World Business

S&P Ratings says that even with a government security net in place, U.S. banks’ overall reliance quality is likely to continue to deteriorate for the period of the next year

By Barbara Duberstein and Rodrigo Quintanilla From Standard & Poor’s RatingsDirect

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By some measure, the U.S. banking industry has endured extraordinary shocks in 2008 that we expect to reverberate through the sector for years to come. Heading into 2009, startling systemic events have shaken the financial services industry. Among these are the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings, the forced sales of Bear Stearns & Co. and Wachovia, Citigroup’s (C) sway support bale, and the regulatory seizure and sale of Washington Mutual.

Heading into 2009, although the banking industry is confronting fluidity and confidence challenges, it now has in place monetary support from the U.S. government, including programs oblation excellent injections and debt guarantees. These are highly meaningful, system-stabilizing influences, but in Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services’ view, even with this safety net of supportive system-wide measures in place, the credit quality trends of U.S. banks will, as they have in the past, mirror the course of the economy. As the U.S. recession drags on,, banks’ overall credit status is likely to continue to deteriorate during at least the next year, in our eye. We await a further increase in loan take upon credit costs and continued high loan-loss provisioning to eat into income into 2009.

Our core credit observations in spite of the U.S. banking sector in 2009 include the following:

• Our current ratings outlook for the U.S. banking industry through 2009 is negative, mainly reflecting deteriorating relating to housekeeping conditions and mounting asset-quality problems. On the heels of our negative ratings actions and outlook revisions in 2008, we project that negative rating actions command continue to sharply exceed positive ones in 2009. However, we will likely understand a further divergence in the fundamental performance of individual banks, and this will be reflected in our ratings.

• Given the high rank of uncertainty in the global economy and markets, we calculate upon the assiduity to be constant to be at one’sitting command to global market concerns about systemic shocks (system-wide liquidity and counterparty intrepidity risks) through at minutest betimes 2009. However, our industry outlook assumes that these concerns will not revert to the peak September-October 2008 crisis levels that followed the Lehman bankruptcy. This is because the U.S. government has clearly demonstrated its direct support for the industry at times of systemic financial crisis through safety net programs so as the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and numerous other guarantee and liquidity measures.

• Beyond its role in regulation, the U.S. government’s involvement in the banking industry as a unbroken has become a central essay in the credit analysis of the industry. The polity’sitting reaction to the global pecuniary crisis has become precarious to the stability of the global pecuniary system. The government’s willingness to take extraordinary measures to support the sector is not completely sudden, given the U.S. banking industry’s vital importance to the hale condition of the world economy. In articles of agreement of our analysis of individual institutions, we include the government’s support as a significant credit commission merchant for those institutions that were identified as being systemically important. More generally, we incorporate into our analyses the funding and excellent benefits of programs such being of the class who the U.S. Treasury’s direct preferred-stock investments in numerous U.S. banks, the FDIC guarantees on new debt issuances from participating banks, and the Federal Reserve’sitting numerous liquidity programs.

Original text: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2009/pi2009017_293538.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

Major indexes headed lower Thursday after the retailing giant cut its fourth quarter forecast. Other retailers also reported weak results

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U.S. stocks were lower at the opening of day Thursday afternoon after a volatile morning. Sentiment was hurt by news that Wal-Mart (WMT) forecast lower income due to disappointing December sales, and weak reports from other greater retailers.

President-elect Barack Obama urged quick action on his economic stimulus contrivance.

Also, while commencing jobless claims fell 24,000 to 467,000 ultimate week, continuing claims surged above 4.6 million. The news comes in opposition of Friday’s report on December nonfarm payrolls, which are expected to fall 490,000. Also on Thursday, a report on November consumer credit was expected to show small quantity change from October posterior falling $3.4 billion the month before.

Long-term Treasuries were slightly higher Thursday. The dollar index was lower. Gold futures were up in volatile trading. Oil futures were mixed.

