Financial life in a big town

Some shareholders have sued Hecla Mining Co. for stock losses they endured after the federal government shut down the Lucky Friday Mine for safety violations.

The Bricklayers of Western Pennsylvania Pension Plan this week filed the lawsuit in federal court in Idaho against Hecla, which is based in Coeur d’Alene.

Hecla announced on Jan. 11 that the mine will be closed for a year to make the changes ordered by federal regulators after two miners died in separate accidents last year.

The lawsuit contends the closure caused Hecla’s stock price to fall 21 percent to $4.61 per share on Jan. 11 and that the company prior to that had made false and misleading statements that artificially inflated the price of its stock.

“Defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the company’s operations and its expected silver production,” the lawsuit said, accusing the company of fraud.

Officials for Hecla said the company’s comments on its financial prospects were appropriate and the company will defend itself.

“This lawsuit has no merit,” said spokeswoman Melanie Hennessey, adding such lawsuits were common when a stock price dropped.

The company’s stock has since rebounded to more than $5.30 per share.

In January, Hecla announced that the Mine Safety and Health Administration had ordered it to remove sand and concrete material that had built up in the main elevator shaft of the Lucky Friday, one of the nation’s deepest underground mines. The company said the work would take up to a year, and the mine would be closed during that time.

The closure prompted Hecla to reduce its estimated silver production for 2012 from more than 9 million ounces to about 7 million ounces, all from its remaining Green’s Creek mine in Alaska.

Production is expected to resume in early 2013.

The mine has been shuttered since mid-December, when a rock burst injured seven miners.

Federal regulators have been conducting a close inspection of the mine because of the series of 2011 accidents. They decided they wanted the sand and concrete material removed because it can break off and fall down the shaft, injuring people or damaging the elevators.

The silver mine is located about 50 miles east of Coeur d’Alene in a region called the Silver Valley.

Miner Brandon Lloyd Gray, 26, was buried in rubble while trying to dislodge jammed rock last Nov. 17, and died two days later.

On April 15, miner Larry “Pete” Marek was crushed when his work area collapsed.

Federal inspectors found company safety failures led to his death.

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Spain’s Banco Santander saw its fourth-quarter profits plunged 98 percent after it took a euro1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) charge to protect its Spanish real estate portfolio, and as it set aside cash to cover bad loans.

Europe’s largest bank by market capitalization said Tuesday it earned euro47 million for the quarter that ended in December, down from euro2.1 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Without the provision, the bank said it would have had profit of euro1.7 billion in the fourth quarter.

Spain’s banks are under heavy pressure from the government to disclose additional losses on overvalued real estate including land and apartment buildings in their holdings.

Spain is mired in an economic morass and has the highest unemployment rate in the whole 17-nation eurozone, largely because of a big construction sector crash.

A more detailed look at the quarterly earnings figures showed that the bank’s revenue rose modestly to euro11 billion from euro10.6 billion a year earlier.

For the whole of 2011, Santander’s profit totaled euro5.4 billion, down from euro8.2 billion in 2010. The bank said profits from Latin America made up the bulk of its profits during the year. It said 51 percent of the total came from its operations there.

The growing importance of Latin America was evident in the bank’s loan book during the year. Total loans during the year were up 4 percent as Banco Santander SA boosted business in Latin America that helped buffer decreasing European operations.

Santander shares rose 1.1 percent to euro6.05 each in Tuesday morning trading after the results were released.

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Rescue crews say a rescue operation on a cruise ship that ran aground and capsized off Tuscany has been suspended after the Costa Concordia shifted a few inches (centimeters) in rough seas.

Fears are mounting that if the ship shifts significantly, the 500,000 gallons of fuel may begin to leak into the pristine waters around the island of Giglio.

Fire department spokesman Luca Cari said the ship had shifted a few centimeters vertically and horizontally Monday because of the seas. He said an underwater search for 16 people still unaccounted for from the 4,200 on board was suspended immediately.

Six people were killed when the ship ran aground Friday. Costa has said the captain, who has been jailed, made an unauthorized deviation from the ship’s planned course.

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

ROME (AP) _ The captain of the cruise ship that capsized off Tuscany made an unauthorized, unapproved deviation from its programmed course, a “human error” that led to the grounding of the vessel, the chief executive of the ship’s Italian owner said Monday. At least six people died in the incident.

