AP
Business Highlights
Friday March 13, 6:07 pm ET

Trade deficit falls to $36 billion in January

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. trade deficit plunged in January to the lowest level in six years. While U.S. exports -- from farm goods to autos to civilian aircraft -- fell sharply, imports fell at an even faster clip as a deepening recession cut demand for goods from abroad.

The Commerce Department said Friday the trade imbalance dropped to $36 billion in January, a decline of 9.7 percent from December and the lowest level since October 2002.

While the improvement was better than the $38 billion deficit that economists had expected, they did not see the development as good news for the economy.

Upbeat Obama touts new economic model for recovery

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Turning more upbeat, President Barack Obama said Friday his administration is working to create a "post-bubble" model for solid economic growth once the recession ends. He said that means the days of overheated housing markets and "people maxing out on their credit cards" are over.

Administration officials were criticized earlier this year for painting too dark a picture of the economy in an effort to win congressional passage of the president's $787 billion stimulus package. But more recently, the president and others on his team have tempered their comments in hopes of building confidence, including the president's suggestion last week that it was a good time for those with a long-term perspective to buy stocks.

Financials lead stocks to best week since November

NEW YORK (AP) -- A stunning about-face in bank shares handed the stock market its best week since November.

The market has shot up as much over the past several days as it might in some years, with major indicators chalking up gains of around 10 percent.

Friday's gains were modest compared with the huge rallies on Tuesday and Thursday, but investors welcomed the moderate buying and the market's ability to hold its ground. Several other recent rallies have ended with disappointing selloffs.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.92, or 0.8 percent, to 7,223.98. The Dow hasn't put up four straight gains since late November.

Tough task ahead to find Madoff money, co-schemers

NEW YORK (AP) -- With Bernard Madoff behind bars, investigators have their work cut out for them identifying who else may have been involved in his nearly $65 billion scam.

Among other things, prosecutors must determine what role, if any, Madoff's wife, brother, two sons and employees played in perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

Authorities also will have to reconcile Madoff's statement to the judge that "to the best of my recollection, my fraud began in the early 1990s." Prosecutors have alleged that the swindle began in the 1980s.

Judge: Will rule in week on Merrill bonus case

NEW YORK (AP) -- A judge said Friday he will decide within a week whether Bank of America Corp. has to turn over a list of performance bonuses given to the 200 highest paid employees of Merrill Lynch & Co.

State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried didn't indicate how he would rule, but during the court hearing he questioned Bank of America's claim that salary information was a trade secret and suggested he was unlikely to order confidentiality merely to save Merrill Lynch workers from a public shaming. He said he planned on issuing a decision by next Friday.

G-20 finance officials meet amid policy divisions

HORSHAM, England (AP) -- International finance officials searched for common ground Friday amid deep divisions on how to tackle the global downturn -- even as more bad news arrived in the form of figures showing U.S. trade slumping.

Complicating matters, China chose the day the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers gathered in southern England to raise warnings about what Washington's drive to spend its way out of recession might do to U.S. government debt, which Beijing holds in large quantities.

Senate Dems squabble over which homeowners to help

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Disagreement among Senate Democrats over how many struggling homeowners should qualify for court-ordered mortgage relief has stalled a key part of President Barack Obama's foreclosure prevention plan on Capitol Hill.

Behind the scenes, top Democrats are offering banks and credit unions sweeteners to drop their opposition to the plan, hoping that even tepid support from lenders might win a few vital votes from skeptical Democrats and Republicans. The bill would give judges new power to lower the interest rate and principal on a primary home loan as part of a bankruptcy settlement.

The measure passed the House last week -- but only after a mini-revolt by moderates forced Democrats to narrow who might qualify.

Switzerland breaks with tradition on tax evasion

GENEVA (AP) -- Switzerland's days as a safe haven for the world's tax evaders are numbered.

Under pressure from the United States and other troubled economies, the Swiss government announced Friday that it will cooperate in international tax investigations, breaking with a long-standing tradition of protecting wealthy foreigners accused of hiding billions of dollars. Austria and Luxembourg also said they would help.

But he insisted that the secrecy of Swiss banks would remain intact except when other countries provide compelling evidence of tax evasion.

AT&T hopes to gain concessions from unions

NEW YORK (AP) -- AT&T Inc., the largest employer of union labor in the country, is renegotiating contracts that cover 112,500 workers and looks set to take advantage of the recession to reduce its health care costs.

Five regional union contracts expire on April 4. A sixth that expires a few months later is being negotiated at the same time.

The last time this batch of contracts was up for negotiation, five years ago, there was a four-day strike that was seen as a minor victory for the Communications Workers of America. But this time, the economic meltdown has shifted the balance of power decidedly toward the employer.

OPEC could cut production on weekend

VIENNA (AP) -- Slash oil output to boost revenues but risk deepening the world's economic woes? Rarely have OPEC oil ministers faced a tougher choice.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna Sunday, where they could reduce daily production by up to half a million barrels, or do nothing.

OPEC meetings are usually more clear cut. If oil ministers of the 12-nation organization think prices are too low, they decide to crimp output -- as they have at the last two meetings. If oil is too pricey, as was the case less than a year ago, they boost production. And if they are happy, they keep to the status quo.

By The Associated Press

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.92, or 0.8 percent, to 7,223.98.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.81, or 0.8 percent, to 756.55. The Nasdaq composite index rose 5.40, or 0.4 percent, to 1,431.50.

Benchmark crude for April delivery fell 78 cents to $46.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices fell 16 cents to settle at $44.93 on the ICE Futures exchange.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery rose less than a penny to settle at $1.3529 a gallon and heating oil fell 2.92 cents to settle at $1.1972 a gallon. Natural gas for April delivery fell 6.3 cents to settle at $3.932 per 1,000 cubic feet.