Finance & Business World

Canada’s prime minister heads to China next week where he’ll discuss Canada’s vast oil reserves in a visit that’s being viewed as an “open warning” to the United States, which rejected a pipeline from Canada to Texas.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be in Beijing and two other cities for bilateral meetings with top Chinese officials, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, from Feb. 8-11.

Andrew MacDougall, Harper’s spokesman, said Friday it is “absolutely in Canada’s interests” to move the country’s resources to China.

Five Cabinet ministers, including the ministers of natural resources, trade and foreign affairs will make the trip with Harper.

Harper is determined to build a pipeline to Canada’s Pacific Coast after U.S. President Barack Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that would have taken oil from Alberta to refineries in Texas.

Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S and Harper is eager to diversify. Canada is increasingly looking to China, thinking America doesn’t want a big-stake share in what environmentalists call “dirty oil,” which they say increases greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada has the world’s third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela: more than 170 billion barrels. Daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase to 3.7 million by 2025, which the oil industry sees as a pressing reason to build the pipelines.

Harper told Obama he was “profoundly disappointed” that he rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline has become a hot topic in the U.S. presidential election. Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have both promised to approve the pipeline.

After Obama first delayed a decision on the Keystone pipeline in November, Harper told the Chinese president at the Pacific Rim summit in Hawaii that Canada would like to sell more oil to China, and the Canadian prime minister filled in Obama on what he said instant credit report.

Wenran Jiang, an energy expert and professor at the University of Alberta, said Canada is using China as leverage.

He said Harper’s visit is an explicit warning to the U.S.

“It’s a not a subtle warning. It’s an open warning,” Jiang said. “Harper has said Keystone was a wake-up call.”

Jiang said Washington will be paying attention to the trip but he said a number of factors make U.S. officials less worried than a few years ago when China’s intentions in Canada’s oil sector weren’t as clear as they are now.

Jiang said U.S. officials no longer fear that the Chinese are investing in Canada to lock up the supply and ship it back to China. But Jiang said that doesn’t prevent Republicans like Gingrich and Romney from raising fears that the U.S. is losing energy security.

David Goldwyn, a former energy official in the Obama administration, has said he sees no threat from Chinese inroads into Canada because there is more than enough oil for all concerned.

China’s growing economy is hungry for Canadian oil. Chinese state-owned companies have invested more than $16 billion in Canadian energy in the past two years. State-controlled Sinopec has a stake in Enbridge’s proposed Pacific pipeline, and if it is built, Chinese investment in Alberta oil sands is sure to boom.

Zhang Junsai, China’s ambassador to Canada, has said Harper’s visit will help forge a “win-win” natural resource partnership with Canada to help his country’s expanding economy meet its voracious energy needs.

Forty Canadian business leaders will accompany Harper on the trip.

Relations between the countries have improved since Harper’s first visit in 2009 when Premier Wen publicly chided Harper for taking so long to visit China. Harper has since changed Canada’s hardline stance on human rights.

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An unusual small claims lawsuit by a Honda hybrid owner took another complicated turn Wednesday with additional arguments that prompted a commissioner to delay a ruling for more consideration.

Superior Court Commissioner Douglas Carnahan said he was aware of “a media blitz on this case,” and wanted to be clear on all of the issues raised by Honda owner Heather Peters.

Peters told the court she was anxious to get the matter resolved and did not want to waste the court’s time.

“You’re not wasting the court’s time,” said Carnahan. “These are serious issues affecting more people than just you.”

Honda representative Neil Schmidt showed up for the hearing with a stack of envelopes that the commissioner estimated as 8 inches high, purportedly containing letters from satisfied Honda owners.

Carnahan declined to open the envelopes, saying it would just prolong the hearing that has already gone on longer than most small claims court actions.

Peters said she did not want to see the letters and had submitted her own testimonials from those who are dissatisfied with the cars.

“I’ll stipulate there are people who love their cars,” she said as she pointed to the audience where six other disappointed Honda owners were seated, including a woman who drove from Sacramento to attend the hearing.

The woman, Kathy Wood, of Elk Grove said outside court, “I drove from Sacramento because if she can do all this that’s the least I can do.”

Peters, a former lawyer, has been using the Internet to try to rally other Honda hybrid owners to follow her example and go to small claims court rather than accept a proposed class-action settlement by Honda.

