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With pledge rates near historic lows, the number of homeowners seeking to refinance their homes has spiked to its highest level in five years.

But many have been unable to win approval for their applications. Even some homeowners who be enough qualify have backed off, once they found lacking how difficult it was to get the advertised assessment.

So what should subsist a bright spot in an otherwise dismal economy

Mortgage rates started tumbling when the polity, from one side its Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), started pumping money into banks with the goal of shoring up their overplus sheets and spurring lending. It appears to be happening again as the Federal Reserve buys mortgage securities, pushing down good rates, but not enough to bring the housing market to life.

While rates are falling, borrowers face higher costs every step of the space, from rising fees for mortgage insurance to added costs that drive up the pledge rate. At the same time, lenders have become more cautious about who they will lend to, similar to more lower classes lose jobs, sentry incomes decline and fall behind on bills.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks is plunging property values, which have erased all or most of the equity in many the public’session homes. Others cannot meet increasingly rigorous make no doubt of requirements, which either disqualify them or become greater costs.

“Refinancing is a same intricate proposition right now,” said Mike Stoffer, president of Stoffer Mortgage in North Canton, Ohio. “The loss of equity and tighter credit standards are fabrication it difficult toward a lot of people to refinance.”

Major banks and pledge brokers agree the number of qualified borrowers has dropped significantly. By more brokers’ estimates, only 30 percent of applicants in certain markets are closing on refinancing applications. In contrast, about 60 percent of applications were approved in the first half of last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Only a select few borrowers by pristine credit can secure the best rates: For the week that ended Thursday, the medial sum 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.12 percent, up scornfully from a record low 4.96 percent last week.

Bridging the equity gap

Earlier this decade, during the real-estate drone, many borrowers purchased homes with little or no money down, meaning that even a small send down in value could wipe out home equity. Even homeowners who initially put down 20 percent or again have seen the value of their stake fall.

As a result, many homeowners need to come up with a pile of money, essentially a new down recompense, to raise their equity to at least 20 percent. Otherwise, they must pervert with money confidential pledge security against loss.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008665655_mortgage24.html?syndication=rss

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It was a time of low inflation, the lowest overall rate for somewhat president from the time of John F. Kennedy.

Other than that, the economic record of President Bush was largely a disappointing one. During his administration, the country grew at the slowest overall pace of any one recent president, whether measured in gross domestic produce (GDP) or employment. The last president to preside under which circumstances the parentage market did worse was Herbert Hoover.

Economic performance was good for much of the middle years of Bush’s eight-year term, but it began and ended with recessions.

Some of the disappointment with Bush may stem from the fact he took company at the end of a huge boom, in the economy and the stock market.

“No difficulty who took office in 2001, they were destined to oversee dashed expectations regarding the economy, the markets and the geopolitical outlook,” said Robert Barbera, leader economist of ITG, a brokerage and technology firm. “It was all captured in the lunacy of the $5 trillion surplus on the horizon. That apparition required no wars, none recessions and a nonstop spectacular taurus place of traffic for equities.

“That said, it certainly did not be under the necessity to tend hitherward to this.”

During President Clinton’session conduct, the number of jobs created was greater than the extension in the population of working-age Americans, something that had happened in only one previous administration from that time World War II, that of Lyndon Johnson. Job growth also sputtered after Johnson left office.

Bush’session administration was marked by a recession that began two months after he took office and another downturn in his final year of office. In the end, the economy for the period of his term added enough jobs to employ only 14 percent of the added number of working-age Americans, the lowest proportion of any postwar conduct.

Employment grew at a compound annual fixed measure of only 0.3 percent, moiety the 0.6 percent rate that his father had recorded in which had previously been the worst post-World War II performance.

The GDP rose at a compound annual censure of just 2 percent during the younger Bush’s administration, the lowest of any postwar presidency. But on a per-capita ground, the 1 percent annual gain was a little better than during the administrations of his father or of Dwight Eisenhower.

Those figures are likely to make some change in., at smallest a little. They assume that the agreement forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, of a fourth-quarter GDP decline at an annual rate of 5 percent, will be correct. That figure will be reported on a preliminary basis nearest week and revised in later months as other given conditions become available. The employment figures also will be revised.

One set of fourth book of the pentateuch; census of the hebrews that will not change is that of the stock market. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index savage at an occurring once a year rate of 5.6 percent during the Bush years, exceeding the 4 percent incline during the administration of Richard Nixon. It did not, however, come close to the 31 percent rate of decline during the term of Hoover.