The comments from Costa Crociere chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi ramped up the pressure on the captain, who already is under investigation by authorities for suspected manslaughter and as well as allegations he abandoned ship before the passengers were safe, violating the Italian navigation code.

The Costa Concordia ran into a reef Friday night and capsized into the port area of Giglio, sparking a frantic evacuation of the 4,200 people onboard. Coast Guard officials have expressed concern that the ship might slip off the rocks where it is currently perched.

On Monday, the rescue operation was called off as weather worsened and a sixth body was found. Foschi said it wasn’t because the ship had shifted but because divers heard “sounds” coming from inside and didn’t know what was causing them. Sixteen people remain missing Payday Loan for Bad Credit.

Foschi said the company, which is owned by the world’s largest cruiseline, Carnival Corp., stood by the captain, Francesco Schettino, and would provide him with legal assistance. But he said the company disassociated itself from his behavior.

Costa ships have their routes programmed, and alarms go off when they deviate, the chief executive said in a press conference.

“This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a maneuver by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorized and unknown to Costa,” he said.

Schettino has insisted he didn’t leave the liner early, telling Mediaset television that he had done everything he could to save lives.

“We were the last ones to leave the ship,” he said.

Foschi said the liner had passed all safety and technical tests in its 2011 evaluation. He added that the company’s main concern was the safety and well-being of the passengers and crew, as well as to ensure fuel doesn’t leak out from the upended hull into the pristine waters off the island of Giglio.

There were 500,000 gallons of fuel on board, in 17 separate tanks, Foschi said.

“There are no signs of pollution” to date, but officials are on high alert in case the ship suddenly shifts due to worsening weather conditions, Foschi said. Sensors have been put in place to track the movements of the ship.

Questions have been swirling about why the ship had navigated so close to the dangerous reefs and rocks that jut off Giglio’s eastern coast, amid suspicions the captain may have ventured too close while carrying out a maneuver to entertain tourists on the island.

Residents of Giglio said they had never seen the Costa come so close to the dangerous “Le Scole” reef area.

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U.S. stocks rose Thursday in a thinly-traded session as investors focused on signs of strength in the economy before calling it a year.

The Dow Jones industrial average () rose 136 points, or 1.1%, to end at 12,287. The S&P 500 () added 13 points, or 1.1%, to 1,263. The Nasdaq () gained 24 points, or 0.9%, to 2,614.

Thursday’s rebound put the S&P 500 back on track for a modest 0.4% gain in 2011, after the broad market index fell sharply Wednesday. The Dow is currently up 6.1% for the year, while the Nasdaq is set for a 1.5% loss.

Stocks were supported by reports on housing, manufacturing and employment that raised hopes about the U.S. economy.

"Today’s last round of major U.S. reports before the weekend New Year’s celebration provided a decidedly positive spin to the outlook," wrote Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics, in a note to clients.

Traders said low volume, typical of the holiday week, has led to more pronounced swings, and some of the moves are coming from year-end portfolio rebalancing rather than convictions over the trajectory of the market or particular stocks.

Are you a markets whiz?

"We expect light trading through today and tomorrow, and any noise can create wild swings," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management.

Looking ahead, many investors expect stocks to move higher in the first few months of 2012.

The U.S. economy has shown signs of improvement recently, with economists forecasting a 3.3% increase in gross domestic product in the final three months of 2011. In addition, corporate profits are expected to rise in the fourth quarter, continuing an 11-month streak.

But the outlook for next year remains clouded by the debt crisis in Europe, which continues to weigh on demand for risk assets such as stocks.

On Thursday, an auction of Italian 10-year bonds, which have seen yields continue to flirt with the 7% danger zone, provided muted results. While yields were reported below prior levels, demand was short.

The euro fell to a 17-month low and analysts warn the currency could fall even further in 2012.

"Europe is a powder keg and could explode at any time, and likely will when we are the most complacent," said Keith Springer, president of Springer Financial Advisors in Sacramento cash advance america.

Economy: Jobless claims rose 15,000 to 381,000 in the latest week, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had expected 368,000 claims.

But the figure remained below 400,000, giving investors hope that the labor market will strengthen in the new year.

The National Association of Realtors index of pending home sales, which measures signed sales contracts but not closed sales, rose 4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million in November from 4.25 million in October.

Economist had expected the a 0.6% increase in pending home sales.

