CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The cost of electricity is going up -- along with FirstEnergy Corp.'s profits.
How much rates will rise, no one knows. But the increase is coming because the company announced it would close four power plants just months before a complex multistate auction that sets part of customer rates three years before the power is actually sold.
That portion, typically 10 percent of the price of electricity, is for reserve capacity -- power that is not committed and can be ramped up when needed.
PJM Interconnection, the company that manages the high-voltage grid system in Ohio, 13 other states and the District of Columbia, conducted the Internet-based auction in the last 10 days. The bidders -- primarily power plant owners -- vied for the price each would be paid for holding back power to use during peak demand. To prevent brownouts and blackouts, PJM maintains up to 20 percent reserves.
Industrial customers that agree to shut down during times of peak demand, freeing power for others, also compete in the auction.
PJM released its analysis late Friday after business hours and talked about it on Monday.
The company said the cost of reserve capacity in FirstEnergy's territory will be more than 21/2 times higher than most other places.
No one disputes that customers in northern Ohio will feel the effect of the auction. How much rates will increase for consumers is the question that experts can't answer yet because the prices set in the auction don't kick in until June 1, 2015. They will stay in place for one year.
Forecasting the final customer rate is premature, said Andrew Ott, PJM senior vice president for markets.
Ott said the cost of the power itself has been declining because utilities are switching from coal-burning plants to natural gas. He said the decline could well continue and offset the extra charges for reserve capacity. The auction results follow PJM's announcement that FirstEnergy will spend about $1 billion in the next several years to upgrade its transmission lines - including building an all new high-voltage line - so that power can get to Greater Cleveland from other states.
Customers will have to pay for most of that, as well.
FirstEnergy's transmission system around Cleveland has been congested for years, and its limitations first emerged dramatically during the major blackout of 2003.
Not even the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio can avert the increase, but it intends to try to limit the effect to parts of FirstEnergy's service area where the congestion is the worst. That would mean that Greater Cleveland would still have to pay it.
PUCO Chairman Todd Snitchler said FirstEnergy's announcement just 90 days before the auction that it would close four of its northern Ohio power plants is at the root of the problem.
"FirstEnergy did not provide the market any time to respond. We want PJM to extend that requirement notice to three years," he said.
Analysts are pretty sure FirstEnergy will make more money.
At least one Wall Street analyst on Monday estimated FirstEnergy would pull in an extra $550 million between June 1, 2015, and May 31 2016, because of the auction.
That's extra money that all power users in northern Ohio will have to pay, whether they are FirstEnergy customers, live in FirstEnergy territory and buy from a competitor, or are municipal power customers such as those in Cleveland.
"In light of the auction results, we are raising our 12- to 18-month target price for FirstEnergy to $50 per share," Hugh Wynne, a senior analyst with Bernstein Research of New York City, wrote in an analysis to investors. (FirstEnergy's stock actually lost 11 cents Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, closing at $47.69)
It's money that FirstEnergy would not have made had it not decided that it would close the four power plants rather than upgrade them to meet new federal emission standards for mercury and other toxic metals. Other utilities announced the closings of old plants months earlier.
After PJM objected, FirstEnergy said it would place four 208-megawatt combustion turbines at its Eastlake plant, where it will close the coal-fired boilers by 2015. But the turbines are now scrapped.
The company said the turbines did not "clear" the auction price, meaning that FirstEnergy's asking price was even higher than the record capacity prices the auction set.
The company has no plans to buy the turbines at this point, spokesman Todd Schneider said.
This auction was FirstEnergy's first capacity auction in PJM. The Akron-based company moved from control of another grid manager - the Midwest Independent System Operator - last year.
Gold Physical Demand Rises as Consumer Adjust - marketoracle.co.uk
By: Adrian_Ash
WHOLESALE PRICES to buy gold fell further from $1600 an ounce in London on Tuesday morning, finding a floor at $1575 as European stock markets rose for the second day running after falling for two weeks in succession.
Commodity prices were mixed, but silver bullion also reversed an earlier fall, bouncing off $28.05 per ounce.
US crude oil slipped back below $93 per barrel after the international-government-backed OECD consultancy cut its forecasts for Asian GDP and global energy demand.
Credit ratings agency Fitch today cut Japan's status to "A+" with a negative outlook.
