Bernanke outlines plan for pulling in
stimulus aid WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bernanke said the Fed will likely start
to tighten credit by boosting the interest rate it pays banks on money they
leave at the central bank. Doing so would raise rates tied to
commercial banks' prime rate and affect many consumer loans. Companies and
ordinary Americans would pay more to borrow. Bernanke's remarks on the Fed's
eventual pullback of economic aid come amid signs that the global recovery
remains fragile. Winter storms create business winners,
losers Back-to-back snowstorms on the East
Coast have brought a blizzard of sales of shovels, groceries and booze. For
airlines and department stores, the region's wintry weather has resulted in
millions of dollars of lost revenue. As businesses tallied up the impact of
the second major snowstorm in less than a week, forecasters warned of a third
wave of snow that could hit the Northeast Monday. On Wednesday, people planning to travel
or shop were stopped in their tracks. From Washington to New York City, roads,
airports and businesses were closed. Rival automakers expect to gain from DETROIT (AP) -- In a few short weeks, A series of recent safety recalls --
now totaling more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- has cracked Stocks stall as Bernanke signals end of
stimulus NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market
managed to steady itself after hearing The Dow Jones industrial average closed
with a loss of 20 points after falling nearly 100 in early trading. Treasury
prices fell as demand for safe havens eased. The initial drop in stocks came as
Bernanke revealed the Fed's thinking on how to wean the market from massive
emergency supports put in place to keep the economy afloat. Debt woes in Europe could infect U.S.
recovery WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States,
which led the world into recession, may now see its fragile recovery stifled by
events across the globe. Dangerously high debt levels in Greece
and some other European countries could trigger a wave of national defaults,
undermining revival in Europe and probably in the U.S. as well. And China's recent steps to cool its
economy also complicate President A strike by civil servants to protest
wage cuts shut schools and grounded flights across Greece on Wednesday.
European Union leaders plan to discuss the crisis -- and the feasibility of
rescue attempts -- during a summit Thursday in Brussels. Trade deficit jumps sharply in December WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. trade
deficit surged to a larger-than-expected $40.18 billion in December, the
biggest imbalance in 12 months. The wider deficit reflected a rebounding
economy that is pushing up demand for oil and other imports. The Commerce Department said the
December deficit was 10.4 percent higher than the November imbalance. It was
much larger than the $36 billion deficit that economists had expected with much
of the increase coming from a big jump in oil imports. For December, exports of goods and
services rose for an eighth consecutive month, climbing 3.3 percent to $142.70
billion. Imports were up 4.8 percent in December to $182.88 billion. Jobs bill won't add many jobs WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's a bipartisan
jobs bill that would hand President Even the Obama administration acknowledges
the legislation's centerpiece -- a tax cut for businesses that hire unemployed
workers -- would work only on the margins. As for the bill's effectiveness, tax
experts and business leaders said companies are unlikely to hire workers just
to receive a tax break. Before businesses start hiring, they need increased
demand for their products, more work for their employees and more revenue to
pay those workers. Google to build ultra-fast broadband
networks WASHINGTON (AP) -- Google Inc. plans to
build a handful of experimental, ultra-fast broadband networks around the
country to connect consumers to the Internet and ensure that tomorrow's systems
can keep up with online video and other advanced applications that the search
company will want to deliver. The Google project, announced
Wednesday, is also intended to provide a platform for outside developers to
create and try out all sorts of cutting-edge applications that will require far
more bandwidth than today's networks offer. The company said its testbed
fiber-optic networks will deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second to as many as
500,000 Americans. The systems will be many times faster than the DSL, cable
and fiber-optic networks that connect most U.S. homes to the Internet today, at
speeds typically ranging from 3 megabits to 20 megabits per second. NY Times Co. 4Q profit triples as ad
slump eases The New York Times Co. posted its
highest quarterly profit in 2 1/2 years as the advertising drought eased at the
end of 2009 and a steadily shrinking work force saved the newspaper publisher
more money. The publisher of The New York Times,
The Boston Globe and 16 other daily newspapers disappointed investors, however,
by offering a tepid outlook. Times Co. shares plunged 9 percent Wednesday. Ad sales, the main source of the Times
Co.'s income, had fallen between 27 percent and 30 percent during the first
three quarters of 2009. In the fourth quarter, the decline was not as steep: 15
percent. And Sprint Nextel slows subscriber loss in
4th quarter NEW YORK (AP) -- Sprint Nextel Corp.
managed to slow down the rate of subscriber loss in the fourth quarter, an
encouraging sign for a wireless carrier that has lost millions of customers
over the past few years. Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless
carrier, said Wednesday that it lost a net 148,000 subscribers during the last
three months of 2009, far fewer than the 545,000 who fled in the third quarter. However, much of the improvement came
from the recruitment of lower-paying subscribers to prepaid services such as
Boost Mobile, and that has been getting more difficult as competition
increases. New report: Consumers spent modestly in
January NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans backed off
from their holiday spending pace in January, but retail sales rose for a third
month in a row compared with a year earlier, largely because of higher gas
prices, according to figures released Wednesday. Analysts expect the modest spending
pace to improve in coming months, though it will be far from robust as high
unemployment and tight credit show little sign of disappearing. Including goods from food to clothing
to gasoline -- but excluding cars -- U.S. retail sales rose 3.6 percent from
January 2009, according to By The Associated Press The Dow Jones industrial average fell
20.26, or 0.2 percent, to 10,038.38 a day after jumping 150 points as hope of a
Greece bailout grew. The broader Standard & Poor's 500
index fell 2.39, or 0.2 percent, to 1,068.13, while Benchmark crude for March delivery rose
77 cents to settle at $74.52 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude climbed 41 cents
to settle at $72.54 on the ICE futures exchange. In other Nymex trading in March
contracts, heating oil rose 0.96 cents to settle at $1.9469 a gallon, and
natural gas was up 0.2 cent, settling at $5.292 per 1,000 cubic feet. Gasoline prices ticked up in trading on
the New York Mercantile Exchange, but closed flat at $1.929 a gallon.