[unable to retrieve full-text content]AP – Laying down an election-year marker in the debate over taxes, the Obama administration is proposing to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent, and to seek an even lower effective rate for manufacturers, a senior administration official says.
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In this Feb. 8, 2012 photo, specialist Michael O’Mara, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stock markets fell Friday, Feb. 10, 2012, after Greece’s crucial international bailout was put on hold by its partners in the 17-nation eurozone, a day after it seemed that the country’s tortuous journey to pacifying its creditors had reached a conclusion. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this Feb. 8, 2012 photo, specialist Michael O’Mara, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stock markets fell Friday, Feb. 10, 2012, after Greece’s crucial international bailout was put on hold by its partners in the 17-nation eurozone, a day after it seemed that the country’s tortuous journey to pacifying its creditors had reached a conclusion. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks had their worst day of the year Friday after Greece hit a roadblock on its way to a critical bailout.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 89.23 points, or 0.7 percent, at 12,801.23. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 finished down 9.31 points to 1,342.64. It was the first losing week for S&P this year.
Just a day earlier, investors had bought stocks after Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the heads of the three parties backing his government agreed to slash wages, lay off civil service workers and cut government spending.
That was seen as a step toward Greece’s securing a ?130 billion international bailout that it must have to avoid defaulting on its debt next month and sending a shock through the world financial system.
On Friday, European finance ministers insisted Greece agree to deeper cuts in wages and spending. More than 15,000 people swarmed the streets of Athens, some hurling paving stones at police. Four cabinet ministers have resigned over the cuts.
“The economy in Greece is deteriorating faster than anticipated, and the austerity measures aren’t particularly popular,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott. “There could be a disorderly default.”
The decline in U.S. stocks was broad, with all 10 industry categories in the S&P 500 down. Materials stocks fell the most, down 1.8 percent. Energy and financial stocks both fell more than 1 percent.
The Nasdaq composite closed down 23.35 points at 2,903.88.
Since the start of the year, stocks have been generally rising on small daily gains because of good economic news and a sense that the worst of the debt crisis in Europe might be over. The Dow has risen 4.8 percent in 2012 and seemed poised earlier this week to break 13,000 for the first time since 2008.
At its low point Friday, the Dow was down 145 points. Its largest intraday loss so far this year was 159 points, on Jan. 13, but the Dow has not closed down more than 100 points since Dec. 28.
Aluminum producer Alcoa dropped 3.3 percent, the biggest fall among the 30 stocks in the Dow.
The euro, which had risen Thursday to its highest level against the dollar in two months, fell by a penny and was trading at just under $1.32. U.S. Treasury yields fell, a sign that investors were buying bonds as a safer investment than stocks.
The price of gold fell $16, or nearly 1 percent, to settle at $1,725 an ounce. Gold usually rises when stocks fall because it’s seen as a safe place to park money when markets are volatile, but that relationship has broken down recently. Many investors now worry that gold is too expensive after a 26 percent surge over the past year.
“People are speculating, and so the drop could get bigger,” said Mark Matson, CEO of Matson Money, which manages more $3 billion in assets. “Gold is good for jewelry, not in your portfolio.”
In other commodity news, the price of oil fell $1.17 to $98.67 a barrel.
Among stocks making big moves:
? LinkedIn rose 18 percent. The online networking company announced that fourth- quarter earnings had soared and revenue doubled.
? Jeans maker True Religion Apparel plunged 28 percent. The company reported earnings that were far below what analysts were expecting. Analysts slashed their ratings on the stock, citing weak sales and big markdowns.
? NYSE Euronext, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, rose 4.5 percent, best among stocks in the S&P 500. It beat Wall Street estimates for revenue and profit. CEO Duncan Niederauer said the company would focus on growth and perhaps small acquisitions after a failed attempt to merge with a German exchange company.
? Telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent rose 12 percent after announcing it made its first annual profit in 2011 after years of losses.
? First Solar, a solar panel maker, fell 10 percent. The company said a construction delay is threatening to undo the sale of a large solar project to power producer Exelon Corp.
