U.S. markets surge Tuesday
NEW YORK, March 10 (UPI) -- U.S. markets took a break from a string of declines Tuesday, surging forward with broad support from banking, insurance and industrial sectors.
General Electric was up 19 percent, Wells Fargo & Co. gained 16.75 percent and Bank of America rose 25.87 percent. Citigroup gained 37.14 percent, the highest among the most active stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average cruised to the close, gaining 379.44, or 5.8 percent, to 6,926.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 43.07, or 6.37 percent, to 719.60. The Nasdaq composite index gained 89.64, or 7.07 percent, to 1,358.28.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,918 stocks advanced and 221 declined on a volume of 7 billion shared traded.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 1 6/32 to yield 3.004 percent.
The euro rose to $1.268, compared to Monday's $1.2607. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell to 98.58 yen, compared to Monday's 98.85 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average shed 31.05 points to 7,054.98, off 0.44 percent.
In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 172.83 points, 4.88 percent, to 3,715.23.
Credit card defaults stalking big banks
NEW YORK, March 10 (UPI) -- Defaults on U.S. credit card loans are mounting with rising unemployment likely to push the defaults higher, industry analysts said.
Using the guideline that charge-offs -- or uncollectable loan balances -- rise 1 percent higher than the unemployment rate, the figure record 7.73 percent charge-offs recorded in December is likely to rise, CNNMoney.com reported Tuesday.
Mike Taiano, an analyst with Sandler O'Neill, estimated the charge-off rate could peak above 10 percent in 2009.
Unemployment reached 8.1 percent in February.
In recent congressional testimony, Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis predicted 2009 would be an "awful year" for the credit card industry.
Although dwarfed by the size of the subprime mortgage business, big banks have the most to fear if revolving debt defaults rise.
Of the $76 billion in credit card loans issued in 2008, nearly $46 billion came from three banks, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, credit rating agency Moody's reported.
Consumers are clicking for coupons
NEW YORK, March 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Internet search giant Google said spending rose 30 percent in the fourth quarter for online ads with words like "coupons" attached to them.
Online searches that included the word "coupons" rose 161 percent in December over December 2007, ComScore reported.
Similarly, searches with the word "discount" rose 26 percent in the same period, USA Today reported Tuesday.
On the Internet, ad prices rise depending on the value of the search words, as companies vie for searches to select and display their advertisements.
Prices range from 4 cents to $1 for each click that draws up an add, the newspaper said.
"Search is very much a barometer of the times," Google director of industry development John Burke said.
But, if "search" is the buzzword among advertisers, "coupons" is the word of choice for retailers these days. Coupons distribution rose 7.5 percent in the fourth quarter and redemptions rose 15 percent compared the fourth quarter of 2007, the Promotion Marketing Association said.
"That's when consumers suddenly starting saying this is for real and marketers said we need to react with more coupons to keep our sales up," said Charles Brown, co-chair of PMA's coupon council.
Lawyers call for international fraud court
NEW YORK, March 10 (UPI) -- A coalition of law firms linked by the fraud case involving New York trader Bernard Madoff is requesting formation of an international finance court.
The group known as the Madoff Case Global Alliance of Law Firms represents 45 firms from 25 nations, USA Today reported Tuesday.
The group collectively represents 10,000 individual victims of the trader's alleged Ponzi scheme, who are reported to have lost $50 billion.
The coalition's president Javier Cremades, a partner in the Spanish firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo, said the case was so far-reaching, it is "a global threat to everyone, including governments."
The coalition plans to petition members of the Group of 20 nations to set up an international court to act as adjudicator for international fraud cases, the newspaper said.
