Wall St. slides amid global economic worries

U.S. stocks dropped Thursday as oil prices slid and worries about the global economy resurfaced, putting pressure on the dollar as investors fled riskier assets.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 173.95 points, or 0.98 percent, to 17,542.1, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 24.7 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,041.96 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 72.35 points, or 1.47 percent, to 4,848.37.

Source: www.reuters.com

The Pros and Cons of DIY Website vs. Professionally Developed

If you’re looking into building a new website or updating an existing site, one of the first choices you’ll have to make is whether to do it yourself or hire a professional. Not so long ago, there would have been no question of hiring a pro to get the results you want, but thanks to the rise of online tools like website builders, it has become much easier for the non-techies among us to build a more-than-decent website. Just because you can, though, doesn’t always mean you should. It’s a decision that’s worth weighing carefully, since for some projects a professional cannot be replaced by a tool.

Here are some considerations that might help you decide.

Popular Website Options.

Website builders – Squarespace, Weebly, and Wix are popular choices -- offer some of the easiest and least expensive paths to create a web presence. In general, website builders are less powerful than a system like WordPress, but are easier to use. Website builders generally have visual page editors that make it easy to edit elements of the website. On the other hand, they aren’t very flexible, so they are best for smaller sites. Website builders do include hosting and sometimes cover the registration of a domain name, so you don’t need to worry about that configuration. Website builders commonly price their services at less than $10 per month.

WordPress is a content management system that is very powerful, but is also more abstract. Unlike website builders that allow you to drag and drop, WordPress users can choose a “theme” from the thousands available then use a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface to add and edit content. Users may also have to employ the occasional bit of code to edit a theme or plugin in WordPress, which makes it better suited for those with at least a little comfort around HTML. While it’s free, WordPress does require you to find a web host (which is often less than $5/ month). You’ll also have to pay $10 to $20 per year for a domain registration.

Finally, there’s the option to hand the entire site over to professionals. This is by far the most expensive option – costs can range from a few thousand dollars to more than $100,000, depending on the company doing the work and the size and nature of the site. The costs with this option are significant, but the possibilities are limitless.

What Kind of Site Do You Need?

In order to decide which option is best for you, you’ll need to determine what kind of site best matches your business.

A brochure site is the simplest site, and as the name implies, it’s a showcase of what your business does. The primary purpose of a brochure site is to give a company a credible web presence and provide some basic information to prospective customers with text, images, and maybe a video. It’s a good way to show your mission, pricing, examples of what you sell, and basic contact information.

If, on the other hand, you’ll be handling financial transactions, you’ll need an e-commerce site. An e-commerce site is a little more complicated, since it will have to be able to handle payment processing and allow you to easily add, remove, or edit products and services.

For some businesses, the site itself actually is the business. Web applications like project management tools, online fax services, or price comparison engines are all examples of web applications. While brochure sites and even e-commerce sites are possible to build with a CMS or website builder, an application is something you should only entrust to a professional website developer. If this is something you’re exploring, be prepared to spend at least $10,000 for a custom app that will stand out and function smoothly. 

Some websites combine both e-commerce and an application function (think Amazon). Unless you really know your way around website design, a hybrid site that will process a lot of requests and information should also be built by a pro.

Another way to look at what kind of site you’ll need is to ask yourself how important it will be to your business. If you’re a consultant, for instance, whose business is primarily based on existing relationships, you probably won’t be relying on a website to generate a large percentage of your business. If your website is generating less than 20 percent of your business, a simple brochure site should fill your needs. 

If your site will generate a more significant bit of business, perhaps more than 60 percent, it’s likely to be a site that will have more user demands and will have to perform multiple functions. Even if your website is simple, if it’s going to be responsible for the majority of your business generation, it’s best to hire a professional developer.

Your Skill Level.

If you’re a programmer who can build a website from scratch, the sky’s the limit. For the rest of us, there are options available for almost every skill level.

Website builders are the most basic tool, and as discussed above, also the most limited. However, they are extremely easy to use, and you don’t need to know anything about coding to jump right in and build a clean-looking site. If you can use PowerPoint, you can use a website builder.

WordPress requires a higher comfort level with basic web hosting and HTML, but is still a relatively easy system to use. It is more flexible and customizable than a website builder, but you should feel comfortable exploring the WordPress community to find the best design templates and plugins for your needs.