Peters bought her car in April 2006.

Peters claimed the car never came close to the 50 miles per gallon (21.26 kilometers per liter) promised and that it got no more than 30 miles per gallon (12.75 kilometers per liter) when the battery began deteriorating. She still owns the car and wants to be compensated for money lost on gas, as well as punitive damages.

She bolted from a class-action lawsuit in order to sue for $10,000 rather than agree to a proposed settlement by Honda with thousands of car owners that would give each owner $100 to $200 and a $1,000 credit on the purchase of a new Honda.

She has said that if all owners of the problem cars won in small-claims court, it could cost Honda $2 billion

Wood said she is planning to opt out of a class-action suit.

“I’m never buying a Honda again,” Wood said.

Schmidt presented charts that he said showed that even with the decreased mileage, Peters benefited from having the car. She called his calculations “laughable.”

“If Honda snuck into my garage and siphoned gas out of my car, that’s a crime,” Peters told the commissioner. “That’s what they’re doing.”

Honda also sent Darren Johnson, its manager in charge of certifications, to explain how Honda tests its vehicles in relation to tests by the environmental protection agency.

Schmidt claimed there was no fraud and said “we’re being sued for telling the truth and she actually benefited from having the hybrid.”

Carnahan said he was taking the matter under submission and would have a ruling probably next week or at least before the Feb. 11 deadline for people to opt out of the class action case.

Outside court Peters said, “I feel great. I did my best. However he decides it I’m happy I did it. It’s brought to light a lot of background stuff that people should know.

“I’m the trailblazer here,” she said, “and everyone else can follow what I did.”

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World stock markets rose Friday, driven higher by a successful bond issue in Europe that eased worries over the continent’s sovereign debt crisis.

Benchmark oil rose to nearly $100 per barrel and the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

European shares rose in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.6 percent to 5,694.38. Germany’s DAX gained 0.7 percent to 6,221.96 and the CAC-40 in Paris gained 0.9 percent 3,229.17. Wall Street, too, was set to open higher, with Dow Jones industrial futures up 0.1 percent to 12,424. S&P 500 futures rose 0.1 percent at 1,293.

Asian shares were mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.4 percent to close at 8,500.02 and South Korea’s Kospi index moved 0.6 percent at 1,875.68. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index vacillated before closing in positive territory, up 0.6 percent to 19,204.42.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 was 0.4 percent higher at 4,195.90. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia, India and Malaysia also rose.

But mainland Chinese shares fell as investors continued to cash in on recent gains. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.3 percent to 2,244.58, while the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 3.5 percent to 845.93.

“The market will be volatile for the next one or two weeks after this correction, since there is just no support for the market to rise in the long term,” said Xu Xiaoyu, an analyst at China Investment Securities, based in Beijing.

PetroChina, the country’s biggest oil and gas company and the Shanghai benchmark’s biggest component, gained 1.4 percent as oil prices rose to near $100 a barrel in Asia on Friday on worries over supply tightness.

Elsewhere, raw materials and industrial companies advanced, following their U.S. counterparts higher. Japanese heavy equipment maker Komatsu Ltd guaranteed payday loans. jumped 4.1 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery gained 3.8 percent.

Energy Resources of Australia soared 6 percent and Paladin Energy Ltd., an Australian uranium miner, gained 3.1 percent. But shares in Australia’s QBE Insurance group dropped 3.1 percent, after the company warned its earnings could halve following a spate of natural disasters in 2011.

South Korean tech shares advanced, with Samsung Electronics Co., the country’s largest company, up 1.8 percent and Hynix Semiconductor, a global leader in chip-making, surging 4.1 percent. Its largest banking group, Woori Financial Holdings Co., jumped 3.9 percent.

Strong bond auctions in Italy and Spain on Thursday pushed stocks higher. Italy was able to sell one-year bonds at a rate of just 2.735 percent, less than half the 5.95 percent rate it had to pay last month. Spain was able to raise double the amount of money it had sought to raise in its own bond sale as demand for its debt was strong.

Investors have been worried that Italy and Spain might get dragged into the region’s debt crisis. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have been forced to get relief from their lenders after their borrowing costs spiked to levels the countries could no longer afford.

Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 78 cents to $99.88 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled $2 to finish at $99.10 per barrel in New York on Thursday.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.2843 from $1.2827 late Thursday in New York. The dollar was slightly down at 76.73 yen from 76.76 yen.

