GE raises target for cost-cutting

General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said Wednesday that capital markets had improved since the end of the first quarter but that the overall economic picture was unchanged, and that the company had raised its 2008 cost-cutting goal by $1 billion.

Turmoil in the credit markets after the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. kept GE from completing some deals in the final weeks of the first quarter, leading it to report an unexpected drop in profit that led to the sharpest sell-off in its shares in 20 years.

“The capital markets are a little bit better than they were at that time period, but I think we’re still in a period of some volatility,” Immelt said.