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Stock markets were little changed Monday morning amid plans by Visa Inc. to raise almost US$18.8 billion from a public offering and hopes that a bailout is coming together for U.S. bond insurer Ambac Financial.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index gained 19.19 points to 13,605.12 after cruising 2.8 per cent higher last week, mainly because of surging commodity stocks, including energy companies as oil closed above US$100 a barrel twice during the week.

Investors also took in an acquisition in the Canadian financial sector.

Addenda Capital Inc. (TSX: ADV) has agreed to be taken over by Co-operators Group Ltd. in a deal that values the Montreal institutional investment management firm at $306.5 million. Guelph, Ont.-headquartered Co-operators is offering $26.50 in cash per share, a premium of 24 per cent over Friday's closing price. Addenda stock jumped 22.75 per cent to $26.27.

The TSX Venture Exchange headed 19.95 points higher to 2,677.1.

The Canadian dollar jumped 1.04 cents to 99.85 cents US.

"It's kind of strange, there really isn't a lot of news that's come out to cause this rally," said George Davis, chief technical analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

"One of the things we saw in the overnight session that helped the dollar rally was good buying of the Canadian dollar against foreign currencies other than the U.S. dollar. In other words, we saw people buying the Canadian dollar against the yen, and Canada against the euro in particular."

In New York, the Dow Jones industrials moved up 16.93 points to 12,397.95 after inching up 0.27 per cent last week.

The Nasdaq composite index added 2.55 points to 2,305.90 and the S&P 500 index inched ahead 0.59 of a point to 1,353.70.

San Francisco-based Visa Inc. said it will offer 406.6 million shares at US$37 to $42 per share. There will be an option for its underwriters to buy an extra 40.6 million shares to cover any excess demand.

The filing also showed rival credit card companies MasterCard Inc. and American Express Co. trailing Visa in transactions in 2006.

Speculation that Ambac will line up funding early this week boosted markets late Friday and investors were monitoring that situation on Monday.

Meanwhile, Electronic Arts Inc. is pushing ahead with a bid to take over gaming rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., despite rebuffs from the smaller company http://us-fast-cash-now.com. EA is making an all-cash bid of US$26 a share, or about US$2 billion, for New York City-based Take-Two, known for its "Grand Theft Auto" franchise.

Analyst downgrades left financials weak.

Goldman Sachs analyst William Tanona cut his expectations for first-quarter profit for Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and a range of brokers and investment banks including Bear Stearns Cos., Merrill Lynch & Co., Lehman Brothers Inc. and Morgan Stanley, predicting “first-quarter writedowns of approximately $1 billion to $12 billion for each" as highly leveraged lending continues to go bad.

Separately, Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney cut this year's earnings per share estimate for Citi by 70 per cent, and said the bank may have to sell US$100 billion of assets to put its balance sheet right.

The TSX financial sector moved 0.3 per cent lower with Royal Bank (TSX: RY) down 49 cents to $50.01.

Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX: RIM) was a weight on the TSX, losing $2.01 to $107.23.

Toronto's energy sector was the main advancer, up 0.6 per cent with oil prices little changed from Friday. The April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange added seven cents to US$98.88 a barrel.

Petro-Canada (TSX: PCA) advanced 60 cents to $48.05.

Synenco Energy Inc. (TSX: SYN) climbed 24 cents to $6.74 after it signalled it's for sale and announced the resignation of CEO Todd Newton.

Gold prices were modestly higher. The April bullion contract in New York rose $2.70 to US$950.50 an ounce.

Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX: SLW) shares moved up 10 cents to $16.30 after its fourth-quarter profit rose to US$24.9 million from US$23.8 million.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei index jumped 3.1 per cent to 13,914.6, a month-and-a-half high.

Hong Kong shares dipped on worries about tighter monetary policies in China to control inflation. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.2 per cent to 23,269.1.

In London, the FTSE 100 rose 78.6 points to 5,967.1. Frankfurt's DAX 30 climbed 50.92 points to 6,857.21 and the Paris CAC 40 gained 73.33 to 4,897.88.

