AP Business Highlights

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On Tuesday April 6, 2010, 5:31 pm EDT

LaHood: Feds could find more Toyota safety lapses

CHICAGO (AP) -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday he wouldn't be surprised if a review of documents from Toyota Motor Corp. uncovered additional safety lapses at the Japanese automaker.

LaHood said Toyota was "safety deaf" and said the Japanese automaker made a "huge mistake" by not disclosing safety problems with gas pedals on some of its most popular models sooner. A day earlier, the DOT charged that Toyota failed to alert regulators to its safety problems fast enough and announced it would face a record $16.4 million fine.

Documents obtained from the automaker show that Toyota knew of the problem with the sticking gas pedals in late September but did not issue a recall until late January, LaHood said on Monday. The sticking pedals involved 2.3 million vehicles.

FCC loses key ruling on Internet `neutrality'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal court threw the future of Internet regulations and U.S. broadband expansion plans into doubt Tuesday with a far-reaching decision that went against the Federal Communications Commission.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the FCC lacks authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks. That was a big victory for Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, which had challenged the FCC's authority to impose such "network neutrality" obligations on broadband providers.

Job openings rise in several sectors in February

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Job openings rose in several sectors of the economy in February, including retail, manufacturing, transportation, restaurants and hotels, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

The report is consistent with other surveys showing hiring is picking up in those areas. It also echoes last week's national employment report, which showed broad job gains in March.

Total job openings, meanwhile, declined in February, the department said. That's a sign that hiring remains sluggish even though employers are starting to add workers as they gain more confidence that the recovery is taking hold.

Stocks wander on thin news; Dow stays below 11,000

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks ended mixed Tuesday after a rise in bank shares offset drops in some technology names.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 4 points to 10,969.99, while broader indexes rose. Interest rates fell after spiking on Monday.

For a second day, the Dow came within about a dozen points of reaching the psychological milestone of 11,000 for the first time in 18 months.

The quiet trading came as investors looked for clues about whether the market could continue its upward march. Stocks have been rising for 13 months but have made steadier advances since February following reports that signal the economy is improving.

Fed keeps eyes out for speculative bubbles

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve officials at their March meeting stressed the need to make sure record-low interest rates don't feed new speculative bubbles in stocks or other assets.

At the same time, some officials said the Fed's pledge to keep rates low for an "extended period" doesn't mean a fixed period of time. Rather, it depends on the strength of the economy, according to minutes of the closed-door meeting released Tuesday. Many analysts have taken the pledge to mean rates would stay at record lows for roughly six months to help underpin the recovery.

The Fed officials argued that the pledge won't stop the Fed from boosting rates if the economy showed signs of picking up substantially or if inflation took off. On the other hand, the pledge "could last for some time" if the economy took a turn for the worse.

Oil prices settle a little higher

Oil and gasoline prices barely budged Tuesday, as traders took a break from a recent rally driven by signs of an improving economy.

Benchmark crude for May delivery rose 22 cents to settle at $86.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier prices touched a new 18-month high of $87.09 a barrel. Oil prices have climbed 24 percent since February.

Crude traded between $69 and $84 for about nine months before breaking above that range last week. On Monday, reports showed improvements in services businesses and in the housing market.

Business software maker CA to cut 1,000 jobs

Business software company CA Inc. said Tuesday that it's cutting 1,000 jobs -- or about 8 percent of its work force -- and consolidating offices as part of a restructuring plan to reduce costs and become more efficient.

The company also steered earnings expectations to the lower end of its previous guidance for the year. Its shares tumbled more than 5 percent.

The job cuts will occur mainly in North America and mostly be completed by the end of September, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Islandia, N.Y., company has already shed 3,100 positions over the last three years amid office closings.

Greek borrowing rates soar on market worries

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece's borrowing costs shot up Tuesday following a report, later denied, that Athens was seeking to revise a deal hammered out last month which would provide a European and International Monetary Fund rescue to prevent a default.

Markets have so far appeared unconvinced that the bailout plan, which would provide Greece with bilateral loans from euro-zone countries and the IMF, would be sufficient to contain the country's debt crisis.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou vehemently denied a report that Athens was seeking to re-negotiate the rescue plan to avoid IMF participation.

Renault, Nissan to partner with Daimler

PARIS (AP) -- Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. will unveil a wide-ranging three-way tie-up with German automaker Daimler AG on Wednesday aimed at bolstering their offerings in small, energy efficient vehicles amid an industry slump that has ravaged the companies' earnings.

The parts-sharing and research alliance with German automaker Daimler AG will be announced at a joint news conference in Brussels, two officials close to Renault told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The partnership will also see the companies exchange small stakes of around 3 percent, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been publicly announced.

Cedar Fair: Takeover not happening

SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) -- Cedar Fair LP, one of the nation's largest operators of amusement parks, said Tuesday that its plan to go private in a $635 million takeover by asset manager Apollo Global Management has been scrapped because of a poor response from shareholders.

Cedar Fair had accepted Apollo's $11.50 per share offer in December. The deal followed a tough year of declining attendance and spending at Cedar Fair's amusement parks, which include Cedar Point in northern Ohio, Dorney Park in Pennsylvania and Knott's Berry Farm and Great America in California.

By The Associated Press

The Dow fell 3.56, or less than 0.1 percent, to 10,969.99.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.00, or 0.2 percent, to 1,189.44. The Nasdaq composite index rose 7.28, or 0.3 percent, to 2,436.81.

Benchmark crude for May delivery rose 22 cents to settle at $86.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil rose a fraction of a penny to settle at $2.2683 a gallon, and gasoline dropped 0.19 cent to close at $2.3483 a gallon. Natural gas lost 18.1 cents to settle at $4.096 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude prices added 27 cents to settle at $86.15 on the ICE futures exchange.

 

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