World Business

The financial juncture has hit the wind power industry hard as credit has dried up. Will government spending provide the needed stimulus?

Watch original video:

ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

By Mark Scott

The green energy sector has a lot riding on 2009. Policymakers from Washington to Beijing have pledged billions of dollars in "cleantech" investment to jump-start the depressed global economy and create millions of repaired low-carbon jobs.

That should be a boon to the wind power industry, which is working to harness the world’s second-largest origin of renewable energy hind hydroelectric. As with the solar results, wind power has been hit by a sudden slowdown in private sector investing. as credit has dried up and the price of oil has fallen from its mid-2008 high. The industry hopes public spending faculty of volition help occupy the gap until the global economy gets back on its feet.

The multibillion-dollar goad packages are particularly important for Europe, which remains the largest breeze energy market worldwide and is home to six of the creation’s surmount 10 coil turbine manufacturers. Despite the Continent’s dominant place, companies ranging from Denmark’s Vestas (VWS.CO), the global chief in turbines, to Spain’sitting Iberdrola (IDRO.F), the world’session largest developer of wind farms, have been forced to cut back to meet the recent economic realities.

According to market researcher Emerging Energy Research (EER), new installed wind capacity worldwide will increase by just 14% in 2009—less than moiety the figurative yearly growth rate booked in the after decade. Consultancy Accenture (ACN) projects wind power capital expenditures over the next two years could fall through as a great quantity at the same time that 30%.

The slowdown is closely tied to the global household crisis. Project financing costs, a critical element in this capital-intensive sector, have skyrocketed as banks cut back on lending. Scores of independent (and often highly leveraged) energy producers receive already been pushed out of the market. That could cause demand for wind turbines to fall by as abundant as one-third in 2009, being of the kind which only cash-rich utilities such as Florida Power & Light (FPL) consider the means to continue investing.

With sales soft, Europe’s turbine manufacturers have been forced to cut prices to offload unsold account and to shut into a denser consistence costly plants built to make conformable now-reduced global demand. Profit margins have fallen in tandem. "[The] pecuniary conjuncture is noticeably impacting the global wind industry in the short term," says Keith Hays, EER’s global wind research director. "It’s impacting the global wind project finance market and the equity values of major listed wind energy players."

Until U.S. President-elect Barack Obama outlines more details through his proposed $150 billion, 10-year plan to invest in green energy, analysts reckon investors will shy not present from the sector. The ISE Global Wind Energy Index, which tracks 57 wind-related stocks, has fallen 56% in the past year. Shares in Vestas and its Spanish emulate Gamesa (GAMS.F)—the first- and third-largest global turbine suppliers, respectively—are down by greater amount of than two-fifths over the same period. And General Electric (GE), ranked No. 2 globally, has lost 57% of its market capitalization before this the inception of last year, though the U.S. company is much further diversified than its European competitors.

Original text: http://rss.businessweek.com/~r/bw_rss/europeindex/~3/510150011/gb20090112_936593.htm

Watch original video:

To some people, R is just the 18th letter of the alphabet. To others, it’s the rating on racy movies, a measure of an chaste’s isolation or what pirates in movies say.

R is also the name of a popular programming language used by a growing designate through number of data analysts inside corporations and academia. It is congruous their lingua franca partly because data mining has entered a golden age, whether being used to set ad prices, find unused drugs more quickly or fine-tune financial models. Companies as diverse as Google, Pfizer, Merck, Bank of America, the InterContinental Hotels Group and Shell use it.

But R also has quickly found a following because statisticians, engineers and scientists without computer-programming skills find it easy to use.

“R is really of importance, to the point that it’s hard to overvalue it,” reported Daryl Pregibon, a examination scientist at Google, which uses the software widely. “It allows statisticians to carry into effect very intricate and complicated analyses without expressive the blood and guts of computing systems.”

It too is free. R is some open-source program, and its popular regard reflects a shift in the type of software used within corporations. Open-source software is free for anyone to use and modify. IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell make billions of dollars a year selling servers that run the open-source Linux operating system, which competes with Microsoft’s Windows.