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The Toronto stock market stepped back late Friday morning, led by declines in commodity stocks at the end of a positive week.

New York markets were also in the red as investors focus on more troubles in the U.S. mortgage sector.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index dropped 33.13 points to 13,476.42.

The TSX is headed for a gain of around 200 points for the week as commodity prices surged, including oil which closed above US$100 a barrel earlier in the week.

"Overall, the market hasn't done badly since the lows hit on Jan. 21 where we were up about 10 per cent or so over the last month," Jennifer Dowty, portfolio manager at MFC Global Investment Management.

"We had a lot of sharp gains, especially in the resource sector. Things are a bit different because China is now the largest consumer of a lot of these materials and that's why I believe this resource rally that we're seeing is sustainable going forward."

Investors also took in a major acquisition. U.S.-based First Reserve Corp. is buying oil and gas industry helicopter service company CHC Helicopter Corp. (TSX: FLY.A) in a deal valued at $3.7 billion.

"That's another thing I think is going to help support the marketplace – a lot of companies are flush with cash and a lot of our Canadian assets are extremely attractive and it's attracting bids for these companies," added Dowty.

CHC shares, halted at the opening, later soared 41 per cent to $30.96.

The TSX Venture Exchange was down 20.3 points to 2,640.51.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.18 of a cent to 98.7 cents US after a mixed retail showing for December.

Overall sales rose 0.6 per cent to about $35.1 billion, in large part on the strength of a 3.2 per cent rise in auto sales. Excluding auto sales, retail sales fell 0.4 per cent, against the 0.3 per cent gain economists had expected.

Statistics Canada also reported that retailers sold about $412.2 billion worth of goods and services in 2007, up 5.8 per cent over 2006.

"After a string of very weak reports for December, today's retail sales result is a modest dose of relief, even if ex-auto sales dipped," said BMO Nesbitt Burns deputy chief economist Doug Porter.

"However, even with the moderate gain in real retail sales, it still looks like December GDP fell heavily (possibly as much as minus 0.5 percentage points) due to the earlier reported steep declines in exports, wholesale trade, housing starts and manufacturing sales in the month."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average moved down 54.3 points to 12,230 after losing 143 points Thursday as weak economic data reinforced worries that the U.S. is either in recession or sliding into one.

The Nasdaq composite index moved down 17.14 points to 2,282.64 while the S&P 500 index fell 7.31 points to 1,335.22.

Markets had received earlier lift after the U.S. producer price index for November was revised to a rise of 2.6 per cent. December PPI was revised to a 0.3 per cent dip from a 0.1 per cent drop.

This was good news to investors worried that high inflation recently could force the U.S. Federal Reserve to moderate interest rate cuts.

But investors are also concerned about the effects of the credit crisis, spawned by securities linked to U.S. mortgages that have sharply deteriorated.

On Friday, U.S $1500 payday loan. government-sponsored mortgage provider Freddie Mac was downgraded to "sell" by Merrill Lynch on fears it faces continued headwinds amid the credit crisis.

On the TSX, the financials sector was a weight, down 0.3 per cent with Royal Bank (TSX: RY) off 45 cents to $49.94 a day after the bank announced it would acquire Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management Ltd. , a Vancouver-based mutual fund and asset management company, in exchange for 27 million common shares currently worth $1.36 billion.

The base-metals sector was down 0.7 per cent with Teck Cominco (TSX: TCK.B) off 35 cents to $35.58 and Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) giving back 35 cents to $11.33.

The energy sector drifted 0.3 per cent as oil prices slumped.

The April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down 13 cents to US$98.10 a barrel after closing above $100 a barrel for the first time earlier this week.

Penn West Energy Trust (TSX: PWT.UN), Canada's largest energy trust, says its fourth-quarter profit rose three per cent to $127 million before two major acquisitions were completed last month. Its units gained 14 cents to $28.54.

Gold prices were off after hitting a record intraday high Thursday. The April bullion contract on the Nymex dipped $2.80 to US$946.40 an ounce and the gold sector was down 1.6 per cent.

Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX: K) shares dipped 49 cents to C$23.35 after the firm reported a fourth-quarter profit of US$173.1 million, up from US$41 million a year ago, helped by a higher price for gold.

Quarterly revenue was US$284.1 million, up from $231.4 million in the last three months of 2006.

Kinross produced 384,598 ounces of gold in the quarter, up from 362,028 ounces a year earlier. Sales totalled 356,329 ounces, down from 375,684.

The average realized price of gold was US$796 per ounce, up from $615.

In other earnings news, Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX: RCI.B) shares were down 30 cents to $38.70 even as Canada's largest operator of cellphone and cable TV systems reported a 44 per cent increase in fourth-quarter profit to $254 million, with solid growth in its wireless, cable and media divisions.

Revenue was $2.69 billion in the October-December period, up 13 per cent from a year earlier.

Shares in Bombardier Inc.(TSX: BBD.B) were unchanged at $5.72 after the transportation giant authorized formal sales proposals for its new CSeries aircraft, a major step toward a program launch this year.

The CSeries, with five seats abreast, is designed for the lower end of the 100- to 149-seat market segment.

Two months after its $1.35-billion initial public offering, Franco-Nevada Corp. (TSX: FNV) has announced a $232.5-million issue of new equity.

The Toronto-headquartered resource-sector royalty and investment company's main asset is a royalty portfolio purchased for US$1.2 billion from Newmont Mining Corp. Its shares fell $1.10 to $21.60.

Overseas, London's FTSE 10 index eased 42.3 points to 5,889.9.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 121.37 to 6,783.48 while the Paris CAC 40 lost 55.08 points to 4,803.77.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 317.96 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 23,305.04.

Tokyo's the Nikkei 225 fell 187.82 points, or 1.37 per cent, to 13,500.46.

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OTTAWA–The Canadian and U.S. chambers of commerce are sounding the alarm on the mounting costs and delays encountered by companies trying to do business in both countries, saying some of the barriers are unreasonable and hurting the economy.

The two countries' largest business lobby groups, with over three million member firms, issued 17 recommendations Wednesday on how to improve efficiency while maintaining security at what was once called the world's longest undefended border.

But the chambers agree that one of the key changes needed – an attitudinal shift back to the good old days – is not in the offing for now, at least not on the part of the U.S. government following the terrorist attacks experienced on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Obviously, the events of 9-11 changed a whole lot," said Canadian chamber policy head Mike Murphy. "We used to have a different attitude about the border . . . I just think it is going to take some time."

Since the attacks, the U.S. has created a new government Department of Homeland Security and has erected increasingly layered and complex barriers of regulations and inspections.

That has increased wait times for Canadian shippers moving cargo into the U.S., as well as costs.

The report cites several examples of how the regulations have added to costs, including a 2005 U.S. requirement that health certificate numbers be printed on each case of meat and poultry shipped into the U.S., which is estimated to cost one food exporter about $700,000 a year.

"The reality is every incremental cost does filter down to the individual consumer and it makes North American businesses less competitive globally," said Adrean Scheid Rothkopf of the U.S payday loans in 1 hour. chamber.

One of the problems, say businesses, is that neither the U.S. nor Canadian governments have hired and trained sufficient staff to administer the new security and safety regulations they have imposed.

One businessman, Robert Kee of Canadian corn products maker Casco Inc., said his company's shipments are "held on a regular basis" simply because the trucks sometime arrive at the border when food inspectors are not present, or not working during a weekend.

The two chambers recommended that the two governments establish “trusted shipper and credentialing programs" for frequent low-risk shippers, mutually recognized pre-clearance, increase staffing to ensure 24/7 service at all major crossings, establish a "trusted traveller program" for executives, technical and professionals who frequently cross the border on business, and establish enhanced drivers' licenses that citizens of each country could use in place of passports.

Murphy said the recommendations do not require large outlays of government funds, but do require an infusion of trust on the part of both governments that the other side is equally vigilant.

