On Wednesday September 15, 2010, 5:59 pm EDT
Japan intervenes in
currency market to weaken yen
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan made a
surprise foray into currency markets Wednesday to reverse the yen's ascent,
which has been bad for companies like Toyota and Sony that are critical to the
country's economy.
Relieved investors sent
Japanese stock prices up 2.3 percent after news of the Bank of Japan's market
intervention came out. Shares of Japanese exporters jumped and the yen fell 3
percent or more against major currencies including the dollar, euro and British
pound. It was the yen's biggest one-day move against the dollar since the fall
of 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.
Japanese officials would
not provide a figure for how much yen the central bank sold in the market, and
analysts cautioned that the long-term impact would depend on whether, and how,
U.S. and European central banks respond.
BP well could be pronounced
dead within days
KENNER, La. (AP) -- The
blown-out well at the bottom of Gulf of Mexico could be pronounced dead in a
matter of days.
Retired Coast Guard Adm.
Thad Allen, the government's point man for the oil spill, said Wednesday that
the relief well BP has been drilling all summer long should intersect the
ruptured well within 24 hours. He said mud and cement will then be pumped in,
sealing the hole once and for all by Sunday, about five months after the
disaster unfolded with an explosion aboard an offshore drilling rig April 20
that killed 11 workers.
The news came on the same
day the Obama administration announced it will require oil and gas companies to
plug thousands of idle wells in the Gulf to make sure they don't leak.
Chase online banking
service still having problems
NEW YORK (AP) -- Chase's
online banking service was still having problems for much of Wednesday,
extending an outage that has lasted for two days and affected millions of
customers.
In the longest outage the
bank has experienced, Chase's online service went down around 8pm EST Monday
and was down all day Tuesday. Its service for mobile phones was also down, but
Chase's network of ATMs and telephone banking services were functioning
normally.
Chase, which is the
second-largest U.S. bank, said the problem had been fixed early Wednesday.
However, people who tried to log in could not get into the site and Chase
acknowledged that problems were persisting.
3 female ex-employees
allege bias at Goldman Sachs
WASHINGTON (AP) --Three
women who formerly worked for Goldman Sachs & Co. are suing the big Wall
Street firm for what they say is rampant gender discrimination that unfairly
favors men in pay and promotions.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday
alleges that Goldman has violated federal and New York City laws by engaging in
a systematic "pattern and practice" of discrimination against female
professionals at the firm. They are asking a federal judge to certify the case
as a class-action suit on behalf of the firm's women employees.
The three -- a former vice
president, a managing director and an associate -- also are seeking damages
from Goldman for emotional distress and humiliation they say they've suffered
and for lost income. And they want the firm to put in new policies for pay and
promotion decisions.
Stocks edge higher, keeping
September rally alive
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
overcame an early slide Wednesday and closed higher as investors tried to keep
a September rally alive.
Major indexes had opened
lower after a poor reading on factory activity in New York, but turned higher
around midday after getting better news on U.S. industrial production. That
report showed that the national industrial sector grew for the 12th time 14
months.
Better news on
manufacturing was the main trigger behind the rally that began in early
September and has now propelled stocks higher on nine out of the past 11 days.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which gained 46 points Wednesday, is up 5.6
percent over that time.
Europe claims WTO ruling in
Boeing case as victory
GENEVA (AP) -- European
officials claimed Wednesday that a preliminary decision by the world's top
trade court found that aid to U.S. aircraft maker Boeing violated international
rules, leading to the prospect that the Chicago-based plane maker may have to
forgo or even pay back billions in subsidies.
France's transport and
environment ministers said the confidential World Trade Organization ruling
delivered to U.S. and EU officials in Geneva "condemns massive subsidies
to Boeing that violate WTO rules."
Details of the ruling
weren't made public and a final judgment isn't expected to be released for
several months.
Industrial production rises
0.2 percent in August
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Production at U.S. factories grew in August for the 12th time in 14 months, but
at a slower rate than earlier this year as consumers spent cautiously.
Overall output at the
nation's factories, mines and utilities edged up 0.2 percent last month, the
Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. It rose 0.6 percent in July.
Production gains at
factories, the largest single element of industrial production, slowed to 0.2
percent after rising 0.7 percent in July. Much of the softness came from a
decline in auto production.
Drug company to pay more
than $313M over Celexa
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Forest
Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to pay more than $313 million and to plead
guilty to obstruction of justice, distribution of the then-unapproved drug
Levothroid and illegal promotion of Celexa for use in treating children and
adolescents suffering from depression.
Forest Pharmaceuticals also
will settle allegations that it caused false claims to be submitted to federal
health care programs for the drug Lexapro as well as for Levothroid and Celexa,
the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Forest Pharmaceuticals,
headquartered near St. Louis, is a wholly owned subsidiary of New York-based
Forest Laboratories Inc. Celexa and Lexapro are anti-depressants; Levothroid is
used to treat thyroid deficiency.
Gov't: Banks should share
Fannie, Freddie costs
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
nation's largest banks have an obligation to pay some of the cost for bailing
out mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they sold them bad
mortgages, a government regulator said Wednesday.
Edward DeMarco, the acting
director for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said the banks this summer
have refused to take back $11 billion in bad loans sold to the two
government-controlled companies, in written testimony submitted for a House
subcommittee hearing Wednesday. A third of those requests have been outstanding
for at least three months.
DeMarco said the banks have
a legal obligation to buy back the loans and called the delays "a
significant concern." He said the government may take new steps to force
those buybacks if "discussions do not yield reasonable outcomes
soon."
FDA panel split on
withdrawing diet pill Meridia
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal
health advisers are split over whether to withdraw the diet pill Meridia due to
evidence that it increases heart attack and stroke risks, worrisome signs that
led European regulators to ban the drug earlier this year.
A panel of Food and Drug
Administration advisers voted 8-8 on whether to allow continued marketing of
the drug. Panelists who said the drug should stay on the market favored new warnings
and restricted distribution.
The agency is not required
to follow the group's advice, though it often does.
Microsoft's new IE9
promises zippier performance
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft
Corp. unveiled the "beta" test version of Internet Explorer 9 on Wednesday,
the first of a new generation of Web browser programs that tap into the
powerful processors on board newer computers to make websites load and run
faster.
IE9, which is free, also
arrives with a more minimalist look and a few new tricks that start to blur the
distinction between a website and a traditional desktop application.
Following the lead of
Google Inc.'s stripped-down Chrome browser, Microsoft's IE9 comes with far
fewer buttons, icons and toolbars cluttering up the top of the screen. Its frame
is translucent, and as people browse the Web, IE9 can be subtly adorned with
small icons and signature colors of the websites being viewed.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 46.24, or 0.4 percent, to close at 10,572.73. It was the index's
highest close since Aug. 10. The Dow still 5.6 percent below its 2010 high
reached on April 26, and up only 1.4 percent for the year to date following
steep declines in May and June.
Broader indexes also rose.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 3.97, or 0.4 percent, to 1,125.07
and the Nasdaq composite rose 11.55, or 0.5 percent, to 2,301.32.
Benchmark crude for October
delivery lost 78 cents to settle at $76.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
In other Nymex trading in
October contracts, heating oil added 0.38 cent to settle at $2.1326 a gallon
and gasoline fell 0.65 cent to settle at $1.9625 a gallon. Natural gas gained
2.9 cents to settle at $3.995 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude fell
25 cents to settle at $78.91 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.