Archive for June 1st, 2009

Abu Dhabi firm in Barclays sale
One of the largest Middle Eastern investors in Barclays says it plans to sell part of its interests in the bank.Abu Dhabi firm International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) said it aimed to sell the equivalent of 1.3 billion Barclays’ shares. In 2008, Barclays raised 7bn from Middle East investors in order to avoid using UK government support to bolster its finances. But shareholders were unhappy, saying the move had diluted their stakes. Of the 7bn raised last year by Barclays, 5.8bn came from Abu Dhabi and Qatar investors. “The decision to dispose of some of its interests in Barclays reflects the focus of IPIC’s long-term investment strategy on hydrocarbon-related opportunities,” said IPIC managing director Khadem Al Qubaisi. “The Emirate of Abu Dhabi intends to maintain a close commercial and strategic relationship with Barclays in the future,” he said.
Source:BBC

Ryanair reports first annual loss
Ryanair has reported its first annual loss after it was hit by higher fuel costs and had to write down the value of its stake in rival Aer Lingus.The Irish airline made a net loss of 169m euros (239m; 146m) in the year to 31 March. This compares with a profit of 481m euros a year before. Annual sales at the budget carrier increased 8.4% to 2.94bn euros. The firm said its fuel costs rose to 1.26bn euros from 791.3m a year before, as oil prices hit records last summer. Ryanair’s loss was larger than analysts had expected. Fare cutsThe company said it had been forced to write down the value of its 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus by a further 222m euros, after Aer Lingus’ share price fell. Ryanair has had two takeover approaches for Aer Lingus rejected since 2006, the last being turned down in January by the Irish government, which is Aer Lingus’ second-largest shareholder. Ryanair said it was now benefiting from lower fuel prices. “We intend to use reductions in both fuel and other costs to drive fares materially lower,” said Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary. Global oil prices hit a record high of 147 a barrel last July before falling to a low of 32.40 in December as the global recession deepened. Oil prices currently stand at about 67 a barrel.
Source:BBC

Bank regulation system ‘failed’
There has been fresh criticism of the way banks were supervised by the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Services Authority (FSA).The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee said the so-called tripartite system had failed and must be reformed. Its failings were highlighted by the failure of Northern Rock. The report said the problem was that it was not clear who would be in charge in a crisis. It said the Bank of England should get a clear executive role. The Lords’ findings mirror the report of the House of Commons Treasury Committee, which said that the tripartite financial authorities had been insufficiently prepared to deal with Northern Rock’s difficulties and needed to communicate better with each other. “Without a clear executive role, the Bank can do no more than talk about financial stability. This exposes it to reputational risk without generating any clear benefit,” the Lords’ report said. Financial stabilityIt recommended taking the responsibility for supervising the banking system as a whole away from the FSA and giving it to the Bank of England. The committee’s chairman, Lord Vallance of Tummell, told the BBC that the new powers that the Bank of England has been given by the Banking Act 2009 do not go far enough. The report criticised the FSA for concentrating on its consumer protection role at the expense of its responsibility for maintaining financial stability. The Lords also called for the authorities to be given more power over foreign banks operating in the UK. “The degree of control that our supervisors and regulators here in the UK have over bank branches of foreign banks is very limited,” Lord Vallance said. “If there is a crisis then the money tends to rush back to the home of the bank itself leaving the problem with the UK taxpayer.”
Source:BBC

