Maniolas

WASHINGTON (AP) — A surprising drop in hiring and in the number of people seeking work in August sent a reminder that the US economic recovery is still prone to temporary slowdowns. Employers added just 142,000 jobs last month, well below the 212,000 average of the previous 12 months. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent. But that was because more people without jobs stopped looking for one and were no longer counted as unemployed. Analysts took Friday’s Labor Department report in stride. They noted that other gauges of the economy – from manufacturing and construction to auto sales – remain solid. Layoffs have dwindled, too. Analysts also noted that month-to-month volatility in hiring is common even in a healthy economy. But the dip in hiring also suggests that, though the Great Recession officially ended more than five years ago, the economy has yet to shed some of its lingering weaknesses. Held back by sluggish pay growth, for example, consumers continue to spend cautiously. Most economists foresee an economy that’s poised to make further strides, punctuated at times by modest setbacks. The figures “will inevitably spark speculation that the US recovery is somehow coming off the rails again,” said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. “However, we’re not too concerned by what is probably just an isolated blip.” Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The report showed the smallest job gains in eight months. The weaker-than-expected numbers make it unlikely that the Federal Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The battle in the local retail drug sector has gone far beyond branded pharmaceutical products as acceptance for generics among Filipinos has been on the rise in recent years. Recently joining the market for low-priced medicines is the Watsons group, one of the biggest pharmacy retail brands in Asia, in its bid to increase sales and corner a bigger portion of the market. With the notion slowly fading that generics are of low quality and ineffective, Watsons Personal Care Stores (Philippines) Inc. is introducing its own line of high quality and affordable generics medicines. “One reason why people were not accepting or using generics in the past is because of the quality of generics. If the brand is not well-known, they tend to be wary. Now what we are doing here is we are incorporating the name of Watsons in our own generics products because the name of the company already connotes quality,” Watsons Philippines Health Business director Danilo S. Chiong told The STAR in an interview. Despite the growing usage of generics in the Philippines in the past couple of years, Chiong said generics still only account for about five to six percent of the country’s total pharmaceutical market, far from the US and other developed nations where generics are being used by as much as 60 to 70 percent of its population. “Isn’t it ironic that in a country where people seems to be poorer, branded medicine usage is larger? I think this move to Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange index bounced back from Thursday’s tumble with its best performance of the year, fueled primarily by the flat domestic inflation data. The main composite index climbed yesterday to its highest level for the year, gaining 0.83 percent or 59.47 points to close at 7,263.58. The broader all shares index likewise joined the bellwether index on its upward hike as it picked up 0.79 percent or 33.47 points to end the week at 4,290.36.  “The market reacted positively on the August inflation data. It provided good news for the market,” said First Grade Finance Inc. managing director Astro del Castillo. Inflation stayed flat at 4.9 percent in August, bringing year-to-date inflation to 4.4 percent, well within the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s three-to five-percent inflation target for the year.  Castillo said the market has continued to defy odds, as it was earlier expected to consolidate this week following successive days of gains the previous week.  “On the contrary, the market continues to gain steam,” Castillo said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The advance in Philippine share prices also counter flowed with the slip seen in Asia and US markets. The three main indexes on Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow sliding 0.05 percent, the S&P 500 slipping 0.15 percent and the Nasdaq declining 0.22 percent. Market breadth was positive as advancers crushed decliners, 111 to 67, while prices of 49 stocks did not change.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is expediting the award of the P65 billion Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite extension project amid the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court on the transfer of the planned common train station. Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the agency is closely coordinating with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on how to go about with the awarding of the public private partnership (PPP) project without going against the order of the high tribunal. “We are expediting, we are engaging them and we expressed to them that it is to the interest of the country that we are doing this.” Abaya said. The DOTC has yet to award the largest PPP project under the Aquino administration due to the TRO issued by the Supreme Court preventing the DOTC and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) from transferring the location of the proposed P1.4 billion common train station. “We are studying it thoroughly, because if you will check the TRO, the restraint is on the common station, not on the award. So this is the biggest PPP project of our agency and we are looking at the possibility of awarding despite the TRO,” Abaya said. While waiting for an opinion from the OSG, the agency is studying the possibility of awarding the contract for the PPP project on the condition that the location of the common station is subject to the decision of the high Read More …

Do you know that most of us can’t avail of housing loans from the Social Security System anymore?  Though I have not applied (thus have not been rejected) for this loan, it came as a surprise to me.  The fact is, many of us are not familiar with this agency’s updated products and services, and for those of us in the private sector who are SSS members, this may be our loss. I thought it was an opportune time to invite a top SSS official to the TV show Business & Leisure. Vice president May Catherine Ciriaco came for a one-on-one interview and was happy to do so because they had something new to offer to our “kababayans” who may be recent calamity victims and wanted to share this with television viewers: The SSS Calamity Relief Package may not seem significant to others, but for those who lost their house or their livelihood, the aid is welcome like manna. For pensioners in calamity areas for instance, they are allowed to advance three month’s pension to tide them over, and because of Yolanda, this was extended to six months’ worth of advance pension. There is also the Salary Loan Renewal Program for those who still have outstanding salary loans with SSS. Such salary loans normally take two years to pay, but if records will show that you have paid at least half (one year), SSS allows the renewal of the loan and even waives the one percent service fee for the Read More …