AP Business Highlights
On Monday November 22, 2010, 5:59 pm
Where fewer foreclosures
are now bad for business
CAPE CORAL, Fla. (AP) --
Across the nation, troubled homeowners have cheered the news that some banks
are slowing the foreclosure process to review questionable documents. Then
there are places like Lee County, Fla., where not everyone is applauding.
Foreclosures became so
common here that they spawned a cottage industry. Real estate agents had homes
to sell, landscapers and plumbers had work to do, and furniture stores and
restaurants benefited, too.
So in October, when some
big banks suspended foreclosures in states like Florida where lenders need a
judge's approval to foreclose, some local businesses became alarmed.
Foreclosures had become good for business.
Feds raid 3 hedge funds
linked to trading probe
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Federal Bureau of Investigation has raided three hedge funds linked to a
broader insider-trading probe, law enforcement officials said Monday. Bureau
employees searched the New York offices of Level Global Investors LP, and the
Stamford, Conn., headquarters of Diamondback Capital Management LLC, an
official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to discuss an ongoing case.
The FBI confirmed that it
executed search warrants at both locations and a third at 30 Federal St. in
Boston. Hedge fund Loch Capital Management LLC has its headquarters at that
address.
The FBI and other law
enforcement agencies are investigating insider trading by hedge funds, mutual funds
and investment bankers. The companies allegedly earned tens of millions in
illegal profits using secret information about mergers, the Wall Street Journal
reported this weekend.
Irish premier faces early
election over EU bailout
DUBLIN (AP) -- The Irish
government lost its power base Monday, a day after being forced to accept a
massive bailout from the European Union and the IMF. Irish Prime Minister Brian
Cowen said he would call an early election next year once Ireland passes an
emergency budget and finalizes the bailout.
The admission represented a
huge political blow to Cowen, who only days ago was denying even the need for a
bailout to solve the problems brought on by Irish banks' reckless speculation
in overpriced real estate.
His coalition partner, the
Green Party, forced his hand, saying it would quit the government and then
demand an early election in January. Cowen resisted pressure to resign
immediately but soon even lawmakers in Cowen's own Fianna Fail party also
called on him to go.
HP's fiscal 4Q tops Wall
Street estimates
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --
Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's biggest technology company, on Monday reported
higher profits, helped by corporate spending even as demand from consumers and
governments has wobbled across the industry.
The company also raised its
profit forecast for the new fiscal year. Its shares rose in after-hours
trading.
The numbers, reported
Monday after the market closed, offer more evidence that the technology
industry's recovery is lopsided.
Stocks mixed as Ireland
bailout, FBI probe weigh
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
pared their losses and ended narrowly mixed Monday amid anxiety over Europe's
financial crisis and a widening probe into insider trading on Wall Street.
Bank shares slumped after
the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of two hedge funds as
part of a broad insider trading probe. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sank 3.4
percent, while Bank of America Corp. fell 3.1 percent.
Retail and consumer goods
stocks rose on hopes that shoppers will be in a spending mood when they turn up
in stores the day after Thanksgiving as the holiday shopping season gets under
way.
Utilities thrilled and
worried about electric cars
NEW YORK (AP) -- The first
mass-market electric cars go on sale next month, and the nation's electric
utilities couldn't be more thrilled -- or worried.
Plugged into a socket, an
electric car can draw as much power as a small house. The surge in demand could
knock out power to a home, or even a neighborhood. That has utilities in parts
of California, Texas and North Carolina scrambling to upgrade transformers and
other equipment in neighborhoods where the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are
expected to be in high demand.
Not since air conditioning
spread across the country in the 1950s and 1960s has the power industry faced
such a growth opportunity. Last year, Americans spent $325 billion on gasoline,
and utilities would love even a small piece of that market.
Feds are investigating
drinking glasses with lead
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal
regulators launched an investigation Monday into lead levels in drinking
glasses depicting comic book and movie characters, declaring that the items are
subject to strict standards for "children's products."
Testing commissioned by The
Associated Press revealed that the glasses contained lead up to 1,000 times the
federal limit for children's products. The items also contained lesser amounts
of the more-toxic metal cadmium.
Higher prices help Tyson
Foods return to 4Q profit
Higher prices and
increasing sales of pork and prepared foods helped Tyson Foods Inc. return to a
profit in its fourth quarter.
The improvement is a sign
that the meat producer, based in Springdale, Ark., is getting past an
industrywide downturn brought on by a combination of higher production costs
and slumping demand as shoppers cut spending.
CEO Donnie Smith said
Monday the company plans to keep its goals modest in the coming year as it
strives to stay profitable after one of the worst downturns in decades. The
company will reduce debt, invest roughly $700 million to boost efficiency in
its plants, and focus on growing just enough chicken to meet demand without
increasing the supply enough to hurt prices.
China says it has capacity
to curb inflation
SHANGHAI (AP) -- Beijing
has the capacity to control surging prices while keeping economic growth on
track, China's main planning agency said Monday, in the latest effort to quell
public anxiety about simmering inflation.
Conditions are right for
cooling prices, despite worries over rising food costs, the National
Development and Reform Commission said Monday on its website.
The effort to defuse public
unease came after Beijing announced its second bank reserve increase in two
weeks on Friday in an effort to curb lending and cool inflation that rose to a
25-month high in October.
Many in China expect an
interest rate hike to follow.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average fell 24.97 points, 0.2 percent, to 11,178.58. The Dow was down as much
as 149 points earlier.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index fell 1.89, or 0.2 percent, to 1,197.84. The Nasdaq composite index
rose 13.90, or 0.6 percent, to 2,532.02, buoyed by technology stocks.
Benchmark crude for January
delivery fell 24 cents to settle at $81.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. The price has dropped about 5 percent from a week ago in the wake of
Ireland's debt crisis and China's efforts to slow economic growth.
In other Nymex trading in
December contracts, heating oil fell 0.58 cent to settle at $2.2686 a gallon,
gasoline lost 4.41 cents to settle at $2.1519 a gallon. Natural gas added 10.7
cents to settle at $4.271 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude lost
38 cents to settle at $83.96 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.