BUSINESS BRIEFS
SEC investigated Madoff in 2007, but missed fraud
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Financial wizard Bernard L. Madoff didn't just fool investors. He also conned the nation's top securities regulators, who investigated his business last year and apparently missed the fact that he was running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
The SEC's enforcement division looked into Madoff's business in 2007. The agency did not refer the matter to commissioners for legal action. What did the investigators find and why didn't they look harder? The SEC isn't saying anything beyond a brief statement it issued Friday revealing the 2007 probe.
GOP OPPOSITION TO CAR AID MOUNTS
WASHINGTON — Conservative Republicans admonished the White House yesterday not to use bank-bailout billions to rescue distressed U.S. automakers, and a key Democrat demanded the government get veto power over the companies' business decisions as a condition of any aid.
The Bush administration said it was still evaluating options and suggested any deal would require major concessions by all sides. Complicating its task, lawmakers in both parties — having failed in their efforts to push a $14 billion auto rescue through a bailout-weary Congress — were pressing for an array of terms and conditions they said should be part of any Plan B.
GOLDMAN SACHS LOSS HITS $2.29B
NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999, losing $2.29 billion during its fiscal fourth quarter, but investors seemed unfazed and sent its shares higher.
The loss proves the turmoil in the financial markets has tripped up even the best-run financial institutions. The New York-based bank has long been considered the premier investment bank on Wall Street, and in recent quarters, the sturdiest amid the turmoil. Shares rose $9.54 to close at $76.
LATEST DATA SHOW DEFLATION RISKS UP
WASHINGTON — Consumer prices tumbled the most on record in November, and builders broke ground on the fewest new homes in at least half a century, as a deepening economic contraction raised the risk of deflation.
The cost of living dropped 1.7 percent last month, more than economists had forecast, a Labor Department report showed in Washington.
Housing starts last month fell 18.9 percent to an annual rate of 625,000, the Commerce Department said.
TOUGH TALK FAILS TO SLOW OIL DECLINE
NEW YORK — Oil prices fell yesterday after OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia said oil production would be cut by 2 million barrels per day to stem declining crude prices.
OPEC, expected to slash production levels today, has hinted that it may have to "shock" markets to stabilize prices. But oil traders and brokers appear to have expected talk of an even bigger cut.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell 91 cents to settle at $43.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
BEST BUY'S PROFIT SHRINKS BY 77%
MINNEAPOLIS — Best Buy Co. Inc., the nation's biggest consumer electronics retailer, said yesterday that its third-quarter profit sank 77 percent as it faced dramatic changes in consumer spending.
The company also said it will offer buyout packages to about 4,000 employees at its headquarters while slashing spending in a bid to cut costs, news that the sent the retailer's stock soaring.
Executives called the past three months the "most challenging consumer environment" in the retailer's history.
Shares rose $4.21 to close at $27.68.
