On Tuesday September 14, 2010, 5:50 pm EDT
August retail sales up 0.4
pct., best in 5 months
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail
sales rose in August by the largest amount in five months, adding to evidence
that a late spring economic swoon was temporary and not the start of another
recession.
Retail sales increased 0.4
percent last month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was the second
straight monthly increase and the biggest gain since March.
A separate Commerce report
said inventories held by businesses jumped in July by the largest amount in two
years while sales rebounded after two months of declines. The rebound in sales
was an encouraging sign that consumer demand is rising after two weak months.
Businesses build up their stocks when they anticipate stronger retail demand in
the months ahead.
Corn syrup producers want
sweeter name: corn sugar
NEW YORK (AP) -- The makers
of high fructose corn syrup want to sweeten its image with a new name: corn
sugar.
The Corn Refiners
Association applied Tuesday to the federal government for permission to use the
name on food labels. The group hopes a new name will ease confusion about the
sweetener, which is used in soft drinks, bread, cereal and other products.
Americans' consumption of
corn syrup has fallen to a 20-year low on consumer concerns that it is more
harmful or more likely to cause obesity than ordinary sugar, perceptions for
which there is little scientific evidence. However, some scientists have linked
consumption of full-calorie soda -- the vast majority of which is sweetened
with high fructose corn syrup -- to obesity.
The Food and Drug
Administration could take two years to decide on the name, but that's not
stopping the industry from using the term now in advertising.
Stocks edge lower, breaking
4-day winning streak
NEW YORK (AP) -- A
September rally faltered on the stock market Tuesday as worries returned about
Europe's economy.
The Dow Jones industrial
average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index both closed with slight losses,
breaking a four-day winning streak. Stocks are still up strongly this
September, a historically weak month for the market.
Stocks had edged higher for
much of the day following positive reports on U.S. retail sales and business
inventories, but retreated in the final 10 minutes of trading as investors'
enthusiasm waned.
FDA questions safety,
effectiveness with diet pill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal
health officials dealt a surprising blow on Tuesday to an experimental diet
pill that was thought to offer a safer way to shed pounds after decades of
dangerous side effects reported with weight loss drugs.
Arena Pharmaceuticals
Inc.'s lorcaserin is one of three drugs racing to be the first new prescription
weight loss pill approved by the Food and Drug Administration in more than a
decade. Analysts have predicted it would win FDA approval thanks to a stellar
safety profile.
However, in a review posted
online, FDA scientists said the drug barely met the agency's threshold for
weight loss effectiveness and raised safety concerns about side effects,
including heart damage, depression and other problems.
New rules slow Gulf
drilling pace in shallow water
The drilling moratorium
enacted after the BP oil spill applies only to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
Yet energy exploration in the Gulf's shallow waters has come to a virtual
standstill as drillers grapple with tougher federal rules since the spill.
The pace at which
regulators grant drilling permits in water less than 500 feet deep has slowed
sharply this summer, an Associated Press analysis of government data shows.
Just four out of 10 shallow-water drilling applications have been approved from
June through August; 15 applications were sought and approved in the same
period last year.
Environmental groups are
encouraged by the trend. But drilling executives say the new rules, which
require them to produce detailed spill-response plans and estimates for
worst-case scenarios, are adding millions of dollars in costs and causing
delays that have led to layoffs. Executives worry that when the Obama
administration lifts the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling, where the
risks are greater, the permitting process will be even slower.
Best Buy 2Q net income
jumps 60 pct on sales rise
NEW YORK (AP) -- Growth in
Best Buy Co.'s expanding cell phone business helped the electronics retailer's
second-quarter net income jump 60 percent, the company said Tuesday.
Best Buy sounded an
optimistic note about the holiday season and raised its guidance for the year.
Its shares rose 6 percent.
Still, CEO Brian Dunn said
shoppers are still "highly selective" in their spending.
Grocery chain's 2Q net
income, revenue rise
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Sales
and profits are up, and so is Kroger Co.'s optimism, as the nation's largest
traditional grocer sees more households regularly shopping at its stores.
Kroger leaders were upbeat
Tuesday about sales trends, while cautioning that economic uncertainty and
price competition -- while more "rational" than during the worst of
the recession -- remain.
Price-cutting battles with
retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other chains have combined with
budget-tightening by households to shrink grocery profits in the past two years.
But Kroger said it draws shoppers with better service and pleasant stores, an
ever-expanding lineup of lower-priced store brands and deli foods and a
targeted rewards program.
Cisco to start paying a
dividend by next summer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Cisco
Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of computer-networking gear, said
Tuesday that it would pay its first dividend by July, the end of its current
fiscal year.
Like several other big
technology companies, Cisco has a large cash balance, and analysts have speculated
that it would use it for a dividend.
Cisco CEO John Chambers
said the annual dividend yield would be in the 1 percent to 2 percent range.
AP-CNBC Poll: Investors
wary of stock trading
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wild
gyrations on Wall Street have made U.S investors leery of buying individual
stocks and skeptical that the market is a fair place to park their money.
In an Associated Press-CNBC
poll of investors, 61 percent said the market's recent volatility has made them
less confident about buying and selling individual stocks. And the majority of
those surveyed -- 55 percent -- said the market is fair only to some investors.
The survey confirms that
average investors have been growing more concerned about the stock market as a
safe place to invest for retirement. And news about the market has been
unsettling for ordinary investors of late: More than 60 percent of those
surveyed said they had paid attention to news reports about swings in the stock
market.
Chase's online banking
service is down; ATMs fine
NEW YORK (AP) -- Chase's
online banking service was down for much of the day on Tuesday. The bank said
it stemmed from a technical problem and that it was working to resolve it.
The service went down
Monday night, potentially affecting its 16.5 million customers who bank online.
Chase spokesman Thomas Kelly couldn't specify the exact time service was
disrupted.
The bank will work with any
customers who had online bill payment deadlines they couldn't meet because of
the outage, Kelly said. He also urged Chase customers to use the telephone
banking service, which was operating normally, as were its 15,500 ATMs.
Small business credit
measure clears Senate hurdle
WASHINGTON -- In a win for
President Barack Obama and his political allies, Senate Democrats on Tuesday
won a crucial vote to clear the way for a bill to create a $30 billion
government fund to help open up lending for credit-starved small businesses.
Democrats cracked a GOP
filibuster of the bill with the help of two Republicans. The 61-37 tally sets
the stage for a final vote later this week to return the measure to the House,
which is likely to approve it for Obama's signature.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average fell 17.64, or 0.2 percent, to close at 10,526.49 and the S&P 500
lost 0.8 point, or 0.1 percent, to end at 1,121.10.
The Nasdaq edged up 4.06,
or 0.2 percent, at 2,289.77.
Benchmark crude for October
delivery lost 39 cents to settle at $76.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
Natural gas gained 2.8
cents to settle at $3.966 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex.
In other energy trading
heating oil rose 0.61 cent to settle at $2.1288 a gallon and gasoline fell 1.16
cents to settle at $1.9690 a gallon.
In London, Brent crude
added 13 cents to settle at $79.16 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.