Financial Mines

The State Department of Revenue Services said Monday it will not send you a tax refund check, instead, people who overpaid will now be issued a Chase Bank debit card if they do not accept direct deposit.

Tax refunds in excess of $10,000, or for people who have off shore bank accounts, will still be issued as checks, as will refunds filed on behalf of the deceased or for previous tax years.

The DRS’ decision to stop sending out checks follows similar decisions by the state Department of Labor and the Department of Social Services to issue debit cards for unemployment insurance and food stamps respectively.

While the state attempted to limit the number of fees Chase could take for servicing the cards, people could ring up charges if they use the wrong ATMs or fail to use all the cash immediately.

The cards must be activated and will require refund recipients to provide their Social Security numbers to Chase as part of that process. You will also get a personal identification number for the card.

All this is designed to reduce costs at DRS. This is the link to the Chase/DRS instructions on the debit card:

http://www.ct.gov/DRS/lib/drs/debitcard/brc11634_c.pdf

While a lot of Connecticut stocks on Monday were handing back gains made last week, Shelton-based Hubbell Inc. was up marginally 0.44 percent to $72.64.

Reuters said Hubbell, a player in the lighting and electric component industry, could be in the merger mix as its industry goes through a round of consolidation. Reuters reported ABB is buying Thomas and Betts, prompting speculation about other companies.

Southport’s Sturm Ruger also maintained a small gain into afternoon trading along with Acme United and Aetna.

Norwalk-based Bolt Technologies, down 4.82 percent to $12.05, was suffering the most on this Blue Monday, but downside company was plentiful as Terex, Tangoe and FactSet were all down more than 2 percent.

The Census Bureau reported Monday that Nutmeg public sector workers had the sixth highest salaries in the nation in March of 2010.

As the state continues to try to grapple with budget problems it appears that public sector pay, structure and taxes will remain very much a political issue at every level.

The Bureau, in surveying 90,000 state and local governments in March of 2010, found the average full-time Connecticut public employee earned $5,234 a month. When part-time workers are added into the mix, Connecticut’s average falls to $4,203, making it home to the seventh highest paid public sector. The average full-time public sector worker, excluding federal employees, made $4,388 a month in 2010.

The areas that outranked Connecticut for full-time pay are:

1. District of Columbia $5,900

2. California $5,774

3. New Jersey $5,540

4. New York $5,354

5. Washington $5,297

And the states that paid their full-time public sector employees the least:

1. Mississippi $3,147

2. Arkansas $3,290

3. Oklahoma $3,351

4. West Virginia $3,354

5. Kentucky $3,370

Tonight, we’ll be tweeting from UB’s Sammis Lecture, which features William Parrett, chairman of the U.S. Council for International Business and a director of The Blackstone Group.
Tonight’s topic – multinational corp. investment in China

Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft saw its commercial shipments fall to 12 in the fourth quarter compared to 16 in the same period a year ago, while its sister UTC company Pratt & Whitney experienced an increase from commercial aviation, shipping 154 engines in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 110 the previous year.

UTC reported earnings for the fourth quarter and year on Wednesday with Sikorsky’s operating profit dipping to $207 million from $239 million. However, Sikorsky took $37 million in restructuring related charges in the quarter. The layoffs, announced last year, are expected to be finalized this quarter and some employees have said they expect to hear this week who will be laid off.

Aerospace companies are hoping commercial aviation, which was dramatically affected by the global economic crash of 2008, is ready to soar in 2012 and 2013, which could help them replace the drop off in revenues from defense, which is expected to hit in the next couple of years.

While Pratt’s numbers show an increase in demand from the commercial markets, Sikorsky showed it is still very much a struggle for helicopters.

However, Sikorsky continued to ship a high number of military aircraft, delivering 61 helicopters in the last quarter of 2011, compared to 60 in the same period in 2010. Overall, Sikorsky shipped 235 military aircraft in 2011 compared to 219 in 2010. Pratt’s military shipments declined for the year to 161 from 180.

Shares in UTC were down 5 cents to $77.73 in New York trading Wednesday before noon.

United Technologies Corp. reported fourth quarter net income attributable to shareholders climbed to $1.3 billion, or $1.47 per diluted share, from $1.2 billion, or $1.31 per diluted share a year ago.
The company said restructuring charges cost 11 cents in the quarter.
Sikorsky accounted for 25 percent of those costs as it cut more than 1000 job. It had $207 million in operating profits for the quarter.

Sikorsky Aircraft’s aftermarket division signed an agreement with Danish Aerotech A/S to discuss the establishment of a support facility and service should Sikorsky win a Roayl Danish Navy contract.

The Danes are expected to announce their decision on the contest this year and Sikorsky Aerospace Services would work with Danish Aerotech to supply replacement parts for the new helicopters.

Sikorsky is a subsidiary of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp. Shares of UTC were up 48 cents to $77.34 in Tuesday trading, just a day before UTC reports fourth space and full-year earnings for 2011.

Travelers executives say they weathered a difficult year of disasters in 2011 and in the fourth quarter posted net income of $618 million, or $1.51 per diluted share, compared to $894 million or $1.95 a share for the same quarter in 2010.

The company noted 2011 was the most expensive year on record for insurers around the globe. While this increased payouts on policies, it also drove up demand for policies and renewals and most importantly pricing power for the insurer.

(Simple human behavior and psychology. Those that struggled without insurance never want to get caught without it and those that used it see its value… )

Travelers said in the fourth quarter alone, renewal price increases were up more than 6 percent, or double the increase it got in the third quarter.

Despite the positives, shares of Travelers were down more than 3 percent to $58.57 in Tuesday trading after the earnings announcement. Pricing power and increased demand for products can’t overcome the fact that it was $200 million short from a year ago and missed analysts’ estimates.