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May 9, 2013 ? New engineered spider protein could be the start of a new generation of anti-venom vaccines, potentially saving thousands of lives worldwide. The new protein, created from parts of a toxin from the reaper spider, is described today in the Elsevier journal Vaccine.

The researchers behind the study, from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil, say that the engineered protein may be a promising candidate for developing therapeutic serums or vaccines against other venoms.

Reaper spiders, or brown spiders, are a family of species found all over the world that produce harmful venoms. The toxic bite of these spiders causes skin around the bite to die, and can lead to more serious effects like kidney failure and haemorrhaging. These Loxosceles spiders are most prevalent in Brazil, where they cause almost 7,000 human accidents every year.

The new study describes an engineered protein made of three pieces of a venom toxin from the Loxosceles intermedia spider. The engineered protein is not itself toxic, and gives effective protection against the effects of the pure spider venom in animal models.

“In Brazil we see thousands of cases of people being bitten by Loxosceles spiders, and the bites can have very serious side-effects,” said Dr. Ch?vez-Olortegui, corresponding author of the study. “Existing anti-venoms are made of the pure toxins and can be harmful to people who take them. We wanted to develop a new way of protecting people from the effects of these spider bites, without having to suffer from side-effects.”

Current approaches to protecting against venom involve giving the venom to animals, and taking the resulting antibodies for the serum. These antibodies enable the human immune system to prepare to neutralize venom from bites. Although they are somewhat effective, the production of anti-venoms like these is problematic because animals are required to produce them, and these animals suffer from the effects of the venom.

The new protein is engineered in the lab, without the need for the venomous animals. It is made up of three proteins, so it can protect against more than one kind of toxin at a time. The protein is not harmful to the immunized animal that produces the antibodies. It is also more effective than existing approaches, and easier to produce than preparing crude venom from spiders.

“It’s not easy taking venom from a spider, a snake or any other kind of venomous animal,” said Ch?vez-Olortegui. “With our new method, we would be able to engineer the proteins in the lab without having to isolate whole toxins from venom. This makes the whole process much safer.”

The researchers tested their new protein on rabbits: all immunized animals showed an immune response similar to the way they respond to the whole toxin. The engineered protein was effective for venom of the L. intermedia and L. gaucho sub-species, which have similar toxins. Immunized rabbits were protected from skin damage at the site of venom injection, and from haemorrhaging.

This engineered protein may be a promising candidate for therapeutic serum development or vaccination in the future.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/OpNKu9iX8QQ/130508213250.htm

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In this April 30, article for Reuters and printed on CNBC.com, MLI?s Leading Economic Indicator is cited to bolster evidence of economic recovery.

WRAPUP 3-Growth rebound may herald Canada?s economic spring

Tuesday, 30 Apr 2013, Reuters (posted at CNBC.com), by: Louise Egan

* February GDP growth of 0.3 pct beats estimates
* Q1 growth now seen closer to 2 pct annualized
* Bank of Canada still seen holding rates steady
* Producer prices lifted by weaker C$ in March

OTTAWA, April 30 (Reuters) ? Canada?s economy delivered a welcome surprise in February, growing faster than expected and prompting economists to upgrade their forecasts for the first quarter, although none expect the central bank to raise interest rates any time soon.

Monthly gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent, Statistics Canada said Tuesday, while also revising upward its growth estimate for January, to 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent.

It cited the potash mining, oil and gas and manufacturing sectors as the main sources of strength.

?Overall, a ray of sunshine in an economy that needs all it can get,? said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets.

The Canadian economy has long recovered from the 2008-09 recession but stalled in the second half of last year, posting the two weakest quarters of growth since the crisis.

After many months of disappointment, analysts found themselves in the unusual position of having forecasts that were too downbeat. Most now see economic growth in the first quarter exceeding the 1.5 percent annualized rate predicted by the Bank of Canada (BoC) earlier this month, and possibly even above 2 percent, depending on how March unfolds.

