BUSINESS BRIEFS
U.S. exports push GDP up slightly for first quarter
Advertiser Staff and News Services
WASHINGTON — The economy logged slightly better — but weak — growth in the first quarter, spurred by improved sales of U.S. products overseas.
The new GDP reading, released yesterday by the Commerce Department, was an improvement from the government's initial first-quarter estimate, as well as the economy's performance in the final quarter of last year. Both periods were pegged at a 0.6 percent growth rate.
However, economists still consider the 0.9 percent growth rate subpar.
GM MAY FURLOUGH TRUCK PLANT SHIFTS
DETROIT — General Motors Corp. will furlough entire shifts of workers at some truck factories and may move them to nearby car plants as it restructures to adjust to a rapidly changing U.S. market brought on by $4 per gallon gasoline.
GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and top managers are finalizing additional restructuring moves and likely will announce details at the automaker's annual meeting next week in Wilmington, Del., two people familiar with the plan told The Associated Press. The people requested anonymity because the plan is not finished.
One said production cuts were part of the plan. Neither would give details.
Key to the plan are the 19,000 hourly workers who signed up to leave the company by July 1 through buyout and early retirement offers. GM yesterday announced the number of takers in the latest round of offers, which amounts to a quarter of the company's U.S. hourly work force.
BEAR STEARNS OKS JPMORGAN BUYOUT
NEW YORK — Bear Stearns Cos. shareholders yesterday approved JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s $2.2 billion buyout of the investment bank whose wagers on subprime mortgages made it the largest corporate casualty of the global credit crisis.
Bear Stearns officially becomes part of JPMorgan Chase today, after a widely anticipated "yes" vote that won with 84 percent of the vote yesterday morning at Bear Stearns' midtown Manhattan headquarters.
REGULATORS PROBE OIL PRICE PRACTICES
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are six months into a wide-ranging investigation of U.S. oil markets, with a focus on possible price manipulation.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission yesterday said it started the probe in December and took the unusual step of publicizing it "because of today's unprecedented market conditions."
Crude prices have risen more than 42 percent since early December, even after a decline of more than $4 to $126.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline prices are nearing a national average of $4 a gallon, up from about $3.20 a year ago.
DELL REPORTS RISE IN QUARTER PROFITS
DALLAS — Dell Inc. said yesterday that its profit and sales grew in its fiscal first quarter, beating Wall Street expectations and signaling that the computer maker's turnaround efforts may be paying off.
For the three months ended May 2, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. earned $784 million, or 38 cents per share, up from $756 million, or 34 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Dell says its revenue jumped 9 percent to $16.08 billion from $14.72 billion.
$1.2 BILLION TO AID WORLD FOOD CRISIS
WASHINGTON — The World Bank said yesterday it was speeding up its aid to help an international effort to overcome the global food crisis by providing an extra $1.2 billion in grants and loans.
The move comes ahead of a major U.N. meeting next week in Rome, where donor nations are expected to develop a concrete plan to revitalize and redirect the global response to hunger.
