News For Thursday Oct 2, 2008 News For Thursday Oct 2, 2008

Business Business

- Added 7 weeks ago

Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to end Troopergate probe into Palin power abuse allegations. ...

Financial crisis moves from Wall St. to the mall - Added 7 weeks ago

Alarmed by the financial meltdown, stores nationwide are slapping sale signs on everything from fall sweaters to furniture _ frantically trying to attract shoppers who are cutting back. Some analysts were already...

Bailout plan offers vague help to homeowners - Added 7 weeks ago

The harsh reality for Murielle Montes and hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are behind on their mortgages is this: A $700 billion bailout of the financial industry will probably do little to help them avoid...

Credit tightens as rescue bill heads back to House - Added 7 weeks ago

The Senate's endorsement of the $700 billion financial bailout plan failed to relax the credit markets Thursday, with investors worried that the passage of the bill may not prevent the economy from sinking into a...

Stocks decline on unemployment, factory reports - Added 7 weeks ago

Pessimism about a protracted economic downturn washed over the financial markets Thursday, sending stocks plunging and further tightening the credit markets. Reports on declining factory orders and a seven-year high in...

Commodities prices dive as dollar surges vs. euro - Added 7 weeks ago

Commodities prices plunged Thursday as a rapidly strengthening dollar and more gloomy readings on the economy compelled investors to dump positions in gold, grains and energy. The dollar climbed to a one-year high...

Summary Box: Financial crisis moves to stores - Added 7 weeks ago

MELTDOWN MOVES TO THE MALL: Stores worry the financial meltdown will make for slower sales this holiday season. They're stepping up discounts on fall goods. 'TIS THE SLOW SEASON: The outlook for the holiday shopping...

Financial companies borrow record amount from Fed - Added 7 weeks ago

Banks and investment firms borrowed in record amounts from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending facility over the past week, providing fresh evidence of the credit stresses squeezing the country. The Fed's report...

Summary Box: Tighter credit slows economy - Added 7 weeks ago

THE LATEST DATA: Signs emerged that tighter credit is harming the broader economy, as more people than expected sought unemployment benefits last week and factory orders plunged by the largest amount in two years. ...

Winemaker Constellation Brands loses $23M - Added 7 weeks ago

Constellation Brands Inc. said Thursday it lost nearly $23 million in its fiscal second quarter as strong sales of vodka and high-end wines were more than offset by charges to shrink its operations in Australia. Its...

Tighter credit begins to hit manufacturing, jobs - Added 7 weeks ago

There's no need to explain to Al Lubrano how deeply tight credit has wounded the economy. Lubrano, president of a metal components maker in Lincoln, R.I., said orders from his customers in the automotive, computer, and...

Marriott books lower 3Q profit, expects tough 2009 - Added 7 weeks ago

Hotel company Marriott International Inc. said Thursday that its third-quarter profit dropped 28 percent, compared to 2007, and it warned investors about deteriorating conditions for 2009 amid the ongoing financial...

Race driver Castroneves charged in US tax case - Added 7 weeks ago

Race car driver and "Dancing With The Stars" champion Helio Castroneves (EHL'-ee-oh kas-troh-NEH'-vehz) is facing federal tax charges in Miami. A grand jury on Thursday returned a tax evasion indictment against the...

GE, SLM, ConocoPhillips, Marriott among big movers - Added 7 weeks ago

Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market: NYSE General Electric Co., down $2.35 at $22.15 The manufacturing and financial conglomerate priced...

Anheuser-Busch launches $50M Bud Light campaign - Added 7 weeks ago

Anheuser-Busch is rolling out a $50 million advertising campaign for Bud Light playing up the beer's "drinkability," trying to set the brand apart as rival MillerCoors waits until the new year to release new ads for its...

Agriculture futures end trading lower on CBOT - Added 7 weeks ago

Agriculture futures traded lower Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Wheat for December delivery fell 33.75 cents to $6.36 a bushel; December corn slipped 30 cents to $4.54 a bushel; December oats lost 11.5 cents...

