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The Philippine economy expanded at the slowest pace in six quarters in the first three months of the year, adding pressure on the government to lift spending to sustain growth.

Gross domestic product increased 5.2 percent in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier, slowing from a revised 6.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the National Statistical Coordination Board said in Manila. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected growth of 6 percent.

The economy “succumbed to rising oil prices, slowing U.S. growth, and the negative effects of the strong peso,'' National Statistical Coordination Board Secretary General Romulo Virola said today. Exports and government spending fell as private consumption growth slowed.

Asian governments are battling inflation as a slowdown in the U.S. hurts demand for the region's exports. The Philippine government yesterday cut its 2008 growth target to as little as 5.7 percent, as accelerating inflation damps consumer spending and slows expansion from the fastest pace in three decades.

“Slower demand is hitting Philippine exports,'' said George Worthington, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Thomson IFR in Sydney. “The government is trying to increase spending to cushion the impact of weaker exports.''

The government abandoned its plan to balance the budget for the first time in a decade this year so it can boost spending and reenergize an economy suffering from surging prices, Finance Secretary Gary Teves said yesterday.

Additional Budget

The government may seek an increase to its budget for this year “to arrest the further economic slowdown,'' Economic Planning Chief Augusto Santos said today.

Exports, which make up two-fifths of the economy, dropped 11.1 percent as the peso rose 15.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Services growth slowed to 6.9 percent.

Consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the $118 billion economy, increased 5.1 percent, easing from 6.2 percent the previous three months online cash advance. Government spending fell 1 percent.

The government spent 4.8 percent less than planned in the first three months, a report showed on April 24. April spending was also below target as some agencies were unable to accelerate public works, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said May 19.

Agricultural production, which accounts for a fifth of the economy, rose 3 percent from a year earlier, slowing from the 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Growth Target

Economic growth this year will probably slow to a range of 5.7 percent to 6.5 percent, down from a previous target of 6.3 percent to 7 percent, the government said yesterday. The Philippine economy grew a revised 7.2 percent in 2007, the fastest annual pace in 31 years.

“Globally, economies are faced with high food and energy inflation which affects consumer spending and the Philippines is no exception,'' said Ildemarc Bautista, head of economic research at Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. in Manila. “It will be hard to replicate the performance last year.''

Inflation, which reached a three-year high of 8.3 percent in April, will likely breach the central bank's target of 3 percent to 5 percent this year because of surging oil and food prices, Central Bank Governor Amando Tetangco said on May 25. The central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate steady since January after five cuts in half a year.

Crude oil traded at an average of $97.79 a barrel in the first quarter, two-thirds higher than a year earlier, and rose to a record $135.09 a barrel on May 22. The Philippines imports almost all of its oil.

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The National Association of Realtors will open its vast listing of homes for sale to cheaper, Internet-based brokers in an agreement to settle a federal lawsuit, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

The change could save those who buy or sell a home thousands of dollars since commissions could drop as much as 1 percent of the selling price, said Deborah Garza, the deputy assistant attorney general for antitrust, in a telephone briefing with reporters.

The settlement will lead to “more choice, better service and lower commission rates,” Garza added.

Essentially the deal requires the 800 multiple listings services associated with the National Association of Realtors for various local markets to give access to Internet-based competitors, the government said.

The real estate group did not acknowledge wrongdoing in the settlement, which it described as a “win” for both consumers and agents.

“We think it’s great,” said Lucien Salvant, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors http://easy-quick-payday-loans.com. “There was no evidence ever brought by the Department of Justice that there was a problem.”

The government sued the real estate group in 2005, accusing it of adopting policies that allowed member brokers to withhold their home listings from online competitors. The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in federal court in Chicago in July.

The settlement also requires the group to offer training on complying with antitrust law. 

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A Senate panel voted narrowly Wednesday to overturn the EPA’s decision blocking California and more than a dozen other states from limiting greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

The bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, passed her committee 10 to 9.

