computing stocks halliburton’s not alone in...
TRANSCRIPT
BUSINESSchron.com
Dow ■ 12,318.62 ■ +42.30, +0.3%
Nasdaq ■ 2,402.29 ■ +14.74, +0.6%
S&P ■ 1,406.60 ■ +3.75, +0.3%
Natural gas ■ $6.912 ■ -17.1 cents, -2.4%
Oil ■ $58.91 ■ -$1.14, -1.9%
MARKETS AT A GLANCERETAIL
Dollar General agrees to private equity offerThe chain for moderate income shoppers accepts a $7.3 billion buyout from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. PAGE D3
DCOMING WEDNESDAY
■ Coverage of monthly reports fromthe U.S. Commerce Department onretail sales and business inventories.
COMPUTING | STOCKS | MONEYMAKERS | ENERGY | RETAIL | OIL | TRANSPORTATION | MONEY
Dwight Silverman
There are several reasons.They tend to be moreexpensive than traditionalportables. They’ve primarilybeen marketed to businessusers in specific industries,such as medicine.
And, frankly, they simply
don’t work as well as theyshould.
Here’s a look at two tabletPCs, both of which weredesigned to work withWindows Vista, Microsoft’snewest operating system.One’s aimed at consumers,
the other at business users,and both still have some of theflaws that keep tablets from
being snatched up by themasses.
■ PAVILION TX1000 — $1,884,HP. When I first saw thePavilion tx1000 at CES inJanuary, I couldn’t wait to getmy hands on it. A consumer-based Vista portable that wassmall, lightweight andrelatively affordable, itseemed like it could be a
COMPUTING
Tablet PCs promise a lot but deliver familiar flaws
WHILE Microsoft’s Tablet PC de-sign has come a long way sinceits introduction in 2002, it has
failed to catch on with mainstream users.
Please see SILVERMAN, Page D4
Not great, not even good
detroit — Ford Motor Co.is selling a controlling stake inAston Martin, English creatorof exotic $100,000-plus sportscars made famous in JamesBond movies.
Aston Martin now will berun by a consortium ofinvestors, including racingmogul David Richards, Houstoncar collector John Sinders andthe Kuwaiti companiesInvestment Dar and AdeemInvestment Co.
Ford will receive $848million and retain a $77 millionstake in the company.
Ford, which lost $12.7billion last year, put AstonMartin up for sale last August.It had acquired control of thebrand two decades ago. Salesdipped to a few dozen in 1992but climbed to about 7,000 lastyear.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally saidthe sale supports thecompany’s turnaround plan.
A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
washington — More than100 people a week are killed inlarge truck crashes in thiscountry, according to safetygroups.
Wyoming, Arkansas andOklahoma are the deadlieststates for big truck crashes;Texas was tied with Indiana at23rd in the listings. RhodeIsland, Massachusetts andConnecticut are the safeststates, according to the TruckSafety Coalition. On Monday itreleased state rankings, basedon the number of fatalities per100,000 residents in 2005.
In 1999, when the federalMotor Carrier SafetyAdministration was created,5,380 people died in crasheswith big trucks, said JoanClaybrook, chair of Citizens forReliable and Safe Highways.“That figure has barelybudged.” It was 5,212 in 2005.
An agency spokesman wasnot immediately available torespond to the criticism.
Claybrook criticized themotor carrier agency forincreasing the number of hoursa driver can operate a truck by28 percent since 2003, up to asmuch as 88 hours over an eight-day tour of duty.
C H R O N I C L E N E W S S E R V I C E S
Office Depot, an officesupply retail chain, plans toeliminate 52 jobs in Houston.
All of the cuts except onewill be delivery-servicepositions, Office Depot said in aMarch 2 letter to the TexasWorkforce Commission. Onetransportation position alsowill be eliminated, according tothe letter. The cuts will beginon May 4 at the earliest.
As of last year, Office Depothad 52,000 people worldwide.The company, withheadquarters in Delray Beach,Fla., said in February that itreduced payroll at its NorthAmerican stores as apercentage of sales by makingoperations more efficient.
B L O O M B E R G N E W S
P H I L A D E L P H I A I N Q U I R E R F I L E
007 SPECIAL: An Aston Martin isoutfitted to resemble one used in aJames Bond movie.
D I G E S T
AUTOMAKERS
Ford finds buyerfor Aston Martin
SHIPPING
Safety groupsdoubt truck agency
EMPLOYMENT
Office Depot to cut52 local jobs
Halliburton Chairman andCEO Dave Lesar will likely seesome familiar faces when heopens a new corporate head-quarters for the oil-field-services giant in Dubai.
A number of other Houstonoil-field-services firms, includ-ing Baker Hughes and Schlum-berger, have recently opened orexpanded offices in the UnitedArab Emirates. And their goalsare all the same: to be near oil-rich nations in the Middle Eastand to increase their businessin the quickly growing EasternHemisphere.
But U.S. energy firms andcompanies that support themsay the growing influence of
Halliburton’s not alone in move to region■ Many companieshave sights seton Middle East
By BRETT CLANTONH O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E
Please see COMPANIES, Page D6
Carlos Slim isworth $49billion andhe has achance tobecometheworld’s
richest person.SEE STORY ON PAGE D8
SLIM
Gainingon Gates
TXU Corp., the Dallas-based power producer that’s tobe acquired in the largest-everleveraged buyout, made exces-sive profits in 2005 by with-holding wholesale electricityfrom the market when demandwas highest, a report orderedby Texas regulators says.
TXU made an extra $19.6million from as many as 554sales of electricity needed tokeep the state’s power systemoperating at peak times, saidW. Lane Lanford, executive di-rector of the Public UtilityCommission of Texas, pointingto the report Monday. TXU in-flated prices by 15.5 percent,costing customers $70 million,the report said.
The Public Utility Commis-sion of Texas has been investi-gating evidence of market ma-nipulation by TXU since De-cember 2004. Monday’s reportby Potomac Economics, marketmonitor for the state powergrid, was the first to concludeTXU abused its position as thestate’s largest power generatorand may give the state more le-verage over the $32 billion buy-out led by Kohlberg KravisRoberts & Co. and Texas PacificGroup.
“They can say there’s nosale of the company until thismatter is decided,” said JamesHalloran of National City Pri-vate Client Group in Cleveland.“If you have a lever over thetiming, you have a lever overthe terms.”
TXU shares fell 54 cents to$63.89 Monday in New YorkStock Exchange compositetrading. KKR and Texas Pacificoffered $69.25 per share. Mon-day’s share price is 7.7 percentbelow the KKR offer, reflectingdeclining market optimism
Reportcriticalof TXU■ It says companykept electricityoff market, madeexcessive profit
By JIM POLSONand EDWARD KLUMPB L O O M B E R G N E W S
Please see TXU, Page D6
BY METRO AREATop cities for majority women-owned firms:
Rank Metro area1 Los Angeles 2 New York 3 Chicago 4 Washington, D.C. 5 Atlanta T6 Boston T6 Houston8 Philadelphia 9 Santa Ana-Anaheim T10 DallasT10 DetroitSource: Center for Women’s Business Research
EUROPE is the nextexporting frontier forHouston businessowners Lisa Phillip
and Pamela Kahn.They have each made sales
to Latin America but are nowtrying to break into theEuropean market, where astrong euro makes U.S.products enticing.
And with the help of theU.S. Commerce Department,they just might.
In February, Phillip andKahn joined other femalebusiness owners on a trademission to Belgium and theNetherlands, the department’sfirst all-women trade trip.
Women-owned firms havegrown faster than all U.S.businesses, but they don’texport as much as businessesowned by men.
“They’re very successful intheir domestic market, andthey often don’t project out toglobal trade,” said NyamusiIgambi, a Houston-basedCommerce Department officialwho led the delegation. “We’resaying transfer that successfrom the domestic market tothe international market anddiversify your customer base.”
The women-only trademission and seminars forfemale exporters are just acouple of ways the department
By JENALIA MORENOH O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E
Please see TRADE, Page D6
KEVIN FUJII : C H R O N I C L E
ON A MISSION: Hybas International President and CEO Lisa Phillip ships industrial equipment, heavymachinery and chemicals to the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. She participated on an all-women business owner trip to Europe in February.
I N T E R N A T I O N A L M A R K E T
Commerce Department’s first all-women trade trip abroadhighlights importance of exporting for female-owned firms
AN EXPANDING REACH
When Halliburton saidSunday its CEO will move to anew headquarters office inDubai, many thought it wasthe energy company with themassive military support con-tract in Iraq that has drawnthe ire of many an activist.
Not exactly.The Halliburton busi-
nesses that have been at thecenter of controversy in recentyears are in the process of be-ing spun out into a separatecompany under the KBRname.
The company that CEODave Lesar will represent inthe Persian Gulf will be fo-
cused on the nitty-gritty sideof oil and gas drilling. Its serv-ices, software and hardwaremake boring thousands of feetinto the earth in search of hy-drocarbons easier and helpmaximize production.
In other words, one wouldbe hard-pressed to create acompany less likely to capturethe interest of the generalpublic.
Halliburton still has an 81percent stake in KBR, the en-
■ Side of business headed for Dubaiis about energy drilling, not military
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By TOM FOWLERH O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E
Please see SERVICES, Page D6
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TUESDAYMARCH 13, 2007
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Officials from theKingdom of Bahrainhave long been tryingto diversify itseconomy beyond oil.
That’s why Bahrainwas one of severalMiddle Easternnations to negotiate afree trade agreementwith the U.S.
Last year, tradebetween Bahrain andthe U.S. hit $1 billion.Houston’s trade withBahrain was $144million in 2006,according to theGreater HoustonPartnership. Most ofBahrain’s sales to theBayou City werealuminum, one of thenation’s biggestexports.
A delegation fromBahrain recentlyvisited Houston toencourage investment.Khalid Rashid AlZayani, president ofthe AmericanChamber of Commercein Bahrain, spoke withChronicle reporterJenalia Moreno.
Q: Bahrain andthe U.S.
implemented a freetrade agreement lastAugust. How muchhas trade increasedsince then?
A: Since August, itwent up nearly
50 percent. These areexisting businessesimproving theirperformance.
Q: What hasBahrain done
with its increased oilrevenues earnedfrom higher prices?
A: Bahrain hasn’tgot a significant
amount of oil inquantities more thanthe rest of the Gulfhas. We’re notextravagant inspending. We tend tobe more conservative.
Q: What Houstoncompanies have
significantinvestments inBahrain?
A: Many oilcompanies.
Halliburton, forexample. Many
services to the oilindustry, and there isclose cooperationbetween the healthservices in Bahrainand the MedicalCenter here inHouston.
Q: What is thenew
development, theBahrain InvestmentWharf?
A: Bahrain has triedto establish
places ready forcompanies to come inand plug in and startyour business whetherit’s industrial, lightmanufacturing ormedium-sizedmanufacturing.
The wharf isdesigned for peoplewho want to come inand set up a basewithout a hassle ofgoing to build aproperty. You don’thave to come andworry.
The electricity isthere. The water isthere. You just come inand plug in and startbusiness. Kraft is one
of the first companiesto come and takeadvantage of it. Theyhave just put a plantthere to manufacturecheese for the wholeregion and sell it out ofBahrain.
Q: Why is Bahraintouted as the
financial capital ofthe Middle East?
A: It has over 30years being in
that position. Thereason is . . . theCentral Bank. Thestandards that youneed to follow to beallowed to do businessin Bahrain are verystrict. If you areregulated by theBahrain Central Bank,you are highlyrespected as a financialinstitution.
You are highlyregulated by very strictinternationalstandards.
When people sayyou are registered inBahrain, that’s pridefor you.
If you are registeredsomewhere else, theyask you why.
BRETT COOMER : C H R O N I C L E
KHALID RASHID AL ZAYANI: “Bahrain has tried to establish places ready for companies to come in andplug in and start your business whether its industrial, light manufacturing or medium-sized manufacturing. Thewharf is designed for people who want to come in and set up a base without a hassle of going to build aproperty.”
MoneymakersFIVE QUESTIONSWITH KHALID RASHID AL ZAYANI
Bahrain’s strengths outlined
New Century FinancialCorp., the nation’s second-biggest subprime lender, saidMonday it doesn’t have thecash to pay creditors who aredemanding their money,increasing speculation that thecompany will go bankrupt.
The New York StockExchange halted trading ofNew Century on Mondaymorning while it decideswhether to keep listing thecompany’s securities in light ofthe liquidity problems. Sharesof the Irvine, Calif.-basedcompany, already down 90percent in 2007, lost half theirremaining value in pre-markettrading.
New Century said in a
federal filing it doesn’t havefunds to give to lenders,including Morgan Stanley,Citigroup and Goldman SachsGroup. The creditors want NewCentury to repurchase alloutstanding mortgage loansthey financed.
“They’re one step closer tobankruptcy,” said Bose George,an analyst at Keefe Bruyette &Woods in New York. “The onlypossibility for survival now isfor someone, potentially aninvestment bank, to step in.”
Bose said a rescuer mightprovide more money in returnfor a large equity stake.
New Century may beinsolvent because too many ofits own customers — most ofwhom have poor credithistories or heavy debt burdens— aren’t repaying their loans.Bad U.S. subprime mortgagesare at a seven-year high, forcingmore than two dozen lenders toclose or sell operations. Theirwoes may contribute to more
than 1.5 million Americanslosing their homes and100,000 people losing theirjobs, according to real estateexecutives, economists,analysts and a Federal Reservegovernor.
Its stock has beenhammered by investors inrecent weeks, falling fromaround $30 a month ago toclose Friday at $3.21 on theNew York Stock Exchange.Shares plummeted $1.55, or 48percent, to finish Monday at$1.66.
The company said March 2that U.S. prosecutors in LosAngeles are investigatingtrading in New Century’ssecurities prior to a Feb. 7announcement that it plannedto restate earnings.
Investigators also areexamining New Century’sfailure to properly account forthe cost of bad loans.