Still, the central bank is going to remain cautious until it sees more evidence the economy is on the mend, said Derek Holt, vice president at Scotiabank.

?This probably means that there is slightly less spare capacity than the BoC estimated in the April Monetary Policy Report, but not terribly so. Further, with the housing correction still progressing and inflation undershooting the BoC?s 2 percent target, policy is still going nowhere for a long time,? he said.

The bank has held its key rate at 1 percent since September 2010. It now says its next move will be a rate hike but only after an unspecified ?period of time?.

The Canadian dollar firmed to a session high against the U.S. dollar immediately after the data. At 9:35 a.m. (1335 GMT), the currency was trading at C$1.0100 versus the U.S. dollar, or 99.00 U.S. cents, stronger than its level shortly before the data was released and stronger than Monday?s finish of C$1.0116, or 98.85 U.S. cents.

Natural resource industries lifted the overall economy in February. The mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector expanded 2.2 percent due to a significant output increase from potash mines, increased oil production and support activities in the energy sector.

The hard-hit manufacturing sector continued to recover with 0.8 percent growth and construction gained 0.2 percent.

Overall, goods-producing industries grew 0.9 percent.

Services, by contrast, eked out a 0.1 percent gain as the end of a labor dispute in professional hockey continued to boost the arts and entertainment sector, offsetting a downturn in wholesale trade.

In other upbeat data on Tuesday, the composite leading indicator developed by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a think tank, rose 0.3 percent in March, compared with 0.2 percent in February on strength in financial markets and commodity prices, although the housing index remained a drag on the economy.

Canadian consumers, however, leaned against outright optimism in April. The Conference Board of Canada reported consumer confidence fell 4.9 points in the month in ?the continuation of disconcerting trend?, whereas U.S. consumer confidence rose 6.2 points in April.

Canadians were particularly pessimistic about job prospects, with sentiment at a 10-month low.

WEAK C$ HELPS PRODUCER PRICES

Canadian producer prices climbed 0.1 percent in March from February as the Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart, lifting prices for motor vehicles and other products, Statscan also reported on Tuesday.

Without the exchange rate effect, the industrial product price index would have fallen 0.3 percent because of falling prices for petroleum and coal as well as for some metals, the federal agency said.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast, on average, a 0.3 percent rise in the price of goods as they leave the factory gate.
In the 12 months to March, producer prices rose 0.9 percent.

Raw materials prices unexpectedly fell 1.7 percent in the month, mainly due to lower prices for crude oil. Compared with a year earlier, raw materials were down 2 percent.

Related posts:

1. Reuters Canada & Sun News Network cover latest Leading Economic Indicator January 7, 2013 ? MLI?s latest Leading Economic Indicator is highlighted today in a report…
2. Reuters Canada, Bloomberg Businessweek and iPolitics cover latest MLI Leading Economic Indicator January 29, 2013 ? MLI?s latest index released today has been covered nationally in Reuters…
3. MLI Leading Indicator suggests modest economic growth in first half of 2013 First-quarter acceleration in US GDP may provide boost for Canada?s economy OTTAWA, April 30, 2013…
4. Reuters Canada: Canada leading indicator shows housing decline in October November 28, 2012 ? In an article for Reuters Canada?today, journalist Louise Egan reports on…
5. MLI?s new Leading Economic Indicator in The Globe and Mail, Reuters Canada, Toronto Sun & Ottawa Citizen MLI?s new Leading Economic Indicator has attracted the attention of more newspapers across the country!…

Please note that the link above was live when posted. Older links may no longer be functional.

Source: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/mlis-leading-economic-indicator-in-the-news/

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The iPhone 5S production will begin soon, if a recent rumor is to be believed. According to the rumor, Sharp is planning on beginning production on the screens for Apple?s next iPhone this summer, and pushing for a Q3 release date.