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Banks are hoarding the European Central Bank

Three Federal Reserve policy makers called on the U.S. government to try new programs to revive the housing market while differing over whether the central bank should take more steps to cut borrowing costs.

New York Fed President William C. Dudley said in New Jersey today that

Boeing Co. beat Lockheed Martin Corp. to win a $3.48 billion, seven-year contract that lets it keep its role as the primary developer of the U.S. shield against intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The Missile Defense Agency announced the contract in a statement Friday. The agency oversees the Ground-based Midcourse Missile Defense, which includes interceptors in Alaska and California, ground- and sea-based radar, satellites and a command and control system.

The Boeing team, which included Northrop Grumman Corp. of Falls Church, Va., delivered “a cost-effective approach to program management and execution,” Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing’s defense unit, said in a statement.

Lockheed, the world’s largest defense contractor, was seeking to dislodge Boeing from the contract it has held since 1998. Boeing has said the program totaled as much as $18 billion during the 10 years ending 2011.

Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, head of the Missile Defense Agency, said in August 2010, when the agency was preparing to call for bids, that it needed to contain costs.

“But before we get to cost, bidders have got to demonstrate they’ve the capacity and capability, and also an ability to do upgrades,” he said high risk personal loans.

Lockheed’s team included Raytheon, which makes the non-exploding warhead that is designed to seek and destroy enemy missiles. Raytheon was on both teams.

The news for Boeing officials came just one day after they and St. Louis leaders lauded a $30 billion deal for the company to provide Saudi Arabia with 84 new F-15 fighters. The deal will prolong production of the F-15, which is largely built at Boeing’s plant in north St. Louis County, by about five years, through 2020.

The Regional Chamber and Growth Association on Friday estimated that the F-15 work supports 1,000 manufacturing jobs at Boeing and contributes to nearly 4,000 more through local suppliers and spinoff activity.

The Boeing jobs generate $1.1 billion a year in wages and other economic activity, and the indirect impact is another roughly $1.8 billion, according to RCGA economist Ruth Sergenian.

Tim Logan of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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Companies cranked out more goods in December and pending sales of existing homes jumped in November for a second month, pointing to a pickup in U.S. economic growth as 2011 comes to a close.

The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer (CHPMINDX) was little changed at 62.5 from a seven- month high of 62.6 in November. The index of signed contracts (USPHTMOM) to buy previously owned houses rose 7.3 percent after climbing 10.4 percent the prior month, the National Association of Realtors said. Both figures surpassed the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