World Service Food Price Index
The BBC World Service is tracking food prices in seven major cities to create a World Food Price Index. Each week reporters head to the shops to record the prices for five of that country’s staple foods.Every basket of goods was normalised to a cost of 100 when the experiment began in July 2008. How much it cost to buy the same basket of goods after that time is reflected in the rise above or dip below 100.Use the map to see how the cities have fared.
BRUSSELS
Basket contents: Beef; Eggs (6); Bread (white loaf, 400g); Milk (1L); Potatoes (1kg) Analysis: Prices have remained relatively flat in Brussels. Indeed, the cost of basic staples such as milk, bread and meat is either stable or coming down. Processed foods are rising in cost but only at a moderate pace. Basic staples, such as those covered in the BBC index, are currently staying the same or getting cheaper. The cost of milk has fallen, though not as much as prices paid to dairy farmers. The main factor behind this has been a price war between one of Belgium’s major supermarket groups and rival discount chains. Bread prices are broadly steady, while potato prices have come down. This reflects increased supply after two consecutive average harvests. Potato prices had been high due to a poor harvest in 2006.
BUENOS AIRES
Basket contents: Beef (1kg); Milk (1L); Bread (1kg); Potatoes (1kg); Eggs (6) Analysis: The lines for potatoes and bread are almost hidden behind the line for beef as prices have remained steady. Some major supermarkets have agreed with the government to keep some food prices frozen. There is no longer a supply shortage of products like potatoes. However for Argentina one of the main food issues at the moment is meat production. Last year, in an effort to ensure adequate domestic supplies of meat for consumers, the government raised export taxes on meat products. However, one unintended result has been a fall-off in investment in Argentina’s traditional beef industry. Now some experts are warning that in the future the country may need to import some of its meat.
DELHI
Basket contents: Rice (1kg); Ground flour (1kg); Lentils (1kg); Onions (1kg); Milk (1L) Analysis: While inflation in India generally has eased considerably, the prices of some food items have continued to rise significantly. Over the past year, wheat, rice and other grains have risen by 12%, while fruit & vegetables gained 8.5% and milk 6.4% respectively. However, sugar has shot up by almost 30%. The farming sector is the main reason that India’s inflation rate has not turned negative. People are now waiting to see for the south-west monsoon, to see what impact this will have on harvests.
JAKARTA
Basket contents: Eggs (10); Potatoes (1kg); Milk (carton); Bread (loaf); Beef (1kg) Analysis: Prices in Jakarta can be influenced by religious celebrations – the “Eid-effect” causes a rise in domestic demand for celebration foods like meat and chicken when people celebrate the end of the Muslim month of fasting. The main development recently has been the fall in rice prices – Indonesia is a major producer. Because of lower global rice prices, the government has decided to delay the start of planned rice exports from June to August. The Indonesian government has said it would not force companies to export rice if international prices kept falling. “The price domestically is still good as well as its supply,” said deputy minister Bayu Krisnamurthi. Earlier, the government said that it was ready to export 54,000 tonnes of rice this year.
MOSCOW
Basket contents: Rice (5kg); Sugar (1kg) ; Cooking oil (1L); Eggs (1kg); Flour (1kg) Analysis: Russian food prices have soared in the last few months, outpacing the rise in European food prices by a factor of 10, according to government figures. Food prices increased by 5.8% from January to April this year, almost 10 times higher than the the 0.6% rise in the European Union. The biggest rises in the four-month period were seen in prices for fruit – which spiked 17% in Russia while rising only 1.9% in Europe – and sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery goods, which jumped by 12.7% and only 1.5% in Europe. Prices for vegetables rose by 11.6%, while fish and seafood prices were up by 9.4%. The weakness in the value of Russia’s currency, the ruble, in the early part of the year has been one of the main factors in food price inflation. Because Russia imports up to 30% of its food, a weaker ruble will mean higher prices in the shops.
NAIROBI
Basket contents: Maize flour (2kg); Milk (500ml); Bread (500g); Tomatoes (1kg); Green Maize (1kg) Analysis: High food prices remain a concern in Kenya, with the United Nations food agency saying it will give food aid to more than double the number of people it is currently helping in the country. The World Food Programme (WFP) will now feed 3.5 million people hit by drought and high food prices. The Kenyan government declared a national disaster in January following the failure of the short rains in south-eastern and coastal areas. Analysts say that last year’s political violence has also contributed to food shortages because many displaced people were unable to plant their crops.
WASHINGTON DC
Basket contents: Bread (0.7kg); Milk (1.89L); Potatoes (0.5kg); Beef (0.7kg); Eggs (6) Analysis: US food prices jumped 5.5% last year, the biggest jump since 1990. They are expected to moderate slightly this year with a rise of up to 4.5%, helped by lower dairy and meat prices. This is much higher than what American consumers were accustomed to a few years earlier. In 2005 and 2006, for instance, food prices climbed 2.4%. The government’s most recent forecast of US farm prospects suggests food makers will struggle with relatively high crop prices at least into next year. Commodity supplies are expected to remain tight in part because the global recession and tight credit are prompting growers to plant fewer high-cost crops such as corn, wheat and cotton in favour of crops such as soybeans that don’t need expensive fertilisers. Unfavourable weather could also reduce harvests in the Great Plains and the Midwest.
WORLD SERVICE AVERAGE
Analysis:
Source:BBC

