Business and Finance

Bill Montgomery has a substantial lead on Rick Romley in the Republican race for Maricopa County Attorney.

As of 9 p.m. Montgomery led Romley 50 percent to 38 percent. By 10 p.m. the Associated Press called the race for Montgomery.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is backing Montgomery and has run ads critical of Romley quick guaranteed personal loans. Montgomery's win is also seen as a victory for Arpaio.

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Epic Energy Resources Inc. CEO John Ippolito resigned unexpectedly on Friday.

In addition, Tamar El-Rayess resigned from Epic’s board of directors.

Epic Chairman Alan Carnrite will serve as interim CEO, according to a statement by the company issued after market close on Friday.

In the statement, Carnrite offered no explanation for the sudden departures, saying only: "On behalf of the board and the company we want to thank Mr saving account payday loan. Ippolito and Mr. El-Rayess for their service and contribution to the company and wish them the very best."

Epic (OTC BB: EPCC) is an integrated energy services company based in The Woodlands.

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Most of Europe’s biggest banks passed stress tests aimed at shoring up confidence in the region’s economy, officials said Friday.

Officials led by the European Central Bank tested 91 banks, and all the major lenders passed. One state-owned German real estate bank, one Greek bank and five smaller Spanish banks failed and will have to raise new funds.

The test showed Europe’s banks could suffer 566 billion euros ($730 billion) in asset writedowns and trading losses over the next two years should the region suffer a recession and an interest rate spike tied to national solvency fears.

But officials said most banks would emerge from a downturn in good shape, with the regionwide bank capital level slipping by a point to 9%. The minimum safe level for the sake of the exercise was 6%.

Supervisors also said they would "welcome" individual banks’ publication of further information on the results of their individual examinations, which could afford investors further insight into lenders’ condition.

Policymakers published the test results in hopes of restoring confidence to European funding markets, which have been wracked by fears that a sovereign debt default will lead to another slew of bank failures.

The design of the test raised some eyebrows in the markets. Supervisors said they discounted the value of sovereign bonds held by banks, but only for those bonds held in the banks’ trading accounts paydayloans. Bonds that the banks plan to hold to maturity weren’t discounted under the test.

This leaves open the possibility that a bank holding Greek government bonds, for instance, could pass the test — and still suffer crippling losses in the case of a Greek default.

That’s a major weakness of the test, and will feed skepticism about whether the exercise actually accomplished anything.

Even so, the tests are likely to have at least a modestly positive effect on sentiment in the banking sector in Europe.

Stress tests conducted in the United States faced similar skepticism last year, with many observers contending they weren’t tough enough to show how banks might perform in a deep downturn.

A year later, banks are still under intense criticism for their failure to extend more loans to small businesses at a time of high unemployment. But few observers worry now about whether the biggest U.S. banks could withstand another economic downturn, which shows the stress tests worked much as backers like Fed chief Ben Bernanke promised. 

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Seeking to capitalize on the migration to Internet-based computing services, Town and Country-based Savvis Inc. released on Monday a new product that allows customers to better manage their information technology systems online.

The practice of moving away from hardware and software to programs and data storage on shared networks, known as cloud computing, is an accelerating trend.

A study commissioned by Savvis this year estimated that the number of companies that rely mostly on in-house IT infrastructure will drop to 49 percent in 2020 from 82 percent today.

However, many applications cannot easily communicate with one another in "the cloud," and customizing them so they can is often an expensive endeavor.
Savvis’ newest cloud computing product, the Symphony Virtual Private Data Center, lets customers ratchet up or down resources they need rather than buying a one-size-fits-all service.

It also lets customers easily combine applications within a cloud to organize their own data centers, Bryan Doerr, Savvis’ chief technology officer, said during a Monday conference call no teletrack payday loan.

For instance, a company could combine security, marketing and data-sharing applications within its own data cloud hosted by Savvis, Doerr said.