On Thursday at 12:10 p.m. ET, the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial medium was grow less by 98.12 points at 8,671.58. The broader S&P 500 index shed 3.30 points to 900.83. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 3.30 points to 1,595.76.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 16 stocks were lower in price toward every 13 that advanced. Nasdaq breadth was 13-12 positive. Trading was slow.

Retailing cyclops Wal-Mart cut its fourth quarter earnings by means of share from continuing operations estimate from $1.03-$1.07 to 91 cents-94 cents. The firm situated 1.2% higher December U.S. same-store sales (1.7% without material for burning) and slightly lower complete company sales. Wal-Mart noted that mass sales in its international portion improved on a constant-currency basis. The company sees flat-to-2% higher January same-store sales.

Other retailers, including JC Penney (JCP), Gap Inc. (GPS), Nordstrom (JWN), Costco Wholesale (COST), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Target (TGT), Saks (SKS), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), and Macy’s (M), also reported weak December results or guided earnings let down. Macy’s also said it power of choosing close 11 underperforming stores.

Bucking the downtrend: Sears Holdings (SHLD), what one. was sharply higher Thursday after posting 1.1% lower Kmart December same-store sales, 13% lower Sears domestic same-stores sales, and 7.3% lower December total same-store sales. The partnership noted that gross margin rates for the quarter-to-date period improved scornfully from last year for example higher margin rates at Kmart were a little offset by dint of. lower margin rates at Sears domestic stores. The company generally expects fourth-quarter EPS of $2.44-$3.09 (excluding items); it also expects to end fiscal 2009 with approximately $8.5 billion of domestic schedule, down from $9.1 billion last year.

President-elect Obama outlined his plans for the economic recovery from Virginia.

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The mini-rally of recent weeks is being constrain to the test amid gloomy earnings reports, market scandals, and horrible economic poetry

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Plenty of scary headlines could have spooked the market in the past month boundary, according to individual observer, it’s "almost ignoring the advice." Spencer Platt/Getty Images

By Ben Steverman

Stocks in the past month bounced off their 2008 lows, but care that stock market rally going will exist a big challenge for Wall Street’s bullish investors.

It’s not that the bulls’ case is inaccurately. Many argue that, after aggressive actions by the Federal Reserve and the treaty government, the U.S. economy be pleased heal by dint of. midyear. And that could take place.

Rather, the bulls’ problem is such far their hopes are nowhere to be found in reality. In fact, real measures—from earnings results to economic data—continue to degrade at a frightening hasten.

Plenty of scary headlines could have spooked the market in the past month, from a horrible holiday season against retailers to the collapse of Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion enclose with a hedge fund. However, the market is "almost ignoring the news," says Richard Sparks of Schaeffer’s Investment Research.

The spacious Standard & Poor’sitting 500-stock index is up more than 20% from its lows of late November. For now, Sparks says, "that uptrend is in place, but I think it’s tenuous."

Economic realities could knock blockhead market optimists off their stride. A key moment be inclined be Jan. 9, when the Labor Dept.’s December employment report is expected to show massive piece of work losses. Economists expect the unemployment rate to skip from 6.7% to 7%, and the U.S. to lose another half a million jobs.

Quincy Krosby, chief investment adroit tactician at the Hartford (HIG), says most professional investors already expect "actually ill-tempered" economic data from both the fourth quarter of 2008 and early 2009.

"If [the jobs report is] much uglier than that, we’ll see by what mode the market absorbs it," she says. Investors could be spooked if a weak jobs report indicates economic stabilization is even further away.

Action Economics Chief Economist Michael Englund assumes the U.S. unemployment rate could reach 8.6% by the middle of 2009, but then start to recover. Recent estimates by the Congressional Budget Office are especially gloomy: The CBO says the jobless rate could average 8.3% for all of 2009 and average 9% in 2010.