Keep in mind that whether you choose a website builder or WordPress, you’ll be in charge of the content and creative elements that make it stand out.

Your Budget.

Depending on whether you build your own site or hire a professional developer, a brochure site can cost anywhere from fifty dollars a year to more than $5,000. Most professional developers will charge at least $5,000 to build a nicely designed, mobile-friendly website.

If you’re building an e-commerce site, expect to spend a little more, since they’re more complicated. A website builder package that includes quality e-commerce features will typically cost about $300 per year, while a developer will cost at least $7,500, but the cost could be substantially more if you have even slightly more complicated functions on the website, like product categories or real-time inventory management.

Evaluate Your Options.

There are a few categories of business owners for whom hiring a professional web developer is almost certainly a must: businesses that are, or rely on, custom apps; businesses that expect to generate 100 percent of their business from the website; and business owners who are not comfortable or familiar with website builders. In these cases you’ll need expert guidance and know-how to make your site work best for your business -- just be aware of the budget requirements.

For those who expect to generate less than 20 percent of their business from their website, and who feel comfortable with basic programs like PowerPoint, a website builder is the best bet. You can get a professional looking site without spending a lot of time or money on an overcomplicated project. 

What if you’re in between? In that case you have myriad options to choose from, including using the extremely popular WordPress platform, which provides a great cost savings, but can be made to serve a huge variety of needs. In general, though, the higher the percentage of revenue you expect to generate from your website, the greater potential ROI you’ll get from an investment in your website.

Source: www.entrepreneur.com

Asia shares inch up as oil surges, dollar slips

Asian share markets edged ahead on Thursday after a sharp rise in oil prices whetted risk appetites and boosted Wall Street, with even Japanese stocks regaining a little ground despite a rising yen.

The dollar also stayed under pressure after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed many participants wanted to move cautiously on rate hikes, partly because there was little room to ease policy should things turn for the worse.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS nudged up 0.4 percent, as did the South Korean market .KS11

Japan's Nikkei .N225 eked out a bounce of 0.5 percent, having sunk to a seven-week low on Wednesday as a surging yen left it with five straight sessions of losses.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday the central bank would take additional monetary easing steps if needed, but the market seems to doubt he can do much more.

That is one reason the dollar was down at 109.70 yen JPY= after hitting its lowest since late October 2014 at 109.36. The yen climbed broadly with heavy buying seen against the euro, Swiss franc and Australian dollar.

The dollar was also soft on its own account with the euro up at $1.1405 EUR= and not far from the recent 5-1/2-month peak of $1.1437. The dollar was likewise near a 5-1/2-month low against the Swiss franc of 0.9532 franc CHF=.

Against a basket of currencies the dollar was pinned at 94.411 .DXY, again near its lowest since October.

The drop in the dollar added to gains in oil which jumped 5 percent overnight as U.S. inventories unexpectedly fell and investors gauged the possibility of an output freeze.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 29 cents at $40.13 on Thursday, a marked turnaround from a one-month low of $37.27 hit on Tuesday. U.S. crude CLc1 rose 40 cents to $38.15.

The gains for oil boosted energy stocks and gave Wall Street a lift. The Dow .DJI had ended Wednesday 0.64 percent higher, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.05 percent and the Nasdaq .IXIC 1.59 percent.

Aiding risk sentiment were minutes of the Fed's last meeting which showed many members reluctant to hike further in the face of global uncertainty.

"The take home from the March meeting is that, while the Fed remains happy with ongoing progress being made domestically, they are far less certain about the state of the world and its potential impact on the U.S. and the dollar," said Elliot Clarke, an economist at Westpac.

"Until such time as confidence in global prospects increases, they are comfortable to hold fire."

Markets have long been wagering the pause will be an extended one with Fed fund futures <0#FF:> pricing in a one-in-five chance of a hike in June and just one move by Christmas.

Source: www.reuters.com

Angola, hit by collapse of oil prices, seeks IMF aid

Angola said Wednesday it had asked the International Monetary Fund for help after the crash in oil prices ravaged government finances.

The IMF said discussions would begin next week in Washington on what could be a three-year support plan for the government.

“The sharp decline in oil prices since mid-2014 represents a major challenge for oil exporters, especially for those economies that have yet to become more diversified,” the Fund said in a statement.

“The IMF stands ready to help Angola address the economic challenges it is currently facing by supporting a comprehensive policy package to accelerate the diversification of the economy, while safeguarding macroeconomic and financial stability.”

