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Sequent Energy President Doug Schantz Missing in New Orleans, Company Says

by on March 7, 2010

By Samantha Zee March 7 (Bloomberg) — Douglas Schantz , president of AGL Resources Inc. ’s Sequent Energy Management, has been missing since the early morning of March 5 in New Orleans, the company said. Schantz, 54, was last seen on the city’s Bourbon Street after being out with a group of fellow employees. The group had traveled to New Orleans to make a donation to Tulane University’s energy graduate program. “Doug was due back Friday morning and hasn’t been seen since 2 a.m. Friday when he was out with a group of co- workers,” said Alan Chapple , a spokesman for AGL and Sequent, in a telephone interview. “We are working with all law enforcement officials,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to locate Doug and bring him back safely.” The New Orleans Police Department didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Schantz was scheduled to attend a staff meeting at his office at noon on March 5 and co-workers became concerned after he failed to attend. Schantz has been president of Sequent, AGL’s asset manager serving natural gas wholesale customers, since 2003, Chapple said. Atlanta-based AGL is an energy-services company with about 2.3 million customers in six states, mostly in the southeast U.S. In addition to Sequent, it operates natural gas storage facilities and sells natural gas in Georgia under the Georgia Natural Gas brand. Schantz’s disappearance was earlier reported by the Houston Chronicle. To contact the reporter on this story: Samantha Zee in San Francisco at szee@bloomberg.net

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Sequent Energy President Doug Schantz Missing in New Orleans, Company Says

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NYSE Volume Jumps to Record 3.15 Billion Shares on Options, S&P 500 Change

by on December 19, 2009

By Jeff Kearns and Elizabeth Stanton Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) — New York Stock Exchange trading surged to a record 3.15 billion shares as derivatives expiration and changes to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lifted volume to more than double this year’s average. Yesterday was the last day of trading for December futures and options on U.S. indexes and stocks. The expiration, a quarterly event known as “quadruple witching,” boosts volume because investors and dealers must buy and sell stocks and derivatives to move positions into future months and make corresponding trades to hedge, or cancel out, their risk of loss. Visa Inc. was among five companies that joined the S&P 500 yesterday, forcing funds that track the index to buy shares. U.S. trading has slowed as the S&P 500 rebounded from a 12- year low in March, with average monthly volume falling 36 percent. Fewer than 7.87 billion shares changed hands each day on U.S. exchanges during November, the lowest month average since August 2008, Bloomberg data show. Analysts including Mary Ann Bartels at Bank of America Corp. say the slowdown in volume was a bearish sign following the S&P 500’s 63 percent surge. “There’s been a lot of inactivity on the part of mutual fund investor and that’s translated into low volume,” said David Goerz , who oversees $17.5 billion as chief investment officer at Highmark Capital Management in San Francisco. “What they’re waiting for is some evidence that the economy is recovering, and that evidence is clear at this point.” Lehman’s Collapse Trading at the NYSE, the world’s biggest stock exchange, beat the previous record of almost 3 billion shares on Sept. 19, 2008, a quadruple witching day at the end of the week when New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for the biggest- ever bankruptcy. NYSE volume this year has averaged 1.39 billion shares a day. Visa, Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., Ross Stores Inc., Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and SAIC Inc. joined the S&P 500 yesterday. MBIA Corp., Ciena Corp., Dynegy Inc., KB Home Inc. and Convergys Corp. were removed. The S&P 500 changes require investors that mimic the index to trade 1.02 percent of the value of their portfolios, compared with 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent in a normal rebalancing, said Charles Behette , a director in portfolio trading at New York- based Investment Technology Group Inc. The value of shares being added to the index exceeds the value of shares being removed by about $6 billion, Behette said. The discrepancy may prompt selling of companies whose index weights aren’t changing and limit gains in those whose weights are increasing, he said. Futures are agreements to buy or sell a specific amount of a commodity or security at a specific price and time. Options give the right though not the obligation to buy or sell a security at a set price and date. Investors use options to guard against fluctuations in the price of securities they own, speculate on share-price moves or bet that volatility , or stock swings, will increase or decrease. To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Kearns in New York at jkearns3@bloomberg.net .

