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Business Highlights
28 Jun 2008
Xinhua Newsfeed
(AP) - Oil near $143 on view dollar will keep falling

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil futures climbed to a new record near $143 a barrel

Friday as the dollar weakened against the euro, confirming expectations that the

falling greenback, a major factor in crude's stratospheric rise, will extend its

decline and add to oil's appeal.

Retail gas prices inched lower overnight, but are likely to resume their own

trek into record territory now that oil futures have broken out of the trading

range where they had been for nearly 3 weeks.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose as high as $142.99 a barrel on

the New York Mercantile Exchange before pulling back sharply in a spate of

late-day profit-taking to settle up 57 cents at a record $140.21. On Thursday,

the contract shot past $140 and rose more than $5 to a new settlement record.

The latest record came as the dollar fell against the euro in afternoon

trading, having traded roughly unchanged for much of the day.



After-tax incomes and spending show big gains

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of economic stimulus payments sent after-tax

incomes surging in May by the largest amount since a similar recession-fighting

effort by Gerald Ford 33 years ago.

All the extra money helped to push consumer spending up by the largest

amount in six months, but economists warned the boost would likely prove

short-lived given all the other problems facing consumers at present.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that after-tax disposable incomes

jumped by 5.7 percent in May, the biggest one-month gain since a 6.3 percent

increase in May 1975 when Ford was president. He was fighting a recession that

year with a program to mail individual taxpayers $50 checks.

This time around individual payments range from $300 to $600 with couples

getting up to $1,200. In all, $48.1 billion in rebate payments were made in May

and through this week, the government announced Friday, payments total $78.3

billion -- three-fourths of the $106.7 billion scheduled to be paid to 130

million households. The payments are to be completed by mid-July.



Wall Street extends losses in volatile week

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street ended a depressing week with another big loss

on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrials falling more than 100 points amid

ever-escalating worries about high oil prices and fallout from the credit

crisis. The major indexes are all down more than 3 percent for the week.

The Dow has fallen nearly 460 points in the last two days and reached its

lowest point since September 2006.

Investors again contended Friday with a seemingly relentless stream of

troubling news about the financial sector. Moody's Investors Service said it is

reviewing investment bank Morgan Stanley for a possible downgrade. There were

also more reports that Merrill Lynch & Co. might have to write off nearly $6

billion of risky mortgage-backed debt.

In addition to anxiety about the financials, the market watched oil's march

higher -- the price of crude rose to a new record of $142.99 a barrel on the New

York Mercantile Exchange. Wall Street remains concerned that higher commodity

prices will slam consumers with not only elevated costs for energy and food, but

also for other goods if cash-strapped companies decide to pass along the rising

costs.



Toyota could overtake GM in US sales in June

DETROIT (AP) -- Toyota Motor Corp. could overtake General Motors Corp. in

monthly U.S. sales for the first time in June, but the victory could be a hollow

one as the weak economy continues to pummel the auto industry and even Toyota

struggles to meet U.S. consumers' sudden and insatiable demand for hybrid cars.

Analysts are predicting another double-digit dip in June sales, in large

part because buyers are shunning big vehicles. Automakers report sales figures

Tuesday.

J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing and consulting company, predicts the

annualized sales rate for June -- which shows what sales would be if they

continued at the same rate for a full year -- could be 12.5 million vehicles. If

so, that would be the lowest monthly rate since 1992.

Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for the auto information site

Edmunds.com, predicts sales will be down 13 percent in June to 1.26 million, or

an annualized rate of 14.9 million. Toprak said GM could see an uptick in the

last few weeks because of a zero-percent financing deal that began Tuesday, but

it won't be enough to stem the automaker's losses in trucks and sport utility

vehicles.



Wards didn't tell consumers about credit card hack

NEW YORK (AP) -- An old name in retail was hit by a modern scourge -- a hack

of its customers' credit card numbers -- but didn't inform the consumers,

revealing how data breaches might be heavily undercounted even with new

notification laws.

