News money 2008-07-10 Andanh.com

Northwest to cut 2,500 jobs as fuel costs climb Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:30:00 EST
Northwest Airlines said yesterday it will cut 2,500 jobs because of high oil prices, and will soon begin charging $15 to check luggage and up to $100 to redeem a frequent-flier award ticket.

Uneasy investors still bearish Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:33:00 EST
Wall Street tumbled yesterday as investors grappled with renewed worries about the soundness of the financial sector. The major indexes fell more than 2 percent.

Quick vote on steroids likely Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:39:00 EST
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission created last week by Gov. Steve Beshear could vote as soon as this summer on a rule that would ban most anabolic steroids in thoroughbred racing and regulate others.

Suit reinstated against Ford Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:33:00 EST
A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit alleging that Ford used an earlier model engine known to have problems in its 2004 F-250 Series Super Duty trucks.

FTC may back off nicotine, tar guide Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:30:00 EST
The Federal Trade Commission says it no longer considers reliable a test for tar and nicotine used for more than 40 years and touted by the tobacco industry in marketing "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes.

Portugal and Nissan-Renault forge a new electric alliance Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:32:00 EST
The Nissan-Renault auto alliance has won the support of the Portuguese government for its efforts to demonstrate that a mass market for electric cars is possible.

Q: Is a home equity loan tax deductible? Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:32:00 EST
A: Typically, the interest you pay each year on a home equity loan can be deducted from the income used to calculate your income tax.

Business People Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:44:00 EST
Professional services, financial services, real estate and board member announcements are in today's Business People. Submit new items at courier-journal.com/businesspeople Sign up for the daily Business People newsletter at courier-journal.com/newsletters.

Pizza Hut, Taco Bell seen as boosting Yum Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:31:00 EST
A strong performance at Pizza Hut and Taco Bell will boost domestic profit in the second quarter at Louisville-based Yum! Brands, a UBS analyst wrote to clients yesterday.

Abu Dhabi fund buys Chrysler Building stake Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:34:00 EST
An Abu Dhabi investment fund has bought a 75 percent stake in New York's Chrysler Building.

Home foreclosures down in Kentucky Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:03 EDT

Home foreclosure filings declined nearly 2 percent in Kentucky and 3 percent nationwide in June, RealtyTrac said Thursday.

As a result, Kentucky improved to 39th from 38th among the states in the California firm's monthly national rankings of the states, from highest percentage of foreclosures to lowest.

Compared with June 2007, Kentucky foreclosures were down 9.2 percent last month, RealtyTrac said, but the national total was up 53.3 percent.

With 252,363 new filings, .June was the second straight month with more than a quarter-million properties nationwide receiving foreclosure filings,. said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.

Toyota making US manufacturing changes Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:13 EDT
Toyota Motor Corp. will start producing the hybrid Prius in the U.S. for the first time as the Japanese automaker adjusts its U.S. manufacturing operations to meet customer demands for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The company said Thursday it will start producing the Prius in 2010 at a plant it is building in Blue Springs, Miss. Toyota already builds a hybrid version of the Camry sedan in Kentucky, but this will be the first time the Prius, which has been on sale for more than a decade, will be built outside of Asia.

The company also said it will suspend production of the Toyota Tundra pickup at its San Antonio truck plant and the Toyota Sequoia sport utility vehicle at its Princeton, Ind., plant for three months starting Aug. 8 because of declining demand. Next spring, it will stop producing Tundras in Princeton and will consolidate all truck production in San Antonio.

The Princeton plant will now make the Toyota Highlander SUV, which originally was scheduled to be made in Mississippi.

Toyota said it made the moves as U.S. demand for trucks and SUVs continues to decline. Toyota's U.S. sales fell 21 percent in June compared with the year before, an even steeper decline than the industrywide slump of 18 percent. Sales of the Tundra were down 54 percent while sales of the Prius fell 34 percent as Toyota failed to keep up with growing demand.

Playing card company moving to Kentucky Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

CINCINNATI . Kentucky is being dealt a winning hand by the company considered the world's largest maker of playing cards.

After more than 100 years in the close-in Cincinnati suburb of Norwood, United States Playing Card Co. has announced that it's moving its headquarters, manufacturing facility and distribution center across the Ohio River to Northern Kentucky.

The company will take 500 jobs when it relocates to a 570,000-square-foot building near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Vice president of operations Jim Owen said Tuesday that the company needs room to expand and wanted a more energy-efficient building. U.S. Playing Card will move into a building formerly used as a Gap Inc. warehouse in Boone County.

Appeals court reinstates lawsuit over Ford engine Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

LOUISVILLE . A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit alleging that Ford used an earlier model engine known to have problems in its 2004 F-250 Series Super Duty trucks.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Wednesday that Kenneth E. Corder Sr. of Louisville could pursue the suit against Ford. The court split 2-1 in favor of Corder, finding that, under the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act, Corder suffered an .ascertainable loss of money or property..

.The engine in the 2003 F-250 truck was notorious for its deficiencies, which were widely publicized, including .leaky fuel injectors, oil leaks, broken turbochargers, wiring harness troubles, faulty sensors, defective exhaust gas recirculation valves and bad computers,'. Judge William Schwarzer wrote for the panel.

Judge David McKeague said the two-judge majority misinterpreted Kentucky's law as it applied to Corder's case.

Report: Man died of overwork Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

TOKYO . A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.

The man who died was 45 years old, and he had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City, where the company is based.