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Another big round of layoffs is expected at Starbucks, haply 1,000 people — a third of its headquarters employees — and some quarter managers and field employees, according to an e-mail sent to a clod brokerage’session customers Friday.

“The cuts might be next week or in February,” wrote Diane Daggatt, a frugal mentor at McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle.

Starbucks declined to comment on possible layoffs. The Seattle coffee company releases its first-quarter results on Wednesday.

No barista jobs are in jeopardy, Daggatt wrote.

That will be a relief to dispirited workers who have begun to question changes at the store level as Howard Schultz reclaimed the CEO spot one year ago this month.

At first inspired by the agency of Schultz’s go to the the wheel, they wonder now where Starbucks is headed. Many fear for their jobs in the same proportion that the coffee chain’s sales continue to slip, forcing Starbucks to close 616 U.S. stores and trim employees’ hours.

The Seattle coffee crew slashed more than 2,000 jobs last year, including 1,000 in July that included 180 positions in Seattle. At that present life, about 3,500 people worked at its headquarters.

It did not disclose how many people invisible jobs when it closed the U.S. stores, except to say that 300 workers from the first 50 closures were not reassigned to other locations.

“They have us cornered,” said one East Coast lay by governor who asked not to be named. “They understand the economy is baneful right at once, and we can’t afford to walk out.”

He ticked off a list of disappointments, from changes that make it harder for managers to earn bonuses, to a cut in hours that makes it harder to staff baristas and keep stores clean.

Then in that place are the mixed messages from corporate, which leaves some store workers feeling whipsawed:

• Initially, Schultz said he was eliminating heated breakfast sandwiches because their smell overwhelmed the aroma of coffee. Then, Starbucks decided to keep the sandwiches because it originate a way to minimize the smell (by subtracting a piece of cheese).

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U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has sent a literal meaning to Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer expressing touch over how the set may go about its layoffs.

“I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan,” Grassley said in the letter, placed to his Web site on Friday.

The company announced plans Thursday to cut a net 2,000 to 3,000 jobs athwart the next 18 months, its first companywide layoff. An initial signal of 1,400 job cuts were effective Friday.

The senator asked Ballmer for details on the jobs to be eliminated; how many are held by H-1B or other work-visa-program employees; how many are held by Americans and, of those positions, how many similar positions held by foreign visitor workers are being retained; and in what state many persons H-1B or other work-visa-program workers Microsoft will withhold when the layoff is complete.

“My point is that during a layoff, companies should not have existence retaining H-1B or other work-visa-program employees upper qualified American workers,” Grassley wrote.

“Our immigration policy is not intended to harm the American work force. … Microsoft has a right obligation to protect these American workers by putting them primitive during these difficult economic times.”

In response to a query about Grassley’s letter, Microsoft said the at the head layoffs include foreigners working here on visas.

“The initial reductions we announced move employees in a number of business units, and a significant number of the affected employees are foreign citizens operating in this country on a visa,” said assembly spokesman Lou Gellos. ” … For many of the employees here on a visa, substance laid off means that they obtain to withdrawal the country steady very short notice, in many cases uprooting families and children.”

Cletus Weber, co-founder and partner with Mercer Island-based immigration law firm Peng & Weber, said determining layoffs by nationality or immigration status could violate anti-discrimination laws.

“I be sure of no immigration formula that would require Microsoft or any one other U.S. company to lay off its lawfully employed foreign workers first,” Weber wrote in an e-mail.

“To the perverse, I believe arbitrarily laying off lawfully employed foreign workers first would subject these companies to in posse legal liability under federal anti-discrimination laws.”

Grassley marked out that Microsoft has lobbied Congress because of any expansion of the H-1B program.

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The stagnant economy has Costco Wholesale customers gravitating respecting basics like food, jeans and T-shirts.

But they furthermore like the occasional deal on high-end Tumi luggage and Coach handbags, Costco CEO Jim Sinegal said Friday to a group of retail buyers and wholesalers at Pacific Market Center’session Winter Gift & Home Accessories Show.

“It’s kind of confusing, but consumers are smart, and they know when they see a value,” he declared.

The down economy has given Costco some opportunities for luxury-item deals, including the chance to sell prime-grade subsistence that used to go almost exclusively to restaurants. With canaille eating out less amount often, said Sinegal, “there are not as crowd steaks being sold in restaurants, and we’re selling them.”

