Greek unions strike against austerity plan
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A strike by civil servants shut schools and grounded flights across Greece on Wednesday, as unions challenged cutbacks aimed at ending a government debt crisis that has shaken the entire European Union. Air traffic controllers, customs and tax officials, hospital doctors and schoolteachers walked off the job for 24 hours to protest sweeping government spending cuts that will freeze salaries and new hiring, cut bonuses and stipends and increase the average retirement age by two years to 63.
Bernanke outlines plan for pulling in stimulus aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke began Wednesday to outline the central bank's strategy for reeling in stimulus money once the economic recovery is more firmly rooted. Bernanke said the Fed will likely start to tighten credit by boosting the interest rate it pays banks on money they leave at the central bank. Doing so would raise rates tied to commercial banks' prime rate and affect many consumer loans. Companies and ordinary Americans would pay more to borrow.
Trade deficit jumps sharply in December
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit surged to a larger-than-expected $40.18 billion in December, the biggest imbalance in 12 months. The wider deficit reflected a rebounding economy that is pushing up demand for oil and other imports. The Commerce Department said the December deficit was 10.4 percent higher than the November imbalance. It was much larger than the $36 billion deficit that economists had expected with much of the increase coming from a big jump in oil imports.
Stocks fall on Bernanke points to end of stimulus
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors are disappointed with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's plans to dismantle the central bank's economic supports. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 80 points Tuesday after jumping 150 earlier on hopes that Greece would get a bailout from its financial troubles.
EU officials wrangle over possible Greece rescue
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union governments are wrestling over how to help Greece, whose debt crisis has shaken the EU and undermined the shared euro currency. Officials said Wednesday that the burden was on Greece to show markets details on how it can cut its massive debt, even as public sector workers strike to protest an austerity program.
More recalls likely amid caution after Toyota woes
TOKYO (AP) — Honda's expansion of its global recall for faulty air bags suggests automakers are turning cautious amid consumer scrutiny of Toyota's safety lapses, a trend that could see more recalls in the coming months. Honda Motor Co., Japan's No. 2 automaker, said Wednesday it was recalling an additional 437,000 cars globally, bringing its 15 month-old recall to nearly 1 million vehicles.
Sprint Nextel slows subscriber loss in 4th quarter
NEW YORK (AP) — Sprint Nextel Corp.'s subscriber losses slowed in the fourth quarter, an encouraging sign for a wireless carrier that has lost millions of customers over the past few years. Sprint lost a net 148,000 subscribers in the last three months of 2009, far fewer than the 545,000 who fled in the third quarter, the carrier said Wednesday.
New York Times profit triples, helped by cost cuts
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings more than tripled, helped by cost cutting, an improving ad market and lower pension costs. The publisher of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune and 15 other daily newspapers had its smallest ad revenue decline in a year. Ad revenue dropped 14.7 percent in the fourth quarter from the same period of 2008, compared with a 26.9 percent year-over-year decline during the third quarter.
OPEC cautions about pace of US economic recovery
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — OPEC is raising questions about how fast the U.S. economy will be able to bounce back, but is sticking to its forecast for worldwide oil demand for now. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its monthly report Wednesday that "uncertainty about the pace of the U.S. economic recovery" has the potential to push oil demand estimates lower for the world's largest oil consumer.
AP sources: FAA eyes hefty fines for American
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is close to wrapping up a two-year investigation of safety violations at American Airlines that could result in one of the largest fines in the agency's history, according to government and industry officials familiar with the investigation. Separately, the Transportation Department's inspector general is due to release an audit in the next several days that criticizes FAA for lax oversight of aircraft maintenance at American, the officials said Tuesday.