That type of application integration has not been readily accessible in cloud computing, said Steve Powell, president of Delta Systems, an IT, Internet and network hosting company in Columbia, Mo. Getting applications to communicate with each other on a cloud platform is generally expensive and hard to coordinate.

Savvis’ new offering is "definitely upping the ante," he said.

"If I were running an IT department in a medium to large company, I’d definitely give it a look," Powell said.

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IKEA is recalling more than 3 million additional window blinds after a child nearly strangled earlier this year, the government said Thursday.

This expands the furniture retailer’s previous recalls of the same types of blinds, bringing the total number of blinds recalled to more than 4.5 million.

All Roman blinds and roll-up blinds sold at IKEA nationwide from 1998 through June 2009 for between $5 and $55 are included in the recall, according to a statement from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Roller blinds without a tension device attached to the beaded chain are also part of the recall, because a child’s neck can become entangled in the looped chain if it isn’t attached to a wall or floor.

The three types of blinds were all recalled due to the risk of a child being strangled by a cord.

CPSC said the recall was announced a new report that a 1 year old boy had nearly strangled on a cord in February.

Previous recalls by IKEA of the same types of blinds came after reports that one child died and another was almost strangled cheap payday advance. About 790,000 Roman blinds were recalled in 2008 and 2009 and 533,000 roller blinds were recalled in 2009.

Roman blinds can cause strangulation if children pull the blind’s exposed cord out and wrap it around their necks, or put their necks between the blind’s inner cord and the back of the blind.

Roll-up blinds can strangle a child puts his or her neck in the loops used to lift the blinds after it falls off the blind.

Consumers should immediately stop using all Roman blinds and roll-up blinds and return them to IKEA for a full refund. Roller blinds without a tension device attached to the chain can also be returned.

For additional information, consumers can call IKEA toll-free at (888) 966-4532. 

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Stocks erased gains by the close Wednesday, with the Dow ending below 10,000 for the first time in three months, as worries about global growth and a slide in the euro overshadowed upbeat economic news.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost nearly 70 points, or 0.7%, ending at the lowest point since Feb. 8. The S&P 500 (SPX) index lost 6 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq (COMP) lost 15 points, or 0.7%.

A global market rally and a strong housing market report gave stocks a boost in the morning, but trading was choppy through the rest of the session as the euro weakened. Stocks slipped in the last hour of trading.

Stocks have tumbled in May, with the three major indexes all losing more than 10% each, falling into "correction" mode as investors have worried that Europe’s growing debt crisis is going to cut into U.S. and global economic growth.

A $1 trillion aid package announced by European leaders helped temper, but not eliminate, worries about the threat of so-called contagion stemming from problems with debt-plagued nations.

Greece got the ball rolling, but concerns remain about the other so-called PIIGS — Portugal, Italy, Ireland and most recently, Spain. News that Spain’s central bank had to take over one of the nation’s oldest savings banks over the weekend ushered in the latest wave of European-crisis driven worries. Reports of heightened tensions between North and South Korea added to jitters Tuesday.

Whether the stock correction - a decline of more than 10% off the highs - becomes a bear market - a drop of 20% to 30% off the highs - remains to be seen.

"A lot of indicators I watch suggest there is a turnaround coming, but the problem is the pullback has been pretty dramatic," said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

He said that a lot of investors who were skeptical of the huge rally off the March 2009 lows have been waiting for the ideal pullback to get back in, after several smaller pullbacks failed to cross the 10% threshold.

"That pullback is here," he said. "The question is whether they have enough nerve to come back in or will they look at it as evidence that the runup was a false rally."

Euro: The European currency has seesawed since falling to a four-year low of $1.2146 last week.

On Wednesday, the euro fell 1.4% versus the dollar but remained above that four-year low. The dollar lost 0.3% against the yen.

Volatility: The CBOE Volatility index, or the VIX (VIX), Wall Street’s fear factor, ended modestly higher after having fallen through most of the session. The VIX had dropped as much as 13% as the market initially rallied, but turned higher when stocks fell.

