On Wednesday November 10, 2010, 6:14 pm EST
Obama to world leaders:
Must help on economy, too
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) --
Under worldwide pressure, President Barack Obama told global leaders Wednesday
the burden is on them as well as the U.S. to fix trade-stifling imbalances and
currency disputes that imperil economic recoveries everywhere.
On the eve of an economic
summit, Obama landed in Seoul hoping to close an elusive trade deal with South
Korea, the kind that could potentially mean jobs and markets for frustrated
businesses and workers back home. Yet the deal was still in the balance in the
last hours.
Obama was also to make his
economic case directly to Chinese President Hu Jintao after lavishing attention
on China's rising rival, India, for three days. The U.S. and China enjoy an
economic partnership but continue to clash over currency, with the U.S.
contending that China's undervalued yuan gives it an unfair edge in the flow of
exports and imports.
Bypassing county fees may
cost banks
NEW YORK (AP) -- It used to
be that every time a bank sold a mortgage, the county land recording office
received a fee. It wasn't much -- $30 or so -- but then real estate boomed in
the 1990s and banks pooled millions of mortgages into securities that investors
bought and sold.
One mortgage transaction
became a dozen or more, and the tab grew ever larger. So the banks came up with
a way around the fees. And now they are fighting to avoid perhaps tens of
billions of dollars in penalties that have added up over the years.
In 1997, when the banks'
burgeoning business in mortgage securities was clashing with the unwieldy
nature of written forms, the industry created its own alternative, an
electronic system that would track the ever-changing ownership of home loans.
Big banks formed a private company called Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems
Inc., or MERS. It has registered more than 65 million loans, three out of every
five on the market.
Feds propose graphic
cigarette warning labels
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) --
Corpses, cancer patients and diseased lungs are among the images the federal
government plans for larger, graphic warning labels that would take up half of
each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States.
Whether smokers addicted to
nicotine will see them as a reason to quit remains a question.
The images are part of a
new campaign announced by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department
of Health and Human Services on Wednesday to reduce tobacco use, which is
responsible for about 443,000 deaths per year.
Jobless claims fall in
hopeful sign for hiring
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fewer
people applied for unemployment aid last week, the third drop in four weeks and
a sign that more employers are hiring while layoffs are falling.
If the decline continues,
it could signal more hiring in the near future. The report comes after the
Labor Department said last week that private employers in October added the
most jobs in six months.
First-time applications for
unemployment benefits fell 24,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 435,000,
the Labor Department said Wednesday. Wall Street economists had expected a
smaller decline.
Stocks edge higher amid
caution over G20 summit
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
posted meager gains Wednesday as traders remained cautious ahead of a global
economic summit where the U.S. is likely to face pushback from other nations
over its economic stimulus plan.
Major indexes were down for
much of the day but managed to edge higher by late afternoon. A report showing
a sharp decline in first-time claims for unemployment benefits helped support
stock prices. A jump in oil prices lifted shares of energy companies including
Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips.
An announcement from the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York detailing the Fed's plans for its upcoming
bond-purchasing program helped bring stock indexes somewhat higher in the
mid-afternoon. The Fed's program, announced last week, is aimed at encouraging
borrowing and spending by keeping interest rates low.
GM reports $2B 3Q profit ahead
of stock offering
DETROIT (AP) -- Strong
profits on new cars and trucks helped General Motors Co. earn $2 billion in the
third quarter, enhancing the company's appeal as it nears next week's initial
public stock offering.
The third-quarter earnings
of $1.20 per share nearly match what GM made in the first two quarters of the
year combined, aided by profits from overseas and healthy revenue from North
America, the company said Wednesday. The earnings were boosted by higher prices
from newly introduced models such as the Buick LaCrosse, a midsize luxury
sedan.
GM CEO Dan Akerson said GM
is on track to make 2010 its first profitable year since 2004.
The results were another
indication of a widespread recovery among global automakers.
Cisco 1Q earnings up 8 pct;
outlook sinks stock
NEW YORK (AP) -- Cisco
Systems Inc. said Wednesday that its earnings for the latest quarter climbed
from last year. But the company's outlook for the current quarter cast some
doubt on the pace of recovery in corporate technology spending and sent Cisco's
shares down more than 10 percent in extended trading.
New downbeat comments from
the company's CEO on the pace of its customers' spending also helped push
shares lower in extended trading. He said that new orders from government customers
as well as some service providers fell below the company's expectations.
Local push puts Macy's back
in black in 3Q
NEW YORK (AP) -- Macy's
Inc. turned a profit in the third quarter, compared with a loss a year earlier,
as it increasingly tailors merchandise to local markets and woos shoppers with
exclusive brands.
The company, based in
Cincinnati, raised its forecast for a key revenue measure for the second half
of its fiscal year, lifting hopes that Macy's will have a decent holiday
shopping season even as shoppers grapple with high unemployment.
As the first major retailer
to release third-quarter results, Macy's gives analysts material for predicting
how much consumers may be willing to spend for Christmas.
Deficit panel leaders' plan
curbs Social Security
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
leaders of President Barack Obama's bipartisan deficit commission launched a
daring assault on mushrooming federal deficits on Wednesday, proposing reducing
annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security, gradually raising the
retirement age to 69 and taking aim at popular tax breaks such as the mortgage
interest deduction.
As part of a proposal to
wrestle $1-trillion-plus deficits under control, their plan would also curb the
growth of Medicare. It came a week after voters put Republicans back in charge
of the House and told Washington that the government is too big.
However, the plan by
Chairman Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson, the co-chairman, doesn't
look like it can win the support from 14 commission members that is needed to
force a debate in Congress.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 10.29, or 0.1 percent, to close at 11,357.04. The Dow had been
down as many as 92 points earlier in the day.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index added 5.31, or 0.4 percent, to 1,218.71, and the Nasdaq composite
rose 15.80, or 0.6 percent, to 2,578.78.
The report sent benchmark
oil for December delivery up $1.09 to $87.81 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas prices, meanwhile, fell 16.4 cents, about 4
percent, to $4.046 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In Nymex trading in
December contracts, heating oil added 3.52 cents to $2.4419 a gallon and
gasoline gained 5.12 cents to $2.2362 a gallon.
In London, Brent crude
added 63 cents to $88.96 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.