Summary Box: Anheuser-Busch's new Bud Light ads - Added 7 weeks ago

THE MESSAGE: Anheuser-Busch is touting the so-called drinkability of top-selling Bud Light. The company says in ads the beer has the right balance of taste without being too heavy, meaning drinkers can have lots of it. ...

Lawmakers probe Medtronic payments to physicians - Added 7 weeks ago

Senate lawmakers are pressuring Medtronic to disclose more about its consulting arrangements with physicians, citing prior allegations the company paid kickbacks to surgeons to boost sales of spinal implants. In...

Execs at Paris auto show brace for industry storm - Added 7 weeks ago

Auto executives agree: their industry is headed into a giant storm. The clouds of global economic turmoil cast a pall over the opening of the Paris Motor Show on Thursday _ although a staged display of thunder and blue...

Despite crisis, ECB holds interest rates steady - Added 7 weeks ago

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged Thursday, even as bank President Jean-Claude Trichet warned of slowing growth amid high inflation and the spreading financial crisis. "Economic activity in the...

30-year mortgages rise to 6.10 percent - Added 7 weeks ago

Rates on 30-year mortgages have risen for a second straight week, climbing to the highest level in a month. Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.10 percent...

AP Poll: 8 in 10 fear hit from financial crisis - Added 7 weeks ago

Not just Wall Street is running scared. The consequences of the financial meltdown now are sinking in with ordinary Americans, who worry whether their jobs, home values, children's futures and retirement plans are at...

Factory orders drop by 4 percent in August - Added 7 weeks ago

Orders to U.S. factories plunged by the largest amount in nearly two years in August as the credit strains began to hit manufacturing with full force. The Commerce Department reported that orders for manufactured goods...

New Nintendo DS portable will come with camera - Added 7 weeks ago

Nintendo's hit DS portable machine will come with a digital camera that will allow players to mix images, scribble on photos and create new faces, the Japanese game maker said Thursday. The Nintendo DSi will go on sale...

Stock losses take heavy toll on retirement savings - Added 7 weeks ago

So close and yet so far. It's a frustration being felt by Americans who thought the finish line to their working life was almost in sight. The financial crisis that toppled major Wall Street banks and snarled credit...

World markets mixed after Senate OKs bailout plan - Added 7 weeks ago

World stock markets were mixed Thursday as broader concerns about a global slowdown dampened relief over the U.S. Senate's passage of the $700 billion bank rescue package. Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 1.07 percent to...

France to host EU summit on money crisis - Added 7 weeks ago

France will host a European financial summit Saturday in Paris, bringing together leaders of four countries to deal with the international financial crisis. The leaders of Germany, Britain and Italy are to attend, a...

Burger King switches to trans fat free oil - Added 7 weeks ago

Burger King Corp. said Thursday it is now cooking with trans fat free cooking oils at all of its restaurants nationwide. The No. 2 hamburger chain also said all of its menu ingredients, including its baked goods, will...

UBS expects return to profit in third quarter - Added 7 weeks ago

Swiss bank UBS said Thursday it expects "a small profit" in the third quarter, raising hopes that a dismal year of U.S. sub-prime related losses _ to the tune of some 45 billion Swiss francs ($40 billion) _ may soon be...

AP Executive Morning Briefing - Added 7 weeks ago

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008: House girds for second try on financial rescue WASHINGTON (AP) _ Now for the big do-over. House members get another chance to...

Asian automaker shares tumble on US sales slump - Added 7 weeks ago

Shares of major Asian automakers took a beating Thursday after they reported dismal September sales figures in the U.S., their most important overseas market. Overall U.S. auto sales plunged last month, dropping below...

Oil steady at $98 on US bailout hopes - Added 7 weeks ago

Oil prices were steady at $98 a barrel Thursday in Asia as expectations the U.S. Congress will pass a revised $700 billion financial industry bailout package this week offset concern over slowing crude demand in the...

Wheat production in the Dakotas booms - Added 7 weeks ago

Farmers in the Dakotas are wrapping up one of the best spring wheat and winter wheat harvests in more than a decade with yields that industry officials describe as phenomenal in some areas. "It's amazing we got as much...