Economy: New home sales jumped 15% in April, thanks to still-low mortgage rates and a homebuyer tax credit that expired at the end of last month. Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 504,000 from a revised 439,000 in the previous month. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected sales of 425,000.

Another report released before the start of trading showed that durable goods orders rose 2.9% in April, versus forecasts for a gain of 1.5%. Goods orders were flat in March, a revision on an earlier reading that showed a drop in orders.

However, orders excluding transportation fell 1% after rising 4.8% in the previous month. Economists thought orders excluding transportation would rise 0.7%.

World markets: Stocks around the world rebounded. Markets in Europe gained in late trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 2%, Germany’s DAX gained 1.6% and France’s CAC 40 climbed 2.3%.

Asian markets also bounced back following a steep sell-off Tuesday on increased tension between North and South Korea. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1%. China’s Shanghai Composite ended just above unchanged.

Commodities: U.S. light crude oil for July delivery rose $2.76 to settle at $71.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a gain of over 4%.

COMEX gold for June delivery rose $15.40 to settle at $1,213.40 an ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices tumbled, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.24% from 3.16% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Trading volume: Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers three to two on volume of 1.94 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners seven to six on volume of 3.08 billion shares. 

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A key index of prices paid by consumers ticked lower in April but is still higher from a year earlier, the government said Wednesday.

The Consumer Price Index, the Labor Department’s key measure of inflation, has increased 2.2% over the last year. But that is the smallest 12-month increase since January 1966.

"Inflation continues to be a non-issue," said Anika Khan, Wells Fargo economist, in a research note.

On a monthly basis, CPI fell by 0.1% in April. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected a 0.1% jump. The decline was largely due to a 1.4% drop in the energy index, the report said.

Despite its April decline, the energy index has soared 18.5% over the last year.

The small overall CPI increases "should continue to allow the Fed to keep short-term interest rates low," Khan said.

Core CPI: The even more closely watched core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.9% on an annual basis and was unchanged over the month.

Index-by-index: The food index jumped 0.5% on an annual basis. It rose 0.2% in April, the same increase as the previous month.

The indexes for recreation, new and used motor vehicles, and medical care also posted increases in April. Other sectors declined, including apparel and household furnishings.

CPI is based on prices of goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Prices are collected each month in 87 urban areas across the country, from about 4,000 residences and 25,000 stores. 

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Alpin Haus Pools & Ski Shop will celebrate the opening of its new store in Clifton Park, N.Y., on May 14.

The 6,000-square-foot store is located at Clifton Park Center at 22 Clifton Country Road.

Alpin Haus President Andy Heck will be joined by local officials at 2 p.m. to mark the store’s opening.

The store sells pools, patio furniture, spas, skis, snow boards and winter apparel. It also offers computerized water testing, weekly pool cleaning and service for all makes of pools.

Alpin Haus recently closed its former store in town on Sitterly Road along the Northway that sold recreational vehicles and pop-up trailers. That property is for sale.

Alpin Haus continues to sell RVs at its headquarters in Amsterdam and in Wilton. The company is the largest, independently-owned RV dealer in the Northeast.

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For 18-year-old Stephanie Gielarowski, it was a school-sponsored trip to China that sparked her interest in Asia.

“I’ve always liked to travel,” she said, but it was that trip last summer where she saw first-hand the economic importance of the region.

“It’s important to be involved and educated in Asia,” she said, including understanding the region’s history and culture. It’s this newfound awareness that spurred her to pursue international business in college. So far, she says, her plan is to study at the University of South Carolina.

Gielarowski is one of hundreds of students who, over the years, have traveled abroad as part of one of the many programs offered by Upper St. Clair High School, which ranked No. 1 out of 123 high schools in western Pennsylvania, according to an analysis of Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Exam results conducted by the Pittsburgh Business Times.

