AP
Business Highlights
Tuesday November 4, 7:06 pm ET

Stocks surge as investors anticipate yearend rally

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors believing that Wall Street is on the verge of a yearend rally piled into the market Tuesday, brushing off more weak economic data while they scarfed up stocks and propelled the Dow Jones industrials up more than 300 points to 9,625.28, its highest close in four weeks.

It was the biggest Election Day rally ever for the Dow, which rose 3.28 percent and topped the 1.2 percent gain seen in 1984 when Ronald Reagan defeated Walter Mondale. Prior to 1980, the market was closed on Election Day.

Broader market indexes were also up more than 3 percent Tuesday.

Ex-Bear Stearns exec now at Fed

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The former chief risk officer at investment bank Bear Stearns Cos., which nearly collapsed in March, is now a senior official of the Federal Reserve division that supervises U.S. banks.

Michael Alix, who worked at Bear Stearns for 12 years and was its senior risk manager since 2006, was named a senior vice president in the bank supervision group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to an announcement by the Fed. The appointment is apt to raise questions because of the key role Alix played at Bear Stearns and given the Federal Reserve's role in Bear Stearns' sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co. after its breathtaking slide.

FCC to probe pricing policies of cable, Verizon

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Federal Communications Commission has opened an investigation into the pricing policies of major cable operators and Verizon Communications Inc.

The FCC wrote on Oct. 30 to cable operators including Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp., Bright House Networks, Suddenlink Communications, Bend Cable Communications, GCI Company, Harron Entertainment and RCN Corp. Verizon, which offers pay-TV services with FiOS, also was included in the probe.

FCC OKs use of white spaces to deliver broadband

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to open up unused, unlicensed portions of the television airwaves known as "white spaces" to deliver wireless broadband service.

The vote is a big victory for public interest groups and technology companies such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. that say white spaces could be used to bring broadband to rural America and other underserved parts of the country.

The vote came over the objections of the nation's big TV broadcasters, which argue that using the fallow spectrum to deliver wireless Internet access could disrupt their over-the-air signals. Manufacturers and users of wireless microphones -- including sports leagues, church leaders and performers of all stripes -- have also raised concerns about interference.

Factory orders drop more than expected

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Factory orders dropped by more than three times as much as analysts expected in September as the U.S. manufacturing sector continues to suffer from the economic downturn.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that factory orders fell by 2.5 percent from August, far more than the 0.8 percent drop expected by Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. That's on top of a revised 4.3 percent decline in August, which was the steepest in almost two years.

Excluding autos and aircraft, orders fell 3.7 percent, the steepest drop since 1992 when the department began tracking sector-specific changes.

Boeing says 787 test flight delayed due to strike

By The Associated Press

Boeing Co. said Tuesday the first test flight of its long-delayed 787 jetliner has been postponed until next year due to an eight-week strike by union workers.

The Chicago-based airplane maker had scheduled the inaugural flight of the next-generation passenger jet for the fourth quarter of this year.

But Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx said the strike, which started Sept. 6 and forced the company to temporarily shut down its commercial aircraft business, had pushed back the test flight to an unspecified time next year.

Oil prices surges above $70 in volatile week

HOUSTON (AP) -- Oil prices surged above $70 a barrel Tuesday in the final hours of a two-year U.S. presidential campaign, mirroring global stock markets that strengthened from Asia to Europe. A weaker dollar helped too.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose $6.62 to settle at $70.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $71.77.

As the pace of industry has slowed and businesses consume less crude, the price of oil has fallen $30 from just over a month ago. The price of retail gasoline dipped below $2.40 Tuesday for the first time since early in 2007.

Archer Daniels Midland 1Q profit more than doubles

NEW YORK (AP) -- Archer Daniels Midland Co. said Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter earnings more than doubled, beating Wall Street estimates as the company benefited from lower commodity prices and higher selling prices.

Its shares rose $3.22, or 15.3 percent, to close at $24.33.

The Decatur, Ill., based food processor and ethanol producer said profit in the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $1.05 billion, or $1.63 per share, up from $441 million, or 68 cents per share, last year.

Hartford Financial to cut 500 jobs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said it will cut 500 jobs, or about 2 percent, of its total work force this month, citing losses in its investment portfolios and declining revenue.

The Hartford, Conn.-based insurer said Tuesday the layoffs were announced internally on Monday. It employs about 31,000 people.

After reporting disappointing third-quarter results last week, the company said it would slash jobs and other expenses to save $250 million in annual costs by the end of 2009. The company reported a loss of $2.6 billion, or $8.74 per share, compared with a profit of $851 million, or $2.68 per share, a year ago.

UBS back in profit after 4 quarterly losses

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- UBS AG posted a net profit of 296 million Swiss francs ($252 million) for the third quarter Tuesday, its first after four consecutive quarterly losses, and predicted customers would continue withdrawing funds in the last three months of the year.

The bank benefitted from a 913 million francs ($776 million) tax credit and a revaluation of its credit positions that led to a 2.21 billion francs ($1.88 billion) gain on its books.

UBS said the credit gains reflect an increase in the difference between the market value of its outstanding debt and the amount it would cost UBS to issue this debt under current conditions. Some or all of the gain could be erased if credit conditions change, the company said.

Not so fast, EU ministers tell France

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- EU finance ministers told France on Tuesday that it was going too fast, too soon with plans to push for concrete global financial reforms at a Washington summit next week.

France is trying to create a consensus within the EU to push a finance summit in Washington on Nov. 15-16 to adopt stricter financial regulation.

But diplomats present at the EU ministers' talks said there was no support for an ambitious push for global financial regulation when the crisis may not yet have peaked.

By The Associated Press

The Dow rose 305.45, or 3.28 percent, to 9,625.28.

The broader indexes also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 39.45, or 4.08 percent, to 1,005.75, its first close over the 1,000 mark since Oct. 13. In the past six sessions, the S&P 500 has rallied 18.3 percent. That includes a 10.8 percent jump that occurred Oct. 28 after last month's steep selloff.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 53.79, or 3.12 percent, to 1,780.12, its sixth straight advance and its longest winning streak of the year.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.47, or 1.39 percent, to 545.97.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose $6.62 to settle at $70.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil gained nearly 18 cents to settle at $2.16 a gallon while natural gas for December delivery rose 38 cents to settle at $7.22 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, December Brent crude rose $5.96 to settle at $66.44 on the ICE Futures exchange.