The report boosted shares of homebuilders, including Pulte (, Fortune 500), Masco (, Fortune 500), Lennar () and DR Horton (, Fortune 500).

An index of manufacturing activity in the Chicago area eased slightly in December but held near a 7-month high, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

Companies: Amazon (, Fortune 500) eased after analysts at Goldman Sachs (, Fortune 500) suggested that the online retailer’s sales growth for the holiday period may fall short of expectations.

Shares of Yahoo (, Fortune 500) gained 2.7% after reports that China’s Alibaba Group has hired a lobbying firm to prepare a bid for Yahoo.

BP () edged higher despite reports that employees could face criminal charges in relation to last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

World markets: European stocks closed higher. Britain’s FTSE 100 () added 0.8%, the DAX () in Germany rose 0.9% and France’s CAC 40 () rose 1.1%.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite () edged up 0.2%, the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong fell 0.7% and Japan’s Nikkei () lost 0.3%.

Betting on the dollar in 2012

Currencies and commodities: The dollar gained strength against the euro and the British pound but fell versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for February delivery rose 31 cents to $99.05 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery fell $23.20 to $1,540.90 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, with the yield easing to 1.89% from late Wednesday.  

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Egypt’s ruling military and the revolutionaries who demand they immediately step down battled for a third day in the streets on Sunday _ and competed fiercely for the support of a broader public that has grown tired of turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago.

The generals appear to be winning the fight for the public, despite a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters around Cairo’s Tahrir Square using a roughness that rivals even that of Mubarak’s widely hated police force.

The protesters have tried to drum up Egyptians’ anger at the military by spreading videos and photos of military police savagely beating young men and women to the ground with sticks and truncheons _ and the resonant scene of a woman in a conservative headscarf being stripped half naked by soldiers who stomp on her chest.

But so far their efforts to win public sympathy don’t seem to be gaining traction in the face of the military’s campaign to depict the crowds of hundreds in the streets as hooligans and vandals, not the idealistic activists who succeeded in bringing down Mubarak. At least 10 protesters have been killed and 441 others wounded in the three days of violence, according to the Health Ministry.

“The military has failed in everything except for its stunning success in making people hate the revolution, its history and its revolutionaries,” prominent columnist Ibrahim Eissa wrote in an editorial in the independent pro-revolution newspaper, Al-Tahrir.

Led by a general who served for 20 years as Mubarak’s defense minister, the military has been methodically seeking to discredit the revolutionaries, accusing them of illegally receiving foreign funds and being part of a plot hatched abroad to destabilize Egypt. The generals have in the meantime sought to portray themselves as key players in the 18-day revolt that toppled Mubarak’s 29-year rule and hence have earned the right to rule.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the ruling military council on Sunday called the clashes part of a “conspiracy” against Egypt. It said its forces had the right to defend the “property of the great people of Egypt.”

Seeking to depict the protesters as hooligans _ and apparently to counter the widely published images of protesters being beaten or dragged on the ground _ it also posted on the page footage of young men throwing rocks at a basement window of the parliament building and of at least one man trying to set the place ablaze.

The generals’ campaign plays on Egyptians’ frustration with continued instability and economic woes since Mubarak’s fall. Many are now more focused on the multistage parliamentary elections that began last month and continue through March. Islamist parties have so far overwhelmingly dominated the vote, with liberals and secular parties far behind.

That trend continued with the announcement Sunday of results from the second of three rounds of voting, held last week. Out of around 160 seats up for grabs in the second round, the Muslim Brotherhood won 29 and another more conservative Islamic party, Al-Nour, won 23. Two liberal groups _ the Wafd Party and the Egyptian Bloc _ won nine and seven seats, respectively. The rest will be determined in a run-off vote to be held later this week.

The Islamists have been staying clear of the recent violence, fearing that they could jeopardize their electoral gains by taking part in the protests. Their stance has prompted many activists to accuse them of political opportunism.

The military has meanwhile been using the state media and sympathetic private TV stations to market an image of itself as the protector of the nation, filling its statements with patriotic rhetoric and grave warnings if turmoil persists.

The revolutionaries who led the protests against Mubarak accuse the military of mismanaging the transition since then, of seeking to hold on to power and of using the same autocratic ways as the ousted leader. They demand that the military hand over power to civilians immediately _ and some have begun demanding that presidential elections scheduled for the middle of next year be moved up to January to pick a civilian head of state to take the generals’ place.

