AP
Business
Highlights
Tuesday
November 25, 7:18 pm ET
Wall Street extends Dow's rally to third
day
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street showed some signs of stability
Tuesday as investors, heartened by government plans to aid consumer lending
companies, selectively bought more stocks following a huge two-day rally. Gains
in blue chips gave the Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor's 500
index their first triple-session advance in more than two months.
Tech stocks lagged the market, sending the Nasdaq composite index lower, as investors bet that
businesses will continue slashing capital spending in a recession.
The Dow rose 36.08, or 0.43 percent, to 8,479.47.
Economy's tumble even worse than expected in 3Q
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government released a triple dose of
discouraging data Tuesday: The economy shrank over the summer even more than
previously believed, and consumers reduced their spending by the largest amount
in 28 years. During the same period, home prices fell to levels not seen since
early 2004.
The updated reading on the economy's performance, released
Tuesday by the Commerce Department, showed the gross domestic product shrank at
a 0.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter.
That was weaker than the 0.3 percent rate of decline first
estimated a month ago, and it marked the worst showing since the economy
contracted at a 1.4 percent pace in the third quarter of 2001, when terrorists
attacked the U.S. and the nation was suffering through its last recession.
Congress expecting more sacrifices from automakers
DETROIT (AP) -- A list of job cuts, shuttered factories, canceled
bonuses and commitments to fuel-efficient cars won't be enough next week when
U.S. automakers get another shot to persuade Congress to give them $25 billion
in loans.
Through the Thanksgiving weekend, teams will be tagging more meat
to throw at skeptical lawmakers who vilified the automakers' top executives the
last time they went to
Oil prices tumble; gas falls to 2004 levels
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Oil prices fell nearly 7 percent Tuesday
and gasoline prices fell to levels not seen since 2004 as a raft of lousy news
about the economy, housing and the consumer state of mind suggested the
Consumers and businesses have pulled back on energy spending,
with massive layoffs and cost-cutting across almost every sector. That means
less money will go toward powering everything from industrial plants to
automobiles.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery on Tuesday tumbled $3.73
to settle at $50.77 a barrel on the
Obama: Economic rescue will trump deficit fight
CHICAGO (AP) -- The economy growing weaker, President-elect
Barack Obama said Tuesday that recovery efforts will trump deficit concerns
when he takes office in January. Yet he pledged a "page-by-page,
line-by-line" budget review to root out unneeded spending.
The president-elect set no goals for reducing the federal deficit
-- now in record territory and headed ever higher -- an obvious contrast to
Monday's announcement that he hopes to create a recession-busting 2.5 million
jobs by 2010.
FDIC adds 54 more banks to its 'problem list'
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday
the list of banks it considers to be in trouble shot up nearly 50 percent to
171 during the third quarter -- yet another sign of escalating problems among
the institutions controlling Americans' deposits.
The 171 banks on the FDIC's "problem list" encompass
only about 2 percent of the nearly 8,500 FDIC-insured institutions. Still, the
increase from 117 in the second quarter is sharp, and the current tally is the
highest since late 1995.
DR Horton swings to $800 million loss
UNDATED (AP) -- D.R. Horton Inc.'s chief executive said Tuesday
he expects this fiscal year to be even more challenging than 2008, which ended
with a nearly $800 million quarterly loss on slower home sales and more than $1
billion in charges.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based homebuilder reported a net loss of
$799.9 million, or $2.53 a share, compared to a loss of $50.1 million or 16
cents a share, in the year-ago period. Total sales for the quarter were $1.75
billion, down from $3.12 billion in the fourth quarter 2007.
The company sold 6,961 homes in the fourth quarter, down 41
percent from year-ago levels.
AIG restricts exec compensation, CEO gets a dollar
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- American International Group Inc. said
Tuesday it is limiting how much it pays its top executives, including granting
a $1 salary for this year and the same for 2009 to its Chief Executive Edward Liddy.
The decision is one of many broader moves made by the troubled
New York-based insurer, which has been under pressure to restrict executive pay
since accepting billions in government assistance to save it from collapse. AIG
has received about $150 billion so far, more than any other company.
Fannie Mae names Johnson chief financial officer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fannie Mae said Tuesday it named David Johnson
to serve as the mortgage giant's chief financial officer and executive vice
president, beginning immediately.
Johnson joins the company from Hartford
Financial Services Group, where he served as chief financial officer and
executive vice president.
His predecessor at Fannie Mae, Stephen Swad,
left the company in August and was temporarily replaced by David C. Hisey, formerly Fannie's senior vice president and
controller.
First signs of consolidation in ethanol industry
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The first
salvo may have been fired this week in a long-awaited shakeout for the
VeraSun
Energy Corp., the nation's No. 2 ethanol producer, announced it had received an
unsolicited takeover bid one month after seeking bankruptcy protection, and
just hours after the nation's biggest producer, Poet LLC, said it was talking
with other companies about buyouts.
Neither Poet nor VeraSun will say if
the two are negotiating a deal. VeraSun made the
announcement just hours after Poet Chief Executive Jeff Broin
told The Associated Press that his company was talking with a number of
producers.
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 36.08, or 0.43 percent, to 8,479.47.
Broader indexes were mixed. The S&P 500 rose 5.58, or 0.66
percent, to 857.39, giving the index its first three-day rise since Sept.
10-12. The Nasdaq composite
index, hurt by signs that companies are cutting back on technology spending,
fell 7.29, or 0.50 percent, to 1,464.73.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery on Tuesday tumbled $3.73
to settle at $50.77 a barrel on the
In other Nymex trading, gasoline
futures dropped 4.76 cents to settle at $1.0949 a gallon. Heating oil slid 8.56
cents to settle at $1.6988 a gallon while natural gas for January delivery
tumbled 44.1 cents to settle at $6.386 per 1,000 cubic feet.