, the price of the yellow metal depends on the same three factors as oil or wheat: supply, demand, and financial conditions. Put them together, and the 20% increase since August might only be the beginning.

Start with supply. Production from mines totaled 2,414 tons in 2008, worth $88 billion at the November 16 price. There will be more this year, but less from 2010 onwards. It will take years for new mines to come on stream. Recycling from scrap jewelry and official gold sales were worth $40 billion in 2008, but those sources aren’t likely to cough up much more.

One central bank has even become a buyer. India recently purchased 200 tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund. If China decided to put 10% of its $2.3 trillion of official reserves into gold, it would need to buy up almost three years’ worth of production, at the current price.

Such a big move isn’t likely, but smaller shifts from central banks — selling less — could be enough to move the price, as long as other demand keeps up loan till payday. That’s likely. The long period of ultra-easy money may not be undermining the monetary system, but many people fear it might. Some of them will buy some more gold, just in case. With yields on government bonds so low, gold looks like cheap insurance.

Indeed, financial conditions favor all commodities, gold included. Interest rates are low and banks are more willing to support investors and speculators than to lend to businesses and consumers. Besides, commodities look like a good store of value in the midst of unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus in a world of still significant imbalances.

When money is easy and demand moves much faster than supply, prices can explode. In 18 months from July 1978, gold went from $185 per ounce to $850. That’s $2,400 in today’s dollars. And interest rates then were much higher than now. A similar price rise from here would bring gold to more than $5,000 per ounce. 

Source

Despite much hope that Americans are finally thawing out of their year-long self-imposed shopping freeze, store sales last month were good in pockets — but not great, as many analysts were hoping.

With this latest disappointment behind them, the concern now for merchants is when, or will, consumers get their shoppping bags out in earnest for the start of the 2009 holiday shopping period.

The holiday shopping frenzy unofficially kicks off in just a few weeks on Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving.

The fourth quarter, which includes the November-December gift-buying months, is typically the most critical annual sales period for sellers. Those two months can account for 50% or more of retailers’ sales and profits for the year.

"For well over a year, consumers have been in shellshock. They are now starting to come out of the bunker, but they still are wearing their body armor and shopping smartly," said Craig Johnson, president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners.

While consumers are still very price-focused, he said better-than-expected sales results from some high-end sellers shows more people are becoming comfortable spending a little bit more money again.

"This trend bodes well for the holiday season," said Johnson.

Big hope, some disappointment

As leading chain stores trotted out their October same-store sales Thursday, it was obvious that shoppers did remain very budget conscious, and are still favoring bargain and bulk sellers over clothing, department stores and other merchants.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are considered to be a key measure of a retailer’s performance.

While cooler October weather likely helped lift sales of winter clothing, many retailers posted better sales numbers because of significantly easier comparisons from a year ago, said sales tracker Thomson Reuters’ retail analyst Jharonne Martis.

Thomson Reuters, which tracks monthly same-store sales for 30 chains such as Target, Gap and J.C. Penney, said overall October sales for the group rose 1.8% compared to a 4.1% decline last October. Analysts had expected a gain for the group.

Last month’s shopping patterns favored Costco (COST, Fortune 500), the No. 1 warehouse club operator, which reported a 5% same-store sales gain, beating analysts’ estimates for a 4.7% increase.

However, Costco said the company’s sales also benefited from a weak dollar that boosted its overseas sales.

Discounter Target (TGT, Fortune 500) reported a 0.1% sales decline in October, better than a 4.8% drop a year ago. Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), the world’s largest retailer, which has benefited from the recession as consumers flock to its low prices, no longer reports monthly sales numbers.

However, the retailer is expected to provide details about its monthly sales when Wal-Mart reports its quarterly results next week.

Mid-price department store chain J.C. Penney (JCP, Fortune 500) reported a 4.5% drop in its same-store sales, which was slightly better than its own forecast for a 5% to 8% decrease in the month.

Gap Inc (GPS, Fortune 500)., the No. 1 clothing seller, reported a better-than-expected 4% sales gain in the month.

The high-end space saw a little bit of relief as well. Department store chain Nordstrom posted a 6.5% sales gain while sales at Saks (SKS) rose 0.7% for the month.

Elsewhere, merchants took a beating. Comparable sales at teen clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch tumbled 15% in October. Limited Brands (LTD, Fortune 500), parent of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works chains logged a 4% decline in its sales versus analysts’ expectations for a 2.7% decline.

And department store operator Macy’s said its monthly sales slipped 0.8%.

On the fence

Some industry watchers, however, aren’t convinced yet of a full-bodied return to spending.

"Yes, there is clear momentum building in as we go into the holiday season," said Ken Perkins, president of sales tracking firm Retail Metrics. "Consumers are looking at better housing data and other economic reports, and are more comfortable making discretionary purchases when when unemployment is rising."

Still, Perkins said he’s skeptical about the strength of this recent uptick in spending.

"Retailers are up against their easiest year-over-year comparisons in a decade," he said. "And the comparisons get even easier over the holiday months."

"So this improvement in the monthly sales could be more of an optical illusion rather than a real improvement in spending," he said.

