AP
Business Highlights
Friday January 2, 7:55 pm ET

Wall Street enjoys upbeat start to 2009

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street started 2009 with a big rally Friday as investors, brushing aside a disappointing report on manufacturing, sent the Dow Jones industrials up more than 250 points and to their first close above 9,000 in two months. All the major indexes shot up more than six percent for the week.

The market lived up to the hopes of many analysts that it would have a fresh start in the new year after a horrific 2008. But many traders were also waiting to see how the market fares next week; they're cognizant of the fact that post-holiday volume was light and therefore Friday's trading might not be the best indicator of market sentiment.

Manufacturing index drops to 28-year low

NEW YORK (AP) -- Signs grew that the economy could turn even weaker in 2009, as an index of December manufacturing activity sank to its lowest point in 28 years. Every corner of the sector was down, from bakeries to cigarette-makers to aluminum smelters.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Friday its manufacturing index fell to 32.4 in December, a greater-than-expected decline from November's reading of 36.2. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the reading to fall to 35.5.

GMAC gives up some GM car financing in bailout

DETROIT (AP) -- GMAC LLC will no longer have exclusive rights to provide no- or low-interest loans to people who take advantage of General Motors financing incentives, as part of the complex deal that gave the troubled lender billions in federal aid.

The move could reduce the Detroit automaker's dependance on GMAC to provide financing and possibly boost its sales by giving consumers more options for affordable loans.

Failed IndyMac sold to investor group for $13.9B

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A seven-member group of investors has teamed up to buy the remnants of failed lender IndyMac Bank, a symbol of the housing boom and bust, for $13.9 billion, federal regulators said Friday.

IndyMac, which specialized in loans made with little down payment or proof of assets, was seized by the government in July after a run on the bank as the U.S. housing market collapsed.

Treasury to mull Citi-style rescues

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Treasury Department opened the door Friday to using a Citigroup-style rescue package to help other troubled financial institutions.

The financial lifeline thrown to Citigroup Inc. in late November involved backing billions in risky assets and providing the banking giant with a fresh capital infusion.

Treasury said participation by other companies in such a program would be weighed on a case-by-case basis.

A year after $100, oil prices cut in half

HOUSTON (AP) -- Exactly one year after crude eclipsed $100 a barrel for the first time, 2009 trading began Friday with prices roughly half their year-ago levels, and some believe oil could be headed even lower.

Oil markets kicked off the new year with crude climbing above $46 a barrel. A variety of factors were likely at work, including continued violence in Gaza and expectations that OPEC would carry out its largest production cut ever to stem historic price declines.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.74 to settle at $46.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Visteon cutting worker hours, pay in Michigan

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Automotive supplier Visteon Corp. said Friday it will shift more than 2,000 workers to a four-day week and cut their pay by 20 percent as tight credit and collapsing sales cause huge industry losses.

The moves will begin on Monday and affect all 2,000 workers at Visteon's headquarters in Wayne County's Van Buren Township and 50 at a testing center in Plymouth. The company has about 35,000 employees in 27 countries.

Visteon recently announced 800 job cuts on top of 2,000 that already had been eliminated.

Some groups lower loss estimates in Madoff scandal

NEW YORK (AP) -- Some clients of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff are concluding that their losses weren't as bad as originally thought.

Three organizations that invested heavily with the Wall Street money manager lowered their estimated losses this week as it became apparent that much of the money that vanished from their balance sheets probably never existed in the first place.

Debt trouble at Lee triggers auditor's warning

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lee Enterprises Inc., publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other newspapers, said in a regulatory filing that it will have trouble paying its debt over the next two years because of severe reductions in revenue.

The company also disclosed that its outside auditor is questioning Lee's ability to remain a "going concern" if the company is unable to refinance some loans.

Russia accuses Ukraine of siphoning gas to Balkans

MOSCOW (AP) -- Ukraine has siphoned some of Russia's natural gas shipments to the Balkans, the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said late Friday -- a day after it cut supplies to Ukraine in a contract dispute.

But Ukraine's Naftogaz company said it was only using some of the gas Russia pumps through the country to keep its pipeline system operating, and that it should not be blamed for the supply reductions to the Balkans. Naftogaz said it was Gazprom's duty to ship this so-called "technical" gas.

By The Associated Press

The Dow rose 258.30, or 2.94 percent, to 9,034.69, finishing the week up 6.1 percent.

Broader stock indicators also advanced for the third straight session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 28.55 percent, or 3.16 percent, to 931.80, its highest close since Nov. 5. The Nasdaq composite index rose 55.18, or 3.50 percent, to 1,632.21.

For the week, the S&P 500 finished up 6.8 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 6.7 percent.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.39, or 1.28 percent, to 505.84.

Light, sweet crude rose $1.74 to settle at $46.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures rose 4.85 cents to $1.11 a gallon. Heating oil rose 3.8 cents to settle at $1.48 a gallon, while natural gas for February delivery jumped 24.9 cents to $5.971 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, February Brent crude rose $1.32 to settle at $46.91 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.