Toyota US sales halt deals blow to
image, earnings NEW YORK (AP) -- Toyota's suspension of
U.S. sales on an unprecedented scale to fix faulty gas pedals deals a blow to
the automaker's reputation for quality and came amid intense pressure from the
Obama administration. Toyota Motor Corp. announced late
Tuesday it would halt sales of some of its top-selling models to fix gas pedals
that could stick and cause unintended acceleration. Last week, Toyota issued a
recall for the same eight models affecting 2.3 million vehicles. Toyota is also suspending production at
six North American car-assembly plants beginning the week of Feb. 1. It gave no
date on when production could restart. Apple's Jobs unveils 'intimate' $499
iPad tablet SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Apple Inc. will
sell the newly unveiled tablet-style iPad starting at $499, a price tag far
below the $1,000 that some analysts were expecting. The iPad, which is larger in size but
similar in design to Apple's popular iPhone, was billed by CEO Steve Jobs on
Wednesday as "so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable
than a smart phone." Jobs, 54, a pancreatic cancer survivor
who got a liver transplant during a 5 1/2-month medical leave last year, looked
thin as he introduced the highly anticipated gadget, though he seemed to have
more energy than he did at Apple's last event in September. Fed holds rates at record low to aid
recovery WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve
pledged Wednesday to hold rates at record lows to nurture the economic recovery
and lower unemployment. But its decision drew a dissent from one member,
signaling the Fed's challenge in deciding when to pull back stimulus money it
pumped into the economy. The Fed's statement sketched a mixed
picture of the economy. Pointing to weakness, it noted that bank lending is
contracting. And it dropped a reference in its previous statement to an
improving housing market. But on the positive side, the Fed said business
spending on equipment and software seems to be rising. And it said economic
activity "continues to strengthen." The Fed said it still expects to end a
$1.25 trillion program aimed at driving down mortgage rates as scheduled on
March 31. Yet it reiterated that it remains open to changing that timetable if
necessary. Stocks end higher on Fed's economic
assessment NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks reversed an
early slide and ended higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve issued a more
upbeat assessment of the economy. Major stock indexes were down before
the Fed released its statement following a two-day meeting on interest rates,
then advanced as investors digested the central bank's comments. The Dow Jones
industrial average rose 41.87, or 0.4 percent, to 10,236.16, after being down
40 ahead of the Fed's statement. Treasury prices also reversed direction,
falling after the announcement as investors withdrew money from safe haven
holdings. Geithner draws fire defending Fed on
AIG bailout WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats and
Republicans alike pummeled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday
over his role in the $180 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG Inc., venting
public anger over Wall Street's return to prosperity while unemployment stands
at 10 percent. Geithner, one of the original
architects of the government's 2008 response to the financial crisis as
president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, defended the use of taxpayer
money as necessary to head off "potentially catastrophic damage to the
economy." But members of the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform hammered away at why regulators allowed AIG to
pass on billions of the bailout money to big Wall Street and international
banks that were business partners. New home sales fall 7.6 pct in December WASHINGTON (AP) -- New home sales
posted an unexpected drop in December, capping the industry's worst year on
record and fueling concern that the housing market turnaround could falter. Last month's results were the weakest
since March and were only 4 percent above the bottom last January. The data
showed the housing recovery remains limp despite newly expanded tax incentives
to spur sales. Many in the industry, however, expect sales to pick up as the
April 30 deadline for the tax credit nears. Nationwide, new home sales for December
fell 7.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000 from an
upwardly revised November pace of 370,000, the Commerce Department said
Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast a pace of
370,000 for December. UAL says business travelers return
slowly MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Business travelers
are getting back on the plane, but they're not paying as much as they used to. United Airlines on Wednesday said it
sees a definite improvement in demand for business and premium travel -- the
high-priced or last-minute tickets that airlines crave. In recent days the
other big carriers have said the same thing. Despite the improvement in business
demand, though, they still lost money in the fourth quarter. United parent UAL
Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss of $240 million, which was much smaller
than its year-ago loss, and much smaller than what analysts expected. Industrywide, the amount each passenger
pays to fly one mile fell 1.9 percent in December, according to the Air
Transport Association. Oil prices slide to settle under $74 Oil prices continued their two-week
slide on Wednesday after a government report showed demand for crude products
dropped even further from the weak levels of a year ago when the recession's
grip on the economy was strongest. Wholesale prices for natural gas,
heating oil and gasoline also tumbled. Oil prices initially moved slightly
higher after the Energy Information Administration reported a big decline in
crude inventories last week. But once traders realized that foggy weather and
high seas in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as an accident at a southeast Texas
port, probably slowed deliveries and accounted for the drop, the focus turned
to the lack of demand. SEC tightens rules for money funds WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators
on Wednesday tightened rules for money-market mutual funds to require them to
hold some assets that could be easily converted to cash and to disclose new
information on fund values. The Securities and Exchange Commission
voted 4-1 at a public meeting to adopt the new rules designed to bolster
protection for investors in money-market funds, which hold about $3.2 trillion
in assets. The move came in response to an episode
in September 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, in which a $60
billion money fund "broke the buck" and exposed investors to losses. Norfolk Southern 4Q profit falls 32
percent NEW YORK (AP) -- Railroad operator
Norfolk Southern Corp. said Wednesday it felt a "continuation of economic
momentum" in the last three months of 2009, but not enough to prevent a
steep decline in its fourth-quarter earnings. Norfolk Southern said its
fourth-quarter profit fell 32 percent to $307 million, or 82 cents per share,
compared with $452 million, or $1.21 per share a year earlier. Revenue dropped 16 percent to $2.11
billion. Thomson Reuters said analysts, on
average, expected profit of 84 cents per share on revenue of $2.12 billion. By The Associated Press The Dow Jones industrial average rose
41.87, or 0.4 percent, to 10,236.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 index
rose 5.33, or 0.5 percent, to 1,097.50, while the Nasdaq composite index rose
17.68, or 0.8 percent, to 2,221.41. Benchmark crude for March delivery fell
$1.04 to settle at $73.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In other Nymex trading in February
contracts, heating oil fell 3.4 cents to settle at $1.9168 a gallon, while
gasoline dropped 2.82 cents to settle at $1.9392 a gallon. Natural gas futures
slid by 21.1 cents to settle at $5.274 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude for March
delivery gave up $1.05 to settle at $72.24 a barrel on the ICE Futures
exchange.