News For Sunday Oct 12, 2008 News For Sunday Oct 12, 2008

Business Business

Investors face more uncertainty as bailout widens - Added 7 weeks ago

Investors agonizing over whether the stock market is bottoming out or about to extend its precipitous decline face more uncertainty this week as they await action on the government's rapidly expanding effort to pull the...

Is the era of easy credit over for the long haul? - Added 7 weeks ago

An inflatable gorilla beckoned from the roof of Don Brown Chevrolet in St. Louis, servers doled out free bowls of pasta and a salesman urged potential customers to "come on up under the canopy and put your hands on" a...

Final hour of trading keeps Wall Street on edge - Added 7 weeks ago

The chaotic hour before Wall Street's closing bell has never been for the faint of heart. These days, it's been absolutely brutal. In grim scenes repeated day after day, investors watch as an avalanche of sell orders...

Key points of euro nations' financial crisis plan - Added 7 weeks ago

European leaders agreed to several measures _ German Chancellor Angela Merkel called them a "tool kit" _ that governments will be able to use to shore up financial institutions and stop banks' financing problems from...

Bank stock purchase pushed; `no' to protectionism - Added 7 weeks ago

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told international leaders on Sunday that isolationism and protectionism could worsen the spreading financial crisis. With a new trading week dawning, U.S. lawmakers urged quick action...

Ithaca, NY, wants to be America's 1st podcar city - Added 7 weeks ago

!!-- pobj:WVMOR301-0320062143 -->The thought of a driverless, computer-guided car transporting people where they want to go on demand is a futuristic notion to some. To Jacob Roberts, podcars _ or PRTs, for personal...

Details about debt at some newspaper companies - Added 7 weeks ago

Newspaper companies renegotiating debt agreements with lenders: _ AVISTA CAPITAL PARTNERS _ The owner of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis skipped a $9 million quarterly debt payment to senior creditors to conserve cash....

Liquidation unlikely as papers miss obligations - Added 7 weeks ago

Newspaper companies have been skipping loan payments, missing financial targets in debt agreements and accepting higher interest rates in exchange for more flexibility _ and they're not even directly feeling the impact...

Highlights of Paulson statement at World Bank - Added 7 weeks ago

Highlights of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's statement Sunday to a meeting of the World Bank's development committee, as provided by the Treasury Department: We meet at a time when the global economic environment...

Amid the meltdown, economics Nobel no easy pick - Added 7 weeks ago

If history is any guide, this year's Nobel economics prize will award the developers of economic theories that have had the time to take root, grow and prove resilient. The past also indicates that Monday's winner will...

Bailout managers may be buying own securities - Added 7 weeks ago

The government's plan to make sure private managers of a $700 billion bailout plan are free of conflicts of interest is weak, according to some critics, and allows too much room for abuse. The Treasury Department is in...

Emirates officials say nation's banks are strong - Added 7 weeks ago

Officials in the United Arab Emirates say the country's financial institutions remain healthy despite growing fears the global credit crisis will hurt the booming Gulf economy. Emirates Central Bank Governor Sultan Bin...

Analysts: GM would need cash to acquire Chrysler - Added 7 weeks ago

For General Motors Corp. to acquire Chrysler LLC and all of its warts, GM would have to get desperately needed cash as part of the deal. Lots of it, according to industry analysts. With both automakers struggling to...

Bush visits finance officials, urges cooperation - Added 7 weeks ago

Global finance leaders are pledging cooperation between rich and poor nations to deal with a severe credit crisis after President Bush discussed the seriousness of the current situation. The Group of 20 nations, which...

Key dates in Chrysler's recent history - Added 7 weeks ago

May 7, 1998: Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler-Benz, the maker of the upscale Mercedes Benz, announces a $36 billion merger with Chrysler. The new company, DaimlerChrysler AG, begins trading on the Frankfurt and New York...

Acquisition talks: About the automakers - Added 7 weeks ago

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC at a glance: GENERAL MOTORS CORP. ASSETS: GM, founded in 1908, sells its cars and trucks under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab,...

All that money you've lost _ where did it go? - Added 7 weeks ago

Trillions in stock market value _ gone. Trillions in retirement savings _ gone. A huge chunk of the money you paid for your house, the money you're saving for college, the money your boss needs to make payroll _ gone,...