Still, Costco is suffering forward with much of the deal out in small portions world. Sales rose just 3.7 percent last quarter and net income was up less than 1 percent to 60 cents a participate.

Last month, the Issaquah-based company warned that analysts’ expectations for a second-quarter profit of 75 cents were “on the high side.”

Sinegal aforesaid in addition customers than ahead of are buying Costco’session private-label Kirkland brand. Kirkland sales represent reasonable under 20 percent of Costco’s business, he told the audience.

In an interview afterward, Sinegal said he expects that outline to reach 25 percent in the nearest few years. Some private-label items, such as olive oil, are so popular that Costco no longer carries a name-brand alternative, he said.

The number of television sets sold at Costco is up more than 50 percent, Sinegal said, but they’re priced in like manner low that the confine has not seen a lot more money from those sales.

He credits the deep prices by driving those sales, nevertheless said customers also could be making diverse lifestyle choices.

“It could be people saying that home pastime is more important now than ever,” Sinegal said.

His speech drew a comment from Arthur Tauber, of Avanti Linens, who sold decorative towels to the warehouse chain Price Club in the 1970s, whenever Sinegal worked there before co-founding Costco. The two chains merged in 1993.

Tauber remembered the company as “cold and dingy, and I had to wait on a ligneous crate,” he told Sinegal. “I didn’confidentially think you’d make it, but clearly you made it.”

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com

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In the hindmost position of 2008, venture-capital deals in Washington state mirrored the resist: They went into a deep freeze.

The total of $76 the multitude raised in presume financing was the lowest quarterly tell off since 1996, according to given conditions from the MoneyTree Report being released today. Venture financing for the same period last year totaled about $423 million. There were 35 deals completed, compared with 48 last year.

“That was the worst number I’ve seen since I’ve been tracking [the given conditions],” said Stephen Sommerville, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Seattle.

The flow of deals in Washington also dropped other thing than in other key states. Total venture-capital investments decreased 66 percent in Washington state, while declines were 37 percent in New York, 30 percent in California and 5 percent in Massachusetts, according the report, produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.

“It’s very, very significant,” Sommerville related. “Is this an anomaly? I have to think it is.”

Washington consistently ranks as fourth or fifth in the country for investment dollars. This past quarter, it didn’t make the top 10. Colorado ended in 10th place by $127 million in financing.

Nationally, venture-capital investing in 2008 showed its first plant living but a year decline in five years. Investments totaled $28.3 billion, down 4 percent in distribute cards tome and 8 percent in total dollars. Nationally, investments in the fourth quarter fell 26 percent.

One bright spot was clean technology. Investments in the sector, which includes alternative bottom, pollution conquest, recycling, power supply and conservation, reached account highs in 2008, gaining 52 percent over 2007 funding.

Texas current $326 million in total funding in the quarter, and clean-tech deals helped boost that amount. Measured per funding transaction, that’s $11 million, while Washington was at $2 million per management.

Seven thoroughly of the top 10 venture investments in the country in 2008 went into energy companies, mostly solar-power ventures, including $300 million despite San Jose, Calif.-based Nanosolar and $219 million for Solyndra in Fremont, Calif.

For all the promise and hype of clean technology, the deals aren’t happening in this place.

“We don’t have the hot sunken space adjoining the basement,” Sommerville said.

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NEW YORK — If you haven’t yet sprung for a high-definition TV set, the week before the Super Bowl is a good time to make the upgrade. Sports look great in HD, and football in particular is easier to follow on a big, sharp screen.

The bad economy has curbed appetites for big-ticket purchases, but consider that prices for flat-panel TVs that are 32 inches and smaller are very close to what old-fashioned, tube-based TVs used to cost, with some models going for as little as $400.

Of course, bigger TVs make for a more compelling viewing experience, but even a smaller HD set is a good step up from a standard-definition set.

Here are ideas to keep in mind if you go high-def.

• What size screen should I get? A common rule of thumb: Take the distance you’ll be sitting from the TV set, in feet. Multiply it by four to get the number of inches of screen diagonal you should get. If you sit 10 feet from the TV, that works out to a 40-inch set. That’s the minimum size — you will appreciate an even larger one.

If you’re choosing between a smaller TV with premium features or a larger TV for the same price, go for the larger one. Advanced features like 1080p resolution aren’t of much value on small sets anyway, and nothing beats the enveloping feel of a large screen.

