Business and Finance

The declining U.S. jobless rate may soon get another push downward as Americans lose extended unemployment benefits.

From April 7 through May 12, about 370,000 Americans in 23 states stopped getting the benefits, which provide payments for as long as 99 weeks, according to estimates from the National Employment Law Project. People in the remaining six states and the District of Columbia who still qualify may lose eligibility by September, bringing the program to an end, the report showed.

Some recipients who lose their benefits may decide to accept jobs they view as less than ideal. Others may give up looking for work and drop out of the labor force, eliminating them from the ranks of the jobless. Those outcomes may trim the unemployment rate by 0.1 percentage point to 0.2 point in the next few months, according to economists Dean Maki at Barclays and Michael Feroli at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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Charter Communications cut its losses in the first quarter, while managing to reverse a long decline in customers subscribing to cable TV.

The company, by far the largest Internet and TV provider in St. Louis, reported a loss of $94 million, or 95 cents per share. A year earlier, the company lost $110 million or 97 cents per share.

Charter is gradually becoming less of a cable TV company and more of an Internet service and phone provider. Still, cable TV provides the biggest piece of its revenue, and the slow drop off of cable video customers has long vexed the company.

That trend changed in the March quarter as Charter added 20,000 video customers, bringing the total to 4.16 million, compared to a loss of 24,000 in the same period a year earlier. That was the first quarterly video growth in five years, said CEO Tom Rutledge in an investor conference Tuesday.

Rutledge said the company has been improving the quality of its TV picture signal and the number of channels. It will be offering 100 high definition channels by mid-year, he said. It’s also been raising prices; about 40 percent of its video customers saw a 3 percent price increase recently.

Loss of video customers is common story in the cable TV business, which is facing more competition as telecom companies role out video services, such as AT&T’s U-verse, in a broader geographic area. Charter’s strongest competition is from satellite TV companies, Rutledge said. Internet streaming services, such as Netflix, aren’t a big factor in cable TV subscriber losses, he said.

“Our video competitors often offer more channels, including more HD channels, and typically only offer digital services which have a better picture quality compared to our analog product,” the company said in a filing Tuesday with the SEC. Charter offers both analog and digital services. People using older TVs without a digital converter box receive an analog signal.

Despite the rise in customers, revenues from video dropped 2 percent, in part because fewer people are paying for premium channels or using its pay video-on-demand service.

Overall, Charter’s revenue grew 3 percent as demand for Internet and phone service increased. Charter added 141,000 residential Internet customers compared a 90,000 gain a year earlier. It added 31,000 phone customers, up from 24,000 last year.

While making money on its basic operations, Charter remains burdened by $12.8 billion in debt and faces continuing costs to upgrade its systems.

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Who wouldn’t want to get paid to go shopping? That’s partly the allure behind “mystery shopper” scams.

While they aren’t new, these phony “we’ll-pay-you-to-shop”-type ads sprouted like online weeds during the recession as job-hungry Americans hunted for employment.

Law enforcement and some financial institutions say they’re spotting mystery shopping scam attempts — which involve phony checks deposited into a victim’s bank account — several times a week.

“We’ve been seeing it pretty frequently since 2005,” said Vanessa Oddo, finance loss prevention manager for SAFE Federal Credit Union in North Highlands, Calif. She said 200 to 300 suspect checks get brought in to SAFE branches every year.

Similarly, the Northeast California Better Business Bureau office said it gets two or three calls a day from consumers asking about mystery shopper checks they’ve received in the mail.

The losses can be anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on how much was deposited into the unsuspecting shopper’s bank account.

There are plenty of legitimate mystery shopping companies, which hire individuals to drop in unannounced at retailers, hotels, fast food outlets, restaurants and other businesses to secretly evaluate customer service.

But the fraudulent kind typically operate as fake check scams.

Making contact by mail, email or phone, a fraudster posing as a mystery shopping company “hires” an unsuspecting consumer, who is promised payment after completing a “first assignment totally free credit score.” That assignment often involves sending a phony check to the consumer’s home, with instructions to deposit it in a bank account, keep a small amount as reimbursement, then wire the remainder to Western Union, ostensibly to report on the wire company’s “customer service.”

Ultimately, the phony check bounces, leaving the victim’s bank account dinged for the total amount, as well as wire transfer charges and potential bank fees.

