BUSINESS BRIEFS
Yahoo, spurned by Microsoft, sees shares drop 19%
Associated Press
BELLEVUE, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo Inc., CEO Steve Ballmer said yesterday, though he told shareholders the company would still be "very open" to a collaboration on Internet search. Yahoo shares plunged 19 percent on the news.
Yahoo spurned a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft in May, and later rejected Microsoft's bid to buy only its search engine. Ballmer has said repeatedly of late that the buyout remains off the table, though a search-related deal is possible.
But yesterday marked the first time he had renewed that stance since the resignation announced this week by Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, who had resisted Microsoft's overtures.
OIL CONTINUES FALL AS DEMAND DROPS
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Oil slipped below $54 a barrel yesterday as stock markets across the globe fell and yet another U.S. government report illustrated the disarray in the housing market.
U.S. motorists, stung by record gasoline prices, job losses and falling home prices, left the roadways in droves, logging almost 11 billion fewer miles in September, according to the Transportation Department. The department reported that Americans drove 90 billion fewer miles over the most recent 11 months of the fiscal year.
Governments, businesses and consumers have slashed energy expenditures, which has halved the price of crude since record highs in July
Crude oil for December delivery fell 77 cents to settle at $53.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, about where prices were in January 2007.
NEW CONSTRUCTION FALLS TO RECORD LOW
WASHINGTON — Construction of new homes plunged last month to the lowest level on records going back nearly 50 years as U.S. builders slashed production while Wall Street nosedived.
Embattled homebuilders, who enjoyed a five-year boom, are now building new homes and apartments at a record-low pace, according to government data released yesterday. New building permits, a barometer of future activity, also plummeted to the lowest pace on record.
The Commerce Department said construction of new homes and apartments fell 4.5 percent in October, the fourth straight monthly decline. Construction sank to an annual rate of 791,000 units from an upwardly revised September rate of 828,000 units.
The results were the lowest on government records dating back to January 1959.
DEBT WORRIES CAST PALL ON AUTO SHOW
LOS ANGELES — Chrysler and General Motors are still showing off their newest vehicles at the Los Angeles Auto Show, but their displays were noticeably quiet yesterday while Asian and European companies unveiled new models that will likely chip away at the U.S. market share.
Casting a shadow on the event was the absence of press conferences or new vehicle debuts from GM or Chrysler, whose top executives were in Washington pleading for $25 billion in loans they say they need to stay in business.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he didn't believe legislation was necessary.
BANKRUPT ICELAND GETS $2.1B LOAN
WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund yesterday approved a two-year, $2.1 billion support program for Iceland designed to restore confidence and stabilize the country's shattered economy.
The approval had been held up because of a British-Icelandic dispute over Britons' accounts in failed Icelandic banks.
The IMF agreed last month to lend Iceland $2.1 billion and help the country raise $3.9 billion in loans from other countries. Britain held up the approval with the argument that Iceland first should pay back British citizens' deposits in failed Icelandic banks.