That may be difficult in the near term given the pre-occupation on security in the U.S., noted Jason Conley, who specializes on security issues for the American chamber.

"The Department of Homeland Security has a full understanding of the impact of the border on the U.S. economy," he said. "But it is a challenge because at the end of the day, they will be judged on how well they secure the border."

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VANCOUVER – Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G) said Tuesday its proven and probable gold reserves increased nine per cent during 2007 to 43.4 million ounces.

Proven and probable silver reserves grew 37 per cent to 1.1 billion ounces as the international miner spent US$134 million on exploration, an amount that is expected to increase to $150 million this year.

Goldcorp mined 2.6 million ounces in 2007, while adding one million ounces to reserves through acquisitions and 5.2 million through exploration.

This included 3.1 million ounces at the Penasquito project and 1.1 million ounces at Los Filos mine, both in Mexico.

Acquiring full ownership of the Porcupine and Musselwhite mines in Ontario added almost two million gold ounces, offset by the disposition of the Peak, Amapari and La Coipa properties.

Measured and indicated gold resources increased 30 per cent to 21.3 million ounces, while overall finding costs were about $15 an ounce.

"Our 2007 focus to drill in the shadows of our own headframes has delivered low-cost gold ounces, not only in terms of discovery costs, but also in terms of incremental capital required to develop the resources," commented CEO Kevin McArthur.

This year’s exploration will include increased drilling at Goldcorp’s core Red Lake property in northwestern Ontario cash advance. There also will be accelerated drilling at Eleonore in Quebec, continued deep underground study at Penasquito, and further work at Porcupine and Musselwhite.

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TOKYO–Toshiba Corp is planning to give up on its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp., a company source said on Saturday.

The move will likely put an end to a battle that has gone on for several years between consortiums led by Toshiba and Sony vying to set the standard for the next-generation DVD and compatible video equipment.

The format war, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, has confused consumers unsure of which DVD or player to buy, slowing the development what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high definition DVD industry.

Toshiba's cause has suffered several setbacks in recent weeks including Friday's announcement by U.S. retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that it would abandon the HD DVD format and only stock its shelves with Blu-ray movies.

A source at Toshiba confirmed an earlier report by public broadcaster NHK that it was getting ready to pull the plug.

"We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business," said the source, who asked not to be identified. He added that an official announcement could come as early as next week.

No one answered the phone at Toshiba's public relations office in Tokyo.

NHK said Toshiba would suffer losses running to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders and other steps to withdraw from the business.

Hollywood studios had initially split their alliances between the two camps, meaning only certain films would play on any one DVD machine.

The balance of power tipped decisively toward the Sony camp in January after Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N) Warner Bros studio said it would only release high-definition DVDs in Blu-ray format payday loans. With that, studios behind some three-quarters of DVDs are backing Blu-ray, although some release in both formats.

Toshiba responded by slashing prices of HD DVD players, but the loss of retail support has hurt.

In addition to Wal-Mart, consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) and online video rental company Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) also recently signed up to the Blu-ray camp.

The exclusive backing of Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) was also put in doubt when the software giant said in January that it could consider supporting Blu-ray technology for its Xbox 360 video game machine, which currently works only with HD DVD.

Sony has spent large sums of money to promote Blu-ray in tandem with its flat screen TVs and its PlayStation 3 game console, which can play Blu-ray movies.

The Toshiba source said the experience would not be a total loss for the sprawling conglomerate, whose products range from refrigerators to power plants, which would learn valuable lessons.

"Marketing was a weak point for Toshiba. We learned a lot from HD DVD. Strengthening marketing will continue to be an issue for us going forward," the source said.

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BERLIN–Daimler AG's profit rose to $5.83 billion in 2007 as demand for its upscale sedans and SUVs drove sales, the German automaker reported Thursday.

The maker of Mercedes-Benz, Smart and ultra-luxury Maybach models earned 4 billion euros last year compared with 3.8 billion euros in 2006. Sales rose to 99.4 billion euros ($144.98 billion) from 99.2 billion euros.