In the two months before his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ische.mic heart disease in January 2006. The man's daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

Business Notes Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

Kentucky

Ceradyne to buy SemEquip to expand semiconductor business

Ceradyne Inc. is buying SemEquip Inc. for $25 .million in cash and as much as $100 million in contingency .payments over 15 years based on SemEquip's revenues. In its announcement Wednesday, Ceradyne said it will take a pre-tax charge of $9 million to $11 million when the acquisition occurs because of incentive payments to SemEquip employees and advisors. SemEquip is privately held and based in North Billerica, Mass. It develops cluster ion subsystems and advanced ion source materials used in logic and memory chips. The company also has a .significant. patent portfolio related to cluster chemicals in semiconductor ion implantation, Ceradyne said. The acquisition will expand Ceradyne's boron products and semiconductor .businesses. The acquisition is expected to occur in about 30 days, pending approval by SemEquip shareholders. .Ceradyne is publicly owned and based in Costa Mesa, Calif. It has two ceramics products plants in Lexington. Ceradyne's stock trades on Nasdaq as CRDN.

Analyst urges caution on electric car proposal Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:01 EDT

SHEPHERDSVILLE . As Kentucky politicians stumble over themselves to tout a three-wheeled electric car as a financial boon to the state and their gas price-weary constituents, an industry analyst suggests they use caution.

Two Republican state senators urged Gov. Steve Beshear Wednesday to sign an executive order allowing the use of three-wheeled electric vehicles on Kentucky roads except interstates in hopes of landing a ZAP electric-car factory for Integrity Manufacturing in Bullitt County that might employ up to 1,000 people.

But some skeptics say the Santa Rosa, Calif.,-based company known as ZAP, which currently makes the Zero Air Pollution cars in China, has a history of over-promising and under-delivering.

ZAP strongly denies the criticism and claims it stems from its competitors.

Fed chief: Empower financial regulators Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:48 EDT
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress Thursday that new regulatory powers are needed to insulate the national economy from damage if a big Wall Street firm collapses.

Their recommendations were part of a broader debate before the House Financial Services Committee about the best ways to revamp the country's antiquated regulatory system. The idea is to brace the system to better respond to modern-day crises like the housing and credit debacles that have badly bruised the economy.

Both Bernanke and Paulson endorsed creating new procedures by which the government can guide an orderly liquidation of a failing investment bank in an effort to minimize any fallout that might be inflicted on the broader financial system and the overall economy. Such procedures, which are in place for commercial banks, might have made the dissolution of investment firm Bear Stearns more orderly.

"In light of the Bear Stearns episode, Congress may wish to consider whether new tools are needed for ensuring an orderly liquidation of a systemically important securities firm that is on the verge of bankruptcy, together with a more formal process for deciding when to use those tools," Bernanke said.

Paulson, who recently laid out such a proposal, said: "It is clear that some institutions, if they fail, can have a systemic impact." However, financial players need to be disciplined in managing risk and not expect the government to fly to their rescue, he added. "For market discipline to effectively constrain risk, financial institutions must be allowed to fail," he said.

Stocks trade mixed amid concerns about financials Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:43 EDT
Stocks fluctuated Thursday as worries about the financial sector offset enthusiasm over better-than-expected sales from discounters and an agreement for Dow Chemical Co. to acquire rival Rohm and Haas Co.

Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fell sharply because of continued concerns about their access to financing. Shares in the two government-chartered companies have struggled of late on worries that they will be forced to sell more new shares than anticipated to compensate for losses from the housing slump.

Fannie shares fell more than 16 percent and Freddie shares dropped nearly 30 percent. Investment banks were also weak; Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. fell $2.82, or 14.3 percent, to $16.92.

The declines in financials came after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress that the market can't expect the government to bail out troubled financial companies.

"For market discipline to effectively constrain risk, financial institution must be allowed to fail," he said.

Senate bows to Bush, approves surveillance bill Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:34 EDT
Bowing to President Bush's demands, the Senate approved and sent the White House a bill Wednesday to overhaul bitterly disputed rules on secret government eavesdropping and shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans.

The relatively one-sided vote, 69-28, came only after a lengthy and heated debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks. It ended almost a year of wrangling in the Democratic-led Congress over surveillance rules and the president's warrantless wiretapping program that was initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The House passed the same bill last month, and Bush said he would sign it soon.

Opponents assailed the eavesdropping program, asserting that it imperiled citizens' rights of privacy from government intrusion. But Bush said the legislation protects those rights as well as Americans' security.

"This bill will help our intelligence professionals learn who the terrorists are talking to, what they're saying and what they're planning," he said in a brief White House appearance after the Senate vote.

Stocks rise following retail reports, buyout news Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:15 EDT
Stocks are opening higher as investors examine better-than-expected sales reports from discounters and a $15 billion buyout for Rohm and Haas Co. by Dow Chemical Co.

But continued worries about the financial sector and rising oil prices appear at times to be weighing on investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 34 at the 11,182 level.

Easing the way to paying bills online Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

Companies have long been trying to get us to pay bills online. Some offer cash rewards or bonus points on credit cards to those who .go green.. Here are some ways to ease the transition:

Alerts: Set up as many statement alerts as the company allows.

Automatic payments: To ensure that you don't overlook a payment alert, arrange for your bank account to be automatically drafted . at least for the minimum payment.

Banking convenience: Find out whether your bank allows you to view bills on its site. That saves the hassle of going from site to site.

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