Angola has depended on oil production for 95 percent of its export earnings and more than half of government receipts.

In a statement, the government said it “is aware that the high reliance on the oil sector represents a vulnerability to the public finances and the economy more broadly.”

Angola “will work with the IMF to design and implement policies and structural reforms aimed at improving macroeconomic and financial stability, including through fiscal discipline,” the statement read.

IMF three-year Extended Fund Facility programs usually offer financial support for government finances while requiring disciplined reforms, which often include spending cuts and stronger tax collection efforts.

Angola had a previous three-year support program from the IMF, a $1.4 billion Stand-By Arrangement during 2009-2012. This helped the country resolve domestic debts, stabilize its exchange rate, and shore up its international reserves.

Under the proposed new program, the government said it “is committed to improving transparency in the public finances and the banking sector.”

“There is a strong belief within the government that the continued drive towards enhanced transparency can be accelerated by partnering with an institution like the IMF.”

Source: Guardian Newspaper.

U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly fall from record high; refiners in overdrive

U.S. crude oil inventories unexpectedly fell from record highs last week as refineries continued to hike output and imports fell, while gasoline stocks rose, snapping a six-week decline, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.

Crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell 4.9 million barrels in the week to April 1, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 3.2 million barrels.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures USOICC=ECI rose 357,000 barrels, EIA said.

U.S. crude oil prices CLc1 extended gains after release of the data, rising by as much as 2 percent, or 72 cents, in the following 15 minutes.

The EIA report was "modestly supportive" with the jump in refinery runs and fall in imports "obvious catalysts in causing overall crude oil inventories to decline," said John Kilduff, a partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI fell 446,000 barrels per day, with some pointing to weather issues in the Houston Ship Channel last week.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI, which have remained at record seasonal levels for most of this year thanks to unusually strong gasoline margins, rose by 199,000 bpd, EIA data showed.

Refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose 1 percentage point to 91.4 percent of total capacity, although usage could ebb with more maintenance expected this month.

"For refiners, they see a market with strong demand for gasoline and decent profit margins. I expect they will begin ramping up in order to capture the sweet spot of high volume and high margins for as long as it lasts," said David Thompson, executive vice-president at energy-specialized commodities broker Powerhouse in Washington.

U.S. gasoline demand over past four weeks was at 9.36 million, up 4.2 percent from a year ago.

Gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI, which swelled this winter to record highs and remain at unusually high levels for this time of year, rose 1.4 million barrels after six consecutive declines, compared with expectations for a 1.0 million-barrel drop.

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 1.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 333,000-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

Source: www.reuters.com

Wall Street gains led by healthcare, energy stocks

Wall Street was marginally higher on Wednesday, helped by a rise in energy and healthcare stocks, as investors awaited the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting on monetary policy in March.

U.S. crude jumped more than 4 percent, helping prop up energy stocks, after data suggested a smaller-than-expected rise in crude inventories for last week. [O/R]

Investors, who have been grappling with mixed signals on interest rates from Fed officials, will parse the minutes to gain insight into the central bank's thinking on the economy. The minutes are due at 2 p.m. ET (1600 GMT).

While Fed Chair Janet Yellen has taken a cautious stance, some officials have supported an aggressive plan to raise rates as data points to resilience in the U.S. economy.

"This market is climbing a 'wall of worry' and we are seeing a bit of resistance right now, with the market digesting the advances it recently saw," said Sam Stovall, U.S. equity strategist at S&P Global Market Intelligence in New York.

"It's going to be looking for some sort of catalyst to help propel it forward and maybe that catalyst will be earnings coming in better than expected," he said.

A recent rally - sparked by rising oil, strength in the economy and a cautious Fed - helped stocks recover from a steep selloff that had sent the S&P 500 down more than 10 percent earlier this year. The index closed flat for 2016 on Tuesday.

Several Fed officials are slated to speak on Wednesday, including Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and her St. Louis counterpart James Bullard. Both are voting members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

At 11:01 a.m. ET (1301 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 47.33 points, or 0.27 percent, at 17,650.65, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 9.43 points, or 0.46 percent, at 2,054.6 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 32.84 points, or 0.68 percent, at 4,876.77.

Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.54 percent rise in the healthcare sector .SPXHC. The S&P energy sector .SPNY rose 1.36 percent.