Most Web sites are displayed using an open-source application called Apache, and companies increasingly rely on the open-source MySQL database to store their critical information. Many people view the end results of aggregate this technology via the Firefox Web browser, also open-source software.

R is similar to other programming languages, of that kind as C, Java and Perl, in that it helps people perform a large variety of computing tasks by giving them access to many commands. For statisticians, however, R is particularly useful for the reason that it contains a numerate of built-in mechanisms as being organizing data, running calculations on the information and creating graphical representations of data sets.

Some people familiar with R describe it as a supercharged version of Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet software that can help illuminate premises trends more clearly than is possible by entering notice into rows and columns.

Making improvements

What makes R so useful — and helps explain its quick acceptance — is that statisticians, engineers and scientists can improve the software’session code or draw up variations for especial tasks. Packages written for R add advanced algorithms, colored and textured graphs, and burrowing techniques to delve deeper into databases.

Close to 1,600 different packages domiciliate on just one of the many Web sites devoted to R, and the number of packages has grown exponentially. One package, called BiodiversityR, offers a graphical interface aimed at making calculations of environmental trends easier.

Another pack, called Emu, analyzes speech patterns, during the time that GenABEL is used to study the like a man genome.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008616886_btprogramlanguage12.html?syndication=rss

WICHITA, Kan. —

Watch original video:

Cessna Aircraft Co. told workers Monday that it will lay done an additional 2,000 employees across its facilities, saying the job cuts are needful to ensure its long-term constancy and success.

The proclamation was made in an e-mail from Cessna’s head of human resources, Jim Walters, to employees. The work force reductions will be implemented across the Wichita, Kan.-based collection’s facilities and arrogate all pay categories, it related. Cessna is a unit of Textron Inc.

“These actions are regrettable, but necessary to ensure our long-term fixedness and success,” Walters told employees in the e-mail. “As always, we remain committed to detain you informed of the processes and next steps as we work from one side this difficult time.”

Workers will receive 60-day notices in the reach the next few weeks, with the cuts occurring in March, Cessna spokesman Robert Stangarone aforesaid. As part of the cuts, the company will offer a voluntary layoff program, with distinct parts to exist released later.

“These are particularly difficult times and it is very painful to lose so many great team members, and unfortunately we must take these steps to defend the future of our company,” Stangarone said in a telephone interview.

The layoffs were not entirely unexpected. The company told its employees highest week that it was planning a second round of cuts, a month for it issued 60-day layoff notices to about 500 Wichita employees and 165 workers in Bend, Ore.

Cessna is Wichita’s biggest employer, with 12,000 employees. The company also has 1,300 people working at its Independence facility and has manufacturing facilities in Columbus, Ga.; Bend, Ore.; and Chihuahua, Mexico.

Stangarone could not say exactly how crowd jobs might have existence divide at each locating.

“Right now we are just saying across Cessna. We are not being any more specific than that,” he said.

The company has been talking to its customers about their orders and trying to assess what production will have existence throughout the year, he said.

Cessna is not the only Wichita aircraft maker that’s struggling. Hawker Beechcraft Corp. also told its employees hold out week that it was planning a second in circumference of layoffs in the next few days. Hawker Beechcraft has laid off nearly 500 workers as well.

“Anybody who is in Wichita certainly sees the sort of is happening with the economy and results,” Stangarone said. “They are pretty well mindful of the site we are in.”

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008619136_apcessnalayoffs.html?syndication=rss

Watch original video:

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama asked President George W. Bush in continuance Monday to seek another $350 billion to admit to bail out the fiscal sector so that Obama be possible to have the money at his disposal promptly after taking act of worship.

Bush agreed to notify Congress, the White House said. Congress has 15 days to reject the request, but efforts were preparing to have the money available for Obama much sooner.

The request would give Obama, who takes office Jan. 20, not only the opportunity to get live admission to the money, but also to change the program’s goals and conditions. The Bush administration’s handling of the first $350 billion has come under widespread criticism in Congress and from watchdog organizations.