Stocks were lower in much of Europe. The benchmark stock index in Athens fell 3.2 percent. Germany’s DAX was down 1.4 percent. The CAC-40 in France was down 1.5 percent.
On the New York Stock Exchange, three stocks fell for every one that rose. Volume was light with just 3.5 billion shares trading hands.
Associated Press
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LONDON ? A one-time tax hit sent profits at drinks company Diageo PLC’s down 20 percent in the last six months of 2011, despite rising income following a strong performance in emerging markets.
Diageo, whose brands include Johnnie Walker scotch, Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka, said Thursday that its net profit for the period ? the first half of its financial year ? was 953 million pounds ($1.5 billion), down from 1.19 billion pounds a year earlier.
The company booked a one-time loss of 524 million pounds because of tax negotiations which stripped it of the right to certain tax deductions in future years. However, Diageo said the negotiations also promised to keep the company’s effective tax rate at about 18 percent, compared to 21.8 percent in the last half of 2010.
Pretax profit rose 15 percent to 1.86 billion pounds and revenue was up nearly 10 percent to 7.83 billion pounds.
Paul Walsh, the company’s chief executive, said emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and Europe have grown to account for nearly 40 percent of its business.
Sales volume in Latin America grew by 14 percent in the period, while Africa was up 7 percent and Asia Pacific ? including its developed markets ? rose 5 percent.
Revenue was dented by adverse currency movements in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and the United States.
Phil Carroll, analyst at Shore Capital, said Diageo was evolving from just being a stock investors should hold defensively at a time when economic conditions are tough.
“It is also becoming an emerging market growth story too and a structural growth story from the perspective of a growing spirits market,” Carroll said.
Diageo shares were down 0.6 percent at 1.4525 pence in morning trading on the London Stock Exchange.
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, estimates that unemployment across the 17-nation eurozone rose by the end of 2011 to 10.4 percent, a joint record high since the euro launched in 1999.
Here’s how the countries compare:
Spain 22.9 percent
Greece 19.2 percent
Ireland 14.5 percent
Portugal 13.6 percent
Slovakia 13.4 percent
Estonia 11.3 percent
France 9.9 percent
Cyprus 9.3 percent
Italy 8.9 percent
Slovenia 8.2 percent
Finland 7.6 percent
Belgium 7.2 percent
Malta 6.5 percent
Germany 5.5 percent
Luxembourg 5.2 percent
Netherlands 4.9 percent
Austria 4.1 percent
___
Source: Eurostat
On the Web: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/3-31012012-AP/EN/3-31012012-AP-EN.PDF
(This version corrects Cyprus figure to 9.3 percent.)
BERLIN (Reuters) ? German retail sales fell unexpectedly in December, suggesting Europe’s debt crisis unsettled consumers during key Christmas trade, although economists said they expected the preliminary data to be revised upwards.
The notoriously volatile indicator fell 1.4 percent in real terms on the month, and 0.9 percent on an annual basis, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed. The indicator missed forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists for gains of 0.9 and 1.4 percent respectively.
“These numbers suggest Christmas business was disappointing for retailers,” said Commerzbank’s Ulrike Rondorf. “But the statistics office data are often revised.”
“Retailers themselves were relatively optimistic, and private consumption remains, in our view, a supporting pillar of the economy.”
Germany’s HDE retail association has said retailers saw a strong finish to the Christmas season with turnover for the period expected to be 1.5 percent above year-ago levels
DIY stores operator Praktiker announced a surprise return to sales growth for its namesake German stores in November and December, while fashion house Gerry Weber said revenue in Germany jumped 28 percent in December.
Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding said the December figures were “almost too bad to believe.”
“Anecdotal reports and consumer confidence simply do not confirm the news from these data,” he said, suggesting the Statistics Office may revise the figures upwards.
“Typically, at year end, retail sales get underreported a lot and usually revised up significantly,” he said.
Germany’s export-driven economy recovered quickly from the 2008/09 financial crisis, but the outlook has darkened as euro zone debt worries have begun to weigh on the real economy.
Many economists expect at least one quarter of contraction in Germany as global demand falls and the region’s debt crisis affects its key neighboring export markets.