Pfizer (PFE.N) shares rose 2.9 percent to $32.27 after new rules aimed at curbing tax inversions effectively killed its $160 billion merger with Allergan (AGN.N). Allergan rose 3.2 percent to $244.09.

Cree (CREE.O) shares sank 15 percent to $24.69 after the LED maker forecast third-quarter results below analysts' estimates.

Constellation Brands (STZ.N) rose 4.3 percent to $157.92 after reporting higher-than-expected quarterly sales.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,853 to 966. On the Nasdaq, 1,632 issues rose and 887 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed five new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 19 new highs and 13 new lows.

Source: www.reuters.com

Airline hedges fuel rally in later dated oil prices

Big airlines are making waves in the oil market for the first time since prices went into a tailspin nearly two years ago, betting this may be their best chance to lock in cheap jet fuel for years to come, industry and market sources say.

A number of airlines moved last week to place significant oil price hedges for 2017, 2018 and even 2019, according to three trading sources familiar with money flows. They declined to specify companies, but said it was the largest flurry of such activity in more than a year.

A fourth trading source indicated that bigger trades occurred in the over the counter market last week. While still small relative to previous years, when some carriers hedged as much as 40 percent of their fuel costs, the recent activity was robust and included larger players, the source added.

The renewed interest suggests that airlines executives who were stung by billions of dollars in hedging-related losses last year are more confident that they're buying at the bottom, a further sign of shifting sentiment in the oil market after an over 60-percent price slump since mid-2014 LCOc1.

Big oil consumers are coming around to the idea that "we're not going to see too many more legs down" in prices, said Steve Sinos, vice president at consultancy Mercatus Energy, which advises corporations including airlines on hedging strategies.

Their clients are "getting comfortable with the idea that this is a good price if not the best price."

The activity has helped buoy so-called longer-dated oil prices, with December 2017 and 2018 U.S. crude futures LCOZ7 enjoying their most sustained rally since prices began tumbling in the second half of 2014. Selling pressure has resumed in recent days amid concerns that a promise among major global oil producers to 'freeze' output was in danger of falling apart.

The number of clients calling Mercatus for advice has increased lately compared to six months ago, when prices were also in free-fall but companies were less certain that they had seen the end of a historic price rout.

ONCE BITTEN...

To be sure, airlines - which typically hedge some volume every quarter - have a mixed record of calling the market's turning points. Consultants say airlines are more cautious now after some past hedges turned out costly because the contracted fuel costs proved higher than market prices.

Last summer, as oil prices appeared to be stabilizing at around $60 a barrel, Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) and United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N) said they had added new hedges against a rise in oil prices, but appeared to regret the decision after further losses.

Source: www.reuters.com

Local SEO Tips to Sustain Your Business

One thing sustains startups and existing businesses. With business, sustainability is everything. Massive sales are awesome, but they have to be sustainable. New growth is great, but it has to be sustainable. Come up with another business/startup maxim and you can couple the word sustainable to it as well. If you want long term success, you have to create something that is sustainable. Local SEO is one of the best ways to do this. It levels the organic traffic playing field and keeps you front and center in local search results. Look at these top local SEO tactics from experts at Auctus Marketing and put them to work for your business.

To begin with, let's think of it like this, in a world dominated by keywords, you want to make sure you have a seat at the table. True, the big boys spend a lot of dollars ranking for top industry keywords. It can be hard to compete with that. But you can compete in a different space, local SEO. In fact, change the "can compete" to "must compete" and you have a more apt statement. Local SEO is not forgiving though. You have to set it up right in the beginning. Here is how you do it.

Get listed on Google

Get your business listed locally on Google as soon as possible. Prepare to be amazed when you behold the power of Google for your business. Contrary to what you might think, they really want your business to be discovered. They do not exist solely for huge corporations. They will walk you through the steps to get your business listed locally on Google; just make sure you choose the right category during setup.

Choose appropriate title tags

This is one of the easiest things you can do to make a big impact on your search rankings. When filling out titles on your web pages, makes sure you include localized SEO information. This piece of code is important. Remember, Google does not rank sites, they rank individual pages. This makes it imperative for you to localize each page to impact organic search results. According to Moz, the best format to use is Primary Keyword -Secondary Keyword | Brand Name.

