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U.S. markets finish day with fall

NEW YORK, March 27 (UPI) -- U.S. markets held steady for most of Thursday, then fell hard in the late afternoon on drops in technical and financial stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day 120.40 points in the red, down 0.97 percent to 12,302.46. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.15 percent, down 15.37 points to 1,325.76.

The Nasdaq composite also declined, down 43.53 points to 2,280.83, off 1.87 percent.

On the New York Stock Exchange 1,172 stocks advanced and 1,965 declined on volume of 1.427 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note lost 21/32 to yield 3.543 percent.

The dollar gained. The euro traded at $1.5765 from Wednesday's $1.5832, while the dollar traded at 99.78 yen from Wednesday's 99.33 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average dropped 102.05 points to 12,604.58, down 0.8 percent.

In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 39.20 points to 5,699.60, up 0.69 percent.

Heathrow's new terminal has rough opening

LONDON, March 27 (UPI) -- Day one at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 did not impress London travelers who found flights canceled, baggage lost and protesters forming a conga line.

"It is complete chaos in there. I am meant to be getting a connection in Terminal 3, that's gone now," said David Thatcher from Manchester, England, The Telegraph reported Thursday.

Flights left to Brussels, Amsterdam and Edinburgh without luggage and escalators broke down, the report said.

Heathrow's logistics director Shaun Cowlam said he was "cautiously optimistic," that BAA, which runs the terminal, would take care of the problems.

"Most airports open with difficulties. Looking at where we are now -- is it perfect? Not in every respect," he said.

The $8.57 billion terminal is designed to improve Heathrow's reputation.

Passengers ranked Heathrow 103 best out of 162 major terminals in a recent survey.

Equity lenders move to block home sales

PHOENIX, March 27 (UPI) -- Declining equity of U.S. homes is leading to battles between banks, as institutions holding second liens worried about the risks of their investment.

Banks that financed home equity loans are moving to stop homeowners from refinancing their home or blocking the home's sale, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Lender CitiFinancial recently rejected a home sale that would have left it with $1,000 after Chase Bank, which held the mortgage, was paid off. The value of the Phoenix, Ariz., home had declined 18 percent since 2006.

Homeowners Randy and Dawn McLain fell behind on their mortgage after Randy retired due to a back injury, the Times said.

The McLains owed a total of $370,000 and received an offer of $300,000 for the home.

J.D. Dougherty, the realtor involved in the deal, pointed out that blocking the sale may bring the home closer to being seized. "If it goes into foreclosure, which it is very likely to do anyway, you wouldn't get anything," he said.

Other banks, like National City of Cleveland, Ohio, have stopped homeowners from refinancing first mortgages until their home equity loans are paid off, the report said.

So. Cal Edison plans huge solar project

ROSEMEAD, Calif., March 27 (UPI) -- Southern California sunshine will supply electricity for 162,000 homes by 2012, a power company plan announced Thursday predicted.

Southern California Edison said it would install 65 million square feet of solar panels on roofs in the Los Angeles area, taking five years to complete the task.

It would generate 250 megawatts of power, the company said.

The project, using "two square miles of unused commercial rooftops," said Chief Executive Officer John E. Bryson, is designed to help meet peak electric needs on hot summer days and help reach the state's mandate of producing 20 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2010.

The installations will cost $877 million, the company said.

The company will start rooftop installations in August, "installing at a rate of one megawatt a week."

"These are the kinds of big ideas we need to meet California's long-term energy and climate control goals," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.