October sales offer relief to merchants NEW YORK (AP) _ Stores are heading into the period with slashed inventories, determined not to have the fire sales that characterized last Christmas. But shoppers are still facing tight credit and a weak job market and might wait for fat discounts or not buy at all. That game of chicken will determine the holiday winners and losers. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 2.1 percent in October, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs tally, compared with a 4.2 percent drop in October 2008. The October results beat estimates for a 1 percent gain and followed a surprising 0.6 percent increase in September. ___ Productivity gains may be bad news for job seekers WASHINGTON (AP) _ Companies across the economy are finding ways to do more with fewer workers, dimming hopes that hiring will take off anytime soon. Employers became leaner and more efficient in the third quarter. Wages, meantime, remain flat or falling. The result is that productivity _ output per hour of work _ jumped at the fastest pace in six years. The good news for companies, though, may be bad news for the jobless. As long as companies can get their workers to produce more, they have little reason to hire _ at least until consumer spending picks up. And the squeeze on incomes could depress consumer spending, putting the economic recovery at risk. ___ Stocks surge on jobs data, Cisco forecast NEW YORK (AP) _ A drop in unemployment claims and an upbeat forecast from Cisco Systems Inc. gave investors a jolt of confidence a day before a key government report on jobs. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 200 points Thursday to its first close above 10,000 in two weeks, while the Nasdaq composite index led major indexes with a gain of 2.4 percent after Cisco, the maker of computer-networking gear, predicted its revenue would grow. Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.3 billion shares compared with 1.4 billion Wednesday. ___ Fannie Mae seeks $15 bln in US aid after 3Q loss WASHINGTON (AP) _ Fannie Mae is asking for an additional $15 billion in government aid after posting another big loss in the third quarter as the taxpayer bill from the housing market bust keeps rising. The government-controlled company continued to see a dramatic surge of borrowers fall behind as the unemployment rate climbs. At the end of last month, about 4.7 percent of Fannie Mae's borrowers had missed at least three payments. That's nearly triple last year's level. Seized by federal regulators 14 months ago, the problems at Fannie Mae and sibling company Freddie Mac have proven far worse than most experts had foreseen. Fannie Mae's request Thursday will bring the tab for rescuing both companies to about $111 billion. The government has promised up to $400 billion in assistance. ___ Banks borrow more from emergency Fed program WASHINGTON (AP) _ Banks borrowed slightly more from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program over the past week, while reducing their use of other credit programs designed to ease the financial crisis. The Fed said commercial banks averaged $22.6 billion in daily borrowing over the week that ended Wednesday. That's up $32 million from the week ended Oct. 28, but is far less than the $110 billion they borrowed a year ago at the height of the financial crisis. The increase, while slight, was the first since the week of Sept. 2. The identities of the financial institutions are not released. They pay just 0.50 percent in interest for the emergency, overnight loans. ___ Hyatt Hotels, Ancestry.com jump in market debuts NEW YORK (AP) _ Two well-known companies shined in their market debuts Thursday despite what has recently been a difficult market for initial public offerings. Shares of Hyatt Hotels Corp. jumped 12 percent in their first day on the New York Stock Exchange as markets appeared to dismiss concerns about infighting among its founder's heirs and tepid hotel reservations around the world. Meanwhile, investors impressed by Ancestry.com's large subscriber base and growth story pushed the genealogy Web site's stock up as much as 21 percent on the Nasdaq market. ___ DirecTV shows subscriber gains, as rivals see loss Satellite TV operator DirecTV Group Inc. was one of the few pay-TV companies to gain subscribers in the third quarter, though earnings stayed steady because of the higher costs it incurred attracting and serving those new customers. DirecTV said Thursday that a marketing partnership with AT&T Inc. that began in February accounted for most of the increase in U.S. subscribers, but it likely also retained subscribers and gained new ones because of a perennial favorite, the NFL Sunday Ticket package that airs out-of-market games to football fans. Continued... |