U.S. stocks up ahead of Fed action
NEW YORK, June 29 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks rose Thursday ahead of an expected 17th consecutive rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 105.98 or 0.97 percent to 11,079.54 in late-morning trading. The Nasdaq composite gained 22.19 or 1.05 percent to 2,134.03, and the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 11.06 or 0.89 percent to 1,257.06.
The central bank was expected to announce later Thursday that it had boosted its federal funds rate to 5.25 percent.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up 5/32, trimming its yield to 5.233 percent.
The dollar slipped to 116.41 yen from 16.47, but the euro also eased, hitting $1.2546 from $1.2553.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed at 15,121.15 after gaining 235.04 or 1.58 percent.
Airbus catches an updraft from Brazil
SAO PAULO, June 29 (UPI) -- Brazil's TAM SA airline, the country's largest carrier, has agreed to buy 37 more Airbus planes.
TAM plans to acquire 15 Airbus A319s, 16 A320s and six A330s, to be delivered no later than 2010, the airline said Thursday.
The new memorandum of understanding comes in addition to last year's signed contract of 29 A320s to be delivered during the same period and the option of another 20 aircraft of the same models.
TAM did not disclose the cost of the new jets.
BP propane traders in U.S. cross hairs
CHICAGO, June 29 (UPI) -- U.S. authorities say traders at global energy giant BP PLC secretly and illegally cornered part of the U.S. propane market in early 2004.
That alleged scheme drove up heating and cooking costs for millions of mostly rural U.S. residents, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Further, the CFTC said that BP executives approved the moves, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The CFTC said in its complaint the activity, which involved at least six BP traders aiming to quickly clear at least $20 million in profits, caused a brief 50-percent spike in propane prices at the height of the home-heating season, affecting about 7 million households that heat with propane plus an undetermined number of others who bought bottled gas.
Eli Lilly mulls European retreat
INDIANAPOLIS, June 29 (UPI) -- Indiana's Eli Lilly & Co. has notified various European labor groups that it may close as many as three facilities.
The pharmaceutical giant said it may close research facilities in Belgium and Germany and a British factory to cut development costs from $1.1 billion per drug to $800 million per drug, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
About 900 people could be out of work if all the facilities are closed.