One committee Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, broke with his side of the aisle and voted "no." A Republican, John Warner of Virginia, voted "yes," allowing the bill to pass.

In December, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson turned down California’s request for a Clean Air Act waiver that would have allowed the state to require automakers to cut global warming emissions by 30% in new cars and light trucks by 2016.

Boxer’s bill would deem the waiver approved.

"This bill merely does what the Clean Air Act required to do in the first place," Boxer said.

Senate too busy to vote: However, Boxer told reporters that she wouldn’t push for full Senate consideration of the legislation because President Bush would veto it anyway. Plus the Senate already has a busy schedule, she said, including planned consideration in June of global warming legislation her committee is writing.

Still, "This shows that the environment committee on a bipartisan vote stood up for the California waiver," Boxer said.

Opposition: Some senators who voted against the bill, including Carper, cited a new federal law raising fuel efficiency standards, arguing that the California waiver could undercut that measure.

"A national standard makes more sense for vehicles, which, unlike smokestacks, do not stay within one state’s jurisdiction," Carper said.

If California had gotten the waiver, other states could have adopted the same controls freecreditscore. Thirteen other states stand ready to - Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Johnson’s decision, applauded by the auto industry, has come under fierce criticism from environmentalists and Democrats. Democrats have produced documents indicating Johnson overruled the unanimous recommendation of his career staff and initially favored granting the waiver, before hearing from the White House, which has opposed any mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. 

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An indicator of the economy’s future performance increased slightly in April, according to a report released Monday.

The index of leading U.S. economic indicators issued by The Conference Board, a business research group, rose 0.1% to 102 last month.

According to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com, economists had expected the index to be unchanged after being up 0.1%.

The modest increase in April sends signs that the economy is sputtering forward, if still sluggish. March was the first month that the index increased, following five consecutive monthly declines.

"We are keeping our head above water," said Tim Quinlan, economic analyst at Wachovia. "A few months ago, it seemed like we were on the edge of trouble. Today’s report is consistent with a recent state of semi-positive news."

During the six-month span ending with April, the leading index decreased 1.2% how to get a free credit report.

In April, the positive contributors to the index were stock prices, interest rate spread, building permits, average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance, vendor performance and manufacturers’ new orders for consumer goods and materials.

Consumer expectations, average weekly manufacturing hours, and manufacturers’ new orders for nondefense capital goods kept the index in check. Real money supply held steady in April.

"We are not hanging our hat on a 0.1% gain and saying everything is going to be fine, but the fact that we are not in negative here is good," said Quinlan.

The index of leading indicators is designed to forecast turning points in the business cycle. 

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The bidding war for British cooking equipment supplier Enodis PLC heated up on Monday, as Manitowoc Co. Inc. came back with a second offer to trump an approach by another U.S. company, Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Manitowoc (MTW), based in the Wisconsin town of the same name, raised its offer to 296 pence ($5.79) per share, valuing Enodis (ENODF) at £1.08 billion ($2.1 billion). ITW had offered $2 billion.

Enodis had no immediate comment, but investors appeared to expect even higher bids.

Shares in the company, which supplies fryer systems to restaurants and retailers, including McDonald’s Corp (MCD, Fortune 500) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT, Fortune 500)., rose 2.4% to 305 pence ($5.94) on Monday.

Manitowoc, which makes cranes, marine, and food service equipment and is the biggest ice machine maker in the United States, opened the bidding on Enodis in April when it made an offer of 260 pence ($5.09) per share, which was accepted by the British company.

However, Enodis changed allegiance when Illinois Tool Works (ITW, Fortune 500), a Glenview, Ill.-based manufacturer of engineered products with more than 800 business units in 49 countries, made a sweetened 282 pence bid, or about $2 billion, earlier this month.

Both of the suitors are including a 2 pence (4 cents) a share dividend as part of their bids.

Manitowoc said its offer was more than double Enodis’ share price on April 8, the day before it made its first approach and called on Enodis to recommend its new offer.

Illinois Tool Works said it noted the increased offer and was "considering its position with respect to Enodis and will make an announcement in due course."