Graduates struggle as China slows
By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing
At a recent job fair in Beijing, thousands of soon-to-graduate Chinese university students dashed from employer to employer handing over their resumes.Just a few hours after the two-day fair opened, one company had received 50 job applications for just five positions. Final-year Chinese students, like others across the world, are currently looking for their first job as they prepare to graduate. But in China this is the first time in many years that the outlook has been so bleak – and this year there will be 6.1 million new graduates. The vast China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing has several aircraft-hanger-sized halls, and last week it hosted a job fair geared towards graduates. Fewer jobsCompanies with stalls at the fair said there were just not as many jobs available this year compared to previous years. One of those with fewer vacancies was Best Talent, a recruitment firm that finds senior and middle managers for international companies.
“There are a lot of candidates at the moment, but even those with a good education are finding it difficult to find jobs,” said the company’s Vicky Liu as she accepted a curriculum vitae from yet another job hopeful. A few months ago, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated that about 12% of last year’s graduates had still not found jobs. That figure was three times higher than the official urban unemployment rate. Last week’s fair attracted students from across China, including 24-year-old Zhang Hai, who is about to graduate from a university in far-off Nanjing. “Because of the financial crisis the outlook is not that good,” said Mr Zhang, who is spending two months in China’s capital looking for work. “There are not that many jobs, but lots of students looking for work so obviously there’s a lot of competition,” he added. Mr Zhang, who has been studying computer science, has been given money by his family to rent a flat in Beijing while he looks for work. “I’m just about to graduate, I’m getting older and I’m still using the family’s money so of course there’s some pressure on me to find a job,” he said. Who to blame?Despite the tough competition, students do not seem to be blaming the government for the current difficult job situation.
“It’s a pity, but I can’t complain too much. I just have to continue looking for something suitable,” said Wang Jiumei, who also attended last week’s Beijing job fair. The 25-year-old student, who studies English in the nearby city of Tianjin, intends to go abroad to continue her studies if she cannot get a job. Chinese government officials will be pleased to hear that students are not blaming them for their poor employment prospects. They had been worried that high graduate unemployment could lead to discontent which, in turn, could cause social unrest. The Tiananmen protests, which took place 20 years ago in May 1989, showed the government that dissatisfied students are capable of taking their demands onto the streets. “For the last 20 years the government has been concerned about keeping the university population happy,” said Arthur Kroeber, managing director at Beijing-based economic research firm Dragonomics. He said the current employment problems facing graduates was not just because of fewer jobs, but also because there are now more graduates. But Mr Kroeber believes the problem will sort itself out over time as university students lower their expectations. “Certain kinds of clerical jobs that used to require only a high school education will increasingly be taken up by people who have a university education,” he said. Help from the government
But the Chinese government is not just sitting idly by and hoping that will happen. Officials are trying everything they can think of to help graduates find a job this summer. In the city of Weifang, in Shandong Province, officials in one government department have been told they each have to find jobs for three graduates. In a country where personal networks are important, Weifang officials have been asked to use all their contacts and influence. Beijing city government has just announced a scheme to employ 1,600 graduates on three-year contracts as assistants to officials in the villages around the city. This will not only help develop rural areas, but also find jobs for students who might otherwise be out of work. The salary for these positions is relatively low – 2,000 yuan (293, 183) a month for the first year – but the city government is promising other perks to encourage potential applicants. After their contracts finish, village assistants could be given a Beijing resident’s permit, which is vital for all those that want to continue working in the capital. There are those who believe the Chinese economy is in good shape – despite the global recession – and will soon bounce back, creating more jobs for graduates. Oliver Huang, whose company Mediaco helps foreign firms check how their brands are doing in China, is optimistic. “Markets in Europe and the US are now mature, but China is still an emerging country, where the demand is still huge,” he said at the Beijing job fair. But with economic growth slowing and unemployment rising, the government is taking no chances.
Source:BBC

