News money 2008-06-22 Andanh.com

Yarmuth, Pelosi tour Ford plant before campaign stop Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:24:00 EST
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hopped behind the wheel of Ford's prototype Escape plug-in hybrid SUV yesterday on a visit to the automaker's Louisville Assembly Plant and declared herself impressed.

The other oil fuels slick savings Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:27:00 EST
When Larry Greenwell fills up his diesel-engine Volkswagen Beetle, he can laugh all the way to the tank. While diesel fuel averaged about $4.65 per gallon late last week in Kentucky, Greenwell's 2006 VW runs on used cooking oil that he buys for about $2 a gallon.

Wiener war pits Kraft vs. Sara Lee Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:24:00 EST
America's two largest hot dog makers are waging a wiener war as grills fire up this summer, hoping to win over customers and secure the No. 1 spot atop the stagnating market.

Recall followed risky processes Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:23:00 EST
While the Topps Meat Co. churned out millions of frozen hamburgers a month, beef ground was often stored and "reworked" with meat from another day's production cycle, government documents show.

Turning up sales volume Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:18:00 EST
Tapping on fake instruments and screeching into microphones connected to video-game consoles have become lucrative for both the music and gaming industries.

YouTube: Next big focus group Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:17:00 EST
Three days after Weezer posted its music video "Pork & Beans" on YouTube, 2.2 million people had watched it. And 65 percent of them were men. The heavily male demographic surprised the band's marketing team, which three months ago wouldn't have been able to find out about the gender, or much else, of the people clicking on one of Weezer's videos.

Islamic lenders can provide alternatives Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:19:00 EST
The mortgage industry may be in meltdown, but at least one class of lender appears to be flourishing: Islamic finance companies that offer Muslim home buyers alternative arrangements such as lease-to-own deals so they can avoid making the sort of interest payments that many believe their religion forbids.

Mortgages shouldn't last through a lifetime Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:21:00 EST
It would have shaken my dear, deceased grandmother to her financial core. The headline read: "Mortgages No Longer a Stigma in Retirement." That was the finding of the third annual "Affluent Boomers at 60" survey conducted by Bell Investment Advisors.

Investing to fight inflation shouldn't be only aim Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:21:00 EST
Surging costs for gasoline and food might elicit the most groans about rising prices, but inflation can also tax a portfolio. Investors who aren't mindful can find the composition of their holdings makes about as much sense as a fuel-hogging SUV.

Professional installation to stay Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:22:00 EST
The Home Depot doesn't expect future growth for its professional in-home installation service, but Chief Executive Frank Blake has vowed that the Atlanta company would not abandon the struggling business.

Ford delays new F-150 until late fall Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
Ford Motor Co. will delay introduction of its new F-150 pickup truck by two months and further cut production, including at both its Louisville plants, because of the declining market for pickups and sport utility vehicles, the automaker announced Friday.

Ford will cut one shift at its Louisville Assembly Plant, which makes midsize SUVs, in the third quarter. And the assembly line speed will be reduced at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville in the third quarter. The plant makes large pickups.

Ford also said its 2008 automotive financial results this year will be worse than in 2007, when the company posted an overall net loss of $2.7 billion. Its shares fell more than 6 percent in morning trading.

The company said it expects industrywide U.S. sales this year to drop to a range of 14.7 million and 15.2 million units. Ford previously had predicted 15 million to 15.4 million units.

Because of that, Ford also said Friday it will cut third-quarter production by another 50,000 vehicles. It now plans to produce 475,000 vehicles, 25 percent fewer than the third quarter of last year.

Business notes Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:19 EDT
KENTUCKY

TOYOTA CUTS TO AFFECT KY. PLANT

The decision by Toyota Motor Corp. to slow production of pickups and sport utility vehicles at its Princeton, Ind., plant this summer will likely impact Owensboro's Dana plant. Frames for the Toyota Tundra have been made at the Owensboro plant since 1999. The Sequoia line was added the following year. Toyota reported sales of 12,144 Tundras in May, down from an all-time high of 17,727 during the same month last year. But the company said 3,575 Sequoias were sold in May, a 75 percent increase over May 2007.

NATIONAL

CHINESE STEEL PIPE IMPORTS CAN BE TAXED

Standstill on the Mississippi Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
The flooding in the Midwest has brought freight traffic on the upper Mississippi to a standstill, stranding more than 100 barges loaded with grain, cement, scrap metal, fertilizer and other products while shippers wait for the water to drop on the Big Muddy.

"We're basically experiencing total shutdown," said Larry Daily, president of Alter Barge Line Inc. of Bettendorf, Iowa.

While the bottleneck is costing him and other barge operators tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue per day, June is a slow shipping period on the river compared with the late-summer harvest. Also, the shutdown is expected to last only a few weeks, and it involves primarily non-perishable goods.