“The military is looking down at us and handling everything from a security perspective,” said Shady el-Ghazali Harb, a prominent activist and an icon of the anti-Mubarak uprising. “It is trying to make the point that its way of handling things is what will be applied and nothing else.”

The latest deadly clashes began Friday, when one of several hundred peaceful protesters staging a sit-in outside the Cabinet offices near parliament was detained and beaten by troops. The protesters began their sit-in three weeks ago to demand that the military immediately step down.

In Sunday’s clashes, protesters and troops battled on two main streets off Tahrir Square, trading volleys of stones and firebombs around barriers that the military set up to block the two central avenues. The army also used water canons.

One of the streets is site of a research center set up during the three-year occupation of Egypt by France in the late 18th century. The building was almost completely gutted by a fire which broke out during the height of the clashes on Saturday, when troops on its roof and on other nearby rooftops hurled rocks down on protesters below.

Protesters, who blame the fire on the troops, have been trying to salvage valuable books and documents from the center, whose two-story building is now in danger of collapsing after its roof caved in.

Activists have flooded social network sites and sympathetic media with photos and video from the troops’ brutal assaults the past two days.

The photo of the woman protester half-stripped by soldiers ran on the front page of the Al-Tahrir newspaper, emblazoned with a headline in red, “Liars,” referring to repeated denials by the military council and military-appointed Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri that no force or live ammunition were used against the protesters.

The presenter of a political talk show on a private TV station sarcastically praised the soldiers for their bravery in wrestling the woman down.

“She is more of a man than 300,000 men put together, including me,” said Youssef al-Hussein on ONTV.

Other widely circulating footage show an army officer firing a pistol at protesters _ though it is not clear whether he was using live ammunition _ and soldiers dragging women by the hair and ferociously beating, kicking and stomping on protesters cowering on the ground.

Still, many Egyptians complain the revolutionaries have gone too far and that, almost a year after ousting Mubarak, they should now go home and let the military run the country or wait for the next parliament to decide the country’s future.

Such sentiments are not surprising given that the military has been the most powerful institution in Egypt since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup that toppled the monarchy.

Nearly 60 years later, the military continues to have the last word on policies, a position of power that has left many activists not entirely certain that the generals who succeeded Mubarak would voluntarily return to their barracks.

“The military council uses every opportunity to show itself as the land’s strongest institution,” said Mohammed Abbas, an activist who defected from the Muslim Brotherhood to side with youth groups more active in protests. “We are making it easier for the generals by our divisions and isolation.”

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Italy’s borrowing rates skyrocketed during bond auctions Friday, battering stock markets in Europe as the continent’s escalating debt crisis laid siege to the eurozone’s third-largest economy.

The auction results are another sign that Italy’s new technocratic government under economist Mario Monti faces a battle to convince investors it has a strategy to cut down the country’s euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) debt. They are also likely to fuel calls for the European Central Bank to use its firepower to cool down a debt crisis that’s rapidly getting worse.

“Mario Monti has failed so far to impress bond markets he has the power and authority to do what is required,” said Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners. “I don’t rate his chances either.”

Driving the markets fears is the knowledge that Italy is too big for Europe to bail out, like it has done with smaller nations Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Given the size of its debts _ Italy must refinance $300 billion next year alone _ the government has to continually tap investors for money. But when borrowing rates get too high, it fuels a potentially devastating debt spiral.

Friday’s auctions indicated that investors see Italian debt as increasingly risky. The country had to pay an average yield of 7.814 percent to raise euro2 billion ($2.7 billion) in two-year bills _ sharply higher than the 4.628 percent it paid in the previous auction in October. And even raising euro8 billion ($10.7 billion) for six months proved exorbitantly expensive. The yield for this auction spiked to 6.504 percent, nearly double the 3.535 percent rate in October.

Following the grim auction news, Italy’s borrowing rates in the markets shot higher, with the ten-year yield spiking 0.34 percentage point to 7.30 percent _ above the 7 percent threshold that forced other nations into bailouts.

Italy was not the only country in the 17-nation eurozone in experiencing a disappointing auction this week. Even Germany _ the region’s strongest economy and the main funder of eurozone bailouts _ suffered a shock Wednesday when it failed to raise all the money it sought, its worst auction result in decades. Spain too saw its borrowing rates ratchet sharply higher even after a landslide election victory for the conservative Popular Party, which has made getting Spain’s borrowing levels down its top priority.