It’session not unexpected the market can shrug most distant gloomy recent accounts. After everything, the S&P 500 dropped almost 39% in 2008, in the same manner investors expect tough times.

"A lot of angst has already been factored into the stock market," says Gary Wolfer, chief economist at Univest Wealth Management (UVSP). But, he adds, "we’re still in for a rough piece in the first and foremost moiety of 2009."

The market did flinch after a spate of scary headlines on Jan. 7. The U.S. ADP employment report, though often an unreliable carpenter’s gauge, showed a 693,000 decline in December private payrolls. News broke of accounting irregularities at Indian outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services (SAY). Intel (INTC) warned sales could plummet 20% in the fourth quarter. Alcoa (AA) announced it’s cutting 13,500 jobs, or 13% of its workforce, this year.

Original text: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2009/pi2009017_273009.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

NEW YORK —

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Retailers reported dismal sales figures for December on Thursday as even Wal-Mart Stores Inc., one of the bright spots in the industry, finally buckled under the pressures of the deteriorating economy.

As merchants reported their sales figures, confirming fears that the holiday term was the weakest in four decades, the malaise cut from one side practically totality areas from kitchen gadget supplies to jewelry purveyors and teen apparel retailers.

The deep discounts that began well before the official start of the anniversary fit spurred a number of merchants to cut their profits. outlooks on Thursday, fueling greater degree of concerns about the health of the industry.

Among the great number retailers that reported steep sales declines were Sears Holdings Corp., which operates Kmart and Sears stores, luxury retailer Saks Inc., Gap Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Co. . But the biggest surprise came from Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, which posted a smaller sales gain than the sort of Wall Street expected and cut its fourth-quarter earnings outlook.

“This suggests that the drop income group is feeling the pinch more than we thought and this is clearly reflected in the lower-than-expected numbers at Wal-Mart,” said Ken Perkins, president of investigation company RetailMetrics LLC. “I think it says the thrift is in more dire straits than we thought.”

Wal-Mart, blaming the weak economy and severe winter conditions, said that same-store sales, or sales at stores opened at least a year, rose 1.2 percent. Excluding the impact of declining gasoline prices at the pump, the gain was 1.7 percent. Analysts surveyed by dint of. Thomson Reuters had expected a 2.8 percent increase, excluding fuel.

“The passing from hand to hand economy literary works challenging against all businesses, and retailers have already seen customers pull back on discretionary spending,” Wal-Mart’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe said in a account. “Consumers are very focused on price and necessities.”

Wal-Mart noted that health and wellness items were the categories that primarily fueled sales. Electronics sales were hard, though the rig out and jewels business was weak.

Given the disappointing sales and higher-than-anticipated expenses, Wal-Mart said it now expects to earn 91 cents to 94 cents per share in the fourth quarter from continuing operations. That’s down from its previous projected range of $1.03 per share to $1.07 per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected $1.06 by part.

Meanwhile, Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a 4 percent decline in same-store sales, but excluding the impression of lower gas prices and currency fluctuations, it actually posted a 4 percent gain. Lower gas prices are good for consumers, but reduce the sales volume for retailers probably Costco.

Among department stores, Sears Holdings before-mentioned its December same-store sales dropped 7.3 percent, weighed prostrate by a 12.8 percent drop at domestic Sears supplies. The company, whose brands include Kenmore and Craftsman, said Kmart same-store sales malign 1.1 percent.

Macy’s Inc. reported that same-store sales ferocious 4 percent in December, less than the 5.3 percent become feeble that analysts had expected. For the combined November-December period, same-store sales were along the course of 7.5 percent. But the department store chain cut its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings outlook due to heavy markdowns and announced plans to close 11 underperforming stores. The chain operates further than 840 Macy’s stores.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008603723_apretailsales.html?syndication=rss

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WASHINGTON

President Bush welcomed Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and his father, George H.W. Bush, in the Oval Office, prior to proceeding to a private hourlong luncheon.

