JP Morgan has reported record first quarter profits of $6.5bn (£4.2bn) and says there are signs the US economy is "healthy and getting stronger".
Showing posts with label US economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US economy. Show all posts
April 14, 2013
August 08, 2012
Wall Street bankers face severe pay cuts
Wall Street executives look set to confront severe pay cuts this year as banks come under pressure to axe costs, recruiters have warned.
April 16, 2012
JP Morgan reports rebound in business
JP Morgan, the first major US bank to announce its results, has reported a rebound in revenues in the first three months of 2012.
March 24, 2012
FedEx says economy isn't as robust as it hoped
NEW YORK: FedEx says the global economy isn't growing as strongly as expected and customers are reacting by choosing cheaper means of shipping packages.
February 27, 2012
Google may pick Dennis Woodside to replace Sanjay Jha of Motorola Mobility
CALIFORNIA: Google, which won the US approval for its acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, is close to naming Dennis Woodside to run the business when the deal closes, three people familiar with the matter said.
April 19, 2011
US multinational companies hiring abroad
Major American multinational companies which employ a fifth of all US workers are hiring people overseas, a US daily has said, adding that this report would sharpen the debate over globalization's effects on the country's economy.
January 19, 2011
Apple shares rise as analysts tip price to top $425
Apple received a big vote of confidence as analysts raised their price target for the company's shares a day after it unveiled record profits and revenues.
Putting aside worries about Apple boss Steve Jobs' health, six brokerages tipped shares in the world's largest technology firm to hit at least $425.
On Wall Street Apple shares were 2% up at $347.44, reversing a fall that followed news about Mr Jobs' health.
Apple's co-founder said on Monday that he was taking indefinite medical leave.
The brokerages, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, issued a new share price target for Apple of between $425 and $465.
"While the news of Steve Jobs' medical leave may continue to add some headwinds to the share price momentum in the near term, we continue to believe improving underlying fundamentals and the strength of Apple's overall management team will counter this uncertainty," said Goldman analyst Bill Shoppe.
Record
On Tuesday, Apple announced record first quarter profits of $6bn (£3.7bn) and record revenues of $26.74bn after sales of Macs, iPhones and iPads surpassed analysts' forecasts.
Apple's first-quarter profit, for the three months to 25 December, was a 71% jump on the same period last year.
Analysts said that a strong product line-up and a planned tie-up with Verizon Communications, the leading US wireless operator, should ensure that sales continue to grow.
Apple reported gross margins of 38.5%, but JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said he expects margins to reach about 40%.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
Putting aside worries about Apple boss Steve Jobs' health, six brokerages tipped shares in the world's largest technology firm to hit at least $425.
On Wall Street Apple shares were 2% up at $347.44, reversing a fall that followed news about Mr Jobs' health.
Apple's co-founder said on Monday that he was taking indefinite medical leave.
The brokerages, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, issued a new share price target for Apple of between $425 and $465.
"While the news of Steve Jobs' medical leave may continue to add some headwinds to the share price momentum in the near term, we continue to believe improving underlying fundamentals and the strength of Apple's overall management team will counter this uncertainty," said Goldman analyst Bill Shoppe.
Record
On Tuesday, Apple announced record first quarter profits of $6bn (£3.7bn) and record revenues of $26.74bn after sales of Macs, iPhones and iPads surpassed analysts' forecasts.
Apple's first-quarter profit, for the three months to 25 December, was a 71% jump on the same period last year.
Analysts said that a strong product line-up and a planned tie-up with Verizon Communications, the leading US wireless operator, should ensure that sales continue to grow.
Apple reported gross margins of 38.5%, but JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said he expects margins to reach about 40%.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
January 18, 2011
Many U.S. multinationals pay less than corporate tax rate
U.S.-based multinational companies, even as they maintain that the top 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate is too high, pay far less in effective rates and often face tax burdens similar to their rivals overseas.
