On Friday November 26, 2010, 5:18 pm EST
All-night shop-a-thon:
Black Friday draws crowds
Bargain shoppers, braving
rain or frigid weather, crowded the nation's stores in the wee hours of the
night to get their hands on deals from TVs to toys on Black Friday.
Early signs pointed to
bigger crowds at many stores including Best Buy, Sears, and Toys R Us for the
traditional start to the holiday shopping season.
In an encouraging sign for
retailers and for the economy, more shoppers appeared to be buying for
themselves than last year, when such indulgences were limited. Lengthened hours
that pushed some store openings into Thanksgiving also appeared to pay off.
Big New York insider
trading probe spawns another
NEW YORK (AP) -- An insider
trading case last year that federal authorities said was the biggest ever is
providing a recipe for another case that may be even bigger.
The current case is largely
an extension of work that led to the arrest of Galleon Group founder Raj
Rajaratnam in October 2009. The Galleon investigation marked the first time
that federal authorities used wiretaps in an insider trading probe.
Similarly, wiretaps led to
the first arrest in the latest case. Don Ching Trang Chu, a consulting firm
executive, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly providing private information
about a company's corporate earnings to a hedge fund.
The FBI this week searched
the offices of three hedge funds and subpoenaed some of Wall Street's most
influential firms, including Janus Capital Group and SAC Capital.
Debt turmoil, contagion
fears sweep Europe
LISBON, Portugal (AP) --
Europe struggled mightily Friday to keep the debt crisis from engulfing country
after country. Portugal passed austerity measures to fend off the speculative
trades pushing it toward a bailout and Ireland rushed to negotiate its own
imminent rescue.
As Portugal and Spain
insisted they will not seek outside help, creating an eery sense of deja vu for
investors, Europe braced for what seems inevitable -- more expensive bailouts.
The Portuguese Parliament
approved an unpopular debt-reducing package, including tax hikes and cuts in
pay and welfare benefits. But while that helped to avoid a sharper
deterioration in bond markets, the sense among analysts was that the move had
only bought a little time.
Adding to the pressure,
Ireland's major banks were hit with credit downgrades -- one to junk bond
status -- as speculation mounted that the EU-IMF bailout of Ireland, to be
revealed within days, would require investors to take losses, a possibility
earlier denied by officials.
Stocks slide on worries
over Korea, European debt
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
sank during Friday's shortened session as jittery traders were afraid to commit
to any holdings ahead of the weekend amid lingering uncertainty surrounding
Europe's debt troubles and North Korea's war threats.
European stock markets and
the euro fell as worries mounted that Portugal will be the next country to need
cash from other European Union countries, even as details of Ireland's bailout
were being worked out.
On Friday, Portugal adopted
a raft of debt-reducing austerity measures, which the government claimed would
be enough to restore market confidence in its public finances without resorting
to a bailout.
However, that didn't soothe
traders who are also nervously eyeing North Korea's threat of war, which could
destabilize its neighboring Asian nations.
GM IPO grows to $23B with
overallotment exercise
DETROIT (AP) -- General
Motors Co. said the underwriters in its recent initial public offering have
exercised their over-allotment of an additional 71.7 million common shares,
bringing the total size of the deal to $23.1 billion.
The additional shares were
worth $2.37 billion. The underwriters also exercised the right to purchase an
additional 13 million shares of mandatory convertible junior preferred stock
from the Detroit automaker, for a total of $650 million.
The closing for the
additional shares is expected on Dec. 2.
Fiat wants Chrysler joint
venture at Turin plant
MILAN (AP) -- Fiat and Chrysler
CEO Sergio Marchionne on Friday proposed a joint venture with Chrysler LLC to
build Alfa Romeo and Jeep brand vehicles at Turin's Mirafiori auto plant.
But he said he needed union
cooperation to make the factory more competitive.
The proposal marks the
first significant step toward integration in Europe between the Italian and
U.S. automakers since Fiat took control of Chrysler with a 20 percent stake in
June 2009.
Honda, Nissan, Toyota post
record China production
TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota Motor
Corp., the world's No. 1 automaker whose reputation has been dented by massive
recalls, reported a fall in global car production for October even as it and
Japanese rivals Nissan and Honda produced a record number of vehicles in China.
Toyota, which makes the
Prius hybrid, Corolla compact and Lexus luxury cars, said Friday that global
output fell 12.5 percent in October to 687,660 vehicles. Its production in
China of 62,124 vehicles last month was up 4.4 percent from the previous year
and a record high for October.
Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co.
produced 305,406 vehicles worldwide in October, up 1.4 percent from a year
earlier and the 11th straight month of growth, driven by the popularity of the
Fit subcompact and other models.
In China alone it made 55,507
vehicles, up 4.4 percent from the year before and a record for October.
Casinos struggle back from
recession
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Amid a
new reality -- casinos are not recession-proof -- gambling in Louisiana and
Mississippi is staging a slow comeback from the economic meltdown of 2008,
aggravated for a time by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that chased away some
tourists.
But at least for the rest
of 2010 and into 2011, industry analysts expect many players to keep a tight
grip on their wallets amid uncertain economic times -- and those who watch
casinos are largely unwilling to predict when full recovery might come.
Japan iPhone craze attracts
global app developers
TOKYO (AP) -- The iPhone's
popularity in Japan is cracking open an industry long thought inaccessible to
outsiders.
For years, the typical
Japanese cell phone -- built to operate on a network hardly used anywhere else
in the world -- has been stuffed with quirky games and other applications that
cater to finicky local tastes.
Foreign developers of
applications for phones didn't give the Japanese market a second thought
because of its insularity. But that is changing as the iPhone, for which tens
of thousands of applications have been created, dominates Japanese smart phone
sales.
Everywhere one turns, on
commuter trains and urban cafes, people are tapping away at their iPhone
screens in a relatively rare Japanese embrace of technology that isn't
homegrown.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average fell 95.28, or 0.9 percent, to 11,092. The S&P 500 index was down
8.95, or 0.8 percent, to 1,189.40. The Nasdaq composite index fell 8.56, or 0.3
percent, to 2,534.56.
Benchmark oil for January
delivery fell 10 cents to $83.76 per barrel.
In other Nymex trading,
heating oil fell was about flat a $2.32 a gallon.
Natural gas rose 1.1 cents
to $4.399 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude
dropped 30 cents to $85.80 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.