Consumer surveys however show that German consumers remain upbeat, suggesting private spending will weather bad news from the euro zone thanks to the solid domestic job market
Consumer morale rose unexpectedly to a 10-month high going into February, a survey showed last week.
“As long as the labor market is doing well, consumption will be strong,” Commerzbank’s Rondorf said.
German unemployment data is due later on Tuesday.
The Statistics Office revised downwards November retail sales to a fall of 1.0 percent on the month, from a previously reported decrease of 0.9 percent.
On an annual basis, it also revised sales downwards to a gain of 0.9 percent from 1.4 percent.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh, Additional reporting by Gareth Jones and Reinhard Becker)
WASHINGTON ? Emboldened by his victory in South Carolina’s Republican primary, Newt Gingrich said Sunday his hardline conservative views and confrontational style will be needed by Republicans this fall to fight President Barack Obama’s “billion-dollar war chest” and take back the White House.
In several televised interviews, the former House speaker said rival Mitt Romney was a moderate who left GOP voters cold and that only he, Gingrich, could go “toe to toe” with Obama.
“I think in South Carolina it began to become really clear that if you want to beat Barack Obama, then Newt Gingrich is the only person who has the background, the experience and the ability to get on the stage and drive home a conservative message with authenticity,” he said.
Gingrich’s win in South Carolina has helped invigorate his once struggling campaign and cast fresh doubt on Romney’s ability to easily cinch the Republican nomination.
Returns from 95 percent of the state’s precincts showed Gingrich with 41 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was winning 17 percent, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul 13 percent.
Next stop is Florida, where Gingrich and Romney will compete with Santorum in the Jan. 31 primary. Paul has said he was bypassing the state in favor of smaller subsequent caucuses.
Romney and his supporters are dismissing Gingrich’s win in South Carolina and say his nomination would be a disaster for the Republican Party, citing his rocky tenure leading House Republicans in the 1990s and allegations of ethics violations.
“I think Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party, over time,” said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “Whether he will do it again in the future, I don’t know. But Gov. Romney never has.”
Christie, who has endorsed Romney’s nomination, said he would “listen” if Romney were to ask him to be his running mate this fall. But, he added, he expects to remain in his current position as governor.
Gingrich says his views on lower taxes, less government regulation and foreign policy put him in stark contrast to Obama and that the dynamics of a Gingrich-Obama fight are much more alluring to voters.
“I think Gov. Romney’s core problem was that he governs (as) a Massachusetts moderate, which by the standards of Republican primary voters is a liberal. And he can’t relax and be candid,” he said.
Gingrich spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CBS “Face the Nation.” Christie spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
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WASHINGTON ? Mitt Romney’s tax returns tell the tale: Yes, he’s rich ? really rich.
His returns, spanning more than 500 pages and released under political pressure Tuesday, represent an extraordinary financial accounting of one of the wealthiest U.S. presidential candidates in generations, with his annual income topping $20 million.
It remains unclear how the details of Romney’s fortune will play among American workers, who on average earn less in a lifetime than Romney paid in taxes in 2010 alone. Meanwhile, the typical taxpayer pays a similar share of his income to Uncle Sam as he does, roughly 15 percent.
Romney’s returns ? which include a 2011 tax estimate ? spilled out new details of his scattered holdings, tax strategies and charitable donations. Romney paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010, having earned more than seven times that from his investments.
The documents quickly became fodder for his opponents, with Democrats chiding the former Massachusetts governor for not disclosing more about his financial history. The White House also weighed in about tax fairness as President Barack Obama prepared for his State of the Union Address.
Romney is hardly the only wealthy American seeking the presidency, though he’s on a level all his own.
Republican rival Newt Gingrich, who had publicly pressed him to release his tax information, released his own return for 2010 last week. It revealed that Gingrich earned more than $3.1 million, mostly from $2.5 million paid by his companies, partnerships and investments, and paid just under $1 million in federal tax, a rate of about 31 percent.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported income of $1.73 million last year, mostly from the books he’s written, and paid $453,770 in federal taxes.
Romney’s tax returns showed he continues to profit from Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded but no longer runs; from a Swiss bank account closed just as he launched his campaign and from new listings of investment funds set up overseas.
