Business and Finance

Industry analysts and anxious travelers expressed fears Tuesday for the survival of Britain’s venerable tour operator Thomas Cook, after the company, which took more than 22 million people on holidays in the latest year, revealed its financial problems had worsened.

Shares in Europe’s second-largest tour operator lost three-fourths of their already depressed value after the company said it was seeking new agreements with its main creditors, barely a month after announcing it had negotiated new funding arrangements to carry it through the slow winter months.

The company insisted flights would leave as usual and that it was taking new bookings, but Britons who have bought holidays through the firm were worried.

Jamila Juma-Ware, 27, who has booked a holiday at Spain’s Tenerife island in the next three weeks for herself and her mother, said she was “praying it’s going to be all right … but I’m not confident.”

Several small British travel firms have gone under since the global economic crisis hit in 2008, but Thomas Cook is an industry giant and a fixture of Britain’s main streets.

“There are a lot of small independent travel agents around here, but I said I’d rather just book it through someone like Thomas Cook because they’re big and there’s more of a guarantee they won’t go bust,” Juma-Ware said. “And then this week this happens.”

Thomas Cook is, like many airlines and tour operators, suffering from weak consumer demand as Europe’s financial crisis has people worried about their jobs.

Unrest in Egypt and in Tunisia _ normally the top winter destination for French travelers _ flooding in Bangkok and disappointing sales in Russia have all added to the pressure on the company.

Analysts said the financial troubles could scare away customers, darkening the company’s prospects.

“Legitimate questions will be asked as to whether Thomas Cook can survive long-term,” said James Hollins, analyst at Evolution Securities. He added that he believes the company could pull through on the strength of businesses outside Britain, but “a more flexible financial structure and massive turnaround are required.”

Thomas Cook Group PLC shares were down almost 75 percent at 10.41 pence in afternoon trading in London. On July 1, shares had closed at 134.5 pence.

Thomas Cook was due to report annual earnings for 2010-11 on Thursday, but it has put that off indefinitely “as a result of deterioration of trading in some areas of the business, and of its cash and liquidity position since its year end.”

Sam Weihagen, Thomas Cook’s interim chief executive, insisted it was business as usual: “Flights are leaving on schedule, shops are open and we’re taking bookings.”

Weihagen said people who book package holidays will be protected by the Air Travel Organizers’ Licensing insurance program which is funded by contributions from travel companies. However, those who book only flights are advised to buy their own travel insurance.

The group has previously announced plans to reduce its fleet of 41 aircraft to 35, and it hopes to raise 200 million pounds ($312 million) by selling assets, including its stake in Britain’s part-privatized air traffic control service.

Wyn Ellis, analyst at Numis Securities, said Thomas Cook’s announcement could frighten new customers and alarm suppliers. The company, he said, “faces a difficult near-term future which could lead to significant loss of market share.”

The news of the company’s problems upset some prospective travelers near its shop in the St. James neighborhood of London on Tuesday.

Tony Wright, 64, said he’s had “nothing but good experiences” with the brand and would not hesitate to use Thomas Cook again. “We were devastated to hear the news this morning and we hope it’s not as bad as it sounds,” he said.

Others were disappointed the airfares had not dropped.

On Tuesday, Simon Ash visited the branch hopeful that the combination of the company’s financial woes and a lack of tourist interest in Egypt because of rioting there could help him find a cheap ticket to Cairo _ but he could not find one. “The prices they’re giving me are not as good as the ones I’m finding on the Internet,” he said.

Thomas Cook takes its name from the cabinetmaker Thomas Cook, who had a flash of inspiration while walking to a temperance meeting in 1841 to use the railways to help promote abstinence from alcohol. Cook’s first venture was to charter a train which carried about 500 passengers in open coaches on a 12-mile round trip.

“Thus was struck the keynote of my excursions, and the social idea grew up on me,” Cook later recorded.

He organized more trips for temperance societies and Sunday schools. He took his business a step further in 1845 by arranging a trip to Liverpool, which included a 60-page booklet in the price of the ticket.

The International Exhibition in Paris in 1855 inspired Cook to organize a trip to the continent. Ten years later, he was organizing railway tours in North America.

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Spain’s next prime minister is a lusterless career politician who thrives on ambiguity _ rarely revealing what he thinks.