Qwest reaches tentative agreement with union - Added 7 weeks ago

Qwest Communications International Inc. says it has reached a tentative agreement for a four-year contract with a union representing about 20,000 employees. The company made the announcement early Saturday. Members of...

Gold, silver prices plummet as fear grip markets - Added 7 weeks ago

Gold and silver plummeted Friday after Wall Street posted another big loss and forced investors to dump holdings in precious metals to raise badly needed cash. Gold for December delivery fell $27.50, or 3.1 percent, to...

FCC sides with NFL Network in dispute with Comcast - Added 7 weeks ago

The Federal Communications Commission has sided with the National Football League in a long-running programming dispute with Comcast Corp., ruling that Comcast should carry the league's NFL Network on its popular...

Mazda says no decision on Ford's stake sale - Added 7 weeks ago

Mazda denied Saturday that a decision had been made by troubled Ford Motor Co. to sell its stake in the Japanese automaker but it didn't rule out a possible deal. Japanese media reported Saturday that Ford was...

Text of G-7 plan of action - Added 7 weeks ago

Text of G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors' plan of action, as provided by the Treasury Department: ___ The G-7 agrees today that the current situation calls for urgent and exceptional action. We commit...

Automakers push key vehicles through fall TV shows - Added 7 weeks ago

In this fall's TV season, a secret agent speeds around in a Chevrolet Camaro, a man tries to save the world with the help of a Dodge Ram pickup, and a famous talking car returns to the streets in the form of a Ford...

Ireland's economy ends long winning run - Added 7 weeks ago

Davey McKeever was down to his last bet slip of the night, crumpled in a sweaty fist, at the Shelbourne Park greyhound track. The remnants of McKeever's first unemployment check would rise or fall on the ironically...

Aggressive Mars breathes down Hershey's neck in US - Added 7 weeks ago

This stretch of rolling dairy country has long been Milton Hershey's turf, where he first found success making chocolate more than a century ago and earned a name synonymous with chocolate in America. But...

G7 endorses plan to battle financial crisis - Added 7 weeks ago

Finance officials from the world's top economic powers endorsed a plan Friday to stem the worst financial crisis in more than a half-century. The officials from the Group of Seven countries issued the five-point plan...

Quotes on G-7 actions regarding meltdown - Added 7 weeks ago

Selected quotes on actions taken by the Group of Seven major industrial countries on Friday to combat the worldwide financial crisis: ___ "We finalized an aggressive action plan to address the turmoil in global...

Paulson endorses bank stock purchase plan - Added 7 weeks ago

!!-- AUDIO:0810A265,0810A264,0810A263 -->Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that the Bush administration will move ahead with a plan to buy stock in financial institutions. Paulson said the program to...

Stocks end worst week mixed after wild session - Added 7 weeks ago

Wall Street capped one of its worst weeks ever with a wild session Friday that saw the Dow Jones industrials gyrate within a 1,000 point range before closing with a relatively mild loss and the Nasdaq composite index...

Banking basics pay off for Wells Fargo amid chaos - Added 7 weeks ago

With its iconic stagecoach, Wells Fargo & Co. has evoked images of the wild West throughout its 156-year history. Now it's finally expanding east of the Mississippi with a $12.2 billion acquisition of Wachovia...

GE 3Q profit off 22 pct, but meets lower forecast - Added 7 weeks ago

General Electric Co. spared investors any nasty surprises as it reported a 22 percent drop in third-quarter earnings on Friday, meeting its own lowered forecast and blaming the decline on its struggling finance arm. The...

Text of G-7 plan of action - Added 7 weeks ago

Text of G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors' plan of action, as provided by the Treasury Department: The G-7 agrees today that the current situation calls for urgent and exceptional action. We commit to...

Federal regulators clear Wells Fargo-Wachovia deal - Added 7 weeks ago

Federal antitrust regulators on Friday cleared Wells Fargo's $11.7 billion acquisition of Wachovia Corp., capping a weeklong battle for the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank. The rapid approval comes a day after Citigroup...

