Gov't extends deadline for clunkers paperwork
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Transportation Department on Monday extended the deadline for auto dealers to
submit their Cash for Clunkers deals, giving them more time to make sure they
get repaid under the popular $3 billion government rebate program.
Dealers now have until noon
on Tuesday to submit the necessary paperwork, instead of 8 p.m. EDT Monday. All
sales under the program were still scheduled to end Monday evening.
The change came after
government computers set up to handle the filings buckled under a flood of
dealers trying to send in their sales agreements at the last minute. Under the
original plan, those deals that weren't submitted on time wouldn't be repaid,
leaving many dealers fearful that they would be left on the hook for clunker
sales they made.
Stocks pull off earlier
highs, financials retreat
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors
slowed their hectic buying of stocks Monday, leaving the major indexes little
changed after a four-day advance.
Stocks pulled back from
their early highs as financial stocks, which had been surging, retreated.
Meanwhile, Treasury prices rallied ahead of the latest round of debt auctions.
Analysts had expected a
pause after stocks soared last week, lifting the Dow Jones industrials 370
points. The advance picked up momentum Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke declared that the economy is on the verge of recovery.
Market experts have been
warning, though, that the market's upbeat mood could be tested with reports
this week on consumer confidence and housing.
Reader's Digest files for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
Reader's Digest Association
Inc., publisher of the iconic general interest magazine that began gracing
American homes in 1922 and now reaches a worldwide audience of 130 million,
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday as it faces falling print
circulation in the Internet age and looming debt payments.
Known for its heartwarming
stories about American life as other publications moved toward edgier fare, the
company's flagship Reader's Digest magazine has seen its U.S. circulation drop
from a peak of more than 17 million in the 1970s to just above 8 million last
year.
Magnifying the publishing
world's woes is an advertising slump that already has led to the closing of
several high-profile magazines, including Conde Nast's Portfolio, Domino and
Blender.
Warner Chilcott buying
P&G drug business
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) --
Shares of Ireland's Warner Chilcott PLC skyrocketed Monday on news of its bid
to morph from a small, specialty pharmaceutical company to a global player by
buying Procter & Gamble Co.'s prescription drug business for $3.1 billion.
The maker of women's health
and dermatology products will get a portfolio with $2.3 billion in annual sales,
including blockbuster osteoporosis drug Actonel, tripling its revenue in a rare
deal financed entirely by bank debt.
The deal brings Warner
Chilcott an unspecified number of Procter and Gamble's prescription drugs in
development, manufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico and Germany, a trained
sales force of roughly 1,200 and a research and development team nearly as big.
Oil nears $75 per barrel on
economic optimism
HOUSTON (AP) -- Oil prices
approached $75 a barrel Monday for the first time in 10 months amid growing
optimism that the world's economies are on the mend.
Benchmark crude for October
delivery rose 48 cents to settle at $74.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Oil last topped $75 in October and on Monday, prices came within 19
cents of that mark.
Natural gas rebounded
strongly from new seven-year lows Monday, yet still traded below $3 per 1,000
cubic feet because of a huge glut and very little demand from major industrial
customers.
GM board wants control of
Opel patents in deal
DETROIT (AP) -- General
Motors' new board may still sell its money-losing European Opel unit to a group
led by Canadian auto parts maker Magna, but it needs guarantees that Opel's
technology won't be used in Russia to compete against GM's Chevrolet, according
to a person briefed on the sale talks.
The board on Friday balked
at picking between bids for Adam Opel GbmH from a group led by Magna
International Inc. that includes Russia's state-owned Sberbank, and one from
GM's preferred bidder, Brussels-based investor RHJ International SA.
The GM board, according to
industry analysts, has legitimate concerns about GM's global small and midsize
car underpinnings being used by Russian automaker OAO GAZ to update its
vehicles and compete with Chevrolet. GAZ has ties to Magna and Sberbank and is
likely to benefit from the deal.
NY labor union chief to
chair New York Fed
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Federal Reserve Bank of New York has named a top state labor union official its
chairman, the bank announced Monday.
Denis M. Hughes, president
of the New York State AFL-CIO, has been deputy chairman since January 2007. He
became acting chairman in May after the surprise resignation of Stephen
Friedman. News reports had raised questions about Friedman's ties to Goldman
Sachs Group Inc.
Hughes, 59, has been a
director of the New York Fed since January 2004. The Fed's Board of Governors
appointed him chairman for the remainder of this year.
States probe whether
FairPoint faked readiness to take over phone system
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Regulators
in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are looking into an allegation that
FairPoint Communications Inc. faked its readiness to take over the region's
dominant telephone network from Verizon during a review by a consultant to the
states, officials said Monday.
FairPoint has been hit with
unprecedented numbers of consumer complaints including billing errors, service
order delays and long waits on call-in complaint lines since it took over
Verizon Communications Inc.'s phone networks in the three states Feb. 1.
Now state regulators are
reviewing an anonymous e-mail from someone claiming that during tests leading
up to the Feb. 1 "cutover," FairPoint created a computer program
"to deceive the audience into believing they were watching a real demonstration"
of its readiness. A Maine regulator believes the e-mail is from a FairPoint
insider.
Data suggest Europe, Asia
looking up
LONDON (AP) -- Economic data
gave more evidence Monday that Europe and Asia are on the mend, while a top
Chinese leader cautioned against blind optimism and said the world economy
still faced "many new difficulties."
Figures from the European
Union statistics office Eurostat showed that industrial orders in the 16
countries that use the euro rose 3.1 percent in June from the quarter before,
suggesting the manufacturing sector could be emerging from recession.
New orders -- a key gauge of
industry's future growth -- rose in both France and Germany, as well as
Ireland, which has been among the hardest-hit by the global economic crisis. The
figure was almost twice as strong as the 1.6 percent monthly increase that
analysts were expecting.
Swiss official tells Google
to erase street views
BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- A
Swiss government official is demanding that Google Inc. immediately take off
the Internet any "Street View" images of Switzerland, and the company
said Monday it would work to resolve problems with the privacy rights
regulator.
Hanspeter Thuer,
Switzerland's federal data protection commissioner, said Google's pictures were
violating Switzerland's strict privacy laws by failing to obscure people's
identities on the mapping service, which offers detailed street-level images.
Since launching in 2007,
Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide but has faced
privacy complaints from many individuals and institutions that have been
photographed.
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 3.32, or less
than 0.1 percent, to 9,509.28, after earlier rising as much as 82 points.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index fell 0.56, or 0.1 percent, to 1,025.57, while the Nasdaq composite
index fell 2.92, or 0.1 percent, to 2,017.98.
Benchmark crude for October
delivery rose 48 cents to settle at $74.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
In other Nymex trading,
gasoline for September delivery added 5.35 cents to settle at $2.0491 a gallon
and heating oil for September delivery rose about 1.85 cents to settle at
$1.9234 a gallon. Natural gas for September delivery rose 11.9 cents to settle
at $2.923 per 1,000 cubic feet after hitting a new 52-week low earlier in the
day.
In London, Brent prices rose
by 7 cents to settle at $74.26 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.