For the fourth quarter of 2007, the company's profit jumped to 1.7 billion euros ($2.48 billion) from a net loss of 12 million euros in the quarter a year earlier, driven by strong earnings from the company's Mercedes-Benz and trucks units.

The company's Mercedes-Benz unit, which also produces the Smart and Maybach brands, reported a rise in earnings of 1.43 billion euros ($2.09 billion) for the quarter, up from 978 million euros for the same period in 2006.

Daimler trucks, the world's largest producer of commercial vehicles, saw earnings rise to 512 million euros ($746.8 million) in fourth quarter, up from 279 million euros in the previous year.

Daimler's earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, for the quarter more-than doubled to 1.39 billion euros ($2.03 billion), as compared with 550 million euros in the same period of 2006.

Overall EBIT for 2007 came in at 8.71 billion euros ($12.7 billion), compared 4.99 billion euros the previous year, the company said in a statement.

The company, which spun off its Chrysler unit last year, also said it would increase its dividend to 2 euros ($2.92) a share from 1.50 euros ($2.19) a share.

Daimler's chief executive said each of its 131,000 employees would get a bonus of 3,750 euros ($5,470) because of the strong results.

"With this we would like to emphasize our appreciation of your contribution to the 'new Daimler,' and to the pleasant results of Mercedes-Benz cars, Daimler trucks and Mercedes-Benz vans," CEO Dieter Zetsche said in an e-mail addressed to employees.

Stuttgart-based Daimler changed its name from DaimlerChrysler in September, a month after the company sold an 80.1 percent stake in Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management LP, bringing an end to a nearly nine-year deal that failed to reap anticipated benefits.

"Not only our name is different," Zetsche told reporters creditreport. "We are a different company and I think I can say a stronger one.''

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When Rose Reisman first learned to cook, she admits her definition of a good meal started with "a ton of butter and 12 eggs."

Later, when she hit her thirties she was diagnosed with high cholesterol. The genetic predisposition had already taken the life of her grandmother at 52 through a heart condition, and later that of her father, who was also in his fifties.

"I knew I had to change my lifestyle," says Reisman. "The question was how?"

Reisman started to experiment with new low-fat recipes, incorporating them into her family’s lifestyle, and eventually writing a popular cookbook, Rose Reisman Brings Home Light Cooking in 1993.

Although the book sold more than 400,000 copies, the idea of cutting back on fat was a hard sell to the wider community.

"People weren’t interested in cutting back on fat – they looked at eating healthy as diet food," says Reisman. "What I wanted to tell them was that you didn’t have to give up the taste, you could still eat well. Just healthier; it’s a lifestyle without the sacrifice."

Fifteen years later, with trans-fats making headlines, and a legislative push on restaurants in North America to include detailed food content on menus, healthy eating is at the forefront. And Reisman has become a face of change in Canada.

For starters, she acts as a consultant for companies like McCain Foods Canada, where she has a series of popular ads. Then there’s her own line of meals at the Pickle Barrel restaurants, 17 cookbooks, investment in a weight-loss chain in Toronto, a catering company that serves upwards of 2,000 meals daily, and a busy speaking schedule.

This month she will roll out a new product: home delivered meals right out of her kitchen. There is also talk of Rose-Reisman-branded restaurants in conjunction with the Pickle Barrel.

And while Reisman is familiar to Canadian food aficionados as a chef, nutritional consultant and author, she is also a savvy businessperson, recognized last year by York University’s Schulich School of Business for "outstanding public contribution" for her wellness work.

Her background is certainly diverse. There aren’t too many chefs out there with a bachelor of education from University of Toronto and an MBA from York University. She also has a masters in fine arts in theatre, and used to direct plays. In her earlier career, she taught junior high in East York. But Reisman feels her privately held holding company, The Art of Living Well, is a culmination of her many talents.

"I think my theatre training and my teaching helps me with my communication, the MBA helps with my business, and I’m also a registered nutritional consultant, so everything comes into play," says Reisman at her East York office.