Rival lenders, includingFremont General Corp.,Accredited Home LendersHolding Co. and NovaStarFinancial, have shed more thanhalf their value this year, andCountrywide Financial Corp.,the nation’s biggest mortgagecompany, has tumbled 17percent.
Subprime loans, a termapplied to some of the riskiesthome mortgages, are made toborrowers unable to qualifyunder traditional, morestringent criteria. The loansoften carry interest rates 2 to 3percentage points higher thanregular mortgages andsometimes have low initial“teaser” rates that adjusthigher in later years. Somelenders also lowered theirstandards last year to bolsterrevenue because slumpinghome sales had hurt demand.
Subprime lender says itcannot pay off creditors■ Trading haltedas New Centurynears bankruptcy
By BRADLEY KEOUNand YALMAN ONARANB L O O M B E R G N E W S
Insolvent customers
Lower standards
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W H E R ET O F I N D U S
new york — Oil pricesdropped below $59 a barrelMonday on forecasts of warmerweather in the United Statesand the belief that OPEC willkeep production quotas stableat its meeting later this week.
The prospect of steady oiloutput and low heating fueldemand led traders to sell forthe third straight session on theNew York MercantileExchange. But with U.S.gasoline inventories on thedecline and the summer drivingseason just a few months away,market watchers say thedowntrend could be short-lived.
Light, sweet crude for Aprildelivery dropped $1.14 to settleat $58.91 a barrel on theNymex, after tumbling morethan 2 percent on Friday.
On London’s ICE futuresexchange Monday, Brent crudefell 51 cents to $61.10 a barrel.
The National WeatherService is predicting above-normal temperatures in mostparts of the Northeast andMidwest for the next twoweeks, leading traders to betthat the heating oil season is
drawing to a close.Heating oil futures lost 2.99
cents to settle at $1.6823 agallon on Nymex, and naturalgas prices declined 17.1 cents tosettle at $6.912 per millionBritish thermal units.
News of a fire Mondayafternoon at a gas pipeline inParker County in Texas couldaffect natural gas trading today.
But gasoline futures ekedout a rise, climbing 0.84 cent tosettle at $1.9105 a gallon. Theyare up more than 20 percentsince their first trading day in2007, compared with crudefutures, which are littlechanged on the year.
Gasoline has risen onrefinery problems anddeclining inventories, and waspushed higher on Monday afternews of a fire at PDVSA’sPuerta La Cruz refinery inVenezuela.
The surge in gasolinefutures has trickled down topump prices. The average U.S.retail price of a gallon ofregular gasoline was $2.559 onMonday, up from $2.505 lastweek and up from $2.212 amonth ago. In Houston, theaverage pump price was $2.366Monday, up from $2.351 lastweek.
Crude falls below $59,but gasoline holds firmBy MADLEN READA S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
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(I-10 @ Kirkwood)281-596-8187
M - F 10 - 5 • Sat. 10 - 6Sun. 12 - 5 or by Appointment
For information about IACCGH membership or the luncheon please contact
Jagdip Ahluwalia, Executive Director, IACCGH
(713) [email protected], [email protected]
Indo AmericanChamber of Commerce
of Greater Houstonwww.iaccgh.com
media sponsor
Sponsored by
President, Subroto Mukerji andthe IACCGH Board invite you to the
BMC SoftwareDistinguished LectureKeynote Speaker:Chip CarlisleFormer Chairman, GHPPresident, Wells Fargo
Other IACCGH Events:• Saturday, March 17th Community Outreach
US SBA, HMBC, SCORE and lending institutions(Citibank, Chase Bank, United Central Bank, etc) join IACCGH at Pearland to teach the community about SBA guaranteed loans for small businesses owners.
• April 11th – 5th Annual Golf TournamentAt Longwood Golf Course, Golf Tee off: 1.30pm.A day of fun and networking
The Mission of the Chamber is to:- Facilitate commerce between
the U.S. and India- Enable Indo-American
business to succeed- Facilitate access to the
Indo-American market- Be the voice of the
Indo-American Business Community
Venue: Westin Oaks Hotel, 5011 Westheimer, HoustonFree for IACCGH members who register by March 20th
Upcoming Lectures• April 16th-Jim Edmonds
Chairman, Port of Houston Authority
• May 7th –Bob BeauchampPresident & CEO, BMC Software
Monday, March 26th, 200711.30am-1.30pm
Tickets for non-members:$50 For tickets: http://www.tickets2events.com/iaccghmarch2007.asp
D2 H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E ¬ ¬ Tuesday, March 13, 2007ON TWO
EGL, a manager of air andocean freight services forcompanies, announced Mondaythe resignation of its chieffinancial officer and the hiringof an operations chief.
Finance chief CharlesLeonard stepped down onFriday, Houston-based EGLsaid. Gregory Weigel, EGL’sexecutive vice president ofglobal transportation, willbecome chief operating officer,the company said. EGL didn’timmediately name areplacement for Leonard.
Leonard’s exit and Weigel’spromotion reshape ChiefExecutive Officer JamesCrane’s management team ashe presses his $1.2 billion bid totake EGL private. Crane gotbacking last month fromCenterbridge Partners andWoodbridge Co. after hisoriginal sponsor, GeneralAtlantic, withdrew.
Analysts John Barnes III ofBB&T Capital Markets andJustin Lumiere of Oscar Gruss& Son said this month thatCrane’s $36-a-share offerundervalues the company andmay draw a higher bid.
ABM Industries, a facilitiescontractor, said it will move itscorporate headquarters to NewYork from San Francisco at theend of 2008 while its ABMJanitorial unit will move toHouston next year.
Nonjanitorial operations,including AMPCO Parking andABM Security Services, willremain in southern California.Support functions will be
consolidated in Houston.
Glass Lewis, an advisoryfirm to institutionalshareholders, recommendedinvestors vote against ClearChannel Communications’pending $19 billion buyout,suggesting the company hasbetter options to boostshareholder value.
The recommendation dealsanother blow to San Antonio-based Clear Channel, whichagreed last November to anacquisition offer from private-equity firms Bain CapitalPartners and Thomas H. Lee.Several large Clear Channelshareholders oppose the deal,in part on concerns the offer of$37.60 a share is too low.
Clear Channel’s leveragedbuyout needs approval from anunusually high two-thirds ofcompany shares. With just overa week before a March 21shareholder vote and withopposition mounting, thebuyout appears imperiled.
Texas Instruments, theworld’s biggest maker ofsemiconductors for mobilephones, said first-quarter salesand profit won’t reach itshighest previous estimate amida slump in handset demand.
Sales will be $3.07 billion to$3.22 billion, the Dallas-basedcompany said Monday. Thatcompares with an estimate of$3.01 billion to $3.28 billiontwo months earlier. Profit willbe 29 cents to 33 cents a share,compared with an earlierforecast of 28 cents to 34 cents.
A R O U N D T H E R E G I O N
FREIGHT
EGL managementchanges reported
SERVICES
ABM will moveunit to Houston
RADIO
Advisory firmopposes buyout
TECHNOLOGY
TI says earningswon’t hit forecast
new york — Schering-Plough Corp. said Monday itwill buy the drug unit ofNetherlands-based Akzo Nobelfor $14.4 billion, giving theU.S. pharmaceutical companyan array of women’s healthproducts while bolstering itsanimal healthbusiness andlate-stagepipeline ofexperimentalmedicines.
Theapproximately$4.9 billion inrevenue from OrganonBiosciences would bulk upSchering-Plough’s sales byabout half, and analystsapplauded the New Jersey’sdrug maker’s effort to diversifyand lessen its dependence onits cholesterol franchise. Butthey also expressed concernabout the deal’s debt.
Schering-Plough ChiefExecutive Fred Hassan wasupbeat about the deal.
U.S. regulators filed civilfraud charges Monday againstfour former Nortel Networksexecutives, including ex-CEOFrank Dunn, alleging theyrepeatedly altered the telecomequipment maker’s revenue tomeet Wall Street expectations.
The U.S. Securities andExchange Commission actioncame on the same day as acomplaint filed by the OntarioSecurities Commission.Regulators from both countrieshave been probing theCanadian company’saccounting for years.
Since 2005, Nortel has beenattempting to recover from anaccounting crisis that affectedresults and caused shareholderlawsuits, investigations and thefiring of key executives,including Dunn.
trenton, n.j. — Merck &Co.’s painkiller Vioxxcontributed to an Idaho postalworker’s heart attack, a jury inAtlantic City ruled Monday,reversing the verdict in the
man’s first trial and hittingMerck with a total of $47.5million in damages.
In one of Merck’s biggestlosses over the drug so far, thejurors awarded the man and hiswife $20 million incompensatory damagesMonday morning, then latersaid Merck should pay $27.5million in punitive damages.
The verdict in the case ofFrederick “Mike” Humeston,who was granted a second trialin light of new evidence, meansMerck has now won nine casesand lost five in the litigationover its arthritis pill.
■ The Treasury Departmentauctioned $21 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of4.965 percent, unchanged fromlast week. Also, $17 billion insix-month bills was auctionedat 4.920 percent, up from 4.855percent last week.■ The Federal Reserve saidMonday that the average yieldfor one-year Treasury bills fellto 4.92 percent last week from4.96 percent.■ Starbucks Corp. expanded itspush into the entertainmentbusiness, launching a recordlabel with the same brand —Hear Music — stamped on thecompilation CDs it sells incoffeehouses. The coffee giantsaid it was partnering withConcord Music Group to launchthe record label.■ General Motors Corp. said itwould release its quarterly andfull-year financial results onWednesday after delaysbecause of accounting troubles.■ Johnson & Johnson said it hasreceived subpoenas fromfederal prosecutors inPhiladelphia, Boston and SanFrancisco related to the salesand marketing of three drugs.The drugs at issue areRisperdal, a treatment forschizophrenia and bipolarmania, the epilepsy treatmentTopamax, and Natrecor, whichis used to treat heart-failurepatients, the company said.■ Billionaire shareholderactivist Carl Icahn increased hisstake in Motorola and started aproxy fight for a board seatafter demanding the mobile-phone maker return more of itscash to investors. Icahn, whonow owns 2.5 percent of thestock, submitted proxymaterials for the company’sMay 7 shareholder meeting in aregulatory filing.■ UnitedHealth Group got backinto acquisitions, agreeing tobuy Nevada’s largest healthinsurer, Sierra Health Services,for $2.6 billion.
C H R O N I C L E N E W S S E R V I C E S
A R O U N D T H E N A T I O N
HASSAN
MEDICINES
Schering-Ploughplans acquisition
INVESTIGATIONS
Fraud charged inNortel accounting
COURT
Jury rules againstMerck in retrial
IN OTHER NEWS . . .
seattle — ContinentalAirlines has ordered five moreBoeing 787 Dreamliners, bring-ing its total order to 25, the air-line said Monday.
The five new orders are forthe 787-9, which can fly fartherand carry more passengers thanother versions of the Dream-liner.
The order will help Conti-nental further cut fuel con-sumption. Continental de-creased fuel consumption foreach revenue passenger mile by34 percent in the past decade.
Houston-based Continentalalso said it was converting 12previously ordered 787-8s to thelarger model, which can seat
from 250 to 290 passengers.Peter Conte, a spokesman for
the Boeing Co.’s Seattle-basedcommercial airplanes division,confirmed the Continental or-der Monday.
The five new jets are worthabout $916 million at list prices,and a dozen 787-9s are worth$1.8 billion more than 787-8s.Customers often negotiate sig-nificant discounts.
Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner isdesigned to use 20 percent lessfuel than comparable airplanes.The plane’s first flight is sched-uled for this year, and it will en-ter into commercial service in2008.
Continental said it was thefirst airline in the Americas toorder the 787-9.
Continental wants to addlonger-range planes to servemore international cities fromits hubs in Newark and Hous-ton.
Continental addingto Dreamliner order■ Five more jetsfrom Boeing willgive it a fleet of 25
C H R O N I C L E N E W S S E R V I C E S
Anadarko Petroleum Corp.agreed to sell part of its stake inthe K2 oil and natural gas fieldin the Gulf of Mexico to two un-disclosed buyers for $1.2 billion.
The sale, which is expectedto close in the second quarter,would reduce Anadarko’s stakein the project to 41.8 percent
from 65 percent, according to astatement Monday from TheWoodlands-based company.
Anadarko plans to use newwater and gas injection tech-niques to tap reserves from thefield, said Carin Dehne Kiley, ananalyst at Calyon SecuritiesUSA in New York. Poorer-than-expected results from existingprocesses at the field led thecompany to lower its estimatefor 2006 reserves by the equiva-lent of 136 million barrels of oil,she said.
“It’s nice that somebody elseagrees with them that the newstrategy will work,” said Kiley,who rates Anadarko shares a“buy” and owns none.
Chief Executive Officer JimHackett is selling assets to re-duce debt from the acquisitionsin August of Kerr-McGee Corp.and Western Gas Resources fora combined $21 billion. Thecompany has sold or announcedthe sale of more than $11 billionof oil and gas fields. Hackett hassaid he will sell $15 billion of as-sets.
Anadarko on Feb. 6 said itsoverall reserves rose 23 percentlast year to the equivalent of 3billion barrels of oil. Productionfrom the six wells in the K2 fieldaveraged the equivalent of37,100 barrels of oil a day so farthis year, Anadarko said Mon-day. The company will continueto operate the field.
Anadarko saysit’s selling partof its K2 stake■ Field in Gulfdraws interest ofundisclosed buyers
By DAN LONKEVICHB L O O M B E R G N E W S
AT&T launched in Hous-ton Monday the first ofwhat will become a
chain of retail stores aimed atletting customers test variousproducts while reminding themthat Cingular Wireless devicesare now under “the new AT&T”umbrella.
