AP
Business Highlights
Small cars lead US auto
sales higher in April
DETROIT (AP) -- Small cars
sold briskly in the U.S. last month, as gasoline prices approached $4 a gallon
and some buyers worried about shortages of Japanese-made vehicles.
Analysts expected overall
industry sales in the U.S. to increase 19 percent from April of last year.
Sales last month were led
by highly fuel-efficient models such as Chevrolet's Cruze, Hyundai's Elantra
and Ford's Focus
Don Johnson, GM's vice
president of sales and marketing, said consumers shifted into smaller cars
starting in March and the trend continued in April. Unlike 2008, when a rise in
gas prices caught the industry off-guard, GM and other companies now have good
small cars and can quickly boost production of them, he said.
Businesses ordered more
factory goods in March
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Businesses increased their demand for industrial machinery, computers and autos
in March, lifting factory orders for the fifth consecutive month.
Orders rose 3 percent in
March after a 0.7 percent increase in February, the Commerce Department
reported Tuesday. A key category that signals business investment plans jumped
4.1 percent after a small increase in February and a big decline in January.
Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders rose 2.6 percent.
Ringling heirs go to trial
over bereavement fight
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The late
multimillionaire owner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, Irvin
Feld, left a renowned business stunningly at odds with a bitter family legacy.
He built an empire of wholesome entertainment meant to bring families together,
yet his own two children are so estranged they couldn't even mourn with one
another in peace.
The often sad family
history behind "the greatest show on Earth" is being aired in court
at a trial that starts May 9 before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle.
Karen Feld filed a $110 million suit against her younger brother, Kenneth, for
assault when they came together in the Jewish rite of sitting shiva for their
dead aunt.
Feds sue Deutsche Bank,
alleging mortgage fraud
NEW YORK (AP) -- The
federal government sued Deutsche Bank Tuesday, saying the bank committed fraud
and padded its pockets with undeserved income as it repeatedly lied so it could
benefit from a government program that insured mortgages.
The lawsuit in U.S.
District Court in Manhattan seeks to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in
insurance claims that the government has had to pay when homeowners defaulted
on their mortgages. The lawsuit also asked for punitive damages. The government
said the bank made substantial profits between 2007 and 2009 from the resale of
the risky mortgages, leaving the government to foot the bill for loans that
defaulted. The mortgage insurance is issued by the Federal Housing Administration.
The lawsuit said the bank
carried out the fraud through its subsidiary, MortgageIT, which employed more
than 2,000 people at branches in all 50 states. Deutsche acquired MortgageIT in
2007.
Pfizer 1Q net up 10 percent
on lower costs, taxes
Pfizer Inc. reported flat
first-quarter sales and shaved its revenue forecasts Tuesday as generic
competition eats away at key drugs and pressure builds for the drugmaker to
sell or spin off parts of the company.
Despite analysts grilling
them on spinoff plans, Pfizer executives say they won't announce any bold moves
for several months.
The world's biggest
drugmaker by revenue said its net income was $2.22 billion, or 28 cents per
share, up from $2.03 billion, or 25 cents per share, in 2010's first quarter.
Excluding one-time items, income was $4.81 billion, or 60 cents a share.
The New York-based maker of
cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor and impotence pill Viagra said revenue was
$16.5 billion, down a half-percent from $16.58 billion a year ago.
Comcast 1Q earnings up 9
percent, beat Street
NEW YORK (AP) -- Comcast
Corp., the country's largest cable TV company, on Tuesday said earnings
exceeded estimates for the first quarter, helped by healthy results both in its
cable operations and the newly acquired NBC Universal business.
Comcast says it lost just
39,000 cable TV customers in the quarter, the lowest number in four years.
Cable companies have been losing customers to satellite and phone company
services.
Even though Comcast did a
better job of keeping subscribers, Internet video company Netflix Inc.
surpassed Comcast in the quarter. Netflix ended March with 22.8 million U.S.
subscribers, about 34,000 more than Comcast.
Official: Portugal bailout
to be $115 billion
LISBON, Portugal (AP) --
Hard-up Portugal has negotiated an international bailout worth 78 billion euros
($115 billion) over a three-year period, officials said Tuesday.
A government official,
speaking on departmental rules of anonymity, told The Associated Press the amount
includes aid for Portugal's cash-strapped banks. The official did not provide
further details.
Portugal's interim prime
minister announced the financial rescue package for his ailing country will run
through 2013.
Portugal is the third
member of the 17-nation eurozone, after Greece and Ireland, to take a bailout
due to crippling debts after its economy and financial plans went awry. One of
western Europe's poorest countries, Portugal has said it will run out of money
next month.
New Sears CEO vows to
improve sales, clothing
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP)
-- Sears' new CEO pledged Tuesday to help turn around the ailing retailer by
relying on its core brands like Crafstman and Lands' End and being smarter
about marketing to customers.
Louis D'Ambrosio told shareholders
at Sears Holding Corp.'s annual meeting that improving the company's
long-sagging clothing business will be a priority. He did not lay out a
detailed plan for how to achieve that, although he cited strong hopes for two
new clothing lines in particular: the Kardashian Collection, which debuts in
August in 400 Sears stores, and Sofia Vergara, from the star of ABC's
"Modern Family."
NYC picks Nissan minivan
for its cab fleet
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York
City's iconic taxi fleet is getting a Japanese makeover
City officials announced
Tuesday that they had picked Nissan to supply the fleet for the next 10 years.
The Japanese automaker beat out Ford Motor Co. and Karsan USA in a contest for
the rights to anchor the fleet.
Nissan's tall, boxy NV200
minivan is already in use as a taxi in some other parts of the globe.
This marks the first time
New York City has worked directly with automakers to design its taxicab model.
By The Associated
Press(equals)
The Dow Jones industrial
average inched out a gain of 0.15 percent to close at 12,807.51. The S&P
500 fell 4.60 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,356.62. The Nasdaq composite fell
22.46, or 0.8 percent, at 2,841.62.
Benchmark West Texas
Intermediate crude for June delivery fell $2.47, or 2.2 percent, to settle at $111.05
per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude dropped
$2.67 to settle at $122.45 per barrel.
In other Nymex trading,
heating oil lost 6.13 cents to settle at $3.1908 per gallon, gasoline futures
gave up 1.85 cents to settle at $3.3294 per gallon and natural gas fell 2.5
cents to settle at $4.738 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Wednesday
May 4, 2011
Tuesday May 3, 2011