“I want to thank the president-elect for joining the ex-presidents for lunch,” Bush said.

“One message that I have and I think we all parcel out is that we want you to be successful,” Bush continued. “Whether we’re Democrat or Republican, we all care deeply about this country. … All of us who be obliged served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual.”

Obama thanked Bush for hosting the “signal gathering.”

“All the gentlemen in the present state understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office,” Obama said. “For me to regard the chance; fit to get the advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary, and I’m exceedingly grateful.”

The three former presidents did not make some remarks.

The meeting originated with a suggestion from Obama during his first private meeting with Bush in November, and the event marks the capital such White House meeting since October 1981, at the time that then-President Reagan had cocktails with former presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon near the front of a state funeral for slain Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Wednesday’session gathering brings together a disparate group of strong political rivals, with the Republican Bushes outnumbered through the three Democrats.

Obama met one-on-one through Bush for about moiety an hour before joining the ex-presidents for lunch, officials said.

The meal was being held behind closed doors without staff in the Private Dining Room, officials said. White House officials surmised that colloquy topics would likely vary from the noun to the trivial.

Bush leaves office Jan. 20, when Obama will be sworn into office. The White House announced Wednesday that the outgoing president will fly back that day for a indulge in banter in Midland, Texas.

He and first lady Laura Bush will then spend that death at the family’session Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas, near Waco, which has been a systematic getaway for Bush throughout his presidency.

The Bushes chalk out to live in the first place at a new house the couple freshly purchased in Dallas.

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Starbucks bought a $45 million incorporated jet extreme month at about the same time it told employees that it is reconsidering how much it will match in their 401(k) plans this year.

The new jet, a Gulfstream 550, worn out its first two weeks under Starbucks ownership in Hawaii, according to flight records at FlightAware.com.

Starbucks ordered the jet three years ago, according to spokeswoman Deb Trevino. She said the Seattle coffee company determined canceling delivery would be too expensive. She declined to say who took the jet to Hawaii over the holidays, but said it was a combined exterior and business trip. She pointed out that Starbucks discretion requires employees to reimburse the company as antidote to personal use of the jet. That policy was instituted in fiscal 2007, when Chairman Howard Schultz reimbursed the company $400,919 for flights.

“That’sitting not some pleasing answer in 2009,” said Nell Minow, editor at The Corporate Library, a watchdog-research firm. “It’s not acceptable to use it for anything but the most efficient practicable business use.”

Companies should have existence transparent about which employees practice the jet and to what they shun, she uttered. They also should not be allowed to serve personal trips even if they reimburse their companies, because the reimbursements often are not sufficient.

While many companies have corporate jets, Starbucks’ new arrival comes at a delicious time. Plunging profits are forcing the company to make unprecedented cost cuts, including closing 616 U.S. supplies last year and slashing thousands of jobs.

Last month, it warned Wall Street to look forward to disappointing profits with regard to the holiday quarter and told employees it might shrink how a great deal of it contributes to their 401(k) plans this year.

Corporate jets became a symbol of executive excess last fall after auto executives flew in private planes to Washington, D.C., to ask Congress for bailout circulating medium.

Starbucks has three jets at this moment

Trevino reported they are important to Starbucks’ business, which includes nearly 17,000 stores in 49 countries, a multinational business and relationships with coffee growers around the terraqueous globe. Employees also take commercial flights, she said, but “in some instances it makes more sense, from a time and economic point of view, to use the corporate plane.”

She would not affirm how much Starbucks paid for the new Gulfstream, but similar aircraft are listed for sale at $40 million to $60 million. If the gathering locked in a price three years ago, the jet probably require to be paid about $45 million, according to Bob Zuskin, a consultant at Jet Perspectives in the Washington, D.C., area who works with Gulfstream and other manufacturers and aircraft-finance companies.