The AT&T Experience store,at 3773 Southwest Freeway in aremodeled Cingular store, of-fers six hands-on stations whereconsumers can try out the com-pany’s products, including U-verse television service, XMSatellite Radio and Bluetoothheadphones. In June, the storeswill begin carrying the iPhone,the recently announced venturewith Apple that merges a cellphone, iPod and Internetbrowser into one hand-held de-vice.
Combining those kinds ofhigh-tech applications has be-come AT&T’s strategy, espe-cially since the acquisition of
Cingular.“In this store, you will be
able to experience that conver-gence,” said Stan Sigman, presi-dent and CEO of wireless forAT&T. The company plans to
open two stores in San Antonioand Atlanta, the corporatehomes of AT&T and Cingular,this spring and another eight bythe end of the year.
— BRAD HEM
BILLY SMITH II PHOTOS : C H R O N I C L E
STARTING HERE: Customer Joel Hoelscher, left, talks with AT&T customer service representative ErickaPulido at the AT&T Experience Store on the Southwest Freeway on Monday. The store, a remodeled CingularWireless location, is the first of what will be a national chain of AT&T retail stores.
NEW LOOK: J.T. Tyler of Signtech takes down the Cingular logo at thenew AT&T Experience Store.
R E T A I L
First in new AT&T chain opensEven the superrich go thrift-
store shopping every once in awhile.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &Co., the giant buyout firm, saidMonday that it would pay $7.3billion to take the discount re-tailer Dollar General private.
The deal would be a very lu-crative one for Dollar Generalshareholders, who would re-ceive $22 a share — a premiumof nearly one-third over thestock’s closing price on Friday.Included in the $7.3-billionprice tag for the deal is about$380 million of debt.
Analysts said that in manyways, Dollar General was anideal target for a private equityfirm like Kohlberg Kravis. With8,260 stores and sagging prof-its, the retailer would benefitfrom the type of consolidationsthat are common after a privateequity buyout, analysts havesaid.
Dollar General’s earningsshrank in each of the last threequarters. In November, thesame day it reported a $5.3-mil-lion loss for the third quarter,the company announced a re-structuring plan that includedclosing at least 400 stores, scal-ing back plans to open newstores, and repurchasing $500million in stock.
Some analysts raised thepossibility that additional bidscould emerge.
When the first Dollar Gen-eral opened in Springfield, Ky.,in 1955, its appeal was that itsold nothing that cost more thana dollar.
Basic economics have sincechanged that, but about a thirdof its merchandise still sells fora dollar or less. It carries typicalconvenience-store fare likelaundry detergent, groceries,and beauty products.
Because it caters to lower-income consumers, Tennessee-based Dollar General has beenparticularly vulnerable to eco-nomic forces like gas pricespikes and stagnant wagegrowth, which have hurt otherretailers like Wal-Mart. Withgas prices off their peaks of lastsummer and wages growing farahead of inflation, analysts haveraised their outlooks for retail-ers like Dollar General.
Goldman Sachs has agreed tocommit debt financing, thecompanies said.
Billionsfor DollarGeneral■ Kohlberg Kravisto take discountretailer private
By JEREMY W. PETERSN E W YO R K T I M E S
washington — A gather-ing of influential figures con-vened by Treasury SecretaryHenry Paulson to discuss theimpact on business of laws andrules born of this century’s big-gest corporate scandals likelywill produce some ideas thatcould quickly be turned intopolicy changes, a top adminis-tration official said Monday.
Robert Steel, the Treasuryundersecretary for domestic fi-nance, spoke to reporters Mon-day about a conference beingheld in Washington today that isexpected to provide a serioushearing to the months-longcampaign by business interestsfor a softening of the regula-tions.
An array of companies andbusiness leaders have beenmaking the case that the re-quirements spawned by the cri-sis of corporate malfeasance areoverly onerous and costly — andhurt the competitiveness ofU.S. financial markets by driv-ing some companies away fromthem.
Paulson and ChristopherCox, the chairman of the Securi-ties and Exchange Commission,are moderators for panel discus-sions. The panelists include bil-lionaire investor Warren Buf-
fett, GeneralElectric Co.Chairman JeffreyImmelt, broker-age founder andCEO CharlesSchwab, formerFederal ReserveChairman Alan
Greenspan and New York MayorMichael Bloomberg.
In November, a committee ofbusiness, legal and academicfigures offered proposals to clipback corporate governancerules, class-action lawsuitsagainst companies and auditors,and criminal prosecution ofcompanies by the government.
A second group, formed bythe U.S. Chamber of Com-merce, is unveiling its reportand recommendations thisweek.
It calls for “quick and deci-sive adjustments in the U.S. le-gal and regulatory framework ...to ensure that U.S. investor and
business interests are bestserved in the global market-place.” Among its key recom-mendations: Public companiesshould stop issuing quarterlyearnings guidance and policy-makers should seriously con-sider proposals to reduce the li-ability of accounting firms inlitigation over company audits.
Some experts, includingLynn Turner, a former SECchief accountant, have warnedagainst a softening of the rules,saying that would erode inves-tor protection. And Wall Streetpowerhouse Goldman Sachstook issue with the businesscampaign’s premise.
“The regulatory climate doesmatter. . . . Nonetheless, we donot think this is the main prob-lem,” Goldman Sachs said in arecent research paper. “Insteadwe see the growth of capitalmarkets outside the U.S. as anatural consequence of eco-nomic growth and market matu-ration elsewhere. The U.S. hasin fact been losing market sharefor several decades.”
Paulson headed Goldman Sa-chs before coming into the ad-ministration last summer.
BLOOMBERG
Big names will weigh in on corporate laws
By MARCY GORDONA S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 ¬ ¬ H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E D3INSIDE BUSINESS
THIS weekend’searly switch todaylight-savingtime was billed asa little re-
enactment of the Y2Kcomputer problem at the turnof the millennium. And as ithappened, the daylight bugappeared to have equally minorresults nationwide.
Among the problems thatwere reported: Some customer-service call centers struggled toopen at the proper hour.Calendar softwareinconsistently displayedmeeting times.
But for the most part, thesoftware patches and othertweaks applied by technologyadministrators worked asplanned.
“It was not very serious, buta lot of work had beenhappening in the last weeks ortwo months to prepare for allthis,” said Julien Courbe,managing director of thefinancial services practice atBearingPoint, a technologyconsultancy. “I think the work
was comprehensive enough.”Courbe said his team at
BearingPoint fixed thedaylight-saving rules on 25,000servers for its customers beforethe changeover and ended upwith just a dozen “causingtrouble.” Usually those were inolder programs, he said.
Like humans, computershad to adapt to being told thatdaylight-saving time no longerbegins the first weekend inApril. The switch (along with aone-week extension of daylighttime beginning this fall)stemmed from a 2005 federallaw that sought to save energyby shifting more natural lightto the evening hours.
If corporate techadministrators had donenothing, computersprogrammed before the 2005
law would have kept standardtime until April 1. Nothing direwas likely to happen, unlike thecomputer crashes feared whenthe Y2K bug made machinesthink 1999 had given way to1900. Still, being an hour offcould disrupt calendar softwareand transaction processing.
For example, some financialnetworks require that multiplemachines coordinate, and anerrant computer could screw itup. That’s why the New YorkStock Exchange and the Nasdaq
Stock Market ran tests Sundaybefore pronouncing theirsystems fit for Monday’strading sessions.
But while the markets tickedon as usual, not everything wasrunning correctly.
Anthony Hersey went to theOffice of the City Clerk in NewYork on Monday to get amarriage license, and noticedthat its computer-controlledtime stamp said 7:50 a.m., eventhough the office didn’t openuntil 8:30.
At NetTeks TechnologyConsultants in Boston, founder
Ethan Simmons said thephones were “ringing off thehook” with problem reports,including some in automatedcommunications systems. In afew instances, a company’snetwork was an hour late inreleasing calls to customer-support staff at the opening ofbusiness, leaving the “agentssitting around twiddling theirthumbs,” Simmons said.
Simmons said the problemsmay have been caused bycompanies’ failure toadminister patches — but alsoby flaws in the patches them-selves. Indeed, a few consumerdevices were an hour aheadSunday rather than an hourbehind, as if overcompensating.
A mishmash of patches inplace and not in place likelycaused some other oddities. Forexample, TiVo warned
subscribers last week that theirdigital video recorders mightdisplay the wrong time forthree weeks and that somescheduled recordings mightneed to be altered. At leastsome TiVos ended up showingthe wrong time Saturday inadvance of the switch, butbecame correct Sunday.
Ron O’Brien, an analyst forcomputer-security providerSophos, noticed Monday thathis laptop calendar told him hehad a conference call at 10:30a.m., but his BlackBerry listedthe same event at 9:30 a.m. Hedialed in one hour too early andfound himself alone on the call.
“There’s going to be thiscode or etiquette issue the nextfew days,” he said. “It’s notgoing to be life-threatening, butit’s going to be — ‘nuisance’ isalmost too big a word — it’sgoing to be inconvenient.”
STEPHAN SAVOIA : A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
MOVING AHEAD: Scott Gow, a machinist in Kenosha, Wis., prepares to move the hands of an eight-foot clockbeing shipped to a client. The nation’s early switch to daylight-saving time created only minor problems in itsimplementation.
Like humans,computers had toadapt to being toldthat daylight-savingtime no longer beginsthe first weekend inApril.
PATCHING UPMost home PCs got the timepatches sent automatically,but users without automaticupdates who now sporterroneous clocks should:
■ Visit their providers’ Websites, such as http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007.
■ Make fixes manually ifusing Windows 2000machines or older.
T H E P R O P E R H O U R
Some minor mishaps reported,but earlier daylight-saving timecaused no nationwide trauma
Computersare copingwith switchBy BRIAN BERGSTEINA S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
‘Not very serious’
Making some tests
Q: When I reply to some —not all — people’s e-mail,
the toolbar below the subjectbox that contains the font size,bold/underline boxes, fontcolor, etc. is gone. Why is that?
A: Depending on how youconfigure your e-mail
client, you can send and replyto messages in what is knownas plain text or rich text,HTML, format.
Plain text is just what youwould expect:Numbers andletters with noadornments likeitalics, bolding,color, specialfonts, etc.
Rich text isthe opposite. It
has multiple font sizes andcolors. You can change thecolor of specific words orsentences and add graphics.
The toolbar you arereferring to is the Rich TextToolbar. If it is missing on somemessages it means that thosemessages are being sent inplain text.
You can toggle this back andforth in just about any e-mailprogram. In Outlook Express,you can start a new message ora reply and then click theFormat menu item and select“Rich Text (HTML)” and youwill have the toolbar availablefor that message.
There is also the option toturn it on for any outgoinge-mail message. That optioncan be found under Tools,Options, Send and looking inthe Mail Sending Formatsection.
Q: With my previouslyowned computer I could
view my most recently openeddocuments when I clicked onthe start tab and then MyRecent Documents. This optionis missing from my newsystem. How do I add thisfeature?
A: This feature is one of themany configurations that
can be accessed by rightclicking the Start button andselecting Properties.
In this menu, the first thingyou see is the ability to togglebetween Start Menu andClassic Start Menu. The featureyou are seeking is a function ofthe Start Menu. Select that andthen click the Customizebutton to the right.
In the next window click onthe Advanced tab and all theway at the bottom you will see“List my most recently openeddocuments” with a check boxnext to it. Put a check in thebox and click OK.
Now, to access a recentlyopened document, you justclick Start, My RecentDocuments and choose thedocument you wish to open.
If you want to clear the listof recently opened documents,right click on the Start button,select Properties, Customize,go to the Advanced tab, andunder Recent documents clickClear List. This will clear thelist but won’t delete thedocuments.
Q: Is it possible to shut offthe information boxes
that pop-up when your cursoris paused on a list of files?
I am blind and use a speechprogram, and it is annoying tohave my program read what isin the box. I only need the filename read and I sometimeshave to pause to consider whatis in the file. That’s when theinfo box pops up. Can this beturned off?
A: This feature of Windowsis easily modified. Open
Windows Explorer and selectthe Tools menu and go toFolder Options. Here you willfind two check boxes. One says,“Display File Size InformationIn Folder Tips.” Another says,“Show Pop-Up Description ForFolder And Desktop Items.”
Uncheck these two itemsand the pop-ups will cease tobother you.
Write Jay Lee at [email protected]. You can view morequestions and answers at theHelp Line Blog located atblogs.chron.com/helpline. Leeco-hosts the weekly radio showTechnology Bytes from 8-10 p.m.Wednesdays on KPFT 90.1 FMin Houston. The program is alsoavailable on the Internet atwww.geekradio.com. Lee cannotpersonally answer all readerquestions.
Jay Lee
HELP LINE
You can turne-mail intoa rich option
breakthrough product for thetablet PC category.
But alas, once I actually usedone, my hopes were dashed.Not only is this not a greattablet, it’s not a particularlygood notebook, either.
The tx1000 is what’s knownas a convertible tablet. It can beused like a traditional notebookPC, with an upright screen andbuilt-in keyboard. The screenswivels and can be locked downatop the keyboard to become atablet.
It’s small and lightweight,with a 12.1-inch screen and4.26 pounds, with a four-cellbattery; the recommended six-cell adds about half a pound.
The model I tried came witha 2.0-GHz AMD Turion 64 X2dual-core processor, meaning ithas two processing units in onepackage. It has 2 gigabytes ofRAM, a 160-GB hard drive, aDVD burner, a built-inwebcam, fingerprint reader,Wi-Fi adapter and an nVidiaGeForce Go 6150 graphicsadapter. It sounds like a dreamon paper, but reality issomething altogetherdifferent.
In order to cut costs andpossibly weight, HP has madethe tx1000’s touch screen workwith a stylus that doesn’t haveits own power source. Thismeans you can move objects onthe screen with just a fingertipif you like.
The problem is that apowered stylus is moresensitive, and the tx1000’s
screen is decidedly insensitive.I found I had to bear down withthe pen to move objects,expand windows or writesmoothly. It made using thetablet a chore rather than adelight. In addition, the gridused to sense movementdarkens the screen noticeably.Even with the brightnessturned up all the way, it stillwas too dim for my taste.
