On Friday December 31, 2010, 6:15 pm EST
Stocks mixed on last day of
strong year for market
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks
ended a gut-wrenching 2010 quietly Friday. The major indexes were little
changed and trading volume was at one of its lowest levels of the year as many
traders took the day off.
Despite investors' concerns
about the U.S. economy, the possibility of European countries defaulting on
debt, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index and the Dow Jones industrial
average both rose about 14 percent for the year, including dividends. The
Nasdaq composite index, meanwhile, rose about 18 percent for the year after
dividends.
The Dow finished the year
at its highest level since August 2008, before the height of the financial
crisis. The S&P had its best December gain since 1991.
The numbers hide the fact
that it was a rocky year. Stocks plunged in the spring after Greece required an
emergency bailout to deal with its debt crisis. That raised concerns about debt
issues in other European countries, including Ireland, which needed a bailout
later in the year.
The May 6 "flash
crash," which sent the Dow down to a loss of nearly 1,000 points in less
than a half-hour, also rattled investors. The Dow fell 14 percent from a high
of 11,205.03 on April 26 to its low of 9,686.48 on July 2.
Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf
post small December sales
DETROIT (AP) -- This was
the year General Motors Co. and Nissan made good on their promise to bring
mass-produced electric cars to the market. But don't count on seeing one in
traffic soon. Sales so far have been microscopic and they're likely to stay
that way for some time because of limited supplies.
GM sold between 250 and 350
Chevy Volts this month and Nissan's sales totaled less than 10 Leaf sedans in
the past two weeks. Production for both is slowly ramping up.
It will be well into 2012
before both the Volt and Leaf are available nationwide. And if you're
interested in buying one, you'll need to get behind the 50,000 people already
on waiting lists.
It's still unclear just how
large the market for electric cars will be once those early adopters are
supplied. The base sticker price is $40,280 for the Volt and $32,780 for the
Leaf, much higher than most similar-sized, gas-powered cars. If those prices
rise, it could make them even more of a niche product than predicted. Buyers
also are worried that advertised lease deals may not last, and a federal tax
rebate of $7,500 could disappear if Congress decides battery-powered cars are
no longer a priority.
CVS to buy Medicare
business of Universal American
WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) --
CVS Caremark Corp. said Friday it will pay $1.25 billion to buy Universal
American Corp.'s Medicare prescription drug services unit.
CVS said it pursued the
deal because with the country's population aging, a growing percentage of
Americans will get their prescription drug coverage from Medicare.
CVS said the deal will more
than double the size of its Medicare drug business. Universal American serves
about 1.9 million people in the Medicare Part D federally subsidized
prescription benefit program for Medicare recipients, while CVS serves 1.2
million.
Woonsocket-based CVS, which
operates a chain of drugstores and manages pharmacy benefits, said the deal is
expected to close in the second quarter of 2011 and will add to its earnings
per share within a year. The agreement is contingent on approval by Universal
American shareholders.
Cable companies work around
broadcaster in TV flap
Time Warner Cable, stuck in
a dispute over fees with Sinclair Broadcast Group, says it will continue to
provide network programming to viewers even if Sinclair pulls its stations off
the cable system.
Time Warner's end run
around Sinclair late Thursday is the latest twist in a long-running struggle
between TV broadcasters and the cable and satellite operators that carry their
signals into customers' homes.
As of midday Friday,
Sinclair still didn't have a deal to carry its channels on Time Warner Cable
Inc. and Bright House Networks. Previous contracts were set to expire at
midnight.
The dispute had threatened
to prevent cable customers in Sinclair markets around the country from seeing
Saturday's Outback Bowl between Penn State and Florida. Time Warner has about 4
million customers who get local broadcast stations owned by Sinclair.
Estonia enters new era with
euro adoption
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) --
The Baltic state of Estonia has become the 17th European Union member to adopt
the euro.
Estonia's decision to
change from the Estonian to the joint European currency is the final step in a
two decade-long effort to integrate its economy with Europe after it achieved
independence in 1991. It is the first former Soviet republic to join the single
currency club.
Gold, grains are
commodities standouts in 2010
NEW YORK (AP) -- From gold
to grains to oil, commodities finished 2010 at or close to their highest levels
in years.
Gold closed Friday at
$1,421.40 an ounce, up roughly 31 percent for the year after an almost
uninterrupted climb since January. Grains and soybeans capped off a rally that
started this summer and oil prices ended the year at levels many analysts
considered unachievable just six months ago. The jump in commodity prices has
been driven by China's seemingly insatiable demand for raw materials and
speculators betting that they could profitably ride the momentum higher.
Analysts expect the price increases, and volatility, will continue well in
2011.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones Industrial
average gained 7.8 points, or 0.1 percent, to 11,577.51. The S&P 500 fell
0.24 to 1,257.64. The Nasdaq composite index dipped 10.11, or 0.4 percent, to
2,652.87.
Benchmark oil for February
delivery rose $1.54 on Friday to end the year at $91.38 per barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. It reached $92.06 earlier in the day, the highest
since Oct. 6, 2008. Nationwide gasoline pump prices now average $3.072 per
gallon.
In other Nymex trading
Friday, natural gas for February delivery rose 6.7 cents to settle at $4.405
per 1,000 cubic feet. Unlike oil, natural gas prices are less than half where
they were in 2008. That's due largely to the technological advances that
allowed energy companies to unlock huge deposits in underground shale
formations in the U.S.
Heating oil for January
delivery rose 5.83 cents to settle at $2.5437 per gallon and gasoline for
January delivery added 6.14 cents to settle at $2.4532 per gallon. In London,
Brent crude increased $1.66 to settle at $94.75 per gallon.