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Santo Domingo (Reuters) – Early results from presidential elections in the Dominican Republic show ruling party candidate Danilo Medina headed for victory 12 years after he lost in a landslide to opposition candidate Hipolito Mejia.

With almost 75 percent of votes counted, Medina and the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) held a 4 percentage point lead (51 percent – 47 percent) over Mejia, the candidate for the opposition Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), according to official election results.

That would be enough for Medina, 60, to secure an outright first-round victory, although PRD officials accused the Central Electoral Board of fraud, saying it had manipulated the results in the ruling party’s favor.

President Leonel Fernandez of the PLD, a New York-raised lawyer and academic, is barred from running again after serving two consecutive four-year terms in the Caribbean nation of 10 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. He succeeded Mejia in 2004.

Voting was delayed in some polling stations in the capital due to wet weather and late-arriving election workers, and a handful of incidents of violence were reported. But otherwise voting went relatively smoothly, according Roberto Rosario, president of the Central Electoral Board.

Both parties accused each other of vote buying. Election observers confirmed some of those reports, but said the cases were isolated and had no impact on the outcome.

Shortly after polls closed, the head of an observer mission from the Organization of American States, former Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, told a news conference that the election had been a “success,” calling it a “fiesta for democracy.”

While the Dominican Republic is far wealthier than Haiti, many Dominicans still struggle to satisfy basic needs, prompting some to seek a better life by slipping into nearby Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.

About 5 percent of the nation’s 6.5 million eligible voters live abroad, including 220,000 registered voters in the United States, most living in the New York area. Thanks to a constitutional amendment, Dominicans living abroad were able to vote for candidates to represent seven overseas districts.

The country is a popular resort spot, famous for its white sandy beaches and golf courses, but it also is the leading Caribbean transshipment point for South American drugs destined for the United States and Europe.

There is little to distinguish the two candidates ideologically. Both have sought to convince voters they will bring change through improved education and job creation. The PLD and the PRD have left-wing roots, though both parties are pro-business, and back close ties with the United States.

Mejia, 71, who served as president from 2000 to 2004, campaigned on a message of change with a populist slogan, “Llego Papa” (Daddy’s Here), that promises a better future for everyone.

Meanwhile, Medina adopted the slogan “Cambio Seguro” (Change With Certainty), attacking Mejia’s presidency, which ended in economic crisis.

Despite leaving office in 2004 in the wake of a major banking scandal that rocked the nation’s fragile economy, Mejia remains popular due to his personal charisma and discontent after eight years of PLD rule, including accusations of public corruption and the lingering economic effects of the global recession, which hit the tourism industry hard.

However, in recent years the country has had one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America and has significantly reduced its poverty rate to 34 percent from 44 percent a decade ago.

RUMORS AND ELECTORAL ISSUES

Medina, who studied to be a chemical engineer before becoming a career politician, is a co-founder of the PLD, and a former minister in the administration of Fernandez.

Fernandez’s wife, Margarita Cedeno, is running as Medina’s vice president. Popular with women voters, Cedeno, a 44-year-old mother of three, used her position as first lady to work for poverty reduction and children and women’s issues.

Mejia has accused the Fernandez government of using public money for political advantage by overspending on expensive public works projects in the major cities.

Mejia’s campaign repeatedly has attacked alleged government corruption, accusing the PLD of abandoning agriculture in favor of massive food imports to benefit businessmen linked to the ruling party.

(Writing by David Adams; Editing by Eric Walsh and Stacey Joyce)

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TORONTO?? Wealthier smartphone users are less likely to play games or tweet and will opt for news, travel or finance apps, according to a new study.

The research by The Luxury Institute focused on app usage among wealthy consumers, who earn an annual income of $150,000 or more. They tend to be older, with a mean age of 52.

“As you get older and have family and significant others, aging parents, and a lot more assets and investments, you’re going to need apps for far more relevant things than playing games and chatting with your peers,” said Milton Pedraza, CEO of The Luxury Institute.

The findings are in contrast to smartphone usage as a whole, which research firm Nielsen showed is dominated by games and social networking categories.