Officials with companies including General Electric Co., Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America Corp., United Technologies Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Caterpillar Inc. and Microsoft Corp. met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week to discuss corporate taxes. Some companies are pushing for an overhaul of the U.S. tax system.
Recent studies show that U.S.-based multinationals on average pay effective tax rates of 26 percent to 28 percent, slightly more than a worldwide average of about 25 percent.
The 35 percent rate is "all you hear about, but that really isn't a sufficient way of looking at things, because that simply is the statutory rate," said George K. Yin, a former chief of staff for Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. Yin, now a law professor at the University of Virginia, said the U.S. tax system has "plenty of holes in it" that reduce what corporations pay.
General Electric, the Fairfield, Conn.-based manufacturer, paid an average effective tax rate of 11.5 percent over the past five years. In 2009, overseas revenue accounted for more than half of the company's total $156.8 billion in sales. By the end of 2009, the company had reinvested $84 billion in foreign subsidiaries, according to its annual report.
'Roughly the average'
Among the companies sending representatives to meet with Geithner were Dow Chemical Co., Procter & Gamble Co., Honeywell International Inc., MetLife Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Walt Disney Co., Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Emerson Electric Co.
While expressing support for lowering the statutory tax rate, Geithner said Jan. 12 that effective U.S. tax rates "are roughly the average of the other economies."
Effective rates will figure into the debate over lowering the U.S. statutory rate, which will be the highest in the world if Japan cuts its rate by five percentage points this year as planned. Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn, senior director of public policy at the Washington-based Business Roundtable, said "the trend outside the U.S. is not to stop lowering rates."
Reducing the corporate tax rate by one percentage point would cost the U.S. Treasury $8 billion a year. In a question-and-answer session following a Jan. 12 speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, Geithner said that any corporate rate cut must "not lose revenue on net," meaning existing breaks in the tax code would have to be reduced to finance a rate cut.
Tax return data are confidential, though publicly traded companies report anticipated tax liabilities in securities filings and annual reports.
Source: http://www.northjersey.com
Officials with companies including General Electric Co., Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America Corp., United Technologies Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Caterpillar Inc. and Microsoft Corp. met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week to discuss corporate taxes. Some companies are pushing for an overhaul of the U.S. tax system.
Recent studies show that U.S.-based multinationals on average pay effective tax rates of 26 percent to 28 percent, slightly more than a worldwide average of about 25 percent.
The 35 percent rate is "all you hear about, but that really isn't a sufficient way of looking at things, because that simply is the statutory rate," said George K. Yin, a former chief of staff for Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. Yin, now a law professor at the University of Virginia, said the U.S. tax system has "plenty of holes in it" that reduce what corporations pay.
General Electric, the Fairfield, Conn.-based manufacturer, paid an average effective tax rate of 11.5 percent over the past five years. In 2009, overseas revenue accounted for more than half of the company's total $156.8 billion in sales. By the end of 2009, the company had reinvested $84 billion in foreign subsidiaries, according to its annual report.
'Roughly the average'
Among the companies sending representatives to meet with Geithner were Dow Chemical Co., Procter & Gamble Co., Honeywell International Inc., MetLife Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Walt Disney Co., Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Emerson Electric Co.
While expressing support for lowering the statutory tax rate, Geithner said Jan. 12 that effective U.S. tax rates "are roughly the average of the other economies."
Effective rates will figure into the debate over lowering the U.S. statutory rate, which will be the highest in the world if Japan cuts its rate by five percentage points this year as planned. Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn, senior director of public policy at the Washington-based Business Roundtable, said "the trend outside the U.S. is not to stop lowering rates."
Reducing the corporate tax rate by one percentage point would cost the U.S. Treasury $8 billion a year. In a question-and-answer session following a Jan. 12 speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, Geithner said that any corporate rate cut must "not lose revenue on net," meaning existing breaks in the tax code would have to be reduced to finance a rate cut.