"With gold below $1600, we have seen increasing demand [to buy gold] from Asia," says today's commodities note from Barrow's colleagues at Standard Bank.
Comparing 2011's action around the same price point, "Clearly the physical gold market has adjusted to the higher gold price," writes Walter de Wet, "with rallies not being sold into as last year.
"However, while the physical market is providing support on price dips, the question remains: at what price will physical demand fall away?"
The price for Indian households wanting to buy gold rose 1% today in Mumbai according to Sify.com, coming within 2% of the all-time record at Rs 29,690 per 10 grams hit at the start of this month as the Rupee fell to record lows on the currency markets.
For US investors looking to buy gold, "We believe that the significant 1532/1522 support area will be retested in the months to come and that it will give way when this occurs," says Commerzbank's latest technical analysis.
"A move back below 1568 keeps the bears alive looking for another leg lower," reckons Russell Browne at Scotia Mocatta.
"We continue to eye the topside resistance between 1625-35 as being fairly strong technically," says Swiss refiner and finance group MKS's Australian office.
"Traders need to remain cautious of negative euro headlines, which could easily propel the yellow metal lower."
After Greek and then Spanish banks were seen suffering a run by depositors, new data from Italy yesterday showed foreign investors withdrawing their money from Rome's debt.
"This largely confirms what we have seen from the Target 2 [cross-border banking liability] data," says Alan Ruskin at Deutsche Bank – "that €268bn in LTRO borrowings (at the end of April) are making up for the net long-term capital outflow as Italian debt increasingly becomes domestically held."
Both Italian and Spanish government bond prices ticked higher on Tuesday, nudging yields down to 5.6% and 6.0% respectively on 10-year debt.
US, Japanese and German bonds all slipped, as did UK government gilts despite consumer price inflation slowing to 3.0% per year in April, according to official data.
Right at the upper limit of the central bank's official target range, that was the slowest pace of CPI inflation since Dec. 2009.
The price to buy gold in Pounds reversed an early dip below £1000 per ounce – a level first reached as the Eurozone and US debt crises intensified in July 2011.
"Further monetary easing is required," says the International Monetary Fund's latest review of the UK economy, "provided via further quantitative easing (QE) and possibly cutting the policy rate."
UK interest rates have now been at a record low of 0.50% for 38 months running. The last such run of static rates was the 2.0% imposed between 1931 and 1954.
"If there's one area where the Bank of England has undoubtedly failed, it is with respect to its inflation forecasts and hence its inflation target," writes Steve Barrow, chief currency strategist at Standard Bank in London, noting that both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank are conducting internal reports into their handling of the financial crisis starting 5 years ago.
The ECB's report is due in June, with the UK report set for October.
"That policy options are limited may in fact be the main finding of these reports," reckons Barrow.
"The use of inflation targeting is unlikely to change...We doubt that the ECB will jettison [extraordinary measures] like SMP and LTROs – even if its report questions their usefulness."
By Adrian Ash
BullionVault.com
Gold price chart, no delay | Buy gold online at live prices
Formerly City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning in London and a regular contributor to MoneyWeek magazine, Adrian Ash is the editor of Gold News and head of research at www.BullionVault.com , giving you direct access to investment gold, vaulted in Zurich , on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees.
(c) BullionVault 2012
Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.
© 2005-2012 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.
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Lisbon shopping guide: hide and chic - Daily Telegraph
On Rua do Loreto, I step inside the wood-panelled Casa das Velas do Loreto (in the same family since 1789) and find tall, honey-scented ecclesiastical candles for £15. At A Vida Portuguesa, on Rua Anchieta, my heart quickens at the fine Portuguese soaps and beautifully-packaged tinned sardines. Junk stalls in the Estrela park yield some irresistibly touching, framed black-and-white family photographs from the 1930s, costing a few euros each. Exploring the new waterfront design area, Santos, provides a satisfying few hours.
