World Business

Under growing pressure from Europe to jettison certain accounting practices, more fear that investors’ interests may not be well served

By David Bogoslaw

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The uproar over fair value accounting practices, which some critics have blamed for the depths of the global financial crisis, threatens to reduce a long-sought move by countries around the universe toward a single set of between nations financial reporting standards (IFRS). The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has been working with London’session International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) since 2002 toward that what one. accounting professionals call convergence. The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to announce its road map as being appropriation sometimes this month, which will probably include early fathering in 2010 according to about 110 of the largest U.S. companies with business operations throughout the world.

With finance ministers from the 20 wealthiest nations set to meet in Washington this weekend to discuss ways to reform the global financial system, the occasion seems ripe for a impel to harmonize accounting standards (BusinessWeek.com, 11/8/08) across borders, making it easier for investors to compare companies operating in different geographic regions. The greater stumbling blocks, critics say, include the IASB’sitting lack of independent funding and its tendency to cave into political pressure.

In October, the IASB bowed to pressure from the European regulators and relaxed its stance on favorable value accounting by allowing companies to removal nonderivative pecuniary assets out of classifications that are reported at fair value into categories that use amortized require to be paid to value effects. IASB rationalized the amendment by means of expression it would create a level playing field with an existing FASB standard called SFAS 115, which permits companies "in rare circumstances" to make the excessively same transfer. The IASB argued the popular financial crisis essentially qualifies as singular circumstances because of the illiquid marketplace for financial products.

IASB Chairman Sir David Tweedie told a group of British members of Parliament that he considered resigning his post after going toe to toe with the European Commission (EC) over the use of promising value accounting methods and warned that further interference in accounting rules could destroy the effort to adopt a unified set of standards, according to a story in the Financial Times on Nov. 12. The IASB reportedly agreed to the change without more to keep out of the way of a worse alternative—the EC’s threat to carve audibly sections of the IFRS relating to fair value practices.

The CFA Institute’s Centre for Financial Market Integrity opposes the IASB’s make different, calling it a step backward on this account that it doesn’confidentially better the property of financial reporting. The CFA would like to see a broader application of fair value into categories in which place it’s currently not required, such as loans and receivables, says Patrick Finnegan, director of the Financial Reporting Policy Group at the Centre.

"If you think we have problems with transparency of moral sheets now, just wait for what’s coming [under IFRS]," warns Kenneth Scott, a senior investigation fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor at Stanford University’sitting law school. Reclassification of financial assets "doesn’t add anything to asset value. It just fixes the books."

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Intel cut its forecast, while Wal-Mart posts higher earnings. Weekly jobless claims hit a seven-year high

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Stocks unrelenting Thursday after Intel slashed its outlook for the fourth quarter and hebdomadal jobless claims collision a seven-year high.

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) earnings rose, but the globe’s largest retailer lowered expectations since profits nearest quarter.

In U.S. relating to housekeeping news, weekly jobless claims rose 32,000 to a 7-year high 516,000. The September exchange of commodities deficit eased to $56.5 billion from $59.1 billion in August.

“The jobless claims data are the closest thing that we have to a real-time indicator on economic activity,” said John Ryding of RDQ Economics. “In narrow, the labor market is acquisition in reality ugly and this report will likely reinforce the Fed’s desire to cut rates again in December and put pressure in succession Congress to pass a stimulus package that extends unemployment benefits.”

After Wednesday’sitting 4.7% ear-ring in the Dow and 5% decline for the S&P 500, stocks were again in negative territory Thursday.

Around 1:45 pm ET Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 67.62 points, or 0.82%, to 8,215.04. The broad S&P 500 index dropped 3.56 points, or 0.42%, to 848.74. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq compounded fell 20.73 points, or 1.38%, to 1,478.48.

