UPI NewsTrack Business

Stocks higher after Fed, Bush speak

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. stock market investors sent indexes higher and then broke for the holiday weekend Friday after the Fed and the White House helped settle jittery nerves.

Stocks closed on an upward trend after Fed chief Ben Bernanke and U.S. President George Bush kindled hopes of lower interest rates and aid for troubled homeowners.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 119.01 points, or 0.90 percent, to 13,357.74. The Nasdaq composite advanced 31.06 points, or 1,21 percent, to 2,596.36, and the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 16.35 points, or 1.12 percent, to 1,473.99.

The volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 1.36 billion shares traded with 2,853 stocks rising and 474 declining.

Bonds were mixed. The benchmark 10-year note fell 4/32, or $1.25 for every $1,000 invested, yielding 4.529 percent Friday.

The dollar weakened. The dollar was at 115.78 yen from 115.83 yen late Thursday. The euro traded at $1.3623 from $1.3621 late Thursday.

All U.S. financial markets will be closed on Monday for Labor Day.

Bernanke said that the central bank was ready to take additional action as needed to aid the economy and apparently convinced most investors there will be a rate cut next month.

The Fed chairman said that tight credit markets could harm the consumer and the economy, and that the Fed will keep close watch on economic data to assess the best course of action.

Bush, meanwhile, promised that he would work to assist homeowners now struggling to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments and urged several changes to help ease the situation.

Crude oil tops $74 a barrel

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. crude oil futures climbed 68 cents to close Friday at $74.04 on the New York Mercantile, its strongest closing in a month.

That put oil prices up 4.1 percent from a week earlier but up 4.1% from a week ago but 4.6 percent from the closing level of $77.60 on July 31.

Affected favorably by assuring words from both the Fed and the White House, oil also was boosted by upbeat economic data and a possible tropical storm brewing the Atlantic.

October natural gas fell 3 percent Friday to close at $5.468 per million British thermal units, down 4.7 percent from a week ago and down 14.8 from a month ago.

Heating oil closed 1.38 cents higher at $2.0422 a gallon and reformulated gas was 2.82 cents lower at $2.0519.

Updated iPod expected soon

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.'s chief executive, is expected to announce an updated iPod at an upcoming, secretive event, music industry sources say.

Jobs invited analysts and reporters to a Los Angeles event next Wednesday but did not say what was planned.

Observers believe Jobs will show off a souped-up iPod and announce a deal to allow iPhone users to buy ring tones through the iTunes store, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Some execs say Jobs intends to announce a vastly improved version of the iPod with a larger video screen, a touch-screen interface and other features similar to Apple's iPhone, the innovative cellphone with a superior music player and Internet browser.

Maryland's living wage law draws fire

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- On the eve of Labor Day, Maryland is laying plans to become the only state in the union with a living wage law.

But, not everyone is happy. Critics say it doesn’t go far enough, that too many are left out.

Maryland is the first to require government contractors to pay their employees at least $11.30 per hour in urban areas and $8.50 in rural regions of the state.

Signed by first-term Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley in May, the new law is scheduled to take effect Oct.1. But it will include only those workers under new state contracts of $100,000 or more, and many companies are exempt, stateline.org reported.

State labor advocates complain the law will exclude so many contractors that it will leave thousands of employees still working at the poverty level without health or retirement benefits.