Romney had long refused to disclose any federal tax returns, then hinted he would offer a single year’s return in April. Yet mounting criticism from his rivals and a hard loss in last week’s South Carolina primary forced his hand.
“Governor Romney has paid 100 percent of what he owes,” said Benjamin Ginsberg, the campaign’s legal counsel. Ginsberg and other advisers said Romney did not use any aggressive tax strategies to help reduce or defer his tax income.
For 2011, Romney will pay about $3.2 million with an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, the campaign said. Those returns haven’t yet been filed yet with the Internal Revenue Service. In total, he would pay more than $6.2 million in taxes on $45 million in income over the past two years, his campaign said.
Romney had been cast by his GOP opponents as a wealthy businessman who earned lucrative payouts from his investments while Bain slashed jobs in the private sector. Romney concedes that some companies Bain invested in were unsuccessful but says others created large numbers of jobs.
As for his own tax payments, he said in Monday night’s debate in Tampa, “I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. … I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”
He added, “You’ll see my income, how much taxes I’ve paid, how much I’ve paid to charity.”
Romney’s 2010 return showed about $4.5 million in itemized deductions, including $1.5 million contributed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Romney’s charitable giving is above average, even for someone at his income level, according to IRS data.
Romney’s GOP rivals did not immediately comment on his tax disclosures. But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, defended him, telling reporters that Romney’s tax rate is close to the 15 percent rate most Americans pay on long-term capital gains from the sale of investments.
Romney’s advisers stressed that he met all his federal tax obligations, provided maximum transparency and did not take advantage of what they described as “aggressive” strategies often used by the ultra-rich. Still, for millions of taxpayers grappling with their own returns as tax season looms, Romney’s multimillion dollar wealth provides a window into an unfamiliar world.
His 2010 return shows a number of foreign investments, including funds in Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. Most of Romney’s vast fortune is held in a blind trust that he doesn’t control. A portion is held in a retirement account.
Romney’s advisers acknowledged Tuesday that Romney and his wife, Ann, had a bank account in Switzerland as part of her trust. The account was worth $3 million and was held in the United Bank of Switzerland, said R. Bradford Malt, a Boston lawyer who makes investments for the Romneys and oversees their blind trust, which was set up to avoid any conflicts of interest in investments during his run for the presidency.
In 2009, UBS admitted assisting U.S. citizens in evading taxes and agreed to pay a $780 million penalty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department.
The political discussion over releasing Romney’s tax information highlighted an argument that Democrats are already starting to use against him ? that he is out of touch with normal Americans. And it may well have hurt him in the South Carolina primary, where he lost by 12 percentage points to Gingrich after spending several days resisting calls to release the returns.
Asked during a round of television interviews about Romney’s relatively modest tax rate, Obama adviser David Plouffe said: “We need to change our tax system. We need to change our tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share.” Obama planned to talk about economic fairness in his State of the Union speech to Congress Tuesday night.
Other Democratic Party voices were less restrained. “He used every loophole in the book available to the wealthy and corporations to avoid paying his fair share,” said Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard.
On the other hand, Romney’s wife, Ann, had told supporters at a Florida rally on Sunday: “I want to remind you where we know our riches are. Our riches are with our families.”
___
Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher and Alan Fram in Washington and Kasie Hunt in Tampa, contributed.
___
Follow Jack Gillum at http://twitter.com/jackgillum
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Only about a third of people across 23 countries are aware of the nascent U.S.-led Occupy movement against economic inequality, a global poll found on Friday as protesters prepared to take to the streets around the United States.
Under the banner “Occupy the Courts,” organizers expect thousands of people to rally on Friday at 150 courthouses to mark the second anniversary of a Supreme Court ruling that protesters say allows unlimited corporate campaign donations.
While in San Francisco, activists from 50 organizations are set to “Occupy Wall Street West” with plans to target 22 bank branches and other financial industry offices and disrupt the city’s financial district throughout the day.
The four-month-old movement has clearly influenced the national political conversation, with even President Barack Obama echoing some of its themes in calling for a “fair shot” and “fair share” for all.
