Wal-Mart prepares for Christmas price cuts

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Wal-Mart is preparing a round of Christmas-season price cuts that are making smaller U.S. competitors nervous, analysts say.

With another weak Christmas retailing expected, the giant is using its size and clout to grab yet more business from competitors, offering such deals such as an HP notebook computer for $298 (normally $448) and a Sharp 52-inch flat-panel television for $898 (normally $1,548), the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

"They put a stake in the ground and said, 'We will not be beat this holiday season,'" Joe Feldman, a senior retail analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, told the newspaper. "Without question, everyone has to look out for Wal-Mart."

"Wal-Mart's pricing strategy will allow consumers to save millions while at the same time keep pressure on its competitors," added Todd Slater, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets.

But competitors Kmart and Target say they are also dropping their prices.

"We're certainly ready to compete," Chris Brathwaite, a spokesman for Kmart's parent company, Sears Holdings Corp., told the Times.

"Last year shoppers migrated to us because they were seeking value," Gary Severson, senior vice president of entertainment for Wal-Mart's U.S. division, told the newspaper. "I don't see this year being dramatically different."

British Airways to lay off 4,900 workers

LONDON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A disastrous summer is prompting British Airways to lay off about 4,900 workers, or 12 percent of its staff, company officials say.

The job cuts -- which surpass the 3,700-layoff target previously announced -- come after BA announced it had lost $485 million in the six months ending Sept. 30, The Times of London reported Saturday.

Analysts told the newspaper the airline's weak six-month performance has put it on track to eclipse its previous record one-year loss of $666 million set last year and would likely have a hard time returning to profitability before 2011.

"We see a return to profitability in 2011, but only just and only if cost cutting plans succeed," Nick Cunningham, aviation analyst at Evolution Securities, told The Times.

The figures showed BA's revenues were down 13.7 percent in the past six months, prompting chief executive William Walsh to say: "The challenge to the business and to the industry is the big decline in revenues we are seeing. We will see a fall of over ($1.7 billion) in revenue this year and that is largely on the back of the recession as business travel is less and average fares have come down."

Jobs picture surpasses early '80s lows

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The levels of U.S. unemployment and underemployment announced this week has made it official that joblessness is worse than in the early 1980s, analysts say.

Figures released Friday by the U.S. Labor Department showed more than one out of every six workers -- 17.5 percent -- were unemployed or underemployed in October, eclipsing the record-high total of 17.1 percent in December 1982 -- which were the worst figures since the Great Depression, The New York Times reported.

The broad figures included those who are officially unemployed -- set at 10.2 percent -- as well as "discouraged workers," or those who have looked in the past year and millions of part-time workers who would rather be working full time, the newspaper said.

The Labor Department figures indicate nearly 16 million Americans are unemployed and more than 7 million jobs have been lost since late 2007.

The Times said its analysis shows while a smaller share of today's workforce are officially unemployed than in the early 1980s, there are many more part-time workers seeking full-time work today. Their ranks have reportedly increased rapidly in the last two years.

Citigroup issues employees stock options

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The giant U.S. bank Citigroup says it is distributing stock options to its employees in a bid keep them on board at the bailed-out institution.

An estimated one-quarter of its workers, about 75,000 employees, would be covered by the stock option program, which could result in sizable gains for the workers should Citigroup's stock price rebound from its current $4 per share, The New York Times reported.

Many Citigroup bankers had seen their nest eggs vanish when the company's stock price fell from $56 per share and U.S. taxpayers contributed $45 billion to save the faltering firm, which had been heavily exposed to subprime mortgages. The Times said the bank could issue 2 million to 3 million stock options, worth an estimated $11 million at today's prices.

"We have implemented a broad-based options program that links employee rewards to the long-term performance and success of the company," said bank spokesman Stephen Cohen.

"With stock options, you can make a lot of money if the stock price goes up, but you are not losing anything if it falls," compensation analyst Paul Hodgson of the Corporate Library told the Times.

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