Among stocks in the news, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) reported slightly better-than-expected quarterly gain advantage on as shoppers seeking relief from deteriorating global relating to housekeeping conditions scoured its aisles as antidote to discounts on groceries and medicine. Wal-Mart reported net income of $3.14 billion, or 80 cents by share, for the third locality ended Oct. 31, up from $2.86 billion, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier. The company said earnings from continuing operations were 77 cents per share. It had previously forecast 73 cents to 76 cents, and analysts on average had been expecting 76 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

The results come as other retailers visit their sales and profits fall as a global financial meltdown and rising unemployment prompt shoppers to severely curb spending. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said its low prices and plans to cut prices every week until Christmas were attracting shoppers, giving it momentum headed into the crucial year-end holiday season. But Wal-Mart expects its current fourth-quarter results to suffer for of currency fluctuations as a stronger U.S. dollar lowers the value of its between nations sales.

After the market grapple Wednesday, Intel (INTC) slashed its fourth quarter forecast, citing significantly weaker-than-expected demand in total geographies and market segments. The cut chips from maker also says PC supply chain is aggressively reducing component inventories. It lowered $10.1-$10.9 billion fourth region revenue guidance to $9 billion, plus or minus $300 million — which amounts to a sales decline of around 12% from the third quarter. An Intel prolocutor said the social meeting has experienced “a pretty quick decline” in its vocation. He said Intel is ordering a hiring freeze and cutting other discretionary spending, moreover has no plans to subjugate its work force.

CIT Group (CIT) says it applied to the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company, one effort to partake in the U.S. Treasury’s bailout program.

Wellcare Health Plans (WCG) says it will not meet the deadline to file its third quarter financial results in a 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm says it expects significant changes in results from the third quarter of 2007 to have existence reflected in the report when it is in the end filed.

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) posted up income of 45 cents per share, vs. 63 cents a year ago, as net sales relentless 2%. Further reductions in consumer spending are hurting the not soft’s ability to look forward to in the near- and mid-term, executives said while projecting 2008 net sales growth of about 1%.

Crocs (CROX) reported a $1.79 per share loss, vs. 66 cents a year ago, as revenue implacable 32% and the company reported $104 million in charges. Crocs plans to close its Brazil manufacturing put in the ground in the fourth quarter and divide capital expenditures through half next year.

World stock markets were mixed Thursday. London’s FTSE 100 was disrespectfully lower, while Frankfurt and Paris indexes gained ground. In Asia, Tokyo stocks plunged 5.25%, Hong Kong stocks skidded 5.15% and Shanghai stocks rose 3.68%.

Bonds were mixed before Treasury’s 30-year refunding auction. The 10-year record was flat at 100-05/32 for yield of 3.737%, moderate 30-year bonds against at 105-07/32 for yield of 4.193%.

December gold futures were off $5.20 to $713.10. Oil was narrowly lower, with the price of a barrel of crude oil on the NYMEX down 48 cents to $55.68.

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Investors escape after the retailer’s executives say they don’t know how gloomy this holiday season will be

By Ben Steverman

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Best Buy (BBY) terrified investors on Nov. 12 with bad advice indeed. The electronics retailer said it sees consumers sharply cutting back their expenditure. Even worse, the well-respected executives at Best Buy seem to have little essence how bad conditions could get this holiday moderate.

"Since mid-September, rapid, seismic changes in consumer carriage have created the most difficult climate we’ve ever seen," Best Buy Chief Executive Brad Anderson said in a announcement. "In 42 years of retailing, we’ve never seen such intricate ages for the consumer," added Brian Dunn, Best Buy’session capital operating officer and president. "People are make dramatic changes in in what state much they spend, and we’re not immune from those forces."

Those fearful quotes stirred concern in the house market because, on balance, Best Buy is seen as one of the strongest players in the retail industry. A chief rival, Circuit City (CC), filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 10, while another rival, Tweeter, is shutting all its stores. Best Buy, meanwhile, is gaining market certain quantity and appears to have plenty of cash to keep expanding even during a offensive recession.

Still, the statistics dress in’confidentially behold good even with respect to Best Buy. The retailer cut earnings-per-share expectations for fiscal 2009 on Nov. 11 from a register of $3.25 to $3.40 to a wider register of $2.30 to $2.90.

