42 states lose jobs in August, up from 29 in July
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Forty-two
states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest net payroll
cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio.
The Labor Department also
reported Friday that 27 states saw their unemployment rates increase in August,
and 14 states and Washington D.C., reported unemployment rates of 10 percent or
above.
The report shows jobs remain
scarce even as most analysts believe the economy is pulling out of the worst
recession since the 1930s. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said earlier
this week that the recovery isn't likely to be rapid enough to reduce
unemployment for some time.
Stock market resumes rally
after one-day break
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors
popped the stock market's rally back in gear Friday after analyst upgrades
boosted optimism about the economy.
A 36-point advance in the
Dow Jones industrial average to 9,820.20 left the index at a new high for the
year and with a gain of 215 points for the week. Stock indexes have risen in
nine of the past 11 days.
The market got a boost from
a new economic forecast by Barclay's Capital, which raised its projection for
growth in the nation's gross domestic product for first three months of next
year to 5 percent from 3 percent. GDP has been shrinking, although many
economists think it will return to growth for the July-September quarter.
Geithner ends money market
guarantee program
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner said an emergency program that had guaranteed as
much as $3 trillion in assets in money market mutual funds was being allowed to
expire Friday.
"As the risk of
catastrophic failure of the financial system has receded, the need for some of
the emergency programs put in place during the most acute phase of the crisis
has receded as well,' Geithner said in a brief statement.
Geithner had said last week
that the financial system was healthy enough to begin unwinding some of the
programs put in place a year ago after the collapse of Lehman Brothers
triggered the worst financial crisis in seven decades.
FDIC chief considers tapping
Treasury for funds
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says she is "considering
all options, including borrowing from Treasury," to replenish the
dwindling fund that insures bank deposits.
FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair's
remarks go beyond what she said just three weeks ago when asked about tapping
the Treasury after the fund that insures regular deposit accounts up to
$250,000 hit its lowest point since 1992, at the height of the savings-and-loan
crisis.
The FDIC estimates bank
failures will cost the fund around $70 billion through 2013. Ninety-two banks
have failed so far this year. Hundreds more are expected to fall in coming
years largely because of souring loans for commercial real estate.
Gov't home loan agency faces
money squeeze
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Federal Housing Administration is tightening rules for lenders after reporting
that its financial cushion will sink below mandatory levels for the first time
in its 75-year history.
Officials, however, insisted
Friday that the agency won't need a rescue. The agency doesn't expect to raise
fees for borrowers or curtail the number of loans it insures, they said.
Amid the collapse of the
subprime lending market, the government has taken up the slack. The FHA has
insured nearly a quarter of all new loans made this year, and about 80 percent
of that business is from first-time homebuyers.
Microsoft sues over
'malicious' online advertising
NEW YORK (AP) -- Microsoft
Corp. has filed five lawsuits aimed at halting the flow of malicious online
advertising.
The Redmond, Wash., software
maker filed the claims Thursday in Washington state court against five unknown
individuals under the business names Soft Solutions, DirectAd, qiweroqw.com,
ITmeter INC. and ote2008.info.
Microsoft's associate
general counsel, Tim Cranton, announced the move in a blog post.
The company is accusing the
defendants of spreading so-called "malvertisements," ads that can end
up infecting computers with damaging software.
American Airlines Sept.
traffic, capacity fall
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- American
Airlines said on Friday that it expects its September traffic to fall 16.4
percent from August, as capacity drops 9.7 percent.
Airlines typically reduce
flying after Labor Day, and other carriers have been making cuts, too. This
year's fall schedules have been especially lean as airlines try to match their
flying with reduced demand.
American said it expects
third quarter unit revenue, or revenue divided by capacity, to fall 14.5
percent to 15.5 percent compared with the same period last year. Counting
regional flying, unit revenue is expected to fall 14.3 percent to 15.3 percent.
Sanofi buys Merck's half of
animal health business
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- French
drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA has completed its $4 billion purchase of Merck
& Co.'s half interest in their veterinary medicine business, Merial Ltd.,
the companies said Friday.
The move was required by
regulators before Merck can close its $41 billion purchase of New Jersey
neighbor Schering-Plough Corp., which also sells animal health products.
Merial, a joint venture
founded in 1997, sells two widely used pet medicines, flea-and-tick blocker
Frontline and chewable heartworm preventer Heartgard. It also sells Ivomec,
which kills parasites in hogs and cattle, and other medicines and vaccines for
livestock.
Big price jump for natural
gas this week
NEW YORK (AP) -- Natural gas
prices have mostly moved in one direction this summer, down, and the vast
caverns that hold it are close to reaching capacity. Yet since the beginning of
the month prices have spiked 44 percent.
A record number of futures
contracts were snapped up this week, most likely because buyers didn't see
prices for natural gas getting much cheaper.
The jump in price would
certainly be a troubling sign for people who use natural gas to heat their
homes, save for the fact that, even with a 28 percent run-up this week, prices
are still about a third of they were last year.
It's extremely cheap and no
one expects that to change anytime soon.
Ex-Morgan Stanley banker
jailed for 7 years in HK
HONG KONG (AP) -- An
ex-Morgan Stanley banker was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison in Hong
Kong's biggest insider trading case -- an "unprecedented" scam a
judge said undermined the integrity of this leading Asian financial center.
Du Jun, a former managing
director of the Wall Street investment bank, also was fined about 23.3 million
Hong Kong dollars (about $3 million).
The 41-year-old
Beijing-native showed little emotion as a Hong Kong judge chastised him for his
"greed" and "dishonesty and fraudulence." Du risked making
the illegal trades even though he was earning well over $2 million a year at Morgan
Stanley.
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 36.28, or 0.4
percent, to 9,820.20.
The broader Standard &
Poor's 500 index rose 2.81, or 0.3 percent, to 1,068.30, while the Nasdaq
composite index advanced 6.11, or 0.3 percent, to 2,132.86.
Benchmark crude for October
delivery gave up 43 cents to settle at $72.04 a barrel.
Natural gas for October
delivery added 32 cents Friday to settle at $3.778 per 1,000 cubic feet on the
New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gasoline for October
delivery slipped 1.88 cents to settle at $1.8324 a gallon, and heating oil fell
1.3 cents to settle at $1.8279 a gallon.
At the pump, retail gas
prices were unchanged at $2.55 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright
Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular unleaded is 7.8
cents cheaper than last month and $1.285 cheaper than a year ago.
In London, Brent crude fell
23 cents to settle at $71.55 on the ICE Futures exchange.