The wealthy use Facebook and Angry Birds, the two most downloaded apps of 2011, but overall, higher-income consumers use apps for entertainment far less than the average smartphone user, according to Pedraza.

While wealthy consumers are only slightly more likely to have a smartphone than the general population, Nielsen said the breakdown of devices owned differs considerably.

Forty-five percent of wealthy smartphone users own an iPhone, followed 35 percent with an Android device and a quarter who had a Blackberry. But Nielsen found that overall Android had 46 percent of market share, followed by the iPhone with 30 percent and Blackberry with 15 percent.

“Google’s strategy with Android is that they have multiple manufacturing partners,” explained Jonathan Carson, the CEO of digital at Nielsen. “There’s a broader choice with Android in the number of devices, and that may offer some opportunities for lower-end consumers.”

He added that the iPhone has always done quite well with high-income consumers.

Carson also noted an upswing in the number of smartphone users adopting iPhones within the last few months, which he attributes to the iPhone 4S, and Apple’s strategy to keep lower-priced models on the market at lower-price points to appeal to a wider range of consumers.

The study also showed that more than 80 percent of affluent consumers have downloaded apps and many have opted for paid apps and in-app upgrades. But on average, wealthier consumers download about half as many apps as the average consumer.

Among wealthy smartphone users, 67 percent have used their mobile device to shop for products or services online with tickets, gift cards, food or electronics the most popular purchases.

“There are a large number of people that still love to shop in the store, and I don’t think it’s only older people,” Pedraza said, adding apps can augment the in-store experience.

The marketing firm Plastic Mobile polled 603 consumers whose mean income was $295,000 and net worth was $2.8 million for The Luxury Institute study.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Call it spring fever. For the third year in a row, optimism is spreading that growth in the United States could be poised to accelerate and drive the economy into sunnier pastures.

Claims for first-time jobless benefits dipped to a four-year low last week as layoffs slow. Factory output is steadily expanding. Retail sales have picked up the past two months. And Europe no longer looms as an immediate threat since Greece restructured its debt and won more bailout money.

Even a 9 percent surge in gasoline prices on tensions with Iran over its nuclear program has failed to take much shine off consumer confidence. The University of Michigan survey slipped by one point to 74.3 in early March, but views on current conditions edged upward.

“For now it’s a Goldilocks scenario — moderate GDP growth, an improving jobs market, only a temporary inflation scare,” said Greg Valliere, chief strategist at the Potomac Research Group.

That is a marked improvement from five months ago when the prospect of a Greek sovereign chaotic default loomed large and running battles over the U.S. budget deficit damaged business and consumer confidence. Economists last October put the risk of the United States sliding back into recession at 30 percent.

No one is talking recession these days. The talk now is more about sustainable recovery, and investors are betting the world economy has turned the corner.

Investors poured into stocks last week, shedding safe-haven U.S. and German government debt, and the VIX <.vix>, an index that tracks U.S. stock market volatility and is know as Wall Street’s fear gauge, hit its lowest level since the summer of 2007 when the financial crisis began.

“All things considered, I think we are doing pretty well,” former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker told an economics summit here last week.

FALSE SPRING?

But bursts of optimism have sown false hope before.

This time last year, the U.S. economy was adding jobs at a similar pace of more than 200,000 a month between February and April. Growth was nipped in the bud by the Arab uprising, which sent oil prices soaring, and took another blow when Japan’s massive earthquake disrupted the global manufacturing chain. First-quarter output in 2011 was a paltry 0.4 percent and 1.7 percent in the second quarter.

In 2010, prospects had looked even stronger. Between March and May, companies were adding a net 309,000 new jobs each month, and first-quarter growth came in at a 2.7 percent. The rebound proved temporary, largely driven by companies rebuilding inventory after the steepest recession in over 70 years.

Today there is a cautious hope that perhaps this time it’s different.

American households have lowered their debt levels and are starting to borrow again. Durable goods are wearing out and demand picking up. Salaries are rising for the highest two income groups, which support 60 percent of all U.S. consumer spending — itself the biggest driver of the country’s economy. Europe’s downturn is looking less severe than feared, and while China’s outlook remains uncertain and its housing market overheated, officials there could yet pull off a soft landing.