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NYSE Volume Jumps to Record 3.15 Billion Shares on Options, S&P 500 Change

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U.S. Stocks Fluctuate as Consumer-Company Shares Offset Technology Gains

December 18, 2009

By Elizabeth Stanton Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fluctuated as a drop in consumer companies and raw-materials producers snuffed out an early rally triggered by better-than-estimated profit at Oracle Corp. and forecasts from Research In Motion Ltd. Campbell Soup Co. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. slumped at least 2 percent to lead consumer-staples companies to the steepest drop among 10 industries. Oracle, the world’s second- biggest software maker, rallied 7.5 percent after saying customers are once again spending on technology. Research In Motion jumped 9.1 percent as demand for its Curve phone helped bolster its sales and profit projections. The S&P 500 , which is up 21 percent in 2009 after its worst year since the Great Depression, slipped 0.1 percent to 1,094.56 at 11:52 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index fell 34.31 points, or 0.3 percent, to 10,273.95. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.6 percent to 2,193.34. “There has been a lot of locking in gains for the year, which has not allowed the market to propel higher,” said David Chalupnik , who oversees $8 billion as head of equities at First American Funds in Minneapolis. Price swings may be bigger than usual today because of so- called quadruple witching, or the quarterly expiration of stock index futures, options on index futures, stock options and stock futures, as well as by the quarterly rebalancing of the S&P 500. The S&P 500 is undergoing five component changes as of today’s close. In the past, Standard & Poor’s has made the index additions and deletions later in December, said John Carillo , head of U.S. portfolio trading at Investment Technology Group Inc. in New York. ‘Adds to the Mix’ “It adds to the mix in terms of the complexity of what indexers need to do to make sure they have correctly balanced holdings as of today’s close,” Carillo said. Oracle advanced 7.5 percent to $24.59. Second-quarter net income rose 13 percent to $1.46 billion from $1.3 billion a year earlier. Excluding some costs, profit was 39 cents a share in the period, which ended Nov. 30. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated 36 cents on average. Research In Motion jumped 9.1 percent to $69.26. Sales in the current quarter will be $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion, and earnings per share will be at least $1.23, RIM said. Analysts had estimated revenue of $4.12 billion and profit excluding some items of $1.12 a share, according to a Bloomberg survey. Nike Inc. added 2.1 percent to $64.55. The world’s largest athletic-shoe maker reported second-quarter profit that dropped less than analysts estimated and said orders rose 4 percent from a year earlier, helped by currency changes. Consumer Shares A gauge of consumer staples companies in the S&P 500 fell for a fourth straight day, losing 1.2 percent for the steepest loss among 10 groups. Campbell Soup slid 2.1 percent to $32.61. Colgate-Palmolive fell 2 percent to $81.26. “The concerns are stemming from the prospect of currency devaluations in South America,” said Robert Finkel , who trades consumer staples stocks at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore. “A lot of the staples names that have emerging market exposure, specifically to South America, have been getting hit. It hasn’t been stock-specific, it’s been across the board.” The stocks joining the S&P 500 today are Visa Inc., Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., Ross Stores Inc., Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and SAIC Inc. Leaving the benchmark are MBIA Inc., Ciena Corp., Dynegy Inc., KB Home and Convergys Corp. Today’s changes to the S&P 500 require investors that mimic the index to trade 1.02 percent of the value of their portfolios, compared with 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent in a normal rebalancing, said Charles Behette , a director in portfolio trading at ITG. The value of shares being added to the index exceeds the value of shares being removed by about $6 billion, Behette said. The discrepancy may prompt selling of companies whose index weights aren’t changing and limit gains in those whose index weights are increasing, he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net .