Get listed in the right directory

The nutshell version of this is.... go to Moz local. They have a lot of great resources. The reason to go there first? You want to get listed in good, high quality online directories used by your industry. These directories help with your search ranking. Also, consider applying to Yahoo and Bing. The Yahoo business directory costs money, but is money well spent.

Take advantage of Google+

Make sure you set up a Google+ business page and maintain an active presence. Activity on Google+ pages are weighted differently than activity from other social media platforms. This probably has to a lot to do with the fact that Google+ is owned by Google. When you own your own universe, you can make your own rules, right? Maybe. Either way, the reason Google+ works so well for rankings is because it was designed specifically for SEO. Post similarly to how you would on Facebook and encourage customers to give reviews as well. Reviews on your Google+ business page are a powerful local SEO one-two combo punch.

Location pages

Be sure to build geo-targeted location pages that target the top locations your business serves. Doing this will increase your rank for specific locations over time. On these pages be sure to add the actual location in the URL, in the title tag and be sure to use the city/town name a few times on the page itself. (e.g. www.BobsPlumbing.com/Boston , Boston, MA Plumbing Services | Bob's Plumbing). You can add as many location pages as you want, but it's really best to build ones for your main target areas and focus solely on those.

Be mindful of NAP

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. Put this information somewhere on your homepage in a highly visible area (menu, header or footer). Check your mobile page; you will definitely want NAP there. Also, if you have just one location, make sure NAP is on every one of your pages. This will keep you right in front of your customer while they check out your online presence. They can reach out with a phone call at any time. Also, place a Google map on your page that allows people to navigate to your business from their location. Besides boosting your search rank, it is a helpful service to the user.

Now you have an SEO strategy to compete with major industries and corporations. When you think about it, every great company started off by first reigning as king or queen over their local space. Use these tips and do the same. They will do more than keep you viable and sustainable. They will position you for long term success.

Source; www.entrepreneur.com

Inbound Marketing -- What is it and Why Does it Matter?

The "Wolf of Wall Street" mentality of harassing customers over the phone, sending spamy emails, and going door-to-door to close deals has become much less effective in recent years. Customers have access to so much information every day, they’ve become increasingly resentful of marketing intrusions. The rise of blocking tools such as caller id, spam folders and ad blockers is not coincidence.

Inbound marketing is the new normal. That’s the idea that if you provide value to customers first, they will respond by returning that value back and doing business with you.

To get a peak under the hood inbound marketing, and get tips on how others can use it, I had a chance to chat with A.J. Agrawal – an entrepreneur who built his business, Alumnify, around it. A.J. is a fellow contributor at Entrepreneur as well as at Forbes, Huffington Post, and others.

Here’s an edited version of our e-mail interview:

Why begin with universities?

We started there because we saw a strong decrease year after year in alumni engagement. Right now, alumni engagement is at an all time low – under 10 percent. It was obvious that institutions were struggling to adjust to the new ways their alumni were communicating and engaging. So we saw the opportunity.

For about 85 years, alumni engagement was pretty steady. Then all of a sudden, in the 90’s it began to fall drastically. In panic mode, many schools chose to double down on the outbound marketing tactics that worked in the past: cold calls, snail mail, and increased email addresses. They also deployed better data tacking and software to help optimize open email rates as well as make the giving process easier for graduates.

But these strategies had no effect (or even a negative effect on engagement) because they were built on an overall strategy that was broken. So we decided we would build inbound marketing solutions to provide value to alumni first.  

How do you begin inbound practices?

First, make sure you know what inbound marketing is. At its core, inbound is anything that provides a tremendous amount of value to your target customer without asking anything from them in return. There are tons of ways to do this and the best part is that most of the major strategies can be done for minimal cost.

One thing we recommend to companies we work with us is to start by getting a blog set up and to have someone be responsible for publishing regular content. One of the nice things about inbound marketing is that it requires companies to build major assets for their business. Your content library is a huge asset and will eventually help your SEO, and pull in more customers to your website.

Other popular inbound strategies include webinars, eBooks, infographics, mobile apps built to help your customers, and optimizing your social media.

Each business is different, so the strategy depends on factors including audience, industry, and expertise. Like most things, the hardest part is just getting started. Once you find an inbound strategy that starts to work, it becomes much easier to fine tune and expand on your traction.

Do you avoid outbound strategies?

Not at all. While inbound is definitely the future, some customers still respond well to outbound strategies. Even as an inbound company, we still cold call customers and send promotional emails once in a while -- but as part of a complete plan.