An Enodis-Manitowoc combination would give Manitowoc entry into two major new market segments - hot food service and food retail equipment.

While a successful purchase by Illinois Tool would nearly double that U.S. company’s food equipment business and make the combined food equipment business nearly a fifth of its total revenues.

Enodis, which has a range of food-service products includes cooking equipment, refrigeration units, and ice and beverage dispensing equipment that are used in fast-food restaurants, institutions, grocery stores and supermarkets, has successfully fought off a series of takeover bids over the past two years.

The company, which has manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, and employs 6,800 workers, last week reported a profit of 9.7 million pounds ($19 million) for the six months ending March 29, compared with 17.3 million pounds in the comparable period a year ago. It attributed the drop in profit to the cost of restructuring. 

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Construction of U.S. single-family houses in April dropped to the lowest level in 17 years, even as building of condominiums and townhouses rebounded.

Builders broke ground on 692,000 single-family homes at an annual rate, the fewest since January 1991, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Total housing starts jumped 8.2 percent to 1.032 million as construction of multifamily units rose 36 percent following a 35 percent drop in March.

“There may be signs that we are getting close to a bottom but we don't think we're there yet,'' said Adam York, an economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The housing market still has a ways to go towards working off its problems.''

Lower prices and other incentives have yet to revive demand for houses, indicating builders will need to come up with even more discounts to attract buyers. Stricter lending rules, job losses and growing pessimism about the economy signal sales will not rebound quickly.

Treasuries dropped in the minute after the release, before retracing some of the losses later. Yields on benchmark 10-year notes rose to 3.85 percent at 9:56 a.m. in New York, from 3.82 percent late yesterday.

Building permits, a sign of future construction, rose 4.9 percent to a 978,000 pace, reflecting gains in both single- and multifamily units.

Economists Forecasts

Economists forecast starts would fall to an annual pace of 939,000, according to the median 73 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from 875,000 to 1 million. Building permits were projected to fall to a 915,000 annual rate, according to the Bloomberg survey.

Builders' confidence continues to flag. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment index fell one point to 19 this month, the group said yesterday. All three components of the gauge fell, with the reading on current sales of single-family homes reaching a record low.

“The trends are horrific,'' said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, who had the closest housing-starts estimate in Bloomberg's survey payday loan cash advance loan. “There's just no reason things are getting any better. Why would you buy a house? Why would you spend money to buy a depreciating asset?''

Regional Pattern

Starts increased in three of four regions, led by a 24 percent jump in the Midwest. Construction rose 19 percent in the West and 3.6 percent in the South. Starts dropped 13 percent in the Northeast.

Residential construction has subtracted from economic growth since the first three months of 2006, culminating in a 27 percent drop at an annual rate in the first quarter. That was the biggest decline since 1981.

Home construction and property values “seem likely to decline well into 2009,'' Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen said May 13. She also said the risks around her forecasts are “unusually large because of uncertainty'' about financial markets, housing and commodity prices.

The economy expanded at a 0.6 percent annual pace in the first quarter, according to Commerce Department data. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast growth from April through June would slow to a 0.1 percent pace and consumer spending would advance at a 0.5 percent rate, the smallest increase in 17 years.

Toll Brothers

Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. luxury-home builder, said May 13 that revenue declined for an eighth straight quarter and that most housing markets remain depressed.

The number of potential buyers at its developments was the “worst we've ever seen,'' Chief Executive Officer Robert Toll said on a conference call.

A jump in foreclosures, as values fall and adjustable-rate mortgage costs rise, is adding to concern. Foreclosure filings climbed 65 percent and bank seizures more than doubled in April compared with a year earlier, according to figures issued this week by RealtyTrac Inc.

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European economic growth probably accelerated in the first three months of 2008 as construction-led expansion in Germany masked a slowdown in manufacturing and services, a survey of economists shows.

