Unemployment soars to 8.5 percent; 13M now jobless
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Unemployment zoomed to 8.5 percent last month, the highest in a
quarter-century, as employers axed 663,000 more workers and pushed the nation's
jobless ranks past 13 million. The hard times were only expected to get harder
-- a painful 10 percent jobless rate before long.
The current rate would be
even higher -- 15.6 percent -- if it included laid-off workers who have given
up looking for new jobs or have had to settle for part-time work because they
can't do any better. That's the highest on record for that number in figures
that go back to 1994.
Street looks past job data,
logs 4th week of gains
NEW YORK (AP) -- Not even
grisly job losses could get in the stock market's way Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial
average clawed higher to end above 8,000 for the first time in nearly two
months, and logged an impressive fourth straight week of gains.
The last time the Dow rose
for four consecutive weeks was between September and October of 2007 -- when
the index reached its all-time high above 14,000.
Fed 'extremely
uncomfortable' about bailouts
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) --
While acknowledging that the Federal Reserve was "extremely
uncomfortable" about last year's bailouts of big financial companies, Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday the central bank's strategy to ease the
financial crisis is working.
Bernanke was referring to
the Fed's unprecedented decisions last year to step in and financially back
JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s takeover of then-troubled investment house Bear
Stearns and throw its first of four financial lifelines to insurance giant
American International Group Inc.
Fannie, Freddie worker bonuses
total $210M
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mortgage
finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plan to pay more than $210 million in
bonuses through next year to give workers the incentive to stay in their jobs
at the government-controlled companies.
The retention awards for
more than 7,600 employees were disclosed in a letter from the companies'
regulator released Friday by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior
Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. The companies paid out nearly $51
million last year, are scheduled to make $146 million in payments this year and
$13 million in 2010.
Loan modifications rise;
many don't pare payments
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Though
lenders are boosting their attempts to curb record-high home foreclosures,
fewer than half of loan modifications made at the end of last year actually
reduced borrowers' payments by more than 10 percent, data released Friday show.
The report, based on an
analysis of nearly 35 million loans worth more than $6 trillion, was published
by the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of
Thrift Supervision. It provides the most detailed and broad analysis to date of
efforts to stem the foreclosure crisis, which President Barack Obama is trying
to combat with a $75 billion plan to promote loan modifications.
Peter Madoff can spend $10K
a month on expenses
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) --
Bernard Madoff's brother Peter gets access to $10,000 a month for living
expenses under an agreement approved Friday in a lawsuit accusing him of
swindling a college student.
Peter Madoff was in a Long
Island courtroom to appeal a judge's order last week freezing his assets. That
order came in a civil lawsuit filed by Andrew Ross Samuels, who claims Madoff
took $478,000 of his trust fund and invested it in his brother Bernard's Ponzi
scheme.
Newest job numbers portend
weak energy demand
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Oil
prices dipped Friday after the government reported that the nation's
unemployment rate rose to the highest rate since late 1983 as employers
eliminated 663,000 jobs.
Benchmark crude for May
delivery fell 13 cents to settle at $52.51 barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
With the U.S. and other
nations hemorrhaging jobs, demand for gasoline and other fuels has plummeted.
The unemployed are not commuting, factories are not producing as many consumer
goods, and heat or electricity at millions of homes has been shut off.
Royal Bank of Scotland execs
face shareholders
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) --
Angry Royal Bank of Scotland shareholders demanded that former chief executive
Fred Goodwin return some of his multimillion-pound pension pot Friday in the
first major stockholders session since the bank's near collapse last year.
Investors heckled chairman
Philip Hampton as he explained the 700,000 pound ($1.02 million) a year pension
for Goodwin was being investigated -- though so far no reason had emerged to
end it.
Blockbuster reworks loan
pact, gets breathing room
DALLAS (AP) -- Blockbuster
Inc. said Friday that its revolving and term loan agreement has been amended,
giving the struggling company some breathing room on its finances amid a
deepening recession and increased competition.
The video rental company had
lined up tentative financing deals prior to the amendment, but cautioned last
month that its auditor was likely to raise doubts about its ability to stay in
business.
Jury in diet-drug case
convicts 2 attorneys
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- A
federal jury on Friday convicted two disbarred lawyers of scamming their clients
out of nearly $95 million in a diet-drug settlement.
It was the second trial for
William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham. A federal jury in Covington last year
was unable to reach a verdict for Gallion and Cunningham but acquitted a third
defendant.
Prosecutors charged Gallion
and Cunningham with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and eight
counts of wire fraud, claiming they bilked some 440 clients who claimed they
had been hurt by the fen-phen, which was withdrawn from the market after it was
linked to heart valve problems.
By The Associated Press
The Dow climbed 39.51, or
0.5 percent, to 8,017.59.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index rose 8.12, or 1 percent, to 842.50. The Nasdaq composite index rose
19.24, or 1.2 percent, at 1,621.87.
The Russell 2000 index of
smaller companies rose 5.94, or 1.3 percent, to 456.13.
Benchmark crude for May
delivery fell 13 cents to settle at $52.51 barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
In other Nymex trading,
gasoline for May delivery rose 2.26 cents to settle at $1.4924 a gallon and
heating oil rose less than a cent to settle at $1.4460 a gallon. Natural gas
for May delivery rose 1.9 cents to settle at $3.801 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent prices rose
72 cents to settle at $53.47 a barrel Friday on the ICE Futures exchange.