BUSINESS BRIEFS
Gay-rights groups issue new hospital rating system
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Just more than half of 88 hospitals got top marks under a new rating system created by two national gay-rights organizations, which hope the standards will result in more compassionate treatment of gay and lesbian patients.
Policies addressed in the ratings include patient nondiscrimination, visitation and decision-making rights for partners, diversity training for staff and nondiscriminatory employment practices.
Some responses to the new survey came from hospital networks. Kaiser Permanente, answering on behalf of 31 hospitals in California and Hawai'i, said all met the survey's 10 criteria. They were among 45 hospitals in all with top marks.
DISPUTE CLOUDS $19.5B TAKEOVER
SAN ANTONIO — Clear Channel Communications Inc. and its prospective buyers are talking with banks to try to settle a dispute over whether the banks must fund promised loans for the $19.5 billion takeover, the radio and outdoor advertising company said yesterday.
Clear Channel shares jumped $2.87, or 9.6 percent, to $32.87.
The company and its private equity buyers, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, sued a consortium of six banks, accusing them of trying to undermine the deal by changing the terms.
That lawsuit is pending in a Texas court, while the equity firms have a separate suit pending against the banks in New York court.
MORTGAGE INDUSTRY LOSSES, SHARES RISE
NEW YORK — Broad damage in the mortgage industry was in full view yesterday as a number of companies posted dismal first-quarter earnings, but there was also some hope that the worst of the housing crisis is over.
Investors bid up shares of mortgage lenders and insurers despite billions in losses from a sustained housing downturn in the U.S.
Shares of bond insurer MBIA Inc., and mortgage insurers PMI Group Inc. and Radian Group Inc., all rose yesterday, though shares of lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc. tumbled nearly 11 percent after warning of a rough year ahead.
REVAMPED IPHONE MAY BE IMMINENT
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. said yesterday its online stores in the U.S. and U.K. are sold out of the iPhone, a sign supplies are being winnowed ahead of the launch of the device's next generation featuring faster Internet surfing speeds.
The Cupertino-based company confirmed that the iPhone is out of stock online, but added that brick-and-mortar stores run by Apple and iPhone carriers including AT&T Inc. might still have units available. Apple has been known for clearing out its inventory of a certain product ahead of a major upgrade.
Regulators probe Wachovia Corp.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Wachovia Corp., the nation's fourth-largest bank, said yesterday its securities unit and affiliates have received inquiries and subpoenas from federal and state regulators over auction-rate securities.
The Charlotte-based bank also trimmed a write-down related to an insurance portfolio by $1 million, reducing its total loss in the first-quarter to $707 million.
Wachovia made the disclosures in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
OIL HITS NEW HIGH BEFORE FALLING BACK
NEW YORK — Oil prices briefly spiked to a record high above $126 a barrel yesterday but ended the day lower as investors cashed in profits and an earthquake in China raised the possibility of a drop in demand.
Retail gas prices, meanwhile, rose to another record above $3.70 a gallon, again following crude's recent path higher.
Oil futures have set a record for six straight sessions, and analysts said the market was due for a correction following the seemingly relentless climb upward.
