A 'sorry and ashamed' Bernard Madoff
pleads guilty
NEW YORK (AP) -- Saying he was "deeply sorry and
ashamed," Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday
to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history and was
immediately led off to jail in handcuffs to the delight of his seething
victims.
Madoff,
70, could get up to 150 years in prison when he is sentenced in June.
In refusing to let the disgraced financier remain free on bail
until then,
Dow ends up 240 on good news for banks, GM, retail
This week's rally got an extra dose of adrenaline after an
accounting board told Congress Thursday it may recommend a let-up in financial
reporting rules for troubled banks in three weeks. Upheaval in the banking
industry has been dogging the market since 2007, and hope that banks might
finally get relief in how they value their bad assets spurred a flurry of
buying.
Fed reports record fall in household net worth
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The net worth of American households fell by
the largest amount in more than a half-century of record keeping during the
fourth quarter of last year.
The Federal Reserve said Thursday that household net worth
dropped by a record 9 percent from the level in the third quarter.
The decline was the sixth straight quarterly drop in net worth
and underscored the battering that
Net worth represents total assets such as homes and checking
accounts minus liabilities like mortgages and credit card debt.
Jobless claims rise as retail sales slip
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With layoffs spreading, the number of initial
claims for jobless benefits rose last week, while the total number of people
continuing to receive benefits set a record high, the government said Thursday.
The Labor Department reported that first-time requests for
unemployment insurance rose to 654,000 from the previous week's upwardly
revised figure of 645,000, above analysts' expectations.
The number of people receiving benefits for more than a week
increased by 193,000 to 5.3 million, the most on records dating back to 1967.
That's the sixth time in the past seven weeks that the jobless claims rolls
have set a record high.years.
GM says it doesn't need $2B from gov't
in March
DETROIT (AP) -- It's not as good as black ink, but General
Motors' news that it doesn't need government loan money this month is a sign
that it is finally starting to bring its gargantuan expenses under control.
GM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said Thursday that the
struggling automaker's fortunes have improved to the point that it won't need
the $2 billion March installment, despite the request the company made less
than a month ago.
But Young wouldn't say when the GM might need
more help, nor would he say whether it planned to reduce its request for a
total of $30 billion in government financing.
General Electric loses top credit rating
WASHINGTON (AP) -- General Electric Co. lost its top credit
rating from Standard & Poor's on Thursday over concerns of rising loan
losses and lower earnings at its lending arm, GE Capital.
The long-expected ratings cut -- down one notch to 'AA+' from
'AAA' -- offered further proof that the financial crisis has shaken the
foundation of one of the nation's biggest and traditionally most stable
companies. In the past year, GE has posted disappointing earnings, seen loan
losses grow, and cut its dividend for the first time since the Great
Depression. The loss of its pristine credit rating means the company, which
makes loans, light bulbs, and runs NBC, will likely pay more to borrow money.
Roche to take over Genentech for $47 billion
The deal, which values the whole of Genentech at more than $100
billion, underscores the lengths drugmakers are
willing to go to shore up weak pipelines of new drugs. And investors and the
industry will be watching to see if Roche can preserve the unique research
culture that helped Genentech all but start the biotech industry.
House panel gets FASB pledge on accounting rule
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A House panel wrung a pledge Thursday from the
head of an accounting board to try to issue guidelines in three weeks that will
ease rules that force banks to value assets at current prices.
The commitment by the chairman of the independent Financial
Accounting Standards Board came amid a muscular display of congressional power
at a hearing on the so-called mark-to-market accounting rules. The head of the
House panel, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., had held out the threat of legislation
to pressure the standard-setting board and the Securities and Exchange
Commission to take steps that would give relief to battered banks.
Chrysler threatens to pull out of Canada
OTTAWA (AP) -- A top Chrysler official
issued a grim threat to Canadian lawmakers, warning the struggling
Chrysler's labor costs in Canada work out to about $20 an hour
more than automakers like Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., president Tom
LaSorda told a Parliamentary committee Wednesday
night.
The automaker also asked for roughly $2.3 billion from the
Canadian and
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Smithfield Foods Inc. reported a third-quarter
loss Thursday that was less than analysts predicted and said its performance
would improve as it focuses on the packaged meats business, where it can make
more money.
Shares soared nearly 20 percent for the Smithfield, Va.-based
company, the nation's largest hog producer and pork processor, as executives
offered brighter predictions for the business, which has been struggling along
with others in the meat industry.
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 239.66, or 3.5 percent, to 7,170.06. The Standard
& Poor's 500 index climbed 29.38, or 4.1 percent, to 750.74. The Nasdaq composite index gained
54.46, or 4 percent, to 1,426.10.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 23.82, or 6.5
percent, to 390.12.
Benchmark crude for April delivery jumped $4.70 to settle at
$47.03 a barrel on the
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for
April delivery jumped 9.45 cents to settle at $1.33457 a gallon, while heating
oil gained 9.3 cents to settle at $1.2264 a gallon. Natural gas for April
delivery rose 19.7 cents to settle at $3.995 per 1,000 cubic feet.