Financial life in a big town

Turkey stands by its forecast of 4 percent growth this year, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said, dismissing International Monetary Fund projections that the economy may barely expand.

The global environment is uncertain and there are major decisions to be taken in developed nations in the next four or five weeks that could change the outlook completely, Babacan said in a televised interview from Davos today. The IMF is

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy bluntly declared Monday that a harsh downgrade by Standard & Poor’s of France’s formerly top-rung debt rating “changes nothing” for the eurozone’s No. 2 economy.

Sarkozy, in a testy exchange with a journalist at a Madrid news conference, suggested that a solid investor demand for a French debt auction Monday and a reaffirmation from rival ratings agency Moody’s of France’s triple-A sovereign debt had offset S&P’s much-publicized downgrade.

“We have to react to this with calm, by taking a step back,” he told reporters during a visit with Spain’s new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy. “At the core, my conviction is that it changes nothing.”

The S&P downgrade Friday _ which Sarkozy’s own finance minister called “bad news” _ came just 100 days before the president faces what is expected to be a tough re-election campaign.

The news conference began combatively when Sarkozy refused to answer a question about whether France’s downgrade would affect its ability to lead Europe out of the crisis _ and if the move prompted the postponement of a crisis summit for him and the leaders of Germany and Italy next week.

Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have taken the lead in proposing solutions to the crisis and major decisions are often hashed out at their meetings ahead of European summits.

“You don’t have the latest information,” Sarkozy retorted to a reporter who asked about the downgrade and the summit. Sarkozy refused to answer even after the reporter rephrased his question twice.

The French leader later confirmed that the three-way summit would take place in February and downplayed the S&P downgrade, but never gave a clear answer as to why the summit was rescheduled.

Sarkozy did manage to win much-needed political support from Rajoy _ notably for his pet project for a financial transaction tax that could help ailing European state coffers get out of the red.

France, which has long enjoyed relatively low borrowing costs and had S&P’s top-tier AAA rating uninterrupted since the mid-1970s, on Friday was the largest of nine eurozone members hit by S&P downgrades _ dropping one notch to AA+. The agency also kept a negative outlook on French state debt.

Analysts said Sarkozy’s denial that the downgrade meant much was wishful thinking guaranteed payday loan.

“The fact that there is a negative outlook, it means that there is a probability _ a quite high probability _ of further downgrade in 2012, 2013,” said French economist Norbert Gaillard. “So it’s bad news for France.”

But in a vindication of sorts for Sarkozy, France sold euro8.6 billion ($10.9 billion) in short-term debt on Monday. The yields _ or the interest rates charged by investors on the debt _ fell, a sign investors still see the country as a good bet.

Spain was also hit by an S&P downgrade, from AA- to A+, but Rajoy said that blow and downgrades for other European nations shouldn’t be seen as a sign they will have trouble emerging from the financial crisis.

Rajoy’s Socialist predecessor also supported the financial transaction tax, but Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was ousted from office by Spaniards angry about the country’s hurting economy and high unemployment.

The European Commission has estimated that the tax could raise as much as euro57 billion ($72.2 billion) a year, funds that could be used to help reduce the substantial budget deficits crippling European economies.

Moody’s cited France’s economic strength as a reason for affirming its top rating, but said bleak growth prospects in France and the region present “risks to the French government’s fiscal consolidation plans.”

Moody’s said it would again review French debt later in the first quarter as part of a broader look at sovereign debt within the EU _ meaning a decision is likely close to France’s two-round presidential vote in April and May.

Sarkozy’s challengers for the presidency _ including Socialist nominee Francois Hollande _ have seized on the S&P downgrade as evidence that his policies are wrong-headed and ineffective.

It will be a bruising election battle for Sarkozy, a dynamic leader who has a strong international profile but is widely disliked at home. Leftists say he has coddled the rich, while many of those who supported him in his 2007 campaign say he hasn’t fulfilled his promises.

And Hollande is currently leading in the polls.

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Agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland Co. says it will cut 1,000 jobs company wide.

CEO Patricia Woertz said in a Wednesday statement that the majority of the positions will be salaried staff. The move will cut about 15 percent of the company’s corporate staff.

The Decatur, Ill.-based company employs 30,000 people worldwide.

Woertz says the company is cutting jobs to boost productivity and profits. The company does everything from processing crops to make food ingredients, to shipping grain overseas.

The last year has been a volatile one for agribusiness companies, with crop prices swinging wildly on global markets.cher Daniels Midland to cut 1,000 jobs

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Agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland Co business card. says it will cut 1,000 jobs company wide.

CEO Patricia Woertz said in a Wednesday statement that the majority of the positions will be salaried staff. The move will cut about 15 percent of the company’s corporate staff.

The Decatur, Ill.-based company employs 30,000 people worldwide.

Woertz says the company is cutting jobs to boost productivity and profits. The company does everything from processing crops to make food ingredients, to shipping grain overseas.

The last year has been a volatile one for agribusiness companies, with crop prices swinging wildly on global markets.

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Twelve former employees of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sued the newspaper today for fraudulent inducement and negligent misrepresentation, alleging the newspaper reneged on a promise to pay for health insurance for life.

The former employees sued the newspaper, publisher and president Kevin Mowbray and Astrid Garcia, vice president of human resources and labor operations, in St. Louis Circuit Court.

The Post-Dispatch denied the allegations.

“The St. Louis Post-Dispatch believes there is no basis for these allegations and that we will be vindicated in court,” spokeswoman Tracy Rouch said in a statement.

The former employees who filed suit are: Rayburn Jordan, Melinda Krummrich, Mary Delach Leonard, Samuel Leone, John Linstead, Linda Lockhart, Odell Mitchell Jr., John Naunheim Jr., Carolyn Olson, Kathleen Richardson, Suzanne Tarrant and Larry Williams.

