10 big banks get OK to repay $68B in bailout money
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ten of
the nation's largest banks were given the green light Tuesday to repay $68
billion in government bailout money, freeing them from restrictions on
executive compensation that they say are making it hard to keep their
top-performing executives.
The Treasury Department said
the banks had been approved to repay the money they received from the Troubled
Asset Relief Program created by Congress in October at the height of the
financial crisis.
Experts say allowing 10
banks to return $68 billion in bailout money shows some stability has returned
to the system but caution that the crisis isn't over. And some fear the
repayments could widen the gap between healthy and weak banks.
Judge OKs Chrysler dealer
franchise cuts
NEW YORK (AP) -- A
bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved Chrysler's plan to terminate 789 of its
dealer franchises, while the automaker's plan to partner with Italy's Fiat
hinged on the Supreme Court's interest and both automakers warned that the deal
could fall apart if it's not completed soon.
U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzalez
issued an order Tuesday afternoon saying the franchises, which represent about
25 percent of the company's dealer base, can no longer act as authorized
Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers, effective immediately. A written ruling
explaining the decision was expected to be filed later.
Technology, commodity shares
gain; Dow ends flat
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors
are finding more than one way to bet on an improving economy.
Stocks ended a quiet day
mostly higher Tuesday as traders pushed money into commodity and technology
stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.43, or less than 0.1 percent,
to 8,763.06.
Prices for commodities rose,
reflecting hopes that economic activity will pick up and lead to greater
appetite for basic materials.
Technology shares,
meanwhile, rose more than the rest of the market as an improved profit forecast
from chip maker Texas Instruments Inc. raised hopes that demand could also
increase for other kinds of technology goods.
Crude passes $70 but gas
prices flatten
HOUSTON (AP) -- While crude
settled above $70 a barrel for the first time this year, gasoline prices failed
to rise overnight for the first time in 42 days, signaling a possible break for
motorists as summer driving shifts into high gear.
Benchmark crude for July
delivery rose $1.92 to close at $70.01 a barrel in trading on the New York
Mercantile Exchange, hitting a new annual high of $70.18 during the afternoon.
Prices continued to rise in electronic trading after the market closed.
On Tuesday, the government
joined several banks that have revised their price expectations upward for the
year. The Energy Department also raised its full-year price outlook for
gasoline.
April wholesale inventories fall
1.4 percent
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Wholesalers slashed inventories more than expected in April as businesses
struggled to get stockpiles in line with falling sales.
Still, analysts were
slightly encouraged because sales dipped at a slower pace than in the previous
month.
The Commerce Department said
Tuesday that wholesale inventories fell 1.4 percent in April, more than the 1.1
percent decline that economists expected. It marked the eighth straight month
that inventories dropped.
Sales at the wholesale level
fell 0.4 percent in April following a 2.4 percent drop in March. Sales by
wholesalers have fallen in nine of the last 10 months.
US Airlines say more flights
on time in April
NEW YORK (AP) -- Flights on
U.S. airlines were on time more frequently in April than the month before and
improved from a year earlier, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S.
Department of Transportation.
Hawaiian Airlines had the
best on-time performance, while Comair -- a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc.
-- had the worst. Among legacy carriers, Northwest Airlines -- operated by
Atlanta-based Delta -- was on-time the most, and Continental Airlines Inc.
posted the worst on-time performance.
Legacy carriers are those
airlines that had a large presence in a number of regions before the industry
was deregulated in 1978.
Former AT&T CEO to
become new GM chairman
DETROIT (AP) -- A former CEO
and chairman of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. will lead General Motors
Corp.'s board after the automaker emerges from bankruptcy protection, GM said
Tuesday.
Edward Whitacre Jr., 67,
eventually will replace Kent Kresa, who will remain GM's interim chairman until
the reorganized automaker emerges as a new company that's majority-owned by the
U.S. government.
Whitacre was chairman and
chief executive of AT&T and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007.
During his tenure, he led the company through several acquisitions and sales.
Judge consolidates Madoff
liquidation cases
NEW YORK (AP) -- Separate
efforts to sell the business and personal property of disgraced financier
Bernard Madoff have been combined to speed the process and get more of the
proceeds to those he cheated.
At a hearing Tuesday in
Manhattan, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland consolidated a bankruptcy case
involving Madoff's personal assets with a court-appointed trustee's case aimed
at liquidating his business.
A lawyer for the trustee,
Marc Hirschfield, told the judge that consolidation made sense since Madoff's
personal holdings and those of his firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment
Securities, were "hopelessly intertwined." He said the move also
would reduce the time and expense of a process using proceeds from the property
to pay thousands of claims from burned investors.
P&G may make changes as
it faces challenges
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Procter
& Gamble Co., its sales down and growth below targets during the global
recession, faces its biggest challenges since A.G. Lafley took over as CEO nine
years ago.
Consumers around the world
are buying less and trading down to lower-priced brands, trends that led
P&G executives to tell analysts last month they expect business conditions
to remain rough through next year.
P&G veteran Bob
McDonald, the chief operating officer expected to soon be named Lafley's
successor, has said P&G's best option for growth is expanding sales in
emerging markets such as China and India.
Chinese steel group opposes
Rio-BHP venture
BEIJING (AP) -- China's
steel industry group said Tuesday it opposes a proposed venture between leading
iron ore producers BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as a monopolistic move.
The group's 119 members
account for 90 percent of output in China, the world's biggest steel producer.
China imports nearly all of
its iron ore. Producers are sensitive to any move that might give suppliers
more power in setting prices after Chinese mills were forced in recent years to
accept sharp increases in ore costs.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average fell 1.43, or less than 0.1 percent, to 8,763.06.
The broader S&P 500
index rose 3.29, or 0.4 percent, to 942.43, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq
composite index rose 17.73, or 1 percent, to 1,860.13.
Benchmark crude for July
delivery rose $1.92 to close at $70.01 a barrel in trading on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading,
gasoline for July delivery rose 3.07 cents to settle at $1.9667 a gallon and
heating oil rose 3.99 cents to settle at $1.8076. Natural gas for July delivery
settled flat at $3.731 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent prices
gained $1.74 to settle at $69.62 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.