GM to temporarily shut 13 plants, cut production
DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp. said Thursday it will
temporarily close 13 assembly plants in the U.S. and Mexico -- some for more
than two months -- laying off more than 26,000 workers to pare back a bloated
inventory.
The closures, which will start in May, vary by factory from as
short as three weeks to a long as 11, including the normal two-week July
shutdown to change from one model year to the next.
GM said the shutdowns will help control high dealer inventories
and bring manufacturing in line with sales. The company plans to cut production
by 190,000 vehicles and reduce inventory from the current 767,000 to 525,000 by
the end of July.
Obama pledges protections for credit-card users
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday he is
determined to get a credit-card law that eliminates the tricky fine print,
sudden rate increases and late fees that give millions of consumers headaches.
Both the House and the Senate are pursuing bills to give
consumers greater protections as an expansion of new rules slated to take
effect next year. Obama said his economic advisers will examine the various
proposals and work with Congress and the industry, but he made clear he wants
to sign a bill into law.
Stocks end higher after shaky day of trading
NEW YORK (AP) -- About halfway through first-quarter earnings
reports, Wall Street still isn't sure where the economy is headed.
The Dow Jones industrials closed Thursday with a gain of about 71
points, or 0.9 percent, to 7,957.06 but only after another shaky,
back-and-forth day of trading.
Some companies reported strong earnings including PNC Financial
Services Group, which boosted other bank stocks including JPMorgan Chase &
Co., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co.
Jobs, housing data undermine recovery hopes
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worse-than-expected news on unemployment and
home sales Thursday dampened optimism that a broad economic recovery might be
near.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial claims for
unemployment compensation rose to a seasonally adjusted 640,000 last week, up
from a revised 613,000 the previous week. That was slightly more than analysts'
expectations of 635,000.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said sales of
existing homes fell 3 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
4.57 million units, with February revised down to 4.71 million units. Sales had
been expected to fall to an annual rate of 4.7 million units, according to
Thomson Reuters.
AP Source: Freddie Mac CFO told to take time off
VIENNA, Va. (AP) -- Freddie Mac's acting chief financial officer
had met with the mortgage giant's human resources office and had been making
plans to take time off only a day before authorities found him dead in an
apparent suicide, a person close to the company said Thursday.
A human resources official met with David Kellermann on Tuesday
and told him he needed a break because he had been working hard, said the
person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the individual wasn't
authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
BofA's Lewis: Feds urged Merrill purchase
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- New York's attorney general said Thursday
government officials pressured Bank of America Corp. CEO Ken Lewis to complete
the bank's purchase of Merrill Lynch, threatening his job security.
A letter from New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's
office sent to Congressional leaders and federal regulators said Lewis
testified in February that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke threatened to oust Bank of America's management
if the bank tried to back out of buying Merrill Lynch.
Microsoft feels more recession fallout, sales drop
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its quarterly
revenue fell from the previous year for the first time in its 23-year history
as a public company, and its profit fell more sharply than Wall Street was
expecting.
The shortfall illustrated the toll the recession has taken on the
world's largest software maker, even though Microsoft remains one of the
richest and most profitable companies. In January, Microsoft said it needed to
resort to its first mass layoffs, cutting 5,000 jobs.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said Thursday that in its fiscal
third-quarter, which ended March 31, profit dropped 32 percent to $2.98
billion, or 33 cents per share. In the same quarter of 2008, Microsoft earned
$4.39 billion, or 47 cents per share.
AP Sources: New offer made to Chrysler lenders
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Treasury Department has made a new offer to
Chrysler LLC's lenders, asking banks and hedge funds that hold $6.9 billion in
debt to forgive $5.4 billion and take a 5 percent stake in a Chrysler-Fiat
alliance, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The offer was made to the group late Tuesday, these people said.
The people asked not to be named because the negotiations are private.
The Treasury Department's proposal is in response to the lenders'
offer earlier this week to forgive $4.5 billion in Chrysler debt in exchange
for a 40-percent stake in the alliance.
UPS 1Q profit plunges more than 55 pct.
ATLANTA (AP) -- UPS Inc.'s first-quarter profit plunged as fewer
people sent packages and used premium services like next-day air amid the
global financial crisis. The world's largest shipping carrier also gave a
disappointing second-quarter outlook on Thursday, and disclosed it shed 10,000
domestic jobs during the first three months of the year.
UPS earnings in the January-March period fell more than 55
percent to $401 million as revenue dropped more than 13 percent, compared to
profit of $906 million a year ago.
Global finance officials pledge new resources
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The heads of the International Monetary Fund
and World Bank on Thursday pledged new resources to fight the worst global
downturn since the Great Depression, while warning that the crisis is far from
over.
"We still have long months of economic distress in front of
us," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International
Monetary Fund.
Strauss-Kahn said U.S. and European leaders need to fulfill
pledges they made during a summit in London earlier this month to remove
distressed assets from the books of ailing banks. With the right policies, the
world economy could recover in the first half of 2010, he said.
By The Associated Press
the Dow rose 70.49, or 0.9 percent, to 7,957.06.
Broader stock indicators also finished moderately higher. The
Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.37, or 1 percent, to 851.92, and the
Nasdaq composite index rose 6.09, or 0.4 percent, to 1,652.21.
Benchmark crude for June delivery rose 77 cents to settle at
$49.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for May delivery fell less than
a penny to settle at $1.3906 a gallon. Heating oil fell 1.2 cents to settle at
$1.3179 a gallon. Natural gas for May delivery fell 12.3 cents to settle at
$3.409 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent prices rose 30 cents to settle at $50.11 a
barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.