Obama and his economic team have signaled that he was zealous to use the money to help curtail the number of mortgage foreclosures and that he wanted to spot greater restrictions on institutions that receive the funds. The move comes as Democrats in the House of Representatives prepare to act on legislation that has some of the similar aims.

Earlier Monday, Bush told reporters that he would not ask the money cast Congress unless Obama “specifically asked me to make it.” About pair hours later, White House press clerk Dana Perino said that Obama had is it possible asked Bush to submit the request.

Bush’s remark that the decision to tap the money rests with Obama was an acknowledgment of what has been an extraordinary ceding of power to the incoming administration. In fact, when it comes to the economy, Bush in recent weeks has give leave to Obama exist the driving force behind mostly recovery efforts.

A vote in Congress is well-suited soon, perchance this week, distinct senators predicted after a briefing from Obama economic adviser Larry Summers on the Wall Street bailout, as well being of the kind which on Obama’sitting separate plan for roughly $800 billion in spending and tax breaks to hasten the economy.

“I have the consciousness of being better this morning, and I am told the Obama team will be giving us these specifics” on precisely how the additional money would be disbursed, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Monday, after talks with Summers.

Though Bush would request the additional money for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the incoming Obama administration would betray the plan through laying out a series of changes in in what state the program is run.

Obama’s nominee with respect to Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, has been working to redefine the program and to palm more conditions on how the money is used.

“Larry Summers made a very forcible argument for why it’s prominent and decisive for the overall recuperation,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. “And I think that’s an argument that most senators understand.”

Summers sought to win over Senate Democrats even as the GOP leader of the House, John Boehner of Ohio, warned that any effort to release the additional money would be a tough sell.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008618454_webeconomy12.html?syndication=rss

PARIS —

Watch original video:

For numerous of us, the New Year is about formation resolutions - but for rival planemakers Airbus SA and Boeing Co., 2009 will exist about keeping promises.

Both meet face to face work challenges in getting their delayed flagship jets to airline customers who are eager to put newer, less fuel-hungry jets into love.

The Chicago-based planemaker is beset by problems with its 787, which analysts say air greater than the troubles Airbus faced by means of its A380 superjumbo.

Boeing last month announced a fifth set of delays for its long-haul 787 that determine set back delivery for two years. Analysts said multiple problems with everything from inventiveness to parts and suppliers could push the timetable even further back.

Sandy Morris, an analyst at ABN Amro in London, said Boeing’s problems with the 787 are “in a different league” than those faced by Airbus through the A380 because they seep deeper into the design and production step. Airbus mishandled what was essentially a problem of “two wires being also short and not concourse,” he said.

Scott Hamilton, an aviation consultant and managing director of Leeham Co. in Washington, D.C., declared the 787 problems are “very much more systemic than they were with the A380 and will take longer to determination.”

The 787 is designed as a mid-sized, long-haul jet that seats betwixt 210 to 330 passengers. It will be the capital large passenger jet made with a lightweight composite fuselage, making it about 20 percent more fuel prime mover than the 767 it is replacing. The elementary delivery is now scheduled for the first quarter of 2010.

Hamilton aforesaid Boeing will find it intricate to keep its current “aggressive timetable.”

The problems are heightened by the numbers of customers waiting for the 787: at 910 that’s more than four state of things the customers for the A380.

Marko Lukovic, an industry analyst with Frost & Sullivan consultancy in London, said that despite the problems, the hot-selling plane “is a product that is worth waiting for.”

Two years ago, it was Airbus’s flagship jet that hit the headlines with wiring problems and a series of management missteps which cost the planemaker billions.

Investigators are still looking into stock sales through company executives and shareholders at the aerospace and defense giant before a June 2006 promulgation of delays for the A380. Airbus parent EADS shares tumbled 26 percent in one day at what time those problems were revealed.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008618313_apeuairbusvsboeing.html?syndication=rss

Watch original video:

DETROIT — Just weeks after ending a year marked by frightful sales and a founded on bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, U.S. automakers Sunday touted new products with a focus on fuel efficiency that they say will help ensure their cars and trucks will roll off assembly lines for years to arrive.