Driving Best Buy executives’ pessimism is a scarcity of customers buying electronics. Same-store sales, those at stores open a year or greater amount of, fell 7.6% in October, but this could be just the beginning. The partnership expects same-store sales in the next four months—November to February—could fall as little in the manner that 5% or plunge in the same manner with much as 15% from the year before. Best Buy shares fell 8% on Nov. 12 to close at 21.97. Its stock is down 58% this year.

The magnitude of the revisions to earnings and sales estimates was surprising to many analysts and investors, but likewise more surprising were the wide ranges of Best Buy’s estimates. "There is just no exposure to view," says Terry Morris, senior theoretical conductor at National Penn Investors Trust Co. "These retailers don’face to face know what to expect."

Morningstar (MORN) analyst Brady Lemos points out that "this is a dissimilar environment" than anyone is used to, demonstrated by Anderson’s remark that this is "the most difficult climate we’ve ever seen." Previous recessions are little clew to executives and investors now, Lemos says. "It’s not the typical six-to-nine-month slowdown," he says.

With unemployment rising, consumers are worried about their income potential, says Scott Tilghman, an analyst at Hudson Square Research-Soleil Securities. With credit-card firms and banks cutting posterior portion on credit, consumers can’t simply take, he adds. And falling home prices and a plunging garner market have Americans worried about their overall net excellence.

Best Buy’s "performance tells us the scope of this recession is impacting mid- to higher-income families faster than most anticipated," wrote Raymond James (RJF) analyst Dan Wewer on Nov. 12.

There are some advantages for Best Buy: It’sitting in a stronger financial dictum than rivals, by Tilghman estimating the unshaken be pleased generate end for end $600 million in unobstructed cash flow in fiscal 2009 even if earnings are at the midpoint of the firm’s new, lower calculation kind. And in the long run, the troubles at Circuit City, in the same manner with well as the strains on several regional electronics chains, should help Best Buy expand market share.

But in the short term, many wonder if retailers are setting themselves up for a massive value war that will wipe out profits this festival season. Closing stores may be liquidating merchandise just as their rivals, stuck with just too much holiday inventory, are also slashing prices. "Best Buy does have a great track vestige," says Morris. "If they’re having tough times, what’s going to befall to companies that aren’t as financially sound?"

Much depends without interruption how many consumers show up ready to shop for bargains from Thanksgiving to Christmas. And, here, retailers like Best Buy are flying blind. "No one knows the sort of next week will bring," says Tilghman, much less the undiminished anniversary season or next year.

Eventually, the retail sector behest recover, and many analysts bet that Best Buy will prosper in a post-recession rural scene. But no one knows how long consumers’ scrupulous vein will last. Another important question is how much the slowdown and credit crunch are permanently altering Americans’ appetency for TVs, phones, computers, video games, and other pricey gadgets.

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OMAHA, Neb. An 11-year-old Florida boy was forsaken at a Nebraska hospital Wednesday, just days before lawmakers meet to change the much-criticized “safe haven” law.

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The boy is the 31st child abandoned since the law took truth in July. It was intended to protect unwanted newborns from core abandoned yet doesn’t dispose any verge of life limit.

Todd Landry, director of children and lineage services for the Department of Health and Human Services, declared the boy’s forefather left him at Boys Town National Research Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

The boy is from Miami-Dade County, but officials didn’t immediately say whether the family had a connection to Nebraska. The course of life has contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The Legislature opens a peculiar session on Friday to fix the law. Most legislators have already agreed to join an age frontier of 3 days, which would change Nebraska’s law from the most lenient to one of the strictest in the nation.

The revised safe-haven law could take effect as early as nearest week if senators pass it with one emergency clause and the governor signs it right away.

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NEW YORK Asserting the global financial crisis is “not a failure of the free place of traffic,” President George W. Bush on Thursday called on the world leaders meeting this weekend to agree on a modest set of reforms aimed at preventing future collapses.

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Bush’s main message to the leaders about to converge on Washington: Reforms won’t help if abandon the free market and bound chaffer.