The former employees allege in the lawsuit that they agreed in 2007 to voluntarily early retirements from the newspaper with benefits including payment for health insurance for life payday loans for bad credit.

However, all of the employees were notified in late 2010 by the newspaper’s parent company, Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch would stop paying for their health insurance effective Jan. 1, 2011.

“Had they known that the Post would renege on their promise for lifetime health insurance benefits, my clients would not have accepted the early retirement offer and buyout,” the former employees’ attorney, Staci Yandle, said in a statement.

The former employees are seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.

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German industrial equipment maker Siemens AG swung back to profit in its fiscal fourth quarter as sales increased in Asia.

The company said Thursday it made a net profit of euro1.23 billion ($1.66 billion) in the three months to end-September in contrast to the loss of euro396 million loss in the same quarter a year ago, when the company had a large one-time charge at its health care division.

The company increased its dividend but gave an outlook for only moderate sales growth and indicated it didn’t expect profits to rise next year.

Revenues rose 5 percent to euro20.35 billion, boosted by a 12 percent increase in Asia. The company said Thursday sales grew across all regions and experienced particularly strong growth in emerging markets.

Orders, however, fell 2 percent and the company forecast only “moderate” sales growth. It said its outlook for earnings in the coming year were “based on the high level we achieved in the prior year” and foresees earnings from continuing operations that are unchanged, excluding one-time gains from exiting its nuclear partnership with Areva.

Company CEO Peter Loescher said the company had performed well thanks to its balanced portfolio of businesses but warned that the economic environment ahead was uncertain.

“The macroeconomic environment continues to be volatile and difficult to assess,” he said.

He said he expected growth in Europe’s core markets but that turmoil from Europe’s debt crisis could hurt the business environment in southern Europe _ which remains only 5 percent of Siemens’ business.

The company raised its dividend to euro3.00 per share from euro2.70 per share last year.

Across Siemens divisions, its fossil-fuel power generation unit raised earnings by 10 percent to euro407 billion. Its power transmission equipment divisions, however, saw earnings slip 28 percent due to costs of hedging raw materials costs and the emergence of new competitors in low-cost countries.

Munich-based Siemens makes a wide range of heavy industrial goods, including trains and streetcars, power generating and transmission equipment, diagnostic machines for hospitals and factory automation and equipment.

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Tropical Storm Philippe is heading northwest with little change in strength and the storm is still far from land.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Philippe had maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph (80 kph) on Tuesday. No significant change in strength is expected over the next two days.

In the Pacific, Hurricane Hilary is gradually weakening and has maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph). The storm is expected to turn toward the west-northwest. Hilary doesn’t pose any immediate threat to Mexico’s coast.

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Stocks cut the day’s steep losses by nearly half after Greece’s finance minister said a conference call with debt inspectors was “productive and substantive.” That gave investors some hope that Europe can contain its debt woes.

Pessimism about European debt sent stocks sharply lower Monday, ending a five-day winning streak for financial markets. On Friday, European finance ministers said they would delay authorizing an installment of emergency funds for Greece payday loans guaranteed no fax.

At the closing bell, The Dow Jones industrial average is down 108 points, or 0.9 percent, at 11,401. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 12, or 1 percent, at 1,204. The Nasdaq composite is down 9, or 0.4 percent, at 2,612.

About six stocks fell for every one that rose. Trading was light, at 3.7 billion shares.

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A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck off Japan’s northeastern coast Friday, triggering a tsunami advisory that was later lifted.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the quake hit at 2:36 p.m. (0536 GMT) and was centered slightly south of where a massive magnitude-9.0 temblor struck in March.

The agency issued a tsunami advisory, predicting waves of 20 inches (50 centimeters) along the coast of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, where a nuclear plant crippled in the March 11 quake is located. But about a half-hour later, the advisory was lifted.

There were no abnormalities in key equipment at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, said Chie Hosoda, an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant’s operator. She said some of the plant’s workers assigned to the coastal side of the facility temporarily retreated inside the building.

Announcers on television urged residents in coastal areas to head for higher ground, but about a half-hour after the quake, there were no reports of a tsunami reaching Japan.

In Onagawa, about 210 miles (340 kilometers) north of Tokyo, town official Hironori Suzuki said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. There was no visible swelling of the ocean.

“It was a rather big one, perhaps it was because we are still in a makeshift office,” Suzuki told public broadcaster NHK. Suzuki said the town has urged all residents via community broadcast to stay away from the coast and evacuate to higher ground.

In Tokyo, buildings swayed only mildly.

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Italy’s government has approved euro45 million ($64.12 million) in cuts over the next two years to balance the budget by 2013 to meet demands of European Central Bank.

The Cabinet approved the measures Friday evening despite fierce resistentence from local government officials who denouced the emergency austerity measures as socially unjust.

Premer Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference that the the measures respond to requests from the ECB, which demanded a balanced budget a year earlier than anticipated as well as structural reforms to promote growth.

The Cabinet approved euro20 billion in cuts for 2012 and euro25 billion for 2013.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ROME (AP) _ Italy’s government has approved euro45 million ($64 low fee payday advance.12 million) in cuts over the next two years to balance the budget by 2013 to meet demands of European Central Bank.

The Cabinet approved the measures Friday evening despite fierce resistentence from local government officials who denouced the emergency austerity measures as socially unjust.

Premer Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference that the the measures respond to requests from the ECB, which demanded a balanced budget a year earlier than anticipated as well as structural reforms to promote growth.

The Cabinet approved euro20 billion in cuts for 2012 and euro25 billion for 2013.

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