Service sector grows in Sept., 1st time in year
NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S.
service sector grew in September for the first time in 13 months, an
encouraging sign for the fledgling economic recovery, although jobs remain
scarce.
The Institute for Supply
Management said Monday that its service index hit 50.9 last month, up from 48.4
in August. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a reading of 50, the
dividing line between growth and contraction.
The index, which tracks more
than 80 percent of the country's economic activity, including hospitals, retailers,
financial services companies and truckers, hadn't grown since August 2008.
BofA to select emergency CEO
this week, WSJ says
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Bank
of America Corp. plans to select an emergency CEO this week in case Ken Lewis
steps down before the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Last week, the bank said
Lewis plans to retire Dec. 31. Bank of America's board has created a six-member
committee of directors to find Lewis' successor.
But the planning for an
emergency replacement for Lewis, who faces possible legal problems over the
bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., started before the bank
announced Lewis' retirement, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar
with the matter.
Stocks jump on service
industry, bank reports
NEW YORK (AP) -- The first
growth in the service industry in a year and an upgrade of big banks pulled
investors into the stock market after a two-week slide.
Major stock indicators rose
jumped about 1 percent Monday, including the Dow Jones industrial average,
which added 112 points to end at 9,599.75.
The Institute for Supply
Management said its service index rose to 50.9 in September from 48.4 in
August. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a reading of 50, the
dividing line between growth and contraction. The index hadn't grown since
August 2008.
Financial and energy stocks
led the gains after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on large banks and the
price of oil jumped.
Chrysler Remake: New CEO
shakes up exec team again
DETROIT (AP) -- With sales
down sharply and pressure to start generating cash before government loans run
out, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne shook up his executive team Monday,
replacing two of his brand managers after just four months and splitting Dodge
into car and truck units.
The changes show
Marchionne's penchant for moving quickly and demanding performance, industry
analysts say. But it's also a sign that all is not well inside the company's
sprawling headquarters complex in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills.
Speed in crucial for
Marchionne, who also runs Italy's Fiat Group SpA. It will be at least 18 months
before Chrysler can launch a new car lineup based on smart, fuel-efficient Fiat
designs. Until then, the third-largest U.S. car maker must survive with its
current shaky lineup.
Ad slump leads Gourmet, 3
other magazines to close
NEW YORK (AP) -- Conde Nast
Publications is closing Gourmet, the nation's oldest food magazine, and three
other money-losing titles as the high-end publisher tries to weather a
devastating advertising slump.
In addition to Gourmet,
which had a circulation of 980,000 last year, the publisher is closing Modern
Bride, Elegant Bride and Cookie, a parenting magazine. Earlier in the year it
killed publication of Portfolio, a business magazine, and Domino, a lifestyle
title.
In a staff memo, Conde Nast
CEO Charles Townsend said the closures were required "to navigate the
company through the economic downturn and to position us to take advantage of
coming opportunities."
Oil settles above $70 as
stock markets climb
UNDATED (AP) -- Oil prices
pushed through early losses to settle above $70 a barrel Monday on the coat
tails of strong equity markets and weakness in the U.S. dollar.
Benchmark crude for November
delivery gained 46 cents to settle at $70.41 on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
Retail gasoline prices held
steady overnight at $2.461, but the average national price has dropped nearly
20 cents a gallon since mid-August as the summer driving season wound down,
according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Consumers
are paying about $1.06 less than they were at this time last year.
Weak economic data weighed
on crude prices last week. The U.S. reported worse than expected manufacturing
and jobs numbers, with the unemployment rate rising to 9.8 percent in
September, the highest since 1983.
Coach sues Target over bags
it says are copies
NEW YORK (AP) -- Coach Inc.
is suing low-price retailer Target Corp. over bags the luxury handbag maker
says too closely resemble its own designs.
Coach wants Target to stop
selling the bags and pay an undetermined amount in damages, injunctive relief
and attorney fees, the New York-based company said in a complaint it filed
Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The bags in question
resemble Coach's Ergo bags, launched in 2008 and marketed as ergonomically
correct, and its Signature Patchwork bags, which have patches in different
fabrics and also were introduced in 2008, Coach said.
Target began selling
handbags this summer with "exact and/or confusingly similar reproductions
of Coach's Ergo designs and Signature Patchwork designs," Coach claims.
FDA panel backs
Schering-Plough cancer drug
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) --
Federal health advisers voted 6-4 on Monday that the potential benefits of a
Schering-Plough drug outweigh its toxic risks as a treatment for late-stage
skin cancer.
The Food and Drug
Administration often follows the panel's advice, though it is not required to.
Schering-Plough has asked
the FDA to approve its drug PegIntron for patients whose skin cancer has spread
to their lymph nodes, requiring surgery. The drug is already approved as a
treatment for hepatitis C.
Company studies of the drug
showed it lengthened the period of time before cancer recurred by about nine months,
though patients ultimately didn't live longer than those who did not receive
the drug.
Amercan Express president
leaving company
NEW YORK (AP) -- American
Express Co. said Monday its president, Alfred F. Kelly Jr., will step down
early next year.
Kelly, 51, wants to run a
company as a chief executive, a position that is unlikely to come open anytime
soon at American Express as chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault, 58, is
entrenched in the job.
Chenault said Kelly will
continue to lead the card issuer's transition to a bank holding company until
his departure. He has been president and head of the global consumer group
since 2007.
New York-based American
Express changed its operating status last year amid the peak of the credit
crisis so it could access government funding programs aimed at thawing frozen
credit markets.
Deere: UAW members ratify
6-year contract
MOLINE, Ill. (AP) -- Deere
& Co. said members of the United Auto Workers union have ratified a new
six-year contract covering about 9,500 workers -- or roughly 17 percent of the
company's work force -- and 17,000 retirees.
The world's largest maker of
farm machinery said on Sunday it had been notified by the union of the
ratification of the agreement, which takes effect Monday and expires Oct. 1,
2015. Terms of the contract were not immediately available.
Deere has been battered by
the slumping global economy, which has depressed sales of its tractors,
bulldozers and other products. But while the company has laid off hundreds of
workers since the economic downturn worsened late last year, it has avoided the
sort of large-scale job cuts seen at other large manufacturers.
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 112.08, or 1.2
percent, to 9,599.75, its first gain in four days.
The broader Standard &
Poor's 500 index rose 15.25, or 1.5 percent, to 1,040.46, and the Nasdaq
composite index rose 20.04, or 1 percent, to 2,068.15.
Benchmark crude for November
delivery gained 46 cents to settle at $70.41 on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
In other Nymex trading,
heating oil fell 0.52 cent to settle at $1.7916 a gallon. Gasoline for November
delivery added 1.3 cents to settle at $1.7539 a gallon. Natural gas for
November delivery gained 26.9 cents to settle at $4.987 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude lost
3 cents to settle at $68.04 on the ICE Futures exchange.