NEW YORK (Reuters) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Monday it plans to raise 5 billion of common equity, which it said will enable it to repay this month the 25 billion it took from the government’s bank bailout plan.The New York-based bank plans to raise the capital by selling common stock, and to price the offering by Tuesday morning, a person close to the matter said.JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500), the nation’s second-largest bank, was among 19 U.S. lenders to recently undergo government “stress tests” of its ability to weather a deep recession, and was one of nine that regulators said did not need more capital.The bank said that once it completes its latest capital raising, it will have met all the conditions to repay the 25 billion it took from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.0:00
/2:16Rushing to repay TARP fundsIt said it expects to repay the government “before the end of June,” and that doing so “is in the best interests of the country and the company.”Many banks have criticized TARP for its restrictions, including on compensation, and the perception among investors that recipients are desperate for capital.JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has called it a “scarlet letter” for a bank to be involved in TARP.JPMorgan shares closed Monday down 79 cents at 36.11 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Source:CNN

WASHINGTON: The Senate is poised this week to take its first crack at a “cash for clunkers” proposal to boost the troubled auto industry.Some senators plan to propose attaching the provision to an unrelated bill that would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco sales, according congressional aides and auto industry sources.President Obama has been pushing Congress to pass cash for clunkers, which would offer government subsidies to consumers who purchase certain new cars and scrap old ones. In announcing the bankruptcy of General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) on Monday, Obama urged lawmakers to “provide a credit to consumers who turn in old cars and purchase cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars. He made a similar pitch a month ago when Chrysler LLC declared bankruptcy. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has already passed a version of the subsidy provision, embedded in a 900-page energy bill that is considered controversial and unlikely to get enough support anytime soon to move through the process. So now the focus has turned to the Senate, where two versions of a subsidy bill are floating around. Neither has yet been considered by a Senate committee, a step usually considered a prerequisite for a bill moving ahead.0:00
/2:05Cash for clunkersSen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., along with Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, are sponsoring an auto subsidy bill that’s nearly identical to the House version. Their bill is the one that could be taken up later this week, Senate aides say.As currently worded, the proposal would offer electronic vouchers that would knock off as much as 4,500 from the price of a new auto purchase or lease of a new car. The government would also offer cash rebates to those who have purchased a qualifying new car since March 30. The program would last one year, with the clock starting on the day that government officials finalize rules for it.While the original cash-for-clunkers proposal had its roots in an environmental initiative to get less fuel efficient cars off the road, the Stabenow proposal would jump-start sales of new cars and trucks, including some that don’t quite meet the average fuel efficiency standards.”Bottom line, this legislation will help stimulate new car and truck sales, saving good-paying jobs in the process,” Stabenow said in a statement.Environmental lobbying groups wish that the Stabenow-Brownback bill would be more geared toward cutting carbon emissions. They would prefer an environmentally tougher version — sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. — that aims to replace more gas guzzlers with more environmentally sensitive and fuel efficient cars.”The compromise proposed by Sen. Feinstein is substantially better than the version introduced by Sen. Stabenow, because the vehicles must have better than average fuel economy in all classes,” said Therese Langer with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient.In a nod to the auto sales aspect of the effort, the Stabenow-Brownback proposal is called the “Drive America Forward Act.”Clunkers eligible for the program must get 18 miles per gallon, or less, in combined city and highway driving. That means the effort would benefit owners of light trucks, SUVs and mini-vans more than it would owners of regular old passenger cars, auto experts say.The auto industry is hoping the Senate takes up the measure this week.”We’re very encouraged that we now have bills in the House and Senate,” said Mike Moran, a spokesman for Ford Motor Co. (F, Fortune 500), which has helped lead the industry push for cash for clunkers.Moran pointed out that auto companies are scheduled to release another sales report on Tuesday, and he expects it to be gloomy. “We see a great deal of urgency … We need to see this legislation move through.”Attaching an auto provision to a bill giving new power to the FDA to regulate tobacco products may seem unusual. But aides and industry experts say Democratic leadership recognize the sense of urgency to passing the auto subsidy, and the tobacco bill is headed for a full Senate vote.The tobacco bill would allow the FDA to ban some tobacco products, limit the amount of nicotine in tobacco products and enlarge warning labels. Senators from tobacco-producing southern states oppose the bill.None of the auto subsidy bills that are moving have revealed what the subsidies would cost the federal government. Some experts who have been involved in early discussions of the legislation say it would aim to replace 1 million vehicles. That suggests the cost could be as much as 4.5 billion, if the maximum amount of vouchers are distributed. The Senate version to be considered this week simply states that the cost of the subsidy program would be paid through the 787 billion stimulus package that Congress passed in February.