Gold, silver prices plummet as fear grip markets - Added 7 weeks ago

Gold and silver plummeted Friday after Wall Street posted another big loss and forced investors to dump holdings in precious metals to raise badly needed cash. Gold for December delivery fell $27.50, or 3.1 percent, to...

Stock traders: It's the ugliest market ever seen - Added 7 weeks ago

"There's nothing that's come anywhere near this." Alan Valdes, a trader for brokerage and financial services firm Hilliard Lyons, said past market crises _ the 1987 crash, the dot-com bust, the savings and loan...

Developing nations worried about financial crisis - Added 7 weeks ago

Developing countries warned on Friday that the global financial crisis could dampen their growth prospects and recommended an international response to prevent "the most difficult situation in years" from worsening. ...

Meltdown 101: Bankruptcy won't help borrowers much - Added 7 weeks ago

Can filing for bankruptcy help homeowners facing foreclosure? For most people, trying to negotiate changes in their loan with help from a housing counselor or lawyer is a far better option. While bankruptcy judges can...

PepsiCo to renew effort on soft drinks sales - Added 7 weeks ago

PepsiCo, the nation's second-largest beverage company, said Friday it was launching a new marketing campaign to refocus attention on soft drinks, which have seen lagging sales. Carbonated soft drinks are "an important...

AP source: GM could announce production cuts soon - Added 7 weeks ago

General Motors Corp. is likely to announce further production cuts and possible plant closures as early as next week as it deals with slumping sales and a collapse in its stock price, a person with knowledge of the...

Walgreen Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Rein retires - Added 7 weeks ago

Drugstore chain Walgreen Co. said Friday Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Rein has retired from the company after 26 years. Rein, 56, will be replaced as company chairman by Alan McNally, 62, lead director on Walgreen's board....

What rate cut? Interbank lending rates keep rising - Added 7 weeks ago

Governments around the world have slashed interest rates and ramped up their lending to unprecendented levels, but banks are still charging each other extremely high borrowing rates _ a bad sign for the credit markets...

Goldman Sachs, GE, Morgan Stanley among big movers - Added 7 weeks ago

Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday on the New York Stock Exchange: NYSE Goldman Sachs Group Inc., down $12.55 at $88.80 The bank's credit outlook was revised to negative by ratings agency...

Will cheap gas mean return to gas-guzzling ways? - Added 7 weeks ago

Prices at the pump are dropping fast, and gas could fall below $3 a gallon in a matter of weeks, if not sooner. Does that mean Americans will return to their heedless, gas-guzzling ways? Experts say no because most...

Alabama settles suits against 5 drug companies - Added 7 weeks ago

The state of Alabama has settled Medicaid drug pricing lawsuits it filed against prescription drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb and four other companies, a lawyer representing the state confirmed Friday. ...

Oil plunges to 13-month low on global slowdown - Added 7 weeks ago

The stunning collapse in oil markets accelerated Friday, sending a barrel of crude plunging below $78 as investors grow more pessimistic about resolving a mushrooming global economic crisis. Oil hasn't been this cheap...

Morgan Stanley shares sink on worries about future - Added 7 weeks ago

Morgan Stanley Inc. shares plunged more than 22 percent Friday as investors questioned the investment bank's future even with a major investment from Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Friday marked the fifth...

Lehman debt auction gives clue to potential losses - Added 7 weeks ago

Sellers of insurance on bonds issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are now likely to face demands that they pay out more than 91 cents on the dollar to buyers of those insurance contracts. That's the upshot...

Energy stocks whacked by diving crude, gas prices - Added 7 weeks ago

Energy stocks plunged Friday as crude and natural gas prices dropped to levels not seen in more than a year. The sector has fallen alongside a broader sell-off on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones industrials dropping...

Amtrak announces record annual ridership - Added 7 weeks ago

Amtrak carried a record 28.7 million people last year, with each of its routes seeing gains, the national passenger railroad said Friday. The company has posted six years of ridership and revenue growth, recently...

Ag futures fall on Chicago Board of Trade - Added 7 weeks ago

Agriculture futures slid Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Wheat for December delivery fell 41.25 cents to $5.635 a bushel; December corn fell 30 cents to $4.0825 a bushel; December oats fell 19 cents to $2.785 a...