To annul the make a bargain, Starbucks likely would have paid about $5 the great body of the people and confused payments it already made, Zuskin said.

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WASHINGTON

The letters, which were sent to provide notice hither and thither privy groups that present itself assistance to families of soldiers killed in the wars, were supposed to have carried personal greetings.

The Army said that the mistake was the fault of a subcontractor that printed the letters, but that the service bore eventuate responsibility because it did not repress the letters in advance of they were mailed.

“There are no words to adequately apologize for this misunderstand or for the hurt it may be delivered of caused,” Brig. Gen. Reuben Jones, the Army order-aide general, said in a statement.

The Army said that its chief of staff, Gen. George Casey Jr., would be sending 7,000 personally addressed letters of apology.

The John Doe letters, dated Dec. 20, 2008, were signed by Col. Carl Johnson, the homage’s manager of casualty and mortuary affairs.

An Army spokesman said that Johnson had signed a master letter but that because of either a computer glitch or human error, individual names and addresses had not been printed on each of the 7,000 copies mailed.

Spokesman Paul Boyce said the Army became aware of the error when more tribe members called to extend thanks concerning the information but sooner or later added that their particular copies had been improperly addressed.

The founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff, said that after controversy generated by the agency of disclosures that creator Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used a robotic pen to sign casualty letters, the military should take extra care when communicating through the families of fallen soldiers.

ALSO: The Pentagon has decided it will not give the Purple Heart to sufferers of post-traumatic pressure disarrange. “PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event,” Defense Department spokesman Eileen Lainez before-mentioned. It is not “a wound intentionally caused by the opponent from an outside force or agent.”

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WASHINGTON President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday the recession could “linger during the time that antidote to years” if not Congress pumps unprecedented sums from Washington into the economy, making his highest-profile case yet on an issue certain to declare the properties of and dominate his early presidency.

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“I don’t give credit to it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible,” Obama said in a speech set to be delivered at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., outside Washington. Excerpts from his prepared text were released in advance by his transition team.

It was the fourth day in a row that Obama has made a pitch for a huge infusion of taxpayer dollars to revive the sinking frugality he will inherit from President George W. Bush.

Obama’s events have increasingly taken on the caparisons and air of the presidency, through the speech - coming a full 12 days before he takes over at the White House - a particularly showy actuate. Presidents-elect typically stick to naming administration appointments and otherwise staying in the background during the transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, but Obama has clearly made the foresight that a nation restless about its relating to housekeeping view and eager to bid farewell to Bush needs to hear from him differently and more frequently.

“A wretched situation could grow dramatically worse,” Obama said, painting a dire picture - including double-digit unemployment and $1 trillion in lost economic activity - that recalled the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Indeed, the economic news is grisly.

Consumers and companies are folding under the negative forces of a collapsed housing market, a global credit crunch and the worst pecuniary crisis since the 1930s. The recession, what one. started in December 2007, before that time is the longest in a quarter-century.

A report that came out the same generation as Obama’sitting speech showed that the digit of people continuing to engage jobless benefits unexpectedly rose sharply to the highest level seeing that November 1982, demonstrating the troubles the unemployed are having in finding new jobs.

And unemployment figures due out Friday are expected to simulation that the U.S. lost a trap total of 500,000 jobs in December. If accurate, that would bring 2008’s total job losses to 2.4 million, the first annals piece of work loss since 2001 and the highest since 1945, though the number of jobs has more than tripled since then.

Speaking a day subsequent the release of a wonderful new estimate - that the federal budget deficit will reach any unprecedented $1.2 trillion this year, nearly three times last year’sitting record - Obama acknowledged some sympathy through those who “might hold existence skeptical” of the goad. Vast sums already have been spent or committed by Washington in an attempt - largely unsuccessful so to a great distance - to get credit, the lifeblood of the American economy, flowing freely one time again.

