LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“While a housing recovery is under way ... fits and starts are to be expected and clearly this summer is one of the ‘fits.’”
Dan Greenhaus,
chief economic strategist at BTIG LLC, in a note to clients Article, 1DAcxiom among firms Congress targets
Little Rock-based data marketing firm Acxiom Corp.
has come under scrutiny from Congress.
Eight members of Congress - including the co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas - sent letters of inquiry Tuesday to nine major companies in the consumer data industry, including Acxiom.
The legislators are requesting information about how the companies gather, sort, sell and share consumer data, according to The New York Times. The companies have three weeks to respond.
Jennifer Barrett Glasgow, the chief privacy officer of Acxiom, said Wednesday that the company plans to comply with the letter and educate the caucus on its data activities.
“We’re never afraid of the scrutiny because we have very good practices around data usage, as well as security that protect the consumer, give them some choice in how the data is used and also allow our clients to bring value to our customers through the use of data,” she said.
An Acxiom statement said the company is committed to increasing awareness of its data-marketing practices and recently updated its website to answer any questions.
Markey told The New York Times that data-mining firms can create complex profiles of every American. The connection to advertising, where customers are sorted into categories of desirable or undesirable sales prospects, raises privacy concerns, he said.
Bill scam targets Entergy customers
A bill-payment scam claiming to help customers pay their utility bill is targeting Entergy Corp. customers, the company says.
The scam claims that the nation’s president or the government is allowing credits or making payments to customers’ utility bills, Sally Graham, a spokesman for Entergy Arkansas, said Wednesday.
She said the scam tells customers to make a payment to Entergy using a bank routing number given to them in the scam.
“Payments made by Entergy customers using the scammers’ methods will not process correctly and the money will not be applied to their bills,” Graham said. “Customers will still owe the amount shown on their bills for the utility services they have used.”
Additionally, they can be charged additional fees or their utilities could be disconnected for not paying their bill, according to the news release.
So far, about 11,000 customers have tried to pay their utility bills using these methods, Graham said. The scam first started in May and stopped shortly after. It started again this month.
She said the scam is being spread through “hearsay methods,” such as community-center postings and social media. She did not know who is responsible for the scam.
Customers should only use payment methods authorized by Entergy, such as their online accounts, by phone or by mail.
If customers believe their Entergy account has been affected, they can call (800) 368-3749.
House OKs Fed-scrutiny bill 327-98
WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday voted 327-98 to give Congress greater scrutiny over the Federal Reserve, approving legislation sponsored by a longtime Fed nemesis, Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
The legislation requires the Government Accountability Office to carry out comprehensive audits of the bank. It passed easily but faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
Three-time presidential candidate Paul, who is retiring at end of this session, has made a career of trying to do away with the Fed, which he blames for government growth. Failing to accomplish that, he has pushed to make the independent central bank’s operations more transparent.
The Fed is already subject to annual audits, but Paul’s bill goes further in requiring inspections of the bank’s monetary policy decision-making.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has opposed the legislation.
Toyota tops GM in ’12 1st-half sales
TOKYO - Toyota bounced back from safety recalls and natural disasters, selling 4.97 million vehicles globally in the first half of the year to retake its crown as the world’s top automaker from General Motors Co.
The Japanese company sold about 300,000 more cars and trucks than GM did in the first half of the year, a lead large enough that it will be difficult for GM to catch Toyota in the final six months of 2012.
GM said it sold 4.67 million vehicles during the first half. Both companies released their numbers Wednesday.
For Toyota Motor Corp., the numbers underline a powerful rebound from a period of dismal sales, and the resilience of its brand as it gains traction in China and Southeast Asia while clawing back lost market share in the U.S.
Both companies have said in the past that they don’t care about the global sales leadership and are focusing on profits. But the crown is a matter of corporate pride for both automakers.
IMF: China’s economy hits soft landing
SHANGHAI - China has achieved a “soft landing” in its economic slowdown, the IMF said Wednesday while cautioning that more sweeping changes are needed to ensure healthy growth in the longer term.
In a report on its website, the IMF praised China’s leaders for adjusting policies to help counter the malaise plaguing the global economy that has also slowed robust growth in China and other emerging nations.
“China’s economy seems to be undergoing a soft landing, though global headwinds are increasing,” said the report, issued after IMF consultations with China.
It notes that China has reduced some imbalances in the world’s second-biggest economy, such as its once huge trade surplus, and brought inflation under control. But it pointed to risks from excessive bank lending and urged more effective regulation to ensure financial stability.
Markus Rodlauer, deputy director of the IMF’s Asia & Pacific Department, predicted growth of about 8 percent for China in the second half of the year. China’s secondquarter growth fell to a three-year low of 7.6 percent as exports, consumer spending and factory output weakened.
Business, Pages 26 on 07/26/2012