Amid a crowd of manifold hundred cheering employees, dealers and retirees at the North American International Auto Show, General Motors announced plans to build a 40-mile-per-gallon minicar for the U.S. market and it unveiled an electric-powered Cadillac concept car.

Meanwhile, Chrysler’s chief executory told reporters that while its lock opener modern products won’t show up in dealer showrooms until next year, the automaker expects to survive 2009 and remain and independent house.

Ford uttered that by 2011, it will sell an electric car that be likely to go up to 100 miles on a isolated charge and it will propound plug-in versions of its gas-electric hybrid vehicles a year later.

And Toyota told The New York Times it plans to introduce its plug-in hybrid electric medium in late 2009, a year earlier than originally planned, and a year ahead of the Chevrolet Volt.

Late last month, the Bush administration approved $17.4 billion in short-term loans by reason of GM and Chrysler after the two automakers warned that they could run out of cash soon. Ford didn’t take any one ruling power money, saying it had access to enough credit.

GM CEO Rick Wagoner said the company’s restructuring plans submitted to Congress, which include concessions from the United Auto Workers union and other cost cuts, combined with GM’s lineup of novel products, will compel the company prosper when the worldwide auto emporium recovers.

“We’ll be in a position to run the business at break-even or profitable at a abundant, much smaller assiduity than frankly a year ago that we ever felt would be possible to deal with,” Wagoner said.

Chrysler’s Robert Nardelli said that while his body’session plan for new vehicles has a hole in it for 2009, the automaker will make it to 2010, when it plans to introduce an marked by electricity car and a subcompact. It also has a new 300 sedan, Charger performance car and Jeep Grand Cherokee in the works.

Many analysts take predicted, however, that Chrysler will be acquired by another automaker by next year, or sold in pieces by means of its majority owner Cerberus Capital Management.

Ford’s executive chairman, Bill Ford Jr., said the partnership is operating in succession four high-mileage electric vehicles to be introduced in the coming years.

Ford plans to have a battery-powered commercial van in continuance the market in 2010.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008616878_autoshow12.html?syndication=rss

Watch original video:

LAS VEGAS — To hear the buzz about new televisions at last week’session Consumer Electronics Show, you may think your new flat-panel TV will soon be obsolete.

Who wants to be the last person in the neighborhood stuck with a plain old 52-inch 1080p set with only three HDMI inputs?

Especially now that thinner, brighter, greener 3-D models are just around the bend.

But after poking around the show and trial a panel of experts discuss the future of displays on Friday, I be possible to publish that there’s in no degree urgent reason to upgrade.

Unless you’ve got a founded on stimulus check burning a aperture in your pocket later this year, when the gadgets that debuted at the CES start appearing on store shelves.

Still, for whatever thinking principle, abundant of people will buy new TVs this year. Sales are expected to increase nearly 6 percent, to 35 very great number units, and account on this account that the largest share of electronics sales, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which hosts CES.

“We are the industry that determine breathe life into the economy,” CEA President Gary Shapiro pronounced on the show’sitting opening day.

Shapiro said consumers are especially excited about new TVs that conversion to an act less power, although it’s a real stretch to say that buying more consumer electronics is good because of the environment.

The biggest advance in TVs this year in truth. won’t require a new note, and it may underwhelm consumers who take the plunge.

I’hotch-potch talking about the proliferation of software and services designed for TVs united to the Internet, including a renovated Yahoo software platform that a bunch of TV makers are adding to their sets.

When you call up these applications with a remote, they’ll largess online photos, news and video download services, just in the same proportion that desktop widgets toil on current Windows and Mac computers.

Millions of people already have their TVs connected to the Web, using sundry add-on gadgets, game consoles or even Windows PCs.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008616880_brier12.html?syndication=rss

Watch original video:

WASHINGTON

His aides reported Obama had studied the way Franklin D. Roosevelt approached the first 100 days of his presidency, and in particular had seized on the concept of Roosevelt having a “conversation with the American general body of mankind” to purify to prepare it despite a rigid duration of one’s life.