Back on Rossio, at the the 120-year-old Chapelaria Azevedo Rua, I finger a handmade man's fedora for £57 – the double of one I swear I saw on Jermyn Street at £120. I postpone checking out handmade riding boots at Vitorino de Sousa on Rua dos Correeiros. And it is just as well that, before I hit the antique shops of Rua de São Bento, I meet the art-restorer owner of the new Palacete Chafariz del Rei boutique hotel, a 1906 mansion he renovated. "Lisbon has great antique stores," he says, "but so does Oporto – and 50 per cent cheaper." So it's advisable to take a large suitcase there? "A van!" he says with a grin, and points to a beautiful 1920s leather sofa and chair bought for £170.
How to do it
When to go
Any time, but May is best: it's not too hot, the purple jacaranda is in blossom, and you can take a 30-minute train ride to the beaches at Cascais – home now to the Casa das Histórias, showing the surrealist work of Portugal's brilliant Paula Rego. Bear in mind that Sunday is quiet; only museums open.
Where to stay
On the outskirts, the Lapa Palace and Pestana Palace hotels are very grand, but all the chic new spots are central: LX Boutique, Inspira Santa Marta and, just off Rossio, the Altis Avenida (00 351 29 172 4307, portugal-live.net; rooms from £115), with young staff, black-carpeted rooms, a spa, and a seventh-floor roof terrace brasserie. For more information, see visitlisboa.com and flytap.com
What to do
Pack flat shoes: you will walk a lot. On arrival, get the Convida Lisboa shopping guides, free at all hotels, and a three-day Lisboa Card (£28) for the trams, Metro and buses. In bustling Baixa, see the new Mude design museum (mude.pt); in Chiado, old shops; in Principe Real, new design stores, cool cafés such as Orpheu, and boutiques such as Kolovrat (lidijakolovrat.org) at Rua Dom Pedro V 79, for witty printed silk scarves and spider-web silver necklaces costing £330. Go to Bairro Alto at night, for the bars, and medieval Alfama for almost hilariously mournful fado. Hottest area: waterfront, ex-industrial Santos, buzzing with lifestyle stores, bars and restaurants; see LX Factory (lxfactory.com) and Ler (lerdevagar.com).
Where to eat and drink
Have cocktails at new, glass-walled Le Chat (00 351 91 779 7155) at Jardim 9 de Abril. Have dinner at rough-chic 560 (00 351 21 346 8317, restaurante560.com) at Rua das Gáveas 78: wild mushrooms in Azores cheese, swordfish with banana, then pineapple carpaccio with coriander sauce. Finish at the new Sol e Pesca bar (00 351 21 346 7203) at Rua Nova do Carvalho 44.
US wholesale prices fell 0.2 percent in April - Yahoo Finance
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. wholesale prices fell in April, reflecting a big decline in gas and energy costs. But outside that drop, inflation was tame.
The Labor Department says the producer price index, which measures price changes before they reach the consumer, dropped 0.2 percent in April. It was the first decline since December and the biggest drop since October.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the so-called core index rose 0.2 percent.
For the 12 months that ended in April, wholesale prices have risen just 1.9 percent, the smallest 12-month change since October 2009.
Modest wholesale inflation reduces pressure on manufacturers and retailers to raise prices. That helps keep consumer prices stable.
Gas prices spiked earlier this year. But they have dropped 5 percent since peaking last month.
Vitacost.com Upgrades Mobile Shopping Experience - Yahoo Finance
BOCA RATON, Fla., May 21, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vitacost.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:VITC - News), a leading online retailer of health and wellness products, announced today the inclusion of new features for its Apple iPhone and Android mobile apps, designed to encourage comparison shopping and improve the user experience. These apps now include a bar code scanner allowing for easy price comparisons, as well as shopping lists and offer the functionality to set a "vitamin alarm" to ensure compliance with health regimes.
The bar code scanner allows customers to scan any product from any retailer to check whether the items are available at Vitacost.com. If the product is among the thousands of items sold at a discount on Vitacost.com, the customer can purchase it through their Vitacost mobile app rather than paying full-price at the store. If the item is not in Vitacost.com's inventory, other product recommendations will be offered. Another improvement to the Vitacost mobile apps is shopping list functionality--so customers can create and save a list of their favorite products and have the option to purchase every item with just the click of a button. In addition, with the "vitamin alarm" feature, customers can set daily alarms reminding them to take a vitamin or pill, drink water, exercise--or any other healthy habit. The customer does not need to be browsing on their Vitacost mobile app to receive the alarm, as this technology notifies the consumer automatically.