While the screen will (most likely) stay the same as the one found in the iPhone 5, production orders have already rolled into Japan Display and LG Display, and apparently production has already begun at those other locations on the screens. While the iPhone 5S has yet to be announced, it is rumored that the device will feature upgraded internals as well as a new fingerprint scanner built in.

What do you think about the iPhone 5 rumors? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the rumored iPhone 5 successor.

Source: AppleInsider

Tags: Display, iPhone, iPhone 5S, LG, News/Articles, screen, Sharp

About Griffin Koupal

Griffin is a current high school student located in the great state of Kansas. He loves writing about technology, and is the proud owner of an iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

Source: http://www.todaysiphone.com/2013/05/production-on-iphone-5s-screens-from-sharp-to-begin-in-june/

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Let?s congratulate McDonald?s.?If rehab requires admitting you have a problem, then the company?s first step was a webinar with franchisees, noting that 20 percent of customer complaints are due to ?unfriendly service.??

Steve Levigne, the fast food behemoth?s vice president of business research, was quoted in a?Wall Street Journal?piece saying candidly that McDonald?s ?service is broken.??The number one complaint:??rude or unprofessional employees.?

For McDonald?s, a company that spends an estimated $2 billion annually on advertising to attract customers, having counter personnel who alienate them in the final moments of a transaction is a disaster.?Fixing customer service will require more than admonishing hundreds of thousands of employees to smile.?Let?s hope McDonald?s is serious about service and that its confessional was just a first step.

In our most recent book, ?Judgment on the Front Line,? we describe what it takes for an organization to become truly ?frontline? focused, ensuring people at the customer touch point are able to represent a brand effectively.?Here?s how our research into more than 20 organizations, ranging from Ritz-Carlton to the Mayo Clinic to Yum! Brands, can apply to McDonald?s:

1. Create shared emotion around delivering a great customer experience.?You can?t compel people to have a great attitude.?Sure, mystery shoppers can count the number of smiles in a small sample of the more than 14,000 restaurants in the U.S.?But we?ve all been exposed to service personnel whose words and conduct avoid being overtly offensive, while tinged with just enough sarcasm or apathy to make it clear you are?not?their priority.

McDonald?s has stressed speed, cleanliness and operational discipline. It?s time to refocus on service by painting a vision of the ideal customer experience.?Just as Ritz-Carlton talks about ?creating memories? for its guests, or Yum! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, stresses ?customer mania,? McDonald?s needs to articulate how someone at the counter can make a customer?s day a little brighter with quick service and a smile.?The first value listed on McDonald?s website is ?we place the customer experience at the core of all we do.??For that to be more than rhetoric, company leaders need to give vivid examples of the difference a frontline employee can make when they show they really care about their work.

2. Keep simplifying work processes and rules.?McDonald?s just announced?a new ordering system?that moves customers down the counter from the register, while a ?runner? bags the food.?Why is this so important??Imagine how you?d feel standing in front of a customer impatiently waiting for his food to come out of the kitchen, while the line of other impatiently waiting customers continues to grow.?Broken processes put frontline employees in the hot seat without the ability to help.?The company?s franchisees, who own roughly 90% of US stores, have always been a source of great ideas. Our guess is that if corporate is willing to listen, the thousands of McDonald?s employees could tell the headquarters? folks exactly what other operational changes need to be made.

3. Invest more in tools and training.?The company reportedly doesn?t cross-train employees so they understand what other team members are doing or have the ability to pitch in if someone gets behind.?Upgrading people?s skills and changing their mindset will require investing in human capital.?While McDonald?s doesn?t release employee turnover figures, it?s undoubtedly well into the double digits.?This means resources should initially be focused on training franchisees and the managers they hire so they have the right skills to train workers and build local environments where people want to work.

