Business Briefing
Jobless claims fell last week
Fewer Americans than forecast filed claims for unemployment benefits last week.
Initial jobless applications climbed to 434,000 in the week that ended Saturday, up from a 16-month low of 433,000 the previous week, Labor Department figures showed.
Continuing claims dropped 179,000 to 4.8 million in the week that ended Dec. 26, the fewest in almost a year.
The number of people who are collecting extended payments increased about 165,000 to 5.44 million in the week that ended Dec. 19.
BAILOUTS
AIG was told to keep deals quiet
Deals that sent billions of bailout dollars to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other banks were kept quiet under pressure from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Timothy F. Geithner, who is now Treasury secretary.
E-mails between lawyers for the New York Fed and bailed-out insurance conglomerate American International Group Inc. show AIG wanted to disclose some details about payments it made to banks, including Goldman and Deutsche Bank, to cancel financial deals.
But lawyers for the New York Fed, which engineered AIG’s bailout with the Bush administration’s Treasury Department, told AIG to remove the information from a draft.
REAL ESTATE
Builder Lennar swings to a profit
Home-building titan Lennar Corp. said it posted its first quarterly profit since early 2007, when the housing market plummeted.
The Miami builder is still losing money from operations, reporting a profit only after booking a $320-million tax gain.
The company said net income for the three months that ended Nov. 30 was $35.6 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a loss of $811 million, or $5.12, during the same period in 2008. Revenue fell 29% to $913.7 million.
AIRPLANES
Boeing orders tumble in 2009
Boeing Co. said customers ordered just 142 commercial planes last year as the recession forced airlines to shrink.
The net total was its lowest since at least 2003 and just one-tenth of the 1,413 orders in 2007.
Boeing delivered 481 commercial planes last year, up 28% after a strike in 2008 slowed production. The biggest seller was the workhorse 737.
Its total backlog for all commercial aircraft is 3,375 planes.
RETAIL
Sears shares jump on profit outlook
Sears Holdings Corp. shares rose to the highest level in 16 months after the retailer issued a fourth-quarter profit forecast that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
Shares rose $10.31, or 12%, to $99.18 after the company said earnings would rise to a range of $3.36 to $4.06 a share in the period ending Jan. 30, up from $1.55 a year earlier.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Abbott agrees to settle claim
Drug maker Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle allegations that it tried to block generic competition to a popular cholesterol medication, according to state officials.
The agreement was announced by attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia, who sued Abbott to recover costs to state Medicaid plans.
The multi-state lawsuit alleged that Abbott and a unit of Belgian drug maker Solvay Pharmaceuticals made minor changes to the formulation of TriCor to prevent cheaper generic versions from launching.
-- times staff and wire reports