Vitacost.com began transforming its mobile site in October of 2011 in response to customer feedback, requesting an improved experience. Additional enhancements in March of 2012, including recommended products and the ability to checkout with PayPal or Bill Me Later, were designed to make the sales cycle--from research to checkout--easier and faster.
Customers can shop from their iPhone, Android, Blackberry or on the Web at www.vitacost.com, to see Vitacost's extensive array of more than 35,000 health and wellness products, priced up to 50% off retail prices, with orders over $49 shipped free. Exclusive coupons for mobile customers--offered during weekend promotions provide additional savings to the Vitacost mobile customer.
"We are excited to add the ability for easy comparison shopping to the Vitacost mobile apps, making it easier for customers to find the products they want at more affordable prices while they are conducting their everyday grocery and vitamin shopping," said David Zucker, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer of Vitacost.com. "The addition of list functionality makes shopping with Vitacost's mobile apps easier than ever, and the vitamin reminder will help customers comply with their health regimens more easily. We are proud to offer a free mobile shopping experience that is good for customers' health--and their wallets."
About Vitacost.com, Inc.
Vitacost.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:VITC - News) is a leading online retailer of health and wellness products, including dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs and other botanicals, amino acids and metabolites, as well as cosmetics, organic body and personal care products, pet products, sports nutrition and health foods. Vitacost.com, Inc. sells these products directly to consumers through its website, www.vitacost.com. Vitacost.com, Inc. strives to offer its customers the broadest selection of healthy living products, while providing superior customer service and timely and accurate delivery.
Behind the scenes with the grower to the stars - Daily Telegraph
He sold his plant centre in his thirties, went travelling for a year and returned to take up a job with Crocus at its inception, originally as the products buyer and then switching to plants buyer. When Tom Stuart-Smith asked if Crocus could supply a full plant list for a job, Mark found himself looking at a spreadsheet that was 1,000 lines long (the garden was Broughton Grange in Oxfordshire). “To source all the plants on a list like this is hugely time consuming, very stressful and you’ll get let down with every excuse you can think of,” says Mark in his famously direct way.
“But the good thing is that once you start doing it on a reasonable scale, nursery people start taking notice of you.” Requests for supplying Chelsea gardens followed. “Our ethos, which I quickly learnt by doing Chelsea shows, is that there’s no such thing as 'no can do’, so when I heard, 'Oh, I can’t, mate,’ or, 'Oh no, mate, it’s five minutes past five,’ I immediately got rid of them and surrounded myself with people who can do.”
He admits to doing a fair bit of shouting and swearing when suppliers don’t deliver – a trait that Jinny Blom, who’s a close friend, recognises but says, in his defence, “He only uses his appalling temper to get a better result.” With his reputation for seeking out only the very best specimens, he soon built up a little black book of top-notch nurseries such as Orchard Dene, Phoenix Perennials, Howard Nurseries, Woottens, Fromefield and Chichester Trees and Shrubs from the UK; Jan Spruyt, Laurica and Solitair from Belgium; Lorenz von Ehren from Germany; and Lepage from France.
Finding the plants and keeping an eagle eye on their progress – with the plants that need to overwinter in southern Europe, this means frequent trips to the nurseries – is half the job. The other half, he says, is “managing expectations” – shorthand, I detect, for managing the designers themselves.
Some, such as Stuart-Smith and Jinny Blom, have a very clear idea of exactly which species they want; others (naming no names) will say, “I need big, white, towery stuff for a shady spot.” Even with experienced designers, he has to scrutinise their lists carefully. “When I discovered that Ulf was expecting his Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna’ to be three feet high – the height they reach at his home close to the Arctic Circle – I immediately let him know that we could not get them to that size here.” Designers add to his stress by not coming to the nursery to see their plants or at least phoning to check on progress. And then in the run-up to Chelsea, he says, they all panic. “They get to see drawings of all the others and they all think 'mine’s rubbish’. And in the week before the show opens, it’s the Tuesday that’s particularly manic as the plants that the designers have usually sent back the day before have to be loaded on to the lorries again, because they’ve changed their minds.” Mark doesn’t get annoyed with these last-minute substitutions – it’s part of the job – but it is a logistical nightmare. And of course every year there are plants that have either gone over or haven’t come far enough on, and the ones that crash off the trolleys or are demolished by reversing lorries. That’s partly why Mark grows four times as many plants as will actually be used.
