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Stocks up as oil price drop eases inflation fears
Interest rates rise in weekly auction
Bonds down as stocks rise investors await economic data
Agriculture futures mostly end lower on CBOT
Crude falls after hitting new record above $126

By Jeff T. Green (AP)

Mom-and-pop service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can't register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials.

The pumps, throwbacks to a bygone era on the American road, are difficult and expensive to upgrade, and replacing them is often out of the question for station owners who are still just scraping by.

Many of the same pumps can only count up to $99.99 for the total sale, preventing owners of some SUVs, vans, trucks and tractor-trailers to fill their tanks all the way.

As many as...

By Charles Rex Arbogast (AP)

Forced to pay for once-free sandwich toppings and twice as much for some steak cuts, shoppers are wondering whether higher grocery bills and restaurant tabs truly reflect the trickle down of a global rise in food prices.

Veronica Banks, who lives outside St. Louis, said she suspects neighborhood corner stores are charging more for many items under the assumption customers won't pay the bus fare to go bargain hunting. Tom Seluzicki, a certified public accountant in Washington, said he assumes some food prices are artificially inflated to "compensate for lost margins on other...

By ANDY WONG (AP)

China's inflation almost climbed to a 12-year high in April, swamping official efforts to cool surging living costs that could provoke unrest ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

The government, which took further steps Monday to tame the inflation, faces the possibility of more sharp price hikes, some analysts warned.

"Underlying inflationary pressures remain undiminished," Goldman Sachs economists Yu Song and Hong Liang said in a report.

The government ordered banks to increase their reserves for a fourth time this year in a move meant to contain inflation by curbing lendin...

By ANDY WONG (AP)

China's inflation rebounded in April to near decade-high levels, according to data released Monday, increasing pressure on Beijing to cool rapidly ascending prices and avert possible unrest ahead of the Summer Olympics.

The government also released data showing China's trade surplus fell by 1 percent in April. That could help to ease inflation by reducing the amount of money flooding into the booming economy.

April's consumer prices rose 8.5 percent compared with the same month last year, the National Statistics Bureau said. That was up from March's 8.3 percent rate and just...

By Shizuo Kambayashi (AP)

A senior Toyota executive said Monday that plans for a new auto assembly plant in Mississippi are being delayed by worries about slumping American auto sales and a broader U.S. economic slowdown.

The vehicle assembly plant being built in Blue Springs, near Tupelo, Miss., was initially to be up and running by late 2009 or early 2010, said Toyota Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita.

That has now been pushed back to mid-2010 after Toyota reviewed the plans and considered the signs of a slowdown in the U.S. market following the subprime mortgage crisis,...

By Ron Heflin (AP)

Pollo Campero, a Latin American fried-chicken favorite that had been seen in the U.S. only in takeout boxes aboard arriving flights, has teamed up with Wal-Mart to expand its reach to the nation's growing Hispanic population.

A restaurant bearing the Guatemalan chain's mascot chicken in a cowboy hat now sells its famed product inside a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rowlett, Texas. Officials with the chain's fledging U.S. arm, Campero USA Corp., hopes to expand its reach into more than 20 Wal-Mart locations across the country by the end of 2009.

For the world's largest retailer, Po...

By Bullit Marquez (AP)

Oil prices retreated Monday in Asia from last week's record close near $126 a barrel as the dollar strengthened against the euro and yen.

Investors often buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the greenback falls, but that effect can reverse when the dollar gains against other currencies, as it has in Tokyo currency markets on Monday.

The euro was trading at $1.5407, down from $1.5480 last Friday in New York. The dollar also strengthened against the yen, rising back above the 103 mark and nearing 104 yen.

"That would seem to be the major reason...

By ANDY WONG (AP)

China's inflation rebounded in April to near decade-high levels, adding to pressure on Beijing to cool rapid price rises and avert possible unrest ahead of the Summer Olympics, according to official data reported Monday.

Consumer prices in April were up 8.5 percent compared with the same month last year, the National Statistics Bureau reported. That was up from March's 8.3 percent rate and just short of February's 8.7 percent, the highest inflation rate in nearly 12 years.

Prices have jumped since mid-2007, driven by rises in food costs that hit 22.1 percent in April. The gov...

By Evan Agostini (AP)

Cablevision Systems Corp. is close to buying the Long Island newspaper Newsday from Tribune Co. for $650 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said Sunday.

The deal, which could be announced as soon as Monday, would net Cablevision, a cable TV company also based on Long Island, its first newspaper. It would also provide much-needed cash to Tribune Co., which is struggling under $8.2 billion in debt it took on when it went private last December.

The person familiar with the talks asked to remain anonymous since the discussions were confidential. Spokesmen for both...

By Evan Agostini (AP)

A person with knowledge of the situation says cable TV provider Cablevision Systems Corp. is close to buying the Long Island newspaper Newsday from Tribune Co. for $650 million.

The news Sunday comes a day after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. withdrew its own $580 million bid, despite assurances from Murdoch himself just days earlier that he would prevail.

The person with knowledge of the matter asked to remain anonymous since the talks are confidential. Spokesmen for Tribune and Cablevision declined comment.

...

By WILFREDO LEE (AP)

After slashing inventory and cutting expenses, the retail industry is still bracing for the largest overall quarterly profit decline in at least nine years when merchants report their first-quarter earnings this week.

Faced with one of the worst consumer spending climates in almost two decades, stores are going to have to find clever ways to attract increasingly thrifty shoppers contending with higher gas and food bills and a slumping housing market.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched a new online feature Friday that offers tips from financial expert Ellie Kay on how consumers can...