This starts with helping franchisees think carefully about the people they hire.?For example, Wawa, a regional chain of six hundred convenience stores known for its near cult-like customer following, screens potential store managers fiercely against two values:?Delight Customers and Value People. Once McDonald?s teaches its frontline employees new skills, it should trust them to fix customer problems.?At Yum! Brands, employees in each of its restaurants are entrusted to spend up to $10 to fix any customer problem, allowing them to make any transaction a money loser if that?s what?s required to satisfy the customer.

4. Reward and recognize great service.?Driving change means publicly recognizing new behaviors. The company needs to showcase stories of great frontline service by recognizing employees who deliver, and encouraging associates to recognize each other.?Whether the ?wow stories? of Ritz-Carlton personnel going above and beyond the call of duty that are shared globally every week, or Wawa?s system in which employees nominate each other for a series of pins, representing each of the company values, corporate and peer recognition make customer service feel truly meaningful to employees in frontline focused organizations.

McDonald?s has a long way to go, but let?s applaud them for publicly admitting that its declining service is unsustainable for a multi-billion dollar brand in a ferociously competitive industry.?Let?s hope the company has the perseverance and commitment to stay on course ? and that they eventually give employees some real reasons to smile.

This post originally appeared on Forbes.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mcdonalds-can-fix-customer-service-2013-5

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who is seen as a possible presidential candidate for 2016, said Tuesday that he underwent a procedure in February to have a band implanted around his stomach in February in an effort to lose weight.

A look at the procedure, his decision, and what it might mean:

___

THE SURGERY

Christie says he decided around the time he turned 50 on Sept. 6 that he wanted to have the procedure. It was originally scheduled for November but pushed back to February after Superstorm Sandy hit his state.

The procedure is the least invasive of the major weight-loss surgeries, and it’s reversible. An adjustable band is placed around the stomach to restrict how much food someone can eat at once.

Compared to other procedures, weight loss is relatively slow ? no more than 1 or 2 pounds per week. Patients still have to eat healthy foods and get exercise for the procedure to be successful, doctors say.

Christie says he underwent the 40-minute procedure on Feb. 16, went home later that day and was back at work after two more days of rest.

___

THE REASON

Christie has struggled with his weight throughout his adult life, though he has never said publicly how much he weighs. He says that he has no other major health problems but knows that obesity is a risk for a variety of conditions.

“It’s not a career issue for me. It’s a long-term health issue for me. That’s the basis on which I made the decision.”

He said he wants to make sure he’s there for his family and denied that he decided to have the surgery to advance his re-election campaign this year or a future run for president, if he decides to embark on one.

He said he presented the idea of the surgery to his wife and four children and they encouraged him to do it.

___

THE SECRECY

Christie says he told only a few staff members about the operation and did not intend to make a public announcement. “It’s not anybody else’s business but mine,” he said.

But when he was asked directly by a New York Post reporter on Monday, he said he decided to acknowledge he had had the operation. He said the revelation was news to practically everybody, including his communications office and campaign staff.

___

THE TIMING

Though Christie says he intended to keep his procedure a personal matter, The Post’s article came out the same day as MSNBC personality Mika Brzezinski’s book, “Obsessed: America’s Food Addiction ? And My Own,” was released. The book features an interview with Christie about his struggles with his weight. It’s a topic he has discussed in many national television interviews with questioners from Oprah Winfrey to David Letterman, and for years he has both joked about his size and said it’s a serious problem that he’s been working on.

___

THE POLITICS

While Christie says the surgery was a personal decision about his health ? something he called “a hell of a lot more important to me than running for president,” there could be political implications.

Some critics have suggested that Christie’s weight could be a political hindrance.

“Gov. Christie’s weight is an issue the same way that any candidate or official’s health is an issue,” said Michael Dennehy, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist and veteran of presidential politics. “Anyone running for president will need to comfort Americans with an overall healthy picture for their future.”

___

THE ROUTINE

Christie says he’s been working with a personal trainer four times a week for years, and is continuing now.

He says he has not been as hungry since the surgery and has eaten less.