Why does he do Chelsea, apart from the obvious financial gain? “I have no idea why. It’s certainly fun at the beginning, sourcing the plants, but by the time showtime arrives I can’t stand the idea of going up there.” But then he admits, “It’s really important for me that the gardens get a gold. Your whole heart and soul’s gone into it and you become friends with the designers because you’ve been through hell and back with them.” This year he’s excited by the burnt orange Verbascum 'Petra’ with a velvet shimmer grown for Joe Swift. Two grasses have also caught his eye: Molinia caerulea 'Dark Defender’, a mid-green grass with elegant leaves and black flower stems that stay on for a full year, raised by Marina Christopher and being grown for Andy Sturgeon’s garden; and Deschampsia flexuosa, an “absolutely stunning dark green grass” chosen by Sarah Price for
The Telegraph Garden.
It’s Sarah he picks out as standing a very good chance of winning Best in Show. “She’s moved away from the obvious Chelsea garden shapes and structure and is using lots of lovely water plants. It’s all coming together beautifully,” he says.
The same could be said for Hortus Loci, which is destined to become a one-stop shop for top landscape architects and designers.
Hortus Loci, Hound Green, Hook, Hants (01189 326 495; hortusloci.co.uk)
Not Chappy: traders call for shopping strip revamp - The Age
That's not Kewell ... Grafitti covers the facade of men's fashion chain Politix. Photo: Justin McManus
IT WAS once feted as the home of cutting-edge fashion and the place to shop in Melbourne, but Chapel Street traders say their beloved strip has fallen into a terminal decline and now only offers a ''third-rate'' shopping experience.
The Chapel Street Traders' Association, which represents more than 1500 businesses in the local area, is calling on Stonnington Council to spend $10 million on a beautification plan for the popular shopping strip, saying it is littered with pedestrian hazards such as broken pavements and has been neglected.
''We're not only losing shoppers to other areas but are seeing a steady decline in the number of businesses coming here,'' says president Jim Pothitos, who has owned The Greek Deli & Taverna on Chapel Street for 28 years.
Third rate ... Chapel Street trader Jim Pothitos: "Residents come to this area looking for shopping and lifestyle and we're no longer giving them that." Photo: Justin McManus
''I believe our local residents deserve better … they come to this area looking for shopping and lifestyle and we're no longer giving them that.''
Mr Pothitos points to a council report released in April that found that 50 per cent of residents surveyed said the Prahran and Windsor sections of Chapel Street were unattractive or very unattractive.
Traders say the council should spend $10 million on a structure plan for the area, that would include footpath extensions, street furniture and public art.
Urban decay ... Chapel Street is no longer Melbourne's glitter strip.
Stonnington Council is only a month away from delivering its annual budget, and the Chapel Street traders have been lobbying hard, employing a public relations consultant to raise the profile of their gripe in the media.
In the past decade Melbourne's retail landscape has changed - Chadstone has increased its number of luxury, top-end brands, and the CBD and rapidly gentrifying inner-city areas such as Fitzroy and Collingwood have encouraged boutique-style shopping strips.
Teresa Liano, the director of Chapel Street fashion label TL Wood, said Chapel Street had always had a ''grungy'' feel, but agreed sections of it needed more regular cleaning and she would welcome more landscaping. ''It has never been this pristine street that's glamorous - it's not like High Street - but I would love to see more cleaning happen … there's always dog poo and lots of graffiti,'' Ms Liano said.
Chapel Street footpath damage. Photo: Justin McManus
But despite this, Chapel Street had retained its pull for tourists and shoppers, as evidenced in the recent opening of a flagship store for international fashion brand Topshop, Ms Liano said.
A spokeswoman for Stonnington Council said a Chapel Street ''improvement plan'' was being drawn up by the council, with $320,000 in works to be carried out in the new financial year. The ''Chapel Vision'', a structure plan that sets out the long-term aims for the street, will also be revised in coming months.