When thinking about the brand I want for Alumnify, I don’t want prospects and customers avoiding our phone calls. The image of a customer seeing an Alumnify Team Member calling them and saying “Not these people again” is my worst nightmare. And it should be any entrepreneur’s nightmare too.

Instead, I believe that the key to getting customers to love us is to provide value without asking for anything in return. For example, we have a free inbound marketing email list we just launched yesterday with weekly tips and webinars. And I’m always happy to help any fellow entrepreneur hammer out an inbound strategy. That type of approach may take more work in the short run, but it’ll also help build a much better brand to our customers in the long run.

Source: www.entrepreneur.com

Airlines in Asia could get a lift from Alaska-Virgin merger

Alaska Air Group Inc's (ALK.N) plan to buy Virgin America Inc (VA.O) makes the company a more attractive partner to Asian airlines looking for extra revenue from connecting passengers to flights within the United States, industry executives and experts say.

Foreign airlines could market Alaska Air's U.S. flights to their customers in Asia and take a commission for those sales - a common airline practice called code-sharing. Travelers from Asia would earn frequent flyer miles under their preferred airline's loyalty program even while traveling on Alaska Air.

Seattle-based Alaska Air said its $2.6 billion purchase of Virgin America, based in California, gives it 22 percent of seats on North America flights from the U.S. West Coast, more than any other airline. California was the No.1 U.S. destination for visitors from Asia in 2014, according to U.S. Commerce Department data.

"We'll be a very desirable partner for these international airlines," Alaska Air's Chief Executive Officer Brad Tilden said on an investor call Monday.

The company's effort to woo Asian airline code-sharing partners comes as Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N), United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N) and American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) are competing more aggressively with Asian airlines for trans-Pacific passengers. Each of the three carriers said in the past month that it intends to add a route to China.

The Alaska-Virgin deal is "definitely a positive" for independent carriers abroad - those who are not in marketing alliances with the three big U.S. carriers, said Joel Chusid, the U.S. executive director for China's Hainan Airlines Co Ltd (600221.SS).

"With Alaska, we're helping each other. There's no competition," Chusid said in an interview. When Hainan's other U.S. partner American started flying to China, he said managing the relationship "became a lot trickier" even though their code-share remains in place.

American, Delta and United declined to comment.

Many foreign airlines already market Virgin America's or Alaska Air's flights.

But the merger opens up new opportunities, said John E. Jackson, vice president of passenger marketing and sales for the Americas at Korean Air Lines Co Ltd (003490.KS), which shares codes with Alaska Air and has a more modest arrangement with Virgin America.

Industry executives said foreign airlines will likely wait to see how the merger is executed before undertaking what could be long processes of structuring new code-sharing deals and getting regulatory approval for those agreements.

Source: www.reuters.com

Asia stocks at three-week lows as China worries grow; oil up

Asian stocks held near three-week lows on Wednesday as concerns about the underlying strength of the Chinese economy dogged investors while oil prices jumped by nearly two percent on growing hopes a global output freeze may materalize soon.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely in positive territory after falling to its lowest level since March. 16. Overnight, it dropped 1.6 percent, its biggest fall in almost two months.

While global risky assets has staged a smart recovery since February's lows, led by Chinese stock markets on hopes that Beijing can successfully avert a sharp slowdown, policymakers and investors are worried the recovery may be at best, bumpy, or at worst, short-lived.

Alex Wolf, emerging markets economist at Standard Life Investments said it is still too early to call an economic stabilization in China because property inventories are still very high and much of the recent economic activity was driven by quasi-fiscal spending.

"A rebound based on property exuberance and quasi-fiscal stimulus means it might be more transient than the market wants to believe," he said in a note.

Data last week showed foreigners are estimated to have pumped $36.8 billion into emerging market stocks and bonds in March, the highest monthly inflow in nearly two years, the Institute of International Finance said.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.01 percent on Tuesday as investors took profits on recent gains ahead of a quarterly reporting season that is expected to reveal sharply lower earnings. [.N]

In addition, the U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in February in the latest indication that economic growth in the world's largest economy weakened further in the first quarter.

The data prompted economists to cut their first-quarter gross domestic product growth estimates by as much as half a percentage point to as low as a 0.4 percent annualized rate, which would be its slowest growth in two years. Risk aversion was evident in currency and fixed income markets as well.