Spread on Reisman’s boardroom table are a variety of meals ready to be home delivered. There is a dish of lean flank steak and wild rice that comes in at 375 calories. Salmon with Japanese beans and couscous is 350 calories, while a triple chocolate brownie is 140 calories. All are genuinely delicious. By comparison, the calories in a Big Mac with cheese total 540.

Behind the boardroom is a 10,000-square-foot kitchen. Last year Reisman, along with her investors, which include the Pickle Barrel chain, purchased Catering By Davids’, a high profile supplier of meals to movie productions.

The synergy was obvious. Reisman’s husband Sam, also her biggest backer, was familiar with the company as the head of Rose Corp., the majority owner of Filmport, the mega film studio being built in the port-lands area of Toronto.

On this day, about a thousand meals are being produced for the crews of The Love Guru, starring Canadian comic Mike Myers, The Hulk and several other movies. Extras get vegetarian and meat pasta, while principal actors get to choose from a menu ranging from grilled New York steaks to Rose-Reisman- branded dishes of pan seared fillets of sole with charred corn.

Meanwhile, another thousand meals will be served to Reisman’s corporate customers, including Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche and law firms such as Torys LLP.

"I literally just went from door to door knocking and cold calling until they let me in," says Reisman, who comes across as almost evangelical – but genuine – in her zeal for promoting the healthy lifestyle free credit report and score. Reisman even catered a free lunch to prospective clients so they could judge for themselves.

"After that, they realized that they could eat well and stay healthy."

When the catering company was purchased last February, revenues were in the $5 million range. Now it is doing $1 million a month in sales, thanks to marketing and ads.

But because it is dependent on film and corporate clients, Reisman says there is a need to diversify further. A strike by the film industry, for example, could put a serious crimp in profits.

So Reisman is using spare kitchen capacity to build a home replacement meal business. The new venture will go head to head with meals offered by other popular diet companies. Reisman says most of her competitors’ meals are frozen or freeze-dried, but hers are fresh and use only the best ingredients.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Reisman. When she first announced she was partnering with McCain’s, Canada’s largest french fry maker, she was criticized for promoting a fried food company.

But working with the company, she managed to turn the image around by helping create more low-calorie products.

"They are really attempting to make healthier food," says Reisman.

Still Reisman realizes that she has developed a trust with consumers and there is a need to ensure that any future co-branding doesn’t dilute her popular image.

The healthy restaurant concept isn’t new. Florida’s Darden Restaurants, owners of the Olive Garden chain, have big hopes for Seasons 52, which features an upscale menu with no single entr?e coming in at more than 475 calories.

Reisman’s backers see that trend coming to Canada, and have plans to expand.

"If you had told me 10 years ago that smoking would be banned in restaurants I would have laughed," says Blake Lyon, managing director of private equity for Rose Corp. – the holding company named after Reisman and controlled by husband Sam. "But I think things like healthy food, as we’ve seen with the trans fats issue, are coming to the forefront. This is where smoking was at a decade ago. People are much more aware."

Rose Corp., along with Reisman, has purchased a three-store chain of Weight Care diet clinics, and is expecting to launch another four by next year. The clinic takes a multi-disciplinary approach to weight loss with consultations by a dietician, personal trainer and a physician for each client.

"It’s the only way I would approach a weight loss clinic, you really need a team approach," says Reisman.

Lyon says the expansion strategy will concentrate on the Ontario market first before any attempt at moving southward. Wanting to avoid repeating its unsuccessful attempt to break into the U.S. market in the ’90s, this time Reisman is not undercapitalized and much more focused.

In the meantime, Reisman says work-life balance remains paramount. She recently released her 17th cookbook, with some of the proceeds going to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, to which she has donated more than $1 million.

To maintain her prodigious output, she gets started at 5 a.m. daily and goes full tilt all day. Yet she still manages to cook dinner for her family (she has four children) and work out seven days a week.

"I’m convinced that if I didn’t eat right in the first place and remain healthy, I wouldn’t have the energy to do all this," she says. "I do this because it really works."