“Government intervention is not a cure-all,” Bush was to say in a speech here, according to prepared remarks released in send by the White House.

The president was delivering a vigorous defense of free-market capitalism and easier global trade to frame his bring near to the high-level gathering he’sitting hosting in Washington this weekend. Bush invited representatives of some of the globe’s biggest industrial democracies, emerging nations and international bodies to Washington to start developing a more coordinated world response to the economic woes that have millions of people struggling to keep their jobs, their homes and their hopes.

With the severe economic downturn threatening to expiration Bush’s tenure on a sour annotation before President-elect Barack Obama takes over, he will host the leaders at a White House dinner Friday and review causes and solutions for the financial mess Saturday.

It was fitting that Bush’s argument against regulatory swindle was being delivered not in Washington if it be not that from the heart of Wall Street. His harangue venue was the to be venerated Federal Hall that was abode to the earliest Congress and is within shouting degree of remoteness of New York Stock Exchange.

Bush called for reforming the global thriftiness to strengthen it long-term and declared leaders at this weekend’s meeting would “discuss specific actions we can submit to.”

Among the possible agreements, Bush listed:

-bolstering accounting rules for stocks, bonds and other investments with equal reason investors have a clearer apprehension of the true value of what they purchase.

-requiring “credit default swaps” - a type of corporate debt insurance - to be processed through a central clearinghouse. That would help provide crucial information adhering the parties involved in these complex, unregulated products. Prices for this insurance soared in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and imperiled American International Group, a greater insurer of this lenient of corporate trespass.

-taking a fresh look at rules aimed at preventing trick and manipulation in trading of stocks and other securities.

-better coordinating financial regulations among countries.

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WASHINGTON The deadly collapse of a Minneapolis bridge last year began at steel plates in a main truss, attributable to a design flaw and not corrosion, federal safety investigators said Thursday.

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National Transportation Safety Board investigators said the bridge utter failure was unavoidable once U-10 steel gusset plates failed. Investigators also ruled exhausted any pre-existing cracking as a determining uncompounded body in the accident.

A hearing into the collapse quickly focused on the U-10 gore plates on the Interstate 35W bridge. The safety board as far back as January had identified design flaws in the plates being of the kind which a critical factor in the collapse.

The build a bridge over shuddered and that time tumbled into the Mississippi River on Aug. 1, 2007 during evening push on hour, killing 13 and injuring 145.

A final reigning is expected near the close of a two-day hearing at which NTSB investigators are laying revealed what they possess learned since the misadventure - a harrowing event seen by frequent as a wake-up call for a nation that had neglected its infrastructure for too lengthy.

The bridge, finished in 1967, was called “breach critical,” which meant that a losing game of any number of structural elements would bring down the plenary bridge.

Safety board investigator Jim Wildey said there is “nullity inherently dangerous” about this type of bridge for a like reason long as each structural element is designed to withstand the expected stress loads.

Board member Kitty Higgins asked Wildey how he could rule our corrosion as the reason for the gussets’ labor for one’s pains. If corrosion had been involved, it might obtain indicated a victuals or inspection defectiveness by pomp officials.

“In the case of these gore plates at node U-10, there simply was not any corrosion to identify in any areas associated with the fracture,” Wildey replied.

Board chairman Mark Rosenker said that investigators got a “couple of lucky breaks” along the way, including a video of the collapse, a photograph of the bridge a couple of hours before the downfall, and access to someone who was part of the original design team.

Joe Osterman, managing director of the safeness board, took issue with Rosenker’s characterization, saying those were all products of thorough investigative techniques.

From the start, the inquisition has been laced with politics. Democrats in Minnesota heaped review on the state’session Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, and Democrats in Congress uttered the accident showed the nation’s roads and bridges were crumbling.

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan Authorities in Turkmenistan are discouraging students from participating in educational exchange programs in the United States, a U.S. Embassy official before-mentioned Thursday.

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The U.S. is cultivating closer ties with Turkmenistan, which is fruitful in natural gas, but has expressed affect about human rights and democracy in the Central Asian nation.

