Business and Finance news

Here’s a sign of just how far BlackBerry’s star has fallen: The maker of one popular app is pulling the plug, citing a "steady exodus" of users gravitating instead to Android and the iPhone.

Visual voicemail company YouMail is ending development on its BlackBerry app. YouMail CEO Alex Quilici said in a blog post that the decision was "bittersweet," because BlackBerry "got us our first million registered users and put us on the map as a company."

YouMail’s app is currently among the top-10 most popular apps in the "productivity" category of BlackBerry’s App World store. But Quilici says the customer base has collapsed.

As he wrote on YouMail’s blog: "On many days we’re now getting fewer BB users than Windows Phone 7 users, and we don’t even have a Windows Phone 7 app!" (YouMail’s apps for Windows are developed by third parties that license YouMail’s API.)

"When we began to see that trend, it definitely made us think," Quilici told CNNMoney.

YouMail, based in Irvine, Calif., is growing rapidly on Apple’s (, Fortune 500) iPhone and Google’s (, Fortune 500) Android platform, Quilici said. Almost 2.5 million people are currently registered app users.

"Our company is only 10 people in total, and they’re all development or customer support," Quilici said. "We need to focus on where we see growth. And right now, it’s not BlackBerry."

BlackBerry CEO: ‘Substantial change needed’

It’s a long way from the former YouMail-BlackBerry love affair. YouMail started out as a Web-based service in 2007, then added mobile in 2009 after BlackBerry users requested a handset app personal loans for people with bad credit. Research in Motion () gave YouMail a lot of support, Quilici said, by highlighting it several times as a featured app in App World.

But the customer base started dwindling, and development was taking exponentially longer for BlackBerry than for iPhone or Android.

"A feature that took two to three days to build on Android and the iPhone took two to three weeks on BlackBerry," Quilici said. "The platform is getting long in the tooth."

RIM did not respond to a request for comment. Quilici, who reached out to RIM on Monday after news articles began appearing about YouMail discontinuing its BlackBerry support, said he also hasn’t heard back.

One developer leaving obviously isn’t a death blow. But it’s an ominious sign for RIM, which is struggling to stay relevant in an industry it once dominated.

If BlackBerry can turn itself around — or if RIM was willing to foot the bill for app development, a tactic Microsoft is using to seed its Windows Phone app store — Quilici said YouMail would gladly come back to the platform.

"We’re all rooting for BlackBerry over here," he said. "IPhone was a success because it was different and cool, while Android got attention for being largely free and open. I hope RIM finds something like that to differentiate itself." 

Source

Asian stock markets sank Monday as Europe’s debt crisis threatened to intensify again while growth in China slowed.

Japan’s Nikkei slid 1.4 percent to 9,505.27, bruised by a higher yen and an announcement Thursday by electronics and video gaming giant Sony Corp. that it would slash 10,000 jobs.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.9 percent lower at 1,991.56 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6 percent to 20,570.52.

The most recent worries in Europe are concentrated on Spain and Italy. The yield last week on Spain’s 10-year government bond rose to 5.93 percent, and Italy’s rose to 5.52 percent _ signs of slipping investor confidence.

It means those countries will have to pay more to borrow money and force more cuts in government spending. That would hinder growth that is needed to extricate Europe’s smaller economies from a massive load of debt.

Meanwhile, data on Friday showed the Chinese economy grew at an 8.1 percent pace in the January-March period, the slowest in almost three years.

“Pressure on risk assets has intensified in the wake of softer Chinese GDP data and especially renewed eurozone stresses, with Spain moving rapidly into the spotlight,” analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong wrote in an e-mail.

“Further pressure on Spanish bond spreads is likely especially as it has become clear that the country’s banks are relying more on European Central Bank funding.”

On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 1.1 percent to close at 12,849.59. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.3 percent to 1,370.26. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.5 percent to 3,011.33.

Benchmark oil for May delivery was down 70 cents to $102.13 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 81 cents to finish at $102.83 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3023 from $1.3081 on Friday in New York. The dollar fell to 80.88 yen from 81.10 yen.

Source

Spanish and German government bonds are signaling the respite in the euro-region

Aegion Corp. said Thursday that a subsidiary, United Pipeline Systems, had entered a joint venture with Special Technical Services LLC to provide pipeline-lining services in the Middle East.

United Pipeline owns 51 percent of the joint venture, Aegion said. The venture, established in Oman, will provide pipeline, piping and flow line high-density polyethylene lining services in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

Dorwin Hawn, senior vice president of Aegion’s Energy & Mining group, said the joint venture is an opportunity for United Pipeline Systems to accelerate its expansion in the Middle East.

Aegion Corp., based in Chesterfield, is the parent company of Insituform Technologies Inc.

Source

ST. LOUIS • Four days after pleading guilty to state fraud charges, US Fidelis co-founder Darain Atkinson appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to admit he also broke federal laws in cheating customers and failing to declare or pay taxes on $13 million received from the company in just one year.

In a dark suit and yellow striped tie, Atkinson, 47, pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and filing a false tax return.

In his plea, Atkinson admitted that he failed to declare $13 million in “distributions” from Fidelis on his 2006 federal income tax return. That year, in fact, he reported a negative income, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bodenhausen said in court.

Atkinson also acknowledged tricking consumers into believing that auto service contracts Fidelis peddled by phone and mail were actually extended warranties from the vehicles’ manufacturers. When customers canceled and asked for a refund, as up to 60 percent did, Atkinson admitted telling Fidelis staffers to withhold up to 40 percent of the amount due.

