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Overview: Central banks slash rates but mood still grim A series of aggressive interest rate cuts by European central banks failed to lift the mood in financial markets on Thursday as investors continued to fret about the global economic and corporate outlook
Retailers bring rare bright note to Wall Street Retailers gave bulls a faint glimmer of hope as the sector helped Wall Street stocks pare losses in spite of a glut of bleak sales figures.
U.S. stocks record light losses U.S. stocks were easier Thursday after a week of major gains.
Oil tumbles below $44; gas hits new low
Bernanke On Housing: 'More Needs To Be Done' Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls on the government to ramp up efforts to stem home foreclosures.
No More Bratz, Barbie Back In Dollhouse A Riverside federal judge has ordered the maker of the popular Bratz dolls to stop making the toys and remove them from store shelves.
Delta Air Lines, Northwest November traffic falls SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. said Thursday that November traffic fell 4.9% to 8.91 billion revenue passenger miles from 9.36 billion a year ago. November traffic at the company's recently acquired Northwest Airlines dropped 7.4% to 5.67 billion revenue passenger miles from 6.13 billion a year ago. A revenue passenger mile equals one passenger flown one mile. November capacity at Delta fell 5.3% to 11.5 billion available seat miles, and at Northwest it dropped 4.7% to 7.08 billion available seat miles from a year ago. Load factor, or the percentage of available seats filled with passengers, in November rose to 77.4% from 77.1% at Delta, and fell to 80.1% from 82.4% at Northwest. Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
Windstream to shed 170 jobs to cut costs SAN FRANCSICO (MarketWatch) -- Windstream Corp. said Thursday it is shedding 170 jobs, or about 2% of its workforce, to reduce costs. The company plans to complete the cuts in the first quarter of 2009, and will take a $6 million charge in the fourth quarter for severance benefits. Windstream currently has about 7,400 employees. Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
Constellation Energy to cut 8% of workforce: report SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Constellation Energy Group will cut about 8% of its workforce, or about 800 jobs, mostly in its commodities trading group, Reuters reported Thursday. The cuts are intended to reduce the company's commodity trading risk, a Constellation spokesman told Reuters. Constellation currently has competing bids to be acquired by Electricite de France and Berkshire Hathaway's [s:brkb] MidAmerican Energy Holdings. Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
House to hold oversight hearing on bank bailout next week WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Treasury officials will be summoned to a House hearing next Wednesday to answer for how they've run the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, the House Financial Services Committee announced Thursday. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, has been highly critical of the Treasury's handling of the TARP. On Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office said the Treasury had no way of knowing if the banks were using the money properly. No witnesses for the hearing have been announced yet. Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
Automaker collapse may undo financial rescue, Levin says WASHINGTON -- A new twist in the argument for a rescue plan to help Detroit's automakers will be the effect their potential collapse could have on the country's financial markets. Noting that Congress and the Bush administration came together to authorize a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street this fall, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, said today as hearings for the automakers' rescue plans got under way that if General Motors, Ford Motor or Chrysler LLC are allowed to fail, it could have devastating effects not only on the economy but some of those same financial markets helped already. The reason, he said, is the huge amount in corporate bonds issued by GM and Ford that would be vulnerable if the companies fail. "The financial institutions will be badly damaged if there's a default," said Levin. He spoke shortly after GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner pulled up to a Senate office building for today's hearing in a Chevy Cruze outfitted with the electric/gasoline engine aimed at powering the company's plug-in hybrid Volt, which represents a big part of its future plans. Ford chief Alan Mulally and Chrysler's Robert Nardelli also were attending today's hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on the automakers' requests for $34 billion in bridge loans to get through the current fiscal crisis. Wagoner said his company needs help by the end of the year. "We're sorry to be asking for this support. We wish the market conditions were better," he said. "They're not." The nation can't afford to watch the auto industry fail, he said, not only because of the impact it would have on the economy -- one estimate has as many as 3 million jobs tied directly or indirectly to the domestic car and truck makers -- but because it will ruin the country's chances of developing the alternative energy vehicles of the future, ceding that ground and the profit that will come from it to overseas competitors. "I think it's very important for the U.S. to have a home team in this global auto industry," he said. "It would be a shame for the U.S. to fall out of that race." Said Nardelli: "I can tell you in my 38 years of business, I have never attended a more important congressional session, where more is riding on the House and Senate hopefully making an informed decision." On Friday, the House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to hear from the automakers -- as well as suppliers and dealers who could go out of business if the auto industry fails. Many of those same witnesses are testifying today in the Senate, in advance of what could be a special session of Congress next week to authorize the loans for the industry. GM and Chrysler have said they could fail in the short-term without help. And while bankruptcy is seen as a viable option by some of the industry's critics, supporters say that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to maintain sales and build consumer confidence while in bankruptcy proceedings. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repeated concerns that there aren't enough votes in his chamber to authorize taking the money from the $700 billion bailout authorized for Wall Street's financial institutions -- as some supporters of the auto industry have proposed -- with the Bush White House opposed to that. But Levin of Detroit and his brother, Rep. Sander Levin , D-Dearborn, said first things first: They need to get everyone behind the idea that something must be done to save the industry. Then, they said, Congress, the White House and President-elect Barack Obama need to settle on the source of the funding. That widespread support for helping the industry was clearly lacking when the automakers came to Washington asking for help two weeks ago, only to be sent home and told to come up with plans justifying their requests and showing how they would survive and thrive in the future. Those plans were delivered to Congress on Tuesday. "The 'how' will be the focus after the hearings today and tomorrow," said Sander Levin.
Economist: At least 90,000 in Mich. will lose jobs in '09 Michigan will lose 225,000 jobs - 5 percent of its total payroll - next year if two of the Detroit automakers file for bankruptcy, Comerica Bank's chief economist warned in his latest report on the state's economy. Even if the auto companies succeed in winning loans from the federal government, Dana Johnson estimates that Michigan will still lose about 90,000 jobs, or a little more than 2 percent of its payroll, with 30,000 of the lost positions related directly to the auto industry. Johnson expects Michigan to undergo its sixth consecutive year of recession in 2009 because of the continued restructuring efforts at the Detroit Three automakers. "The endurance of the citizens of the state is going to be sorely tested," he wrote in his report. "But as the above numbers on potential job loss so clearly indicate, it will be a far more daunting test if the Detroit Three fail to win a government rescue package." If two of Detroit's automakers seek bankruptcy protection, Michigan would lose 75,000 auto and auto parts manufacturing jobs next year. That's about half of the total number that currently exist in the state. In the first 10 months of this year, Michigan has lost 32,000 auto and auto parts manufacturing jobs. That's a 17 percent decline, the biggest percentage job loss on record, according to Johnson. Over the past eight years, the state has shed 170,000 auto and auto parts manufacturing jobs. Johnson acknowledged that the auto industry generated only about 5 percent of Michigan's gross domestic product. However, the industry still accounts for about 4 percent of the state's total non-farm jobs, an amount six times larger than the national average.
Costco, Nordstrom among retailers reporting November sales declines Retailers - with Wal-Mart the notable exception - limped through a miserable November that even a surge of shopping after Thanksgiving couldn't save, marking the weakest month since at least 1969.
Portland scales back green building plan
Stimulus package lifts Argentine stocks higher
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