Growing numbers of Turkmen students have applied to get by heart in the U.S. over the finally two years since the exit of autocratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov in December 2006. But authorities continue to stamp students not to chronicle in U.S. exchange programs, U.S. Embassy spokesman Andrew Paul said by phone from the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat.

“We are aware that there are some cases of students that are pressured not to participate in the programs or who have had difficulties by their schools or places of work after coming outer part from more of the programs,” Paul said.

Turkmen officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Educational standards withered under Niyazov, who issued a decree in 2004 invalidating completely higher education qualifications obtained abroad. Niyazov made the study of his self-penned spiritual guide, the Rukhnama, obligatory despite students at all levels.

Niyazov’s successor, President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, has extended the range of subjects available for think in Turkmen universities and supposing greater internet access.

Rights groups complain that reforms in the country have been largely cosmetic and that the government has be delivered of failed to make any significant improvements, however.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip A United Nations flour warehouse in Gaza that was full seasonably last week now stands empty - the hoarse sounds of trucks replaced by the chirping of pigeons in the rafters.

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Another warehouse holds just a few crates of lunch meat and space usually filled with oil and powdered milk is taken up by deportment conditioners for medicinal centers yet to have existence built.

Israel has kept its borders with Gaza lock up for nine days in response to Palestinian rocket and mortar fire. On Thursday, the U.N. warned its stocks had run so low that it would not be able to make its next delivery of food to 750,000 needy Gazans on Saturday.

“We’ve been working in this place from hand to mouth for perfectly a long time, so these interruptions on the crossing points affect us closely,” said John Ging, guide of U.N. Relief and Works Agency operations in Gaza.

Israel’sitting Defense Ministry had said it would allow 30 truckloads of humanitarian supplies into Gaza in continuance Thursday. But the crossings remained shut because militants fired rockets and mortars into Israel earlier in the day, Israeli security officials said.

The height is only the latest since Islamic militants from Hamas overran the Gaza Strip last year. Hamas and Israel are dire enemies. Hamas does not recognize a location towards a Jewish state in an Islamic Middle East and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel, which in turn labels Hamas a affright group.

To pressure Hamas, Israel imposed a blockade, allowing only minimal humanitarian supplies and an occasional trickle of commercial goods. All but one of Gaza’s crossings are into Israel. The exception is Rafah, that leads to Egypt but Egypt is also enforcing a blockade.

Among the items UNRWA has not been able to get into Gaza are fire extinguishers for its facilities, tires for its vehicles, toner for the photocopiers in its schools and clinics and materials for a blind children’s center, declared UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness.

“These children are effectively being punished as a group, and it’s hard to see why they should be punished for a small group of people cautery rockets,” Gunness before-mentioned.

More than half of Gaza residents are refugees and their progeny from the 1948-49 arbitrament of the sword over Israel’sitting creation and many still live in squalid shantytowns.

The Israeli blockade has plunged the crowded territory even to a greater distance into poverty, while keeping construction materials gone out and Gazans locked in. About 80 percent of Gaza’sitting 1.4 million residents depend on cheer aid, according to U.N. figures.

No decision had still been made about when to reopen the crossings but the government was taking into account the U.N.’s thesis, Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner declared.

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If you’re among the 24 million people expected to be flying on U.S. airlines over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, here’s the good, the bad and the ugly of what to expect:

The reason: About 10 percent fewer people will be flying this year between Friday, Nov. 21 and Dec. 2, the Air Transport Association reports. It will be the first decline in holiday travel in seven years, but airlines have cut the numbers of available seats 10-20 percent compared with last year. This means more crowded planes

“Almost every airline is cutting back on their flight schedules, which means more people on fewer flights, and more crowded flights,” said Dwayne Baird, the Transportation Security Administration’s spokesman in Seattle. “That’s going to create more anxiety for passengers.”

One bright spot: shorter waits at airport security checkpoints and fewer flight delays.

