On Tuesday December 14, 2010, 5:58 pm EST
Good signs: Retail sales
up, CEOs in hiring mood
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A strong
start to the holiday season is raising confidence that the consumer is back and
that 2011 could be a better year for the economy than expected.
Retail sales are rising,
boosted by the best month for department stores in two years. Inflation remains
tame. Businesses are restocking their shelves in anticipation of more consumer
demand. And a survey of CEOs at America's biggest companies suggests hiring
will pick up in the next six months.
High unemployment remains a
concern. But the latest government data, combined with an emerging package of
tax cuts and long-term unemployment benefits, are prompting economists to ramp
up their forecasts for growth in the months ahead.
Competitors squeeze TV
sales out of Best Buy
NEW YORK (AP) -- Best Buy
Co.'s third-quarter net income fell more than expected as it lost sales of
lower-priced TVs and laptops to competitors, and more expensive 3-D and
Internet-connected TVs failed to catch on.
Shares of the largest U.S.
electronics chain fell nearly 15 percent Tuesday as the results raised fears
over Best Buy's holiday season. The company also cut its guidance below analyst
expectations.
Best Buy benefited when
Circuit City went out of business last year. Now it's getting squeezed between
online sellers like Amazon.com and discount stores like Walmart and Target. All
sharply reduced prices on flat-screen TVs to drive sales during Black Friday
and the busy shopping weekend over Thanksgiving.
Fed cites unemployment in
sticking with bond plan
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Federal Reserve said Tuesday it will maintain the pace of its $600 billion
Treasury bond-buying program because the economy is still too weak to bring
down high unemployment.
The Fed's bond purchases
are intended to lower long-term interest rates, lift stock prices and encourage
spending. Its decision not to increase its purchases rattled bond investors,
who fear a tax-cut plan in Congress could fuel enough growth to drive up
interest rates.
Fed policymakers said
they'll continue to monitor the program. They left open the option of buying
more bonds if the economy weakens, or fewer if it strengthens more than
expected.
Stocks, bond yields rise as
Fed sticks by stimulus
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bonds
prices fell sharply Tuesday, sending long-term interest rates to their highest
level in seven months, after the Federal Reserve said it would continue its efforts
to lift the economy.
Stocks edged higher after
retail sales rose for the fifth straight month in November and a survey showed
that large companies intend to hire more workers. The Dow Jones industrial
average closed at its highest level of the year.
The Federal Reserve said it
would keep up its $600 billion stimulus program because the economy isn't
strong enough to bring down unemployment on its own. The yield on the benchmark
10-year Treasury note jumped to its highest level since May 17.
Yahoo's holiday trimming
cuts work force by 4 pct
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo
is reducing its work force by 4 percent as it hands out 600 layoff notices for
the holidays.
The job cuts announced
Tuesday follow weeks of speculation about whether a long-running financial funk
would spur Yahoo to trim its payroll before the new year. Reports of Yahoo's
layoff plans surfaced a month ago on two popular technology blogs, TechCrunch
and All Things Digital.
This marks the fourth time
in three years that Yahoo has resorted to mass firings to boost its earnings.
Environmentalists sue
ExxonMobil over air laws
HOUSTON (AP) -- The largest
oil refinery in the United States released more than 8 million pounds of
illegal pollution in the past five years, violating the federal Clean Air Act
thousands of times, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by environmental
groups in Texas.
The lawsuit against
ExxonMobil is the latest by Sierra Club and Environment Texas as part of their
campaign to rein in what they call "illegal emissions" by dozens of
refineries and chemical plants that operate in the Texas Gulf Coast.
In recent months, the
groups have reached multimillion-dollar, out-of-court settlements with Shell
and Chevron Phillips after filing similar suits.
ExxonMobil denied the
allegations and said it would fight the lawsuit.
GE expects substantial
earnings growth
NEW YORK (AP) -- General
Electric Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt said Tuesday that he expects the
company to deliver "substantially" higher profits in 2011, driven by
growth in its industrial division and in China.
GE does not provide
specific earnings targets, but Immelt said the diversified company will post
strong gains in net income tabulated using generally accepted accounting
principles. Overall revenue will be flat to up 5 percent, he said.
Airlines to earn $15B in
2010; Asia carriers surge
GENEVA (AP) -- Airlines
will show better-than-expected earnings of $15.1 billion this year as investors
favor shares of carriers in Asia, where travel is expected to grow strongly,
the International Air Transport Association said Tuesday.
Based on its market value,
Air China is now worth twice what investors are valuing either Delta in the
U.S. or Germany's Lufthansa, highlighting the industry's shift away from the
U.S. and Europe to higher-growth countries, IATA said.
But by passenger miles
flown -- a common measure of airline size -- Delta still ranks as the world's
number one, followed by American Airlines and United, with Air China outside
the top ten.
HCP to buy HCR ManorCare
assets in $6.1B deal
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) --
HCP Inc. said Tuesday it will buy all the real estate assets of HCR ManorCare,
which runs more than 300 rehabilitation and nursing facilities, for $6.1
billion in cash and stock.
The company, a real estate
investment trust that owns and operates health facilities, first invested in
HCR ManorCare in late 2007. HCP has said it wants to own real estate outright,
not just through partnerships, and said HCR ManorCare has the largest and best
portfolio of facilities in its industry.
HCP will pay $3.53 billion
in cash and $852 million in stock for the properties.
EU counts on stopgap
measures to contain crisis
BRUSSELS (AP) -- Despite
calls for bolder action to quell the government debt crisis that has been smoldering
in the shakier corners of the continent, European leaders for now are counting
on stopgap measures to keep bond market turmoil at bay.
A meeting of European Union
heads of state and government Thursday and Friday in Brussels appears set to
revolve around the wording of a small change to EU treaties to set up a new
crisis mechanism agreed almost two months ago.
Proposals to flash the
eurozone's financial might -- by increasing the its euro750 billion ($1
trillion) bailout fund or creating pan-European bonds -- have little chance of
success after they were rejected by Germany, Europe's biggest economy, which
has been dictating the currency bloc's strategy in recent months.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 47.98, or 0.4 percent, to 11,476.54. Its previous high for the
year of 11,444.08 came Nov. 5. AT&T Co. led the 30 stocks in the Dow with a
2 percent gain.
The S&P 500 rose 1.13,
or 0.1 percent, to 1,241.59. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2.81, or 0.1
percent, to 2,627.72.
Benchmark oil lost 33 cents
to settle at $88.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other trading on the
Nymex, heating oil added 0.27 cent to settle at $2.4679 a gallon. Gasoline lost
2.20 cents to settle at $2.2964 a gallon. Natural gas fell 16.5 cents to settle
at $4.255 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude rose
2 cents to settle at $91.21 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.