SEC extends short-selling ban for financial stocks - Added 7 weeks ago

Federal regulators on Wednesday extended an unprecedented ban against all short-selling in the shares of more than 800 financial companies, keeping it in place at least until after Congress enacts a massive financial...

Lending remains tight as clock ticks on bailout - Added 7 weeks ago

NEW YORK _ The credit markets remained choked late Wednesday, keeping key lending rates and demand for Treasurys at lofty levels after the Senate passed the U.S. financial rescue plan. There was no discernible change...

Report: ImClone's secret suitor is Eli Lilly - Added 7 weeks ago

Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. reportedly is the secret suitor that's been courting ImClone Systems Inc. and is offering approximately $6.1 billion for the biotech company. Indianapolis-based Lilly is in advanced talks...

Buffett's company to buy $3B of GE preferred stock - Added 7 weeks ago

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is investing $3 billion in General Electric Co., a huge vote of confidence for an iconic American company battered by the financial crisis. For the second time in just over a...

Restaurants take credit hit, but leases improve - Added 7 weeks ago

While the credit crunch is making it hard for some restaurant companies to get loans to build new locations and renovate old ones, other chains are using the slowdown to secure better terms from landlords struggling to...

Tight credit, fear send Sept. auto sales below 1M - Added 7 weeks ago

U.S. auto sales dropped below 1 million last month for the first time in more than 15 years as some consumers struggled to get financing and others were frightened away from showrooms by bank failures and turmoil on...

Once 3 pages, bailout bill now length of novel - Added 7 weeks ago

Two Saturdays ago, it totaled just three pages _ the White House's request for $700 billion to rescue tottering financial institutions by buying their devalued mortgage-related assets. After an intense weekend of...

Candy with chemical in Chinese milk found in Conn. - Added 7 weeks ago

An industrial chemical blamed for sickening thousands of infants in China was found in candy in four Connecticut stores this week, a state official said Wednesday. Days after contaminated White Rabbit Creamy Candy was...

Soybeans rebound on Argentina strike threat - Added 7 weeks ago

Soybean prices turned higher for the first time in a week Wednesday as a threatened farmers' strike in Argentina raised worries of a shortage of the crop used to feed people and livestock. In other commodities, crude...

Banks want to suspend accounting rule in bailout - Added 7 weeks ago

Congress has embraced an idea to help prop up the financial system: Give banks a break by letting them value their bad mortgage assets at a price they could fetch later, not now. Lawmakers want the Securities and...

GE, Ford, Farmer Mac, AMD among big movers - Added 7 weeks ago

Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market: NYSE General Electric Co., down $1 at $24.50 Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will buy $3 billion...

Oil down on stronger US crude, gasoline supplies - Added 7 weeks ago

Oil prices dipped below $100 a barrel Wednesday as ample increases in U.S. crude and gasoline supplies added to mounting evidence that a rough economy is forcing Americans to drive less. Light, sweet crude for November...

Florida sues Merck to recover money spent on Vioxx - Added 7 weeks ago

Florida has joined eight other states in suing drugmaker Merck & Co. over what the state alleges was deceptive marketing of its former prescription painkiller Vioxx. In a lawsuit brought by Florida Attorney General...

Starbucks settles NLRB complaint of fired barista - Added 7 weeks ago

Starbucks Corp. has settled a National Labor Relations Board complaint with an employee who said he was fired this summer for promoting union activity. The agreement marks the gourmet coffee chain's third settlement of...

Yum Brands to add calorie info to menu boards - Added 7 weeks ago

Curious about how many calories are packed into that burrito or fried chicken you crave? Fast-food company Yum Brands Inc. says it's taking the guesswork out of counting calories. The parent of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza...

Agriculture futures end trading mixed on CBOT - Added 7 weeks ago

Agriculture futures traded mixed Wednesday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Wheat for December delivery fell 10.25 cents to $6.6975 a bushel; December corn lost 3.5 cents to $4.84 a bushel; December oats added 5.5 cents...

CarMax laying off more than 600 service workers - Added 7 weeks ago

CarMax Inc. said Wednesday it is laying off more than 600 employees, or about 4 percent of its total work force, as the auto retailer tries to cut costs due to a decline in car and truck sales. The Richmond, Va.-based...