“I am very cautious about the outlook, partly because we got burned last year. But make no mistake, we are getting better numbers here, and there is an upside scenario where we could get a lot of good growth,” said Craig Alexander, chief economist at TD Bank Financial Group in Toronto.

The euro zone gets an early look at its factory and service sector for March on Thursday. Economists forecast the flash PMI index will show gradual improvement though they see it remaining a little below the 50 mark, which divides growth from contraction.

STORMS AHEAD

One reason for caution is that many risks still loom. Some are persistent problems left over from the financial crisis that will exert a drag for months to come.

In the housing market, a flood of foreclosures continue to weigh on house prices this year. Housing starts for February, to be released on Tuesday, and new home sales on Friday are seen little changed at 700,000 units and 325,000, respectively. The home builders index also is forecast to hold steady around 30.

Existing home sales, due out on Wednesday, are forecast to rise by 1.1 percent, down from January’s strong 4.3 percent showing.

For all its gains, the labor market remains relatively weak. Job growth in this recovery is the slowest since World War Two, and 250,000 to 300,000 new positions would have to be added each month before the 8.3 percent jobless rate would decline substantially. The longer people are out of work, the faster they lose skills, and long-term unemployment is becoming an increasing worry.

While Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has abated, it could easily reignite, possibly as soon as this summer. The International Monetary Fund warned on Friday Greece has no room for error. Portugal and Spain are struggling to meet tough budget goals, and European leaders have yet to agree on putting more money into its rescue fund.

Politics also threaten. A military strike against Iran, favored by Israel, would send oil prices sky rocketing and upend growth. In the United States, U.S. fiscal contraction threatens when tax cuts worth about $300 billion-$400 billion expire at year end and budget cuts kick in, creating what analysts call a massive fiscal cliff unless lawmakers decide to delay the measures.

“You have got a 4 to 5 percent hit to GDP and growth already is going to be moderate at best,” said Robert Rubin, former Citigroup chairman and U.S. Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration. “It has enormous, enormous consequences for the economy.”

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/time-different-200111417.html

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MUMBAI (Reuters) ? Shares in Indian retailers jumped on Friday after the government opened up the $450 billion supermarket sector to global giants, but concerns emerged that caveats aimed at appeasing political opposition could hinder an expected flurry of investments.

The government on Thursday approved 51 percent foreign direct investment in the supermarket sector, paving the entry of firms such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour into one of the world’s largest untapped markets.

Indian retailers are expected to tie up deals with these companies and shares in Pantaloon Retail (India) jumped as much as 18.2 percent, Shopper’s Stop rallied 15 percent and Trent, part of the salt-to-steel Tata Group conglomerate, rose 17.2 percent.

In comparison, the main stock index was down 0.29 percent at 11 a.m. (0530 GMT).

But the new policy, seen as one of the most important government economic reforms in years, may commit supermarkets to strict local sourcing requirements and minimum investment levels aimed at protecting jobs.

(Also read: Time catches up with India’s traditional bazaars, click http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/idINIndia-60717420111124)

The requirements are due to fears of potential job losses among small traders that could heighten popular anger at the ruling Congress party ahead of key state polls next year that will set the stage for the 2014 general election.

Local media reported on Friday that individual states would have the power to veto foreign retailers – a caveat that could make it impossible for these companies to work in some of India’s biggest states run by the opposition.

That could, for example, exclude investor-favourite states like Gujarat, which is run by Bharatiya Janata Party.

The government was expected to release policy details later on Friday.

“Government efforts to overcome the opposition through tough stipulations … which hark back to the days of the licence raj – are also equally dangerous,” The Times of India said in an editorial on Friday.

“FDI ventures would be successful only if retailers are allowed to introduce practices benchmarked to the best in the world. Restrictive clauses which tie their hands are best avoided.”

