On Monday October 18, 2010, 5:56 pm EDT
Citigroup profits jump as
loan defaults slow
NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup
Inc., one of the worst-hit banks during the financial crisis, posted its third
straight quarterly profit in a sign that major banks and their customers are
starting to find their footing.
Citi became the second
major bank this quarter, after JPMorgan Chase & Co., to report a profit by
dipping into funds it had set aside to cover future losses from bad loans. The
move showcases confidence from the banks that their customers will continue to
make payments on credit cards, mortgage debt and other kinds of loans.
The New York bank, which is
still 12 percent owned by the government, earned $2.15 billion, or 7 cents per
share, in the three months ended in September. The results beat analysts'
expectations by a penny.
Apple 4Q net income soars
70 pct; iPad falls short
SEATTLE (AP) -- Apple Inc.
said Monday that net income for the most recent quarter soared 70 percent on
strong sales of iPhones, though iPad sales fell short of expectations.
Shares fell in after-hours
trading. Apple's stock had been breaking through record-high prices for more
than a week on high hopes for the iPad.
Apple sold 4.2 million of
its new tablet-style computer during the fiscal fourth quarter, fewer than the
approximately 5 million that analysts, on average, had expected.
The company sold 14.1
million iPhones from July through September, more than the 12 million or so
analysts were looking for. Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said
in an interview that had the company been able to make more iPhones, that
number would have been even higher.
Bank of America starts thaw
in foreclosure freeze
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The pace
of U.S. home foreclosures may not slow much after all.
Bank of America said Monday
that it plans to resume seizing more than 100,000 homes in 23 states next week.
It said it has a legal right to foreclose despite accusations that documents
used in the process were flawed.
It's not yet clear if other
major leaders will follow suit and resume foreclosures in the states that
require a judge's approval. But the move by the nation's biggest bank could
give way to an industrywide effort to push ahead with a wave of foreclosures
that have depressed the housing market.
Bank of America Corp. says
it's confident of its foreclosure decisions in a majority of its questionable
cases. The bank is still delaying foreclosures in the 27 other states, which
don't require a judge's approval.
Bank stocks push market
broadly higher; Dow up 81
NEW YORK (AP) -- Upbeat
news for banks and homebuilders pushed the stock market broadly higher Monday,
extending its gains for the month.
Better-than-expected
results from Citigroup Inc. drove financial stocks up by more than 2 percent,
halting a recent slide brought on by questions into how banks have handled
foreclosures. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 81 points.
Citigroup said fewer of its
customers defaulted on loans, an encouraging sign that borrowers may be
returning to financial health.
Industrial production falls
0.2 percent in Sept.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sluggish
spending by businesses and consumers is causing factories to cool their
production after they helped lift the economy out of recession.
Companies have slowed their
rebuilding of stockpiles and replacement of worn-out equipment. And consumers
are cautiously spending at a time of 9.6 percent unemployment and slow job
growth. That combination led to the first decline in output at the nation's
mines, factories and utilities since the recession ended in June 2009.
Factory output, the largest
element of industrial production, fell 0.2 percent in September, the Federal
Reserve said Monday. So did overall industrial production.
IBM raises guidance as 3Q
beats expectations
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- IBM
Corp. said Monday that its net income rose 12 percent as it wrung more out of
its services and software divisions and gets a lift from a new mainframe
computer.
The technology company also
raised its profit forecast slightly for the remainder of the year,
demonstrating its skill at increasing profits faster than its businesses are
growing.
The stock fell, though,
apparently on fears about a dip in IBM's outsourcing business. IBM said that
business would have grown if a big contract hadn't been signed just after the
quarter ended.
Hasbro 3Q net income edges
up; shares hit high
NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of
toy maker Hasbro hit an all-time high Monday after it said strength in its
preschool toys helped third-quarter net income rise 3 percent and beat
expectations.
The maker of Nerf and
Scrabble also is bullish on the number of toys retailers have ordered ahead of
the holiday season.
Lower entertainment revenue
was offset by strength across many brands, including Nerf, Magic the Gathering
and Playskool.
Northeast Utilities to buy
Nstar in $4.17B deal
NEW YORK (AP) -- Northeast
Utilities will buy Nstar for $4.17 billion, forming the biggest New England
utility company with 3.5 million electric and gas customers in three states.
The acquisition should help
Northeast pay for large transmission projects designed to bring low-carbon
power from Northern New England and Canada to higher population areas in
southern New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The combined company
plans to spend $9 billion on these and other projects from 2011 through 2015.
The companies and industry
analysts said ratepayers should benefit from both improvements to the power
grid and cost savings the new Northeast may pass along.
Report: Facebook apps
transmitted personal info
NEW YORK (AP) -- The latest
Facebook privacy fiasco shows that the world's largest online social hub is
having a hard time putting this thorny issue behind it even as it continues to
attract users and become indispensable to many of them.
The Wall Street Journal
reported Monday that several popular Facebook applications have been
transmitting users' personal identifying information to dozens of advertising
and Internet tracking companies. Facebook said it is working to fix the
problem, and was quick to point out that the leaks were not intentional, but a
consequence of basic Web mechanisms.
In a statement, Facebook
said there is "no evidence that any personal information was misused or
even collected as a result of this issue."
Even so, some privacy
advocates said it's problematic that the information was leaked at all,
regardless of what happened to it. Facebook needs its users to trust it with
their data because if they don't, they won't use the site to share as much as
they do now.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 80.91, or 0.73 percent, to 11,143.69.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index rose 8.52, or 0.72 percent, to 1,184.71, while the Nasdaq composite
index rose 11.89, or 0.48 percent, to 2,480.66.
Benchmark crude for
November delivery rose $1.83 to settle at $83.08 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
The price of natural gas
prices continued to fall. The contract settled at $3.431 per 1,000 cubic feet,
down 10.4 cents.
In other Nymex trading,
heating oil rose 4.53 cents to settle at $2.2761 a gallon and gasoline gained
4.77 cents to settle at $2.1515 a gallon.
In London, Brent crude
added $1.92 to settle at $84.37 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.