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Ford, Subaru, VW win insurance industry picks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen lead the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.
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Consumer prices up 0.3 percent in October
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices edged up slightly faster than expected in October, driven higher by another increase in energy prices and the biggest jump in new car prices in 28 years.
Still, prices are lower than they were a year ago and inflation is expected to remain subdued as the economy struggles to emerge from a deep recession.
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Home construction plunges 10.6 percent in October
WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes unexpectedly plunged last month, as builders waited to see whether lawmakers would extend a tax credit for homebuyers.
The results underscore how much the housing market has been relying on government support for its fledgling recovery. The tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time owners was due to expire on Nov. 30, but Congress voted to extend it earlier this month and expand it to more buyers, after intense pressure from real estate agents and homebuilders.
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Oil up near $80 as US crude supplies drop
Oil prices extended gains to near $80 a barrel Wednesday, supported by a weaker dollar and as a report showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude supplies, suggesting demand could be improving.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for December delivery was up 70 cents to $79.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 24 cents to settle at $79.14 on Tuesday.
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UPS pegs Dec. 21 as busiest day of 2009
ATLANTA (AP) — UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, expects to deliver roughly 22 million small packages on its busiest day this year — projected to be Dec. 21.
UPS, based in Atlanta, said Monday that's about a 40 percent increase over normal daily delivery volumes.
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Retail sales rise 1.4 percent in October
WASHINGTON (AP) — Retail sales rose more than expected in October due largely to a big rebound in auto sales. But broader consumer spending remains under pressure, raising questions about the durability of the recovery.
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House panel votes for new rating agency rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Financial Services Committee has voted to set new rules for credit rating agencies, which lawmakers say misled investors by giving high marks to risky securities tied to subprime mortgages.
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New home sales fall 3.6 percent
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a soon-to-expire tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales fell 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from a downwardly revised 417,000 in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 440,000.
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UN climate chief doubts full treaty this year
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Reaching a final global warming treaty will be impossible this year, but the principles of a deal must be settled at a conference in December, the U.N.'s top climate official said Wednesday.
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Heating oil, natural gas prices rise in October
NEW YORK (AP) — Sparked by a cold snap in the northeast, home heating fuels are getting more expensive even though supplies are well above normal for this time of year.
Heating oil futures spiked with crude oil contracts last week. Retail prices followed, surging an average of 10.2 cents per gallon for residential customers on Monday, according to an Energy Information Administration report released Thursday.
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Navy's newest warships top out at more than 50 mph
BATH, Maine (AP) — The Navy's need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea.
Independence, a 418-foot warship built in Alabama, boasts a top speed in excess of 45 knots, or about 52 mph, and sustained 44 knots for four hours during builder trials that wrapped up this month off the Gulf Coast. The 378-foot Freedom, a ship built in Wisconsin by a competing defense contractor, has put up similar numbers.
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Panel says NASA should skip moon, fly elsewhere
WASHINGTON (AP) — A special independent panel says NASA's plan to revisit the moon is the wrong mission with the wrong rocket.
Norman Augustine (Aw-Gus-TEEN) is chairman of the panel reviewing the agency's spaceflight plans. He said it makes more sense for NASA to consider landing on nearby asteroid or one of the moons of Mars. He said that could be done sooner than returning to the moon in 15 years as NASA has outlined.
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Ambulances start charging extra for obese patients
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The memory still bothers Ken Keller: A panicked ambulance crew had a critically ill patient, but the man weighed more than 1,000 pounds and could not fit inside the vehicle. And the stretcher wasn't sturdy enough to hold him.
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Delta reports $161 million 3Q loss
ATLANTA (AP) — Delta Air Lines Inc. will cut system capacity 3 percent next year and plans to shed more jobs, as it reported a quarterly loss Thursday bigger than a year ago. Executives were hesitant to say when the world's largest airline will grow again amid an economic recovery that is only starting to take shape.
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Microsoft hopes for a fresh start with Windows 7
SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft Corp. finally got its chance to reboot its reputation Thursday, launching a new edition of Windows that it hopes will encourage more PC buyers to get back into stores.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer celebrated the arrival of Windows 7 in New York with a few hundred people who had helped test early versions of the software that runs PCs. One of them, technology consultant, Jonathan Kay, flew from Toronto to attend.
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DJ industrials pass 10,000 for 1st time in a year
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average is back above 10,000 for the first time in a year.
