Stocks fall on rising oil prices
NEW YORK, July 6 (UPI) -- Rising oil prices and weak economic data dragged U.S. stocks down Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 63.49 or 0.62 percent to 1,0219.34 on a volume of 1.26 billion shares traded. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 43.23 or 2.15 percent to 1,963.43, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 9.17 or 0.81 percent to 1,116.21.
Oil rose to nearly $40 per barrel and bankruptcy rumors at Russia's Yukos energy group raised the spectre of tighter crude oil supplies.
The Institute for Supply Management said its reading on nonmanufacturing, or service-sector activity, in June fell to 59.9 from 65.2 in May, a bigger drop than expected.
The 10-year Treasury note shed about 1/8 point Tuesday, or $1.25 for each $1,000 invested, for a 4.478 percent yield.
The dollar rose, climbing to 109.41 yen from 108.37, as the euro slipped to $1.2293 from $1.2321.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average lost 66.44 points or 0.58 percent to close at 11,475.27.
In London the FTSE 100 index lost 32.6 or 0.74 percent to close at 4,370.70.
Russia mulls Yukos debt intervention
MOSCOW, July 6 (UPI) -- Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov said Tuesday it's possible the country will step in and reorganize the $3.4 billion debt of oil giant Yukos.
Yukos is required to either file a request for a delay or debt restructuring although no request has been received so far, the Novosti news agency reported.
In another hopeful sign, Shatalov said it was possible under tax law the company could make tax payments by installment if it files for bankruptcy.
The company was hobbled when the Russian government froze its assets, giving it no way to pay the tax bill. Additionally, the tax ministry issued another $3.3 billion tax bill to Yukos for 2001.
At the U.S. State Department in Washington, spokesman Richard Boucher expressed concern the Yukos affair may affect investors.
"The appearance of a lack of due process and a possible threat to private property rights have put the domestic and international business community somewhat on their guard and have raised serious questions about the Russian government's respect for investment rights and willingness to arrive at equitable solutions to promote business development," he said.
Yukos Chief Executive Officer Mikhail Khodorkovsky is in jail for corruption along with key business associate Platon Lebedev.
German experts call for 50-hour weeks
BERLIN, July 6 (UPI) -- Some German experts and industry leaders are calling for 50-hour work weeks to save German jobs.
"In order to protect jobs, people must work 50 hours per week," Klaus Zimmerman, president of the German Institute for Economic Research, told German newspaper Bild.
Ulrich Ramm, head economist at Commerzbank, told the paper he considers a 50-hour work week a sensible option. Ramm added in time German workers might once again be able to reduce their hours.
Michael Huether, director of the Institute of the German Economy, called for a general increase in work week flexibility.
The expert comments come at a time when many German unions are fighting to keep their members' work weeks well below 40 hours.
At the same time, some unions have shown willingness to compromise in limited situations. Powerful union IG Metall agreed to extend to 40 hours the work weeks of about 2,000 Siemens workers, whose jobs would otherwise likely have been outsourced to Hungary.
Stranded travelers get fewer perks
July 6 (UPI) -- The financial woes of several old-style U.S. hub-and-spoke airlines are making them less generous with stranded travelers.
Delta, American Airlines and US Airways say they're giving out fewer hotel vouchers these days, USA Today reported Tuesday.
Due to cost cutting, US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said, "It's rare that we would provide accommodations under weather conditions."
United, Northwest and Continental airlines say they haven't cut back.
No law requires airlines to pay, but they have usually covered lodging and possibly a meal when passengers were stranded due to weather or something within the carrier's control like a mechanical problem.
Before the airlines went into a long slide in 2001, they sometimes would give free lodging for no other reason than a passenger had been polite.
"They were very generous, but they could afford to be," said Michelle Robertson of lodging arranger Nationwide Hospitality of Arlington Heights, Ill.