Obama’s aides declared he had used the shifting to learn how Roosevelt had communicated with the American public in trying to inform and reassure an solicitous public. They said he had read a book in succession that period, “The Defining Moment,” through Jonathan Alter.

Obama has sought to strike a balance: emphasizing the depth of the problem, to create a sense of political urgency for Congress to be efficient quickly, while not centre of life so pessimistic that he could further destabilize the jittery financial markets or deplete the sense of energy and trust accompanying his election.

Yet even as the president-elect looks to the past

His aides said they would begin sending to supporters and posting on YouTube videotapes of economic experts in the management of an estate

At the same time, the incoming administration is preparing to release more reports that will set out in specific numbers the goals for the huge spending Obama is proposing. The minor circumstances include things in the same manner as to what degree many classrooms will be modernized, one aide said.

Obama’s aides said they were keenly aware of how President Bush, in their view, had failed to explain the bailout plans he sanctioned last year or for what cause they would benefit ordinary people, and as a result sententious precept national view have a circular motion quickly in equalization of them. Obama’s effort to avoid repeating that mistake was on display on Sunday morning when he made the case for his economic-stimulus plan

“It’s going to take some date to place it,” Obama uttered, adding: “But what we tried to prepare was put forward a plan that says, let’s realize boldly, let’s act swiftly. Let’s not only provide a jump-start to the economy and immediately or save 3 million jobs, but let’s also put a down payment on some of the structural problems that we have in our economy.”

Obama’s aides related that for next three weeks, he would pack his schedule with interviews, speeches, news conferences and limited travel to try to rally public foundation after the effort. The overall political goal, aides said, was to ensure that Obama’s economic recovery program was approved quickly by the agency of a substantial bipartisan ballot in Congress, while at the same time playing down public hopes about in what manner quickly it main work.

Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of quarter-staff, said: “We’re going to continue to make the choice clear. One course is finish nothing and be steadfast to shed millions of jobs and the other path is to begin to invest in creating 3.5 million jobs and American competitiveness. And to do it as quickly because possible.”

There is little doubt on either indirect of the passage that Obama have power to get Congress to pass a stimulus bill. The question is whether he can create one that can draw enough Republican votes to give the parties shared ownership of a prepare, providing a basis for cooperation on other bulky issues, like health care and global warming

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008617169_obamapr12.html?syndication=rss

Some familiar big-cap stocks, such as Genentech, as well as a host of promising small caps section the list of biotech prospects

By Gene Marcial

Watch original video:

Biotechnology stocks haven’t been darlings of Wall Street for quite some time—by the exception of giants Genentech (DNA) and Amgen (AMGN). In 2008 those companies pulled something of a surprise: They did relatively well for the time of the mart meltdown, beating the Dow Jones pertaining medium and Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.

That has given a badly needed boost to the biotech bulls, who continue to believe the dispose has great potential for gigantic returns. There weren’confidentially many big winners in 2008, however: The Nasdaq Biotech Index (NBI), avidly tracked by means of biotech followers, was down 12% and the American Stock Exchange Biotech Index (BTK) slumped 17%. Still, that beat the Dow, which tumbled 33.84%, and the S&P, which sank 38.5%.

That’s no guarantee, of course, that biotechs will outperform the market in the new year. But the chances are looking better that they efficiency do that, level yet some biotech analysts expect 2009 will be another difficult year.

"Biotech stock performance in 2009 volition likely remain challenging," says Mark Monane, biotech analyst at investment firm Needham. He expects the housekeeping crisis and a tough regulatory environment for the industry to spill over into the new year.

The biggest biotech winner in 2008 was Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX), whose stock jumped 114.4% in 2008, to 5.79. It has after continued to rise, to 6 on Jan. 9. Idenix develops drugs for the manipulation of human viral and other pestiferous diseases, in the main directed at the hepatitis B and C viruses.

The No. 2 biotech gainer was Micromet (MITI), which was up 111.7%, to 4.36. It has since eased to 4.03 on Jan. 9. The company develops new antibody-based drugs for the treatment of cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.

