WASHINGTON (AP) -- Aspiring
homebuyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit for first-time owners that
expires in November, driving up the number of signed sales contracts for the
seventh straight month in August. Construction spending also
rose unexpectedly in August on the biggest jump in housing activity in nearly
16 years, another sign the real estate market is recovering from its four-year
slump, data Thursday showed. Sales and homebuilding are
being fueled by a tax-credit of up to $8,000, low mortgage rates and cheap
foreclosures. In some of the most hard-hit areas, like Phoenix and Las Vegas,
there are bidding wars for deeply discounted properties. And in all but a few
cities, home prices are slowly starting to rise, reversing their three-year
descent. AP sources: Comcast
exploring stake in NBC PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Comcast
Corp. might spend billions for a stake in NBC Universal, a deal that would
transform America's largest cable TV provider into one of the most prominent
owners of TV shows, movies and other programming as well. General Electric Co., which
owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, has been in talks with Comcast to unload part
of the entertainment unit, people familiar with the negotiations told The
Associated Press on Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the
negotiations are still preliminary. Originally these people said
Comcast was negotiating a 20 percent to 50 percent stake in NBC Universal. But
later they said a scenario under discussion calls for NBC Universal to be spun
off into a separate company. Bank of America's new CEO to
face big challenges NEW YORK (AP) -- The CEO who
succeeds the departing Ken Lewis at Bank of America Corp. will have plenty of
repair work to do, including mending relationships with regulators and
investors after the animosity that followed the acquisition of Merrill Lynch
& Co. this past year. Banking analysts don't have
a strong consensus about who will become CEO when the embattled Lewis leaves
Dec. 31. The Bank of America executive mentioned most often is Brian Moynihan,
who heads the company's largest division, consumer and small business banking.
But analysts say former CEOs of banks including Wachovia Corp. could also be
candidates. The new CEO faces some
daunting tasks. He or she must juggle regulatory investigations into the
Merrill acquisition, including federal and state demands for information about
the billions of dollars in bonuses paid to Merrill employees just before the
acquisition was sealed. Banks trim use of emergency Fed
programs WASHINGTON (AP) -- Banks
reduced their borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending facility
over the past week, and cut back on their use of other programs designed to
ease the financial crisis. The reductions indicate that
banks are having an easier time borrowing in private markets for short-term
loans. Banks averaged $28 billion
in daily borrowing over the week ended Wednesday, down from $28.2 billion in
the week ended Sept. 23, the Fed said Thursday. That's also down from about $44
billion a year ago. The identities of the
financial institutions that receive emergency loans are not released. They pay
just 0.50 percent in interest for the loans. The Fed began pumping
trillions of dollars into the financial system last year through an array of
short-term lending programs. The central bank intensified its efforts after the
crisis worsened with the fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Bernanke subdued on Fed's
consumer protection role WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a skeptical Congress Thursday that the
central bank is "well suited" to oversee colossal financial companies
whose failure could endanger the entire economy. His written testimony did
not mention the Fed losing some of its consumer protection duties, after the
Fed chief previously criticized the Obama administration for its plan to strip
the central bank of some of those powers. Testifying before the House
Financial Services Committee, Bernanke said only that protecting consumers from
abusive practices involving mortgages, credit cards and other financial
products is "vitally important." In past appearances on
Capitol Hill, Bernanke has laid out a spirited defense that the Fed should keep
those powers. The administration wants to create a consumer protection agency
for risky financial products. Natural gas tumbles with
most ever in storage NEW YORK (AP) -- Natural gas
prices tumbled nearly 8 percent after the government reported consumption has
dropped so low that the U.S. is now storing more than at any other time on
record. The report was welcome news
for homeowners who heat their homes and cook their meals with natural gas.
Suppliers already have cut rates in many parts of the country as stockpiles
ballooned above the five-year average, and a continued drop in natural gas
prices should convince others to cut prices as well. Natural gas for November
delivery lost 37.5 cents to settle at $4.466 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. The Energy Information
Administration reported that underground aquifers and caverns in the lower 48
states stored 3.589 trillion cubic feet of natural gas last week, topping the
previous all-time high of 3.545 trillion cubic feet set on Nov. 2, 2007.
Government records go back to 1975. Madoff trustee seeks $7B
from philanthropist NEW YORK (AP) -- A trustee
recovering Bernard Madoff's assets for jilted investors has labeled a Florida
philanthropist as the biggest beneficiary of Madoff's multibillion-dollar fraud
and demanded he return more than $7 billion in bogus profits, his lawyers say. Trustee Irving Picard
rejected Jeffry M. Picower's claims that he was a victim of the fraud and
suffered "devastating" and "immeasurable" loss. Lawyers for
Picard said that was untrue that in papers filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in Manhattan. The lawyers said Picower's
claims that he was a victim "ring hollow" since Picower withdrew more
of other investors' money than anyone else during three decades of investing
with Madoff and should have noticed signs of fraud. By The Associated Press The Dow fell 203.00, or 2.1
percent, to 9,509.28, its lowest close since Sept. 8. The broader Standard &
Poor's 500 index fell 27.23, or 2.6 percent, to 1,029.85, and the Nasdaq
composite index dropped 64.94, or 3.1 percent, to 2,057.48. The Russell 2000 index of
smaller companies fell 20.53, or 3.4 percent, to 583.75. Benchmark crude for November
delivery added 21 cents to settle at $70.82 on the Nymex. In London, Brent
crude lost 12 cents to settle at $69.19 on the ICE Futures exchange. Natural gas for November
delivery lost 37.5 cents to settle at $4.466 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. In other Nymex trading,
gasoline for November delivery added less than a penny to settle at $1.7579 a
gallon, and heating oil lost a half cent to settle at $1.8274 a gallon.