AP Business Highlights
Companies:
On Friday October 1, 2010, 5:48 pm EDT
Choice of CEO signals new
direction for HP
NEW YORK (AP) -- The
appointment of a German software executive as Hewlett-Packard Co.'s next CEO
sends an unmistakable signal that the board of the world's largest technology
company is prepared to gamble big on an aggressive push into the software
business.
And analysts say it will
need to do just that to avoid being left behind in its core personal computer
and printer businesses that no longer offer much room for growth or big
profits.
In a conference call that
served as his formal introduction to Wall Street on Friday, former SAP AG CEO
Leo Apotheker called software the "glue" that will hold together the
different parts of the company.
Economy gets lift from
government aid
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A flurry
of new data Friday showed the economy is improving -- with temporary help from
the government.
Consumer spending rose in
August and incomes increased by the largest amount in eight months, the
Commerce Department said. Still, the income gain was propelled mostly by the
government's short-term extension of unemployment aid, not wage gains.
A big jump in government
building projects lifted construction spending in August, Commerce said in a separate
report. That offset the weakest level in private construction spending in 12
years.
Separately, a private trade
group said manufacturing activity expanded in September for the 14th straight
month, although it was the slowest pace in 10 months.
US auto sales remain
sluggish despite new models
DETROIT (AP) -- New models
and Labor Day promotions didn't do much to fire Americans' appetites for new
cars in September.
Sales at Chrysler Group LLC
and Ford Motor Co. rose slightly from August. They fell at General Motors Co.
and Honda Motor Co. and were flat at Toyota Motor Corp. Car companies say a
recovery is still happening, but it's not as strong as they had hoped following
a terrible 2009.
There were a few winners.
Redesigned crossovers, which are SUVs on car frames, saw big jumps across the
industry. Sales of the 2011 Ford Edge, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Toyota RAV4
doubled, while General Motors' GMC Terrain surged more than 200 percent. Some
new small cars also saw strong sales.
Stocks nudge higher as manufacturing
improves
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
started off October on a positive note following mostly good news on the
economy.
Shares of big manufacturing
companies like Boeing Co., General Electric Co. and 3M Co. rose Friday after
the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index showed that
factory activity was still expanding in September, although not quite as fast
as analysts had hoped and slightly slower than the month before.
Stock indexes started the
day higher but gave up some of their gains late in the day. The market is
coming off a major surge that brought the Dow Jones industrial average up 10.4
percent in the third quarter, and its upward momentum may be waning. The Dow
and the Standard & Poor's 500 index both had their first down week after
four weeks of gains.
1 large trader led to May 6
stock market plunge
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A
trading firm's use of a computer sell order triggered the May 6 market plunge,
which sent the Dow Jones industrial average careening nearly 1,000 points in
less than a half-hour, federal regulators said Friday.
A report by the Securities
and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission determined
that the so-called "flash crash" occurred when the trading firm
executed a computerized selling program in an already stressed market.
The firm's trade, worth
$4.1 billion, led to a chain of events that ended with market players swiftly
pulling their money from the stock market, the report said.
The report does not name
the trading firm. But only one trade that day fit the description in the
report. The firm Waddell & Reed, based in Overland Park, Kan., has
acknowledged making such a trade that day.
62 mpg for new cars? It's
the US target for 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Cars and
trucks averaging 62 miles per gallon? Seems extraordinary now, but the
government suggested Friday that automakers could be required to build new
lineups by 2025 that make today's high-mileage hybrids seem conventional and
turn gas guzzlers into relics of the past.
It's all included in
potential efficiency ranges the government is considering for new cars and
trucks starting in 2017. By a decade and a half from now, in 2025, a carmaker's
fleet of new vehicles may need to meet a standard somewhere from 47 mpg to 62
mpg, the Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency said.
The new standards, while
several years away, are closely watched by the auto industry as it develops
future vehicles and environmental groups trying to curb oil dependence and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
United, Continental
complete combination
United and Continental
closed the deal on Friday that will create the world's biggest airline,
although it will be months before it looks that way to travelers.
By early 2012, travelers
will see a combined airline called United Airlines, with Continental's blue and
gold colors and globe logo on the tail.
Between now and then, the
new company, United Continental Holdings Inc., will run the two as separate operations,
with each airline's customers checking in at Continental or United websites and
airport counters. Their frequent flier programs will stay separate for now too.
The company said travelers
should begin to see a more unified brand in the spring.
Holiday hiring picture gets
a bit merrier
NEW YORK (AP) -- The
holiday hiring picture looks a bit merrier this year.
Macy's, Toys R Us, Pier 1,
American Eagle Outfitters and Borders all plan to hire more temporary holiday
workers this year than last, emboldened by several months of sales gains and a
slowly improving economy.
The jobs probably won't be
enough to be a dent in the nation's nearly 10 percent unemployment rate, but
for Americans desperate for some work, they're far more than an early Christmas
present.
APNewsBreak: BofA delays
foreclosures in 23 states
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bank of
America is delaying foreclosures in 23 states as it examines whether it rushed
the foreclosure process for thousands of homeowners without reading the
documents.
Bank of America isn't able
to estimate how many homeowners' cases will be affected, Dan Frahm, a spokesman
for the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, said Friday.
The move adds the nation's
largest bank to a growing list of mortgage companies whose employees signed
documents in foreclosure cases without verifying the information in them.
Two other companies, Ally
Financial Inc.'s GMAC Mortgage unit and JPMorgan Chase, have halted tens of
thousands of foreclosure cases after similar problems became public.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 41.63, or 0.4 percent, to close at 10,829.68. It's down 0.3
percent for the week and up 3.9 percent for the year.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index rose 5.04, or 0.4 percent, to 1,146.24. It's down 0.2 percent for the
week and up 2.8 percent for the year.
Benchmark oil for November
delivery added $1.61 to settle at $81.58 a barrel in early trading on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. It's the first time the price has topped $80 a barrel
since early August.
In other Nymex trading in
November contracts, heating oil rose 2.6 cents to settle at $2.2938 a gallon,
gasoline gained 5 cents to $2.0861 a gallon and natural gas fell 7.5 cents to
$3.797 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude rose
$1.64 to $83.75 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.