While he appears to be a bit thinner, Christie would not say Thursday how much weight he as lost.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guide-nj-gov-christies-weight-loss-surgery-064914562.html

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AL_LS600???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Las?Cruces,?NM????Tue?May?7,?2013????USDA?Market?News??????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Texas?to?Mexico?Daily?Livestock?Exports????????????????????????????????????????
Species????????????????????Exports??????Current???Current???Previous???????????
??????????????????????????5/6/2013?????Week-T-D????Y-T-D??????Y-T-D????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Dairy?totals?include?149?head?of?Canadian?Dairy.???????????????????????????????
Hog?totals?include?539?head?of?Canadian?Hogs.??????????????????????????????????

Beef?Cattle????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???Slaughter?????????????????????0???????????0????????0???????????0????????????
???Breeding?Males????????????????0???????????0??????172?????????154????????????
???Breeding?Females??????????????0???????????0??????255?????????222????????????
???Total?Beef?Cattle?????????????0???????????0??????427?????????376????????????

Hogs???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???Slaughter?????????????????????0???????????0????????0???????????0????????????
???Breeding?Males????????????????0???????????0??????246?????????456????????????
???Breeding?Females??????????????0???????????0????1,905???????3,236????????????
???Total?Hogs????????????????????0???????????0????2,151???????3,692????????????

Sheep??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???Slaughter?Lambs???????????????0???????????0????????0???????????0????????????
???Slaughter?Ewes????????????????0???????????0????6,069???????????0????????????
???Breeding?Males????????????????0???????????0????????0???????????0????????????
???Breeding?Females??????????????0???????????0????????0???????????6????????????
???Total?Sheep???????????????????0???????????0????6,069???????????6????????????

Dairy?Cattle???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???Breeding?Males????????????????0???????????0????????7??????????10????????????
???Breeding?Females??????????????0???????????0????5,808???????1,723????????????
???Total?Dairy?Cattle????????????0???????????0????5,815???????1,733????????????

Goats??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???Angora????????????????????????0???????????0????????0???????????0????????????
???Spanish???????????????????????0???????????0????????0???????????0????????????
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Horses?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???Slaughter????????????????????28??????????28???31,136??????28,388????????????
???Breeding?Males????????????????3???????????3??????490?????????568????????????
???Breeding?Females??????????????8???????????8??????756?????????738????????????
???Geldings??????????????????????1???????????1??????182?????????163????????????
???Burro/Mule/Pony???????????????0???????????0??????190??????????97????????????
???Total?Horses?????????????????40??????????40???32,754??????29,954????????????

Exotics??????????????????????????0???????????0???????41??????????77????????????

Grand?Total?All?Species?????????40??????????40???47,257??????35,838????????????

Source:???USDA?Market?News?Service,?Las?Cruces,?NM???????????????????
??????????John?Langenegger?(575)527-6861?FAX(575)527-6868????????????
??????????LasCruces.LGMN@ams.usda.gov????????????????????????????????
??????????www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/AL_LS600.txt???????????

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Source: http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/markets/feeder-cattle/Texas-to-Mexico-Daily-Livestock-Exports-199745-206436651.html

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By Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) – At least 20 Bangladeshis were killed on Monday in clashes between police and hardline Islamists demanding religious reforms, as violence spread beyond the capital Dhaka to other parts of the country.

The clashes began on Sunday after 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press demands critics said would amount to the “Talibanisation” of a country that maintains secularism as state policy, but they were met by lines of police firing teargas and rubber bullets.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters, many wearing white Muslim skull caps and throwing stones, re-grouped and police fired teargas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse them.

Protesters set fire to vehicles, including two police cars, and stormed a police post on the outskirts of the capital, police said.

Two policemen and a member of a paramilitary force were among the 13 people killed in the capital, said police official Shah Mohammad Manzur Kader.

Five more died in the southeastern city of Chittagong after police opened fire on protesters attacking their station and two were killed in Bagerhat in the south.