MasterCard Simplifies Shopping with Launch of PayPass Wallet Services - Yahoo Finance
NEW ORLEANS, May 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CTIA BOOTH # 6135 -- MasterCard (MA) today announced PayPass Wallet Services, a new global offering for banks, merchants and partners that will make it faster and easier for their customers to make purchases in stores or online by allowing them to securely pay with a simple click of the mouse, touch of the tablet screen or tap of the smartphone.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/55963-mastercard-simplifies-shopping-with-launch-of-paypass-wallet-services
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120507/MM01703 )
PayPass Wallet Services delivers three distinct components -- PayPass Acceptance Network (PayPass Online and PayPass Contactless), PayPass Wallet and PayPass API. These services enable a consistent shopping experience no matter where and how consumers shop, as well as a suite of digital wallet services, and developer tools to make it easier to connect other wallets into the PayPass Online acceptance network.
American Airlines and Barnes & Noble will be among the first merchant partners to incorporate the PayPass Online checkout button on their websites, and American will integrate PayPass Wallet into its mobile application.
"Consumers are looking to pay for goods when, how and where they choose. Merchants want flexibility to easily accept digital payments so they can convert more browsers to buyers both online and in store," said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer, MasterCard. "We realize that when it comes to payments, no single wallet will rule them all. PayPass Wallet Services simplifies the shopping experience while providing flexibility and choice to merchants, banks and consumers."
PayPass Wallet Services includes:
- PayPass Acceptance Network (PayPass Online and PayPass Contactless) – Provides a globally consistent way to help merchants accept electronic payments across multiple channels whether the purchase is made in a store at the point of sale with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology or online using a computer, tablet or smartphone. PayPass Online also provides consumers with a simple check-out process by eliminating the need to enter detailed shipping and card information with every purchase.
- PayPass Wallet – A full suite of digital wallet solutions enabling banks, merchants and partners to white label their own wallets. It makes online shopping safe and easy by allowing consumers to store payment and shipping information in one, convenient and secure place. The wallet is open, which means that consumers can use American Express, Discover, Visa and other branded credit, debit and prepaid cards.
- PayPass API – Allows partners to connect their own digital wallets into the PayPass Acceptance Network, leveraging MasterCard's check-out, fraud detection and authentication services and enabling their customers to make purchases wherever PayPass is accepted - online and in store.
MasterCard will make PayPass Wallet Services available to partners in the third quarter of 2012, initially in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia and, subsequently, will include other countries. PayPass Wallet Services will be expanded to the point of sale over time to create an end-to-end shopping experience for consumers providing additional value-added services such as: at-a-glance account information before making a purchase; spending controls and alerts received in real time; and delivery of targeted offers, coupons and enhanced loyalty programs.
"At American Airlines, we're passionate about giving our customers more flexibility and functionality on their mobile devices," said Richard Elieson, managing director, Interactive Marketing at American Airlines. "By integrating PayPass into our mobile app, payment transactions become fast and easy and provide the security you would expect from a brand like MasterCard."
"Consumers are at a pivotal point now where smartphone adoption has exploded and well over 50 percent of Americans now own one," said Marc Parrish, vice president of retention and loyalty marketing for Barnes & Noble.com. "The technology that will allow customers to make mobile payments at the point of sale has already begun to make a difference, and Barnes & Noble is proud to be leading retail in this technology shift."
Leading merchant, financial institutions and technology partners that are working with MasterCard to support the launch of PayPass Wallet Services include:
- Financial institutions: Banesto, Bank of Montreal, Commonwealth Bank, Citibank, EURO6000, Fifth Third Bank, Grupo Banco Popular, Grupo BBVA, ICBA, Intesa Sanpaolo, Metro Bank, National Bank of Canada, PSCU, RBS Citizens Financial Group, SEB Kort AB Sweden, Sovereign Bank, Swedbank Sweden and Westpac.
- Merchants: American Airlines, Barnes & Noble, Jagex, JB Hi-Fi, MLB Advanced Media (MLB.com), Newegg, Runningshoes.com, TigerDirect.com and Wine Enthusiast Companies.
- Technology partners: Apriva, Bango, Beanstream, CardinalCommerce, C-SAM, Digital River, Intel, Kony Solutions, Inc., Local Offer Network, mFoundry, Moneris Solutions, Ogone Payment Services, Sage Pay, SIA and Vantiv.