Tax return data are confidential, though publicly traded companies report anticipated tax liabilities in securities filings and annual reports.
Source: http://www.northjersey.com
December 28, 2010
U.K. Law on Bribes Has Firms in a Sweat
Multinational companies have spent millions of dollars beefing up their compliance programs amid a U.S. crackdown on foreign bribery. Now, they are facing a new British law they fear will force them to rethink their compliance strategies and upend their business practices.
The new law, called the Bribery Act, takes effect in April. It resembles the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies that trade on U.S. exchanges from bribing foreign government officials to gain a business advantage.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
Richard Alderman, head of Britain's Serious Fraud Office, the law's enforcer, recently told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that "sensible and proportionate expenditure on hospitality will remain perfectly lawful."
Mr. Alderman has called the new law "a model of clarity," and said that it was carefully reviewed during the legislative process.
An SFO spokesman said Mr. Alderman was overseas for the holidays and couldn't be reached for comment.
SFO officials have publicly mentioned the pharmaceutical industry as a potential target of the law, citing U.S. Justice Department investigations into bribery allegations against drug and medical-device makers, but other industries that operate in regions where corruption is rampant will also face scrutiny.
The Bribery Act comes as more nations are taking a tougher stance against corruption. China, which some antibribery groups rank high on the corruption scale, has prosecuted corporate-bribery cases recently, and many European nations have bolstered anticorruption laws.
The moves follow tighter enforcement of the FCPA in recent years by the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. So far this year, the Justice Department alone has prosecuted 22 FCPA cases and collected hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Most multinational companies have put elaborate programs in place to avoid running afoul of the FCPA. These programs typically establish a channel through which employees can report suspected bribery and companies can investigate the complaints internally. Some companies also are hiring compliance consultants or offering books and seminars to help prepare employees for the ethical minefields they might face in some countries.
In the past few months, however, companies have started to worry that their compliance programs could be undermined by a U.S. law that entitles whistle-blowers to share in money collected by the SEC in fraud and corruption cases. They fear the measure, part of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill, gives employees little incentive to report suspected bribery internally when they could ultimately reap a windfall by taking their complaints directly to the SEC.
The Bribery Act is expected to further complicate compliance.
The law allows companies under scrutiny to avoid trouble by having an adequate compliance program. But British authorities haven't defined what constitutes an adequate program.
"The people who run compliance at all the major U.S. public companies have a lot more on their plate," says George Terwilliger III, a partner at White & Case LLP in Washington who works on FCPA cases. "It is sort of a double whammy."
The Bribery Act, which replaces a jumble of British bribery laws and rulings, boosts the maximum penalty for bribery to 10 years in prison from seven, and sets no limits on fines.
The law's scope is murky, legal experts say, leaving some companies to fear they may fall under its jurisdiction if they merely sell products in Britain. It says that a company can be liable if anyone associated with it pays a bribe. But it isn't clear whether that applies to agents, consultants, vendors, joint ventures and the like, attorneys say.
The law prohibits facilitation payments, or "grease payments," small bribes common in some countries to get mail service, phone hook-ups or other services that otherwise would be significantly delayed.
Those types of payments are legal under the FCPA as long as they are recorded. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called the British law's criminalization of the payments "troubling."
"Lots of clients are very worried, confused, uncertain," said Tim Coleman, a Washington-based global investigations partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. "Some are in denial."
Source: The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
The new law, called the Bribery Act, takes effect in April. It resembles the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies that trade on U.S. exchanges from bribing foreign government officials to gain a business advantage.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
Richard Alderman, head of Britain's Serious Fraud Office, the law's enforcer, recently told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that "sensible and proportionate expenditure on hospitality will remain perfectly lawful."
Mr. Alderman has called the new law "a model of clarity," and said that it was carefully reviewed during the legislative process.
An SFO spokesman said Mr. Alderman was overseas for the holidays and couldn't be reached for comment.