%3Cp%3EU.S.+stock+futures+rose+Monday%2C+even+as+news+of+North+Korea+ruler+Kim+Jong+Il%27s+death+rattled+Asia+and+European+markets.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EEuropean+markets+fell%2C+but+then+rebounded+as+investors+weighed+the+potential+consequences+of+Kim%27s+death.+Asian+indexes+closed+lower.+Analysts+warn+Kim%27s+death+could+cause+an+uncertain+power+transition+and+put+the+brakes+on+talks+aimed+at+getting+the+secretive+communist+state+to+give+up+its+nuclear+weapons.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EKim+Jong+Un%2C+the+supreme+leader%27s+untested+third+son+and+heir-apparent%2C+is+expected+to+want+to+consolidate+his+power+and+dispel+any+notions+of+weakness.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EDow+Jones+industrial+average+futures+are+up+51%2C+or+0.4+percent+at+11%2C829.+The+broader+Standard+%26amp%3B+Poor%27s+500+index+futures+are+up+7%2C+or+0.6+percent%2C+at+1%2C218.+Nasdaq+100+futures+are+up+13.25%2C+or+0.6+percent%2C+to+2246.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3E%22The+most+likely+scenario+for+regime+collapse+has+been+the+sudden+death+of+Kim+%28Jong+Il%29.+We+are+now+in+that+scenario%2C%22+said+Victor+Cha%2C+a+former+U.S.+National+Security+Council+director+for+Asian+affairs.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EBut+after+Asian+indexes+closed+lower%2C+European+stocks+recovered.+Germany%27s+DAX+rose+0.7+percent+to+5%2C741+and+Paris%27+CAC+40+index+rose+0.2+percent+to+2%2C979.+Britain%27s+FTSE+gained+0.3+percent+to+5%2C405.40.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EOvernight+South+Korea%27s+Kospi+index+dived+nearly+5+percent+but+later+recouped+some+losses+to+close+3.4+percent+lower+at+1%2C776.93.+The+Korean+won+also+fell%2C+losing+1.6+percent+against+the+U.S.+dollar%2C+a+traditional+haven+in+times+of+uncertainty.+The+Japanese+yen+and+other+regional+currencies+also+weakened+against+the+dollar.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EThe+euro+was+flat+around+%241.3030.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EKim%27s+death+overshadowed+what+already+was+a+gloomy+start+to+the+week+after+Fitch+warned+after+the+market+close+on+Friday+that+it+may+downgrade+the+credit+ratings+of+Italy+and+Spain%2C+as+well+as+Belgium%2C+Cyprus%2C+Ireland+and+Slovenia.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EEU+finance+ministers+will+later+Monday+discuss+how+much+money+their+countries+will+lend+to+the+International+Monetary+Fund+in+a+conference+call.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EThe+ministers+will+seek+to+decide+how+to+split+up+the+euro200+billion+%28%24261+billion%29+EU+leaders+promised+to+send+to+the+IMF+at+a+summit+10+days+ago.+The+money+is+meant+to+boost+the+eurozone%27s+firewall+against+the+escalating+debt+crisis.There+were+some+doubts+whether+the+EU+would+reach+the+euro200+billion+after+several+non-eurozone+countries+balked+at+having+to+support+the+currency+union.+The+ministers+will+also+discuss+in+their+conference+call+a+new+treaty+to+tighten+fiscal+discipline%2C+a+spokesman+for+the+Polish+delegation+to+the+European+said.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EOver+the+coming+days%2C+investors+will+remain+alert+to+developments+in+North+Korea%27s+power+transition.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EKim+Jong+Il%27s+death%2C+announced+Monday+by+North+Korean+state+television%2C+raises+the+specter+of+more+instability+on+the+divided+Korean+peninsula.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EThose+worries+are+most+acute+in+South+Korea+and+Japan%2C+which+have+often+been+the+targets+of+North+Korea%27s+mercurial+military+and+diplomatic+actions.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3E%22We%27re+seeing+deeper+negative+sentiment+in+some+markets%2C%22+said+Dariusz+Kowalczyk%2C+strategist+at+Credit+Agricole+CIB%2C+in+Hong+Kong.+%22Basically+this+is+because+risk+aversion+on+the+geopolitical+front+has+increased+given+that+there%27s+a+transition+of+power+in+a+relatively+unstable+country.+So+we%27re+seeing+an+impact+on+equities%2C+currencies.%22%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3ESouth+Korea%27s+military+and+police+went+on+alert+and+President+Lee+Myung-bak%2C+convened+a+national+security+council+meeting.+Japanese+leaders+said+they+were+watching+markets+closely+and+in+contact+with+the+U.S.%2C+Kyodo+News+Agency+reported.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EKim+was+ailing+after+suffering+what+is+thought+to+have+been+a+stroke+in+2008+and+died+at+age+69+on+Saturday.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3ENorth+Korea%27s+official+Korean+Central+News+Agency+identified+his+third+son%2C+the+twenty-something+Kim+Jong+Un%2C+as+the+%22great+successor%22+to+the+man+known+officially+as+the+%22Dear+Leader.%22%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EBut+even+with+the+younger+Kim+designated+as+his+father%27s+successor%2C+and+already+filling+high-ranking+posts%2C+some+experts+fear+a+behind-the-scenes+power+struggle+or+nuclear+instability.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EFitch+Ratings+said+it+did+not+view+Kim%27s+death+%22as+a+trigger+for+negative+action+on+South+Korea%27s+sovereign+ratings+in+itself.%22%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3E%22For+now%2C+it%27s+much+too+early+to+say+risks+have+materially+increased%2C+but+clearly+we+will+keep+the+situation+under+close+review%2C%22+said+Andrew+Colquhoun%2C+head+of+Fitch%27s+Asia-Pacific+sovereigns.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EMarkets+in+Taiwan%2C+Singapore%2C+Australia%2C+New+Zealand+and+Indonesia+also+sank+on+Monday.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EStill%2C+barring+unexpected+developments+in+Pyongyang+the+impact+of+Kim%27s+death+on+markets+is+likely+to+be+passing%2C+analysts+said.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3E%22In+the+short+term+there+will+be+some+psychological+uncertainty+but+I+think+things+will+go+back+to+the+fundamentals%2C%22+said+Steven+Leung%2C+director+of+institutional+sales+at+UOB-Kay+Hian+Ltd.+in+Hong+Kong.%3C%2Fp%3E+%09%3Cp%3EBenchmark+oil+for+January+delivery+was+up+51+cents+at+%2494.04+a+barrel+in+electronic+trading+on+the+New+York+Mercantile+Exchange.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stltoday.com%2Fbusiness%2Fnational-and-international%2Fus-stocks-edge-higher-after-n-korean-leader-death%2Farticle_e55e0b52-5b48-5395-8e2e-959dfe5f3526.html%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+