Monti, who replaced Silvio Berlusconi as Italy’s leader earlier this month, has pledged to quickly implement new austerity measures followed by deeper reforms. He spent much of his first week in office meeting with European Union officials and the leaders of France and Germany laying out his plans.

During the meetings, Monti emphasized his intention to balance the budget by 2013 and to introduce “fair but incisive” structural reforms,” his office said in a statement following a Cabinet meeting Friday.

Monti also has pledged to reform the pension system, re-impose a tax on homes annulled by Berlusconi’s government, reduce tax evasion, streamline civil court proceedings, get more women and youths into the work force and cut political costs.

EU monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn told the Italian Parliament that “full and effective implementation will be key.”

He urged a “clear and ambitious roadmap for reform and an ambitious timeline” and expressed particular concern about low employment among Italian youth.

“Over the longer term, productivity will depend on a well-educated labor force,” Rehn said. “I am particularly concerned about high unemployment, which is a tremendous waste of talent that Europe simply cannot afford.”

Rehn was in Rome to monitor Italy’s compliance with promises to liberalize its labor market, reduce the bloated public sector and sell off some state assets.

There were also signs that contagion over Europe’s debt crisis was moving eastward. Moody’s downgraded Hungary’s sovereign debt to junk status _ from Baa3 to Ba1 with a negative outlook _ a decision Hungary hotly criticized. Hungary is not a member of the eurozone, but trades with many eurozone members.

This week’s developments have ratcheted up the pressure on the European Central Bank to step up its bond purchases in the markets, though Germany remains adamantly opposed. The current program is designed to support bond prices in the markets, thereby keeping a lid on the borrowing rates.

So far, the ECB has been buying limited amounts of bonds and has to sell an equivalent amount of assets. The ECB said Monday it bought bonds worth only euro4.5 billion last week, down from euro9.5 billion a week earlier.

Potentially, the ECB has unlimited financial firepower through its ability to print money and many countries in the eurozone, including France, want the bank to act more decisively to solve the debt crisis.

However, Germany finds the idea of monetizing debts unappealing, warning that it lets the more profligate countries off the hook for their bad practices.

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Honda Motor Corp. says it is beginning to restore some production of cars and motorcycles that took a hit from the recent flooding in Thailand.

The Japanese company has restarted output of some motorcycle and power products at its subsidiary in Thailand. It had suspended motorcycle output at the plant since Oct. 11 due to supply problems.

Honda’s auto factory in Thailand remains closed because of the floodwaters.

Honda will continue to limit production at six auto plants in the U.S. and Canada. But it says some factories will produce at rates exceeding the 50 percent the company announced previously. It expects to return to normal levels on Dec. 1 and 2.

Honda says it plans no layoffs at its North American plants.

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Eastman Kodak Co. warned Thursday that its survival over the next year hinges on its ability to sell its potentially lucrative digital-imaging patents or raise extra funds by selling debt.

Its cautionary statement in a securities filing came as the embattled photography pioneer posted a wider $222 million loss for the third quarter. Its cash reserves fell almost 10 percent in the quarter.

Revenue tumbled 17 percent in the July-September period, with surging sales of inkjet printers more than offset by slumping digital camera and film revenue.

Kodak trimmed its full-year outlook, warning that revenue could be 1.5 percent to 4 percent lower than expected and losses might drop to the low end of its previous forecast.

Its shares fell 10 cents, or 8.8 percent, to $1.10 in midday trading after sinking as low as $1.07 earlier in the day. It traded as low as 54 cents a share on Sept. 30.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kodak said it is seeking to raise an additional $500 million in financing that could be used to support “ongoing operational needs.”

Kodak said its ability to continue operations within the next 12 months “is dependent upon the ability to monetize its digital imaging patent portfolio through a sale or licensing” or by issuing additional debt.

Shrinking cash reserves, which fell to $862 million in the quarter from $957 million in June, have intensified investor fears of a looming bankruptcy. The company set a year-end cash target of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion that excludes any intellectual-property licensing deals, down from a previous forecast of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.

“The reports of Kodak’s death, where everybody was expecting Kodak to go bankrupt, are premature,” Ulysses Yannas, a broker with Buckman, Buckman & Reid in New York, had said before the regulatory filing. “They continue to lose a lot of money but they have the wherewithal to become profitable again.”

