Finance & Business World

YTB International Inc. cut 17 positions at its Wood River, Ill, headquarters this week, according to a published report.

"YTB International Inc. eliminated 17 positions today (Wednesday), representing less than 5 percent of our work force, as part of a reorganization to reduce operating expenses and curtail redundancies," Tony Green, assistant to Chief Executive Scott Tomer, wrote in a statement e-mailed to The Telegraph. "This move places the company in an even better position to realize its goals and effectively manage its continued growth."

A request from the Business Journal requesting comment was not immediately returned.

On Aug. 4, California Attorney General Jerry Brown Jr. sued YTB and the company's founders, Lloyd Tomer, Scott Tomer, Kim Sorensen and Andrew Cauthen, for allegedly operating an illegal pyramid scheme.

On Aug first cash advance. 8, former agents for YTB International filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, echoing the same allegations.

More than 160 complaints have been lodged against YTB, also known as YourTravelBiz.com, with the local Better Business Bureau and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who has partnered with the California attorney general in his probe.

In early August, thousands of agents attended a national convention in St. Louis, where they defended the company as legitimate.

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Luxury-home values in central London, the world's most expensive location for prime real estate, registered their first annual fall in five years as buyers were deterred by signs the economy may enter a recession.

The average value of houses and apartments in London's nine most expensive neighborhoods dropped 1.6 percent from August 2007, broker Knight Frank LLP said today in a statement. Values fell 1.3 percent from July, the fourth consecutive monthly decline.

Luxury homes in London, except those costing more than 10 million pounds ($18.4 million), have followed the slide in prices already experienced elsewhere in Britain as banks curb lending, shed staff and cut bonuses. Average U.K. home values dropped 10.5 percent this month from a year earlier, the largest decline since the final quarter of 1990, according to a report released yesterday by lender Nationwide Building Society.

Home-buyers are being affected “by pessimism in the financial services sector, particularly relating to the size of this year's bonuses,'' Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's head of residential research, said in the statement.

More than 300,000 people are employed in financial services in London and their appetite for expensive homes has slackened as employers eliminate jobs and lower bonus payments payday loans. Some 10,000 jobs may be lost in the next three years, Experian Group Ltd. estimates, as banks around the world have incurred mortgage losses and writedowns exceeding $500 billion.

Homes worth less than 1 million pounds are the most affected, with appraised values down 9.2 percent from a year ago, because prospective buyers still rely on mortgages to make purchases, Knight Frank said.

“Super-Prime'' Values Rise

Properties worth more than 10 million pounds gained 2.9 percent from July, or 19 percent more than a year ago, on demand from wealthy overseas investors who are little affected by borrowing constraints, Knight Frank said.

Such “super prime'' properties “have proved immune from the downward trends elsewhere,'' Bailey said. “There are now signs that the gap between this sector and the rest of the market is growing.''

Knight Frank compiles its monthly index from appraised values of representative properties in Mayfair, St John's Wood, Regent's Park, Kensington, Notting Hill, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Belgravia and the South Bank neighborhoods of London.

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Hans Wormser has taken 15 of his company's 200 trucks off German roads as he struggles with a 28 percent jump in diesel-fuel prices. Next year, he also faces a 60 percent increase in truck tolls.

He blames Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is rejecting calls to ease the pain as she fulfills her pledge to cut the budget deficit despite a slowing economy — a stance that may cost her votes in next year's national election.

“The economy is shifting into reverse,'' said Wormser, who is also head of the Bavarian LBT truckers' association. “People are worried about their jobs. Not only are we not getting any help from Berlin, they're even adding to our woes.''

Deficit-reduction is the signal achievement of Merkel's three years at the head of a “Grand Coalition'' government that includes her Christian Democratic Union and the rival Social Democratic Party, or SPD. The deficit, 31.2 billion euros ($46.4 billion) the year she took office, declined to 14.3 billion euros last year; it is projected to disappear entirely after 2010 — unless falling tax revenues from the economic slowdown, or increased spending, drive it back up.

“I don't think she's going to cave in,'' Gerd Langguth, a politics professor at the University of Bonn and Merkel biographer, said in a telephone interview. “Her hands are tied, and an economic-stimulus package costs money she doesn't have.''