Source:CNN

Markets up on good economic news
Stock markets have been rising strongly following upbeat economic news.In the US, the Dow Jones is trading up 2.8% while London’s FTSE 100 closed up 2.0%, Frankfurt’s Dax rose 4.1% and the Cac40 in Paris gained 3.1%. Reports on the manufacturing sectors in China, the US and the UK gave fresh hope that the battered sectors were on the road to recovery. Also in the US, consumer spending was better than expected and construction spending rose for the second month.
Source:BBC

NEW YORK: The recent bank stock rally may have finally run its course.After bottoming out in early March on fears that some of the biggest banks were insolvent, shares across the sector skyrocketed before government regulators finally unveiled the findings of their stress test program for the nation’s largest financial firms in May. Since then, however, investor interest in banks has cooled considerably. Two of the most widely-watched barometers of the sector – the KBW Bank Index and S&P Banking Index – have each fallen more than 10% since the stress test results were announced and remain well below where they were trading back in mid-September before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.Lenders that enjoyed the biggest returns during the months of March, April and early May, such as Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), have taken a hit in recent days. Citigroup fell again Monday, despite a broad market rally, on the news that it was being removed from the Dow Jones industrial average. Ironically, it is being replaced by the Travelers Companies, a leading insurer that once was part of Citigroup.Big banks aren’t the only one suffering from pullbacks. Shares of SunTrust (STI, Fortune 500) and Regions Financial (RF, Fortune 500), two top regional banks based in the Southeast which were also deemed to be in need of additional capital by the government, are both off more than 30% since the results of the stress test were revealed. Massive gyrations in the financial sector are hardly a new phenomenon. For nearly a year now, bank stocks have endured wild swings, falling as much as 25% in a single trading session.Still, those who track the industry tend to agree that investors are now viewing bank stocks differently. Blake Howells, director of research at Portland, Ore.-based Becker Capital Management, which oversees 1.7 billion in assets, said investors are now more focused on whether banks can return to normal, stable earnings growth, rather than fears about nationalization and an institution’s solvency. Some critics insist that the surprisingly strong numbers generated by large lenders in the first quarter were exaggerated as banks tried to pass the government’s stress test. A surge in mortgage refinancing activity did not hurt either, although that is a trend that many analysts see as unsustainable — especially since mortgage rates have been rising in the past few weeks.Banks also remain saddled with loan portfolios that are ripe for further losses, particularly in areas like commercial real estate. The percentage of construction and development loans that were 30 to 89 days past due climbed to 3.56% from 2.92% during the first quarter, according to figures published last week by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. “Credit trends are negative across the board whether you are a community lender, regional or national bank,” said Eric Hovde, chief executive of Hovde Capital Advisors LLC, a money-management firm in Washington that focuses on the financial services sector. Of course, other factors could figure into bank stock performance in the coming quarters, including future actions by the government. Banks with sizable credit card businesses suffered somewhat of a setback last month following the passage of legislation that reined in lenders’ credit card practices.There is also widespread speculation that banking regulators could take a hard line on the industry, demanding that lenders, for example, hold more capital on their books to compensate for future losses. That could crimp profitability.Curves aheadOthers have a less dire view however. Bank stock bulls contend that the worst may be over for many lenders, as some banks have, and will continue to, aggressively reserve for future losses.The increasing number of signals that the nation’s economy may finally have reached a bottom is also encouraging for the industry.Weekly figures on first-time unemployment claims, often viewed as a real-time assessment of labor conditions, have started to slow in recent weeks even as continuing claims remain at historic levels. Activity in the manufacturing sector has also been on the mend in recent months, according to recent readings by the Institute for Supply Management.0:00
/1:56Banks face good, bad and uglyThe emergence of such signals foreshadowed an economic recovery in five of the last recessions dating back to the 1970s, notes Peter Winter, managing director at BMO Capital Markets. Winter upgraded a number of regional banks two weeks ago, including U.S. Bancorp (USB, Fortune 500) and California-based lender EastWest Bancorp (EWBC).Should a similar trend occur this time around, that would certainly bode well for the more than 8,200 lenders that make up the nation’s banking system and the roughly 13.5 trillion in assets they control.But investor confidence in the banking sector, much like the U.S. economy itself, remains shaky at best, setting up what most analysts believe will be another volatile, albeit more modest, period for bank stocks.”Unfortunately the group is going to trade more on economic news than anything else, at least in the near term because the recovery is tentative,” said Winter. Of course, some lenders are widely believed to be better positioned than others to navigate the current environment, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and U.S. Bancorp, two banks that were deemed not to need any additional capital by the government.Their position of strength may translate into stable stock performances rather than outsized returns though. Part of that is due to the fact that healthier banks didn’t fall as sharply as weaker lenders.For that reason, Howells of Becker Capital Management, whose firm owns shares of U.S. Bancorp and JPMorgan Chase, said some of the undercapitalized regional lenders could enjoy the biggest bounces going forward.Some of those bets could misfire, Howells said. But he added that it is not farfetched to think that Fifth Third (FITB, Fortune 500) or KeyCorp (KEY, Fortune 500) — two Ohio-based banks that were also told by the government to raise capital — or Regions Financial could double in price before long.