Sadly, its keyboard has someserious shortcomings, too. Iusually like HP’s keyboards,but this one has a fatal flaw thatI’ve complained about in otherbrands, and it’s disappointingto see it in an HP notebook.
HP has placed the cursorkeys deep into the keypadlayout, forcing the right shiftkey to be smaller and placingthe up-arrow key next to it. Theresult: It’s way too easy toaccidently hit the up-arrow keywhen you mean to shift,sending the cursor key up intothe text above as you type. Asfar as keyboard design goes,this is an unpardonable sin.
Battery life with the 4-cellbattery is about 2 hours withaverage use; the six-cell onlyadds about an hour to that.
And, as is often the casewith HP’s consumer systems,it’s got way too much junkware— trial versions and marketingcome-ons.
■ PORTÉGÉ R400-S4832 —$3,079, Toshiba. Toshiba getsthe Tablet PC almost right withthe Portégé R400, which drew
raves when it was first unveiledat CES. It’s an excellentnotebook and a pretty goodtablet, but very expensive.
The R400 is a slick littlenotebook, with an off-whitecase that’s reminiscent ofApple’s white MacBooks. It’sgot a 12.1-inch screen andweighs in at 3.79 pounds.
Toshiba sells only oneconfiguration on its Web site,although you may find others atretail. The model I tried had a1.2-GHz Intel Centrino Duoprocessor, 2 GB of systemmemory, an 80-GB hard drive,Intel shared-memory graphicsand a fingerprint reader.
In addition to the usualBluetooth and Wi-Ficonnectivity, it also comes witha built-in cellular broadbandadapter that talks to Verizon’sdata network. You’ll need tosubscribe to that service, whichcosts between $60 and $80 amonth, depending on whetheryou have a Verizon voice plan.
That adds to the already-substantial price tag of theR400. But this may be what ittakes to do a tablet right.
It’s also a convertiblenotebook, and working with itin tablet mode is wonderful. Itrequires little or no pressure towrite on the screen — you canactually hold the stylus justabove the screen and move thecursor — and it keeps up withhandwriting smoothly. As isoften the case, it does a hit-or-miss job with handwritingrecognition, but Vista’sincluded handwriting tools —
which are also on the HP tablet— don’t always require textconversion. For example, it willrecognize enough of even theworst scrawl to makehandwritten notes searchable.
The keyboard is also nice.It’s small, but not too small tocause lots of errors, and thecursor keys are dropped justbelow the main key area,providing for a full-sized rightshift key.
Battery life is good, at aboutthree hours on the standardsix-cell battery. A secondarysix-cell battery pack ($179)snaps onto the back andeffectively doubles battery life.
It is also one of the firstnotebooks to take advantage ofVista’s SideShow feature,which allows for informationdisplay on external screens. Asmall screen along the frontedge of the notebook showshow many unread e-mailmessages you have, the time,Wi-Fi signal strength andbattery status. This will stay onand update when the notebookis in sleep mode.
Because this is a businessmachine, there’s minimaljunkware, other than McAfee’sInternet Security suite and atrial version of Microsoft Office2007.
If you wanted to choosebetween these two tablets, theclear choice would be theToshiba — provided, of course,you’ve got the cash to burn.
[email protected] /http://blogs.chron.com/techblog
SILVERMAN: If you’ve got the cash, go with the ToshibaCONTINUED FROM PAGE D1
Almost right
I love when Appleintroduces a product like thenew AirPort Extreme BaseStation, which is significantlyfaster and more capable than itspredecessor and cheaper toboot.
Apple claims the new modeloffers up to five times theperformance and twice therange of its predecessor, andI’ve found that it comes prettydarn close.
Based on the current IEEE802.11n draft specification, thenew AirPort Extreme is Wi-Fi
certified to work with allprevious wireless standards:802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g.So all of your existing wirelesshardware should continue towork with the new BaseStation. And many Macs sold inthe past year, as well as almostevery Mac sold today, supportthe faster 802.11n standard.
In my admittedlyunscientific testing, performedwith a stopwatch and tapemeasure, I compared a newAirPort Extreme to myprevious-generation 802.11gAirPort Base Station, using aMacBook Pro, a PowerBook,and an iMac for testing.
I was happy to find that myresults came quite close toApple’s claims. Although Inever achieved the claimedfive-time speedup, I also neversaw less than a three-timeimprovement. And that ispretty darn impressive.
I couldn’t get twice mycurrent range from my testsetup. But I did come prettyclose, extending my usablerange by 40-50 feet over myolder 802.11g network.
The previous AirPortExtreme could only operate onthe 2.4 gigahertz spectrum.The new one can also operateon the 5 GHz band. While this
made the faster networkinvisible to older 802.11b and gMacs, it also meant that myMacBook Pro always had accessto 100 percent of the availablebandwidth on the fasternetwork.
Another welcome newfeature is called AirPort Disk. Itallows you to connect a USB2.0 hard drive to the BaseStation’s USB port and access itfrom any computer, Mac orWindows, on your wirelessnetwork.
This is huge. So instead ofan expensive and complicatedNetwork Attached Storagedrive, you can use virtually any
USB 2.0 hard disk.Finally, the new and
improved AirPort Utility makesinitial setup easier and has new“expert” features like loggingand performance charting.
If you need an AirPort BaseStation, this one is better thanthe old one in almost everyway.
Bob LeVitus is the author of 48computer books including MacOS X Tiger For Dummies, and aMac consultant, troubleshooter,and trainer. Visit his Web site atwww.boblevitus.com; e-mailcomments [email protected].
DR. MAC
New AirPort station flies by its predecessorBy BOB LeVITUSF O R T H E C H R O N I C L E
D4 H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E ¬ ¬ Tuesday, March 13, 2007TECHNOLOGY
benedict, neb. — RossHirschfeld says folks have beentalking behind his back eversince the local paper reportedthat he has been getting mil-lions of dollars in farm subsidiesfrom Washington.
Hirschfeld, a hands-onfarmer who shovels hog manureon Saturdays, just as he hassince grade school, says that fel-low farmers get angry at himnow when he buys land to ex-pand. He says his daughter, whoteaches school 300 miles away,has been asked by her grade-school students about her “richfather.”
“People think, ‘They got allthat money, blah, blah, blah,’ ”Hirschfeld says.
Exactly how muchHirschfeld and other farmersget from Uncle Sam has becomecommon knowledge aroundhere because an environmentalgroup has been posting namesand figures on its Web site aspart of its campaign against thenation’s multibillion-dollarfarm-subsidy program.
At small-town coffee shopsacross the countryside, talkabout the weather and Nebraskafootball now competes with gos-sip about who is getting bigbucks from Washington.
The information is raisingtensions between smaller farm-ers and bigger producers inotherwise neighborly farm com-munities. And it may be turningsome people against the subsidyprogram as it now operates.
“When the numbers cameout, I thought it was too much,”says Lynn Lowe, who has asmall farm in the same countyas Hirschfeld. “The governmentshouldn’t be helping them out— they get more than we see peryear” in income.
“When’s enough enough?”Darell Bolton, a nearby farmerwith a small operation, says ofthe Hirschfelds’ checks.
Under programs first createdin the 1930s to stabilize farmincome and prices, U.S. farmersgot some $20 billion in subsi-dies in 2005, the last year forwhich figures are available.
Most payments go to growersof five major crops — corn, soy-beans, wheat, rice and cotton.
Hirschfeld — with his broth-ers and son — received $2.64million from 1995 to 2005.
The Hirschfelds farm mostlycorn on a 5,000-acre spreadnear York and are among the topsubsidy recipients in Nebras-ka’s 3rd Congressional District.
It surpassed all districts inthe nation in 2005 with $992million in subsidies.
Hirschfeld, who is a third-generation farmer, estimateshis family’s operation has agross income of $4 million to $5million annually. But withoutsubsidies, he says, they wouldnot have been able to break evensome years.
The top subsidy recipient in2005 was an Arkansas rice-producer, Riceland Foods,which got nearly $16 million.
Iowa farmers topped the listwith $2.3 billion in subsidies in2005. Iowa was followed byTexas, $2 billion; Illinois, $1.8billion; and Nebraska, $1.4 bil-lion.
For several years now, theWashington-based Environ-mental Working Group has beenposting those names and figuresonline in the hope that the pub-licity over the payments to largefarmers would create wide-spread opposition to the pro-gram. The group’s president,Ken Cook, instead wants subsi-dies to go to farmers who usegood conservation practices.
“Some people say, ‘When areyou going to take that damnWeb site down?’ ” Cook says. “Ilook forward to the day peoplewant to be on the list becausethey’re doing great conserva-tion practices — that should bethe rationale for subsidies.”
The Bush administration isproposing to stop paying subsi-dies to many big farmers by low-ering the income eligibility capfrom $2.5 million to $200,000.The plan would cost $87.3 bil-lion over the next five years,
versus the $105 billion spentover the past five.
Former Nebraska governorand current U.S. AgricultureSecretary Mike Johanns is thelead salesman for the plan andhas used the outrage over subsi-dies for big farmers to make hispitch.
Nebraska Farmers UnionPresident John Hansen accusesCook of inaccurately portrayingfarmers as rich welfare recipi-ents and ignoring the underly-ing reason for subsidies — tostabilize food production in anoften volatile marketplace.
“He wants to ruin publicsupport for farm programs,”Hansen says. “Ken Cook knowsgood and well he’s creating con-fusion and hard feelings andmisunderstandings between agplayers and nonag people, andhis agenda is to do just that.”
Robert Kracl, a farmer whosefamily partnership is among thetop recipients of governmentsubsidies in Nebraska, says thebad publicity has made agricul-ture a dirty word to many. Hesays that is one reason his sondecided to take a job in Seattleafter college rather than comehome to farm in Nebraska.
Kracl says many people don’tunderstand that the subsidypayments are split among sev-eral family members and arenecessary to survive.
His four-member familypartnership received $2.3 mil-lion from 1995 to 2005.
BILL WOLF : A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
HELP FROM WASHINGTON: Ross Hirschfeld examines a semensample from one of his prized boars in Benedict, Neb. News aboutsubsidies that farmers like Hirschfeld have been getting from the federalgovernment has raised the ire of his neighbors, but he says there areyears that the subsidies have allowed him to break even.
A harvest of bad feelingsabout farmers’ subsidies■ Some are called‘rich’ after namesput on the Web
By NATE JENKINSA S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
Raising tensions
Among top recipients
Inaccuracies alleged
washington — The Bushadministration wants to allowocean farming for shellfish,salmon and saltwater species infederal waters for the first time,hoping to grab a greater share ofthe $70 billion aquaculturemarket.
A plan being announcedMonday by Commerce Secre-tary Carlos Gutierrez would letcompanies operate fish farmsthree miles to 200 miles off-shore, but without some of therules on size, season and har-vest methods that apply to othercommercial fishermen.
Fish farms already operateon inland and coastal waters asfar as three miles into the ocean,which fall under state jurisdic-tion.
Environmental concernshave arisen about wastewatergenerated by such operations.Gutierrez, however, said the ad-ministration’s proposal hadsafeguards and would permitstates to ban fish farming up to12 miles off their coast.
The plan, to be presented atthe International Boston Sea-food Show, would help the $1billion U.S. aquaculture indus-
try roughly double over the nextfew decades, he said.
Globally, the $70 billionaquaculture business accountsfor almost half the seafood con-sumed in the world today aswild fish stocks decline.
About 70 percent of all theseafood eaten in the U.S. comesfrom overseas, contributing “atrade deficit of about $9 billionin fish,” Gutierrez said. Almosthalf is farm-raised.
Farming of saltwater speciessuch as salmon and shrimp iscommon in countries such asThailand, Canada, China andScotland. Much of their catch is
sold in the United States.Until now, the U.S. industry
has focused mainly on catfish,tilapia and other freshwaterfish.
Some marine experts, how-ever, say fish farming adds tooverfishing of wild stocks be-cause most farms involve car-nivorous fish that are fed moreprotein than the farms produce.They say the farms release pes-ticides, antibiotics and otherchemicals, and cause geneticcontamination of wild fish.
An earlier administrationplan won little support in Con-gress last year.
U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W H A M P S H I R E O P E N O C A N AQ UAC U LT U R E P R O J E C T
OCEAN FARMING: A crewman passes a transfer cage of Atlantichalibut to a diver as part of a University of New Hampshire aquacultureproject in 2002. The Bush administration wants to open federal waters toallow ocean farming for shellfish, salmon and other species.
U.S. bids to boost aquaculture■ Plan wouldallow fish farmsin deep ocean
By JOHN HEILPRINA S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
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cash out, poor credit, interest only, investor, no-doc slightly higher rates with 0 points available, call
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Earth Mortgage 877-327-8450 30-yr Fixed 5.500 1.000 5.663 3015-yr Fixed 5.250 1.000 5.401 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 5.875 1.000 5.996 30FHA 30-yr Fxd 5.875 0.000 6.001 30100% LTV 30-yr Fxd 5.750 1.000 6.396 30Rental Property 6.000 1.000 6.331 30Lic# MB-5921 2245 Keller Way, Carrollton, TX
GSM Group 800-939-9808 30-yr Fixed 5.750 0.000 5.860 3030-yr Fixed 5.500 1.000 5.625 3015-yr Fixed 5.500 0.000 5.625 3015-yr Fixed 5.250 1.000 5.375 30
Lowest Fixed Rates in the State of TX GuaranteedSpecializing in TX cash out loans at conforming rates
Lic# 54181 2020 Ashbourne Dr., Rockwall, TX 75087
THIS WEEK’S FEATURED LENDER
Texas Professional Mortgage 713-243-8770
Known for great rates, excellent service, honesty and integrity. Over
80% of our business is from referrals. Available 7 days a week. Call us today!
