AP

AP
Business Highlights
Wednesday September 24, 6:32 pm ET

Bailout: Accord on chiefs' pay, Bush on TV tonight

WASHINGTON (AP) --Democrats won a key concession from the White House on the financial bailout plan Wednesday and sought to drastically slash the $700 billion size of the rescue.

President Bush readied a prime-time speech in a push to persuade resistant lawmakers to back his proposal to stave off a deepening economic crisis.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agreed to demands from critics in both parties to limit the pay packages of Wall Street executives whose companies would benefit from the proposed bailout.

Goldman raises $5 billion in public stock offer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has undertaken a huge capital-raising program that includes an investment of at least $5 billion from Warren Buffett and a common stock offering for another $5 billion.

Just a week earlier, Goldman looked to be on precarious ground as its stock price plunged in response to fears that it could not survive as an independent investment bank.

But the company contended Wednesday that the current crisis in the financial markets wasn't the catalyst for the deals.

Goldman said Wednesday it was raising $5 billion through a common stock offering, doubling the amount it announced just the night before.

Stocks end little changed amid debate over bailout

NEW YORK (AP) -- Tension grew in the financial markets Wednesday, sending stocks mostly lower as investors worried about the effectiveness of a still-emerging government plan to rescue banks from crippling debt. The credit markets also showed added strain, with rising demand for short-term Treasury bills, considered the safest of investments.

Wall Street was calmer than during the first two days of this week, with stocks meandering in and out of positive territory while investors tried to determine what shape the plan might take.

As the session wore on, investors focused on broader concerns that the dealmaking in Washington could produce less potent medicine than proponents say is necessary to aid moribund credit markets.

GM to put French factory, Hummer brand up for sale

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp.'s treasurer said Wednesday that the automaker is planning to put its Strasbourg, France, manufacturing operation and its Hummer truck brand up for sale, and it may announce more asset sales later this year.

Company Treasurer Walter Borst said in a slide presentation at the Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference that the company expects to distribute marketing materials for both operations in October.

The slides posted on GM's Web site Wednesday say the assets under review are worth $2 billion to $4 billion. The presentation also says GM continues to review other asset sales and will make more announcements in the fourth quarter.

US home sales, prices fall in August

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A record decline in U.S. home prices in August attracted more buyers in some areas and led to a sizable decline in the number of unsold homes on the market, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

The median sales price fell 9.5 percent to $203,100, the largest price decline on records dating to 1999. As prices fall, buyers are taking advantage of steep discounts, especially in hard-hit markets like California, Nevada and Florida.

The inventory of unsold homes fell 7 percent to 4.3 million, down from the all-time record of 4.6 million in July. That's a 10.4-month supply at the current sales pace.

Daimler in talks to sell remaining Chrysler stake

DETROIT (AP) -- Daimler and Cerberus Capital Management confirmed Wednesday that talks are under way for Daimler to sell its remaining 19.9 percent stake in Chrysler to the private equity firm.

Neither side would give further details, except Cerberus said it approached Daimler.

The talks, reported earlier Wednesday in Germany's Manager Magazin, come amid a crisis in the U.S. auto industry with falling sales, billions in losses and a dramatic market shift away from trucks and sport utility vehicles to small, fuel-efficient cars.

Nike 1Q profit falls on year-ago gain, sales grow

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Nike Inc.'s profit fell 10 percent in its fiscal first quarter as a special gain in the prior year did not recur, the company said Wednesday. Sales rose, however, with help from international operations.

The Beaverton, Ore.-based athletic shoe and apparel company said its net income decreased to $510.5 million, or $1.03 per share, from $569.7 million, or $1.12 per share, a year earlier. But the 2007 quarter included a special item that increased earnings per share by 20 cents. If adjusted for the benefit, net income would have grown 10 percent.

Revenue jumped 17 percent to $5.43 billion. Changes in currency exchange rates increased revenue by 7 percentage points during the quarter.

Oil falls below $106 on weak US energy demand

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices ended a choppy session slightly lower Wednesday, falling below $106 a barrel as weak U.S. fuel demand and a stronger dollar outweighed concerns over a reduction in global crude output.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 88 cents to settle at $105.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $109.50. On Tuesday, the contract fell $2.76 to settle at $106.61.

Crude prices have risen about $15 in the past week as investors funnel money back into commodities on worries that a proposed $700 billion bailout of financial firms will undercut the dollar and boost inflation.

Health insurance costs grow more gradually in 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Health insurance premiums rose a modest 5 percent this year for coverage that's getting skimpier, researchers say.

The 5 percent increase was comparable to last year's uptick. Overall, premiums for family coverage increased to $12,680 and premiums for single coverage increased to $4,704, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. Employers pick up, on average, about three-quarters of that cost.

Over the past decade, insurance premiums have grown much more quickly than wages and inflation. That wasn't the case this year. But to help slow the costs of health insurance, companies are increasingly offering coverage that requires their workers to pay more of their medical expenses before the insurance will kick in.

Yahoo launches major upgrade to display ad system

NEW YORK (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. launched a much-anticipated upgrade to its online advertising system Wednesday as it tries to bring to graphical display ads some of the innovations that powered Google Inc.'s rapid rise in search marketing.

Playing to Yahoo's strengths in display ads and technology targeting pitches to users' interests, the new "Apt from Yahoo" platform will initially involve just the newspaper companies in a 2-year-old consortium led by Yahoo. Many of the papers joined that effort hoping for relief from the decline in their industry.

The platform, renamed from Amp because of a trademark conflict, is intended to make it easier for advertisers and publishers to buy and sell display ads, borrowing self-service techniques that have made text-based search ads lucrative for Internet companies, especially Google.

By The Associated Press

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29.00, or 0.27 percent, to 10,825.17 after moving in and out of positive territory. The decline leaves the Dow down more than 560 points, or about 5 percent, for the week.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 2.35, or 0.20 percent, to 1,185.87, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.35, or 0.11 percent, to 2,155.68.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 1.38 cents to settle at $3.027 a gallon, while gasoline prices fell less than half a penny to settle at $2.5947 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 23.6 cents to settle at $7.908 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, November Brent crude fell 63 cents to settle at $102.45 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.