Gross domestic product in the euro area increased 0.5 percent from the previous three months, when it grew 0.4 percent, according to the median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. The pace of growth in Germany, Europe's largest economy, probably increased to 0.7 percent in the first quarter from 0.3 percent, according to a separate survey.

The pickup in growth may prove short lived as Europe's economy contends with higher credit costs, the euro's increase to a record against the dollar and oil prices above $125 a barrel. At the same time, the European Central Bank is showing little enthusiasm for cutting interest rates to help growth as it contends with inflation close to a 16-year high.

“There was a lot of noise in the first quarter and one of those things was German construction,'' said Kenneth Wattret, chief euro-area economist at BNP Paribas in London. “Beyond Germany, the numbers are not so encouraging and leading indicators are pointing downward.''

European confidence declined to the lowest in two and a half years in April, while manufacturing growth slowed for a third month. Retail sales fell by a record in March. Euro-area expansion may slow to 0.2 percent in the second quarter, according to BNP forecasts.

`Headwinds'

“You don't have to look far to find the headwinds to economic growth,'' said Wattret, citing the exchange rate, slowing U.S. growth and tighter credit conditions payday loans. “The economy's been slowing gradually since 2006, but now we've hit a tipping point.''

France's Michelin & Cie., the world's second-largest tiremaker, last month cut its full-year profit forecast due to slumping orders and soaring raw-material costs. The price of crude oil in New York has doubled in the last 12 months, reaching a record $126.98 a barrel this week.

While the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have lowered rates in the last nine months to support economic growth, euro-area inflation, at a 16-year high in March, has prompted the ECB to leave its key rate unchanged at 4 percent.

“The present monetary-policy stance will contribute to achieving our goal, which is price stability,'' Trichet said in a interview with Sky TG24 in Milan on May 12. He also said the “resilience of the big emerging economies'' will help counter a slowdown in the U.S. economy.

HeidelbergCement AG, Germany's biggest cement maker, said on May 8 that first-quarter sales almost doubled, led by eastern Europe and Asia.

Still, the International Monetary Fund says euro-area growth will slow to 1.4 percent this year from 2.6 percent in 2007.

“First-quarter strength won't be sustained,'' said Aurelio Maccario, an economist at Unicredit MIB in Milan, because there will be “significant payback'' after the surge in construction. “Manufacturing momentum in April has downshifted decisively, and services activity remains lackluster.''

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CALGARY–EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA), Canada's biggest natural gas player, says it is splitting into two separate energy companies: one a fully integrated oil company and the other devoted to developing the company's vast unconventional gas assets.

The proposed corporate reorganization would create a publicly traded integrated oil company with oilsands as the growth driver, the company's board of directors said Sunday in a news release.

This company, which has a working name of IntegratedOilCo (IOCo), will focus on the development of EnCana's Canadian oilsands assets and refinery interests in the United States, with an established natural gas and oil production base in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The second company, with a working name of GasCo, will be aimed at growing the enormous Canadian and U.S. unconventional gas plays in which EnCana already has a huge stake.

GasCo, which is expected to keep the name EnCana, will represent about two-thirds of the company's current production and proved reserves.

EnCana chief executive Randy Eresman will run GasCo and the company's current chief financial officer, Brian Ferguson, will run IOCo.

The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2009

EnCana started this process "from a position of unprecedented strength," Eresman said in the statement.

"We have assembled an outstanding portfolio of unconventional natural gas, oil and in-situ oilsands assets. Our strong operational and financial performance has shown that our resource play model is working extremely well and we are ideally positioned for the future," he said.

An increased focus on each side of the business will deliver strong value to EnCana's shareholders, Eresman added.

"We will be better equipped to direct their strategies and operations towards building value by tailoring practices and execution to fit the unique nature of their assets," he said.

"As well, with greater transparency and focus, the investment community will be able to more easily follow and more accurately assess and value these companies."

GasCo is expected to become the second-biggest natural gas producer in North America, with a focus on unconventional resources that will deliver long-term, low risk growth.