Germany's gross domestic product, which accounts for about a third of the euro region's economy, shrank 0.5 percent in 2008's second quarter after expanding 1.3 percent in the first three months.

Recession Risk

There is a “50-50'' chance of a recession this year, Roland Doehrn of the Essen-based RWI economic institute said in an Aug. 19 interview; the BGA association of wholesalers and exporters says the economy may grow less than 1 percent next year.

Merkel's deficit-reduction hand is strengthened by her alliance with SPD Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck. The SPD, gearing up to oppose her in the September 2009 election, has blocked her plans to overhaul a health-insurance system that the IW economic institute says fails to reduce costs and an income- tax system that generates bestselling books with titles like “1000 Perfectly Legal Tax Tricks.''

But the chancellor, 54, and Steinbrueck, 61, “apparently don't want to expose themselves to accusations they have abandoned one of the key goals of the Grand Coalition: to stabilize and consolidate public finances,'' Hans-Juergen Hoffmann, managing director of polling company Psephos in Berlin, said in an interview guaranteed cash advance.

Ammunition

Their fiscal focus hands ammunition to Oskar Lafontaine, the former SPD finance minister who is now co-leader of the Left Party. Lafontaine, 64, told a party convention in May that the Left, an alliance of former East German communists and labor unionists, plans to campaign by appealing to those who feel let down by Merkel's coalition.

The Left already is the most popular of three main opposition parties, with 11 percent support, according to a poll by FG Wahlen published Aug. 15. That compared with 25 percent for the SPD and 40 percent for Merkel's CDU.

“Strengthening the incomes of the masses'' and “higher public spending'' are needed to bolster growth, Lafontaine said in an e-mailed statement. The government, through its tax and spending policies, has “reached deep into people's pockets.''

Even Merkel's camp is seeing growing opposition to giving deficit reduction priority over tax cuts.

`Markedly Pessimistic'

“A clear majority of people in Germany has a markedly pessimistic view of the future'' because high taxes are eroding their purchasing power, said Josef Schlarmann, a Christian Democrat who heads a business lobby representing 40,000 business owners and managers that is allied with the party. “CDU voters are enormously disappointed.''

Concern is especially high in the Christian Social Union, the CDU's Bavarian sister party. Faced with polls suggesting it may lose its majority in a state election scheduled for Sept. 28, the CSU in May proposed a package of tax cuts and commuter subsidies worth 28 billion euros.

Economy Minister Michael Glos, a CSU member, also favors the plan, to no avail. The commuter-subsidy proposal is “the only matter of difference'' she has with the CSU, Merkel said in a speech last month to its convention in Nuremberg.

“Wherever there's leeway, we're willing to give something back to the people, as long as we can afford it,'' Merkel said. “Reliability has to remain one of our core principles. We have to stay our course.''

For Wormser, whose trucking company is based near Nuremberg, that course risks “hundreds of thousands more unemployed and thousands of insolvent companies, with all the family tragedies involved.'' The chancellor's response “is going to be decisive for the election,'' he said.

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Duval County schools and Jacksonville city offices will be closed Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for Tropical Storm Fay, Mayor John Peyton announced Tuesday evening.

Based on the 5 p.m. National Weather Service forecast, Fay is expected to hit the Jacksonville area as a Category 1 hurricane Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour and wind gusts between 85-95 miles per hour, Peyton said in a news conference.

Peyton singed an emergency order prior to the conference and elevated the Emergency Operations Center from a level two to a level one, the highest level cash advance loan no fax.

The Jacksonville Public Works Department will be clearing debris and the city will deploy teams for rescue and road clearance, he said.

Bridge closures will be based on winds greater than 40 miles per hour. Peyton said shelter openings will be announced Wednesday morning.

Fay unexpectantly gained strength after it hit land in Southwest Florida from the Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday with maximum sustained winds near 65 miles per hour.

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InBev said Monday it received a request for additional information from the U.S. Department of Justice about its $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch.

The Belgian brewer said it plans to “respond expeditiously” and “to work toward a prompt closing of the transaction.” The request deals with antitrust regulations.

“This request for additional information from the DOJ is a normal and expected part of the regulatory process,” InBev said in a statement. “InBev remains confident that the transaction will receive regulatory approval and continues to expect to close the transaction by the end of this year.”

