U.S. markets flat Tuesday
NEW YORK, June 23 (UPI) -- U.S. markets were mixed Tuesday, following a sharp sell off in the previous session that pushed the Dow Jones industrial average down 2.35 percent.
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 16.10 points or 0.19 percent to 8,322.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.23 percent, 2.06 points, to 895.10. The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.27 points, 0.07 percent, to 1,764.92.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,418 stocks advanced and 1,577 declined on a volume of 5.8 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 12/32 to yield 3.64 percent.
The euro rose to $1.4075, compared to Monday's $1.3866. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell to 95.23 yen, compared to Monday's 95.92 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average lost 276.66 points to 9,549.61, down 2.82 percent.
In London, the FTSE index lost 4.03 points, 0.1 percent, to 4,230.02.
Objections say GM to move jobs overseas
NEW YORK, June 23 (UPI) -- Objections filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York said General Motor's Corp.'s plan to close a Michigan transmission plant would shift jobs overseas.
The objections filed by Michigan counties Wayne and Washtenaw and the City of Ypsilanti say GM's plans to close the Willow Run facility would move U.S. jobs to Mexico and France, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.
GM has said it needed to consolidate six-speed transmission production due to reduced demand. Last week, however, local officials negotiated tax breaks with the company, hoping to provide a financial incentive to keep Willow Run open.
"Since they made their determination, we hope we've made it more economical for them to operate at Willow Run than any other locations," Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said.
In a separate objection, Wayne County joined with Oakland County and the City of Detroit to recoup about $2.2 million in back taxes and outstanding water and sewer bills owed by GM, the newspaper said.
Madoff's lawyer asks for 12-year sentence
NEW YORK, June 23 (UPI) -- A lawyer for New York investor Bernard Madoff has requested a sentence of 12 years, for 11 fraud-related counts that lost investors an estimated $65 billion.
To date, 1,341 Madoff victims have been discovered with a collective loss of $13 billion, CNN reported Tuesday.
Madoff, who pleaded guilty in March, "is currently 71 years old and has a life expectancy of 13 years," wrote attorney Ira Sorkin in a letter requesting federal Judge Denny Chin consider a 12-year term.
The letter refers to Madoff's turning himself in to authorities and his "non-violent" nature."
"We seek neither mercy nor sympathy," Sorkin wrote, acknowledging "terrible losses have been suffered as a result of Mr. Madoff's conduct."
The judge has other letters to consider.
"For what Mr. Madoff has done to us and to thousands of others like us, he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison, just as we will spend the rest of our lives in financial ruin," a letter from Leonard Forrest of Port St. Lucie, Fla., said.
Madoff's sentencing is scheduled for June 29. At that appearance, "Madoff will speak to the shame he has felt and to the pain he has caused," Sorkin's letter said.
Automakers given $8B in DOE loans
WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday it had awarded three automakers $8 billion in loans to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.
Loans of $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co., $1.6 billion to Nissan North America Inc., and $465 million to Telsa Motors will "create thousands of green jobs while helping reduce the nation's dangerous dependence on foreign oil," the department said in a statement.
The loan awarded to Ford is specifically designed to help the company "transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio to produce 13 more fuel efficient models."
Nissan's loan is meant to help the company produce electric vehicles in Smyrna, Tenn. The loan given Telsa is designated for production of "electric drive trains and electric vehicles in California."
U.S. President Barack Obama called the loans "an historic opportunity."
"These loans … will create good jobs and help the auto industry to meet and even exceed the tough fuel economy standards we've set, while helping us to regain our competitive edge in the world market," Obama said in the statement.
The DOE estimated the grants, provided through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, would reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by 140 billion gallons a year.
