On Monday March 29, 2010, 5:37 pm EDT
Treasury says it will begin selling
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Treasury
Department said Monday it will begin selling the stake it owns in
The government received 7.7 billion
shares of
Like any investor, the government will
likely hold on to its shares if prices fall steeply. However,
Ka-ching! Shoppers keep registers
humming
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Confidence is
growing that the economic recovery won't fizzle out. Consumers kept cash
registers humming last month at a decent pace, pointing to modest and steady
economic gains ahead.
The Commerce Department reported that
consumers boosted their spending by 0.3 percent in February, marking the fifth
straight monthly gain.
The pickup in spending was a tad slower
than the 0.4 percent increase registered in January and marked the smallest
increase since
Stocks rise after increase in consumer
spending
NEW YORK (AP) -- Consumers are more
willing to spend, and that's making investors more optimistic about the
economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose
46 points to 10,895.86 and broader indexes also climbed after the Commerce
Department said consumer spending rose for the fifth straight month in
February. The 0.3 percent gain was in line with economists' expectations and
raised hopes that the biggest driver of the economy is continuing to rebound.
Job creation and solid consumer
spending are considered crucial to a sustained recovery. At the end of the
week, investors will get the Labor Department's monthly employment report.
Analysts predict that employers added jobs in March for only the second time
since the recession began in December 2007.
UAW trust fund to sell rights to rising
Ford stock
DETROIT (AP) -- A trust fund set up by
the
The trust will auction warrants to buy
362 million shares, which were issued in December 2009, starting at 8 a.m.
Tuesday. The automaker and union agreed to set up the trust to help Ford remove
retiree health care costs from its books while it was in financial trouble in
2007.
In January, the trust began paying
health care costs for about 200,000 Ford blue-collar retirees and their spouses
nationwide, and Ford said it is saving the company roughly $500 million per
year.
China slaps Rio employees with up to 14
years jail
SHANGHAI (AP) -- Unexpectedly harsh
jail sentences of seven to 14 years for four
Seeking to protect its business ties
from what it termed the men's "deplorable behavior," the mining giant
promptly fired all four.
The court's rulings against Australian
citizen Stern Hu, former manager of
NEW YORK (AP) --
The aircraft maker said Sunday the test
involved flexing the jet's wings while applying loads to the frame to replicate
150 percent of the most extreme forces the airplane could experience in flight.
The wings were pushed up about 25 feet
during the ground test performed at
Greece gets billions on bonds after
rescue plan
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece raised 5
billion euros, or $6.74 billion, with a seven-year bond issue, in a crucial
first borrowing test after the euro zone unveiled a rescue last week to help
Athens cope with its acute debt crisis. But the government's borrowing costs
remain higher than it wants.
The bonds were sold at a coupon yield
of 5.9 percent, according to a statement from the government's Public Debt
Management Agency. State-run media said around 7 billion euros in offers were
received.
Finance Minister George
Papaconstantinou said he was satisfied with the sale.
Ex-IBM exec pleads guilty in inside
trading case
NEW YORK (AP) -- A former IBM senior
executive pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges arising from what
prosecutors call the largest insider trading case in hedge fund history.
Robert Moffat, 53, of Ridgefield,
Conn., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities
fraud, charges which carry a potential penalty of 25 years in prison.
A plea agreement, though, contained
language indicating he may end up serving six months in prison or less.
Moffat, once considered a candidate for
chief executive officer at IBM, was considered the highest level executive
arrested in a case that resulted in 21 arrests. He is the 11th person to plead
guilty.
Oil gets boost from economic data,
IPad could be Kindle's first big threat
in e-books
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices got a boost
Monday from positive economic indicators and worries about terrorist bombings
in
Benchmark crude for May delivery jumped
$2.17 to settle at $82.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gasoline pump prices edged down slightly for motorists gearing up for Passover,
Nationwide average retail prices shed
less than a penny overnight to $2.80 a gallon. Pump prices are 9.7 cents higher
than a month ago and 75.5 cents more expensive than the same time last year,
according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.
IPad could be Kindle's first big threat
in e-books
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Amazon.com, which
has dominated the young but fast-growing electronic book market for the past
few years with the Kindle, could get its biggest threat Saturday, when Apple
releases its iPad multimedia tablet.
The Kindle starts at $259 and is
designed mainly for reading text on a gray-and-black screen. The iPad starts at
$499, but with the higher price comes more functions: a color touch screen for
downloading books from Apple's new iBookstore, surfing the Web, playing videos
and games and more.
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 45.50, or 0.4 percent, to
10,895.86.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500
index rose 6.63, or 0.6 percent, to 1,173.22, and the
Benchmark crude for May delivery jumped
$2.17 to settle at $82.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading in April
contracts, heating oil rose 4.91 cents to close at $2.1188 a gallon, and
gasoline gained 6.38 cents to settle at $2.2613 a gallon. Natural gas fell 13.9
cents to close at $3.842 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude added $1.88,
settling at $81.17 on the ICE futures exchange.