By ARIEL SCHALIT (AP)

Israelis got a first demonstration Sunday of the electric car that developers hope will revolutionize transportation in the country and serve as a pilot for the rest of the world.

The silver car doing circles in a Tel Aviv parking lot looked like a regular sedan _ except it had no exhaust pipe and there was an electric socket where the mouth of the gas tank should have been.

The Silicon Valley startup Project Better Place hopes the fully electric prototype will be on Israel's streets in large numbers beginning at the end of 2010.

Backers of the project say the car will...

By Paul Sakuma (AP)

When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration's plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities: first up, remodeling the bathroom.

But Shelat is married to a foreigner who still hasn't completed the often years-long process that allows her to apply for a Social Security number. Her not having that number makes even him ineligible for the tax rebate checks that started going out last week because they filed jointly.

He is among an estimated hundreds of thousands of taxpayers _ from legal...

By J. Scott Applewhite (AP)

With millions of stimulus checks going out to taxpayers, Wall Street wants to know where that money will be spent _ and this week's data could help investors gauge the mind-set of the average consumer.

Tax rebates have historically been helpful in boosting the economy, but they only really work if they're used to buy goods and services. With many consumers weighed down by debt and saving up to keep up with the cost of basic necessities, some market experts are concerned that what's best for most individuals _ saving their rebates _ might not end up helping the broader economy.

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By Frank Augstein (AP)

Deutsche Telekom AG's chief executive is asking shareholders to show patience, pointing to the global credit crisis as a reason for the company's lackluster share price, according to an interview published Sunday.

Rene Obermann took over as head of Europe's biggest telecom company in late 2006. Last week, the company reported a rise in first-quarter net profit but a decline in revenue.

Telekom shares, worth nearly 13.50 euros when Obermann took over, closed at 11.81 euros ($18.29) Friday.

"I want to show shareholders what great potential our company has, and I want to ...

By Evan Agostini (AP)

News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has withdrawn its bid to purchase the Long Island paper Newsday, a News Corp. spokeswoman said Saturday.

The decision to revoke the offer came just days after Murdoch confidently predicted he would clinch a deal to buy the newspaper within a week.

News Corp. had offered about $580 million for the daily newspaper, one of the country's biggest, but it was competing against rival bids from Cablevision Systems Corp. and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman. Cablevision had reportedly made an offer of $650...

By (AP)

President Rafael Correa said Saturday he has "no confidence" in the World Bank arbitration branch that is hearing U.S. oil company Occidental's lawsuit against Ecuador.

Ecuador "handed over its sovereignty" when it signed international accords binding it to the bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Correa said during his weekly radio address. The ICSID is an autonomous court established to resolve investment disputes.

Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. is seeking $1 billion in damages from Ecuador, alleging its property was confiscate...

By Yuriko Nakao (AP)

China has established a homegrown company to make passenger jumbo jets, state media reported Sunday _ a step forward in the country's quest to become less dependent on Boeing and Airbus.

China Commercial Aircraft Co. was established in Shanghai with registered capital of 19 billion yuan $2.7 billion, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

It said the central government and the Shanghai government are among the major shareholders, as are China's two main aircraft manufacturing and servicing companies, China Aviation Industry Corp. I and China Aviation Industry Corp. II, which...

By Yuriko Nakao (AP)

China has established a company to start making passenger jumbo jets, Chinese state media reported Sunday

The Xinhua News Agency said that China Commercial Aircraft Co. was established in Shanghai with registered capital of $2.7 billion.

The plan marks a step forward in China's long-term quest to design and build large aircraft, making it less dependent on Boeing Co. and Europe's Airbus.

The central government and Shanghai government are among the major shareholders, as are China's two main aircraft manufacturing and servicing companies, Xinhua said.

...

By Evan Agostini (AP)

A spokeswoman for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. says the media conglomerate has withdrawn its bid to purchase Newsday.

The decision to revoke the offer Saturday comes just days after Murdoch confidently predicted he would clinch a deal to buy the Long Island newspaper within a week.

News Corp. had offered about $580 million for the paper, one of the country's biggest. The company already owns two other New York newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

Cablevision and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman were also reported to be in the running for...

By Mary Altaffer (AP)

Citigroup Inc.'s new chief executive, Vikram Pandit, plans to stick with a global banking model after months of intense review _ but only after shrinking the company by about one-fifth first.

The three-year game plan, revealed Friday, includes getting rid of more businesses, mortgages, real-estate operations and jobs.

The bank aims to shed between $400 billion and $500 billion of its $2.2 trillion in assets and grow revenue by 9 percent over the next few years as it tries to rebound from massive losses tied to deterioration in the credit markets.

The $500 billion in...

By J. Pat Carter (AP)

For Kim Snider, it only takes one word to send participants in her monthly investment workshops into a near panic. The Dallas-based financial adviser gets the same reaction, without fail, every time she suggests using options as a way to protect stock portfolios and make money.

"Peoples' eyes roll to the back of their heads; they are absolutely horrified," she said. "There is still a pervasive myth that options are complicated and risky."

That might be quickly changing. The options market once baffled investors who felt using puts and calls to bet on stock moves was tantamo...

By Mel Evans (AP)

The ads were titled "Help Yourself, Help Atlantic City, Help New Jersey," and they made a series of promises, if only voters would pull the "yes" lever to legalize casino gambling.

Having casinos in Atlantic City would "balance taxes, create jobs, boost the economy, and cut down on street crime," the advertisements assured.

Thirty years after singer Steve Lawrence tossed the first dice onto a green felt table to kick off legalized gambling on Memorial Day 1978, there is no question that casinos have transformed Atlantic City into a $5 billion-a-year powerhouse.

But w...

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