At 8:30 a.m. EDT (7:30 a.m. CDT) tomorrow, Tuesday, May 8, MasterCard will host a conference call for the investment community with Ed McLaughlin, MasterCard's chief emerging payments officer, to discuss this announcement. The dial-in information for this call is 866-202-4683 (within the U.S.) and 617-213-8846 (outside the U.S.) and the passcode is 26280608. A replay of the call will be available for one week thereafter. The replay can be accessed by dialing 888-286-8010 (within the U.S.) and 617-801-6888 (outside the U.S.) and using passcode 50876454.
The live call and the replay, along with supporting materials, can also be accessed through the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.mastercard.com.
About MasterCard Worldwide
MasterCard (MA), www.mastercard.com, is a global payments and technology company. It operates the world's fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard's products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Cashless Conversations Blog and subscribe for the latest news.
About American Airlines
American Airlines, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection® carrier serve 260 airports in more than 50 countries and territories with, on average, more than 3,500 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 900 aircraft. American's award-winning website, AA.com®, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld® alliance, which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its members and members-elect serve more than 900 destinations with more than 9,000 daily flights to 150 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation. AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com, and AAdvantage are trademarks of American Airlines, Inc. AMR Corporation common stock trades under the symbol "AAMRQ" on the OTCQB marketplace, operated by OTC Markets Group.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 691 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 641 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble's NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associated 2012 Customer Service Champion and is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release which are not historical facts, including statements about MasterCard's plans, strategies, beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking and subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Accordingly, except for the company's ongoing obligations under the U.S. federal securities laws, the company does not intend to update or otherwise revise the forward-looking information to reflect actual results of operations, changes in financial condition, changes in estimates, expectations or assumptions, changes in general economic or industry conditions or other circumstances arising and/or existing since the preparation of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of any unanticipated events. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation:
- The company's ability to make PayPass Wallet Services available beginning in the third quarter of 2012, including in each of the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia and additional jurisdictions thereafter; and
- The company's ability to expand PayPass Wallet Services over time to create an end-to-end shopping experience by providing additional value-added services.
- The company's ability to work with various merchants, financial institutions and technology partners to support the launch of PayPass Wallet Services.
Actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements for a number of reasons, including those set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, the company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K that have been filed with the SEC during 2012, as well as reasons including difficulties, delays or the inability of the company to achieve its strategic initiatives set forth above. Factors other than those listed above could also cause the company's results to differ materially from expected results.
Media Contacts
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Library in shopping complex concept for other districts - theborneopost.com
Posted on May 23, 2012, Wednesday
KOTA KINABALU: A library within the shopping complex concept will be expanded to other districts soon.
Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun in disclosing this, said it was another way to reach out to the people to embrace reading as a habit rather than waiting for them to step into the library.
“This may be a new concept but it is gaining popularity amongst the people. You can actually see people coming into the library to read or borrow books in between their shopping time,” she said when visiting the library at the Suria Sabah shopping mall yesterday.
Azizah disclosed that since the Suria Sabah library was set up in February, the number of visitors had increased each month, with an average of 20,000 people monthly.
“We will expand it to other districts soon, but it has to be a place where there are a lot of people and available premises,” she said.
The library within the shopping complex was started in Bandar Indah, Tawau, before it was expanded to the state capital.
She also disclosed that the library would be maintained, even after the completion of the proposed Sabah Regional Library in Tanjung Aru next year.
On Sabah Progressive Party’s statement that the setting up of the library within the shopping complex was costly, Azizah replied: “This is for the people. We are doing this for the people in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s call of ‘People First, Performance Now’. Nothing is expensive for the people.”
On comments that there were not enough books at the Suria Sabah Library, she said the state library would find ways to meet the people’s demand.
“At the same time, we would also welcome and encourage people to come in and donate their books,” said Azizah.
Meanwhile, Sabah State Library director Wong Vui Yin said they were lacking in books in the national language.
“If you go to our libraries, you will notice that most of the shelves for books in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) are always empty. It is not just happening in Sabah, but is faced by most public libraries nationwide.
“Our education system is such where the medium of instruction is in BM and the younger generation and in fact everybody can read and understand the language. So that is why there are not enough books on our shelves,” he said.
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