Investors also bought back the yen, a low-yield currency that investors often sell to seek higher yields elsewhere when risk appetite is strong.

The yen JPY= hit a 17-month high of 109.92 to the dollar on Tuesday after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said countries should avoid seeking to weaken their currencies with "arbitrary intervention." It last traded at 110.48. His comments dimmed any prospects of currency intervention by the Japanese authorities to stem the yen's rise in the near future, analysts said.

The euro EUR= was little changed at $1.1376, hovering not far from its 5 1/2-month high of $1.1438. German 10-year yield DE10YT=TWEB fell below 0.10 percent for the first time since April last year, edging near its record low of around 0.05 percent touched almost a year ago.

The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield US10YT=RR dropped to a five-week low of 1.715 percent, having fallen almost 0.3 percentage point from its March 16 peak of 2.002 percent.

The two-year yield US2YT=RR fell to a near six-week low of 0.716 percent while traders reduced bets on a Fed rate hike in June further. Oil offered the sole bright spot in financial markets with prices extending their rebound after Kuwait insisted major producers will agree to freeze output later this month even as key player Iran continued to balk at the plan.

The market was also helped by data on U.S. crude supply-demand for last week from industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) showing a surprise fall of 4.3 million barrels in inventories in the week to April 1, versus an expected weekly increase of 3.2 million barrels. <API/S>

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 1.6 percent to $38.48 per barrel, off one-month low of $37.27 hit on Tuesday. U.S. crude futures CLc1 jumped 2.5 percent to $36.75 a barrel.

Source: www.reuters.com

Fuel scarcity cripples NSE’s trading activities

The lingering scarcity of petrol, which has brought virtually every human activity to a standstill in every part of Lagos, has also affected trading activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), where trading on stocks and bonds has recorded an unprecedented poor attendance since the beginning of the week.

The poor performance of the market on Monday was attributed to the inability of many stockbrokers to be physically present in the market. And as a result, equity transactions on the NSE re-opened for the week on a downturn, causing the market capitalisation to depreciate by N54 billion on Monday.

The market capitalization, which opened at N8.773 trillion lost N54 billion or 0.62 per cent to close at N8.719 trillion. Similarly, the All-Share Index lost 158.02 points or 0.62 per cent to close at 25,349.07 against 25,507.09 posted on Friday.

Nestle topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N10 to close at N690 per share. Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N3.78 to close at N102.61, while Ashaka Cement dropped N2.22 to close at N20.58 per share.

Lafarge Africa lost N1.51 to close at N75 while Okomu Oil shed N1.49 to close at N28.36 per share.

On the other hand, Seplat led the gainers’ table by N6.05 to close at N306.05 per share. Total followed with a gain of N3.78 to close at N157.60 while Dangote Cement gained N1 to close at N172 per share.

Custodian and Allied Insurance went up by 18 kobo to close at N3.90 and E-Tranzact increased by 13 kobo to close at N2.80 per share.

A stockbroker, who spoke to The Guardian on phone on the issue, advised the government to quickly address the problem of fuel scarcity, because it was causing more harm than good to the entire economy.

On how it was affecting the market, he said: “It is affecting it because the investors who are the clients of the stockbrokers are unable to come to mandate the brokers to sell or buy stocks. If the clients do not come, what can the brokers do?

“The fuel scarcity is affecting everybody in the country, not only the stockbrokers and trading at the NSE alone.

“Today (yesterday) is even worse because most of us are unable to go the NSE because no petrol and we find it difficult to even get public transport to go out,” the broker lamented.

On how the poor attendance is affecting the movement of stock prices, he said: “You know the more stockbrokers we have on the floor the merrier. If many are absent, that will differently reflect in the price movement because the large turnout of brokers will account for the positive and negative movement of stock prices.”

On whether the development will affect capitalization of the market, he said: “When turnover is poor as a result of lack of business occasioned by the absence of traders, definitely that will adversely affect capitalization.”

Asked if the fuel scarcity will in any way affect the performance of listed firms, the stockbroker replied that since the firms are also a part of the economy, they too are experiencing the hard effects of the fuel crisis.