Keystone Mortgage 866-351-0751 30-yr Fixed 5.500 1.000 5.669 3030-yr Fixed 5.750 0.000 5.828 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 5.875 1.000 5.997 30100% LTV 30-yr Fxd 5.750 1.00 5.921 3015-yr Fixed 5.625 0.000 5.764 30
True rates! Call today for a free estimate! Lic# 40921 2301 Ohio Dr., #138, Plano, TX
Millennium Mortgage Services 713-892-5363 30-yr Fixed 5.750 0.000 5.883 3015-yr Fixed 5.625 0.000 5.769 30VA 30-yr Fxd 6.000 0.000 6.098 30100% LTV 30-yr Fxd 5.875 0.000 5.975 305/1 ARM 5.750 0.000 6.069 30
Call for lowest rate or visit us at www.loansmortgage.comLic# 43388 14363 C. Torrey Chase Blvd., Houston, TX
Mortgages USA 800-595-4021 15-yr Fixed 5.500 0.000 5.509 3030-yr Fixed 5.625 0.000 5.632 30100% LTV 30-yr Fxd 5.875 0.000 5.879 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 5.875 1.000 5.899 30FHA/VA 30-yr Fxd 5.875 0.000 5.886 30Rental Property 5.875 0.000 5.886 30Lic# 12815 17103 Preston Rd., Ste. 120, Dallas, TX
Murray Mortgage 281-497-4616 15-yr Fixed 5.625 1.000 5.932 3030-yr Fixed 5.875 0.000 5.967 30Home Equity 5.750 0.750 5.910 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 6.375 0.000 6.511 30BAD CREDIT SPECIALIST*MEMBER BBB*FAST CLOSINGS
$0 DOWN LOANS / NO INCOME VERIFICATION Lic# 7619 12703 Grand Cross Lane, Houston, TX
Nationwide Mortgage, Inc. 713-520-5626 15-yr Fixed 5.375 1.000 5.621 3030-yr Fixed 5.625 1.000 5.792 30100% LTV 30-yr Fxd 6.125 1.000 6.695 30Equity Cashout 15 5.625 1.000 5.921 30
LOCAL, CONFIDENTIAL, ,LOWFEES,EXPERIENCED,PROFESSIONAL
Lic# 1762 3801 Kirby #311, Houston, TX
Premier Lending Group, Inc. 281-857-6742 30-yr Fixed 5.750 0.000 5.842 3015-yr Fixed 5.500 0.000 5.654 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 6.125 0.000 6.173 5015-yr Fxd Jumbo 5.750 0.000 5.810 50
100% Loans w/ as low as 500 FICO, No Income/Emp Loans Home-Equity Loans, Construction, Commercial Loans
Lic# 324 2425 West Loop South, Ste. 200, Houston, TX
Prompt-Finance 800-566-9006 30-yr Fixed 5.625 0.750 5.749 3030-yr Fixed 5.875 0.000 5.931 3015-yr Fixed 5.375 0.750 5.584 3015-yr Fixed 5.625 0.000 5.718 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 6.000 1.000 6.092 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 6.250 0.000 6.147 30Lic# 1401 & 1399 2225 CR 90, Ste. 113, Pearland, TX
Superior Mortgage 281-993-2282 30-yr Fixed 5.625 1.000 5.829 3015-yr Fixed 5.375 1.000 5.680 30100% LTV 30-yr Fxd 5.875 1.000 6.082 30
'Gold Star' BBB Member since 1995 100% Investor Loans, STATED and NO DOC Loans
Apply Online @ www.SuperiorMort.comLic# 3308 211 E. Parkwood, Ste. 101, Friendswood, TX
To learn more about the lenders in this guide go to
http://mortgage.chron.com/houston
Texas Professional Mtge713-243-8770 / 832-978-080730-yr Fixed 5.625 0.750 5.758 3015-yr Fixed 5.375 0.750 5.597 30100% LTV 30-yr Fxd 5.625 1.000 5.791 30
Open 7 days a week! Call or Email for a free qoute. Member NAMB/TAMB, License # 28501
www.txpromortgage.comLic# 28501 11200 Westheimer, Ste. 900, Houston, TX
TexasLending.com 713-339-4411 30-yr Fixed 5.625 1.000 5.816 3015-yr Fixed 5.375 1.000 5.699 305/1 ARM 5.375 1.000 6.913 3030-yr Fxd Jumbo 6.000 0.500 6.086 30FHA 30-yr Fxd 6.000 1.000 6.569 60
Interest only & 30-yr with 100% financing available - 4309 Alpha Road, Dallax, TX
TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS MORTGAGE GUIDE,
PLEASE CALL 781-276-1711
PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE – http://mortgage.chron.com/houston - FOR CURRENT RATES, APPLY ONLINE. . .AND MUCH MORE Rates based on $175,000 loan for single residence with at least 20% down unless otherwise noted. Jumbo rates (loans in excess of $417,000) based on $450,000 loan. All rates are believed to be accurate but cannot be guaranteed and are subject to change without notice. Minimum small down payment requirements and other restrictions may apply. Points include origination + discount fees. APR = annual percentage rate and is calculated by each co. - includes private mortgage insurance if required. Lock = rate lock period. ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) rates are subject to change after initial period. Companies pay fee to be in Guide. **Average 30 yr. fixed conforming with 0 points. Fees are estimated costs based on a $175,000 purchase money loan and may vary from loan to loan. These are not inclusive of all costs and do not include points, prepaid interest, or escrow items. Contact each company for details. The Houston Chronicle is not in the business of providing or brokering loans or related products or services; is not acting as an agent on behalf of any lenders; does not endorse or recommend any of the lenders or their products or services;and shall not have any responsibility for any of the products or services purchased from lenders. Companies should comply with Equal Housing Opportunity regulations. Copyright 2005, INFOTRAK National Data Services
Market Indicator** Last week This week 5.875% 5.750%
Mortgage Product AdvertisementInformation provided by
INFOTRAK National Data Services Rates as of 03/07/07
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 ¬ ¬ H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E D5BUSINESS
WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSESAccording to the Center
for Women’s Business
Research, the U.S. has 7.7 MILLION businesses
owned by women
generating annual
revenues of $1.1 TRILLION.
is targeting women and, in theprocess, trying to reduce thenation’s trade deficit, whichincreased to $763.6 billion lastyear from $716.7 billion in2005.
Exporting not only helpsboost the nation’s tradenumbers, but it can also lift acompany’s profits.
“We know that whencompanies export, they have ahigher return on investments aswell as increase the number ofjobs domestically,” Igambisaid.
Ten female business ownersparticipated in the mission,visiting ports and meetingbuyers in Antwerp andBrussels, Belgium, andAmsterdam and Rotterdam inthe Netherlands.
“We felt that Europe wouldbe a great place to startexporting,” said Igambi. “TheNetherlands and Belgium weretransparent markets.”
Kahn, chief executive officerof Genoa International, amanufacturer and distributorof oil-field products anddistributor of chemicals, saidshe thinks the mission will beworth the $2,700 it cost her.
“We currently are providingquotes for clients. We’re hopingwe will obtain some businessand it will pay for itself in thelong run,” she said.
Phillip, president of HybasInternational, also said sheexpects more business out ofthe trip. She said meeting apotential buyer is more
valuable than talking to themon the phone or by e-mail.
“That’s not going to cut adeal,” Phillip said.
Phillip started four years agoexporting containers filled withGatorade, Oreo cookies andListerine to expatriates in theMiddle East.
She then used her exportingexpertise to begin shippingindustrial equipment, heavymachinery and chemicals to theMiddle East, Latin America andthe Caribbean. And now shehas eight employees, includingworkers in Washington, D.C.,Dubai and Trinidad andTobago.
Kahn already exports toLatin America and has plannedto expand into Europe.
“I think by going throughthe Commerce Department ithas definitely jump-started thebusiness,” Kahn said. “Itprobably would have taken a lotlonger to meet clients overthere. They basically seteverything up for us.”
TRADE: Businesswomenvisited buyers, portsCONTINUED FROM PAGE D1
Here is a sampling of Houston companies that have either opened,expanded their operations, or have a significant presence in theUnited Arab Emirates:
Baker Botts Law firm Dubai office opened in 2005 as secondin region.
Baker Hughes Oil-fieldservices
Dubai is headquarters for Middle East AsiaPacific region. Building a regionalheadquarters training center andmanufacturing center to open in 2008.
BJ Services Oil-fieldservices
Regional head office for Process and Pipelineservices in Dubai.
CB&I Engineering,construction
Opened global engineering center in Ajman,United Arab Emirates, in February.
J. RayMcDermott
Offshoreplatformsand subseapipelines
Eastern hemisphere headquarters in Dubaihas operated since 1960.
Marble Slab Ice creamfranchise
Opened in United Arab Emirates in 2005.
NaborsIndustries
Drilling Regional office and rig assembly area in Dubai.Operates 45 rigs in Middle East/North Africa.
NationalOilwell Varco
Oil-fieldservices
Manufacturing facility in Dubai.
Schlumberger Oil-fieldservices
Significant operations in Dubai. Recentlylaunched training center in Abu Dhabi inconjunction with the national oil company.
Vinson &Elkins
Law firm Opened Dubai office for energy relatedprojects in 2003.
Weatherford Oil-fieldservices
Regional headquarters in Dubai.
COMPANY BUSINESS DETAILS
UNITED ARABEMIRATES
OMANSAUDIARABIA
PersianGulf
Doha
50 miles
QATAR
Umm Sa’id
TarifAlMafraq
AlKhazna
OMAN
Dank
ROBERT DIBRELL : C H R O N I C L E
FAMILIAR NAMES IN THE U.A.E.
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
the region does not have tocome at the expense of Houston.Rather, it’s a matter of goingwhere the business is, which ap-pears to be with state-owned oilcompanies in Asia, Africa andthe Middle East.
“We have to do this to grow,”said Marty Spake, spokesmanfor CB&I, an engineering andconstruction firm in The Wood-lands that announced in Febru-ary it would open a 200-personoffice in the United Arab Emir-ates.
The office will handle engi-neering work for the large-scale
oil and gas projects the com-pany is landing everywherefrom Australia to Thailand, andwas needed to lure skilled engi-neers who are in short supply inthe United States, Spake said.
For its part, Halliburton saidit is opening a new headquartersin Dubai, and Lesar is movingthere, to expand its oil-field-services business in the EasternHemisphere.
But company officialsstressed that its roughly 4,000Houston employees would notbe affected by the move, and
that Halliburtonwill continue tobe legally basedin the UnitedStates.
Industry ana-lysts Mondaywere generallyupbeat aboutHalliburton’s announcement,with some heralding the moveas a symbolic shift from West toEast for the oil-field-services in-dustry.
“Having executive manage-ment in the theater certainlyspeaks volumes of Halliburton’scommitment to the region and
growing its international pres-ence,” Merrill Lynch analystAlan Laws said in a researchnote.
Investors, however, did notgive Halliburton much creditfor the move. The company’sstock price on Monday inchedup just 17 cents to close at$32.19 a share.
More than 38 percent of Hal-liburton’s $13 billion oil-field-services revenue last year camefrom sources in the EasternHemisphere, where the firm has16,000 of its 45,000 employees.
But like many of its competi-tors, the firm is still dependenton North America and seesgreater potential abroad than athome for improving its competi-tive position.
Take Weatherford Interna-tional. Last year, the Houstonfirm, which provides equip-ment and services for oil and gasdrilling, had 56 percent of itssales in North America and therest from international sources.
But the firm predicts that in2007, the Eastern Hemispherewill surpass the U.S. as its larg-est market, fueled by growth inthe Middle East.
The company has had an of-fice in Dubai since the 1970s,but in the mid-90s elevated it toa regional headquarters, saidChristine McGee, vice presidentof marketing at Weatherford.
Since 2001, the office hasbeen adding more people to sup-port the company’s growing op-erations in the Middle East. Itnow stands at 1,000 employees,she said.
Other Houston oil-field-services firms are also expand-ing in the United Arab Emir-ates. Baker Hughes, for in-stance, is building a regionalheadquarters, training centerand manufacturing center toopen in 2008, while Schlum-berger recently launched atraining center in Abu Dhabi.
In recognition of the growingTexas-Middle East connection,Emirates airline said in Febru-
ary it will begin offering non-stop flights from Houston toDubai in December.
Bob Clarke, a senior partnerwith Houston law firmBracewell & Giuliani, said that’sgood news to him.
As a board member for theDubai Financial Services Au-thority, Clarke flies to Dubai ev-
ery two months.And nearly every time he
goes, he is amazed by the “hugeinflux” of new businesses of ev-ery kind.
“The biggest problem theyhave in Dubai,” he said, “is theshortage of office space.”
LESAR
COMPANIES: Industry analysts upbeat about moveCONTINUED FROM PAGE D1
Legally based in U.S.
Eastern Hemisphere
Other expansions
SEGMENTS AND REVENUE*
EMPLOYEES
COMPANY’S PROFILEHalliburton offers products and services to upstream oil and gas customers. The company still has an 81 percent stake in KBR, the engineering, construction and services company, but it plans to sell off its KBR interest by the end of April.
Drilling, evaluation and digital solutionsOil and gas reservoir assessment and management services.
Production optimizationImproves existing oil well performance.
Fluid systemsProvides fluids that help drilling operations.
ALBERTO CUADRA : C H R O N I C L ESource: Halliburton
45,000In 70 countries including the U.S.
4,000In Houston
41%
31%
28%
*2006
gineering, construction andservices company that does ev-erything from building chemi-cal plants to logistics supportfor the U.S. military.
But by the end of April, Hal-liburton plans to be finishedwith its long-planned separa-tion from KBR.
When it’s through, Hallibur-ton will go from claiming about104,000 employees in morethan 100 countries, including11,000 in the Houston area, toabout 45,000 employees in 70countries, with around 4,000 inHouston.
The Halliburton businessesthat will remain reported net in-come of $3.3 billion in 2006from $12.9 billion in revenue.
