QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Employment is going to remain fairly strong going forward. Employers will at least maintain the pace of hiring, and probably step it up a bit.”
Jim O’Sullivan, High Frequency Economics chief U.S. economist Article, 1D
Oil pipeline’s study ongoing, Kerry says
An analysis of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline’s environmental impact hasn’t been completed yet, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday as Canadian officials complained that the project is in limbo.
“We are currently engaged in the environmental impact statement analysis,” Kerry said at a news conference at the State Department with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. “An analysis will be made with respect to the national interest ultimately, and we’re just not at that point yet. I haven’t received it,” Kerry said. “They haven’t finished it.”
Kerry made clear the U.S. would take the time necessary to reach a decision on the $5.4 billion project to carry heavy crude from Canada to U.S. refineries even as Baird and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper increasingly have been pushing for the pipeline’s approval in interviews and speeches, describing the project’s status as in a “state of limbo.”
Kerry said Friday that one reason for the delay is that “there were a lot of questions that were raised in all of the public-comment period, and those comments have necessitated appropriate answers.”
Cost overruns threaten to halt canal job
PANAMA CITY - An expansion of the Panama Canal is supposed to transform global trade, and U.S. ports have invested billions in preparing for the new generation of larger ships that will be able to pass through it.
But the Panama Canal Authority now faces the prospect of a work stoppage on the $5.25 billion expansion because of a financial dispute.
The Spanish-led consortium hired to handle the biggest part of the canal expansion said it will halt work by Monday if the authority doesn’t come up with the funds to cover $1.6 billion in cost overruns. The authority insists that the consortium live up to the terms of the original contract.
A stop and restart could mean a delay of months or even .
Two banks suspend 4 currency traders
HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe’s biggest bank by market value, and Citigroup Inc. have suspended four traders amid a global investigation into the suspected manipulation of currencies.
HSBC suspended two foreign-exchange traders in London, according to a statement Friday. They are Edward Pinto and Serge Sarramegna, according to a person with knowledge of the decision who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Neither replied to email or messages left on their work telephones. Officials at London-based HSBC declined to comment on the traders’ identities.
Citigroup has put Anthony John in London and Andrew Amantia in New York, who specialize in spot trading of currencies, on leave, according to another person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified.
Neither trader responded to email or telephone calls to their offices.
The number of traders now known to have been fired, suspended or put on leave is at least 17 as regulators investigate the $5.3 trillion-a-day market. Bloomberg News reported in June that employees at some firms said they shared information about their positions with counterparts at other banks through instant messages and sought to manipulate the benchmark rates.
Citigroup controls about 15 percent of the world’s currency trading, second only to Frankfurt, Germany-based Deutsche Bank AG, while HSBC ranks fifth with almost 7 percent, according to a May survey by Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.
- Bloomberg News
Agency that clogged bridge to sell bonds
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency at the center of a scandal involving New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s staff, plans to sell $1 billion of taxable municipal bonds as soon as next week.
Proceeds from the deal will finance redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, offering documents show.
The debt will mature in August 2046, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The agency, which also manages the New York City region’s three major airports and six marine-cargo terminals, borrowed a record $2 billion in 2012 for the World Trade Center.
Aides to the Republican governor ordered September lane closings on the George Washington Bridge, which the agency runs. The move backed up roads in Fort Lee, the New Jersey city of 37,500 abutting the bridge to Manhattan, for days. The community’s Democratic mayor didn’t endorse Christie in his November re-election bid. The governor has said he had no knowledge of the act.
A message left at the office of Elizabeth McCarthy, the Port Authority’s chief financial officer, wasn’t immediately returned.
- Bloomberg News
Sysco plan to buy US Foods scrutinized
Sysco Corp.’s agreement to buy US Foods for $3.5 billion to bolster its pre-eminence as a food distributor to restaurants across North America is under review by federal antitrust regulators and at least two states.
The deal, announced last month, would cement Sysco’s role as the continent’s largest food distributor, expanding its geographic reach and creating supply chain cost savings. The combined company would have about $65 billion in annual sales.
The combination will be reviewed by the Justice Department’s antitrust unit or the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, said Gina Talamona, a spokesman for the Justice Department. A decision hasn’t been made about which agency will conduct the investigation, she said Thursday. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller are part of a multistate group looking at the deal as well.
The group “is currently reviewing this merger in coordination with federal agencies,” Jenn Meale, a spokesman for Bondi, said in an email. She declined to comment further.
We “are working with other states as we examine the potential impact,” Bryan Corbin, a spokesman for the Indiana attorney general’s office, said of the merger.
Sysco said the acquisition of Rosemont, Ill.-based US Foods will boost its share of the U.S. market to about 25 percent from about 18 percent.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 34 on 01/18/2014