EnCana will continue to exploit its existing natural gas plays in Alberta's foothills, the Western United States and in West Texas' Barnett shale.

It will also develop emerging plays in Northeastern B.C.'s Horn River Basin as well as in Louisiana.

EnCana has a major foothold in the oilsands, with 6.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil at its Christina Lake and Foster Creek operations.

Early last year, EnCana reached a $15-billion deal ConocoPhillips to tie in its oilsands production with the U.S no teletrak payday loans. energy heavyweight's American refinery operations.

IOCo will aim to increase gross production from Foster Creek and Christina lake to about 400,000 barrels of oil per day, and refining capacity to 510,000 barrels of oil per day.

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Sometimes the IRS can’t get people to cooperate, even when it tries to give money away.

As of last November less than 6% of business taxpayers filing returns had made claims for the Telephone Excise Tax Refund, a once-only payback for a now defunct tax, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

The most far-reaching tax refund in the history of the Internal Revenue Service was estimated to affect between 13.9 million and 15.9 million business taxpayers.

But the inspector general report made public Thursday said only 720,000 of the 12.8 million business taxpayers who had filed returns - less than 6% - had made phone tax refund claims, and the refunds associated with those claims amounted to only $876.6 million, or 17.5% of the $5 billion collected.

The report said it was unclear why so few businesses claimed the refund, but it offered theories that small businesses believed the work associated with making the claims outweighed the benefit, didn’t think they could come up with the necessary records or were unaware of the credit.

Many may still be eligible to file claims, the report said, but "we believe a significant amount of the telephone excise tax collected by the IRS from businesses might never be refunded."

The IRS did slightly better with individual taxpayers, dispersing about half the $8 billion the IRS had expected to pay them, the inspector general said in a report last October cash advance today. The tax agency had estimated the refund would affect 145 million to 165 million taxpayers.

The telephone excise tax was created in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War.

After the government lost several lawsuits disputing the legitimacy of the tax, the IRS in 2006 announced it would stop collecting the tax and implemented a program to refund the portion of their telephone excise taxes paid over long-distance or bundled telephone services between February 2003 and August 2006.

Most individual taxpayers followed the advice of the IRS and took a standard refund of $30 to $60 rather than bother searching for old phone bills. Businesses too were given the option of completing a form using the actual amount of refundable taxes paid or using a simplified formula to estimate their refund. The refund was capped at 2% of telephone expenses for businesses with 250 or fewer employees, and 1% for larger businesses.

The inspector general urged the IRS to survey tax preparers and business taxpayers to determine why some did not claim refunds. He also recommended that the IRS consider shifting resources for future IRS projects to better achieve their goals. 

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British music and books retailer HMV Group Plc (HMV.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said it was confident full-year profits would be towards the upper end of market expectations, driven by strong demand for games, boosting its shares by more than 6 percent.

“HMV has clearly benefited from a strong games market. However we continue to outpace this fast-growing market,” Chief Executive Simon Fox told reporters on a conference call on Friday.

“It’s a good market and we’re certainly expecting double-digit sales growth from games in the year ahead”.

HMV, which owns bookseller Waterstone’s as well as music shops under its own name, said group like-for-like sales grew by 10.1 percent in the 16 weeks to April 26, and by 7.3 percent for the full year.

Like-for-like sales at HMV UK and Ireland grew 13.8 percent in the last 16 weeks of the year to April 26 and by 11.4 percent for the year as a whole.

Fox said that stripping computer games out of the numbers, HMV UK’s like-for-like sales growth was more than 8 percent in the 16 weeks, reflecting “accelerating market-share gains” in music and DVDs.

Like-for-like sales at Waterstone’s climbed 6.6 percent in the last 16 weeks and by 3.3 percent for the year.

Shares in HMV, which have outperformed the UK general retailers’ index .FTASX5370 by around 102 percent in the past 12 months, were 6.4 percent higher at 158.75 pence by 3:35 a.m low rates payday advance. EDT (0735 GMT), valuing the company at 624.3 million pounds ($1.2 billion). 

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