Property and casualty insurer Alleghany Corp. has agreed to buy the insurer Transatlantic Holdings Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $3.4 billion.

The companies say the deal values Transatlantic at about $59.79 per share. That’s a 10 percent premium to the company’s $54.43 Friday closing stock price.

New York-based Transatlantic had been courted by several businesses, receiving takeover offers from Validus Holdings Ltd. and a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., National Indemnity Corp. It also said in October that it had started confidential talks with an unnamed party.

In the deal with Alleghany, Transatlantic stockholders will receive 0.145 shares of Alleghany and $14.22 in cash for each share they own.

The companies say the deal announced Monday is expected to close early next year.

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A town hall meeting with Ben Bernanke and a group of military families discussing family finances wouldn’t normally draw much notice.

But for this particular event, the Federal Reserve chairman is venturing into Texas. And those who watch the Fed say the visit sends a message to Bernanke’s critics: The Fed is independent and won’t be intimidated.

Three months ago, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is seeking the Republican presidential nod, had sent a veiled threat: Bernanke would be treated “ugly” in Texas if he continued to pursue ever-lower interest rates _ a policy that Perry and some other critics say is akin to recklessly printing money.

Now, Bernanke is visiting Texas for the first time since then, to a U.S. Army fort in El Paso.

His destination may not be coincidental.

“There has to be a political significance to this trip, given what presidential candidate Perry said about the Fed chairman and about how badly he would be treated in Texas,” said David Jones, head of consultant DMJ Advisors and the author of books on the central bank. “The Fed sees Texas as a good place to make a stand to assert the Fed’s independence.”

The Fed wouldn’t say whether the El Paso town hall meeting was planned before or after Perry made his remarks.

Fed officials say only that Fort Bliss was chosen because it has a successful financial literacy program that Bernanke wants to highlight. The town hall meeting is the latest in a series of public outreach efforts Bernanke has made, they say.

Over the past 2 1/2 years, Bernanke has attended a half-dozen informal gatherings in Kansas City, Atlanta, Cleveland and other cities. This week’s town hall meeting is his first in Texas.

David Wyss, an economist and former Fed staffer, said the site of Thursday’s event was likely influenced not just by Perry’s remarks but also by criticism from another Texan seeking the presidency: Rep. Ron Paul, a Republican congressman who favors abolishing the Fed.

“The fact that he is getting a lot of criticism from the two Texas candidates is a good reason to go to Texas,” Wyss said.

Perry’s remarks about Bernanke drew condemnation, including sharp retorts from former Vice President Dick Cheney, political adviser Karl Rove and other members of President George W. Bush’s administration.

Speaking in Iowa in August, Perry had said:

“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.”

Perry added that the Fed chairman’s policymaking could be viewed as “treasonous.”

The Perry campaign declined Tuesday to discuss the governor’s previous remarks.

Bernanke, a Republican, served as Bush’s chief economist before being chosen in 2006 to lead the Fed. He hasn’t responded publicly to Perry’s remarks.

On Wednesday morning in Washington, Bernanke will make welcoming remarks at a Fed conference on small business and entrepreneurship.

Last week, Bernanke did address criticism from House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. In September, McConnell and Boehner were among four Republican leaders who signed a letter urging Bernanke to refrain from policies that they said could escalate inflation in the future.

When asked at a news conference last week if that letter had breached the Fed’s political independence, Bernanke was polite but firm.

“We listen to everyone’s input,” he said. “We are going to make our decisions based on what’s good for the economy, and we’re not going to take politics into account.”

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