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. (NYSE: BUD), through its Anheuser-Busch Inc. subsidiary, is the leading domestic brewer, holding a 48.5 percent share of U.S no fax payday loan. beer sales.

The company, which accepted a $52 billion takeover offer from Belgian InBev, brews the world’s largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer, and a 27 percent share in the China brewer Tsingtao, whose namesake beer brand is the country’s best-selling premium beer.

Anheuser-Busch’s Fairfield brewery has a capacity of 4.4 million barrels per year and produces Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch, Busch Light and Natural Light. It serves Northern California, Alaska, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.

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Russia's future in global institutions such as the World Trade Organization depends on its compliance with an agreement to immediately withdraw troops from Georgia, two top U.S. officials said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to “keep his word'' on pulling troops back from Georgian territory, saying he has failed to comply so far. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cited a “menu'' of measures Russia might face should it violate the terms of a cease fire.

While it's too early to discuss specifics such as Russia's aspirations to join the WTO, “there's clearly a menu available to the West'' of consequences that can be imposed, Gates said today on ABC's “This Week'' program. “We now have time to consider carefully with our allies what actions we want to take.''

The U.S. and other western nations are pressing Medvedev to adhere to an accord he signed yesterday to end fighting that the United Nations says has displaced more than 118,000 people, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy warning of “grave consequences'' for European Union-Russia relations. Medvedev said today that his forces will start pulling out of Georgia tomorrow.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who signed the cease-fire agreement on Aug. 15, said Russian forces are destroying the country's energy pipeline and port infrastructure.

“They're continuing their actions,'' Saakashvili said today on CNN's “Late Edition'' program. “They're increasingly widening their zone of occupation.''

Russian Withdrawal

Medvedev said he'll withdraw his forces into the breakaway region of South Ossetia. While Russia had peacekeepers there before the war, Rice said on the “Fox News Sunday'' program that Moscow must extract all other troops “back to the lines prior to this conflict.''

“Yet again the Russian president has given his word,'' said Rice. “I hope this time he'll honor it.''

The continued presence of Russian troops in Georgian cities, the port of Poti and along the country's east-west highway “is simply not acceptable,'' Rice said.

The cease-fire agreement does allow the Russians to take “some special security measures'' outside South Ossetia “for a limited period of time in a very prescribed way,'' she said. “They're not to go into urban centers. They're not to tie up the east-west highway.''

Retaining Control

Russian troops retain control of key areas of Georgia, including the central transport hub of Gori, the Interfax news service reported today, citing Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia's General Staff.

“My personal view is that there need to be some consequences for the actions that Russia has taken against a sovereign state,'' Rice said. “Russia has seriously damaged its own efforts to integrate into the West.''

She said she plans to discuss “what further messages we may wish to send, in what form'' with allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at a meeting of their foreign ministers on Aug paydayloans. 19 in Brussels.

The U.S. is seeking confirmation of a declaration at the organization's April summit that Ukraine and Georgia “will become members of NATO,'' a step Russia opposes.

Rice plans to follow that stop with a visit to Warsaw to sign an agreement Poland approved last week to base part of a missile-defense system there that the U.S. wants to build to thwart potential attacks from Iran.

Ballistic Missiles

Russia has threatened to point ballistic missiles at the site in Poland, which would contain 10 American interceptors, and in the Czech Republic, where a radar station would be set up.

“The Russians will have failed in their effort to undermine Georgia,'' Rice said. “And we will be looking at what we can do with the states around that region as well.''

Russia's aggression on a number of fronts, including against Western investors and companies, has “sent a powerful signal,'' Gates said on ABC.

“We clearly have seen a side of Russia that we had hoped was a thing of the past,'' Gates said of the Georgian crisis. “And we obviously are going to have to reevaluate the direction of the strategic relationship with Russia going forward.''

The Georgian crisis dominated the U.S. presidential campaign debate on television news shows in the U.S. today.

Surrogates for Republican contender John McCain said his national security credentials make him best suited to confront Russia's aggression. Allies of Democratic candidate Barack Obama said McCain is too confrontational and would only continue Bush administration policies that have proven unwise.

`Bellicose Rhetoric'

McCain is prone to “bellicose rhetoric,'' Senator Evan Bayh, a Democrat from Indiana and potential Obama pick for vice president, said on “Face the Nation'' on CBS.