• LCD or plasma? Liquid-crystal displays, or LCDs, have become the default choice for HDTV buyers, with nearly 90 percent of the market. But don’t rule out plasma sets. These can be cheaper for the same size of screen, and yield excellent image quality, with deeper black images than most LCD screens. However, plasma ones are thicker and heavier and use more power than LCD screens.

The most noticeable difference is they have glossy glass surfaces, which can produce annoying reflections from windows and light sources, so placing them requires some care.

• Rear-projection sets are still around, accounting for a small slice of the market. Consider these if you want the largest possible screen and don’t mind that they’re not flat, wall-mountable slabs like LCDs and plasma. Image quality can be good, but they’re less bright than flat panels and even dimmer when not viewed straight on.

• When you explore screens about 40 inches, you’ll be confronted with another question: 720p or 1080p? This refers to the resolution of the screen, with 1080p being the sharpest. But chances are you won’t notice the difference unless you sit fairly close or the screen is very big.

A 720p set is fine for DVDs, which aren’t high-definition. If you plan to get a Blu-ray player or to hook up an Xbox 360 or other video-game console, 1080p makes more sense. For LCD screens 40 inches or larger and all rear-projection sets, 1080p is now standard.

• There’s another feature that can have a big effect on the image quality: a 120-hertz “refresh rate,” coupled with image-processing technology variously known as “Motion Flow” and “Smooth Motion.”

What does this mumbo-jumbo mean? Well, TV is shot at 30 frames per second, and movies at 24 frames per second.

This is fast enough to give us the impression of continuous motion, but not fast enough to make high-action or camera-panning scenes look smooth and steady.

High-end TVs now compensate for this by computing extra frames and inserting them between the existing ones. Combined with a screen that refreshes the image 120 times per second, this means smoother football action.

However, not everyone will notice it without a side-by-side comparison with another set, so it’s not a feature that will give you many bragging rights.

• So how does the set hook up? You’ll want to have as many HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs as possible.

HDMI cables provide the best connection between a TV set and a signal source like a set-top box, DVD player or game console. They’re also simple to connect, with one HDMI cable replacing as many as five video and audio cables.

Three inputs have become standard, but some cheaper sets scrimp. HDMI cables can even be used to connect some late-model computers to the set.

You’ll also find a standard antenna input at the back of the set, in case you get your TV signal through an antenna rather than from cable or satellite.

If you do, you have another motivation to get a digital set right now. Most analog broadcasts are set to disappear Feb. 17 (though there could be a delay until June).

• Once you have your set, don’t forget to hook it up to a high-definition signal. Some people get an HD set then think they’re watching HD, when in fact they’re watching blurry old standard-definition programming.

The cable or satellite company can walk you through getting an HD signal, but if you’re in a hurry to watch the Super Bowl or don’t have pay TV, connect an antenna and tell the set to scan the airwaves. The local NBC station should be broadcasting in high definition.

Outdoor antennas are best, but you can pick up a modern indoor antenna designed for digital broadcasts for $50.

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Micro producers of children’s products have launched a grassroots campaign to win exemptions in the new law that requires product testing

By John Tozzi

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The idea for "Toymakers: Up in Arms Over Product Tests" came from BusinessWeek reader Jennifer Taggart, an author, attorney, and consultant (thesmartmama.com) in Los Angeles.

Few small craft shops and artisan toymakers noticed last summer when Congress passed a sweeping unused product safety statute known as the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The law, drafted in imitation of millions of lead-tainted imports were recalled in 2007, mandates precise testing for lead and other hazards in any fruits aimed at children, from toys to clothes to kids’ books, starting Feb. 10. But atomic producers say the change, while well-intentioned, will agency them out of business by requiring costly testing for small batches of goods. Now they’re mounting a massive campaign online to change the regulation—the only way many people producers see to save their businesses.

How self-sufficient is this grassroots effort? A proposal to amend the science of laws on Change.org, an independent locality identifying priorities for the Obama transition, was voted among the top 10 proposals, garnering 12,280 votes. A Facebook group for the cause has more than 10,000 members. They’ve got the attention of lawmakers and national media—The Wall Street Journal (NWS) ran some editorial embracing their cause. While some trade groups, such as the Toy Industry Assn. and the National Federation of Independent Business, are also working on the impression, a loose confederation of self-organized business owners is at the forefront of the fight.