The Dow has crossed five figures seven months after it hit a 12-year low of 6,547.05 on March 9. The comeback by the stock market's best-known indicator is the most visible sign yet that investors believe the economy is indeed recovering from the financial crisis and recession.
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House panel begins push on financial overhaul
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key House panel moved to tighten rules on previously unregulated financial instruments Wednesday, a long-awaited step toward governing the obscure and complex transactions at the heart of the troubles that befell some of Wall Street's most well-known financial houses
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Watchdog: Treasury and Fed failed in AIG oversight
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is "ultimately responsible" for regulators failing to rein in massive bonus payments at American International Group because he led the agencies that provided AIG's lifelines.
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FAA proposes fines against United, US Airways
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration wants to levy multimillion dollar penalties on United Airlines and US Airways for safety violations.
The FAA said Wednesday it has proposed a $5.4 million fine against US Airways for operating eight planes on a total of 1,647 flights from October 2008 to January 2009 in violation of safety directives or the company's own maintenance rules.
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UK: Overseas banks sign up to bank bonus rules
LONDON (AP) — Major overseas banks operating in London have agreed to implement new rules on bank bonuses approved at the Group of 20 nations meeting in Pittsburgh, Britain's Treasury office said Wednesday.
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P&G's new CEO McDonald seeks 1B more customers
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Procter & Gamble Co.'s new CEO wants to fire up growth by adding a billion new customers for products such as Pampers diapers and Gillette shavers around the globe over the next five years.
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Colo. minimum wage to drop as living costs fall
DENVER (AP) — Colorado officials say the state will become the first to lower its minimum wage because of a falling cost of living.
The state Department of Labor and Employment has ordered the wage to drop to $7.24 from $7.28, effective Jan. 1. But that's lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, so minimum wage workers would lose only 3 cents an hour.
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Nearly half of swine flu patients were healthy
ATLANTA (AP) — The largest U.S. analysis of adult hospitalized swine flu patients has found that 46 percent did not have asthma or any other underlying condition.
Health officials looked at 1,400 adult swine flu hospitalizations in 10 states. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official released some of the details at a Tuesday press conference.
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Fearful or greedy about stocks? This might help
AMSTERDAM (AP) — It's said that greed pushes investors to buy stocks when they're overpriced, while fear drives sales when stocks are at or near a bottom.
With that in mind, Philips Electronics has teamed up with a prominent Dutch bank to develop a system of warning home traders when they're about to make a decision to buy or sell stocks while feeling overly emotional. It's called "The Rationalizer," and a test model is on display at an innovation summit in Brussels this week.
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Ship built with WTC steel sails for namesake city
AVONDALE, La. (AP) — A Navy assault ship built with tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center towers began its journey to New York on Tuesday, sailing down the Mississippi River in a pea-soup fog as watchers along the levee strained for a glimpse.
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Report: Oil demand peaked in 2005 for West
NEW YORK (AP) — An international energy think tank says oil demand in developed countries likely peaked in 2005, well before the recession sent crude prices plummeting.
IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates said Tuesday that oil consumption started to slump four years ago as consumers bought more efficient vehicles and countries expanded their use of alternative fuels like ethanol. Vehicle ownership also has leveled off in the developed world, as has the number of women in the workplace, CERA said.
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Oil prices near a new high for the year
Oil prices neared new highs for the year Tuesday as the dollar slipped against other major currencies, demonstrating how much the weakened U.S. currency can affect consumers globally.
The U.S. dollar index, where the U.S. currency is measured against other major currencies, hit a 14-month low Tuesday. Because crude is bought and sold in dollars, it essentially becomes cheaper for international investors who have flooded into energy markets despite a big surplus of oil.
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Cisco to buy Starent Networks for $2.9B
NEW YORK (AP) — Betting on the growing popularity of data-hungry phones like the iPhone, Cisco Systems Inc. said Tuesday it had agreed to pay $2.9 billion for Starent Networks Corp., a maker of equipment for wireless carriers.
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China auto sales jump 78 percent in September
SHANGHAI (AP) — China's vehicle sales vaulted 78 percent in September from a year earlier, widening a lead over the U.S. as the world's top auto market, with sales spurred by tax cuts and government stimulus spending.
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Ohio AG takes lead role in Bank of America lawsuit
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Bank of America Corp. executives improperly concealed billions of dollars in losses and billions in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch before a shareholder vote on their proposed merger, Ohio's attorney general argued in a class-action securities lawsuit he described as among the largest in history.