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The estimated cost of developing the Petaquilla copper project in Panama has more than doubled, to $3.5 billion (U.S.), due to higher costs and design changes, according to stakeholders Inmet Mining, Petaquilla Copper Ltd. and Teck Cominco Ltd.

Projected cash costs per pound of copper also rose, about 12 per cent, leading to debate among the three firms about whether to go ahead with the project, Jochen Tilk, Inmet’s president and chief operating officer, added yesterday.

"When you look at the capital costs and operating costs, it’s not a slam dunk," Tilk said in an interview.

"But, going forward, we think this is a very consistent pattern in the industry.

"It’s very hard to believe there is another project of the quality of Petaquilla that could be developed at any lower development cost."

The $3.5 billion price tag is up from a $1.7 billion estimate the companies issued slightly more than a year ago pay day loans.

That estimate was based on a 1998 feasibility study of Petaquilla, which is considered to be one of the biggest undeveloped copper projects in the world.

The cash costs are now expected to be about 85 cents per pound of copper produced in the first 10 years of the project, up from 76 cents a pound in the January 2007 estimate.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. factories saw demand for their products rise in December by the largest amount in five months, a spot of welcome news that failed to change the picture of an economy struggling to stay afloat.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday that orders placed with U.S. factories rose by 2.3 per cent in December. That was an improvement from the 1.7 per cent gain posted in November and marked the biggest increase since July.

The performance in December was slightly better than the two per cent rise that economists were forecasting.

Orders for "durable" – big-ticket goods, such as cars, that are expected to last at least three years – rose by five per cent in December, up from a 0.5 per cent advance in November.

Demand for "nondurable" goods – including clothing, textiles and beverages – dipped, however by 0.4 per cent in December, compared with a three per cent rise in November.

For all of last year, total orders – durable and nondurable goods – placed with U.S. factories went up by just 1.4 per cent. It was the worst performance since 2002, when the economy was struggling to recover from the 2001 recession. In 2006, factory orders rose by 5.1 per cent.

Manufacturers have been hard hit by the housing bust and a struggling automotive sector. They also continue to cope with fierce competition from overseas producers.

Against that backdrop, factories eliminated 28,000 jobs in January and have cut 269,000 jobs over the past 12 months, the government reported last week.

The economy as a whole lost 17,000 jobs last month savings account payday advance. That marked the first nationwide loss of jobs since August 2003, when employers were still working to get back on their feet after the 2001 recession.

A more forward-looking report, released Friday, suggested manufacturing gained some ground in January.

The Institute for Supply Management's index of factory activity rose last month to a reading of 50.7, an improvement from the dismal reading of 48.4 posted in December, which suggested the sector had shrunk at that time. A reading above 50 indicates growth, and below that level indicates contraction.

With fears of a U.S. recession growing, the Federal Reserve has ratcheted down interest rates – ordering two big rate cuts over the span of just eight days in January. It marked the central bank's most aggressive rate-cutting actions in two decades.

The economy almost stalled in the final three months of last year, growing at a feeble pace of just 0.6 per cent. Some economists believe growth in the current January-to-March quarter could be just as weak. Others think the performance will be worse – with the economy actually contracting during the quarter.

Under one rough rule, the economy would have to contract for six months for the country to be considered in a recession. The worry is that people and businesses will hunker down and pull back their spending, sending the economy into a tailspin.

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EDMONTON–Computer retailer Dell says it will close a call centre in Edmonton this spring, affecting 900 employees.

U.S.-based Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) says the closing, which comes on the heels of cuts at its Ottawa call centre, is part of a company-wide plan to increase its efficiency and performance.

Employees affected by the move will be offered other jobs at the company or get severance and career placement services.

Dell says it plans to move the work that was done at the call centre, which was opened in 2004, to other facilities payday advance.

On Tuesday Dell announced that dozens of employees in Ottawa will lose their jobs and scrapped a plan to create 1,200 new jobs in that city.

Dell also says it will close its 140 kiosks in shopping malls across the United States.

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