With results Sunday night showing that his conservative Popular Party crushed the ruling Socialist party and won a big parliamentary majority, Mariano Rajoy may finally be forced to show his hand.

Rajoy inherits a devastating economic downturn that has caused unemployment to swell to more than 21 percent, and comes as similar financial crises in fellow EU nations like Greece and Italy threaten to combine with Spain’s woes and drag down the global economy.

As Rajoy, 56, begins forming the next government Monday, all eyes will be on whether the gray-bearded, bespectacled leader will finally unveil a clear political vision or continue to dodge efforts to pin him down.

Many see him as a the perfect caricature of his native region _ Galicia. The people of the misty and rainy northwestern region are legendary for pokerfaced obscurity. According to a Spanish saying, when you meet a Galician on the stairs you can never tell if he’s going up or down.

“He is a Galician. They say things but you have to read between the lines,” said Rodrigo Herrero, 48, a villa caretaker.

“He’s not spontaneous or extroverted like other politicians,” added Herrero. “He lacks that friendliness and touch of charm.”

Others says there is a hidden side.

“He’s a master because he achieves his aims without apparently doing anything,” Xavier Pomes, a Catalan politician and friend of Rajoy, told El Pais, Spain’s leading newspaper.

“He’s sensible, frank. Some see him as indolent and indecisive but in reality he’s reflexive,” said Pomes.

But true to his cagey character, Rajoy has so far made little known of his plans. And with bond interest rates soaring and stock markets jittery, he is not likely to have any more time to dawdle or fudge.

In a lengthy interview in El Pais on Thursday, Rajoy said that barring pensions, “cuts will have to be made wherever they can.” But the paper pointed out that he “maintained his ambiguity on what sacrifices Spaniards will face.”

Eurasia Group analyst Antonio Barroso expects Rajoy to initially go for a “shock and awe strategy” with “quick policy changes in an effort to impress markets and his European partners, and boost Spanish credibility.”

That would also dispel questions about his own credibility.

Rajoy, a property registrar by training, held four ministerial portfolios _ among them education and interior _ in the governments of Jose Maria Aznar between 1996 and 2004. But being hand-picked as party leader in 2003 by Aznar set Rajoy up for years to accusations that he was never actually elected by those in his party, a smear that weakened his attempts to shake himself free of Aznar’s shadow.

Sunday’s ballot was third-time lucky for Rajoy. He lost general elections in 2004 and 2008 against Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who is now deeply unpopular and did not seek re-election this time. In many ways, it’s a tribute to his dogged determination to survive.

In 2004, Rajoy was also strongly tipped to win. But he lost amid voter outrage over the Madrid terror bombings by Islamic militants three days before the election. The massacre killed 191 people direct payday lenders. Rajoy and his party had initially blamed Basque separatists and continued to do so even as evidence of Islamic involvement emerged.

The party was devastated by the defeat and Rajoy had to battle to keep it unified amid divisions between moderate and more conservative factions. The 2008 loss, although not as severe, exacerbated his tenuous position, thrusting even normally friendly rightist media against him.

But Rajoy fought on, skillfully remaining silent while his party and the media were ablaze with the succession debate. His efforts bore fruit at a party congress in June when his candidacy as leader _ albeit the only one presented _ was backed by 84 percent of delegates.

A cycling and sports enthusiast, Rajoy has freely acknowledged he reads little and prefers light sports dailies to mainstream newspapers or literature. However, sensing he may soon be representing Spain on the international stage, he is now studying English, a language none of his predecessors has ever managed to command.

At 24, he suffered a serious car accident that left his face badly scarred, reportedly the reason he grew the beard.

Stiff in manner, Rajoy has never topped popularity polls and is not known for imagination or charm. In a recent TV debate with his Socialist opponent Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Rajoy almost never took his eyes off prepared notes. Nevertheless he scraped through the near two-hour clash, skirting questions and shedding no light on his program.

No one can deny Sunday’s victory came easy, with his opponents in the governing Socialist party crippled by their inability to cope with the economic crisis.

Over the past two years, Rajoy used the crisis to perfection in weekly parliamentary debates, hammering away relentlessly at the Zapatero government’s perceived incompetence.

But careful not to scare potential voters, Rajoy remained virtually mute on what he would do differently besides pledging to make things easier for small and medium-sized businesses _ which provide 80 percent of employment in Spain _ and indicating he will carry out the labor market and social welfare system reforms he deems necessary.