“Our wait times everywhere are now averaging well below 20 minutes,” Baird said, mainly because of new screening technology and a new “self-select” system of funneling passengers into three different types of lanes, depending on how familiar they are with the TSA drill of taking off shoes, removing laptops from bags, putting liquids in plastic bags, etc.

Another upside: Flights are more likely to arrive and depart on time. The nation’s major airlines boosted on-time arrivals to 85 percent of all domestic flights in September, the best rate in five years.

“With fewer flights operating, that should provide some relief to the air traffic management system,” said James May, CEO of the Air Transport Association (ATA), a trade association that represents U.S. airlines.

The ATA is hoping the government will again open up military airspace as it did last year to help ease congestion, May said.

The busiest travel days are expected to be Nov. 30; Dec. 1; and Nov. 26, respectively, when planes could average close to 90 percent full.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport expects passenger traffic will be about even with last year, with about 90,000 passing through Sea-Tac on the busiest days, slightly fewer than in the peak days of summer.

As always, it pays to know the rules and fly defensively. Here are some tips:

New baggage rules, fees

New rules and fees for checking bags will affect many passengers. Most airlines now charge passengers $15 each way for checking one bag and $25 for a second on domestic flights, although there are some exceptions.

Alaska Airlines doesn’t charge for the first checked bag, and Southwest has no baggage fees. None of the airlines charge fees to first or business class passengers or those who have elite status in their frequent-flier programs.

See www.smartertravel.com for a list of what the various airlines charge. Call your airline or check its Web site for updates. Airlines have been tweaking their policies and could make more changes. Delta recently lowered its second checked bag fee from $50 to $25, and United backed off a $50 charge for a second bag. Other tips:

www.tsa.govfor a list of what’s allowed in carry-ons. TSA plans to have plastic bags available for those who forget to bring their own.

If you do check luggage, chances are less likely than in years past that your bags will be lost or damaged. The airlines reported complaints of mishandled bags dropped from 5.36 per 1,000 passengers last year to 3.86 in September.

Airfare

Prices during the peak holiday travel days remain high, but the good news is that, as fuel prices have dropped and demand has slowed, airlines have started slashing fares to fill seats during slack times.

To take advantage of the best fares, consider timing family visits or a vacation before Dec. 18 or after Jan. 5.

The lowest round-trip fare between Seattle and Columbus, Ohio, for instance, is $191 if you leave on Dec. 3 and return on Dec. 10. It jumps to nearly $700 if you leave on Dec. 21 and return Dec. 28. Fly to Honolulu in mid-January instead of Christmas week and the lowest round-trip fare plunges from around $750 to $365.

Schedule changes

If you booked your holiday travel in August or September, chances are you’ve already received an e-mail notifying you of a schedule change.

Airlines have dropped flights and are using smaller planes to adjust for falling demand and higher fuel costs. Call the airline or check your e-mail for notices of last-minute changes.

Airlines frequently oversell flights and bump passengers, and there will be more of that going on this year.

To avoid being bumped, check in as early as possible. Alaska/Horizon’s policy on involuntary bumping calls for denying boarding to the last person who checks in on time.

Airlines first ask for volunteers to give up their seats and take another flight, usually in exchange for a first-class seat on another flight, plus money or a voucher for future travel.

If that doesn’t work, some people might be bumped involuntarily.

Federal law requires no compensation if this happens, and the airline arranges a substitute flight scheduled to get you to your destination within one hour of your original arrival time.

If the delay is between one and two hours (between one and four hours on international flights), airlines must pay you an amount equal to your one-way fare, or a maximum of $400, up from $200 last year.

If the delay is more than two hours (more than four internationally), the compensation doubles to 200 percent of your fare, or a maximum $800, up from $400 last year.

More details at airconsumer.ost.dot.gov.

Get a head start

TSA has a special three-lane system in place at 50 U.S. airports including Sea-Tac’s Central checkpoint.

There’s a “black diamond” lane for frequent travelers with minimal carry-on luggage; a blue lane for others who may not be familiar with all the rules; and a green lane for families and those needing special help.

