On Friday October 8, 2010, 6:05 pm EDT
Jobs crisis extends to
unemployed, lawmakers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's
no relief from the jobs crisis -- for everyday Americans or lawmakers facing
the midterm elections.
The most rampant layoffs of
teachers and other local government workers in nearly three decades more than
offset weak hiring in the private sector in September, resulting in a net loss
of 95,000 jobs. Unemployment remained stuck at 9.6 percent.
The jobless rate has now
been at or above 9.5 percent for 14 straight months, the longest stretch since
the Great Depression.
The glum economic picture
came Friday in the Labor Department's last monthly jobs report before the
November election. Voter frustration over jobs threatens to cost Democrats
control of the House and perhaps the Senate.
Bank of America stops US
foreclosures for review
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bank of
America on Friday halted foreclosures on homes across the country so it could
review paperwork in tens of thousands of cases for flaws, expanding a crisis at
a perilous time for the housing market.
The move came as PNC
Financial Services became the fourth major bank to announce that it would stop
foreclosures in at least some states. It added to growing concerns that
mortgage lenders have been evicting homeowners despite flawed court papers.
Bank of America, the
largest U.S. bank, had said a week earlier it would stop foreclosures in the 23
states where the process must be approved by a judge. Ally Financial and
JPMorgan Chase had announced similar plans.
Bank of America's
nationwide halt will apply to homes that the bank is taking back itself and
those for which it has transferred the papers to mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac.
Sanofi-Aventis to lay off
1,700 US employees
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) --
Sanofi-Aventis SA, the world's fourth-biggest drugmaker, said Friday it is
eliminating 1,700 jobs in its U.S. pharmaceutical business in a restructuring
triggered by growing generic competition and other factors.
The news comes as Sanofi's
struggle to buy U.S. biotech firm Genzyme Corp. drags on.
The layoffs amount to about
25 percent of the workers in the company's U.S. pharmaceutical business, and
will primarily hit sales representatives around the country and administrative
staff at Sanofi's American headquarters in Bridgewater, N.J.
About 1,400 sales staff
will be laid off, as well as about 300 staff in various administrative jobs,
Sanofi-Aventis spokesman Jack Cox said.
Wholesale inventories and
sales up in August
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Businesses have been restocking store shelves since the recession ended, a sign
that they expect the economic recovery to continue.
Inventories at the
wholesale level rose by 0.8 percent in August, following a 1.5 percent increase
the month before, the Commerce Department said Friday. Sales rose by 0.5
percent, a slightly smaller gain than the 0.8 percent rise in July.
Businesses helped drive the
early stage of the recovery last year by rebuilding inventories that grew thin
during the recession. The economic crisis led wholesalers to cut their
inventories for 13 consecutive months starting in September 2008. When they
started restocking last year, that boosted orders to U.S. factories and helped
spur overall economic growth.
Dow closes above 11,000 for
first time since May
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Dow
Jones industrial average closed above 11,000 for the first time in five months
Friday as hopes built that the Federal Reserve will take more action to get the
economy going again.
A weaker jobs report added
to a series of tepid economic indicators in recent weeks that have built
expectations that the Fed will announce new steps to encourage borrowing when
it meets in early November.
IMF warns countries against
currency wars
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head
of the International Monetary Fund on Friday urged global finance ministers to
stop trying to manipulate their currencies for economic advantage and instead
to join to save a fragile recovery.
The global economy is
struggling to emerge from the worst recession since the end of World War II,
said IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Unless the pace of job
growth quickens, he said, "we really face the risk of a lost
generation" of young people unable to get work.
Strauss-Kahn's remarks came
as finance ministers from around the world gathered for the annual meetings of
the 187-nation IMF and its sister lending organization, the World Bank.
German company drops female
sex pill
BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH says it has stopped the development of a pill
designed to boost sex drive in women following a skeptical response from U.S.
regulators.
The company said Friday it
made the decision because of the "complexity and extent of further
questions that would need to be addressed to potentially obtain
registration."
In a review in June, the
Food and Drug Administration said two Boehringer studies failed to show a
significant increase in sexual desire in women who took the drug as recorded by
them in a daily journal.
The company said that
despite its decision it "continues to believe in the value" that its
drug, called flibanserin, could have.
Stewart Title clamps down
on foreclosure sales
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stewart
Title Guaranty Co. is clamping down on sales of foreclosed homes that may be
linked to flawed documentation.
In an internal memo
obtained by The Associated Press, Houston-based Stewart is issuing guidelines
to its agents that make it difficult to write policies on property foreclosed
upon by four banks whose process is in question. Those banks are JP Morgan
Chase, Bank of America, OneWest Bank or Ally Financial's GMAC Mortgage unit.
A week ago, title insurer
Old Republic National ordered its agents to stop offering policies on
foreclosed properties owned by GMAC or JPMorgan Chase.
UAE, BlackBerry resolve
dispute, averting ban
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
(AP) -- The United Arab Emirates on Friday backed off a threat to cut key
BlackBerry services, just days before a planned ban that could have harmed the
country's business-friendly reputation.
The last-minute decision
ended more than two months of brinksmanship with the Canadian company that
makes the smart phones, a tool popular both with businesspeople and
gadget-loving consumers in this Gulf federation.
The ban on e-mail,
messaging and Web services -- which the government threatened to impose over
security concerns -- was due to take effect Monday.
Half a million local users
and thousands of BlackBerry-toting business travelers would have been affected.
Dubai's airport, the region's busiest, handles about 100,000 passengers daily.
Abbott withdraws diet pill
in US, Canada
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Abbott
Laboratories said Friday it will withdraw its diet pill Meridia in the U.S. and
Canada, almost a year after studies showed the drug increases the risk of heart
attack and stroke in patients with a history of heart disease.
Companies have struggled
for decades to develop drugs that help people lose weight without dangerous
side effects. The withdrawal of Meridia leaves just two prescription weight
loss drugs on the market -- orlistat and phentermine-- neither of which are
considered very effective.
Food and Drug
Administration scientists said they requested the withdrawal because Meridia's
risks were not justified compared with "the very modest weight loss that
people achieve on this drug." On average, patients lost about five pounds
with the drug.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 57.90, or 0.5 percent, at 11,006.48. The Dow first crossed 11,000
in May of 1999, and reached its highest close of all time on Oct. 9, 2007, when
it finished at 14,164.53.
Benchmark crude rose 99
cents to settle at $82.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading
gasoline gained 3.32 cents to settle at $2.1512 a gallon, heating oil rose 3.01
cents to settle at $2.2819 a gallon and natural gas picked up 3.4 cents to
settle at $3.651 per 1,000 cubic feet after dropping to a 52-week low of $3.583
earlier in the session.
In London, Brent crude rose
60 cents to settle at $84.03 per barrel on the ICE futures exchange.