On Sunday, four people were killed and hundreds injured in the clashes, according to hospital officials.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all sides to end the violence and express their views peacefully.

“The Secretary-General urges political and religious leaders to engage in constructive dialogue and help defuse the tensions,” he said in a statement.

The protests are led by a group called Hefajat-e-Islam, which set the government a May 5 deadline to introduce a new blasphemy law, reinstate pledges to Allah in the constitution, ban women from mixing freely with men and make Islamic education mandatory.

The government of the overwhelming Muslim country has rejected the demands.

The clash of ideologies could plunge Bangladesh into a cycle of violence as the two main political parties, locked in decades of mutual distrust, exploit the tension between secularists and Islamists ahead of elections that are due by next January.

Bangladesh has been rocked by protests and counter-protests since January, when a tribunal set up by the government to investigate abuses during a 1971 war of independence from Pakistan sentenced to death in absentia a leader of the main Muslim party, the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Jamaat opposed Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan in the war but denies accusations that some of its leaders committed murder, rape and torture during the conflict.

The Hefajat-e-Islam emerged from the protests over the tribunal.

More than 100 people have been killed in the clashes this year, most of them Islamist party activists and members of the security forces.

The troubles have cast a shadow over economic prospects at a time when industrial accidents, such as the April 24 collapse of a garment factory complex where more than 600 people died , are raising questions about investing and buying cheap products from the country.

(Editing by Robert Birsel and Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/least-20-dead-islamist-protests-bangladesh-175616232.html

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MADRID — A historic jet plane crashed into a hangar and exploded in a fireball at an airshow southwest of the capital Sunday, severely injuring its pilot who later died in the hospital, officials said.

A spokesman for Spain’s Defense Ministry said the pilot, Ladislao Tejedor Romero, 35, an experienced jet pilot and assistant to Defense Minister Pedro Morenes, died of his injuries in the serious burns unit of Getafe hospital.

Some 3,000 people were at Cuatro Vientos airfield watching a showcase of aerial acrobatics and vintage aircraft when the plane, one of the first jet-propelled planes to be manufactured in Spain, crashed, sending a fireball and thick black smoke into the air.

The plane, a HA-200 Saeta, was a built in the 1950s as an advanced jet trainer by Hispano Aviacion, ministry spokesman Alfredo Florenza said. It was later given an attack capability.

Florenza said the cause of the crash was not known.

State broadcaster RTVE showed images of a large plume of smoke rising above hangars Sunday and interviewed witnesses who described the plane diving and crashing into buildings. Spain’s airport authority AENA said no one else other than the pilot was injured.

Europa Press news agency, however, reported quoting emergency services that two people, a rescue worker suffering from burns and a 57-year-old man suffering from an anxiety attack, believed to be the pilot’s father, were transferred to hospital. A third rescue worker suffering from smoke inhalation received first aid at the scene, the agency said.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/05/spain-plane-crash-video-madrid-air-show-vintage-aircraft_n_3219841.html

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By Steve Slater and Lionel Laurent

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) – HSBC is expected to almost double first quarter profits to about $8 billion on Tuesday helped by a fall in costs and bad debts and showing the benefits of a three-year restructuring that is nearly complete.

The results will keep HSBC as one of the most profitable and most strongly capitalized banks in the world although Europe‘s biggest bank still has more to do on costs.

HSBC, like many of its rivals in Europe and the United States, has had to cut back to recover from the financial crisis and cope with the harsher business environment and tighter regulation that has followed it.

The bank acted sooner more aggressively than many of its peers, some of which are only now making cuts.

The bank’s Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver has already slashed $3.5 billion in annual expenses – 38,000 jobs have gone. The CEO has struck 52 deals to shed businesses that deliver low profits or lack scale but is struggling to get costs to below a target of 52 percent of income.

HSBC’s complexity, its unprofitability in many countries and a negative impact on income from low interest rates mean Gulliver is likely to fall short of his cost/income target by the end of this year.