“You’ve got a challenge here,” countered Shannon Cross of Cross Research in Livingston, N.J. “Kodak’s at a point where one of two things have to happen _ either they have to raise more money or they have to complete the sale (of digital-imaging patents). Otherwise, they’re not going to be able to continue.”

Kodak typically generates the bulk of its cash during the run-up to the holiday season. But worries that it’s burning through cash escalated in late September when it drew $160 million from a revolving credit line and enlisted the help of restructuring firms. Kodak insisted it had no intention of filing for bankruptcy protection.

Its third quarterly loss in a row _ its ninth such loss in the last three years _ amounted to 83 cents per share in the quarter. That compares with a loss of $43 million, or 16 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a smaller loss of 42 cents a share for the latest quarter.

Revenue dipped to $1.46 billion from $1.76 billion a year ago, with shrinking film group sales falling 10 percent to $389 million. Consumer digital-imaging sales tumbled 38 percent to $408 million as Kodak shifts to pricier camera models to try to offset intense competition from smartphones and video cameras.

The company said it posted modest patent royalties in the quarter but didn’t specify how much. Its year-ago results were lifted by a $210 million licensing deal with an undisclosed digital-camera competitor.

Since 2005, Kodak has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new lines of inkjet printers that are finally on the verge of turning a profit. Home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging are viewed as Kodak’s new core.

Revenue from those businesses rose by a combined 13 percent in the quarter, fueled by 89 percent growth in packaging solutions and 44 percent growth in home printers and ink. Kodak said it expects the consumer printer to become profitable in the current quarter.

The four businesses remain a bright spot in the 131-year-old company’s long and painful drive to recast itself into a reliably profitable player in the turbulent digital-imaging arena. Kodak is hoping they will more than double in size by 2013, accounting for 25 percent _ or nearly $2 billion _ of all sales.

In the meantime, mining its inventions for revenue has become indispensable. Since July, Kodak has been hawking a portfolio of 1,100 digital-imaging patents that many analysts think could fetch $2 billion to $3 billion.

A sale represents a sharp tactical shift. Kodak picked up just $27 million in patent-licensing fees in the first half of 2011 after amassing nearly $2 billion in the previous three years.

Based in Rochester, N.Y., Kodak turned picture-taking into a hobby for the masses over a century ago. It developed the world’s first digital camera in 1975 but failed to capitalize quickly on its new-wave know-how in digital photography.

Its workforce has plunged to 18,800 from 70,000 in 2002.

Kodak now expects segment losses in 2011 to be closer to $300 million, which is within its previous forecast range of $100 million to $300 million in losses. It expects revenue to be $6.3 billion to $6.4 billion, down from a previous forecast of $6.4 billion to $6.7 billion

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Wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson AB on Thursday reported a 4 percent rise in third-quarter profit as strong mobile broadband sales and increased market share offset weaker margins.

Ericsson said third-quarter net profit rose to 3.8 billion kronor ($574 million) from 3.7 billion kronor in the same period a year ago. Sales for the July-September period were particularly buoyant, increasing 17 percent to 55.5 billion kronor.

Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said sales were driven by a continued strong demand for mobile broadband as well as increased services revenues.

“Our performance year-to-date reaffirms our indications of a strengthened global market share,” he said.

However, the increased share of services business, as well as a higher proportion of coverage projects and accelerating network modernization projects in Europe had a negative impact on the company’s gross margin, which decreased to 35 percent from 39 percent a year ago.

Greger Johansson, an analyst with research firm Redeye, said the margin was weaker than expected, which could lead to a slightly negative reaction in the stock market Faxless payday loans.

“The positive thing is that both sales and profits were clearly better than expected,” Johansson said. “The negative is the gross margin and the fact the company indicates it will remain weak going forward.”

He said the low-margin modernization projects in Europe also weighed on the result of Ericsson’s “most important segment,” networks.

The company also said the effects on its supply chain from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March had run their course.

Looking ahead, the company said it “cannot exclude somewhat more cautious short-term operator spending,” considering the economic uncertainties in parts of the world.

Ericsson is the world leader in rolling out and upgrading mobile network infrastructure as the world’s wireless users grow in number, boosting demand for ever-faster network speeds. Its biggest competitors are China’s Huawei and Finnish-German joint venture Nokia Siemens.

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