SFO officials have publicly mentioned the pharmaceutical industry as a potential target of the law, citing U.S. Justice Department investigations into bribery allegations against drug and medical-device makers, but other industries that operate in regions where corruption is rampant will also face scrutiny.
The Bribery Act comes as more nations are taking a tougher stance against corruption. China, which some antibribery groups rank high on the corruption scale, has prosecuted corporate-bribery cases recently, and many European nations have bolstered anticorruption laws.
The moves follow tighter enforcement of the FCPA in recent years by the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. So far this year, the Justice Department alone has prosecuted 22 FCPA cases and collected hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Most multinational companies have put elaborate programs in place to avoid running afoul of the FCPA. These programs typically establish a channel through which employees can report suspected bribery and companies can investigate the complaints internally. Some companies also are hiring compliance consultants or offering books and seminars to help prepare employees for the ethical minefields they might face in some countries.
In the past few months, however, companies have started to worry that their compliance programs could be undermined by a U.S. law that entitles whistle-blowers to share in money collected by the SEC in fraud and corruption cases. They fear the measure, part of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill, gives employees little incentive to report suspected bribery internally when they could ultimately reap a windfall by taking their complaints directly to the SEC.
The Bribery Act is expected to further complicate compliance.
The law allows companies under scrutiny to avoid trouble by having an adequate compliance program. But British authorities haven't defined what constitutes an adequate program.
"The people who run compliance at all the major U.S. public companies have a lot more on their plate," says George Terwilliger III, a partner at White & Case LLP in Washington who works on FCPA cases. "It is sort of a double whammy."
The Bribery Act, which replaces a jumble of British bribery laws and rulings, boosts the maximum penalty for bribery to 10 years in prison from seven, and sets no limits on fines.
The law's scope is murky, legal experts say, leaving some companies to fear they may fall under its jurisdiction if they merely sell products in Britain. It says that a company can be liable if anyone associated with it pays a bribe. But it isn't clear whether that applies to agents, consultants, vendors, joint ventures and the like, attorneys say.
The law prohibits facilitation payments, or "grease payments," small bribes common in some countries to get mail service, phone hook-ups or other services that otherwise would be significantly delayed.
Those types of payments are legal under the FCPA as long as they are recorded. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called the British law's criminalization of the payments "troubling."
"Lots of clients are very worried, confused, uncertain," said Tim Coleman, a Washington-based global investigations partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. "Some are in denial."
Source: The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
November 20, 2010
Dell profits more than double on company upgrades
Dell has reported a 144% rise in third quarter net income to $822m (£511m), thanks to falling costs and a post-recession wave of IT upgrades.
Revenues in the three months to September rose 19% from a year ago, driven by corporate orders.
In contrast, the computer manufacturer reported only a 4% rise in takings from consumer clients, as household spending on laptops and PCs remained weak.
The US firm also said profit margins widened on a drop in component prices.
'Muted' consumer demand
"Dell is growing in the right areas, and I'm very excited about out momentum," said the company's founder, chairman and chief executive, Michael Dell, commenting on the company's third quarter results.
Regionally, revenue growth was strongest in the big emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which together rose 30% on a year ago, led by India which was up 55%.
Dell said revenues had also been helped partly by its refusal to be drawn into price wars, claiming to have turned down some contracts that would have been insufficiently profitable.
Sales to public sector clients were buoyant - up 20% - despite a recent warning from peer Cisco that its sales to the US government sector would suffer because of fiscal cutbacks.
Dell said that it expected "to see continued strength from the ongoing client refresh among large corporate accounts and strong growth in enterprise products and services".
However, it thought that demand from consumer clients would remain "muted", and expected its full year profits to remain in the mid-range of its previously indicated 14%-19% growth forecast.
Fatter margins
The company's share price rose 4.8% on the results in trading after the official close of the New York markets, reversing much of a 6% drop in the share price following Cisco's warning last week.
