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U.S. markets closed mixed Friday

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A late rally held off another huge day off losses in U.S. markets Friday, although positive numbers did not hold up on two major stock boards.

Gains in General Electric, up 8.78 percent, and Citigroup, up 11.21 percent, helped lift the Dow Jones industrial average from early losses of more than 600 points.

The DJIA briefly pulled ahead late in the day, but the final hour saw more declines. The Dow index closed at 8,451.19 points, off 1.49 percent on a loss of 128.00 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.18 percent to 899.22, down 10.70 points. The Nasdaq composite index gained 4.39 percent to 1,649.51, up 4.39 points.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,122 stocks advanced and 2,284 declined on a volume of 10.9 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 26/32 to yield 3.884 percent.

The dollar was mixed. The euro fell to $1.3573, compared to $1.3609 Thursday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell to 99.01 yen, from 99.91 yen Thursday.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average lost 9.62 percent, down 881.06 points to 8,276.43.

The FTSE 100 index in London fell to 3,932.10, off 8.85 percent, to 3,932.10.

GM says it's not thinking of bankruptcy

DETROIT, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- General Motors' stocks hit a half-century low but the company said Friday that filing for bankruptcy protection was not an option.

GM shares fell 31 percent to $4.76 Thursday, the lowest company share price since the 1950s, CNNMoney.com reported .

"Clearly we face unprecedented challenges related to uncertainties in the financial markets globally and weakening economic fundamentals in many key markets, but bankruptcy protection is not an option GM is considering," a company statement said.

"Bankruptcy would not be in the interest of our employees, stockholders, suppliers or customers, and we believe speculation about a possible filing is exaggerated and unconstructive."

Former Samsung leader spared jail term

SEOUL, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A South Korean appeals court tossed out a breach of trust charge against former Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee Friday, sparing him a prison term.

On a charge stemming from Lee's transfer of company holdings to his son, Jae-yong, Lee "cannot be held accountable for breach of trust," Judge Seo Ki-seog said, Yonhap news service reported.

The Seoul High Court, however, upheld Lee's tax evasion verdict, ordering him to pay a $79 million fine and affirming the lower court's suspended three-year prison sentence.

Lee was charged with evading $80 million in taxes by hiding his wealth in various stock accounts between 2000 and 2006, the news service said.

Yamato Life seeks bankruptcy protection

TOKYO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Yamato Life Insurance Co., a nearly century-old Japanese insurer, sought bankruptcy protection Friday, becoming a victim of the current global financial crisis.

In its filing in a Tokyo district court, the midsize company listed debts of 269.5 billion yen, or $2.7 billion, Kyodo news service reported.

Company officials sought recourse to an 8-year-old law allowing courts to order assets of troubled financial institutions to be protected, the report said.

Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said the company's failure was an isolated event.

"The company used proceeds from high-yielding securities to cover losses from high-cost insurance operations," Nakagawa said in a statement.

Yamato's problems stem from investment losses in subprime mortgage-related bonds and other securities whose prices have collapsed, company officials said.

"We attempted to strengthen our risk management, but we have come to this regrettable outcome," said company President Takeo Nakazono, the Daily Telegraph of London reported.

Yamato is the eighth Japanese life insurance company to fail since the end of World War II, Kyodo said.

At the end of March, the company had a workforce of more than 1,000 had 170,000 individual insurance contracts, and its assets totaled 283.1 billion yen, or $2.84 billion.