“You see more of these during a recession, when people are searching for jobs or ways to (make) more money. Scammers plan on that,” said Dan Denston, executive director of the North America Mystery Shopping Providers Association, or MSPA, based in Louisville, Ky.

Even legitimate companies that hire mystery shoppers are not immune from scammers. National Shopping Service in Rocklin, Calif., one of at least 16 mystery shopper firms in California, said it, too, has been victimized by scammers who used the company’s name in fake-check scams.

“The majority of people getting these letters and falling for the scams were not even our shoppers. Unfortunately, they got scammed,” said Katy Gravatt, National’s operations manager.

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Billionaire Warren Buffett says his company’s purchase of his hometown newspaper last year may not be the last one even though newspapers face significant challenges.

A Berkshire Hathaway shareholder questioned whether last year’s purchase of the Omaha World-Herald in Buffett’s hometown was a personal indulgence.

Buffett defends the deal and says he believes Berkshire will profit from its ownership of the Omaha World-Herald company and the Buffalo News. It’s just that the profits won’t be as good as they used to be guaranteed payday loan.

Buffett says newspapers are usually still the primary source of local information, and that’s an advantage in places where community is important.

Buffett acknowledges that newspapers face difficult competition from online news sources and have high costs, but says Berkshire’s newspaper deals should work out OK.

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Stocks are opening sharply lower after a mostly strong start to the week, yanked down by concerns about the debt crisis in Europe.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 75 points to 13,041 in the opening minutes of trading Wednesday, a day after soaring 194 points, its biggest this year.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 is down six at 1,384 and the Nasdaq composite index is down 11 points to 3,032.

Spain, which sent markets higher Tuesday after its successful bond sale, reported that the proportion of bad loans at the country’s banks rose to an 18-year high low fee payday loans.

In the U.S., Halliburton rose 3 percent after the oil services company posted a 23 percent jump in first-quarter profits.

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The Philippines central bank will gauge the impact of two interest rate cuts this year when it assesses monetary policy at this week

Alcoa may have given a slumping Wall Street just what it needed: a surprise profit.

The largest U.S. aluminum manufacturer said Tuesday that it earned 9 cents share in the first quarter. It surpassed analyst forecasts for a small loss by selling more aluminum to a wide range of customers, including car makers and aircraft manufacturers, and operating its plants more efficiently.

Alcoa is considered a barometer for the economy. It’s also the first of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones industrial average to report results. Its stock rose 5.3 percent in after-hours trading, providing hope that the stock market might halt its longest and deepest slump of the year on Wednesday.

“It looks like they’re going to get the earnings season off on a good note,” said Argus Research analyst Bill Selesky.

Alcoa’s net income of $94 million marks a turnaround from the $191 million loss it reported for the fourth quarter. But it’s 70 percent below net income of $308 million, or 27 cents a share, posted a in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue rose to $6 billion from $5.95 billion. Analysts predicted revenue of $5.77 billion.

Alcoa said sales rose from the fourth quarter across most of its markets, including automobiles, aerospace and other transportation, to packaging and industrial products. That offset lower realized prices for aluminum and alumina, a material used in processing aluminum.

Investors were anxiously waiting to see Alcoa’s results, scheduled for after the market closed. Fears of a bad earnings season contributed to a recent losing streak that wiped out more than half the first-quarter gain for the Dow, and more than a third for the Standard & Poor’s 500.

On Tuesday, the Dow lost more than 213 points as renewed concerns over Europe’s debt crisis, now focusing on Spain, were added to the earnings jitters.

During the first quarter, analyst expectations for earnings for companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index went from an increase of about 3 percent to a decline of 0.1 percent, according to FactSet.

Investors were also watching for Alcoa’s forecast for 2012 global aluminum demand cash advance america. It reaffirmed its expectation for a 7 percent increase. The company expects strong demand for aluminum used in autos, heavy trucks and trailers to remain strong in North America, which accounts for nearly 50 percent of Alcoa’s business.

In the U.S., auto sales rose 13 percent to 3.5 million cars and trucks in the first quarter, and car companies and suppliers were scrambling to meet demand. Many analysts expect the auto industry to have its best sales year since 2007. A trade group for the aluminum industry said that car and trucks made in the U.S. contain an average of 343 pounds of aluminum. That’s about 9 percent of the weight of a vehicle.

