AP
Business
Highlights
Tuesday
December 2, 6:56 pm ET
Ford tells Congress it may be able to go
it alone
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Humbled and fighting for survival,
General Motors Corp., asking for as much as $18 billion to keep
afloat and survive even worse economic storms, painted the direst portrait to
date of what could happen if Congress doesn't quickly step in.
Ford Motor Co., in far better shape than GM and Chrysler LLC,
asked for a $9 billion "standby line of credit" to stabilize its
business but said it didn't expect to tap the funds unless one of Detroit's
other Big Three went bust. Its plan projected Ford would break even or turn a
pretax profit in 2011.
Wall Street rebounds sharply after big drop
Investors wary about the economy drew solace from Ford Motor Co.
Chief Executive Alan Mulally,
who said the automaker might not need government help. The market got an
additional lift after the Federal Reserve said it will extend the life of key
programs aimed at loosening the credit markets and restoring stability to the
financial sector. That helped make financial stocks, the hardest hit sector
since the credit crisis began, among the market's biggest gainers.
November
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. light vehicle sales at General Motors and
Chrysler plunged more than 40 percent in November, while Ford's sales dropped
31 percent, battered by an economic storm that has sent consumer demand for new
vehicles to the lowest level in more than 26 years.
GM's sales fell 41 percent, while Chrysler's dropped 47 percent.
Their overseas rivals posted abysmal results Tuesday as well. Toyota's November
U.S. sales tumbled 34 percent, while Nissan's dropped 42 percent and Honda's
fell 32 percent.
Fed extends key credit programs through April 30
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve has extended the life of
key programs aimed at busting through credit clogs and restoring stability to
financial markets.
The Fed said Tuesday that the programs, originally slated to last
through Jan. 30, will be extended through April 30. The Fed said it was taking
the action "in light of continuing strains in financial markets."
The Fed's emergency lending facility, which investment firms can
tap for a ready source of cash, is covered by the decision. This category was
recently broadened to include any loans that were made to the
Auditors fault Treasury oversight of bailout funds
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government must toughen its monitoring of
the $700 billion financial bailout to ensure that banking institutions limit
their top executives' pay and comply with other restrictions, federal auditors
said Tuesday in the first comprehensive review of the rescue package.
The Treasury Department has no mechanism in place to track how
institutions are using $150 billion in taxpayer money that the government
injected into the banking system as of last month, the Government
Accountability Office concluded in its report to Congress.
Oil and gas prices slip to new 3-year lows
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Retail gasoline fell to a new three-year
low Tuesday and in an unprecedented decline, crude oil costs $100 less per
barrel than it did four months ago with a U.S. recession eating away at energy
demand.
Analysts believe prices at the pump may finally be bottoming out
after a precipitous decline from record highs this summer. Yet demand could
fall even further in January with job losses reducing the number of people who
drive to work.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell more than 4 percent, or $2.32 to settle at $46.96 a barrel on the
Sears posts larger 3Q loss on weak US, Kmart sales
CHICAGO (AP) -- Sears Holdings Corp. posted its biggest quarterly
loss since financier Edward Lampert combined Sears
and Kmart into one retail company, due mainly to hefty charges related to store
closures and disappointing U.S. sales.
The company also withdrew its operating profit outlook because of
the country's economic woes.
The $146 million third-quarter loss -- worse than had been
expected and the company's second quarterly loss in the past year -- is another
sign of how difficult it will be for the venerable retailer to right itself
amid growing competition and customers who are shopping at its stores even less
than before because of the recession.
Beazer Homes
4Q loss balloons as revenue plunges
UNDATED (AP) -- Homebuilder Beazer Homes USA Inc. gave Wall
Street a double-shot of discouraging news Tuesday: its fiscal fourth-quarter
loss more than tripled from a year ago and it expects to lose money throughout
2009.
The protracted housing downturn, rising foreclosures, credit
market woes and a deepening U.S. recession have battered homebuilders, but
perhaps none as much as Atlanta-based Beazer.
Beazer lost $473.9 million, or $12.29 a share, in the quarter
ended Sept. 30, compared with a year-ago loss of $155.2 million, or $4.03 a
share.
GE expects to hit low end of 4Q guidance
WASHINGTON (AP) -- General Electric Co. said Tuesday it expects
fourth-quarter earnings to be near the low end of its guidance and will take a
charge of up to $1.4 billion as it starts to shrink its struggling GE Capital
finance arm next year because of the ongoing credit crisis.
The diversified industrial, finance and media conglomerate said
it expects 2009 to be a difficult year for GE Capital, which provides a wide
range of commercial and consumer loans and has been battered by the global
economic downturn. GE laid out plans to reduce the finance unit's exposure to
the turbulent debt markets as it restructures next year.
EU members embrace public spending plan
The ministers called a recovery plan drafted by the European
Commission a good basis to stimulate the economy of the 27-country EU, which
shrank 0.2 percent in the second and third quarters.
A final decision on the spending package lies with the EU leaders
who meet in
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 270.00, or 3.31 percent, to 8,419.09.
Broader stock indexes also soared Tuesday. The Standard &
Poor's 500 index rose 32.60, or 3.99 percent, to 848.81, while the Nasdaq composite index gained
51.73, or 3.70 percent, to 1,449.80.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 24.75, or 5.93
percent, to 441.82.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell more than 4 percent, or $2.32 to settle at $46.96 a barrel on the
In
In other Nymex trading, gasoline
futures fell 5.29 cents to settle at $1.0583 a gallon. Heating oil fell 3.19
cents to settle at $1.5832 after hitting a 52-week low of $1.5778 a gallon.
Natural gas for January delivery fell 18 cents to settle at $6.424 per 1,000
cubic feet.