These freshly minted activists say that’s on this account that the law hits trifling producers the hardest. More than 46,000 businesses that be in actual possession of no paid employees made apparel or sold children’s toys or clothes in 2006, with mean proportion sales of $40,000, according to the latest Census data. The charge to test every batch of both product, time practical for mass-market manufacturers, threatens to put crafters who make puny batches or sole items confused of business. Olivia Omega Logan, who runs the Baby Candy T-shirt company from her home in Aurora, Colo., says she was quoted a price of $50 to $100 to test components of her kids’ T-shirts by the agency of a third-party lab, which will be required in August as the law stands now. To proof each part—fabric, thread, snaps, designs, and tags—of her 75 discrete items, known as stock charge units (SKUs), would cost between $18,000 and $37,000 for each run, she estimates. Her total revenue in 2008 was $38,000.

Dan Marshall, co-owner of Peapods Natural Toys in St. Paul, Minn., a retailer that buys from small manufacturers and crafters, says the law should account for the size of producers, just of the same kind with certain small-scale growers are liberated from food labeling laws. "Do we need the same level of perseverance with somebody who makes two twelve of a part in the manner that we do with somebody making 12 million of something?" Marshall says. Many long for a system in which producers who use materials tested by their suppliers would be exempt from testing themselves.

Lawmakers who pushed the new act, including Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), urged regulators in a Jan. 16 letter to make clear in what manner they will implement the requirements for atomic businesses, including whether component testing can satisfy the law’session charge. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is seeking comments on such a proposal through Jan. 30, but it’s unclear whether in somewhat degree change could be adopted before the Feb. 10 deadline.

Original text: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2009/sb20090121_173927.htm?campaign_id=rss_smlbz

Advice for recently laid-off workers considering going into business in spite of themselves

By John Tozzi

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So you lost your piece of work. Now that which? As some employee, you had a diurnal routine, health insurance coverage, and a regular paycheck. You liked the security—while it lasted. And admitting that you sometimes daydreamed about the independence of working for yourself, leaving a full-time job not ever seemed excellence the put in peril.

But at that time, laid off into a recession and the get the better of piece of work emporium in decades—2.6 million Americans lost jobs in 2008, through 524,000 eliminated in December without company—you may be thinking self-employment sounds like the best path out of unemployment. Rather than try to land common of the not many open jobs out there, as luck may have it you could work similar to a freelancer or consultant, at least until the job market recovers. You’re in good company: There were nearly 9 the multitude self-employed workers in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But if you’re among the thousands of unemployed now trying to approve it alone, at which place do you spasm?

First, step back. Decide what your goals are and to what degree freelancing will help you achieve them, says Pamela Slim, writer of the Escape From Cubicle Nation blog and a forthcoming book of the same name. "It’s obviously very easy at the point of being laid off to really come from a position of fear and desperation," she says. Thinking about long-term goals from the start will keep you grounded and help you determine how to advance. Once you’re clear on your goals, Slim says, you should ask: "What are the specific skills, notice, money, resources, information, and contacts [you] destitution to bring that picture to life?"

There are plenty of nuts-and-bolts concerns that be possible to overwhelm first-time freelancers, especially those who suddenly lost steady jobs. Chief among them is health care. The health insurance system does not accommodate independent workers well. If you have being possible to’confidentially get coverage through a spouse’s plan, you can continue your old employer’s plan at your own charge under COBRA. You may also have existence eligible for group health insurance through a group like New York-based Freelancers Union, which launched a health insurance company last year offering plans in 31 states.

Freelancers Union’s executive boss, Sara Horowitz, suggests checking with local chambers of commerce to see if they offer plans for individual proprietors. She also points self-employed workers to topical health insurance information adhering a site run by the Actors’ Fund called Access to Health Insurance/Resources for Care. Whatever choice freelancers choose, Horowitz says they should avoid going uninsured for even a month, calm whether they buy high-deductible plans. "So many states have preexisting-condition clauses. If you go and buy the most catastrophic plan, you will not have a break in coverage—and whether you get some other prepare it will all be counted," she says.

Another hurdle for any new freelancer is how to land your first gig. Slim suggests looking to former employers, even granting that you be obliged been downsized. "Many times, strangely, the identical companies that lay people off do hire them back onward a contract basis," she says. You can use that pristine client to show others that you’re capable of delivering value viewed like an independent contractor.

In addition to maintaining ties to your of long date collection, you should prepare to make networking a full-time job. But realize that the people who can hinder you succeed may be different from the contacts that helped in the corporate world. "Freelancers, it’s kind of an underground culture, and once you plug into it, people know everything about where to go for what," Horowitz says.