Outside the economy, he has traditionally been a close ally of the Catholic Church on moral and social issues and has repeatedly said he will revise Spain’s abortion law. His party has also appealed the country’s gay marriage law before the Constitutional Court. Both bills were considered key achievements of the Zapatero governments.

In the past, he has demanded strict law-and-order measures to control immigration and education reforms to improve one of Europe’s worst dropout rates.

A lover of Cuban cigars, Rajoy has also suggested he may ease Spain’s anti-smoking ban in the workplace.

On foreign policy, he is likely to try to win back the special friend status Aznar held with U.S. while taking a less open approach than Zapatero to some of the more radically left-leaning governments of Latin America such as Cuba and Venezuela.

____

Jorge Sainz contributed to this report.

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The latest evidence that the economy is making steady gains emerged Friday from a gauge of future economic activity, which rose in October at the fastest pace in eight months.

A string of better-than-expected economic reports this month has led some analysts to revise up their forecasts for growth. Still, they caution that their brighter outlook remains under threat from Europe’s financial crisis.

“Things are looking better than we thought they would _ not great, but better,” said David Wyss, former chief economist at Standard & Poor’s.

The most recent sign was Friday’s report by the Conference Board that its index of leading economic indicators surged 0.9 percent last month. It was the index’s best showing since February. And it was far faster than the increases of 0.1 percent September and 0.3 percent in August.

The index is designed to predict economic activity. The October figure marked the sixth straight increase.

The jump reflected gains in nine of the index’s 10 components. Leading the way: a surge in permits for home construction; a narrower gap between short- and long-term interest rates that suggested less concern about inflation; a recovery in stock prices; and growth in the U.S. money supply.

A longer average workweek and fewer applications for unemployment benefits also contributed to the rise in the index.

All told, the components of the index signaled that the economy is steadily, if still slowly, strengthening.

On Thursday, the government reported further improvement in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits for the first time. The number fell to 388,000, the fewest since April.

In October, the economy added a net total of 80,000 jobs. It was the 13th straight month of gains. Still, the additional jobs were fewer than the roughly 125,000 that are needed each month just to keep up with population growth.

Many economists said the October gain in the leading indicators offered further assurance that the economy is in no imminent danger of slipping back into a recession, so long as Europe doesn’t fall into a severe downturn.

“This was a very positive reading for the leading indicators,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “The economy seems to be holding its own.”

Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics, said the string of positive readings suggests “the economy should continue to experience at least moderate growth over the next six to nine months.”

In the first six months of the year, the economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.9 percent. Growth expanded to a 2.5 percent rate in the July-September quarter.

Before this month, many economists had estimated that growth in the current October-December quarter would roughly match the 2.5 percent pace of the July-September period. But in recent days, based on the healthier economic news, some analysts have boosted their forecasts.

This week, the government said retail sales in October and factory production were picking up. U.S. builders started slightly fewer homes in October. But building permits, a gauge of future construction, surged nearly 11 percent. That gain was led by a 30 percent increase in apartment permits, to their highest level in three years.

Wyss said he expected the annual growth rate in the current quarter to amount to about 3 percent, up from his earlier expectation of 2.5 percent. Economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. are also expecting a 3 percent growth rate for the October-December period.

Wyss said one reason for his increased optimism is that he thinks a modest rebound in consumer spending will trigger companies to restock depleted shelves.

Even so, an economy growing at a 3 percent rate would still fall shy of the 4 percent to 5 percent pace that economists say is needed to significantly reduce the unemployment rate, which remains stuck at 9 percent.

And without stronger job gains, analysts say consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity, will remain constrained.

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The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of collapsed MF Global Inc. has approved the release of about $520 million to trading customers of the brokerage firm whose accounts have been frozen since Oct. 31.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn issued an order Thursday granting the request of the court-appointed trustee that 60 percent of the funds in about 23,300 cash-only accounts be returned to customers.

The money could start moving to customers before Thanksgiving, a spokesman for the trustee says. The complex process of combing through about 38,400 frozen accounts holding some $5.4 billion to verify balances has taken longer than planned.

Trustee James Giddens hopes to eventually have 100 percent of all funds returned in the coming weeks. –

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Unemployment rates fell in about three-quarters of large U.S. cities in September, a sign that the nation’s modest job gains that month occurred across most of the country.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that unemployment rates fell in 280 large metro areas from August to September. They rose in 61 and were unchanged in 31. That’s the largest number of cities to see a decline since April.