The red jumpsuits of Halli-burton workers are easy to spoton drilling sites throughoutNorth America, but they’re a bitharder to come by overseas,which is why Lesar is makingthe move to Dubai.
About 49 percent of Halli-burton’s 2006 revenue camefrom North America, wheremost oil and gas production ba-sins are considered mature.About 22 percent of revenuecame from Europe and Africaand only 16 percent of revenuecame from the Middle East,which is still home to some ofthe world’s largest oil reserves.
Halliburton’s business is di-vided into three segments:
The drilling, evaluation anddigital solutions unit providesequipment such as drill bits,sensors to monitor drilling op-erations and other “down hole”tools. It also includes the com-pany’s Landmark software busi-ness that turns seismic and welllog data into 3-D models of un-derground formations. The unitaccounted for 31 percent of Hal-liburton’s $12.9 billion in 2006revenue and 31 percent of its$3.3 billion in profits.
The fluid systems unit sup-plies fluids that help drilling op-erations run smoothly by cool-ing drill bits, pushing cuttingsfrom the bottom of the bore holeto the surface and cementingdrill casings in place for produc-tion. The unit accounted for 28percent of 2006 revenue and 24percent of profits.
The production optimizationhelps companies monitor andimprove the performance ofdrilling operations in a varietyof ways, including providingequipment and materials tobreak apart underground struc-tures to improve oil and gasflow.
SERVICES: Less revenue from MideastCONTINUED FROM PAGE D1
Separation from KBR
Three segments
that the deal will close on theterms agreed and as scheduled.The shares closed at $67.93 theday the buyout was announced.
Company spokesman TomKleckner wouldn’t discuss thedecline in TXU shares. A repre-sentative of KKR and a spokes-man for Texas Pacific also de-clined to comment.
TXU told investors Feb. 26that Texas utility regulators hadjurisdiction only over opera-tions and rates at the company’spower-distribution unit, whichhas a regulated monopoly onpower deliveries in the Dallasarea.
State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, has advancedlegislation that would give theutility regulator authority to re-ject the buyout.
“I’m personally outragedthat TXU would intentionallymanipulate prices in the whole-sale market to create higherprofits,” Fraser said Monday ina press conference. “Consumersof this state deserve to betreated fairly, and for a com-pany that delivers an essentialservice to millions of Texans,this behavior is unacceptable.”
Commission staff will “expe-ditiously evaluate the appropri-ate penalty or other remedy forTXU’s actions,” Lanford said ina letter to the commission Mon-day. TXU may dispute any accu-sations before an administrativelaw judge who would make arecommendation to the com-mission, his letter said.
“We have thoroughly re-viewed our conduct during thereferenced time period, and be-lieve it is consistent with thecommission’s rule and poli-cies,” TXU spokesman LisaSingleton said in an e-mailedstatement.
TXU withheld power when itwas needed to sustain voltageand enable shipments betweenthe regional grids, Potomacsaid. Because electricity traderslook to the price of so-called“balancing energy” for clues tosupply, TXU also may havedriven up overall prices, themonitor said.
TXU: Legislationwould allowrejectionof takeoverCONTINUED FROM PAGE D1
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D6 H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E ¬ ¬ ¬ Tuesday, March 13, 2007THE JUMP PAGE
SOURCE: SunGard AP
tocks advanced despitecontinued concern about the
subprime lending sector. Investorswere cheered by a report that thedeficit is down 25.5 percent froma year earlier. The Dow Jonesindustrial average rose 42.30, or0.34 percent, to 12,318.62. TheStandard & Poor’s 500 also rose.
S
Dollar General Corp. DG
The discountretailer re-ceived an offerto be taken pri-vate by Kohl-berg KravisRoberts & Co.for about $6.9billion.
Close:Vol. :
Market Cap.:
$12.10 $21.40
$21.07 +4.29 (+25.6%)67.3 m (4 m)$6.57 b
Amgen Inc. AMGN
After regula-tors addedwarnings toits anemiadrugs, thebiotech com-pany wasdowngradedby UBS.
Close:Vol. :
Market Cap.:
$59.03 $77.00
$60.68 -0.18 (-0.3%)27.8 m (12 m)$70.82 b
Express Scripts Inc. ESRX
A bidding warfor CaremarkRx Inc.paused afterthe rival phar-macy benefitsmanager saidit won’t lift itsoffer.
Close:Vol. :
Market Cap.:
$58.79 $91.64
$80.59 +3.52 (+4.6%)10.5 m (3.2 m)$10.93 b
Sierra Health Services SIE
Health insur-er United-Health GroupInc. offered$2.6 billion tobuy thehealth careservices pro-vider.
Close:Vol. :
Market Cap.:
$30.61 $47.50
$41.57 +5.67 (+15.8%)8.5 m (910.6 k)$2.32 b
Nortel Networks Corp. NT
The SEC filedfraud chargesagainst threeformer exec-utives of theCanadiantelecomequipmentmaker.
Close:Vol. :
Market Cap.:
$19.00 $31.79
$28.17 +0.09 (+0.3%)2.8 m (5.6 m)$12.22 b
Ford Motor Co. F
Close:Vol. :
Market Cap.:
$6.06 $9.48
The cash-strapped au-tomaker soldits controllingstake in luxu-ry sports-carmaker AstonMartin for$848 million.
$7.82 -0.11 (-1.4%)39.4 m (57.5 m)$14.25 b
FOR MORE: CHRON.COM/MARKETS
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52-WK YTDSTOCK DIV PE CLOSE CHG HIGH LOW %CHG
52-WK YTDSTOCK DIV PE CLOSE CHG HIGH LOW %CHG
ABM Industries 0.48 13 26.40 -.10 28.84 16.11 +16.2AT&T Inc 1.42 20 37.06 +.51 38.18 24.72 +3.7ATP Oil & Gas ... 37.07 -.49 49.70 34.16 -6.3Administaff 0.44 23 36.60 +.24 58.99 30.30 -14.4Am Int Grp. 0.66 13 68.78 -.29 72.97 57.52 -4.0Am. Nat. Ins. 3.04 12 127.99 -.16 132.74 110.41 +12.2Anadarko 0.36 4 40.37 -.29 56.98 38.40 -7.2Apache Corp. 0.60 9 67.89 -.48 75.66 56.50 +2.1Atwood Ocean. ... 19 51.95 +.08 58.44 39.86 +6.1Autonation ... 16 21.64 -.03 23.19 18.95 +1.5BJ Services 0.20 10 27.56 -.29 41.79 25.55 -6.0BMC Software ... 30 30.78 -.05 36.92 19.90 -4.4BP 2.36 9 60.97 -.22 76.85 58.62 -9.1Baker Hughes 0.52 9 64.76 -.17 89.30 61.08 -13.3BkofAm 2.24 11 51.09 +.14 55.08 44.54 -4.3Benchmark El. ... 12 20.41 +.02 29.92 20.03 -16.2Boeing 1.40 32 91.20 +1.69 92.24 72.13 +2.7Brinker Intl 0.36 19 33.25 +.50 35.74 20.99 +10.2BristowGp ... 14 36.06 +.18 39.40 27.71 -0.1Cabot Oil & Gas 0.24 10 66.93 -.11 71.83 38.26 +10.4Camden Prop. 2.64 18 73.05 +1.04 81.35 65.25 -1.1Cameron ... 22 58.79 +1.08 59.30 39.35 +10.8CenterPoint 0.68 13 17.62 -.01 18.95 11.62 +6.3Cheniere Eng ... 29.10 -.70 44.40 24.72 +0.8Chevron 2.08 9 68.83 +.36 76.20 54.26 -6.4CB&I 0.16 25 29.95 +.13 30.82 21.78 +9.5Comfort Sys. 0.14 12.95 -.08 15.72 10.42 +2.5ComsysIT ... 18 19.40 ... 23.00 9.82 -4.0ConocoPhillips 1.64 7 67.24 -.56 74.89 54.90 -6.5Cons. Graphics ... 18 71.10 +.60 77.00 47.53 +20.4Continental Air ... 13 39.00 +.94 52.40 21.77 -5.5Cooper Indust. 3.36 19 93.00 +.44 96.23 79.95 +2.8Copano 3.20 19 66.50 +1.40 68.34 41.40 +11.6Crown Castle ... 33.36 +.89 37.32 27.45 +3.3Cyberonics ... 18.74 +.16 27.55 14.70 -9.2Devon Energy 0.56 10 64.35 -.39 74.75 48.94 -4.1Diamond Off. 0.50 15 76.35 -.31 97.90 62.26 -4.5Dow Chemical 1.50 11 43.89 +.89 47.26 33.00 +10.0Dril-Quip ... 20 38.29 +.07 45.02 27.74 -2.2Dynegy ... 81 8.87 +.29 8.81 4.50 +22.5EGL ... 26 35.67 +.42 53.80 28.57 +19.8EOG Res. 0.36 13 66.12 -.79 79.24 56.31 +5.9El Paso 0.16 22 13.90 -.07 16.39 11.80 -9.0Enbridge En. 3.70 15 53.76 +.50 54.07 42.00 +8.8Enterprise Prod. 1.87 25 30.85 +.13 30.85 23.76 +6.5ExpressJet ... 4 6.13 -.04 9.61 5.01 -24.3Exxon Mobil 1.28 11 70.87 -.25 79.00 56.64 -7.5FMC Tech. ... 17 67.00 +.04 71.89 47.40 +8.7Federated DS 0.51 25 45.07 +.58 45.01 32.57 +18.2Fluor 0.80 31 90.22 +.04 103.85 73.51 +10.5Frontier Oil 0.12 9 30.87 +.27 37.80 23.75 +7.4GE 1.12 17 34.44 +.12 38.49 31.61 -7.4Genesis Energy 0.84 35 20.64 +.64 20.65 10.25 +6.0GlobalSantaFe 0.90 14 58.43 -.52 65.21 44.26 -0.6Goodman Global ... 20 17.65 -.23 22.15 11.28 +2.6Goodrich Petroleum ... 29 30.77 +.19 44.57 22.59 -15.0Grant Prideco ... 13 46.56 -.25 55.43 33.11 +17.1Grey Wolf ... 7 6.63 +.03 8.85 6.10 -3.4Group 1 Auto 0.56 12 43.88 -.38 63.97 40.25 -15.2HCC Ins. 0.40 10 30.75 -.01 35.15 28.51 -4.2Halliburton 0.30 14 32.19 +.17 41.99 26.33 +3.7Hanover Comp. ... 26 21.77 +.38 23.44 15.54 +15.2HelixEn ... 9 33.36 -.29 45.00 27.55 +6.3Hewlett-Packard 0.32 19 40.37 +.34 43.72 29.00 -2.0Houston Exp. ... 22 52.34 -.40 66.21 48.01 +1.1Huntsman 0.40 20 19.34 -.15 21.92 15.62 +2.0Hydril ... 25 95.98 +.03 96.30 48.71 +27.6ImperlSgr 0.28 7 31.48 -.09 35.21 17.07 +30.0Input/Output ... 39 12.13 -.04 14.82 7.47 -11.0JP Morgan Chase 1.36 12 48.84 +.02 51.95 39.33 +1.8Jacobs Eng. ... 25 90.55 -.29 94.66 68.56 +11.0KBR ... 22.51 -.78 27.63 20.50 -14.0Kind. Morg. EP 3.32 25 51.61 +.26 51.71 42.80 +7.7Kinder Morgan 3.50 20 105.80 +.04 107.02 81.00 ...Kirby Corp. ... 20 35.75 -.25 41.36 28.09 +4.7Kroger 0.26 18 25.76 +.47 26.69 19.17 +11.7Landrys 0.20 29.18 +.20 36.30 26.11 -3.0
Lowe’s Cos 0.20 16 32.34 ... 35.74 26.15 +3.8Lubys ... 15 10.29 +.34 16.09 8.18 -5.5Lyondell 0.90 11 31.51 +.02 33.58 19.12 +23.2Marathon 1.60 6 93.52 -1.21 98.73 68.83 +1.1Mariner Energy ... 16 17.49 +.08 21.36 14.81 -10.8Maxxam ... 28.78 +.13 33.00 25.20 -1.0McDermott Intl ... 16 47.95 +.39 55.97 33.17 -5.7Men’s Whse. 0.24 20 48.16 +.31 48.32 29.81 +25.9NCI Building ... 14 48.10 -.66 70.00 45.80 -7.1Nabors Indust. ... 8 29.75 -.04 40.71 27.26 -0.1Natco Group ... 17 30.54 -.20 42.63 25.40 -4.2Natl-Oilwell ... 18 72.47 -.13 74.26 51.62 +18.5Natural Res. Ptnrs. 3.40 18 62.79 +.34 64.79 48.20 +8.4Newfield Exp. ... 9 41.27 -.10 51.75 34.90 -10.2Noble Corp 0.16 14 74.16 +.02 86.16 58.51 -2.6Noble Energy 0.30 15 57.90 -.70 59.48 36.14 +18.0Oceaneering ... 17 39.51 +.04 47.23 26.30 -0.5Oil States Intl. ... 8 29.82 -.15 43.87 25.00 -7.5Parker Drilling ... 12 8.92 -.04 10.05 6.10 +9.2J.C. Penney 0.72 16 81.53 +1.22 87.18 57.43 +5.4Petrohawk ... 13 12.23 +.02 14.64 9.76 +6.3Pioneer Cos. ... 5 30.29 -.17 34.45 21.75 +5.7Plains All Am. 3.20 19 55.71 +.13 56.47 42.81 +8.8Plains E&P ... 6 44.04 +.36 49.73 31.45 -7.3Pogo Prod. 0.30 6 47.82 -.60 54.34 38.01 -1.3Pride Intl. ... 28.24 ... 36.96 24.01 -5.9Prosperity Bcsh 0.45 18 35.36 -.39 36.57 28.80 +2.5Quanex Corp. 0.56 10 42.01 -.15 49.02 29.15 +21.5Quanta Svc. ... 24.46 +.29 24.48 13.37 +24.4Reliant ... 17.91 +.23 17.89 9.57 +26.0Rowan 0.40 11 30.24 -.19 48.15 29.03 -8.9RoyDShllA 2.54 64.97 -.15 72.38 60.17 -8.2Safeway 0.23 18 34.59 +.32 37.24 22.85 +0.1Schlumberger 0.70 22 65.00 -.10 74.75 54.00 +2.9Seacor Hldgs ... 11 96.20 -.08 103.31 73.80 -3.0Service Corp. 0.12 67 12.14 +.01 12.33 7.32 +18.4Smith Intl. 0.40 18 43.96 +.36 46.48 34.87 +7.0Southern Union 0.40 28.71 +.14 30.33 22.76 +2.7Southwest Air 0.02 25 15.06 -.01 18.20 14.61 -1.7Southwestern En. ... 38.26 -.14 42.96 23.66 +9.2Spectra Energy 0.88 24.59 -.39 30.00 24.56 -11.4Stage Stores 0.20 27 22.14 +.27 23.53 16.67 +9.3Sterling Banc. 0.21 17 11.55 +.09 13.93 10.67 -11.3Stewart Info. 0.75 17 41.22 -.22 48.19 32.42 -4.9Swift Energy ... 7 38.65 -.46 52.47 35.03 -13.7Synagro Tech 0.40 57 5.73 ... 5.82 3.56 +29.6Sysco 0.76 23 32.25 +.04 37.04 26.50 -11.8Tanox ... 18.80 +.21 21.00 11.55 -5.5Target 0.48 19 62.23 +.35 64.74 44.70 +9.1Tenet Health. ... 6.31 -.05 9.27 5.77 -9.5Teppco 2.70 22 42.90 -.07 43.60 34.44 +6.4Tetra Tech. ... 17 23.00 -.01 32.00 20.28 -10.1Texas Inst. 0.16 12 32.59 +.13 36.40 26.77 +13.2Time Warner 0.22 13 19.78 -.09 23.15 15.70 -9.2Todco ... 11 33.62 -.09 53.86 30.05 -1.6Transocean ... 18 76.62 -.95 90.16 64.52 -5.3US Concrete ... 7.82 -.15 15.98 5.22 +9.8Ultra Petroleum ... 49.25 -.23 68.60 41.80 +3.2Union Pacific 1.40 17 101.36 +2.62 105.84 78.65 +10.1UPS 1.68 19 71.15 +.52 83.99 65.50 -5.1Univ. Comp. ... 23 66.23 +1.22 71.62 41.98 +6.6Valero 0.48 7 60.29 +.06 70.75 46.84 +17.8Verizon 1.62 17 36.58 +.13 38.95 30.10 -1.8W&T Offshore 0.12 10 27.24 -.68 49.16 26.84 -11.3W-H Energy ... 11 42.05 -.04 57.98 36.48 -13.6WalMart 0.88 17 47.26 -.16 52.15 42.31 +2.3Walgreen 0.31 25 44.79 +.20 51.60 39.55 -2.4Waste Man. 0.96 16 33.71 -.21 38.70 32.88 -8.3Weatherford ... 17 43.48 -.07 58.73 35.90 +4.0Weingarten 1.98 47.65 +.14 52.30 36.77 +3.3Wells Fargo 1.12 14 34.53 +.03 36.99 31.85 -2.9Westlake Chem. 0.16 9 28.05 +.18 37.34 26.26 -10.6Willbros ... 20.76 -.32 24.53 14.00 +9.8
SOURCES: Thomson Financial, Morningstar
fter lagging bothlarge and small
company stocks in 2006,mid-cap stocks havebeen on a tear so far thisyear, even after theFebruary 27 global stockmarket selloff. Midcaps,as measured by the S&P400 index, are up 3.6percent year-to-date.Meanwhile, the large-capS&P 500 stock index isdown 1.1 percent and theRussell 2000 index ofsmall companies is upjust 0.2 percent.
