BUSINESS BRIEFING / CONGLOMERATES
TIMES WIRE REPORTS
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s reaffirmed its AAA credit rating for General Electric Co. after the company reported a 46% drop in fourth-quarter earnings last week, a reprieve for the conglomerate as it tries to keep the top rating despite trouble in its lending unit, GE Capital.
But S&P; analyst Robert Schulz also said the quarterly results showed that 2009 might be more difficult than expected for GE Capital. The financial arm makes loans for items as varied as consumer credit cards and big commercial energy projects.
Shares of Fairfield, Conn.-based GE rose 39 cents, or 3.2%, to $12.42.