Nationwide, employers added a net 103,000 jobs in September. And the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent for the third straight month. The job gains were only about enough to keep up with population growth. The economy needs to generate at least twice September’s total to reduce the unemployment rate.

Unlike national and state data, metro unemployment figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal changes. Many of the areas with the sharpest drops in unemployment were cities with large universities. They likely added jobs at the start of the academic year.

State College, Penn., home to Penn State University, reported the biggest drop in unemployment in September. Its rate fell to 5.1 percent from 6.5 percent in August. Grand Forks, N.D., site of the University of North Dakota, reported the next-largest drop, to 4.1 percent from 5 percent.

Meanwhile, many of the cities with the biggest increases in unemployment were coastal cities, where many summer employees likely lost jobs Business Card Holders.

Unemployment in Ocean City, N.J., rose to 9 percent in September, from 7.9 percent the previous month. The second-biggest rise was in Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., on the Gulf of Mexico, where the rate jumped to 9.8 percent from 8.7 percent.

Other cities with big increases included Myrtle Beach, S.C., a popular beach resort, and Barnstable Town, Mass., part of the Cape Cod area.

Bismarck, N.D., registered the lowest unemployment rate at 2.5 percent. The next-lowest were Fargo, N.D., at 3.3 percent and Lincoln, Neb., at 3.5 percent.

Among cities with 1 million or more residents, Oklahoma City had the lowest rate, 5.5 percent. Oklahoma has benefited from its oil and gas production and high prices for grains and other agricultural communities.

El Centro, Calif., reported the highest rate, at 29.6 percent, followed by Yuma, Ariz., at 27 percent. They are adjacent counties with heavy farm economies and large contingents of migrant labor.

Las Vegas had the highest unemployment rate among cities with populations of 1 million or more: 13.6 percent.

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Local officials in London say they are suspending legal action to evict anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, after church officials gave the tent city a reprieve

The City of London Corporation says legal action due to start Tuesday is being “paused overnight” so that officials can meet for more talks.

Cathedral authorities said earlier that they had halted legal action against the tent city and wanted to address the issues the protesters had raised.

The two-week standoff over the scores of tents set up outside the iconic cathedral has been an embarrassment for the church, but an attention-getting bonanza for protesters, who are inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) _ London officials say they are suspending legal action to evict anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St low interest rate personal loans. Paul’s Cathedral, after church officials gave the tent city a reprieve

The City of London Corporation says legal action due to start Tuesday is being “paused overnight” so that officials can meet for more talks.

Cathedral authorities said earlier that they had halted legal action against the tent city and wanted to address the issues the protesters had raised.

The two-week standoff over the scores of tents set up outside the iconic cathedral has been an embarrassment for the church, but an attention-getting bonanza for protesters, who are inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement.

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The complex network of flood defenses erected to shield Thailand’s capital from the country’s worst floods in nearly 60 years was put to the test early Saturday as coastal high tides hit their peak. No major breaches were immediately reported.

Fear gripped Bangkok early in the day as tides along the Gulf of Thailand crested at about 9 a.m. and pushed the city’s main waterway, the Chao Phraya river, to its brink. Overflows so far have lightly inundated riverside streets from Chinatown to the famed Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

But the white-walled royal Grand Palace was dry, less than 24 hours after being ringed by ankle-deep water, and the landmark remained open to tourists. Many visitors carried parasols to protect themselves from the blistering sunshine.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said in her weekly radio address that floodwaters that had wreaked havoc to provinces north of Bangkok in the last several weeks had started to recede, and she urged citizens to let the crisis take its course.

“We have the good news that the situation in the central region has improved as runoff water gradually decreased,” she said. “I thank people and urge them to be more patient in case this weekend is significant because of the high tide.”

She also said that the government had implemented a plan to accelerate the drainage rate and that water in the greater Bangkok area should recede by the first week of November.

Meanwhile, the streets of downtown Bangkok _ the country’s financial heart _ were bone-dry and bustling with taxis, restaurant-goers and tourists snapping pictures. But the city remained in peril, as high tides along the gulf were expected to crest again late in the day, threatening to obstruct the flood runoff from the north. The government also is worried major barriers and dikes could break.

