U.S. stocks off before interest rate move
NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks started the week headed down Monday as traders mulled the likelihood of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 78.57 points, or 0.74 percent, to 10,563.37 in late-morning trading Monday. The Nasdaq composite was off 15.01, or 0.69 percent, to 2,145.34, and the Standard & Poor's 500 had declined 6.80, or 0.55 percent, to 1,231.11.
The Fed is generally expected to raise the overnight bank loan rate Tuesday to 3.75 percent in what will be the 11th such increase since June 2004.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 10/32, or $3.13 per $1,000 invested, to yield 4.24 percent.
The dollar rose, hitting 111.38 yen from 111.36 as the euro slipped to $1.2149 from $1.2234.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed at 12,958.68 after falling 28.10 or 0.22 percent, and London's FTSE 100 settled at 5,431 after rising 23.10 or 0.43 percent.
Macau bank cuts North Korean ties, for now
MACAU, China, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A Macau bank has temporarily cut ties with North Korea after U.S. authorities accused it of money laundering for Pyongyang.
Depositors swamped Banco Delta Asia, in China's special administrative region of Macau, over the weekend to withdraw $38 million -- 10 percent of the bank's capital -- after the U.S. Treasury Department made its accusations. By Monday, though, retail banking activities seemed normal.
Stanley Au, chairman of the Delta Asia Financial Group, BDA's parent company, told a news conference Saturday that the group stopped doing business, temporarily, with North Korean interests in a bid "to resolve the dispute" with the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Shanghai Daily said Monday.
The bank acknowledged it has had a long relationship with North Korean companies, but claimed there was nothing irregular in its dealings.
In 1994, the bank discovered thousands of fake U.S. $100 bills deposited by a North Korean, and a similar incident occurred in 1999. No charges were brought in either case.
Germany's Siemens to dismiss 2,400
FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Germany's No. 1 automation group, Siemens AG, said Monday it will dismiss 2,400 workers at its struggling business services division.
The staff reductions are designed to advance the conglomerate's ongoing attempts to regain system-wide profitability, Manufacturing.com said.
Besides its business services division, Siemens also is focused on boosting earnings and lowering costs at its communications division and its logistics and assembly systems operations.
Dubai group in Indian aluminum venture
ORISSA, India, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Dubai Aluminum Co. will pay $3.6 billion to develop a bauxite mine and aluminum processing plant in India.
The plan envisions DAC having a 74-percent stake in a joint venture with India's engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, which will own the remaining interest, Arab News reported Monday.
The venture entails a 1.4 million ton annual capacity aluminum refinery, with bauxite mining and development of related infrastructure including a dedicated power plant, port facility and other utilities.
The project, to be located in Orissa, is expected to be operational in late 2009.
