Suzlon among the top gainers, up 8.5%

Wind turbine maker, Suzlon Energy is among the top three gainers. Friday, the stock was up 8.49 per cent at Rs 65.20 on BSE, and has gained a
whopping 46.68 per cent over the last week.

On Thursday, the company informed BSE that the New Zealand based TrustPower Ltd has started the stage 1 of its first Australian wind farm located at Snowtown 170 km north of Adelaide. The said wind farm comprises of 47 numbers of Suzlon S88 turbines.

However, the Suzlon stock is extremely risky to be invested in, feel market participants, as the industry scenario is bleak and the company is exposed to many issues.

Morgan Stanley, on Nov 3, downgraded the stock from overweight to underweight and cut its target price from Rs 450 to a little more than one-tenth to Rs 52.

The investment bank perceives rising risks to its business model. Its has cut is volume estimate for Suzlon by 17 per cent and 24 per cent in FY09 and FY10 respectively due to low visibility of the industry, thanks to massive downtick in oil prices, which is likely to delay the renewal of PTC in the US and pose difficulty in financing wind power projects. This is expected to result in 29 per cent and 40 per cent drop in earnings, respectively.

Growth from access to REpower technology looks unlikely in the short term as the company has decided not to try to exercise the domination and profit transfer agreement with REpower, due to opposition from lenders who will be financing the next round of growth for REpower.

Morgan Stanley also thinks that Suzlon will be funding its growth with large debt on account of cancellation of its rights issue.

Source: EconomicTimes

Buffett, Google's Schmidt in Obama's adviser team

US President-elect Barack Obama has appointed a 17-member high-level team of advisers including billionaire investor Warren Buffett and
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt to guide him in channelising the economy, a media report says.

"US President-elect Barack Obama has appointed a team of high-level advisers including billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt to guide his thoughts on the economy ahead of taking office on January 20," the Telegraph report stated.

The team, to be called the Transition Economic Advisory Board (TEAB), will meet for the first time in Chicago today to discuss the state of the economy and the prospect of taking early action.

Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway, would participate through speakerphone in the meeting.
Further, the report stated that Obama might use this opportunity to appoint his first Treasury Secretary.
The advisory board has 17 members including former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, whose name has also been connected with the Treasury job, and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who would also be at the meeting at the Chicago Hilton today, the daily said.

At present, Robert Rubin is Chairman and Director of the Executive Committee of global financial services major Citigroup. Besides, corporate America is also well represented in the team, with Time Warner Chairman Dick Parsons and Xerox Chairman Anne Mulcahy and Schmidt, who was a loyal supporter of Obama during his election campaign, it added.

Other members of the board comprise Laura Tyson, one of Obama's key economic aides, former House of Representatives member David Bonior, two former SEC Commissioners Roel Campos and William Donaldson, and Chairman of the Midwest JP Morgan Chase William Daley, the Telegraph report said.

Further, TIAA-CREF President and CEO Roger Ferguson, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Classic Residence by Hyatt CEO Penny Pritzker, Robert Reich and Laura Tyson from the University of California and DE Shaw Managing Director Lawrence Summers are on the board, it added.

Source: EconomicTimes

Ford posts $3 billion loss, Toyota shares dive

Ford Motor Co posted a $2.98 billion quarterly operating loss and shares in world No. 1 automaker Toyota Motor Corp plunged on Friday after it warned this year's profits would hit a 13-year low.

Ford also said it would cut salaried expenses by another 10 percent, following on a program that cut such costs 15 percent earlier in 2008.

Analysts on average had expected Ford and General Motors Corp, which reports later on Friday, to post losses of roughly $2 billion each for the third quarter excluding one-time items, according to Reuters Estimates.

In Germany both BMW, the world's largest premium carmaker, and its archrival Mercedes-Benz Cars of Daimler, posted sharp unit sales declines in October, citing continued weakness in U.S. and western European markets. Porsche is expected to report pretax profit fell 5.1 percent in the fiscal year to end-July, later on Friday.

Toyota shares fell as much as 13 percent in reaction to Thursday's results.

Car sales around the world are stalling, and analysts said the Japanese group's policy of breakneck expansion has left it especially exposed to an industry crunch brought on by the global financial crisis.

The credit crisis has meant many consumers are unable to access loan to fund auto purchases.

BMW suffered a comparatively mild 8.3 percent decline in group sales to 113,005 vehicles in October, while Mercedes-Benz Cars saw volumes fall 18.1 percent to 82,500 units.

GM and Ford's results come at the end of a week that started with reports that U.S. auto sales plunged to the lowest annualized rate in a quarter century in the first month of the fourth quarter.

GM has also said it plans to announce more cost cuts as part of quarterly results.

Faced with accelerating cash burn -- U.S. automakers have called for an industrywide rescue package. GM, which burned through more than $1 billion per month in the second quarter, warned on Wednesday the industry's prospects are dwindling fast due to the "near collapse" in demand for cars.