Source:CNN

(breakingviews.com) — With General Motors’ Chapter 11 filing, Ford Motor stands alone among Detroit’s Big Three in dodging a shareholder-crushing government bailout. If the car market continues to slide, that may be a short-lived accolade. If not, it’s a testament to the carmaker’s hard work, smart financial planning and competent management.So what’s it get for its virtue? So far, not much. It’s nice that President Barack Obama gave Ford’s products a plug and chief Alan Mulally a slap on the back when announcing new emissions standards. But the competitive advantage Uncle Sam’s life-support package gives GM — and the billions injected into Chrysler — must worry Ford (F, Fortune 500).When its two domestic rivals emerge from swift trips through the Chapter 11 car wash, they’ll have cleaned up their legacy cost problems and scrunched down their dealer networks in ways Ford, outside bankruptcy, cannot. And as GM’s 72.5% shareholder, Uncle Sam has an incentive — perhaps even a fiduciary obligation — to favor GM.To dispel that notion, the government would have to act swiftly to level the playing field. But there’s not much it can do. The White House could flex some political muscle to stimulate demand for cars by expediting the “Cars for Clunkers” bill now slowly wending its way through Congress and speeding up the arrival of cheap Department of Energy loans to help develop fuel-efficient vehicles.And it should continue its efforts to bolster the funding markets which Ford Motor Credit depends on to make loans to buyers – which may mean extending the Federal Reserve’s Commercial Paper Funding Facility and its Tern Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility designed to bolster the securitization market.Both measures would of course help all carmakers. But if Ford is smart it will exploit its status as the only financial virtuous US carmaker to snaffle up greater market share. That may mean pulling fewer punches in its advertising.There is one thing the government can do to specifically help Ford: fast-track approval for its finance unit’s long-standing application to open an Industrial Loan Corporation. That would allow Ford Motor Credit to collect deposits and lower its overall funding costs — matching the advantage Chrysler’s and GM’s financing partner GMAC has now that it is becoming a bank holding company — whose solvency is entirely dependent on the US government.Aside from that Ford’s on its own. The good news is that executives have already demonstrated superior restructuring savvy outside of bankruptcy. Combined with what little help the government can give, Mulally may be confident enough to keep Ford competitive without resorting to the bankruptcy court. If not, all the past few years’ virtuous diligence will be for naught.

Source:CNN