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AP Executive Morning Briefing
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008:
Boeing workers back strike; pact extended 2 days
SEATTLE (AP) _ Boeing Co. aircraft assembly workers voted overwhelmingly to strike for the second time in three years but union leaders agreed to hold off on the walkout for 48 hours at the request of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and a federal mediator. The vote late Wednesday was 87 percent in favor of a strike that was to have begun at 12:01 a.m. PDT Thursday, after the expiration of the old contract covering more than 27,000 workers.
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Oil steady in Asia ahead of US inventory report
SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices were steady Thursday in Asia above $109 a barrel as investors waited for a weekly U.S. crude inventory report for evidence that slowing economic growth has cut demand. Light, sweet crude for October delivery was down 5 cents to $109.30 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midafternoon in Singapore. The contract overnight fell 36 cents to settle at $109.35.
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Investors reach compromise at TNK-BP
MOSCOW (AP) _ BP PLC and its billionaire Russian partners have reached a deal over TNK-BP, signaling an end to a bitter struggle for control at the Russian-British joint venture, a Russian official said Thursday. Stan Polovets, a representative of the Russian shareholder consortium AAR, would not immediately reveal details of the memorandum of understanding, but said both the Russian and British shareholders were happy with the deal.
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Cablevision completes first phase of WiFi buildout
Cablevision Systems Corp. said Thursday it has finished the first phase of its wireless network buildout in New York and remains on track to complete the project in two years. The diversified cable operator is offering the WiFi service at no charge to its 2.4 million Internet customers at speeds of up to 1.5 Megabits per second, similar to DSL at home.
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Study: Workers to pay more for health care
NEW YORK (AP) _ Get ready for another hike in copays and deductibles. A survey being released Thursday by the Mercer consulting firm found 59 percent of companies intend to keep down rising health care costs in 2009 by raising workers' deductibles, copays or out-of-pocket spending limits.
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ECB, BoE expected to leave interest rates steady
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ The European Central Bank and Bank of England will likely leave interest rates unchanged on Thursday as they face mounting inflation and slowing growth. The ECB in July moved to cool inflation by increasing borrowing costs for the first time in a year to 4.25 percent for the 15 countries that use the euro.
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Lehman rises on reports of capital injections
NEW YORK (AP) _ Shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. rose Wednesday as investors weighed reports that the embattled investment bank might find a fresh source of capital. The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest mass-circulation daily newspaper, reported that state-owned Korea Development Bank (KDB) proposed to buy a 25 percent stake in Lehman by forming a consortium with other South Korean banks. The offer is reportedly worth as much as $5.3 billion.
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Boeing to advise on Mitsubishi Regional Jet
TOKYO (AP) _ Boeing Co. will serve as consultant to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for its mid-sized regional jet _ the first "made in Japan" passenger aircraft in three decades, the Japanese machinery maker said Thursday. Mitsubishi has been a longtime partner with the U.S. aircraft maker, supplying the wing box for Boeing's B-787 and other aircraft.
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Argentina's Senate approves airline takeover
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) _ Argentina's Senate approved the nationalization of Aerolineas Argentinas and its subsidiary on Wednesday, moving to return the financially troubled Spanish-owned airlines to state hands. The 46-21 vote in favor of the takeover of Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral airlines was the final step in making the nationalization law. Argentina's lower house in August approved the measure, which requires the state hold a majority of company shares.
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Remnants of Gustav slow attempts to restore power
BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) _ Torrential rains and the threat of tornadoes in the wake of Hurricane Gustav slowed attempts to rebuild Louisiana's broken transmission and distribution systems even as hundreds of thousands of residents who had fled the storm return to homes that may be without power for weeks. Oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico that had been shut down last month before the hurricane resumed in limited volumes, U.S. Minerals Management Service said Wednesday afternoon. And the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which handles about 12 percent of the nation's crude imports and is tied by pipeline to about half the nation's refining capacity, does not appear to have been damaged by Gustav.
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Japan Markets
TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese shares tumbled Thursday as ongoing concerns about the domestic and global economic outlook took a heavy toll on investor sentiment. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 131.93 points, or 1.04 percent, to 12,557.66 _ its lowest close since March 24. The broader Topix index lost 1.56 percent to 1,201.41.
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Dollar-Yen
TOKYO (AP) _ In currencies, the dollar stood at 108.23 yen Thursday, down slightly from 108.30 yen late Wednesday.
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A service of The Associated Press. Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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