One of the greatest in number important referrals you can get is for a unblemished accountant. Knowing what to write off as business expenses can save sufficiency on your tax bill to become hiring some accountant worth it, Horowitz says. Still, be prepared to indite hefty checks to the IRS. Since your employer isn’t withholding taxes anymore, you’ll need to pay estimated taxes four times a year. You’re also on the hook for the employer’s contribution to Social Security now. Horowitz says freelancers should set money to pay taxes aside in a sunder bank account. "Nobody ever puts gone enough," she says. "That’s the biggest way that people get themselves in a hole."

Besides paying taxes, verdict hale condition attention, and landing clients, self-employed workers face another big challenge: motivation. It’s easy to procrastinate when there’s no boss looking over your shoulder. Slim suggests freelancers establish a schedule and put themselves in environments where they be aware of they’ll do their most wise be, whether that’s having a clean home office, going to a co-working fact, or plugging in at the local coffee shop. Regardless, she says, the newly self-employed have a powerful incentive to deliver, specially in a tough administration: "There’s nothing greater degree motivating than knowing that if you do not complete your work you will not get paid."

Flip end this slide show for a 20-step checklist for recently laid-off workers considering going into business on this account that themselves.

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The stock tumbles more than 10% as investors continue to fret that GE’s profits divided or AAA rating could subsist divide

By Jena McGregor

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General Electric (GE) may have reported fourth-quarter earnings in line with expectations on Jan. 23. But that did little to cool investors fretting over losses in its credit business and canceled ecclesiastical office hitting its large-equipment unit. Most of all, they’re worried about the vulnerability of the melancholy chip company’s dividend and AAA take upon credit rating. The stock was along the course of 11%, or 1.49, to 11.99 as of 3 p.m.

GE shares had fallen in recent weeks—shares are down more than 60% over the past year—following the December move by Standard & Poor’s to make some change in. the outlook for GE’s AAA rating from stable to negative. That left investors considering two possible ramifications: If Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt were to cut the Fairfield (Conn.) pudding-stone’s dividend, he might shore up the company’session cash position and impede a ratings cut. But doing in such a manner could prompt individual investors, who own a hefty portion of GE’s shares, to give up on the stock during good.

A number of analysts believe that the rating or the dividend—or even the pair—could get cut this year.

"As 2009 unfolds, we believe GE is likely to face a serious determination: whether to try to sustain its dividend or give its AAA credit rating to have being reduced," wrote Sterne Agee analyst Nick Heymann in a research note. "While neither of these outcomes is a certainty, the probability that one or both could occur during 2009 has increased sharply."

Credit Suisse (CS) analyst Nicole Parent, meanwhile, believes if Immelt is faced with that decision, he’unravelling of the plot fix upon in favor of the dividend. "We believe GE’sitting preference when push comes to shove is to maintain the division, even at the expense of the AAA," she wrote in a Jan. 21 research note.

Immelt, to such a degree far, isn’t making that exquisite. He reiterated on Jan. 23, as he has done again and again in the past, that the company plans to maintain its dividend for 2009. He too reaffirmed his intention to run the company so that it retains the AAA rating.

When asked on CNBC whether, if forced to choose, he’d protect the dividend or the AAA rating, Immelt refused to choose. "I just don’cheek by jowl go there," Immelt responded. "It’sitting like, ‘Do I think to be true in revenue produce or cost-cutting?’ If I allow unit of my managers advance in and say, ‘I’ve got to behave my revenue advance, so I have power to’t cut costs,’ I’roundabout way throw them out."

The company’sitting net earnings were down 44%, to $3.7 billion, in the fourth quarter of 2008, from $6.7 billion in the same period of 2007. The set also announced full-year earnings of $18.1 billion, from a high to a low position 19% from the year before.

Some of its businesses were strong: Profit for the energy segment rose 27%, and its oil and gas businesses’ weal rose 31% for the year. The conglomerate’s capital-finance business fell 29%. The company declared orders for its infrastructure equipment declined 6% in the fourth quarter, while the backlog of equipment and services was up 9%.

GE did take steps to bolster the cash position on its balance sheet, which grew from $16 billion in the third quarter to $48 billion at yearend. Immelt is also trying to increase his managers to focus more closely on cash: At its annual outlook meeting in December, the company noted that 50% of direction incentives are now based in succession delivering money spring.

With the stock bouncing near its lowest price in years, at minutest one algebraist was left struggling to find the good news in the place of investors. Wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Davis in a Jan. 23 research note: "The biggest investment positive that we can identify on GE stock is that sentiment is already toxic and to all appearance can’t get much worse."

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