WALL STREET Dow comes up a winner

NEW YORK (AP) Stocks open the final session of the week in a deep hole, with the Dow industrials down about 240 points for the four sessions.

The blue chips, which gained 58 points yesterday for their first advance of the week, open from 8,555. The S&P 500 stands at 918 on yesterday's gain of seven points. And the Nasdaq composite begins trading at 1,807 after dipping a fraction of a point.

Not much for the market to get excited about today. No economic reports and the only earnings report is from CarMax.

WORLD MARKETS Asian stocks snap 4-day loss streak after US data

HONG KONG (AP) Asian stocks have been mostly higher today as a string of upbeat U.S. economic reports renew hopes of a recovery in the world's largest economy.

The news has been helping arrest the region's four-day slide.

But gains across Asia have been tentative, as investors tread cautiously amid expectations that stocks could fall further after the steep rise since March. oil prices were slightly higher and the dollar fell.

Market watchers are reluctant to read too much into today's early upswing. They say trading volumes were light in many markets and a technical bounce wasn't unexpected after a series of losses.

OIL PRICES Oil, gasoline head upward

NEW YORK (AP) Oil and Gasoline Prices rose again yesterday oil for a second straight session and gasoline for a 51st consecutive day.

The July contract for the benchmark grade rose 34 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $71.37 a barrel.

By this morning in Asia, oil prices had moved 10 cents to $71.47 a barrel by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The price of gasoline has been up. AAA and others say a gallon of gasoline has risen more than a-half cent to a national average of nearly $2.69.

But a three-week rally in the price of natural gas paused yesterday after the government reported a huge buildup in supplies in storage.

HEALTH OVERHAUL Senate Dems pare back health bill

Washington (AP) Key Senate Democrats are floating a compromise health-care plan that rules out direct government competition against private insurers.

In a further bid for bipartisan support, it also pares back subsidies designed to make insurance more affordable.

The proposal, backed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, would still require most people to buy coverage and it would forbid insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

The Montana Democrat has said he intends to hold the cost of health legislation to about $1 trillion. That's well below the $1.6-trillion pricetag put on an earlier set of options.

A brief outline of the Senate plan doesn't list any ideas on how to pay for it, but Baucus and many Republicans favor a tax on certain employer-provided health benefits.

House Democrats could unveil their health coverage ideas today.

STANFORD SURRENDERS R. Allen Stanford surrenders to FBI in Va.

DALLAS (AP) Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford is to appear in federal court in Richmond, Va., today as prosecutors unseal an indictment against him.

He's the chairman of the troubled Stanford Financial Group, which has been the target of a grand jury probe of an alleged massive fraud. Civil charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier in the year accuse Stanford and his top executives of conducting an $8-billion fraud by advising clients to buy certificates of deposit from Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.

Stanford's attorney in Houston says his client surrendered to FBI agents yesterday outside the Virginia residence where he was staying.

CARMAX CarMax to release first-quarter results

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) CarMax releases its fiscal first-quarter results today covering a period of volatility in the credit market and unprecedented declines in traffic and sales.

The car dealership chain has cautioned that if trends do not improve, it anticipates a double-digit decline this year in used car sales at stores open at least a year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect CarMax, which operates 100 stores, to turn a profit of 5 cents a share on revenue of $1.72 billion.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS Senate salvages 'cash-for-clunkers' program

WASHINGTON (AP) The $1 billion "cash-for-clunkers" program continues to chug along.

Republicans failed to kill the bill that would offer government incentives of up to $4,500 to consumers who trade in old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The idea is to draw consumers into auto dealer showrooms by offering incentives to trade in vehicles that get poor gas mileage.

Only models built since 1984 are eligible.

Republican Sen. Judd Gregg and others say the plan would drive up the federal debt and do little to get more fuel-efficient vehicles onto the highways.

ILLINOIS UNEMPLOYMENT Illinois jobless rate tops 10 percent in May

CHICAGO (AP) The unemployment rate in Illinois is at a 25-year high.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security says another 17,400 jobs were lost in May, mostly in manufacturing. That pushed the jobless rate to 10.1 percent and brings the total number of unemployed to 671,400.

A state government spokeswoman says the next phase of the recession will probably include a slowdown in job losses in Illinois, though the state's unemployment rate likely will continue to rise.

The national unemployment rate last month was 9.4 percent.

NUCLEAR FUNDS SHORTFALL NRC to send shortfall letters to 26 atomic plants

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) The Associated Press has learned that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission today will be notifying owners of 26 nuclear power plants that they're not saving enough money toward the cost of dismantling the reactors once they're no longer operating.

The agency released a list of plants with shortfalls to congressional offices yesterday in advance of today's formal announcement. It says it will develop remedial plans for the plants on a case-by-case basis.

The plants range from the Vermont Yankee station near Brattleboro, Vt., to the three Browns Ferry reactors near Decatur, Ala.

The AP reported earlier this week that owners will have to mothball another 19 plants for up to 60 years to save enough for decommissioning.

China-US TIRE DUMPING US trade board rules against Chinese tire makers

NEW YORK (AP) A U.S. trade board says Chinese tire makers are unfairly dumping their products on the American market, hurting domestic tire makers and fueling unemployment.

The 4-2 ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission marks a victory for the United Steelworkers union. The union brought the issue to the commission in April, arguing that Beijing more than tripled its tire exports to the U.S. between 2004 and 2008.

The union says the exports have cost more than 5,100 U.S. jobs and have led to factory shutdowns across the country.

The commission is to determine a policy recommendation on the issue later this month.

Japan-SONY Sony shareholders approve new management

TOKYO (AP) Sony shareholders today approved a new management setup at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company.

The team centers power around Chief Executive Howard Stringer and a circle of younger executives. Stringer is a Welsh-born American and becomes the first foreigner to head Sony. He'll take on an additional title of president, while also serving as chairman and chief executive.

The 67-year-old Stringer will head a team of younger executives, three of them in their 40s.

The management reshuffle also involves the appointment of Masao Morita, the son of Sony's co-founder. He'll head the company's music and movies operations in Japan.

Sony has been no exception among Japanese manufacturers in racking up huge losses for the fiscal year that ended in March.

That marked its first annual net loss in 14 years.

The company is expecting an even bigger loss for the fiscal year through March 2010.

MUSIC DOWNLOADING Jury rules against Minn. woman in download case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A federal jury in Minneapolis has ruled a Minnesota woman violated music copyrights in the nation's only file-sharing case to go to trial.

The jury found that Jammie Thomas-Rasset "committed willful violation" of the copyrights on 24 songs. The jury awarded the recording companies $1.92 million. That works out to $80,000 per song.

It was a retrial for Thomas-Rasset. A jury in 2007 also found that she illegally shared music files on the Internet. The new trial was ordered after the judge in the case decided he had erred in his instructions to the jury.

The second outcome was even worse for Thomas-Rasset than the first. That time, the jury awarded the recording companies just $222,000.

Outside the courtroom, the 32-year-old mother of four called the judgment "kind of ridiculous" and said there's "no way" she's ever going to be able to pay it.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 06-19-09 0230CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list