On Friday December 17, 2010, 6:02 pm EST
Obama salutes spirit of
compromise, signs tax bill
WASHINGTON (AP) --President
Barack Obama saluted a new spirit of political compromise Friday as he signed
into law a huge tax bill extending cuts for all Americans -- including benefits
for the rich that he and congressional liberals had denounced -- along with
billions of dollars in help for the middle class and jobless workers.
The package retains
Bush-era tax rates for all taxpayers, from the working poor to the wealthiest.
It also offers 13 months of extended benefits to the unemployed and attempts to
stimulate the economy with a Social Security payroll tax cut for all workers.
At a cost of $858 billion
over two years, the deal contains provisions dear to both Democrats and
Republicans.
Tax law won't help people
who used up jobless aid
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Unemployment benefits will be restored for millions of Americans under the
tax-cut measure President Barack Obama signed into law Friday.
But hundreds of thousands
will get no help from the new law because they've already used up all the
benefits available to them.
In the 25 states with
unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent, the unemployed can receive benefits
for up to 99 weeks. The new law restores, for 13 more months, the 99-week
maximum. But it provides no further benefits to people who have reached the
limit in their state. Those who have exhausted all benefits are sometimes known
as "99ers," even though the duration of their benefits varies by
state.
The Labor Department says
it doesn't know how many Americans have used up all their unemployment
benefits. But the number reaches well into the hundreds of thousands.
Smart phone rivalry plays
out in patent suits
SEATTLE (AP) -- Competition
among smart phone makers is heating up at retail, in advertising and,
increasingly, in the courtroom as handset and software makers wield patent
lawsuits to protect their turf and slow down their rivals.
Handset and software makers
are staking their claims through a growing stack of patent lawsuits over all
aspects of basic phone use, from the way a user swipes a touch screen to
perform an action to the method a phone uses to extend battery life. Nokia is
suing Apple, Apple is suing HTC, Microsoft is suing Motorola and more.
Leading indicators jump 1.1
percent in November
NEW YORK (AP) -- A gauge of
future economic activity rose in November, at the fastest pace since March,
suggesting the economy will strengthen early next year.
The Conference Board said
its index of leading economic indicators rose 1.1 percent last month -- the
biggest increase since March, when the index jumped 1.4 percent.
The leading indicators rose
0.4 percent in October and 0.6 percent in November. The index has risen for
five straight months. Deutsche Bank economist Joseph LaVorgna said the index's
recent leap suggested that economic growth picked up significantly, to above 3
percent, in the October-December quarter and would continue to accelerate in
the first three months of next year. Faster economic growth would help lower
the 9.8 percent unemployment rate.
The economy grew at a 2.5
percent pace from July through September.
Stocks end week flat; Obama
signs tax bill
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
ended flat on Friday, a day after major indexes hit two-year highs, as
investors shrugged off encouraging economic signs and a tax-cut package
expected to lift economic growth. Trading ended shortly before President Barack
Obama signed a tax bill into law.
The $850 billion package
extends Bush-era tax cuts for another two years and expiring unemployment
benefits through next year. House Democrats had pledged to block the tax
proposal, a compromise worked out between Obama and Senate Republicans. But the
House passed the bill late Thursday night. Critics said the cost didn't justify
the expected boost to economic growth.
In a hopeful sign for the
economy, the Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators
rose 1.1 percent in November, the fastest pace since March. The index -- which
tracks data such as orders for new goods and materials -- rose 0.4 percent in
October.
$7.2B is recovered for
Madoff's victims
NEW YORK (AP) -- Many of
Bernard Madoff's victims who thought they lost everything could get at least
half their money back after the widow of a Florida philanthropist agreed Friday
to return a staggering $7.2 billion that her husband reaped from the giant
Ponzi scheme.
Federal prosecutors reached
the settlement with the estate of Jeffry Picower, a businessman who drowned
after suffering a heart attack in the swimming pool of his Palm Beach, Fla.,
mansion in October 2009. Picower was the single biggest beneficiary of Madoff's
fraud.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara
called the forfeiture the largest in Justice Department history and a
"game changer" for those swindled by Madoff.
Bank of Montreal buys US
bank for $4.1B
TORONTO (AP) -- The Bank of
Montreal is buying a Milwaukee-based bank, the latest example of Canadian banks
using their muscle to snap up U.S. financial institutions battered by the
financial crisis.
Canada's fourth-largest
bank announced Friday that it was acquiring Marshall & Ilsley Corp. for
$4.1 billion in stock, doubling its presence in the U.S. from 321 branches to
695.
Canadian banks, ranked the
soundest in the world by the World Economic Forum, weathered the economic
crisis far better than their counterparts in other countries. In a concentrated
banking system dominated by five major players, Canadian banks have been
looking across the border to find growth opportunities, casting an eye toward
distressed U.S. banks.
Cumulus Media makes $1.5B
offer for Citadel
NEW YORK (AP) -- Radio
station owner Cumulus Media Inc. is offering to buy its smaller rival Citadel
Broadcasting Corp. for about $1.5 billion, sparking a public feud as Citadel
resists the takeover effort.
The deal would combine the
country's second and third-largest radio companies and -- Cumulus argues --
would help the combined company reduce expenses.
Cumulus said Friday that it
made the offer late last month, but was rebuffed by Citadel's board. Now the
company is reiterating its bid publicly, offering $31 per share in cash and
stock.
Citadel said Friday that
the offer is still too low. And it said Cumulus hasn't proven it has the
resources to finance a deal.
Program seeks to limit
missed flight connections
CHICAGO (AP) --
International airline passengers on edge about making their connections when
their flights into the United States are late may have reason to relax when
they're headed to Chicago and New York, where federal authorities are using new
procedures to help travelers bypass long, snarled customs lines.
The program, first
introduced at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and then at John F.
Kennedy International Airport, is designed to be proactive.
As soon as an airline knows
a plane is late -- sometimes even before it takes off for the U.S. -- staff
scan passenger lists to see who has a connecting flight and when. They flag
those passengers who look like they may be in danger of missing their
connections. Once the plane lands, arrival-gate attendants hand them
bright-orange cards that allow them into the short, fast-moving customs lines.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average fell 7.34 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 11,491.91.
The broader S&P 500
eked out another 2010 high. The index rose 1.04, or 0.08 percent, to close at
1,243.91. The Nasdaq composite rose 5.66, or 0.2 percent, to 2,642.97.
Benchmark oil for January
delivery rose 34 cents to settle at $88.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
In other Nymex trading in
January contracts, heating oil fell 0.26 cent to settle at $2.4737 a gallon,
gasoline futures added 1.35 cents to settle at $2.3178 a gallon and natural gas
gained 1.8 cents to settle at $4.066 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent
crude rose 7 cents to settle at $91.67 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.