BUSINESS BRIEFS
$200B program unveiled to boost consumer loans
Advertiser News Services
| |||
 |
|
||
WASHINGTON — The government launched a much-awaited program yesterday to spur lending for autos, education, credit cards and other consumer loans by providing up to $200 billion in financing to investors to buy up the debt.
If the program succeeds, it should help bust through the credit clogs and make it easier for Americans to finance large and small purchases at lower rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress.
Created by the Fed and the Treasury Department, the program has the potential to generate up to $1 trillion of lending for businesses and households, the government said. It eventually will be expanded to include commercial real estate.
The program will start off by providing $200 billion in loans to investors with the goal of jump-starting lending to consumers and small businesses. The program, dubbed the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, was first announced late last year and originally was scheduled to start in February.
U.S. AUTOMAKERS' SALES PLUMMET
DETROIT — Major automakers' U.S. sales continued their deep slump in February, putting the industry on track for its worst sales month in more than 27 years as huge rebates and low-interest financing failed to spur fearful consumers to make a major purchase.General Motors' sales tumbled 53 percent from a year earlier, while Ford's U.S. sales fell 48 percent and Chrysler's fell 44 percent. Japanese automakers fared only slightly better.
The slide casts further doubt on the financial viability of GM and Chrysler, which need to sell cars and generate critical cash to supplement the $17.4 billion in government loans that are keeping them in business.
PENDING SALES OF HOMES DOWN 7.7%
WASHINGTON — The number of homebuyers who agreed to purchase an existing home sank to a new low in January as economic woes turned them away from the staggering housing market, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.The group's seasonally adjusted index of pending sales contracts fell 7.7 percent to 80.4 in January from a downwardly revised December reading of 87.1.
January's reading was far worse than the 85.1 economists expected, according to Thomson Reuters, and came in below the previous record low of 83.1 in November.
MADOFF SURRENDERS PROPERTY, ARTWORK
NEW YORK — Bernard Madoff has agreed to give up the rights to his disgraced investment business and his company's prized artwork and entertainment tickets as he faces another appearance in a federal courtroom today.Prosecutors requested the hearing yesterday so Madoff can appear in court with his lawyer, Ira Sorkin, because they believe the attorney may have conflicts of interest in the case.
Sorkin also represents Madoff's wife and several others in relation to the Madoff case.
The attorney said there was no conflict of interest and the issue can be completely resolved if Madoff tells the judge today that he has no problem with Sorkin representing him.