Also on Saturday, the government’s Flood Relief Operations Center was forced to move its headquarters from its base at Don Muang airport, which is used mostly for domestic flights, to a government building nearby after a power transformer malfunctioned. Authorities were forced to shut down the airport this week after floodwaters rushed in.

On Friday, saffron-robed monks and soldiers piled sandbags outside the capital’s most treasured temples and palaces as the Chao Phraya swelled precariously beyond its banks. Most of the water receded at low tide, but worried Bangkokians were buying up bright orange lifejackets and inflatable boats, fearing the worst is yet to come.

“You have to prepare,” said Fon Kanokporn, a banker who bought a rubber boat from a store that had several hanging from trees out front as advertisements.

Employees at the shop said they had sold well over 3,000 boats in the last week. The brisk business is a measure of the fear gripping Bangkok and a reflection of the tragedy of neighboring provinces that have been submerged for weeks. Several buyers said they needed boats because their submerged homes outside the capital were no longer accessible by road.

Three months of relentless monsoon rains have caused the worst flooding in Thailand in more than half a century, triggering a national crisis that has overwhelmed Yingluck’s government online payday loans.

The water has crept from the central plains south toward the Gulf of Thailand for weeks, engulfing a third of the country and killing nearly 400 people and displacing 110,000 more. Now, Bangkok is in the way _ surrounded by behemoth pools of water flowing around and through the city via a complex network of canals and rivers.

On Friday, army trucks dumped thousands of sandbags outside the riverside Siriraj Hospital, where Thailand’s ailing and revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej has stayed since 2009.

Elsewhere along the Chao Phraya, dozens of monks at the 200-year-old Temple of the Dawn stacked hundreds more along a secondary barrier to protect against river overflows.

“It’s likely going to get higher, but I don’t think its going to get high enough to cause chaos,” said Phramaha Abhin, a 42-year-old monk. Still, he said, “we cannot neglect the risk to this temple. It’s one of the country’s landmarks, one of the things Thailand is known for. We have to protect it.”

The State Railway of Thailand said all train services from Bangkok to southern Thailand were suspended after the tracks in Bangkok’s suburbs were submerged by floodwaters.

Thais and expatriates alike continued to leave Bangkok as foreign governments urged their citizens to avoid the threatened city, citing transportation difficulties and shortages of certain food items.

Seven of Bangkok’s 50 districts _ all in the northern outskirts _ are heavily flooded, and residents have fled aboard bamboo rafts and army trucks and by wading through waist-deep water. Eight other districts have seen less serious flooding.

New flooding was reported Friday in the city’s southeast when a canal overflowed in a neighborhood on the outer parts of Sukhumvit Road. And high tides briefly touched riverside areas closer to the city’s central business districts of Silom and Sathorn. But the day passed without major incident.

“It is clear that although the high tides haven’t reached 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), it was high enough to prolong the suffering of those living outside of the flood walls and to threaten those living behind deteriorating walls,” Bangkok Gov. Sukhumbhand Paribatra said.

The flood walls protecting much of the inner city are 8.2 feet high, and Saturday’s high tide was expected to reach 8.5 feet (2.6 meters).

International charity Save the Children said it was concerned that crocodiles and snakes were lurking in stagnant floodwaters it said are growing filthier by the day.

“Every day we see children playing in the water, bathing or wading through it trying to make their way to dry ground,” said Annie Bodmer-Roy, the group’s spokeswoman in Thailand.

The aid group said many families have been left without access to running water or clean toilets.

“There is a very real risk of waterborne or communicable diseases such as diarrhea and skin infections taking hold if families can’t maintain basic standards of hygiene,” Bodmer-Roy said. “It is essential that the risks facing children in this crisis are understood and steps taken to keep them safe.”

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MetLife Inc. says its net income increased tenfold in the third quarter, boosted largely by its acquisition of Alico last year.

The nation’s biggest life insurer says it earned $3.55 billion, or $3.33 per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30. That’s compared with $286 million, or 32 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.11 per share. Analysts had forecast a profit of $1.05 per share, according to FactSet.

The New York company said total international sales more than doubled as a result of its acquisition of American Life Insurance, or Alico, from American International Group Inc. last year.

Alico operates in more than 50 countries and was expected to help MetLife expand in Japan, Europe and Latin America.

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