Such statements are coded to appeal to budget hawks in both parties, whom Obama wants to win over so that approval of a package draws wide, bipartisan support in the Democratic-led Congress.

To answer their concerns, he promised to endure funding only for what works. He likewise pledged a new level of transparency about where the money is going. A twenty-four hours earlier, he promised to rigging the out-of-control fiscal problem posed by Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs and named a extraordinary watchdog to clamp down without interruption all federal programs.

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LAS VEGAS — With the tech world’s eyes focused on it Wednesday, Microsoft introduced Windows 7, a product many enthusiasts have already become familiar with.

In addition to announcing the widely expected test version of Windows 7 going out this week, Microsoft announced deals it was rumored to bring forth won with PC god Dell and Verizon Wireless; new “Halo” video-game titles it had already unveiled; and Xbox 360 sales statistics it touted Monday.

Some observers said the company’s gift at the International Consumer Electronics Show was as destitute of news as any it has given in the past half-decade — perchance by proposal.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer took his turn in the coveted CES pulpit, from what one. Bill Gates had delivered his sermon on technology’s future each year for the farther than decade.

The giving was entertaining at times, but also unintoxicated. Ballmer was realistic about the economic backdrop fronting which this assiduity meets. He was also resolutely optimistic about the power of technology.

“It feels like we’ve entered a period of reduced expectations, a time when we may be in actual possession of existence tempted to just combination our optimism and lamina away from the thicker settlements our ambition,” Ballmer said.

“But no good sense what happens with the economy, or how long this recession lasts,” Ballmer said, “I believe our digital lives will only continue to get richer. There really is no turning back from the connected world and the degree of progress of technological advance bringing people closer together.”

The chief executive rehashed his company’s already well-articulated vision of oblation software and services across the “three screens”: computers, televisions and mobile devices.

“The linchpin for bringing all of this together notwithstanding you will exist Windows,” Ballmer said.

Confirmation of the Windows 7 Beta version, available to computer professionals Wednesday and the rest of the public Friday, fueled speculation that the final translation could subsist released ahead of its publicly detailed January 2010 target — perhaps in epoch for holiday shopping or even back-to-school computer sales in the early fall.

“I guess CES is being used as a nature of broad market introduction to Windows 7,” Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Kirkland-based Directions on Microsoft, said after being briefed on Microsoft’s announcements in send.

Other major product introductions may have been held off to give Windows a wide berth, or perhaps they weren’t willing for prime time.

“In the past, they made an effort to really have something new at CES,” reported Rosoff.

Deals

Microsoft announced two tumid wins for its search engine, which has struggled to gain market share as Google has continued to grow.

In the first deal, the company displaced Google as the search partner on new Dell consumer and small-business PCs. Microsoft’s Live Search, as advantageous taken in the character of the new Windows Live Essentials online services, will subsist preloaded on new machines.

Dell had 13.6 percent of the global PC market in the third quarter of 2008, according to Gartner. Hewlett-Packard, with whom Microsoft announced a North American search-distribution deal that began this month, had 18.4 percent. In 2007, Microsoft announced a homogeneous global deal through Lenovo.

Now the key is making sure the search results don’t balk new users. “Otherwise they’ll shift the default or type in www.google.com and that will be the end of it,” Rosoff said.

Other analysts are skeptical of the value of search-distribution deals to the party.

“[T]hey don’t stop the Google habit,” wrote Danny Sullivan, editor of the online news station Search Engine Land, in a Dec. 30 essay. “Give someone a new computer set by default to search at Microsoft, and I think there’s each excellent chance they’ll still movement to Google.”

The second share announced Wednesday offers Microsoft search, advertising and other services to totally Verizon Wireless subscribers in the United States, beginning in the pristine half of this year. The five-year distribution applies to newly come phones.

Microsoft obviously beat out Google for this, too, in negotiations that reportedly dragged on for two years.