“If we followed'' Obama's advice to address tensions early on between Georgia and Russia, the crisis might have been avoided, but McCain, like the Bush administration, was “obsessed'' with Iraq, Bayh said.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a possible McCain running mate, said McCain pressed in the 1990s for the former Soviet states to join NATO as the “best defense'' against “Russian aggression.''

McCain has been in South Ossetia and to Georgia “multiple times,'' Romney said on “This Week'' on ABC. “In a dangerous and troubled world, it's helpful to have a leader'' who “knows these places, knows the people, understands the setting.''

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Japan's demand for services fell the most in four months in June as higher energy and food costs discouraged spending in the world's second-largest economy.

The tertiary index, a gauge of money households and businesses spend on phone calls, power and transportation, decreased 0.8 percent from May, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 33 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 0.3 percent drop.

A drop in spending by consumers, whose sentiment is at the lowest level in at least 26 years, contributed to the economy's contraction last quarter. Economists say that Japan may slip into its first recession since 2001 this year as households cut back just as a weakening global economy hurts exporters.

“It's becoming more apparent that price increases are making consumers spend less,'' said Junko Nishioka, an economist at RBS Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo. “Consumer spending will probably stay weak in the months ahead. Chances for a recession are increasing.''

Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 2.4 percent last quarter, the Cabinet Office said yesterday. The government last week described the economy as “weakening,'' language it hadn't used in seven years instant payday advance.

“Rising prices for daily necessities are stopping consumers from spending,'' Tadashi Okamura, chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday.

Cutting Spending

The price of frequently purchased goods rose 4.2 percent in June, when wages dropped for the first time this year. Households cut spending for a fourth month after the jobless rate rose to the highest since September 2006.

“Demand for services is weakening because of rising food and gasoline prices,'' said Yoshiki Shinke, a senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “We can't count on consumer spending to help the waning economy.''

Sluggish consumer spending and higher prices are prompting some companies to reconsider plans for expansion.

Morinaga & Co., a Tokyo-based confectioner, postponed this year's construction of a plant in Gunma Prefecture because of rising oil prices and weak consumer spending, according to Rika Baba, a company spokeswoman. Profits fell 67.2 percent in the three months ended in June, the company reported this month.

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The St. Louis Rams would like to return to Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon for the National Football League team’s 2009 training camp.

Jeff Horton, special assistant/offense for the Rams, said the team has been pleased with its first training camp at Concordia, which started July 24 with 180 Rams players, coaches and staff staying and practicing at the university’s campus, which is along the shores of Lake Michigan.

“There is no question we want to come back,” Horton said in an interview this week. “From top to bottom, this has been a great experience.”

It also has been a financial boon for Concordia and many nearby businesses.

Concordia president Patrick Ferry said the Rams will pay Concordia $330,000 for using the university’s facilities, many of which would not be used during the summer. The payment consists of $180,000 for food, $130,000 for the practice fields and dorms and $20,000 for labor.

More than 60 cars for the players were rented from Enterprise Rent-a-Car, 30 golf carts were purchased, the team contracted with nearby Columbia St. Mary’s hospital for up to 50 MRIs and Concordia staff is making daily trips to Sendik’s grocery store in Mequon to purchase fresh produce. In addition, Rams players and staff are visiting local restaurants and retailers.

On the evening the Rams reported to camp, players visited a nearby Target department store to buy “everything from televisions to comforters to cereal,” Ferry said.

“There is no doubt this has been a very positive event for the community,” he said.

There have been an average of 600 fans per practice, highlighted by about 3,000 who attended an Aug. 2 team scrimmage. University officials are estimating a $2 million to $3 million economic impact.

Concordia has spent about $200,000 on improvements to the athletic fields and other infrastructure projects, many of which were already planned over the next several years, said Ken Gaschk, Concordia’s vice president of admission services cash till payday. The university also purchased 80 flat-screen televisions for the Rams, all of which have been sold to faculty and staff for a discounted price.

Gaschk said the publicity in the St. Louis area will be good for recruiting for Concordia, which has about 6,000 students including 1,700 full-time undergraduates.

“We believe this will help our name recognition when it comes to recruiting,” Gaschk said.

The university also has been using the training camp to host events, such as hosting more than 75 area high school football coaches, along with an event for its board and other supporters.