This would not be the first time a big-ticket reform has sunk due to devilish details. In 2008, the government passed the U.S. civilian nuclear deal aimed at opening up India’s nuclear power market to foreign players, hailed as the cornerstone of India’s warming ties with the United States.

But investments have since languished due to stringent accident liability clauses that U.S. companies say make it too risky to invest.

Political opposition could also be a deal breaker. India’s biggest listed company, Reliance Industries, was forced to backtrack on plans in 2007 to open Western-style supermarkets in Uttar Pradesh after huge protests from small traders and political parties.

Still, there was optimism that momentum was on the reform side.

Indian retail chains have been allowed to operate for years, but they have struggled to expand due to funding difficulties, a lack of expertise and poor roads and cold storage facilities.

(Reporting by Henry Foy; Writing by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by John Chalmers)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/india_nm/india607255

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WASHINGTON ? Americans spent more on autos, electronics and building supplies in October. The fifth straight monthly gain in retail sales suggests the economy maintained solid growth at the start of the fourth quarter.

Retail sales increased 0.5 percent, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Healthy auto sales helped. But even without them, sales rose 0.6 percent ? the best showing since March.

And when excluding autos and sales at gasoline stations, sales rose 0.7 percent, also the biggest increase since March.

Consumers spent more on electronics, appliances, hardware and building supplies. Sales also rose at grocery stores, bars and restaurants and health care stores.

Sales at department stores and specialty clothing stores fell.

Overall, the data were encouraging. Economists said the sales suggest the economy is growing at roughly the same 2.5 percent annual pace as the July-September quarter.

“Although consumer spending is not particularly robust, households do continue to spend and provide moderate support for the overall economy,” said Steven A. Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics.

Separately, the government said companies paid less for wholesale goods last month for the first time since June. Inflation pressures are easing as the costs of oil and other commodities have declined.

The Producer Price Index, which measures price changes before they reach the consumer, dropped 0.3 percent in October, the Labor Department said. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, the core index was unchanged for the first time in 11 months.

The retail sales report is the government’s first look each month at consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.

A rebound in consumer spending was the key reason the economy had its best quarterly growth in a year.

Stronger economic growth helped calm fears that the economy could slide back into a recession. Still, growth would need to be nearly double the third-quarter rate ? consistently ? to make a significant dent in unemployment.

Another concern is that the growth came after consumers spent more while earning less, a trend that economists fear can’t be sustained.

Without more jobs and higher pay, consumers may be forced to cut back on spending. And Europe’s debt crisis could worsen, which could throw that region into a recession and weaken U.S. growth.

“Overall, the economy appears to be growing at a decent clip,” said Paul Dales, a senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. “We are not convinced that this will be carried into 2012, however, as consumption cannot grow at a faster rate than incomes indefinitely and industry is the sector most vulnerable to Europe’s woes.”

Americans bought more cars in October. The 0.4 percent rise followed a 4.2 percent surge in September.

Purchases of SUVs and trucks offset a loss in momentum for car sales. Sales have rebounded from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which disrupted distribution of parts to U.S. factories and made it harder to obtain some popular models.

The 1.2 percent drop in sales at department stores followed a 1 percent increase in September. The October decline was probably influenced by the weather. Warm weather at the beginning of the month depressed demand for winter clothing, while a snowstorm in the Northeast reduced cut into shopping at the end of the month.

Specialty clothing stores saw sales drop 0.7 percent after a 1.7 percent increase in September.

A broader category of general merchandise stores, which covers big discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, had flat sales during the month after a modest 0.6 percent increase in September.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s third-quarter profit slipped 2.9 percent, missing Wall Street expectations. But the world’s largest retailer reported its first quarterly revenue gain in its U.S. namesake business in more than two years.

Sales were down at furniture stores, which reflected the continued slump in housing, and at gasoline service stations, likely because of a small decline in gas prices.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_retail_sales

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BOSTON (Reuters) ? The shock waves of Europe’s debt crisis will take a toll on corporate America, particularly sellers of cars, consumer products and basic materials that generate significant revenue on the continent.