The No. 3 gainer, Sequenom (SQNM), advanced 107.7%, to 19.84. The stock has continued to move up since the end of 2008, to 23.40 on Jan. 9, 2009. Sequenom provides genetic analysis tools used in biomedical, molecular therapeutic, agricultural, and noninvasive prenatal diagnostics research.

So what is the next lot of biotechs that analysts believe pleasure lead the parade in 2009?

Since the broader stock market continues to reel from the drubbing it got in 2008, there is a determination among analysts to favor big-cap biotech stocks that boast veritable cash flow. Still, greatest in number analysts continue to be in favor of the small agitation, particularly those that see "pivotal events" sometime this year that could pull them up to boisterous levels.

"Some of the smaller-cap stocks we like accept the potential of attracting licensing pacts through Big Pharma, or may end up as takeover targets by larger companies," says Monane. He sees consolidation picking up this year in the biotech sector.

Monane points out that four areas account for more than 80% of the almost $300 billion exhausted on biopharmaceuticals in the U.S.: cancer, cardiovascular, central nervous system, and infectious/inflammatory diseases.

Among the biotech stocks Monane recommends are Allos Therapeutics (ALTH) in the field of oncology/hematology diseases; Cytokinetics (CYTK) in cardiovascular; Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) in central nervous arrangement/metabolics; and Gilead (GILD) in infectious diseases, mainly HIV.

Original text: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2009/pi2009019_759106.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

A rebound in the greenback could take a massy bite out of U.S. corporate profits. With the world economy in turmoil, expect extreme currency movements to continue to nettle investors

By Ben Steverman

Watch original video:

Investors in U.S. shares were celebrating the weak U.S. dollar last year. Now that the buck has strengthened, it’s payback time.

For the first half of 2008, the dollar was stuck in the doldrums, but that was good news for U.S. companies. While their domestic market was in recession, U.S. firms could report big sales figures from abroad. Sales made overseas in expensive euros or pounds looked that much larger when brought back home and converted into common dollars.

That changed dramatically in late 2008 then the financial crisis heated up and it became clear that the economic slowdown would have being global. The U.S. dollar alphabetical table of references, a measure of the greenback to counter-poise a basket of foreign currencies, jumped additional than 20% in four months, peaking in late November.

This fourth-quarter transmission from hand to hand whiplash should show up dramatically in end-of-the-year financial results. The fourth-quarter earnings temper officially starts on Jan. 12, when Alcoa (AA) reports results.

Investors already have been given previews of the damage from the dollar’session comeback:

Oracle (ORCL) earnings per share were flat in its support quarter, but proceeds would have risen 11% without the dollar’s rebound, the software firm reported Dec. 18. Almost half of Oracle’s sales in the quarter came from outside the Americas.

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) disclosed Jan. 8 that its international revenue would be obliged risen 8.3% in December if not as far as concerns the strong dollar. Instead, remain month’session international sales plunged 10.4%—a $2.2 billion bite out of the world’s largest retailer’s sales.

General Mills (GIS), which reported results Jan. 9, saw the impact of currency shave eight percentage points off sales growth for its international office. International sales still managed to rise 2%.

Best Buy (BBBY) aforesaid Jan. 9 that foreign money; aggregate of coin exchange rates cut international sales by means of 16 percentage points.

Carnival Cruise (CCL) said Dec. 8 that net revenue yields—a measure in the cruise labor of return compared to available ship capacity—would be off 11% to 15% in 2009 through changes in traffic rates.

The stronger U.S. dollar isn’privately all detrimental news in the place of U.S. firms. Their expenses abroad are also falling. Even as Alcoa announced it was cutting 13,500 jobs, the aluminum company also said it would need to spend $150 million less to bring to an end a mine and refinery in Brazil—because of "efficiencies and a strengthened U.S. dollar."

That’s small comfort to a company like Alcoa, however, because of the trouble a weak dollar causes notwithstanding commodity prices. "Companies that are hurt greatest in number by dint of. a rising dollar tend to be commodity companies," says John Derrick, director of research at U.S. Global Investors (GROW). "Typically, commodities act up to inversely to the dollar."

Original text: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2009/pi2009019_910728.htm?campaign_id=rss_null