U.S. stocks mixed on employment report
NEW YORK, March 10 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks were mixed Friday as traders digested robust February employment data that could spur the Federal Reserve to keep raising rates.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 35.94 or 0.33 percent to 11,008.22 in late-morning trading. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.70 or 0.16 percent to 2,246.02, and the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 1.60 or 0.13 percent to 1,273.83.
The Labor Department said employers added 243,000 jobs last month, much more than expected and possible evidence the economy may be heating up. Such a prospect could motivate the central bank to push its federal funds rate beyond 5 percent.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury dropped 2/32, or 63 cents per $1,000 invested, to yield 4.739 percent.
The dollar rose to 118.30 yen from 118.16, and the euro climbed to $1.1917 from $1.1912.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed at 16,115.63 on a rise of 78.72 or 0.49 percent.
Latin Americans bid $12B for Univision
NEW YORK, March 10 (UPI) -- A group of wealthy Latin American investors is planning to bid $12 billion for the largest Spanish-language media company in the United States.
Billionaire television producer Haim Saban, Mexican broadcasting company Grupo Televisa, the Cisneros family, which controls Venezuela's biggest broadcaster, Venevision, media-focused buyout shop Providence Equity Partners and Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Partners are part of the group, the New York Post said Friday.
Univision reaches 98 percent of Hispanic households, owns the Univision and TeleFutura broadcast-TV networks as well as the Galavision cable network, 62 TV stations and 69 radio stations, among other properties.
India's ONGC in $15B global buying spree
NEW DELHI, March 10 (UPI) -- India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. aims to spend $15 billion buying foreign oil and natural gas assets.
Company Chairman Subir Raha said Friday that ONGC, its subsidiary ONGC Videsh Ltd. and ONGC's joint venture company with steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd., were in talks for several acquisitions spanning the globe, The Hindu newspaper reported.
Analysts said those talks are for properties in Kazakhstan, Cuba, Myanmar, Venezuela, Brazil, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Sierra Leone, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
The energy giant also is in talks to acquire Exxon Mobil Corp.'s 30-percent interest in BC-10 field in Brazil and also has been in dialogue to take a block in the gigantic South Pars gas field in Iran.
Mich. lawmakers prepare to raise minimum wage
LANSING, Mich., March 10 (UPI) -- Lawmakers in the Michigan House of Representatives are preparing to vote on a proposed hike in the minimum wage to nearly $7 an hour.
State senators Thursday unanimously voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.95 per hour, the Detroit News said Friday. Representatives could vote on the proposal as early as Tuesday.
Senate Republicans pushed the bill to co-op a union-backed ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment tying automatic minimum-wage increases to the annual rate of inflation.
GOP members worry that such an initiative would guarantee a large Democratic turnout, hurting Republican candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and other offices.