Still, protest crowds often number in the hundreds rather than thousands of people, despite the movement’s headline-grabbing antics and social media savvy.
Critics accuse the Occupy protest of not having a clear message or demands and the new poll of more than 17,000 people by global research company Ipsos for Reuters found that the movement’s ambiguity could be hindering its growth.
More than half of those surveyed by Ipsos were unsure how they felt about the movement — which prides itself on being leaderless — while a third sympathized with the protesters and 13 percent had an unfavorable view of the group.
Yet when told more about the general objectives of Occupy — to protest social and economic inequality, corporate greed, the power of the financial sector and the global financial system — sympathy for the group rose to 53 percent from 33 percent.
“This shift in favorability suggests the movement could have greater support if they communicated their goals more clearly. Until then, the primary response will continue to be a lack of awareness,” said Ipsos spokeswoman Keren Gottfried.
Ipsos polled Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.
“The data shows that, in these uncertain economic times, global citizens can relate to frustration towards social and economic inequality, corporate greed, the power of the financial sector and the global financial system,” Gottfried said.
Inspired by the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street began when protesters set up camp in New York’s Zuccotti Park on September 17, sparking demonstrations across the United States and elsewhere in the world and, in some cases, violent clashes with police.
But the eviction of protesters in New York and public spaces in other U.S. cities in November and December has made the protests less visible and organizers now face the challenge of how to maintain momentum without the physical camps.
Protesters say they are upset that billions of dollars in bailouts given to banks during the recession allowed a return to huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and a struggling economy.
They also believe the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share of taxes.
The Ipsos poll found that awareness of the Occupy movement is highest in the United States (61 percent), followed by Canada (60 percent), India (59 percent), and Turkey (51 percent). It is lowest in France (18 percent), Russia (21 percent), Brazil (21 percent), Belgium (24 percent) and Mexico (24 percent).
The poll was conducted between November 1 and November 15 and has an estimate margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Paul Thomasch)
(This story corrects the spelling of Keren in paragraph 9.)
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Wall Street is opening slightly higher. Traders are weighing signs that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, could slide into a recession against reports that the International Monetary Fund could get more cash to help countries struggling with debts. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Wall Street is opening slightly higher. Traders are weighing signs that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, could slide into a recession against reports that the International Monetary Fund could get more cash to help countries struggling with debts. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Wall Street is opening slightly higher. Traders are weighing signs that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, could slide into a recession against reports that the International Monetary Fund could get more cash to help countries struggling with debts. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A trader rushes across the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Wall Street is opening slightly higher. Traders are weighing signs that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, could slide into a recession against reports that the International Monetary Fund could get more cash to help countries struggling with debts. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Fabian Caceres, center, works with traders at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Wall Street is opening slightly higher. Traders are weighing signs that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, could slide into a recession against reports that the International Monetary Fund could get more cash to help countries struggling with debts. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A surprisingly strong report on the housing market and the prospect of more cash for the International Monetary Fund to fight off a financial crisis powered stocks Wednesday to their highest close since last summer.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed above 1,300 for the first time since July 28, and the Dow Jones industrial average finished at its highest since July 25. That was just before the bitter fight in Washington over the federal debt limit.
It was also the first time since Jan. 3, the first trading day of the year, that the S&P 500 moved more than 1 percent. The market has made a quiet ascent since then. The S&P is up 4 percent for the year, the Dow 3 percent.
Smaller stocks had the strongest gains, a sign that investors are becoming more comfortable taking on risk. The Russell 2000 of small-company stocks rose 1.8 percent, more than the 1.1 percent gain in the S&P and the 0.8 percent gain in the Dow. The Nasdaq rose 1.5 percent.
“We think things are setting up to be better than last year,” said Brad Sorensen, director of market research at Charles Schwab. “The worst-case scenario is off the table.”
The National Association of Home Builders index, a measure of sentiment among builders, rose to its highest level since June 2007 as sales jumped. Analysts said it could be a sign the housing market has bottomed out.
The index is rising because builders are seeing a rise in people shopping for a home, not because they are seeing more sales, at least not yet. Those in a position to buy are benefiting from lower prices and mortgage rates.