He is due to update investors on strategy on May 15, which is likely to include another $1 billion in savings.

Costs in the latest quarter are expected to drop to $9.6 billion, from $10.4 billion a year ago, analysts forecast.

HSBC is expected to report a pretax profit of $8.1 billion for the three months to the end of March, according to the consensus forecast of 14 analysts provided by the company.

The latest quarter will benefit from more than $1 billion of gains from a reclassification of its stake in Industrial Bank in China and other exceptional items, analysts estimate.

EURO ZONE BANK TROUBLES

Cost-cutting and restructuring will also be the focus at a trio of euro zone banks – France’s Societe Generale and Credit Agricole and Germany’s Commerzbank – that also report first quarter results on Tuesday.

Unlike HSBC, which has offset weakness in Europe with strong growth in Asia, these banks are likely to show the impact of the euro zone crisis more sharply.

SocGen and Credit Agricole, France’s second and third biggest banks, are expected to post profit falls, partly as a result of record unemployment and weak growth in their home market.

SocGen’s first quarter net profit is expected to drop 7.8 percent to 675 million euros ($885.36 million), according to the mean estimate of analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenues are seen falling 16.8 percent to 5.26 billion.

Credit Agricole is expected to post a one-third fall in earnings to 674.6 million euros, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenues are seen down 28 percent to 3.9 billion euros.

In Germany, Commerzbank has already said it continued to lose money in the first quarter due to restructuring charges linked to job cuts. Analysts estimate Germany’s second biggest bank’s loss at 125 million euros.

More details are expected on the bank’s planned 2.5 billion euro capital increase to repay some of its state bailout. This could take place in mid-May and follows rival Deutsche Bank’s 3 billion euros share sale last week.

($1 = 0.7624 euros)

(Reporting by Steve Slater in London, Lionel Laurent in Paris and Arno Schuetze on Frankfurt. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/costs-centre-stage-hsbc-french-bank-results-230832072.html

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By Edward Taylor

RUESSELSHEIM, Germany (Reuters) – General Motors’ lossmaking European carmaker Opel expects to boost the proportion of cars sold on financing with the offer of cheaper loans and leasing deals now that it has taken its German banking license back in-house, it said on Monday.

Last month the U.S. group’s financing subsidiary GM Financial Company Inc launched its new ‘Opel Financial Services‘ brand, having bought back the European and other international operations of its former financial services affiliate Ally Financial , which held the German banking license.

“The launch of Opel Financial Services was a very important step for our brand and for our product offensive. Opel was not always in a position to make the best financing offer. We did not have our own bank, like competitors,” Opel’s finance chief Michael Lohscheller said at a press conference at Opel’s headquarters on Monday.

As part of the $4.2 billion acquisition deal with Ally Financial, which was announced in November last year and partially closed last month, GM Financial has attributed $1.7 billion to its European financing operations, Lohscheller said.

The partial closing of the deal in April gives GM Financial the German banking license and this has given it more favorable refinancing opportunities, Opel said.

As a result, Opel now hopes to raise the proportion of cars sold using financing to above the current level of 40 percent. Some competitors are able to sell up to 50 percent of their vehicles through financing offers.

In all GM has pledged to invest another 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) in Opel by the end of 2016 to support new model launches, renewing a commitment to the ailing European brand.

GM’s chief executive Dan Akerson has said the investment will help it increase market share by funding the development and launch of 23 new models and 13 new engines through 2016.

But the company’s adjusted operating loss in Europe widened to $1.8 billion last year from $700 million in 2011 and it only expects to move back into profit in the middle of the decade.

Last month Germany’s VDA industry association said its new car market may stabilize in the second quarter after a further plunge in sales in the first quarter mirrored declines in other key European regions.

(This story has been refiled to correct spelling of ‘cheaper’ in first paragraph)

(Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/opel-expects-cheaper-car-deals-taking-finance-house-122152283.html

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