The crisis that this week claimed the heads of the Greek and Italian governments is threatening to throw Europe into recession, and has U.S. companies from General Motors Co to Emerson Electric Co scrambling to find ways to reduce their risk.

GM, the No. 1 U.S. automaker, which gets about 17 percent of sales in Europe, on Wednesday warned that it no longer expects to break even in the region this year, with Chief Executive Dan Akerson blaming “Europe’s economic morass.”

Industrial conglomerate Emerson, which generates about 20 percent of its sales in Europe, plans to focus all of its 2012 restructuring efforts on the continent.

“Europe is definitely going to be a problem,” Emerson CEO David Farr told a conference on Wednesday. “I expect Europe next year to be very challenging for us. But I expect them to resolve this and start dealing with their issues long term.”

U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday and Italy’s borrowing costs rose to a level viewed as unsustainable, prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to warn that deep structural reforms were needed for the euro zone. Unlike Greece, Italy’s economy is seen as too large for the European Union or International Monetary Fund to bail out.

The crisis could push Europe into a mild recession and hit demand for everything from Big Macs to corporate computer servers, said Peter Sorrentino, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati.

“It will impact a lot of the major U.S. exporters, split out between technology and the consumer side. The McDonald’s of the world are going to feel this,” he said.

“You might see some order-book erosion, literally across the board, from GE to Hewlett-Packard and IBM as well. This is big enough that it could affect everyone.”

MANY SECTORS HIT

GE and McDonald’s are among 30 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index that Citigroup called out for having both large sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and high debt-to-capital ratios. GE shares are down 13.6 percent this year, while McDonald’s has gained nearly 21 percent. The S&P is down 1.9 percent on the year.

The industries most dependent on European sales include automobile and components companies, which generated almost 28 percent of their sales in the region, according to Citigroup chief equity strategist Tobias Levkovich. Food, beverage and tobacco companies had the next-highest EMEA exposure with 22 percent, followed by basic materials with 20 percent.

He also suggested investors should pay special attention to companies with both heavy exposure to Europe and debt-to-capital ratios in excess of 35 percent, describing those companies as “potentially looking risky.”

Two names that topped that list were the foreign affiliates of well-known U.S. brands: Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc and cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc.

But the list also includes more geographically balanced companies, including glass container manufacturer Owens-Illinois Inc, McDonald’s, insurance company Aon Corp, money manager Invesco Ltd and Dow Chemical Co, all of which generate at least 34 percent of their sales in the EMEA region.

“It should be obvious to almost anyone that the tight fiscal programs needed to address large deficits will cause drags on European economic trends,” Levkovich wrote in a note to clients.

Those concerns are not reflected in Wall Street profit forecasts. Analysts have lowered their next-quarter earnings estimates for the 30 companies highlighted by Citigroup for their European exposure by 0.4 percent over the past 30 days, less than the 2.3 percent decline in estimates for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index as a whole, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine data.

DEMAND SEEN FADING

Rockwell Automation Inc, a maker of systems to help factories run more smoothly, warned investors on Tuesday that European companies’ capital spending may decline next year.

“The outlook there is certainly slowing,” said CEO Keith Nosbusch. “We know that European OEM machine makers will have a slower growth than they did in 2011 … They feel good about the next quarter; but I think as we roll into calendar 2012, they have less visibility.”

In addition to hurting European demand for U.S. goods, the crisis in the euro zone had been pushing down the value of its currency, which on Wednesday hit a one-month low against the dollar, trading below $1.36.

That could hurt not only U.S. companies’ exports to Europe but even to still-growing economies in Asia. A weaker euro, for instance, could make an electric turbine made by Germany’s Siemens AG more cost competitive in China than one made by GE, one investor noted.

“That’s probably the biggest risk, because on a relative basis, our products have been cheaper,” said Peter Klein, senior portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management in Cleveland, Ohio. “If (the euro) goes down to $1.30 it’s probably not a big deal, but if the euro goes to a buck, or even $1.05, that could have a real big impact on domestic U.S. companies selling into Europe.”

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, additional reporting by Nick Zieminski in New York and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111109/bs_nm/us_usa_corporate_europe

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