Friday, March 5, 2010

“Wisconsin: Lawmakers pass bills to help business - Dubuque Telegraph Herald” plus 3 more

“Wisconsin: Lawmakers pass bills to help business - Dubuque Telegraph Herald” plus 3 more

Wisconsin: Lawmakers pass bills to help business - Dubuque Telegraph Herald

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 07:53 AM PST

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ALL BUSINESS: Banks expand small-business loans - Daily Finance

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 07:32 AM PST

NEW YORK -Banks know what the public wants to hear: They're lending money to the little guys.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s new ad campaign publicizes the bank's plans to lend $10 billion to small businesses this year. Other banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. and Huntington Bancshares Inc., also say they'll extend more small-business loans.

Bold promises, for sure. Just don't expect to know many details on how they're delivered.

Forget searching for "small business loans" on the banks' Web sites to get specifics on the progress of these new programs. Same goes for digging into the banks' finances, because you aren't going to find this segment broken out in one spot.

"You can't," says JPMorgan Chase spokesman Thomas Kelly.

Instead, the banks say they'll keep the public posted on how their loan programs are going. That means they get to tell us what information they want, when they want and filtered the way they want.

They've even got leeway in how they define small businesses since there isn't a universal standard.

What's at issue here is that banks have been criticized for their reluctance to lend over the last year and a half. Many small businesses have especially felt that pinch because unlike larger companies, which can raise money through stock or bond sales, smaller businesses rely more heavily on bank lending to run their operations.

Now the banks say that's changing. While no one is accusing them of lying about their lending plans, it will be hard to know if they keep their word because accounting rules don't require them to disclose their loans based on size or type of borrower.

"(The banks) get to pick and choose what numbers they tell us without having to give any context," says James Kwak, who writes for the financial and economics blog The Baseline Scenario. "It doesn't mean they are sinister, but their numbers will be hard to verify."

Small businesses have been among the hardest hit by the tightening of credit over the last two years. Banks have dramatically curbed loans to startups, those losing money or anyone with risks in their business profile.

Some 11 percent of the 2,114 small-business owners surveyed in February by the National Federation of Independent Business said that they couldn't get their borrowing needs met, a record high. On the flip side, only 27 percent were able to get the loans they needed, a record low for the survey since it started in 1983.

The government generally defines small businesses as those with fewer than 500 employees. If these companies can't borrow, it's bad for the overall economy since they employ over half of all private-sector workers.

That's why there is such a fuss over news that banks are becoming more willing to lend again to small businesses.

Wells Fargo says it plans to increase its small business loans by as much as 25 percent in 2010 to $16 billion. The San Francisco-based bank hopes to tap the contacts its 6,000 branches have in local communities to get that message out. It is also promoting this program online and through bankers who specialize in small-business lending.

Huntington Bancshares, based in Columbus, Ohio, plans to double its annual small-business lending to $4 billion over the next three years. It expects to do $1.2 billion in new loans in 2010, up from $800 million in 2009.

JPMorgan Chase is running newspaper ads in major markets including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas. With the headline "Helping Small Business in Even Bigger Ways," the bank says it will lend $10 billion to small businesses in 2010, up from $6 billion last year.

So where will that $10 billion come from? Some details on those loans will be disclosed quarterly.That will happen with lending done in JPMorgan's business banking unit, which is part of its retail financial services division.

But the rest of JPMorgan's small-business lending, which is done through its credit card and commercial banking divisions, won't be broken out. Instead, that data will be bundled into the periodic updates that JPMorgan Chase gives on the new loan program, spokesman Kelly says.

The first update appears in new ads, which say the bank extended over $800 million and hired 100 bankers in the first seven weeks of the year. It plans to hire 225 more bankers this year.

Wells Fargo hasn't yet decided how to communicate the progress of its program, says David Pope, executive vice president in the small business division of the bank.

Huntington Bancshares says it will provide annual updates of the loans it makes under its program.

Chances are most of the banks won't risk the marketing blunder of not sticking to their promises. But they have wiggle room to get to the numbers they want.

Kwak, the economics blogger, points out that banks — and sometimes even their own lending units — have different ways of defining small businesses or what loans qualify to be part of these new lending programs.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo consider small businesses to be those with annual revenues of under $20 million, but Huntington Bancshares' cutoff is $15 million. Small businesses deemed "S Corporations" for tax purposes may have a limited number of shareholders, but no limit to their size, says Robert Willens, an expert on tax and accounting issues for Wall Street clients.

Then there's the ambiguity of what could count as a new loan under these programs. If a line of credit that has expired gets renewed, is that considered a new loan or not? The answer varies from bank to bank.

These grand plans could help end the small-business lending drought. Let's see if the banks will do more to prove that they're following through on their promises.

—

Rachel Beck is the national business columnist for The Associated Press. Write to her at rbeck(at)ap.org

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Orbital Sciences buys spacecraft development business of General ... - Washington Examiner

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 03:47 PM PST

DULLES, VA. — Orbital Sciences, which makes small rockets, satellites and other space equipment, said Thursday that it will buy the spacecraft development and manufacturing business of a General Dynamics Corp. subsidiary.

Terms were not disclosed. The deal should close within a month.

Orbital said the acquisition will bolster its position in the market for national security space systems, including spacecraft used for intelligence and surveillance and missile tracking.

It also said the deal will strengthen its capabilities to design and manufacture science, weather and space-based astronomy satellite systems and expand the company's opportunities to serve customers in the Department of Defense, intelligence community and civil government agencies.

Over the past 20 years, GD Advanced Information Systems developed and built 15 small- and medium-class satellites.

General Dynamics' spacecraft unit is in Gilbert, Ariz., near Orbital's launch vehicle engineering and manufacturing facilities. About 325 employees will join Orbital as part of the deal.

The deal was announced after the stock market closed. General Dynamics shares fell 56 cents after-hours to $72.38. The shares had risen 11 cents during the regular session. Orbital Sciences shares fell 3 cents to $18.61 during the regular session.

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Business Watch - News-Leader.com

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:51 AM PST

Drivers complain about fix

More Toyota drivers say their cars have sped up by themselves even after being fixed to correct the problem.

Another five people have reported problems to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's complaint database, describing surges of speed that came without warning. That is on top of at least 15 similar cases found by an Associated Press review of the data on Wednesday.

The complaints, which are submitted online or through a NHTSA hotline, have not been independently verified. Government investigators said Wednesday that they had found 10 possible cases of post-fix problems.

Lemay casino system unveiled

River City Casino in Lemay, a suburb of St. Louis, was unveiled to dignitaries and the media on Monday. Some groups have been brought in this week to test the system.

KSDK reported that the casino received more than 40,000 job applications and filled 1,300 jobs.

The casino cost $380 million to build.

Bank of America warrants sale

The Treasury Department has received a record $1.54 billion from the sale of warrants it received from Bank of America as part of the support it provided during the financial crisis.

The Treasury said Thursday it sold 272.17 million warrants in an auction held because Bank of America and the government could not agree upon an acceptable price. Warrants are financial instruments that allow the holder to buy stock in the future at a fixed price.

The $1.54 billion total is the largest amount raised from a single institution from the sale of warrants.

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