The National Retail Federation, the industry’s largest trade group expects 2009 holiday sales to decline 1%, improving from last year’s 3.4% decline.

Johnson expects holiday sales to grow about 2.4% while Perkins’ forecast is for a gain of between 1 to 2%. 

Source

The yen rose to two-week highs while the U.S. dollar clung to gains on Monday as jittery investors cut back long positions in growth-linked currencies.

Traders said the drop in high-yielders like the Australian and New Zealand dollars is partly due to a correction after the rally in the past few months. Also, weighing on sentiment was news that CIT Group filed for bankruptcy.

The yen rose to as high as 89.17 per dollar in early Asian trade, from around 90.00 per dollar late on Friday when it gained over 1.5 percent. It was also firmer against the euro and the Aussie.

The euro inched up to $1.4715, from $1.4708 late on Friday when it lost over 0.8 percent. The Aussie, having lost nearly 2 percent on Friday, fell to a near one-month low of $0.8900 before recovering to $0.8970.

The U.S. dollar, which tends to gain when doubts about a global recovery emerge, traded above the 76 mark against a basket of currencies.

“It has been a pretty violent move and I think it is partly to do with positioning,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, currency strategist at Westpac. “The economic data has not been all that bad, so I think it should be a good opportunity to rebuild long positions in commodity currencies.”

Such long positions would have been very profitable over recent months and investors could be seeking to lock in gains for year-end and bonus season.

There was also upbeat news from Chinese manufacturing data at the weekend. China’s PMI rose to an 18-month high of 55.2 in October, indicating an acceleration in output and boding well for growth-linked currencies.

Latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed speculators trimming long positions in the euro, the Aussie and the Kiwi bad credit payday loans. The value of the dollar’s net short position fell to $15.61 billion in the week ending October 27 from $18.65 billion net the prior week.

Traders said the mood was likely to remain cautious ahead of big event risks in the week ahead, which include central bank meetings in Australia, Europe and the U.S. and the all important U.S. non-farm payroll data on Friday.

The Federal Reserve’s rate setting committee, which meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, is expected to keep rates unchanged but there is speculation that it might change its language. That could see markets pricing in a rate hike in the United States sooner than expected.

“We see the Fed reiterating that ‘economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the fed funds rates for an extended period’,” said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital.

In the UK, the focus is on whether the Bank of England will increase its asset-purchase program to give a boost to its economy.

In contrast, the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise rates by a quarter of a percentage point, with Governor Glenn Stevens and the monetary policy Statement later in the week to provide perspective.

The European Central Bank is also expected to hold rates steady, but it could provide some details on the schedule of open market operations for 2010.

(Editing by Wayne Cole)

Read more

U.K. gross domestic product unexpectedly dropped in the third quarter as enduring slumps in services, manufacturing and construction kept the economy mired in its longest recession on record.

Gross domestic product dropped 0.4 percent from the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. Economists predicted a 0.2 percent increase, according to the median of 33 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The economy has now contracted in six quarters, the most since records began in 1955.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said this week he will focus on spurring economic growth as he struggles to cement a recovery in time for a general election due by June. Today’s data may add to pressure on Bank of England officials to expand bond purchases at their Nov. 5 decision after completing a plan to buy 175 billion pounds ($291 billion) in assets.

“The main picture for the government going into the general election isn’t particularly promising,” said David Tinsley, an economist at National Australia Bank in London who used to work at the central bank. “There hasn’t been a great deal of evidence on the recovery. It would seem a very inopportune moment to end quantitative easing.”

The data, the first for the third quarter from a Group of Seven nation, suggests Britain may turn out to be the last of them to exit the recession sparked by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Central banks in Canada and Italy both forecast slumps in their economies ended in the same period, and the U.S. probably also returned to growth then, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. France, Germany and Japan exited their recessions in the second quarter.

Services Drop

U.K. services industries, which account for 76 percent of the economy, shrank 0.2 percent on the quarter, the statistics office said. The drop was led by distribution, hotels and catering, followed by transport, storage and communication, and business services and finance.

Industrial production shrank 0.7 percent as manufacturing contracted 0.2 percent, the statistics office said. Construction slumped 1.1 percent.

The economy’s output is “well below” the levels of a year earlier and there should be no illusion of a “smooth and painless” return to sustainable growth, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said this week. Officials said at the Oct. 8 meeting that there is still a danger of further losses.

Credit losses and writedowns worldwide now total $1.6 trillion. Lloyds Banking Group Plc and the government are weeks away from an agreement on whether the lender can escape a program to insure up to 260 billion pounds of potentially toxic assets, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday.

Setback for Brown

Today’s report is a setback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown as his ruling Labour party struggles to erode the poll lead held by David Cameron’s Conservatives. The opposition party had a 17 percentage-point gap over Labour in an ICM Research poll for the Guardian newspaper published on Oct. 21.

The economy will contract 4.4 percent this year and then expand 1.3 percent in 2010, according to forecasts released this week by the National Institute of Economic Research.