Midcaps have amarket capitalization—share price multiplied bynumber of sharesoutstanding — between$1 billion and $10 billion.Their ranks include well-known companies fromOffice Depot Inc. to TDAmeritrade Holding Corp.
Midcaps haveunderperformed small-cap stocks and generallykept pace with large-capssince the bull marketbegan in 2003. Now,many experts say mid-cap valuations havebecome cheap. Since thestock market drop, manysmall-cap buyers havebeen migrating to the
relative safety of midcaps.“What you see in
markets like these, whererisk is on people’s mindsand volatility is climbing,is that people tend tomove up the market capladder,” says JohnDamian, portfoliomanager of theOppenheimer Small- &Mid-Cap Value fund(QVSCX). “You neverwant to completelyabandon smalls, but Ithink in this environment,tilting your portfoliotoward mids is not a badidea.”
In addition to beingrelatively cheap, someinvestors believe midcapsare more nimble thangiant companies. Theycan move faster to takeadvantage ofopportunities in theirindustries. And manyhave been the target ofprivate-equity takeovers– such as the $6.9 billionbid for Dollar GeneralCorp. on Monday.
Depending on yourappetite for risk and yourgoals, midcaps can be acore portfolio holding orplay a supporting role,Damian says.
Large-cap vs. mid-cap stocks, 52 weeks
Top-performing mid-cap funds YTD 2007
M. Martinez, J. Qi • AP
After underperforming the large-cap S&P 500index in 2006, the mid-cap S&P 400 index hasoutperformed so far this year.
2006
D J F M
2007
S&P 400S&P 5001,500
1,200
900
600M A M J J A S O N
A
MUTUAL FUND (TICKER) 1MO YTD 1YRMid-cap Value -1.3% 2.4% 15.4%ICON Materials (ICBMX) 1.1 7.7 20.4AllianceBernstein Small-Mid 0.2 4.3 14.1Cap Value C (ABCSX)Mid-cap Blend -1.5 2.4 12.7Volumetric (VOLMX) -2.0 10.0 14.1Hennessy Focus 30 (HFTFX) 2.3 7.5 11.3Mid-cap Growth -1.7 2.3 7.1Pioneer Small and Mid Cap -0.6 6.0 8.0Growth A (PAPPX)Performance Mid Cap -0.5 5.4 7.3Equity A (PCGCX)
Since March 13, 2006: +10.5%
+4.7%
+3.6%
YTD 2007: -1.1%
GLOBAL MARKETSINDEX CLOSE CHG %CHG WK MO QTR YTD
London 6233.30 -11.90 -0.19% +0.20%
Hong Kong 19442.42 +307.54 +1.61% -2.62%
Mexico 27261.17 +154.64 +0.57% +3.07%
Nikkei 17292.39 +128.35 +0.75% +0.39%
Toronto 13065.15 +7.78 +0.06% +1.21%
NET 1YRTREASURIES CLOSE PVS CHG WK MO QTR AGO
8.258.257.50
5.255.254.50
PRIMERATE
FEDFUNDS
3-month T-bill 4.97 4.96 +0.01 4.516-month T-bill 4.92 4.92 ... 4.62
2-year T-note 4.61 4.65 -0.04 4.74
10-year T-note 4.55 4.58 -0.03 4.7630-year T-bond 4.69 4.72 -0.03 4.75
5-year T-note 4.50 4.54 -0.04 4.77
1-year T-note 4.86 4.88 -0.02 4.81
Lehman Bros Bond Idx 4.73 4.77 -0.04 4.91Bond Buyer Muni Idx 4.54 4.55 -0.01 4.77Lehman US Inv Grade 5.25 5.17 +0.08 5.40Lehman US High Yield 7.48 7.49 -0.01 8.21Moodys Bond Index 5.30 5.23 +0.07 5.52Bank Index 114.49 114.36 +0.13 106.11DJ Corp Bond ... ... ...
NET 1YRBONDS CLOSE PVS CHG WK MO QTR AGO
Prices for Treasur-ies moved higher asinvestors snappedup the bonds onconcerns aboutcontinuing problemsin the subprimemortgage lendingindustry.
British Pound .5176 +.0002 +.01% .5335 .5793Canadian Dollar 1.1706 +.0013 +.15% 1.1195 1.1607Euro .7583 +.0072 +.55% .7881 .8396Japanese Yen 117.61 +.000039 +.46% 117.95 118.99Mexican Peso 11.1220 +.000145 +.16% 11.0233 10.7020
6MO. 1YR.MAJORS CLOSE CHG. %CHG. AGO AGO
Brazilian Real 2.0885 +.0022 +.46% 2.1742 2.1405Chilean Peso 538.79 -.000001 -.05% 537.75 531.35Colombian Peso 2203.00 +.000001 +.22% 2403.50 2264.50Norwegian Krone 6.1329 +.0011 +.67% 6.5538 6.7014South African Rand 7.3438 -.0002 -.15% 7.3520 6.2330
SOUTH AMERICA/EUROPE/AFRICA
Australian Dollar 1.2734 +.0056 +.71% 1.3319 1.3691Chinese Yuan 7.7494 -.0001 -.08% 7.9460 8.0500Hong Kong Dollar 7.8149 -.0000 -.00% 7.7794 7.7614Indian Rupee 44.160 -.0001 -.44% 46.140 44.310Singapore Dollar 1.5266 -.0001 -.02% 1.5773 1.6277South Korean Won 943.40 +.000002 +.19% 959.10 979.80Taiwan Dollar 32.99 -.0000 -.00% 32.86 32.46
ASIA/PACIFIC
The dollar fellagainst other majorcurrencies aftercomments fromthe European Cen-tral Bank presidentabout less globalvolatility. Tradersno longer soughtthe U.S. currencyas a safe-haveninvestment.
50 BIGGEST MUTUAL FUNDS
American Funds AmcapA m LG 20.33 +.07 +1.5 +8.1 +8.2 +6.4BalA m MA 18.95 +.04 +0.3 +9.9 +7.2 +6.9BondA m CI 13.42 +.02 +1.6 +7.5 +4.2 +6.6CapIncBuA m IH 61.11 +.24 +0.7 +18.4 +14.2 +12.4CpWldGrIA m WS 41.88 +.23 -0.1 +18.0 +17.8 +15.7EurPacGrA m FB 46.82 +.32 +0.6 +17.9 +19.8 +15.1FundmInvA m LB 40.26 +.19 +1.0 +15.5 +15.0 +10.2GrowAmerA m LG 32.90 +.11 +0.1 +9.3 +11.4 +8.0IncAmerA m MA 20.33 +.05 +0.7 +16.7 +11.8 +10.2InvCoAmA m LV 33.42 +.10 +0.2 +12.6 +10.6 +7.5MutualA m LV 29.39 +.11 +0.6 +13.6 +10.4 +7.2NewPerspA m WS 31.66 +.18 -0.3 +16.4 +14.5 +11.3SmCpWldA m WS 40.27 +.25 +3.1 +18.6 +18.5 +15.0WAMutInvA m LV 34.82 +.11 -0.1 +13.9 +9.8 +6.6
Davis NYVentA m LB 38.48 -.02 -0.1 +13.0 +11.3 +9.3Dodge & Cox Bal MA 88.05 +.34 +1.1 +12.2 +10.3 +10.3
IntlStk FV 44.90 +.28 +2.8 +24.9 +25.0 +19.9Stock LV 154.94 +.80 +1.0 +15.2 +14.4 +12.0
Fidelity Bal MA 19.87 +.06 +2.3 +11.6 +10.9 +9.9BlChGrow LG 43.87 +.18 -1.0 +3.5 +4.7 +1.4Contra LG 64.74 +.28 +0.3 +10.0 +13.7 +11.2DivGrow LB 31.52 ... -0.5 +10.3 +7.3 +3.8DivrIntl FG 37.13 +.15 +0.5 +17.2 +18.8 +16.8EqInc LV 57.62 +.12 0.0 +15.7 +11.8 +7.7Free2020 TB 15.71 +.05 +1.2 +10.3 +9.5 +7.3GrowCo LG 69.09 +.45 -0.9 +4.7 +11.0 +6.4GrowInc LB 30.96 -.05 -0.6 +8.2 +7.1 +3.5LowPriStk MB 43.78 +.22 +0.6 +12.5 +14.6 +14.5Magellan LG 90.50 +.33 +1.1 +5.6 +7.2 +3.4Puritan MA 20.09 +.04 +0.6 +12.9 +9.1 +7.6Value MV 84.05 +.48 +4.3 +15.2 +17.1 +13.6
Fidelity Spartan USEqIndxI LB 49.95 +.13 -0.5 +11.8 +9.8 +5.6FrankTemp-Franklin Income A m CA 2.68 +.01 +2.3 +18.3 +11.3 +11.7FrankTemp-Templeton Growth A m WS 25.41 +.07 -1.0 +16.6 +14.6 +12.2Harbor IntlInstl FV 62.20 +.43 +0.3 +23.4 +23.0 +19.0T Rowe Price EqtyInc LV 29.58 +.04 +0.1 +14.8 +12.1 +8.2
GrowStk LG 31.57 +.09 -0.2 +10.9 +9.9 +6.4Vanguard 500 LB 129.97 +.35 -0.5 +11.7 +9.7 +5.6
500Adml LB 130.00 +.35 -0.5 +11.8 +9.8 +5.7EuropeIdx ES 36.30 +.09 +0.7 +25.3 +20.9 +15.5InstIdx LB 129.01 +.35 -0.4 +11.8 +9.9 +5.7InstPlus LB 129.02 +.35 -0.4 +11.9 +9.9 +5.8Prmcp LB 69.21 +.18 +0.4 +7.4 +11.7 +8.0TotBdId CI 10.05 +.02 +1.6 +6.6 +3.2 +4.9TotIntl FB 17.93 +.10 +1.5 +21.8 +21.0 +16.2TotStIAdm LB 34.14 +.10 +0.1 +11.9 +10.7 +7.1TotStIdx LB 34.14 +.10 +0.1 +11.8 +10.6 +7.0Welltn MA 32.50 +.08 +0.2 +12.8 +10.3 +8.2WelltnAdm MA 56.15 +.15 +0.2 +12.9 +10.4 +8.3WndsIIAdm LV 61.84 +.17 +0.2 +15.1 +13.2 +9.4WndsrII LV 34.83 +.09 +0.2 +15.0 +13.1 +9.3
YTD 1YR 3YR 5YR FAMILY FUND CAT NAV CHG %RTN %RTN %RTN %RTN
CHRONICLE ENERGY WATCH CHRON.COM/ENERGY
LIGHT, SWEET CRUDE 1,000 bbl.- dollars per bbl.