The school’s Asian travel opportunities, which include a summer trip to China and an exchange to Thailand, are relatively new compared with some of the European programs, such as a German exchange that has been offered for 20 years.

Together, the school’s seven different language classes, its international and Asian studies, and its opportunities to travel prepare students for the world beyond western Pennsylvania.

“It really opens their eyes to their magnitude and place in the world,” in addition to preparing them for adulthood, said Principal Michael Ghilani.

Mary Eddins, an 18-year-old senior, participated in the Thai exchange her sophomore year and has taken the Asian Studies class offered by the school. Of her trip to Thailand, she says, “that opened my eyes up globally.”

Her previous foreign travel consisted of vacations to Mexico or the Caribbean, but that only offered the resort experience, whereas staying with a host family, “you’re immersed with the culture more, you learn the culture first-hand.”

That sentiment was echoed by Junior Rachel Amoroso, 16, who went on the exchange earlier this year.

“It was really a life changing experience,” she said. “I had never been out of the country before.”

But that cross culture taste has her hungry for more, and she is planning on studying abroad in college. In fact, she says, most of her questions at college fairs revolve around whether a school offers study abroad instant payday loan no telecheck.

In addition to sending students overseas, Upper St. Clair High School also has foreign students come to Pittsburgh. In the spring, the school hosts Thai students and teachers. This April, 38 Thai students and three teachers arrived in Upper St. Clair.

The Thai exchange not only exposes the students to a new culture, but it also offers the entire community a way to connect. Organizing the program has become a labor of love for Thai native and Pittsburgh transplant Luck Kosoladolkitt. She first put the program together when her son was a junior and she wanted him to have a study abroad experience. From there, it has grown.

“The high school level is the most important time for students to make a decision before they go to university,” she said of the experiences of both the Thai and Upper St. Clair students. “They are in their teens, and they don’t know exactly what they want to do with their own life; this gives them the opportunity” to see other possibilities.

As part of the exchange, all of the students, Thai and American, host a Thai Night Gala in Upper St. Clair where the Thai culture is celebrated. The event also is a fundraiser to help pay for the program.

Many of the students who have gone on the Thai exchange or the summer trip to China also take the Asian Studies class that is offered. The semester-long elective looks at modern Asia as well as Asian history, and the curriculum was developed with the help of the University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center.

“We are a global society,” said Lauren Davidovich, who is teaching the current semester’s Asian Studies course. “Asia may not have been addressed as it should have been, and we would be remiss not to study it.”

In addition to personal growth offered by foreign travel, the school’s programs have students looking at careers in international business after they saw the economic importance of Asia.

Davidovich also noted that combining the class plus the real travel experience offers the students a unique perspective.

“Education breeds understanding,” she said.

For more, visit the Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools homepage.

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Those baggage fees really add up: The airline industry raked in nearly $8 billion from fees last year, according to a government report.

The revenue from so-called ancillary fees totaled $7.8 billion in 2009, according to U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That’s a 40% increase from 2008, when the revenue from ancillary fees totaled $5.5 billion, the bureau said.

The tally does not include air fares. It’s made up of the plethora of extra fees that airlines have tacked on over the last few years, including fees to transport checked bags, pets, and musical instruments.

The fees are also applied to other services, such as curbside check-in or ordering tickets over the phone. The fees vary from airline to airline.

In 2009, the airlines collected $2.7 billion in baggage fees, $2.4 billion from reservation change fees and $2.7 billion from an assortment of other ancillary fees, such as frequent flyer award program mileage sales.

Delta Air Lines (DAL, Fortune 500) was the leading collector of ancillary fee revenue, bringing in more than $1.6 billion in 2009.

But the carrier that relies the most on extra charges is Spirit Airlines. In the fourth quarter of 2009, 21% of the airline’s operating revenue came from ancillary fees, a larger percentage than any of its rivals.

In April, Spirit Airlines began charging extra fees for carry-on bags. Because that that measure was imposed in 2010, it’s not included in the 2009 numbers. 

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