On Tuesday November 16, 2010, 6:32 pm EST
Stocks sink on Asian
inflation, Euro debt fears
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
fell for a fourth day as concerns over a slowdown in China and talks about a
bailout for Irish banks combined to push the Dow Jones industrial average to
its lowest level in a month.
Asian markets started a
global sell-off after South Korea's central bank raised interest rates to curb
inflation. Shares also fell in Shanghai and Hong Kong as speculation spread
that China will take more steps to rein in its red-hot economy, which would
dampen global demand for industrial goods.
While Asian countries are
dealing with excessive economic growth and inflation, European finance
ministers were concerned that Ireland would be the latest European country to
need a bailout. The country has so far refused any outside financial
assistance.
European officials: No
bailout yet for Ireland
BRUSSELS (AP) -- An
anxiously awaited meeting of European finance ministers ended Tuesday without
an agreement to bail out debt-stricken Ireland.
But EU officials said they
have "intensified" preparations for potential support for the
country's troubled banking sector.
Concerns that Ireland will
be unable to pay the cost of rescuing its banks -- which ran into trouble when
the country's real estate boom collapsed -- has worsened Europe's government
debt crisis. Markets have pushed up borrowing costs for other vulnerable
nations such as Portugal and Spain and threatened to destabilize the common
euro currency.
Economy splits for
Wal-Mart, Saks clienteles
NEW YORK (AP) --
Third-quarter earnings reports from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Saks Fifth Avenue
show the far different streets their customers are living on.
Wal-Mart's third-quarter
sales in the U.S. got squeezed as its financially strapped customers dealt with
dire economic straits. Saks' affluent clientele, encouraged by a rallying stock
market, is starting to spend again, albeit cautiously, and is willing to shell
out full price for designer labels more often.
As profit reports from
major retailers flow in, it's clear that lower- to middle-class consumers are
unlikely to open their wallets wide this holiday season amid an unemployment
rate that's stuck at almost 10 percent. The wealthy are recovering faster, buoyed
by a rising stock market.
AP Source: GM to expand IPO
by 113 million shares
DETROIT (AP) -- A person
briefed on the matter says General Motors Co. will expand its initial public
offering by 113 million common shares.
The person says the U.S.
government will sell most of the additional shares. The move would expand the
IPO by 31 percent. Shares are still expected to be priced at around $33 each
when they are sold on Thursday. The person did not want to be identified
because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the sale.
FDA panel backs first new
lupus drug in 50 years
ADELPHI, Md. (AP) --
Federal health experts on Tuesday voted in favor of the first new drug to treat
Lupus in over 50 years, setting aside concerns that the experimental therapy
does not work in some key patient groups, including African-Americans.
The recommendation from a
panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers brings the biotech drug from
Human Genome Sciences one step closer to market. The drug was codeveloped with
GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
Known as Benlysta, the drug
is designed to treat flare-ups and pain caused by lupus, a little-understood
and potentially fatal ailment in which the body attacks its own tissue and
organs.
Rise in factory production
lifts hopes for economy
WASHINGTON (AP) -- After
leading the economy out of recession last year and then flagging over the
summer, manufacturers might be getting a second wind.
Factories boosted their
output in October by the most since July, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday. Its
report follows several other positive readings on the economy, including data
released Monday that showed retail sales rose in October by the most in seven
months.
And a report Tuesday on
wholesale prices showed that the rising production and sales aren't increasing
prices enough to fan inflation fears. That gives the Federal Reserve leeway to
carry out its $600 billion bond purchase plan to try to lower interest rates
and spur growth.
Home Depot 3rd-quarter net
income rises
NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans
are primping their lawns and maintaining their homes but holding back on
large-scale remodeling, Home Depot's third-quarter net income results showed
Tuesday.
The largest U.S.
home-improvement retailer said keeping a tight lid on expenses helped its
third-quarter net income rise 21 percent, despite a lackluster 1 percent
revenue increase.
The results mirror Monday's
report from smaller rival Lowe's Cos., which said its net income rose 19
percent with a revenue increase of only 2 percent. Together, the reports show
many homeowners remain unwilling or unable to undertake bigger projects until
the unemployment rate, stuck at 9.6 percent, improves and the economy shows
more concrete signs of growth.
New settlement offered in
TD Ameritrade data theft
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Online
brokerage TD Ameritrade plans to offer up to $2,500 to each of the more than 6
million current and former customers affected by the theft of their contact
information more than three years ago, if a federal judge approves the deal.
The proposed settlement,
which was outlined in court documents filed Monday, will cost Ameritrade
between $2.5 million and $6.5 million. Last year, U.S. District Judge Vaughn
Walker in San Francisco rejected an earlier class-action settlement because it
didn't do enough to benefit the Ameritrade customers affected. A hearing on the
new settlement is scheduled for Dec. 23.
The Omaha-based company
disclosed the breach in September 2007. Anyone who held an Ameritrade account
or provided an e-mail address to the company before then could have been
affected by the data theft.
Apple says iTunes will sell
music from Beatles
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Nearly
50 years after the Beatles took television by storm, the Fab Four's songs
became available on iTunes on Tuesday, setting the stage for a possible new
outbreak of Beatlemania -- this one online.
After many a hard day's
night of negotiations, Apple announced a deal Tuesday to immediately begin
selling the Beatles' music by the song or the album. Until now, the
biggest-selling, most influential group in rock history has been glaringly
absent from iTunes and other legal online music services.
Within hours of their
availability Tuesday, eight Beatles recordings were at one point among the top
25 albums sold on iTunes, including a $149 boxed set at No. 13.
IRS gets UBS account names,
ends legal action
MIAMI (AP) -- The Internal
Revenue Service ended the legal action Tuesday that forced Swiss bank UBS AG to
disclose thousands of account holders suspected of cheating on U.S. taxes, a
landmark case the IRS commissioner called only the beginning of a global
offshore tax evasion probe.
The IRS on Tuesday withdrew
its Miami federal court summons seeking identities of suspected U.S. tax
dodgers at UBS after receiving more than 4,000 names as required under an
August 2009 agreement that also included the Swiss government. Each of those
people expect what the commissioner called a "full-blown audit" and
many are likely to be charged criminally.
The agreement called for
disclosure of 4,450 names in total. A statement issued by the Swiss Embassy in
Washington said more identities will be turned over "in the coming
months" following the outcome of legal appeals in Switzerland's
Administrative Court.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average fell 178.47, or 1.6 percent, to 11,023.50, having dipped below 11,000
earlier in the day for the first time since Oct. 20.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index fell 19.41, or 1.6 percent, to 1,178.34, while the Nasdaq composite
index fell 43.98, or 1.8 percent, to 2,469.84.
Benchmark oil for December
delivery fell $2.52, or 3 percent, to $82.34 a barrel Tuesday on the New York
Mercantile Exchange as traders considered Ireland's ongoing debt problems and
worries about higher inflation in Asia.
In other Nymex trading in
December contracts, heating oil fell 6.19 cents to $2.3090 a gallon, gasoline
lost 2.93 cents to $2.1657 a gallon and natural gas fell 2.7 cents to $3.818
per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude gave
up $1.97 cents to $84.73 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.