Among the freight being held up: corn and soybeans headed downstream for New Orleans, where grain is loaded onto ships for export. Construction supplies and petroleum products headed upstream on the Mississippi are not getting through either.

Because of the high water, the Army Corps of Engineers has closed nine locks along the upper Mississippi since June 12. That has stopped all traffic through the locks along a 225-mile stretch between Illinois City, Ill., and Winfield, Mo., northwest of St. Louis.

Wall Street balks as Fed's tightrope gets thinner Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:19 EDT
After the Federal Reserve's meeting this week, the Fed policymakers are expected to voice a tough stance on inflation. Talk about poor timing.

Though Wall Street's inflation concerns have not abated - crude oil remains above $134 a barrel - worries about the health of the U.S. financial system and broader economy have returned in force.

Last week, Citigroup Inc. warned that it expects substantial debt losses in the second quarter; two bond insurers lost their Moody's "AAA" rating; Fifth Third Bancorp said it needs to raise $2 billion in capital; the broker MF Global said widening credit spreads will dampen its profit.

This means the market is going to have a hard time stomaching any hint from policymakers that an interest rate hike is on the way. When borrowing gets more expensive, the economy tends to get even more anemic.

"I don't know that there's anything they can say in their policy statement that would cause the market to breathe a sigh of relief, or cause a big updraft in the market," said Richard Sparks, a senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati. "The best they could do is remain neutral. ... But I agree with most people that they're more likely to emphasize price pressures rather than the potentially weakening economy."

Oil minister: Saudi willing to increase crude output Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:04 EDT
Facing strong U.S. pressure and global dismay over oil prices, Saudi Arabia said Sunday it will produce more crude this year if the market needs it. But the vague pledge fell far short of U.S. hopes for a specific increase and may do little to lower prices immediately.

For now, the current "oil shock" leaves Western countries with little choice but to move toward nuclear power and change their energy-consumption habits, Britain's prime minister warned at a rare meeting of oil-producing and consuming nations.

Saudi Arabia - the world's top crude exporter - called the gathering Sunday to send a message that it, too, is concerned by high oil prices inflicting economic pain worldwide.

Instead, the meeting highlighted the sharp disagreement between producers like Saudi Arabia and consuming countries like Britain and the United States over the core factors driving steep price hikes. Oil closed near $135 a barrel on Friday - almost double the price a year ago.

The cost of gasoline also has become a sore point in the U.S. presidential race, with President Bush and presumed Republican nominee John McCain calling on Congress to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has said such moves will do nothing to ease American consumers' pain short-term.

Record corn prices mean more expensive meat, dairy Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:29 EDT
Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are about to give consumers more grief at the grocery store.

In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed.

The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyward on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop. The government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost before the end of the month, but experts say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams.

Rod Brenneman, president and chief executive of Seaboard Foods, a pork supplier in Sawnee Mission, Kan. that produces 4 million hogs a year, said high corn costs were already forcing producers in his industry to cut back on the number of animals they raise.

"There's definitely liquidation of livestock happening," and that will cause meat prices to rise later this year and into 2009, said Brenneman, who is also the vice chairman of the American Meat Institute.

Auction of lunch with Warren Buffett starts Sunday Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:49 EDT
It's anyone's guess how high the bidding will go this year when the chance to have lunch with investor Warren Buffett is put up for sale.

The online bidding begins at $25,000 on Sunday evening. A year ago, two investors paid $650,100 for the chance to have lunch with the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.

The auction begins at 7 p.m. Pacific Sunday and continues until 7 p.m. Pacific on Friday.

This will be the sixth year Buffett auctions a lunch on eBay and donates the proceeds to Glide.

Prosecutors say SC scammers took $80M Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:19 EDT
The three men, claiming to have been rescued from financial ruin by divine intervention, went to homes and churches across North and South Carolina spreading tales of financial rescue. With an investment of just pennies on the dollar, they promised an end to credit card debt, mortgages and hefty car loans.

And word of the "3 Hebrew Boys" spread. Small meetings in living rooms grew to fill church meeting halls and hotel ballrooms, with followers wooed, authorities now say, by promises of massive returns from investments in foreign currencies.

Tony Pough, Timothy McQueen and Joseph Brunson - three men who attend church together - created their endeavor in 2005 and named it after a tale in the Bible of three people who were thrown into a fiery furnace but spared because of their faith in God. Stories of their investment plan spread quickly thanks to believers who recruited new clients on military bases and in churches.

By the time authorities moved in, at least 7,000 investors from two dozen states had handed over $80 million. But barely any of it was invested - less than $40,000, according to state and federal officials - while the men bought a jet, luxury cars and tickets to football games, court documents show.

A federal grand jury indicted the men on 35 counts of mail fraud Friday and they were charged with securities fraud in state court last September. A judge has frozen $17 million the Hebrew Boys had in bank accounts and that money remains in limbo as the men await trial, which means investors aren't able to collect any money until the case is resolved.

Chinese Dir