Trust Measurement: How to Measure Smarter

Trust is in the air. It seems that everything you read and every speech you hear refers to trust. We need it, we don't have it and we wonder how to get it back. I've been researching, thinking and writing about trust for a long time, before trust became trendy. Trust is an intangible which we all agree is fundamental to relationships. It is also, however, one of the things with which we struggle. We know it's important but we aren't sure how we can ensure we don't lost it. We are certainly not clear about how to measure trust.When we look at measuring trust, we enter murky waters. We measure in order to bring certainty to our initiatives. Certainty helps to reduce anxiety about the unknown and and provides us with some degree...

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Asian Stocks Retreat on Iodine in Tokyo Tap Water, Reactor Woes

Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index set for its first loss in four days, after levels of iodine unsafe for infants were reported in Tokyo tap water as workers struggled to reconnect power to a damaged nuclear reactor.Tokyo Electric Power Co. slumped 4.5 percent after rising as much as 7 percent before a Tokyo official warned against giving infants tap water to drink. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest carmaker, declined 1.2 percent after extending production halts. Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. plunged 6.1 percent in Sydney after Australia’s second-largest airline forecast an annual loss. China Coal Energy Co. slumped 9.1 percent in Hong Kong after earnings missed estimates.“Investor focus has moved to the medium-term consequences of the natural disaster to the Japanese and...

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Brazil Mid-Month Inflation Index Slowed Less Than Expected

Brazil’s mid-month inflation slowed less than economists expected, as the cost of transportation and housing accelerated.Consumer prices as measured by the IPCA-15 index rose 0.6 percent in the month through March 15, their lowest mid-month reading since September, the national statistics agency said in Rio de Janeiro. Economists expected the index to rise 0.53 percent, according to the median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The annual inflation rate accelerated to 6.13 percent from 6.08 percent in mid-February.Brazilian central bank President Alexandre Tombini said in Senate testimony yesterday that policy makers may adopt new measures to curb the consumer credit growth in a bid to cool heated domestic demand and slow inflation. Tombini said he has “confidence” that interest rate increases,...

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U.S. Stocks Gain a Third Week as S&P 500 Rises to 32-Month High

U.S. stocks rose for the third straight week, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its highest level since June 2008, as the Federal Reserve raised its forecast for economic growth and most companies reporting earnings topped estimates.Williams Cos. surged 13 percent, leading energy companies to the biggest advance among 10 S&P 500 industries, after the pipeline operator announced plans to spin off its oil and natural-gas exploration unit. Family Dollar Stores Inc. jumped 19 percent after investor Nelson Peltz offered to buy the retailer. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. gained 11 percent on speculation the semiconductor maker is an acquisition target.The S&P 500 rose 1 percent to 1,343.01. The index needs to advance 0.7 percent to 1,353.06 to complete a 100 percent rally from...

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Oil Falls as U.S. Monitors Iran Plan to Send Warships to Suez

Oil fell for the first time in three days as the White House said it was “monitoring” Iran’s plan to send warships through the Suez Canal, calming concern that the move would ratchet up tensions in the Middle East.March futures slipped 16 cents after rising in earlier trading amid Mideast unrest. The current New York contract expires Feb. 22, and participants who haven’t closed out their positions must arrange for delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma, where supplies are near a record. Crude for April increased 1 percent.“The White House comments seemed to calm the market down,” said Phil Flynn, vice president of research at PFGBest in Chicago. Oil sellers “are going to have to make delivery into record supplies, and that’s bringing us down despite the fact that there’s all this tension in the Middle...

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Obama to Focus on U.S. Competitiveness, Jobs, Deficit

President Barack Obama said tomorrow’s State of the Union address will focus on cutting the deficit, reducing unemployment and ensuring the U.S. can compete with economic rivals.In a video to supporters that previews the nationally televised Jan. 25 speech, Obama said the economy is growing, corporate profits are rising and more than 1 million jobs have been created in the past year.Obama said he will be pivoting from responding to the financial crisis that occupied much of the first two years of his presidency to meeting longer-range economic challenges.“My principal focus, my number one focus, is going be making sure that we are competitive, that we are growing, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future,” Obama said in the video, released over the weekend. “I’m focused...

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Stocks Drop Worldwide as Oil, Dollar Surge After Egypt Protests

Stocks worldwide plunged the most since November, crude oil posted the biggest jump since 2009 and the dollar rose versus the euro after protesters posed the biggest challenge to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. Egypt’s dollar bonds sank, pushing yields to a record.The MSCI World All-Country World Index of stocks in 45 countries lost 1.4 percent at 4:59 p.m. New York time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4 percent to 11,823.70, preventing its longest weekly winning streak since 1995. Oil futures increased 4.3 percent to $89.34. The dollar appreciated 0.9 percent to $1.3611. Yields on Egypt bonds due in 2020 surged 22 basis points to 6.51 percent. Gold futures jumped 1.7 percent, the most in 12 weeks.Egyptian protesters clashed with police throughout the country and...

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Harper Pressured to Scrap Tax Cuts as Canadian Lawmakers Return

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be under pressure from opposition lawmakers to reverse corporate tax cuts and extend government stimulus as a condition for keeping his government in power when Parliament reconvenes today.Lawmakers from the opposition Liberals and New Democratic Party have called on the government to scrap reductions in the corporate income tax rate that they say are unaffordable. They want more spending on programs to sustain the recovery.Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has said he’ll present his next fiscal plan in March. The Conservative government holds a minority of seats in the House of Commons and needs support of one of three opposition parties to pass the budget. If the fiscal plan is defeated, elections would follow.“If the Conservatives persist in their...

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