On why the stockbrokers are not availing themselves of the remote trading platform at the exchange to do their trading this time around, the stockbroker retorted: “Is the remote trading platform in the stockbrokers’ homes? Is it not in their offices the facilities are installed? How do you expect them to move from their homes to their offices when there is problem of fuel scarcity in the town that has hindered the movement of vehicles? The nose and the eye are very close to each other, whatever affects the eye will affect the nose also and will make the nose to be running; and if it is the nose that is affected, the eye will become reddish,” he said.

It would be recalled that Stockbrokers began full remote on-line system of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange some years ago. The development placed the Exchange ahead of its peers in Africa in terms of technological development.

The facility was introduced to complement the successful upgrade of the Automated Trading System (ATS) that was installed in the Exchange a year earlier. Experts from Canada were contracted during the period to interconnect the ATS with the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) to facilitate the remote trading system.

The authority of the NSE explained that time that, with the full remote trading, stockbrokers could now trade on-line from anywhere all over the world and that the incidence of fraud would be reduced.

Source: Guardian Newspaper.

Integrated Oil and Gas $116m refinery ready 2016 - GMD

Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd. on Saturday, said its 116 million dollars modular refinery would come on stream before the end of 2016.

Group Managing Director of the company, Mr Anthony Iheanacho, told newsmen in Lagos that the company had been given provisional licence to commence preliminary work for a 20,000-barrel capacity modular refinery.

Iheanacho, who conducted the newsmen on tour of site of the proposed refinery at Tomaro Island Port, off Takwa Bay, Lagos, said that the preliminary approval was received from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

He said that work had commenced on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and other necessary requirements to facilitate the final approval for the refinery.

He said that funds for the project would be sourced from local and foreign financial institutions

Iheanacho explained that the refinery would produce Automated Gas Oil (AGO) otherwise known as diesel, kerosene, export quality aviation fuel and fuel oil.

According to him, the refinery does not have the capacity to produce Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol.

``Tomaro Island with about 90 hectares is designed as one-stop shop which will comprise refinery, flour mill, ship repair yard, helipad site and resort centres.

``It will also create massive employment for our teeming youths. Crude would come to the refinery through vessels for refining,‘’ he said.

The GMD said that the company was still awaiting some documents to start construction on the island, contrary to claims by one resident of the area, who petitioned that work had commenced at the site.

``We have not even started construction by the way; we are just going through the pre-application process.

``I am ready to stand by the truth and what is right at all times. I am not the one to go and appropriate property to build a refinery.

``I am not going to put my hands in your pocket and force money out of it. I am not going to force you to tell me what you do not know about building refineries.

`` Refineries are very important infrastructure in the country and it will enhance the image and prestige of the country.

``If I think that I can articulate a business plan, that I can talk to the bank and they will then lend me money to build the refinery, while will I not do it? I do not want anybody to be deceived or fooled by fake or funny stories,” he said.

Iheanacho, however, appealed to Federal Government to support indigenous oil companies which are striving to grow the oil and gas sector, adding that government should also support local companies with funding.

``We are in absolute support of growing indigenous capacity in every facet of our oil and gas industry.

``This is because the local companies are paying their taxes, reinvesting their capital and creating enormous job opportunities for the larger community.

He said that with such encouragement, Nigeria’s participation in the industry would rise significantly in line with government’s aspirations with the Nigerian Content Act.

Source: www.nannewsnigeria.com

Alaska Air nears deal to buy Virgin America for over $2 billion: source

Alaska Air Group Inc (ALK.N) is nearing a deal to acquire Virgin America Inc (VA.O) for more than $2 billion, having outbid JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O), a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

A deal could be announced as early as Monday, the source told Reuters.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal said Alaska Air had emerged as the likely winner of an auction for Virgin America, citing people familiar with the matter.

Alaska Air is expected to pay upwards of $2 billion for Virgin America, which currently has a market value of about $1.5 billion, following a surge sparked by recent news that the company was in play, it reported one of the people as saying.

There is no guarantee Alaska Air will clinch the deal, the Journal quoted its sources as saying.

Virgin America has received takeover bids from JetBlue and Alaska Air as the U.S. budget airline backed by British billionaire Richard Branson explores a sale, a person familiar told Reuters last week.

Asian airlines have also expressed interest in buying Virgin America, although they would have to partner with a U.S. bidder under foreign ownership rules governing U.S. airlines.

Virgin America is 54 percent-owned by Branson’s Virgin Group Ltd and New York-based Cyrus Capital Partners LP, the Journal said.

Source: www.reuters.com