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Gas dips below $2.50 for first time in 2 months
The average retail price for gasoline dipped below $2.50 a gallon for the first time in two months Monday as swelling oil supplies and slumping demand overshadowed even a fire at a major U.S. refinery.
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Job losses, early retirements hurt Social Security
WASHINGTON (AP) — Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s.
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THE INFLUENCE GAME: Health interests fund senators
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Max Baucus, a leader in the troubled effort in Congress to write a health care overhaul bill, has received more campaign donations from the health industry than any elected federal official except President Barack Obama and three other senators.
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Senate's 10-year health fix would cost US $856B
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Max Baucus on Wednesday released the much-awaited Finance Committee version of an American health-system remake — a landmark $856 billion, 10-year measure that starts a rough ride through Congress without visible Republican backing.
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Gov't has made 70 percent of clunker payments
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says it's paid dealers compensation for 70 percent of the cars sold under the Cash for Clunkers program.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the National Automobile Dealers Association on Wednesday that 478,000 of the nearly 700,000 car vouchers have been paid, or about $2.4 billion.
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Foreign demand for long-term US securities falls
WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign demand for long-term U.S. financial assets fell in July, but China boosted its holdings, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
Foreigners purchased $15.3 billion more assets than they sold in July. Still, that's a steep decline from June, when they purchased $90.7 billion more than they sold.
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US ind. production better-than-expected in August
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. factories made more cars, clothing and other goods than expected in August, and inflation remained in check in the early stages of a broad economic recovery.
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that output at the nation's factories, mines and utilities rose 0.8 percent in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a 0.6 percent increase. Last month's gain marked the second straight increase after the global recession dried up the appetites of customers worldwide.
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Industrials, utilities pull stocks higher
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks clawed back from early losses to post moderate gains as traders funneled money into utilities and industrial stocks.
Major market indexes ended at their highest levels in nearly a year.
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Natural gas prices jump 13 percent
Natural gas demonstrated again how much it has split from the direction of crude, as prices spiked more than 13 percent despite an enormous glut in supply.
Crude prices fell for the second straight trading day.
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Showerheads may harbor bacteria dangerous to some
WASHINGTON (AP) — In what may be the scariest shower news since Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," a study says showerheads can harbor tiny bacteria that come spraying into your face when you wash.
People with normal immune systems have little to fear, but these microbes could be a concern for folks with cystic fibrosis or AIDS, people who are undergoing cancer treatment or those who have had a recent organ transplant.
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Near deadline, health care negotiators pare costs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate health care negotiators said Monday they've cut the cost of their 10-year coverage plan to under $880 billion, but they're not ready to shake hands yet on a bipartisan deal.
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Feds urge small businesses to prepare for H1N1
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials said Monday small business owners should be prepared to operate with fewer employees this fall as swine flu spreads across the country.
The Department of Homeland Security is issuing guidelines on combating swine flu to small businesses, which employ about half the workers in the U.S. private sector.
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China files WTO complaint on US tire tariffs
BEIJING (AP) — As Beijing launched a case Monday against new U.S. tariffs on Chinese tires, President Barack Obama defended the duties, saying trading agreements must be enforced in order for trading systems to work.
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Obama touts Wall St. changes on Lehman anniversary
NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama sternly warned Wall Street Monday against returning to the sort of reckless and unchecked behavior that threatened the nation with a second Great Depression.
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Regulators: accounting changes need global reach
WASHINGTON (AP) — Changes in accounting standards, rules and policies for financial institutions must be coordinated globally in the effort to help avoid a recurrence of the economic crisis, federal regulators said Monday.
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Obama extends Cuba embargo 1 year
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has extended the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba for one year, the White House said in a statement released on Monday.
The extension was expected and has been the practice of all U.S. presidents dating to the 1970s under a section of the so-called "Trading With the Enemy Act."
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Wholesale inventories drop in July; sales grow
WASHINGTON (AP) — Businesses reduced inventories at the wholesale level for a record 11th consecutive month in July, although sales rose by the largest amount in more than a year, according to government data released Friday.
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Oil moves above $72 a barrel as dollar weakens
Oil prices extended their recent rise Friday as the dollar fell to a fresh low for 2009, providing a boost to crude and other commodities.
Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 29 cents at $72.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract rose 63 cents to settle at $71.94.
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NPD: Video game sales slide again in August
NEW YORK (AP) — Retail sales of video games have declined for six straight months.
Analysts are blaming the slow August — which was expected — in part on a disappointing showing from the latest "Madden" title from Electronic Arts.
