Administration unveils financial system overhaul
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama
administration on Thursday unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the financial system
designed to impose greater regulation on major players like hedge funds.
Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner told lawmakers that the changes are needed to fix the flaws exposed by
the current financial crisis, the worst to hit the country in seven decades.
Jobless rolls swell again as
recession persists
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the
10th week in a row, the number of people receiving jobless benefits grew. It
now stands at nearly 5.6 million, the government said -- an indication that the
labor market is still grim.
New claims for unemployment
benefits rose again as well, to a seasonally adjusted 652,000, up from 644,000
the week before. The government also said the economy shrank at a 6.3 percent
annual clip in the fourth quarter, slightly faster than its previous estimate.
Stocks rise on relief over
earnings, debt auction
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall
Street's March rally gained momentum on Thursday -- this time, thanks to
surprisingly good earnings from some major consumer brands.
Strong demand for government
debt at the Treasury Department's latest auction also lifted the stocks. The
Dow jumped 174.75, or 2.3 percent, to 7,924.56, its highest close since Feb. 12.
Best Buy Co., ConAgra Foods
Inc., and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. all turned in quarterly profits that
beat analysts' modest expectations.
Best Buy 4Q profit dips,
adj. results top Street
CHICAGO (AP) -- Consumers
snapped up surprising numbers of flat-screen televisions, laptops, digital
cameras and cell phones during the fourth quarter, helping Best Buy Co. Inc.
boost sales by 10 percent, the company reported Thursday.
The quarter's sales were
strongest in February, and the world's largest consumer electronics retailer
said same-store sales might have been even better if a plan to scale back
inventory hadn't left some stores short of TVs and digital cameras shoppers
were seeking.
GM says 7,500 hourly workers
decide to leave
DETROIT (AP) -- About 7,500
General Motors Corp. workers -- roughly 12 percent of the automaker's U.S.
hourly work force -- have signed up to take buyout and early retirement
incentives to leave the company, GM said Thursday.
Also, Chrysler LLC said
Thursday it would extend its deadline to entice blue-collar workers to leave.
The old deadline was Friday.
GM offered $20,000 cash and
a $25,000 voucher to buy a car to all of its 62,400 hourly U.S. employees in an
effort to further trim its blue-collar work force to match reduced sales.
Mortgage rates drop to
record low
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rates on
30-year mortgages fell this week to the lowest level on record after the
Federal Reserve launched a new effort to assist the staggering U.S. housing
market.
Mortgage finance giant
Freddie Mac said Thursday that average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages
dropped to 4.85 percent this week, from 4.98 percent last week. It was the
lowest in the history of Freddie Mac's survey, which dates back to 1971 and was
down a full percentage point from a year ago.
AIG aircraft unit says Fed
approves financing
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The
New York Federal Reserve has signed off on American International Group Inc.'s
latest cash infusion for its aircraft leasing unit, a lifeline aimed at keeping
it in business until it can be sold.
International Lease Finance
Corp., one of the world's largest buyers of airliners, had warned that a
failure to come up with new loans from AIG or someone else could threaten its
survival.
AIG had already loaned $800
million to the unit to cover its March spending. And on Thursday, ILFC Chief
Financial Officer Alan Lund told The Associated Press that another $900 million
AIG loan for April was approved late Wednesday by the New York Federal Reserve.
IRS squeezes Swiss bank
clients for evidence
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The IRS
is ratcheting up the pressure on Americans who kept secret Swiss bank accounts,
giving them six months to come clean and cough up any evidence against their
advisers or bankers.
Tax lawyers told The
Associated Press Thursday that demands for information and evidence have
increased sharply since the government sued UBS AG to try to get the names of
tens of thousands of U.S. citizens who may have dodged taxes through Swiss
accounts.
Crude closes above $54 for
first time this year
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices
hit a new high for the year Thursday and retail gasoline rose above $2 per
gallon for the first time since November as investors wagered that there would
be a new run on crude stocks.
Analysts have struggled to
explain the recent surge in energy prices, especially as reports continue to
pour out from the federal government showing that the U.S. economy is shrinking
and its oil inventories are bloated with surplus crude.
New York Times plans
temporary pay cut, layoffs
NEW YORK (AP) -- The New
York Times Co. is cutting pay for most employees by 5 percent for a nine-month
period and laying off 100 people.
The company's flagship
newspaper reported on its Web site Thursday that the cuts will hit most
nonunion workers and run from April through December. Employees will receive 10
days off in return.
The Times reported that
union employees have been asked to take the cut voluntarily to avoid potential
layoffs at the company, which has been struggling with an industrywide
advertising downturn.
By The Associated Press
The Dow jumped 174.75, or
2.3 percent, at 7,924.56.
Broader stock indicators
also gained. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 18.98, or 2.3 percent, to
832.86, and the Nasdaq rose 58.05, or 3.8 percent, to 1,587.00.
The Russell 2000 index of
smaller companies rose 18.78, or 4.4 percent, to 445.30.
Benchmark crude for May
delivery rose $1.57 to settle at $54.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
In London, Brent prices rose
$1.71 to settle at $53.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
In other Nymex trading,
gasoline for April delivery gained 3.61 cents to settle at $1.5311 a gallon,
while heating oil rose 1.66 cents to settle at $1.4813 a gallon. Natural gas
for April delivery tumbled 38 cents on the U.S. inventory report to settle at
$3.947 per 1,000 cubic feet.