Stocks of home construction companies jumped. PulteGroup Inc. rose 6 percent, Toll Brothers Inc. rose 5 percent, and KB Home rose 8 percent.
In another encouraging sign, the Federal Reserve said manufacturing rose 0.9 percent from November to December, the biggest gain since December 2010.
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said the fund wanted to raise $500 billion more to lend to countries. The IMF has put up roughly a third of the rescue loans to debt-hobbled European countries over the past two years.
Investors are eager for signs that the world can contain Europe’s debt problem. Besides an already likely recession in Europe, a messy default by Greece or another country could lead to a financial crisis around the globe.
In other trading, Goldman Sachs stock added almost 7 percent after its quarterly profit beat Wall Street expectations. Net income still fell 58 percent in the last three months of 2011, a result of choppy financial markets.
Some bank stocks followed Goldman higher. Morgan Stanley, another investment bank, rose 6.8 percent. Bank of America rose 4.9 percent, JPMorgan Chase 4.7 percent and Citigroup 2.9 percent.
Other financial stocks sank after disappointing earnings reports. State Street Corp. plunged 6.6 percent, the largest fall in the S&P 500. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. fell 2.6 percent, and Northern Trust Corp. slipped 2 percent.
The Dow finished up 96.88 at 12,578.95. The S&P rose 14.37 to 1,308.04. The Nasdaq composite index, which has outperformed the other two this year, rose 41.63 points to 2,769.71.
Among other stocks making large moves Wednesday:
? Yahoo climbed 3 percent on news that co-founder Jerry Yang is leaving the struggling Internet pioneer. The departure clears the way for newly hired CEO Scott Thompson to take more radical action to shake up the company.
? Amphenol Corp., which makes fiber-optic cables, soared 11 percent. Its earnings beat analysts’ expectations, and the company said strong orders should push next year’s earnings above Wall Street forecasts.
? Linear Technology Corp., which makes circuits, jumped 11 percent, most in the S&P 500. It expects quarterly revenue to rise 4 to 8 percent following strong demand in December and January. It also raised its dividend by a penny to 25 cents a share.
? Cash America International Inc., a payday lender and operator of pawnshops, sank 6 percent after cutting its earnings forecast.
Associated Press
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It?s finally here.
The outcome of the New Hampshire primary has been widely predicted for more than a year, but still there are minidramas and key markers to watch for.
Continue Reading
Below are POLITICO?s five things to keep your eyes peeled for before and after the polls close:
1) Mitt Romney?s number
Barring a miracle, Mitt Romney will win the New Hampshire primary. The question is, how handily.
The expectations for a runaway Romney victory are so high that the campaign has been fighting voter apathy for days, hoping to boost turnout.
The range varies for the figure insiders believe he needs to achieve. Rich Killion, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist, argued that 38 percent is the floor for Romney.
?That?s what (John) McCain got,? Killion said.
It would also be higher than Romney got in 2008, when he snared 32 percent of the vote for a second-place finish.
Polls have consistently shown Romney between 35 percent and 40 percent for the past several months in the Granite State, a neighbor to the one he once governed and now a place where he owns a home.
This time around, Romney hasn?t campaigned in New Hampshire with anywhere near the frequency of 2008. But in order to head into South Carolina with a serious bounce, he needs a convincing double-digit win. Anything north of 40 percent is comfortable for him; below 35 percent, and the questions will continue about his ability to grow his base.
It may not be fair ? after all, Romney will have just pulled off an unprecedented feat as a nonincumbent by winning both Iowa and New Hampshire ? but that?s the game of politics.
2) Will Ron Paul fade at the end?
Paul was thought to be a potential winner in the Iowa caucuses, where he was known to have a strong organization. Yet he came in third place behind Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, who were divided by a minuscule margin.
Paul certainly was able to grow his base from where it was in the 2008 caucuses, and he cleared the 20 percent bar. Still, third place is third place.
In New Hampshire, where Paul has also devoted lots of time and built up a strong ground game, polls show him flagging ahead of the primary vote. Instead, the momentum seems to favor Jon Huntsman, who has been very much on the rise.
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