U.S. stocks mixed on strong housing data
NEW YORK, March 23 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes were mixed Friday morning after a realty group released strong data on sales of existing U.S. homes.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 7.45 points, or 0.06 percent, to 12,467.59 in mid-morning trading. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 stock index added 0.53, or 0.04 percent, to 1,435.07.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 2.04, or 0.08 percent, to 2,459.70.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 61.41, or 0.4 percent, to 17,480.61. The Nikkei jumped 4.4 percent this week, the largest gain since five sessions that ended Jan. 27, 2006.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained 3/32, yielding 4.577 percent, while the 30-year bond added 5/32, yielding 4.769 percent.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 117.48 yen from 118.11 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro slipped to $1.3328 from $1.3337.
Report: Magna bids $4.7B for Chrysler
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., March 23 (UPI) -- Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. and a private-equity partner have bid $4.7 billion for the Chrysler Group, an analyst report said Friday.
"Our sources indicate (Chrysler parent) DaimlerChrysler is very interested in divesting itself of Chrysler," KeyBanc Capital Markets auto analyst Brett Hoselton wrote in the report.
Magna "views its offer as low and unlikely to prevail," Hoselton wrote. But the auto-parts giant sees the bid "as an opportunity to purchase an inexpensive stake in the automaker should other bidders retreat," he wrote.
The note did not name the private equity partner, but said its sources indicated Magna had talked with the Blackstone Group, which filed for an initial public offering Thursday, and Cerberus Capital Management.
Magna and the private-equity partner have already written a joint letter of interest with the bid to Chrysler parent DaimlerChrysler AG, Hoselton wrote.
Magna would take a 20 percent to 25 percent stake in the deal, The Detroit Free Press reported.
Magna, based in Aurora, Ontario, near Toronto, supplies a wide range of auto components, from seats to powertrains. It also assembles complete vehicles in small volumes for DaimlerChrysler, General Motors Corp. and BMW AG.
GM CEO, other execs got bonuses this year
DETROIT, March 23 (UPI) -- General Motors Corp. gave bonuses to Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and other top executives this year, the U.S. automaker said in a disclosure statement.
The stock bonuses, the first since 2003, could complicate GM's efforts to get concessions from its biggest U.S. labor union this year, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
GM will negotiate a new four-year contract with the United Auto Workers union this fall. The automaker is expected to push for significant cash savings, especially related to healthcare costs, the Journal said.
UAW leaders have criticized top executives of the big Detroit automakers for taking bonuses or other awards while they seek cuts in hourly workers' benefits and working conditions.
Wagoner received restricted stock valued at $2.8 million and 500,000 options, GM's Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures said. Seventeen other executives disclosed equity grants in separate filings.
The company said it would disclose full compensation details in its annual proxy statement, to be released in a month.
GE to buy Sanyo Electric's leasing arm
TOKYO, March 23 (UPI) -- General Electric Co. said Friday it agreed to buy Sanyo Electric Co.'s leasing arm for $1.15 billion, which focuses on smaller businesses.
GE's commercial finance division, which serves medium to large businesses, will pay $27.64 a share for Sanyo Electric Credit Co., a 62 percent premium to the company's $17.10 closing share price Friday.
Sanyo Credit said in a statement it agreed to the offer.
The sale is part of a plan to revive Sanyo Electric, whose chairwoman resigned Monday for "personal reasons" amid a company accounting scandal.
The New York-based securities firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. helped bail out the consumer-electronics maker 12 months ago.
Goldman will receive about $366 million for its Sanyo Credit stake, GE said. Goldman paid $204 million for the stake a year ago.
Sanyo Credit gets nearly two-thirds of its sales from leasing consumer electronics, including computers and other equipment, to businesses. It reported an operating profit of $98 million on revenues of $284 million in the year that ended in March.
GE's commercial finance division, which includes its leasing operations, reported annual sales of more than $8.5 billion.