In November, The Wall Street Journal reported Microsoft was sacrifice Verizon guaranteed search-advertising revenue of between $550 million and $650 the masses in excess the life of the deal, roughly twice Google’s occur. Others have suggested those figures were inflated.

Microsoft did not annotate on the financial terms. Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, said in an interview the method of developing public wealth were less important than the long-term strategy.

Xbox

On Monday, Microsoft declared 2008 the best year yet for its video-game-console business.

The company aforesaid it had sold 28 million Xbox 360 consoles inasmuch as the scheme’s ushering in in 2005; that’s up 58 percent from last year.

It also counts 17 the public subscribers to the Xbox Live online entertainment reticulated, which is core outfitted through a Primetime channel.

It’s any online venue for people to compete in measure shows, starting with “1 vs. 100,” against thousands of other players.

Bach, in the interview, acknowledged the games matter did comment put on more softness because of the economy. “Last year, if they were buying five games when they bought a console, it may be this year they only bought four,” he said.

Halo

This year resolution see the launch of two new titles in the blockbuster “Halo” franchise, widely credited with making the original Xbox, launched in 2001, a success.

“Halo Wars,” a strategy-based riff on the space-combat series, is due March 3 from Microsoft’s Ensemble Studios, a date announced in December.

Another title, “Halo 3 ODST,” (for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper — a class of soldier in the game), is coming in the fall. This title is from Kirkland-based Bungie Studios, the originator of the “Halo” franchise, which split from Microsoft soon after the record-setting launch of “Halo 3″ in 2007.

Benjamin J. Romano: 206-464-2149 or bromano@seattletimes.com

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WASHINGTON Pink slips are piling higher during the time that companies scramble to cut costs even deeper to survive the country’sitting economic and financial storms.

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Just days into the new year, managed care provider Cigna Corp., aluminum producer Alcoa Inc., data-storage company EMC Corp. and computer products former Logitech International were among those announcing layoffs to cope with a recession that has just entered its second year. The flurry of job cuts indicate the employment picture force of will remain grim this year.

A barometer on layoffs is expected to show Thursday that the number of newly laid off people signing up for state unemployment insurance utmost week rose to 540,000, up from 492,000 in the previous week, according to economists’ projections.

The number of people continuing to draw jobless benefits is projected to confide near 4.5 million, demonstrating the troubles the unemployed are having in finding starting anew jobs.

Electronic unemployment filing systems bring forth crashed in at minutest three states in recent days exactly to the crush of newly jobless Americans seeking benefits.

“Businesses were panicked at the end of the year and those that had been holding not on on layoffs are now capitulating,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

With jobs disappearing, shoppers held tight to their wallets and pocketbooks last month.

Michael P. Niemira, capital economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, predicts retail sales out Thursday will show a globule for December and the discomfit holiday shopping season because at least 1969.

For all of 2008, employers likely slashed payrolls through at least 2.4 very great number. That’s based on economists’ forecasts for a net loss of 500,000 additional jobs in December, as well as the job losses already reported every month last year by the government. Some, however, think the designate by contain of jobs cut last month will be higher - around 600,000 or 700,000. The Labor Department will release that report Friday.

If the conservative, 2.4 million estimate of payroll reductions for 2008 proves correct, it would mark the first and foremost occurring every year job loss since the previous recession in 2001. It moreover would be the worst year of job losses seeing that 1945, when employers slit nearly 2.8 million jobs. Though the number of jobs in the United States has else than tripled as then, job losses of that sublimity would be sober testimony to the nation’s economic woes.

With employers throttling back hiring, the unemployment rate is expected to spring from 6.7 percent in November to 7 percent in December, which would be the highest in 15- 1/2 years. That figure also will be released Friday.

President-elect Barack Obama, who takes over Jan. 20, is proposing a mammoth $775 billion package of tax cuts and government spending over two years to quicken the on one’s death-bed plan. With add-ons by lawmakers, the package could swell to $850 billion, his advisers say.

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