He also admitted that he and his brother, company co-founder Cory Atkinson, used the latter’s credit card to make payments for customers who they thought were likely to cancel or refuse to pay. The payments triggered full payment for Fidelis’ share of the contract from a financing company, his plea says.

Some of the admissions were similar to what was contained in his guilty plea Thursday in St. Charles County Circuit Court to state charges of insurance fraud, stealing and unlawful merchandising practices.

Lawyers said last week that Darain Atkinson would not testify against his brother, although his plea agreements at times refer to the criminal conduct of both brothers, and he worked out his plea deals in secret high risk personal loans.

Prosecutors allege that both funneled millions of dollars of profits into lavish homes, luxury goods and payments on behalf of relatives — even as those expenses and customer cancellations were squeezing the company cash flow.

Fidelis, once one of the nation’s largest sellers of auto service contracts, collapsed in 2009, prompting civil suits and a bankruptcy case that is still pending.

In both state and federal criminal cases, prosecutors are recommending a sentence of eight years in prison for Darain Atkinson, to be run at the same time. Federal sentencing guidelines for the crimes call for roughly eight to 10 years.

Sentencing in the state and federal cases has been tentatively set for July.

Cory Atkinson’s state case is pending, with a trial set for September.

He was indicted along with his brother on the federal charges of conspiracy and two counts of filing a false tax return. He is scheduled to turn himself in to federal authorities on Thursday.

Darain Atkinson has prior convictions more than 20 years ago for theft, burglary, forgery and making counterfeit federal reserve notes. Cory Atkinson has a 1987 felony conviction for trespassing.

Source

Hedge funds reduced bullish bets on commodities for a second consecutive week as the Federal Reserve signaled it may refrain from more monetary stimulus, increasing concern that growth will slow and curb demand for raw materials.

Money managers lowered net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 2.8 percent to 1.1 million contracts in the week ended April 3, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission show. Bets on higher corn prices fell to the lowest since February, while those on hogs dropped by the most since May. Speculators cut wagers on costlier crude oil for a third week, and are now the least bullish in two months.

Minutes from the March 13 Fed policy meeting released April 3 showed policy makers will probably hold off on increasing monetary accommodation unless the U.S. economic expansion falters. The Standard & Poor

A prominent Iranian lawmaker says Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so.

Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam says Iran can easily produce the highly enriched uranium that is used to build atomic bombs but it is not Tehran’s policy to go that route.

Moghadam made the comment in an interview with the parliament’s news website, icana.ir, late Friday. His views do not represent the Iranian government’s policy electronic check payday advance. It is the first time that a prominent Iranian politician has publicly stated that Iran has the technological capability to produce a nuclear weapon.

The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

Source

The city of O’Fallon, Mo., hired Michael Hurlbert as its new economic development director.

Hurlbert is joining O’Fallon from the planning, architecture and design firm of Peckham, Guyton, Albers & Viets Inc., where he was senior project manager since September 2008.

Previously, he was the city planner and economic development administrator for Creve Coeur from 2004 to 2008, and a project planner for Chesterfield from 2000 to 2004 payday loan companies.

Hurlbert has a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in urban affairs, both from St. Louis University.

Source

The Federal Reserve is considering possible sales of assets from its Maiden Lane III portfolio, which was created during the bailout of insurer American International Group (AIG) (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a New York Federal Reserve spokesman said on Wednesday.

Maiden Lane III grew out of the purchase of $29.3 billion in collateralized debt obligations from certain counterparties to an AIG unit.

Back in February, the Fed completed the sale of all the remaining securities from its Maiden Lane II portfolio, which had $20.5 billion worth of mortgage-backed bonds owned by several AIG insurance subsidiaries.

“The change in the investment objective for ML III reflects a strategic decision to explore possible sales of some of the assets in the portfolio in light of improving market conditions and the success of the ML II sales. The Fed will only transact if it deems that a particular transaction represents good value, is done competitively and is not market disruptive,” a Fed spokesman said in a statement.

Read more

 The Federal Trade Commission announced early this morning that it has decided that Express Scripts Inc.’s $29 billion acquisition of rival Medco Health Solutions did not violate antitrust laws and will allow the deal to go through.

The decision will north St. Louis County-based Express Scripts to become the country’s large pharmacy benefit manager, which has worried competitor like pharmacy chains and grocery stories.

The FTC also said it didn’t impose conditions on the deal. Some analysts had said that the antitrust regulator could approve the deal but require the divestiture of certain assets to ensure competition in niche activities.

In it press release, the FTC said it voted 3 to 1 in favor of closing the eight-month-long antitrust investigation, which it described as “not an easy decision.”

The FTC said it was concerned that the deal could concentrate too much of the pharmacy benefit management business under a single company; under the merger, 40 percent of this business would be controlled by Express Scripts no faxing pay day loans.

However, the agency said its investigation found that the PBM market is highly competitive and that the size of the deal is “not an accurate indicator of the likely effects of the merger on competition and consumers.”

The agency also disclosed that FTC Chair Leibowitz had supported imposing certain conditions on the deal that had prevented Express Scripts from “certain forms of exclusionary conduct that might have hindered the ongoing expansion of a significant competitor.” The competitor was not identified.

However, Leibowitz withdrew the motion when two other commissioners didn’t support the conditions.

FTC Julie Brill dissented from the decision to close the investigation, saying the deal was anti-competitive. 

Check back for details on this breaking story.

Source