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Quicksilver Resources Announces New Officer Appointments

September 21, 2009

FORT WORTH, TX–(Marketwire – September 21, 2009) –   Quicksilver Resources Inc. ( NYSE : KWK ) announced today two key management appointments. Vanessa Gomez, 32, has been named Vice President – Treasurer. Gomez brings 10 years of financial markets expertise to Quicksilver and was most recently with Credit Suisse as Director – Corporate and Investment Banking Group. Gomez holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with distinction from Texas Christian University.

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Modelo Plans to Keep Corona Beer Price Steady as U.S. Drinkers Trade Down

August 21, 2009

By Thomas Black Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) — Grupo Modelo SAB , Mexico’s largest brewer, plans to keep Corona beer prices steady at a time when U.S. drinkers are being tempted by less expensive beers. Modelo will remain “very disciplined” with promotions, said Emilio Fullaondo , who took over as chief financial officer on July 1. The company’s export shipments, mostly Corona to the U.S., declined 5.3 percent in the first six months of this year. “The strategy is to maintain our prices in general terms,” Fullaondo, 38, said yesterday in a telephone interview. Promotions “will be very focused and very practical so as not to lose the price level we feel our products should maintain.” The premium price of Corona, the best-selling imported beer in the U.S., has helped Mexico City-based Modelo’s export revenue reach about 40 percent of total sales. U.S. consumers bought less imported beer in the 52 weeks ended July 12, pushing case sales down 2.1 percent, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based researcher. Case sales of sub-premium domestic beers jumped 2.6 percent in the same period. Corona case sales dropped 5.7 percent, while Anheuser-Busch InBev NV ’s Bud Light Lime increased more than fourfold, IRI said. Corona is often served with a lime wedge. Modelo won’t reduce marketing spending either, Fullaondo said. The company is resurrecting its more successful ads from the 1990s, instead of creating new ones, to help stretch marketing dollars, he said. “Part of our long-term strategy is to continue building the brand-equity of our brands,” Fullaondo said. “We’re not going to take away that support.” Modelo rose 1.44 peso, or 2.9 percent, to 51.69 pesos at 1:22 p.m. New York time in Mexico City trading . The shares had climbed 15 percent this year before today. Reluctant to Cut Many beermakers are reluctant to cut prices or offer big promotions because they face higher input costs, such as grains and aluminum, said Lauren Torres , an analyst with HSBC Holdings PLC in New York. Costlier imports such as Corona can’t do much with price to keep consumers from switching to domestic brands during a recession, she said. “You don’t want to degrade the brand and price it at a sub-premium beer price because that will make the consumer, when times are good again, say, ‘Why should I pay for this when I remember it being in line with the cheaper brands?’” she said. The company is increasing the number of outlets for draft beer sales of Modelo Especial and Negra Modelo, a dark beer, to counter an increase in draft sales of Leuven, Belgium-based AB InBev’s Stella Artois , Fullaondo said. Modelo will start operating a new brewery in the northern state of Coahuila on schedule at the end of the first quarter of 2010, the CFO said. The plant will begin with annual capacity of 5 million hectoliters (132 million gallons) and can increase that to 10 million hectoliters. The company’s existing plants are operating at more than 80 percent capacity, he said. Hedge Policy Fullaondo said he’s helping formulate a policy on hedges and derivatives that will be submitted to the board. The company incurred a charge of 2.32 billion pesos ($180.2 million) in the second quarter for canceling hedges on the dollar-peso exchange rate and natural gas, causing net income to fall 47 percent from a year earlier. The new hedging policy will probably be adopted this year, he said. Fullaondo declined to say if any types of hedges would be banned under the new policy. “You don’t have to demonize them,” he said, referring to hedges. “These are instruments that have been in the market for many years and under certain circumstances they are instruments that, if used correctly, are useful.” To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Black in Monterrey, Mexico, at tblack@bloomberg.net .

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