AP
Business Highlights
Tuesday December 30, 7:29 pm ET

GMAC loosens credit to make vehicles easier to buy

NEW YORK (AP) -- A $5 billion government bailout aimed at reviving General Motors Corp.'s ability to make car and truck loans has dealers hopeful that cash-strapped consumers will return to their showrooms.

GMAC Financial Services, the automaker's troubled financing arm, on Tuesday loosened its tight lending standards, which in recent months have made it more difficult for would-be car buyers to get loans. GMAC's move marks the first time that a financial institution has said it will use money from the $700 billion bank bailout to offer more affordable credit to consumers.

December consumer confidence drops to all-time low

NEW YORK (AP) -- Consumer confidence hit an all-time low in December, dropping further in the face of rising layoffs, in yet another sign that consumer spending is unlikely to pull the U.S. out of a yearlong recession any time soon.

Consumers have been nervous about spending for months -- putting off big-ticket purchases, forgoing new clothes and choosing store brands at the grocery store -- all of which may make this the worst holiday season for retailers in decades.

The Consumer Confidence Index measured by the Conference Board, a private research group, fell to 38 in December from a revised 44.7 in November.

Wall Street gains as GMAC gets financing

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street staged a big advance in the next to last session of 2008 Tuesday after Washington's latest lifeline to the auto industry bolstered hopes that the government will do whatever is necessary to cut short the recession.

Investors found solace in news that General Motors Corp.'s troubled financing arm received $5 billion of financing. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 184.46, or 2.17 percent, to 8,668.39. But even with that advance, the blue chips are still down 36.04 percent for the year with one more trading day remaining.

Madoff liquidation trustee receives $28M for costs

NEW YORK (AP) -- The financial whirlpool created by Bernard Madoff continued to churn Tuesday as the price tag of liquidating his old firm rose, and duped investors including the actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick struggled to accurately estimate how much they lost.

A publicist for the celebrity couple confirmed that they, too, were among the unlikely victims of what Madoff, according to the FBI, has described as a giant Ponzi scheme. The spokesman, Allen Eichhorn, wouldn't say how much of their savings were gone.

Judge rules against WaMu confidentiality request

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday denied a request by Washington Mutual Inc. to keep details of certain asset sales secret.

WaMu, which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in September, wants to sell certain equity holdings and interests in venture capital funds to generate value for the company and its creditors. The Seattle-based thrift was the biggest bank to collapse in U.S. history, with about $307 billion in assets.

Economic news drowns out geopolitics in oil market

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Oil prices fell Tuesday as consumer confidence in the U.S. hit an all-time low in December and home prices dropped sharply, with few signs that the real estate market has hit bottom.

Crude prices had risen for the first time in a week Monday with the armed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants entering a third day. Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 99 cents to $39.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in very light trading.

SEC's enforcement accountant to leave next month

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top accountant in the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement branch is leaving for a private sector job next month, in what could herald a wave of departures from the embattled agency.

The SEC said Tuesday that Susan Markel, chief accountant in the agency's division of enforcement, is taking a job in the corporate investigations practice of AlixPartners LLP, a turnaround consulting firm.

Investors drop out of Colo. pipeline project

DENVER (AP) -- The credit crunch has prompted some investors to withdraw from construction of a natural gas pipeline in northwestern Colorado.

Enterprise Products Partners and Quicksilver Gas Services have terminated plans for a 50 percent stake in TransCanada's $2 billion Pathfinder pipeline project. The 673-mile pipeline would run from Colorado to North Dakota where it would link to a major system in the Midwest.

Dow Chem. heads into 2009 trying to salvage deal

NEW YORK (AP) -- A year-end surprise has left the nation's largest chemical company scrambling to salvage a deal it had hoped would make riding out a recession a little easier.

Following the collapse of a $17.4 billion joint venture with a state-owned Kuwaiti company, Dow Chemical must weigh taking on more debt than it wanted, entering intense negotiations to restructure a buyout of rival Rohm & Haas, or both.

Federal contract protests hit 10-year high in 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- There were more challenges to federal contracts in 2008 than any year in the past decade, as companies fought over fewer multibillion-dollar projects.

While federal auditors found errors in very few of the government's decisions, over $70 billion in defense contracts alone were delayed this year due to losing bidders lodging protests.

By The Associated Press

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 184.46, or 2.17 percent, to 8,668.39.

Broader indexes also moved higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 21.22, or 2.44 percent, to 890.64, leaving it down 40.79 percent for the year; while the Nasdaq composite index added 40.38, or 2.67 percent, to 1,550.70, leaving it down 43.06 percent for 2008.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 99 cents to $39.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in very light trading.

Gasoline futures rose about a penny to settle at 87.45 cents a gallon, while heating oil gained less than a cent to settle at $1.2853 a gallon. Natural gas for February delivery tumbled 22.5 cents to $5.86 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, February Brent crude fell 40 cents to settle at $40.15 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.