While the strong revenue growth was actually slightly weaker than bullish market expectations, Dell also reported a surprisingly strong improvement in its operating profit margins.
The company attributed its stronger margins to lower component costs, as well as improvements in its supply chain.
Dell makes more than half of its revenues from the relatively low-margin PC sales business.
However, this area of business is expected to continue to do well as corporate clients upgrade their IT systems for Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7.
Source:
BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
Revenues in the three months to September rose 19% from a year ago, driven by corporate orders.
In contrast, the computer manufacturer reported only a 4% rise in takings from consumer clients, as household spending on laptops and PCs remained weak.
The US firm also said profit margins widened on a drop in component prices.
'Muted' consumer demand
"Dell is growing in the right areas, and I'm very excited about out momentum," said the company's founder, chairman and chief executive, Michael Dell, commenting on the company's third quarter results.
Regionally, revenue growth was strongest in the big emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which together rose 30% on a year ago, led by India which was up 55%.
Dell said revenues had also been helped partly by its refusal to be drawn into price wars, claiming to have turned down some contracts that would have been insufficiently profitable.
Sales to public sector clients were buoyant - up 20% - despite a recent warning from peer Cisco that its sales to the US government sector would suffer because of fiscal cutbacks.
Dell said that it expected "to see continued strength from the ongoing client refresh among large corporate accounts and strong growth in enterprise products and services".
However, it thought that demand from consumer clients would remain "muted", and expected its full year profits to remain in the mid-range of its previously indicated 14%-19% growth forecast.
Fatter margins
The company's share price rose 4.8% on the results in trading after the official close of the New York markets, reversing much of a 6% drop in the share price following Cisco's warning last week.
While the strong revenue growth was actually slightly weaker than bullish market expectations, Dell also reported a surprisingly strong improvement in its operating profit margins.
The company attributed its stronger margins to lower component costs, as well as improvements in its supply chain.
Dell makes more than half of its revenues from the relatively low-margin PC sales business.
However, this area of business is expected to continue to do well as corporate clients upgrade their IT systems for Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7.
Source:
BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
November 07, 2010
Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer in sale of shares
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has sold $1.3bn (£800m) worth of shares in the firm, the first time he has sold its stock in seven years.
"Even though this is a personal financial matter, I want to be clear about this to avoid any confusion," Mr Ballmer said in a statement.
Mr Ballmer said he was "fully committed to Microsoft and its success".
According to SEC filings he sold 49.3 million Microsoft shares at prices between $26 and $28 per share.
Sell-off continues
Mr Ballmer still holds 359 million shares, worth $9.6bn at Microsoft's current share price, which closed down 1.36% at $26.77 in US trading on Friday.
He said the sale of shares was made to diversify his investments and help his year-end tax planning.
His statement, published on Microsoft's website, also says that he hopes to "sell up to 75 million shares by year-end".
Microsoft's share price has been hit this year as investors worry about its ability to adapt to new ways of computing.
However, last month the firm announced a 51% rise in first-quarter profit, thanks to higher sales of its flagship Windows and Office software.
"Even though this is a personal financial matter, I want to be clear about this to avoid any confusion," Mr Ballmer said in a statement.
Mr Ballmer said he was "fully committed to Microsoft and its success".
According to SEC filings he sold 49.3 million Microsoft shares at prices between $26 and $28 per share.
Sell-off continues
Mr Ballmer still holds 359 million shares, worth $9.6bn at Microsoft's current share price, which closed down 1.36% at $26.77 in US trading on Friday.
He said the sale of shares was made to diversify his investments and help his year-end tax planning.
His statement, published on Microsoft's website, also says that he hopes to "sell up to 75 million shares by year-end".
Microsoft's share price has been hit this year as investors worry about its ability to adapt to new ways of computing.
However, last month the firm announced a 51% rise in first-quarter profit, thanks to higher sales of its flagship Windows and Office software.
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