At least 51,000 records were exposed in the breach at the parent company of

Montgomery Ward. The venerable Wards chain that began in 1872 went out of

business in 2001, but in 2004 a catalog company, Direct Marketing Services Inc.,

bought the brand name out of bankruptcy. It now runs a Wards.com Web site along

with six other sites, including three with Sears brands it has acquired:

SearsHomeCenter.com, SearsShowplace.com and SearsRoomforKids.com.

Direct Marketing Services' CEO, David Milgrom, said the financial company

Citigroup detected the computer invasion in December. By going through

HomeVisions.com, another Direct Marketing Services site, hackers had plundered

the database that holds account information for all the company's retail

properties.



US checks if tomatoes caused Salmonella outbreak

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is

checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak -- or

if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating

newly harvested tomatoes.

The widening outbreak -- with 810 people confirmed ill -- means whatever is

making people sick could very well still be on the market, federal health

officials warned on Friday.

Tomatoes remain the top suspect and the advice on which ones consumers

should avoid hasn't changed, stressed Food and Drug Administration food safety

chief Dr. David Acheson.

However, he said it is possible that tomatoes being harvested in states

considered safe could be picking up salmonella germs in packing sheds,

warehouses or other facilities currently under investigation.

Most worrisome, the latest victim became sick on June 15 -- long after the

outbreak began on April 10 and weeks after government warnings stripped

supermarkets and restaurants of many tomatoes.



KB Home 2Q loss widens on sales slump, charges

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- KB Home's latest quarterly results capped a week of

discouraging trends for the homebuilding sector Friday.

The Los Angeles-based builder reported a larger second-quarter loss and a 55

percent drop in revenue. And the housing slump continued to eat away at the

value of its assets, prompting it to book charges to account for the lower value

of unsold homes, joint venture deals and land option contracts.

KB also saw sharp declines compared with the year-ago quarter in new orders,

home deliveries, average selling price, and the value of its backlog of homes.

The results came a day after Miami-based builder Lennar Corp. reported that

it narrowed its second-quarter loss, but saw revenue plunge by 61 percent and

new home orders drop by 45 percent compared with the year-ago quarter.



Scruggs gets 5 years in prison in bribery scheme

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, who became one of the

wealthiest civil lawsuit attorneys in the country by taking on tobacco, asbestos

and insurance companies, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for

conspiring to bribe a judge.

Scruggs, 62, nearly fainted as the judge scolded him for his conduct, and

people in the courtroom gasped as he swayed side to side. He had to be seated

for a time before the sentence was read, but later stood back up.

U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. called Scruggs' conduct "reprehensible"

and fined him $250,000. Scruggs will also lose his law license. The judge handed

down the full sentence requested by prosecutors despite arguments from the

defense for half that time in prison.

Scruggs was indicted in November along with his son and a law partner after

an associate wore a wire for the FBI and secretly recorded conversations about

the bribe plan. Prosecutors said he wanted a favorable ruling in a dispute over

$26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina

insurance cases.

By The Associated Press

The Dow fell 106.91, or 0.93 percent, to 11,346.51, compounding Thursday's

358-point skid. The blue chip index is down 19.9 percent from its record high

close of 14,164.53 in October, and is on the verge of the 20 percent pullback

that is considered the threshold for a bear market.

Broader stock indicators also closed lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index

fell 4.77, or 0.37 percent, to 1,278.38. The S&P, the index most closely watched

by market professionals, is down 18.3 percent from its October high.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 5.74, or 0.25 percent, to 2,315.63.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose as high as $142.99 a barrel on

the New York Mercantile Exchange before pulling back sharply in a spate of

late-day profit-taking to settle up 57 cents at a record $140.21. On Thursday,

the contract shot past $140 and rose more than $5 to a new settlement record.

In other Nymex trading Friday, July gasoline futures fell 1.01 cents to

settle at $3.5012 a gallon after earlier rising to a trading record of $3.585.

July heating oil futures rose 2.32 cents to settle at $3.9066 a gallon. August

natural gas futures fell 5 cents to settle at $13.198 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude futures rose 48 cents to settle at $140.31 a barrel

on the ICE Futures exchange.



Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be

published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.















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