Shares of Potash Corp. and other leading fertilizer makers jumped on Friday after the U.S. government estimated a smaller-than-expected U.S. corn harvest, driving up prices of the nutrient-intensive crop.
Shares of Agrium, Mosaic Co. and CF Industries also rose on the data. Get the full story »
United Airlines said September traffic rose 7.6 percent, and a key revenue measure rose too. The airline said the revenue collected for each available seat flown one mile rose 13.5 percent to 14.5 percent compared with September 2009. Not counting regional flights on partner carriers, the same revenue measure rose 14 percent to 15 percent.
A Bank of America branch in Charlotte, N.C. (AP)
Bank of America Corp. is placing a moratorium on all foreclosure proceedings and sales across the U.S. due to mounting political pressure on large U.S. banks to examine foreclosure-documentation problems.
The nation’s largest bank by assets is the first financial institution to stop all foreclosure actions due to revelations that the banking industry had used “robo-signers” — people who sign hundreds of documents a day without reviewing their contents — when foreclosing on homes. Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Ally Financial Inc. last week postponed foreclosures in 23 states where a court’s approval is required to foreclose on a home. Get the full story »
The nation’s bleak employment picture dimmed in September as private-sector hiring weakened and the economy lost a net 95,000 jobs over the month.
The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate last month remained at 9.6 percent, but that reflected a stagnant labor force in which people did not enter or return to the labor market to look for work. In what may be a more meaningful indicator this time, a broader measure of unemployed and underemployed workers, including part-timers who can’t find full-time work, rose to 17.1 percent last month from 16.7 percent in August.
U.S. short-term interest rate futures traders are pricing in little chance the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates until 2012, after a government report showed the U.S. economy lost more jobs than expected in September.
Traders are pricing in zero chance of an increase in the target rate for overnight lending between banks until December 2011, and are not pricing in a better-than-even chance of an increase until the first quarter of 2012, trading in Fed funds futures at CME Group Inc.’s Chicago Board of Trade shows. Get the full story »
A top U.S. banking regulator is expected to propose rules as soon as Friday that set out how creditors will be treated under the government’s new authority to dismantle large financial firms that run into trouble. Get the full story »
Activist hedge fund manager William Ackman, who has been known for big bets on retailers and real estate, on Friday said his fund has taken a 16.5 percent stake in retailer JC Penney.
Unveiling one of his biggest investments in months, Ackman’s New York-based firm Pershing Square Capital Management said it now owns roughly 39 million shares of common stock in the Plano, Texas-based retailer. Get the full story »
Honda presented its Fit Hybrid car in Tokyo Oct. 8, 2010. (Reuters/Issei Kato)
Honda Motor Co. said on Friday it would sell the hybrid version of its popular Fit subcompact for 1.59 million yen ($19,310) in Japan, making it the cheapest gasoline-electric car on the domestic market.
The company expects to sell about 5,600 units a month.
Competition in the hybrid segment is set to heat up as industry leader Toyota Motor Corp works to expand its line-up to meet growing demand for fuel-efficient cars from drivers around the world. Get the full story »
American Apparel Inc said on Friday it has named Tom Casey as acting president. Get the full story »
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said Friday he sees risks to further unconventional monetary easing by the U.S. central bank.
“There are risks to the balance sheet expansion policy, and you’ve got to balance those risks,” Bullard told CNBC. Get the full story »
Bloomberg News| Billionaire investor Warren Buffett says he won’t shop for takeover candidates at leverage buyout firms, because “don’t know the business.”
“We have an entrance strategy,” Buffett said, and they have an exit one.
More than 50 lawsuits against officers and executives of failed banks have been authorized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the agency tries to recoup more than $1 billion in losses from the credit crisis, Bloomberg News reported Friday. Get the full story »
Sanofi-Aventis dismissed a claim by bid target Genzyme that it dangled a higher price for the U.S. biotech company, as a trans-Atlantic takeover fight descended into an ill-tempered stand-off Friday.
Genzyme said Thursday that Sanofi’s chief executive floated the possibility of paying as much as $80 per share at a meeting in September before going hostile with a bid worth $69 per Genzyme share, or a total $18.5 billion. Get the full story »
From Crain’s Chicago Business| FDIC data show that Chase and Harris Bank gained market share in Chicago in the last year while Bank of America slid again.
Reports: Labor Department September employment data 7:30 a.m.
Commerce Department wholesale sales and inventories 9 a.m.
IMF annual meeting begins
Earnings: Midwest Banc Holdings