“We’ve found it to be a big success throughout the country,” said TSA’s Baird. “We’ve really been able to calm the area around the checkpoints by helping passengers get through the system.”

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The beaten-down retailer of athletic vesture and equipment has a strong balance sheet, good schedule control, and sharp brand focus, analysts say

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Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS)—52-week stock cost

By Gene Marcial

The nation’s retailers are among those companies hit hard by the recession, with Circuit City (CCTYQ) filing for bankruptcy Nov. 10, the most novel to fall. In the ended year 14 other major retailers consider sought the same Chapter 11 protection. Indeed, not many in the industry wish dodged the bullet. But in of the like kind dire times, opportunities of appraise always emerge.

One bargain play is Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), what one. analysts say hasn’t been immune from the tough economy but is better positioned than most. That’s probably wherefore Wall Street continues to favor the stem, contumacy a gloomy outlook with respect to the industry. Of the 26 analysts tracked by Bloomberg, not the least portion counsel selling the stock. Fifteen rate it a pervert with money and 11 recommend holding the shares. A leading outlet conducive to a broad assortment of athletic apparel, goods, and equipment, Dick’s Sporting has touching 340 stores in 36 states, in the first place in the eastern U.S.

Although like other retailers the company is feeling the strains of strapped consumers, Dick’s Sporting’s "strong balance sheet and balanced portfolio of products" have enabled it to continue taking market share "that should lead to a stronger company over time," says Michael Baker of Deutsche Bank (DB), who rates the stock a buy. (Deutsche Bank does not do investment banking for Dick’s Sporting.)

One reason: Dick’s Sporting is controlling schedule well, giving it some litheness before the holidays and allowing it to obstruction markdowns and stabilize margins, says Baker.

Certainly the company’s stock has been battered. From a 52-week luxuriously of 33.86 on Feb. 7, 2008, it tumbled to a 52-week low of 11.80 on Veteran’s Day (Nov. 11). Even so, Baker expects the shares to hit 23 in a year based on 16 times his fiscal 2010 (ending Jan. 31) earnings estimate of $1.43 a share. For fiscal 2009, he has lowered his forecast to $1.27 from $1.29 to account for the recession’s impact. The company earned $1.34 in fiscal 2008.

Another bull on the stock is Roger Vogel, managing director at Silvercrest Asset Management Group, which owns shares. Vogel says the long-term story on Dick’s Sporting revolves surrounding its management. "Dick’s Sporting is one of the best retailers in the country, run by the agency of one of the best management teams in the endeavors," he says.

Unlike other retailers, the visitor has plenty of markets to conquer, Vogel says. It is underexposed in other parts of the country such for the reason that Texas, he notes. He believes the pillar pleasure climb to plenteous higher levels in the next 12 months.

Some analysts also like the stock’s valuation. "Dick’s Sporting remains one of our most profitably growth names and one of the best longer-term franchises in deal out in small portions, and we believe the shares offer a compelling value at current levels," says Gary Balter of Credit Suisse (CS), who rates the descent outperform with a 12-month mark of 23. No irresolution, it’s likely things will get tougher, he says, as indicated by the reduction in income and sales estimates. But he sees Dick’s Sporting’s stores still performing relatively well. (Credit Suisse says it may seek to do business with Dick’s Sporting.)

So what separates Dick’s Sporting from other retailers? Its brand focus, product management, and acquisition opportunities, among other things, analysts judge. "We count to be true Dick’s Sporting has a differentiated strategy in a crowded place of contest, and we think the body has organic and acquisition-related growth opportunities," says Pearl Wang, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research. (S&P, like BusinessWeek, is owned by the agency of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP).) It has merchandised and managed its products highly favored, she adds. "We favor the company’sitting kind focus, whether their products are brand names or particular label," says Wang.

She expects profits. to grow at a double-digit rate in the low teens over the next few years, driven by sales expansion and further operating efficiency initiatives, in adding to greater mart penetration.

Undoubtedly the pedigree will go on to reflect the market’s tremors and volatility. But at its current beaten-down price, Dick’s Sporting should count as one of the real bargains around.

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