That the Rams are even in Mequon is a surprise to almost all in the organization.

Horton, who led the selection process, said Concordia was not on the original list of possible training camp sites in Wisconsin that the Rams planned to visit in May. However, he agreed to add them after he was contacted by a Concordia official and viewed the university’s Web site.

“I had been in Wisconsin for seven years and had never heard of Concordia,” said Horton, who served as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin from 1999-2005.

But after visiting Concordia as the last stop on the tour, Horton said it was an easy decision.

“If they would have been first, we probably wouldn’t have even gone to the other sites,” he said. “It was the best atmosphere for us to be able to train and come together as a team in a great setting by the lake.”

Many of the players, some of whom Horton said had no idea where Mequon was, have been surprised by the experience.

“It’s beautiful,” said Rams quarterback Trent Green. “They have done a heck of a job and my first impression is very good.”

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Malaysia's industrial production grew at the slowest pace in 10 months in June, and the central bank said it wants to avoid a “fundamental'' worsening in the economy, signaling it may avoid raising interest rates.

“What we need to be very aware of is that there will be a moderation in growth,'' Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said in Kuala Lumpur today. “Our objective is to avoid slipping into a fundamental economic slowdown'' that results in increased unemployment.

Production at factories, utilities and mines rose 2 percent in June from a year earlier, the Putrajaya, Malaysia-based Statistics Department said today. Manufacturing output by companies including Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd. grew 2.6 percent, slowing from the previous month's 4.1 percent gain.

Orders for electronics produced by Intel Corp. and other manufacturers in Asia may weaken further as a U.S. slowdown spreads to economies including Japan, where exports fell for the first time in more than four years in June. Commodities sales, which have been holding up Malaysian exports this year, may also ease as palm oil and crude oil prices fall from records.

“Malaysia may have to brace itself for a more challenging macroeconomic environment in the second half,'' said Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin, an economist at Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. “The concern of an economic slowdown seems to preoccupy policy makers slightly more than risks of runaway inflation.''

Benchmark Rate

Rising risks of a deepening economic slump prompted Bank Negara to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.5 percent on July 25, avoiding the increases in borrowing costs undertaken by its neighbors to fight inflation this year payday loans application.

Zeti's comments today are “a pretty strong indication'' that Malaysia will keep its overnight policy rate unchanged at least until the end of the year, Azrul said.

The central bank is due to release its next monetary policy statement on Aug. 25. Inflation in June was 7.7 percent. Malaysia last raised its benchmark interest rate in April 2006.

Growth in 2008 may fall below Bank Negara's March forecast of as much as 6 percent, Zeti said last month. The government is due to release updated forecasts on Aug. 29. The $151 billion economy grew 6.3 percent last year.

Governments from South Korea to Thailand have lowered their 2008 economic forecasts as the impact of the U.S. slowdown spreads and soaring oil and food prices hurt spending. Singapore last week cut its 2008 growth forecast for a second time this year, and today said full-year exports may decline for the first time since 2001.

Electronics Sales

Manufacturing accounts for more than 30 percent of Malaysia's economy, and almost four-fifths of the country's exports. Sales to the U.S., the Southeast Asian nation's largest overseas market last year, fell for the 15th month in 16 in June on lower shipments of electrical and electronics products.

“While commodities-related production could partially offset the expected slowdown in technology production, downside risks have emerged from the recent slide in commodities prices,'' said Kit Wei Zheng, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Singapore.

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Houston had the nation’s highest home utility bills and Portland the lowest for the month of July, according to a national survey released by WhiteFence.

The average bill in Houston was $475.14, a $60 increase over June, according to the WhiteFence Index in Houston.

Houston residents paid more than double then those in Portland, which had an average home utility bill of $216.22.

For the fourth straight month, the national average combined utility bill climbed from $282.70 in June to $293.54 in July, due in part to higher electricity usage and rates.

The WhiteFence Index compiles average monthly bills for telephone, Internet, television, electricity and natural gas in 21 U.S fast cash online. cities.

“The WhiteFence Index shows how dramatically utility costs can vary across the country,” said WhiteFence CEO Eric Danziger. “But it’s not just from state to state. People would be surprised to know how much their utility costs differ from people right in their own neighborhood. That’s why it’s important to shop around.”

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