On Friday September 17, 2010, 5:39 pm EDT
Citigroup selling student
loan business to Sallie Mae, Discover
BOSTON (AP) -- Citigroup
Inc. said Friday it is selling its student loan business and about $32 billion
in related assets to Discover Financial Services and the student lender SLM
Corp., also known as Sallie Mae.
The bank has been looking
for a buyer for its 80 percent stake in the Student Loan Corp. for some time as
it refocuses it operations. Citi was one of the hardest hit banks by the
recession and credit crisis.
Citigroup said it will take
a loss of about $500 million loss on the deal in this year's third quarter.
Discover has agreed to pay
$600 million for the Citi stake in Student Loan Corp and will also acquire $4.2
billion of private student loans.
Sallie Mae will get $28
billion of assets, adding another 1.3 million new customers.
Obama names consumer
advocate Warren to new post
WASHINGTON (AP) --
President Barack Obama on Friday named Elizabeth Warren, an aggressive consumer
advocate and Wall Street adversary, to oversee creation of a new agency to
regulate banks, lenders and credit card companies.
Sidestepping a Senate
confirmation fight -- for now -- Obama stopped short of nominating Warren to
actually head the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Instead, his
action will let the Harvard Law School professor and expert on bankruptcy move
quickly to shape the bureau.
Senate Republicans view her
as too critical of Wall Street and big banks. The business and banking
community opposed Warren as director of the new bureau, contending she would
make the agency too aggressive. Obama praised her highly.
UAL, Continental
shareholders approve airline deal
Shareholders of United and
Continental airlines voted Friday to approve a combination of their companies
that would create the world's biggest airline and could have far-reaching
effects on where they fly and how much they charge passengers.
The companies expect the $3
billion stock swap to close in the next two weeks after tying up loose ends. Regulators
in the U.S. and Europe have already signaled approval.
Caterpillar sales
accelerate across the globe
NEW YORK (AP) --
Caterpillar says its machine sales in August leaped 37 percent worldwide in
August, led by surging sales in Latin and North America.
The results highlight a
shift in the world's appetite for construction and mining equipment. The sales
growth rate slowed in Asia, while it surged in Latin America and picked up
slightly in the United States and Canada.
Consumer prices post small
rise in August
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumer
prices posted a small rise in August, but outside of a big jump in volatile
gasoline prices, inflation was essentially flat.
Consumer prices edged up
0.3 percent in August, matching the July increase, the Labor Department said
Friday. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, showed no increase in
August.
The 2007-2009 recession and
the weak recovery since have banished inflation as an immediate threat.
Sluggish demand is preventing most businesses from raising prices and high
unemployment is keeping a lid on wage pressures.
Gulf oil well on verge of
being plugged for good
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- After
five months, the oil well that had spewed millions of gallons into the Gulf of
Mexico is on the verge of being plugged once and for all.
A relief well drilled
nearly 2.5 miles beneath the floor of the Gulf of Mexico intersected BP's
blown-out well, a prelude to permanently killing it, the U.S government said
late Thursday.
Retired Coast Guard Adm.
Thad Allen, the government's point man on the oil spill, said in a statement
that data shows the two wells are joined. The next step will be to pump mud and
cement down through the relief well to seal the ruptured well from the bottom.
According to the
government, the final seal should happen by Sunday, five months after an
explosion killed 11 workers, sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore
oil spill in U.S. history. But BP said Friday in a statement that it expected
the well to be completely sealed Saturday.
Stocks edge higher on
positive tech earnings news
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
gave up most of their gains to end slightly higher Friday, extending a two-week
rally that has slowed as the month wears on.
The Dow Jones industrial
tacked on 13 points, but the Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged up less than
a point. Both indexes traded close to the breakeven level all day.
The market started out on
an up note following surprisingly strong profit news late Thursday from technology
leaders Oracle Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd., which makes BlackBerrys.
Technology and industrial
shares were broadly higher, though energy companies were weak following a drop
in crude oil.
Johnson & Johnson aims
to buy Crucell for $2.3B
AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Johnson
& Johnson said Friday it is in advanced talks to acquire Dutch biotech firm
Crucell NV for $2.29 billion, a deal that would boost the American health care
product maker's vaccine business.
Global recovery weaker than
expected, OECD says
VIENNA (AP) -- The global
economy is off to a weaker than expected start in the second half of the year,
a senior international official said Friday.
Angel Gurria,
secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
said a slowdown in the recovery had been forecast for the third and fourth
quarters and was "on the books."
Russia signs $3.7B deal for
50 Boeing 737s
MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian
state-owned company said Friday it will pay $3.7 billion for 50 new Boeing 737
Next Generation airliners that will then be leased to the national carrier
Aeroflot.
Russian Technologies, which
manages the government's stakes in a dozen regional airlines, said in a
statement that the deal also includes an option to buy a further 35 jetliners.
The company's director
general said the purchase will help take a step forward in making the Russian
airline industry and Russian airlines more competitive on the global market.
A company official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity in line with company policy, told The
Associated Press the jets will be leased to Russia's biggest airline, Aeroflot,
where the government directly holds a 51.2 percent stake.
The medium range jets are
meant to help Aeroflot upgrade its increasingly aging fleet.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 13.02, or 0.1 percent, to close at 10,607.85. The Dow is up 5.9
percent in the month to date, defying skeptics who predicted a decline in
September, which is historically a weak one for stocks.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index inched up 0.93, or 0.08 percent, to 1,125.59, and the Nasdaq
composite rose 12.36, or 0.5 percent, to 2,315.61.
For the week, the Dow and
S&P are both up 1.4 percent, and the Nasdaq is up 3.3 percent.
Oil for October delivery
fell 91 cents to close at $73.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading,
heating oil added 0.02 cent to settle at $2.0992 a gallon, gasoline dipped 0.55
cent to $1.9192 a gallon and natural gas fell 3.8 cents to $4.024 per 1,000
cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude lost
27 cents to settle at $77.47 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.