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U.S. markets edge higher

NEW YORK, May 26 (UPI) -- U.S. markets gained ground Tuesday morning, in spite of a housing market report that said home prices were still in decline.

The S&P Case-Shiller home-price indexes showed prices in March in 15 of 20 cities fell 10 percent or more in the past twelve months. Prices also fell 19.1 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, the report said.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 164.63 points, or 1.99 percent, to 8,441.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.89 percent, 16.79 points, to 903.79. The Nasdaq composite index gained 44.39 points, 2.62 percent, to 1,736.40.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond was unchanged, yielding 3.45 percent.

The euro fell to $1.3955, compared to the previous mark of $1.4011. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar traded higher at 94.85, compared to 94.92.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average lost 36.19 points to 9,310.81, off 0.39 percent.

GM filing will be lucrative for lawyers

DETROIT, May 26 (UPI) -- Bankruptcy for U.S. automaker General Motors Corp. will likely generate hundreds of millions of dollars in lawyer fees, legal observers said.

The number of lawyers working on the case, which could be filed this week, is hard to ascertain, but former United Auto Workers President Stephen Yokich, now deceased, quipped in 1995 that a GM bankruptcy would "make 10 million lawyers $10 million apiece."

To estimate the fees by comparison, the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges submitted a bill of $55 million for three months work on the Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. bankruptcy, The New York Times reported Monday.

GM has hired Harvey Miller of Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Martin Beinenstock of Dewey & LeBoeuf. The GM board of directors has hired Cravath , Swaine & Moore. The UAW has hired Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.

The government has also hired a team of lawyers and consultants to work the possible Chapter 11 case.

"I've never seen a bankruptcy that has such a happy face on it as this one," said Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University.

Credit card law falls short, some say

WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- The credit card reform bill, just signed into law in Washington, does not go far enough to curb lender abuses, industry observers said.

Among the changes, the new law requires companies to provide more notice before changing interest rates, and requires payments to apply to the highest interest rates on an account first. It prohibits cards being issued to minors without their parent's permission and stops a lender from accepting charges that exceed spending limits, The Los Angeles Times reported.

But, the laws do not cap interest rates or fees and does nothing to stop a company from reducing a spending limit or closing accounts. It also fails to address "behavioral profiling," which includes practices such as setting a spending limit based on someone using a card in a poor neighborhood.

In addition, companies should rely on postmarks to ensure payments are made within the 21-day limit set by the new law, said Robert Manning, a consumer finance specialist at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

"This legislation deals with today's problems, not tomorrow's, and it doesn't set up a framework for dealing with tomorrow's problems," said Adam Levitin, an associate professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

NASA awards a contract to Raytheon

GREENBELT, Md., May 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has selected the Raytheon Co. of Riverdale, Md., for a bridge contract.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract is for continuation of services currently provided through the Earth Observing System Data and Information System maintenance and development contract. The total maximum value of the contract is $48 million, with an 18-month ordering period, NASA said.

The contract was initiated to provide a bridge contract until the competitive acquisition for the Earth Observing System Data and Information System Evolution and Development contract is completed.

The agreement will support the Earth Science Data and Information System Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., by providing scientific and other access to data from NASA's Earth science missions.