Apr 07 59.00 59.96 58.60 58.91 -1.14May 07 60.83 61.74 60.37 60.77 -1.00Jun 07 62.05 62.77 61.52 61.95 -.87Jul 07 62.85 63.33 62.34 62.80 -.82Aug 07 63.52 63.78 62.98 63.40 -.81Sep 07 63.84 64.53 63.60 63.88 -.79NATURAL GAS 10,000 mm btu’s, $ per mm btu
Apr 07 6.923 7.060 6.880 6.912 -.171May 07 7.070 7.225 7.042 7.055 -.177Jun 07 7.210 7.348 7.176 7.190 -.174Jul 07 7.350 7.445 7.317 7.328 -.168Aug 07 7.448 7.560 7.423 7.435 -.159Sep 07 7.509 7.572 7.483 7.492 -.157GAS BLEND 42,000 gallons- dollars per gallon
Apr 07 1.9130 1.9300 1.8646 1.9105 +.0084May 07 1.8929 1.9030 1.8547 1.8850 -.0046Jun 07 1.8800 1.8899 1.8525 1.8755 -.0121HEATING OIL 42,000 gal, cents per gal
Apr 07 168.94 170.99 167.30 168.23 -2.99May 07 168.92 170.99 167.30 168.18 -2.89Jun 07 170.00 170.79 168.60 169.43 -2.74Jul 07 172.68 174.34 170.94 171.63 -2.59Aug 07 175.44 175.60 173.78 174.48 -2.34Sep 07 178.10 178.66 176.95 177.48 -2.19
OPEN HIGH LOW SETTLE CHG.
CASH PETROLEUM LAST PREV. DAY
Unleaded gasoline N.Y. 1.8930 1.8746North Sea Brent 60.26 61.36W. Tex. Int., Cushing 58.57 59.81Natural Gas, Henry Hub 6.81 7.04
Aluminum (lb) 1.23 1.19 +3.36 -1.6Copper (lb) 2.84 2.78 +2.16 -0.5Gold (oz) 648.40 650.00 -0.25 +2.1Platinum (oz) 1213.80 1203.70 +0.84 +6.5Silver (oz) 12.98 12.87 +0.85 +1.4
METALS CLOSE PVS. %CH. %YTD
Cattle (lb) 1.02 1.01 +0.99 +12.8Coffee (lb) 1.11 1.12 -0.89 -12.0Corn (bu) 4.00 4.08 -1.96 +2.5Cotton (lb) 0.55 0.55 ... -2.1Lumber (1,000 bd ft) 241.90 240.00 +0.79 -9.7Orange Juice (lb) 2.04 2.05 -0.49 +1.4Soybeans (bu) 7.52 7.47 +0.67 +10.0Wheat (bu) 4.60 4.66 -1.29 -8.2
AGRICULTURE CLOSE PVS. %CH. %YTD
Oil prices droppedbelow $59 a barrelon forecasts ofwarmer weatherin the UnitedStates, and pro-jections thatOPEC will keepproduction quotasstable at a meet-ing this week.
STORY STOCKS
Cimatrn 3.04 +1.64 +117.1LaJollPh 7.70 +1.79 +30.3TomOnlin 14.73 +3.11 +26.8AdolorCp 8.60 +1.78 +26.1DollarG 21.07 +4.29 +25.6Lumera 4.54 +.89 +24.4ZionO&G n 9.25 +1.61 +21.1EnvirTec 4.78 +.78 +19.5CreditAcc n 27.92 +4.48 +19.1SulphCo 3.17 +.49 +18.3
STOCK CLOSE CHG %CHG
GAINERS ($2 OR MORE)
AccHme 11.40 -4.38 -27.8NovaStr pfC 8.36 -2.64 -24.0NovaStar 4.24 -1.00 -19.1SFeEnTr 23.63 -5.31 -18.3DigitMus 4.62 -.95 -17.1Fremont 6.73 -1.30 -16.2Jamba un 12.33 -2.23 -15.3HomeBanc 2.21 -.39 -15.0GeneticTc 6.00 -.80 -11.8SpectBrds 7.26 -.95 -11.6
STOCK CLOSE CHG %CHG
LOSERS ($2 OR MORE)
Nasd100Tr 770061 43.21 +.28SPDR 719063 140.99 +.21SunMicro 688059 6.31 +.04DollarG 659391 21.07 +4.29Intel 655805 19.48 +.38CVS Cp 448193 31.98 -.62CaremkRx 417923 60.70 -1.20FordM 362488 7.82 -.11Microsoft 353772 27.44 +.16iShR2K nya 344719 78.40 +.14
STOCK VOL (00’s) CLOSE CHG
ACTIVES ($1 OR MORE)
chron.comFollow the stock and energymarkets throughout the day atwww.chron.com/markets: Get updated quotes Customize a stock watch list Track your portfolio Follow Houston stocks Calculate foreign exchange Keep up with world markets
HOUSTON 150
U.S. $ IN FOREIGN CURRENCY
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 ¬ ¬ H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E D7
The bolsa index rose 154.64,or 0.6 percent, to 27,261.17Monday. Shares rose for a thirdsession as investors betacquisition announcements inthe U.S. will lead toconsolidation in Mexico.
The peso rose to 8.9912cents from 8.9767. The dollarfell to 11.1220 pesos from11.1400.
port harcourt —Security forces freed threeEuropean hostages in Nigeria’srestive oil region Monday,officials said.
The two Croatians and oneMontenegrin seized Feb. 18 inPort Harcourt were in goodhealth after the rescue by ajoint task force of police, navyand army personnel, said navyspokesman Maj. Sahir Musa.
“There was no seriousresistance from the militants,and no one was hurt,” he said.
Croatian Foreign MinistryZeljko Belaj said the freedhostages would go home.
Scores of foreign workershave been seized in the Nigerdelta since the beginning of theyear. Hostages are generallyreleased unharmed after a cashpayment, although casualtieshave occurred when kidnappersencounter government forces.
Although the regiongenerates tens of billions ofdollars in oil revenue everyyear, most of its people aremired in deep poverty. Morethan a year of attacks on a mazeof oil infrastructure and theworkers servicing it have cutNigeria’s daily output by nearlya quarter.
tokyo — Japan revised itseconomic growth figuresupward for the fourth quarteron Monday to an annual pace of5.5 percent, the strongestgrowth in three years, ascompanies invested more infactories and equipment thanfirst thought.
That marks the eighthstraight quarter of expansion,highlighting Japan’s steadyemergence from a decade ofstagnation amid growingcorporate profits.
C H R O N I C L E N E W S S E R V I C E S
A R O U N DT H E W O R L D
MEXICO
Bolsa advancesfor third session
NIGERIA
Three hostagesfreed in rescue
JAPAN
Growth figureskeep improving
mexico city — Theworld’s third-richest man, Car-los Slim, is gaining rapidly onBill Gates and Warren Buffetwith a fortune that grew $19 bil-lion last year — the largestwealth gain in the past decadetracked by Forbes magazine.
It’s also a sign of the wealthgap in Mexico’s monopoly-laden economy.
Since Slim bought the tele-phone monopoly in a 1991privatization, he’s used Telmexas a cash cow to build an empirethat includes Latin America’slargest mobile phone company;provides banking, brokerageand Internet services; sells in-surance and oil industry equip-ment; and operates retail stores
and restaurants.To many Mexicans, who
make Slim richer with nearlyevery phone call or trip to themall, his rise shows their busi-nessmen can run world-classcompanies. He’s widely praisedfor turning Telmex — once noto-rious for taking months or yearsto install a phone line — into amodern, professional operation.
But he also has kept phonerates high in a country wherethe minimum wage is about 50cents an hour, and his successinspires anger among Mexicanswho resent the concentration ofwealth in the hands of the na-tion’s relatively tiny elite.
“Why should we want a fewpeople to hoard all the wealth, ifthe majority of Mexicans don’thave enough to eat and 30 mil-lion Mexicans live on less than22 pesos ($2) a day?” thunderedformer leftist presidential can-didate Andres Manuel LopezObrador after Slim’s jump toNo. 3 on Forbes’ list of billion-
aires announced last week.Now worth an estimated $49
billion, the 67-year-old Slim isthe son of a Lebanese fatherwho built a small family fortunefrom retailing.
Slim’s Telefonos de Mexicocontrols more than 90 percentof the nation’s fixed phone linesand made $15.9 billion in 2006;his America Movil controlsabout 70 percent of cell phoneservice in Mexico and made$21.6 billion.
Diners at Slim’s ubiquitousSanborns restaurants can useSlim’s wireless service to con-nect to Slim’s Internet providerand check their holdingsthrough Slim’s brokerage, partof Slim’s Grupo Financiero In-bursa group. Banking online,they can pay bills to Slim’s carinsurance company or creditcards for Slim’s retail stores,among them Sears Mexico andthe Mixup record store chain.
It’s an advantage that is notunusual in Mexico, where busi-nesses from beer brewing totelevision to cement are concen-trated in a few hands. As a re-sult, Mexicans pay more thanothers in wealthier nations forservices such as electricity,phones and bank fees.
New President Felipe Cal-deron has promised to battlemonopolistic practices, but pastefforts to do that have beenthwarted by Mexico’s en-trenched elite.
Slim faces a potential chal-lenge in the telecom sector fromthe Televisa network, whichcontrols about 70 percent ofMexico’s broadcast market andis looking to extend its domi-nance in emerging communica-tions systems that integratetelephone, television and Inter-net transmissions.
“This could be a destabiliz-ing factor. It could readjust theplayers on the chess board,”said Celso Garrido, an econom-ics professor at the National Au-tonomous University of Mexico.
But even there, Slim standsto gain — his fortune includes
shares in Televisa and one of hissons sits on Televisa’s board.
Slim is on track to overtakethe two leading Americans onthe billionaires list, particularlysince Buffet ($52 billion), whomade his money running theBerkshire Hathaway investmentfund, and Gates ($56 billion),who founded Microsoft Corp.,are more focused these days ongiving their fortunes away.
Gates, who set up the world’srichest charity foundation, hassaid he believes “that with greatwealth comes great responsibil-ity, a responsibility to give backto society.” Buffett joined in lastyear, promising to send about$1.5 billion every year to the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation,which has an endowment of $33billion.
Slim was reportedly ready toannounce new philanthropy ofhis own. Telmex already spon-sors a foundation that supportseducation and social programs
in Mexico, and the billionaire’sinvestments in Mexico City’sdowntown led to urban renewalin the central zone.
Slim told local media lastyear that he planned to give be-tween $2.5 billion and $4 billionof his fortune.
But he is still expanding anincreasingly diversified empirethat now involves his threesons, and he doesn’t appearready to focus on philanthropy.
“Wealth must be seen as a re-sponsibility, not as a privilege.The responsibility is to createmore wealth,” Slim said in2005. “It’s like having an or-chard; you have to give away thefruit, but not the trees.”
Latin American billionaires— there are 10 others in Mexico— don’t have a record of chari-table giving, partly for historicreasons and partly because theregion’s tax laws often don’t en-courage donations as much as inthe U.S.
OMAR TORRES : A F P / G E T T Y I M AG E S
NO. 3 AND RISING: Carlos Slim speaks to reporters on Monday. TheMexican tycoon’s fortune increased by $19 billion last year.
Slim may overtake U.S. billionaires■ Some in Mexicoresent him as heapproaches wealthof Gates, Buffett
By MARK STEVENSONA S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
Living on $2 a day
Control of phone service
An entrenched elite
hong kong — China’s al-ready large exports have accel-erated further this year, withChina’s customs agency an-nouncing Monday that thecountry’s February trade sur-plus nearly tied a record set inOctober.
The size of the surplus,$23.76 billion, surprised econo-mists because Chinese exportstend to lag in the winter aftersurging in late summer and au-tumn, when deliveries are madeto retailers preparing for Christ-mas.
China’s rising trade surpluswith the United States has pro-duced growing pressure in Con-gress in recent weeks, and thelatest announcement is likely tofeed the debate. Lawmakershave proposed steep duties onChinese exports unless Chinatakes immediate action to endgovernment subsidies to indus-tries and to allow its currency torise faster against the dollar.
The latest trade statistic“will no doubt inflame politicaltensions on China trade,” saidR. Glenn Hubbard, a former
chairman of President Bush’sCouncil of Economic Adviserswho is now the dean of Colum-bia University Business School.
China’s commerce minister,Bo Xilai, warned in BeijingMonday that China particularlyopposes one proposal — a 27.5percent tax on American im-ports from China unless theChinese government allows sig-nificant currency appreciation.Bo described that option as de-structive to bilateral trade.
Zhou Xiaochuan, the gover-nor of China’s central bank, saidat a news conference with Bothat China would develop a fi-nancial system that dependsmore on markets and would al-low greater flexibility in thevalue of the country’s currency,known as the yuan or renminbi,news agencies reported. Chi-nese officials have periodicallyhinted they might widen thelimit on how much the yuan cantrade up or down within a singleday, currently set at three-tenths of a percent.
But Chinese officials havegiven little sign that they arewilling to allow faster apprecia-tion of the yuan, which hascrept up by 6.7 percent sinceChina broke the yuan’s peg tothe dollar in July 2005.
The Bush administration hasopposed setting benchmarks forhow fast the yuan should appre-ciate.
China’s exports surge,surprising economists■ Jump will likelyincrease argumentin U.S. for reforms
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D8 H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E ¬ ¬ Tuesday, March 13, 2007INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 7
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