The company also expects China’s automotive market to grow as much as 7 percent this year. Demand for aluminum remains weak in Europe, which is struggling to resolve a sovereign debt crisis.

Alcoa’s upbeat earnings could be a good sign for other materials companies. The materials sector _ including metals and mining, diversified chemicals and construction materials _ was expected to show the biggest decline.

“When you look at all the cost cuts (materials) companies did during the recession, they’re a lot leaner now than they were a couple of years ago,” Selesky said. “I think it points to companies doing a bit better than originally expected just based on running a more efficient, leaner company.”

Alcoa cut some smelting and refining operations earlier this year after demand fell late in 2011 as customers became concerned about a slowing global economy. And, faced with high costs for raw materials and energy, Alcoa boosted productivity.

“It’s just a significant effort from all of our businesses and, obviously, the key factor in our earnings improvement,” Chief Financial Officer Chuck McLane told analysts during a conference call.

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The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday that it is selling the remaining 2,770,117 common shares it holds in Central Pacific Financial Corp (CPF.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) at $13.15 a share for expected proceeds of $36 million.

Treasury put $135 million into the company as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program during the financial crisis and, after the latest sale, will have received proceeds back of $71 payday loan lenders.9 million.

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Rates to ship iron ore, the second- biggest cargo after oil, are poised to drop to the lowest level in a decade after China cut its growth target, signaling weaker demand from the world

Oil prices hit a new nine-month high Thursday as the dollar fell and gas pump prices climbed closer to $4 a gallon across much of the country.

Benchmark crude prices rose by $1.55 to end the day at $107.83 per barrel in New York. That’s the highest price since May 4 of last year. Brent crude increased by 72 cents to finish at $123.62 per barrel in London.

The rise in oil prices has helped push retail gasoline prices to record levels for this time of year. Benchmark crude has increased 9 percent so far in 2012, and gas pump prices are up about 5 percent.

Retail gasoline prices added another 3 cents Thursday for a national average of $3.61 a gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular has already topped $4 in California, Hawaii and Alaska. Gasoline is nearly $3.90 per gallon in New York and Connecticut. Analysts think we could see a national average of $4.25 a gallon by April.

The ongoing tension between western nations and Iran is continuing to drive oil prices higher.

Iran, the world’s third-biggest oil exporter, already has cut off shipments to Britain and France, and it may halt exports to other European countries. Iran also has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway in the Persian Gulf through which one-sixth of the world’s seaborne exports flow every day.

Experts doubt Iran will try to dramatically cut shipments, given its dependence on oil sales. About half of the country’s revenue comes from crude. But many investors are snapping up oil contracts in case tensions escalate further.

“The Iranian influence remains as a major driver” in oil prices, independent analyst and trader Jim Ritterbusch said.

In addition to an oil embargo set to start this summer, European Union leaders said Thursday that the EU is preparing regulations that will put further financial pressure on Iran by keeping its banks from using a major financial clearinghouse no fax cash advances.

Oil prices got an extra boost Thursday afternoon as the dollar fell against the euro and other major currencies. Oil is priced in U.S. currency and tends to rise as the dollar falls and makes crude cheaper for investors with foreign money.

Oil prices are higher even though U.S. petroleum demand has been tanking compared to a year ago. The Energy Information Administration said Thursday that demand has dropped 6.7 percent for oil, and 6.1 percent for gasoline. The U.S. remains the world’s biggest oil consumer, but government data show that demand is growing the most overseas in developing countries like China.

Meanwhile, the price of natural gas fell after the government said supplies remain significantly higher than average for this time of year. Natural gas futures on Thursday fell by 2 cents to finish at $2.62 per 1,000 cubic feet in New York.

A boom in North American shale drilling has filled underground storage facilities across the country. The Energy Information Administration says supplies are more than 40 percent higher than the five-year average.

Major natural gas producers recently cut back on production, as prices linger around a 10-year low. But analysts say they’re not doing enough to reduce the glut.

“There’s still an avalanche of gas available right now,” said Gene McGillian, a broker and oil analyst at Tradition Energy.

In other energy trading, heating oil rose 2 cents to finish at $3.29 per gallon and gasoline futures rose by 3 cents to end at $3.11 per gallon.

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