Some companies are weathering the slump. British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest pay-television provider, said today that first-quarter profit rose. “We have won more clients despite the tough economic environment and I’m confident that we will continue to grow,” Chief Financial Officer Andrew Griffith said in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

Slump Damage

Today’s data show the recession shrank the U.K. economy by 5.9 percent, compared with a total 6 percent slump in the recession that ended in 1981, the statistics office said.

Unemployment may keep rising even after the end of the recession as a lagged effect of the slump. St. Ives Plc, the U.K. printer of the Economist and Vogue magazines, has shed about 12 percent of workforce, Finance Director Matt Armitage said on Oct. 19.

Niesr says that the Bank of England should pause its bond purchase program at the Nov. 5 decision, when officials will have revised forecasts on the economy. The British Chambers of Commerce has called for a further expansion of the plan to reach 200 billion pounds to secure the recovery.

Source

Qatar is selling a 1.3 billion pound ($2.1 billion) stake in British bank Barclays, stoking talk it will use a big profit to make a move on UK food retailer J.Sainsbury.

Qatar owns 26 percent of Sainsbury and the retailer’s shares jumped by a fifth last Thursday on talk the sovereign wealth fund was planning a renewed offer for it, after a previous bid attempt failed in 2007.

Qatar Holding is set to make a 600 million pound ($985 million) profit on its Barclays stake, making it the second big Middle-Eastern investor to make a big profit from a stake in the bank this year, after Abu Dhabi made $2.5 billion on the sale of an 11 percent stake in June.

Qatar will remain Barclays’ biggest shareholder with a stake of about 7 percent. It is selling 379.2 million shares, which will come from the exercise of warrants for the same amount of shares at a price of 197.775 pence.

Barclays will receive 750 million pounds from the warrants.

The warrants were part of a controversial 5.8 billion pound fundraising by the bank last November, when the bank avoided selling the state a stake by raising money privately.

Roger Jenkins, a top Barclays banker who orchestrated that fundraising, left the bank in August and his new investment firm is working with Qatar, according to an industry source. A spokesman for the firm, which specializes in the Middle East, declined to comment.

The Barclays shares are being sold by Credit Suisse via an accelerated bookbuild.

By 0800 GMT Barclays shares were down 4.6 percent at 364.5 pence. Sainsbury shares were up 3.2 percent at 340.8p, valuing the retailer at 6.3 billion pounds.

Sainsbury declined to comment.

The Qatar Investment Authority was mulling an offer at 420p per Sainsbury share, traders said last week, well below its 2007 proposal of 600p a share.

QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen its economy by diversifying into new asset classes. Subsidiary Qatar Holding is its main vehicle for strategic and direct investments by the state.

($1=.6088 Pound)

(Editing by Hans Peters)

Read more

A deal between Comcast Corp and General Electric Co for NBC Universal would seem a storybook match — one wants in to the media business and the other may be well-served to get out.

Comcast shareholders see it another way, sending its shares down 7.2 percent on Thursday as sources familiar with the matter said the top U.S. cable service provider was in talks to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal from GE.

While a deal would allow Comcast to acquire the cable networks it has coveted — Bravo, USA and CNBC, among others — shareholders worry it would saddle the company with more than it needs. Specifically, the underperforming NBC broadcast TV network. NBC Universal also owns a studio and theme parks.

“Investors have long pressed Comcast for an aggressive return of cash to shareholders,” Bernstein Research’s Craig Moffett said in a note. “An acquisition of a major content studio, even if consummated at an attractive price, is most decidedly not what Comcast investors had in mind.”

GE, which has been pressured by investors to offload its 80 percent stake in NBC Universal, is considering a host of proposals for NBC Universal as partner Vivendi SA explores whether to sell its 20 percent stake.

At the moment, the most likely scenario is a deal in which Comcast would buy 51 percent of NBC Universal, leaving GE with 49 percent, according to the sources.

The sides still have plenty of details to work out and an agreement is far from certain, said the sources, who described a complex framework to discussions that are still in the earliest stages.

They said the plan is for GE to buy Vivendi’s stake, and put the borrowings that fund that deal on NBC Universal’s balance sheet. Other debt would also be added to what would essentially become a new, stand-alone company. But how that company would be valued remains to be seen.

One source said it would be worth $23 billion to $27 billion — so Comcast would contribute $4 billion to $6 billion in cash and $7 billion worth of assets, like the “E” Channel and the Golf Channel, in exchange for majority control.

Another source said the new company would be valued more highly, and Comcast’s cash payment would be closer to $6 billion to $7 billion.

Over time, Comcast could increase its ownership stake, according to CNBC, which first reported the news.

For GE, whose shares ended 2.7 percent lower on Thursday, selling NBC Universal would allow it to concentrate on the better-performing heavy industrial businesses. It may also be the best choice facing GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt.

“If you take Jeff Immelt’s commentary seriously, where he thinks the economy is in for a slow recovery, then the industrial side of the business needs every dollar it can keep,” said Peter Sorrentino, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors.

LIMITED CHOICES?

Vivendi has the right to exercise its sell option in NBC Universal each fall until 2016, but is thought likely to do so this year to fund businesses that it finds more essential. 

Read more