Both BMW and Mercedes have reduced profit forecasts for their automobile businesses in two consecutive quarters following a sharp drop in demand.

Nissan Motor and Suzuki Motor also issued profit warnings last month.

Source: EconomicTimes

Textile industry may lay-off 5-6 lakh employees

The textile industry, which has warned the government of 5-6 lakh lay-offs due to the global downturn, today said the PMO "totally ignored" its interests and the largest employment-generating sector after agriculture was feeling "let down".

The Northern India Textile Mills Association (NITMA) said that none of its representatives was invited to the meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 3 to discuss the state of the economy.

"The Prime Minister had appealed to industry to avoid large-scale layoffs in the wake of the global economic crisis ... The textile industry was totally ignored by the Prime Minister's Office. This is the industry which is going to lay off maximum jobs due to increased maximum cotton price and cancellation of orders by the US due to recession," NITMA President Sunil Jain said.

Top industry leaders like Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal and the heads of three apex chambers - the CII, the FICCI, Assocham - attended the meeting convened by the Prime Minister.

Jain said the spinning sector in particular is in a difficult situation because of increased costs of inputs, mainly cotton.

The industry, directly and indirectly, employs about 35 million people.

Jain said the export sops have been withdrawn in India, while countries like China and Pakistan have substantially increased incentives for their exporters.

Garment exporters have reported a 30-35 per cent drop in volume in the July-September quarter.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has estimated 6-7 lakh people are facing job threats because of a slump in export demand.

Source: EconomicTimes

British Airways profits plunge after bleakest period

British Airways announced a 92-percent plunge in half-year profits on Friday following "incredibly difficult trading conditions" and high fue
l prices.

Pre-tax profits dived to 52 million pounds (64 million euros, 82 million dollars) from 616 million during the same six-month period a year earlier.

The airline recorded a net loss of 42 million pounds (53 million euros, 66 million dollars) for the six months to the end of September and said passenger numbers were down by almost four percent.

"This is a good performance given the incredibly difficult trading conditions. The six-month period will be remembered as the bleakest on record," BA chief executive Willie Walsh said in a statement.

"The period was hit by a crisis in the banking sector, record fuel prices and several airlines going out of business."

However, BA said it was confident it would make a "small profit" for its 2008-09 financial year even though fuel costs were expected to total about three billion pounds.

While oil prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks, BA said this benefit was being offset by exchange rate movements.

Revenues for the six months to September 30 were up 6.4 percent, despite a weakening in long-haul premium traffic since the summer, the airline said.

Operating profits, which exclude interest payments and taxation, fell to 140 million pounds from 567 million pounds a year earlier.

The airline was also hit by the chaotic opening of the new Terminal Five at London's Heathrow airport, but Walsh said the terminal was now running smoothly.

Source: EconomicTimes

US jobless rate at 14-year high of 6.5%

The government says the nation's unemployment rate bolted to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October as employers slashed 240,000 Right approach for different stages of career
jobs. It was stark proof the economy is almost certainly in a recession.

The new snapshot, released by the Labor Department, shows the crucial jobs market deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid pace.

The jobless rate zoomed to 6.5 percent in October from 6.1 percent in September, matching the unemployment rate in March 1994. Employers have cut jobs each month this year.

The struggling US economy had lost 159,000 jobs in September as the credit crunch hit a broad swath of industries.

When people lose their jobs, they tend to pare back family budgets and fall behind on their debt - not a good prospect for an economy suffering a simultaneous credit crisis and spending slowdown.

Traders were meanwhile betting on further interest rate cuts by central banks around the world. On Thursday the European Central Bank reduced eurozone borrowing costs by a half percentage point to 3.25 percent.

Source: EconomicTimes

Microsoft extends helping hand to Internet startups

Microsoft on Wednesday launched a programme to help fledgling Internet companies by giving them free access to software, tech support
and introductions to its business partners around the world.

BizSpark is intended to "accelerate the success of entrepreneurs and early-stage startups" using, of course, Microsoft technology, according to the Redmond, Washington-based software colossus.

"Microsoft BizSpark is an exciting way for us to help provide business startups with the development tools, advice and exposure they need," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

"We look forward to working with organisations and development agencies around the globe to foster entrepreneurship and help new companies succeed."

To be eligible for the programme, companies must be privately owned; less than three years old, and have annual revenues of no more than a million dollars.

Startups must be "nominated" by BizSpark Network Partners including economic development agencies, venture capitalists, business incubators, and groups such as global nonprofit The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

"We think Microsoft BizSpark addresses a fundamental challenge startups face: access to current, full-featured tools and technologies that help turn ideas into a thriving business," said TiE chief executive Suren Dutia.

"We are excited to be part of this new effort to propagate entrepreneurship globally, cultivating the future generation of highly successful entrepreneurs."

Source: EconomicTimes