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U.S. blue chips close down, techs rise

NEW YORK, July 22 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes closed mixed Wednesday, with blue chips falling after seven winning days and some technology and consumer stocks rising on earnings reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which vacillated between losses and gains throughout the day, closed down 34.68 points, or 0.39 percent, at 8,881.26.

The Dow rose more than 9 percent in the previous seven sessions amid second-quarter earnings reports that many traders saw as positive.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.51 point, or 0.05 percent, at 954.07.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 4.6 billion shares traded.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq advanced 20.18 points, or 0.53 percent, at 1,926.38 -- its 11th straight close ahead.

In London, the FTSE 100 stock index closed up 12.56 points, or 0.28 percent, at 4,493.73. Germany's DAX ended up 27.59 points, or 0.54 percent, at 5,121.56. France's CAC-40 closed up 2.18, or 0.07 percent, at 3,305.07.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index was up 71.14 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 6,723.15. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 253.56 points, or 1.3 percent, at 19,248.17. China's SSE or Shanghai index climbed 83.41 points, or 2.6 percent, at 3,296.62.

U.S. Treasury notes slipped as investors took profits and looked ahead to another offering next week.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 16/32, yielding 3.544 percent, while the 30-year bond was down 29/32, yielding 4.444 percent.

The U.S. dollar fell to 93.54 yen from 93.70 yen in New York late Tuesday. The euro, in U.S. dollars, rose to $1.4214 from $1.4199.

Bernanke: Commercial defaults may be next

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- The United States may face a wave of commercial real estate defaults as the financial crisis evolves, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday.

But Bernanke, in the second day of his semiannual congressional testimony on monetary policy, did not commit to any steps the Fed might take to aid the market.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told Bernanke "some have suggested" the commercial defaults "may even dwarf the residential mortgage problems."

Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente, who forecast the subprime mortgage financial crisis and the U.S. dollar's decline in 2006, has predicted the defaults will turn into a commercial real estate collapse that will "dwarf the subprime problem."

Bernanke said it was too early to say how effective the Fed would be in staving off a wave of commercial real estate defaults.

It "may be appropriate" for the government to consider steps such as guaranteeing commercial mortgages to support the industry, he said.

U.S. commercial property prices fell 7.6 percent between April and May, bringing the total drop to 35 percent since the market's peak, Moody's Investors Service said.

At least 5,315 commercial properties worth more than $108 billion were in default, foreclosure or bankruptcy in June, real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc. said.

That's more than twice the number of troubled properties six months earlier and almost twice the value, it said.

Hotels and retail properties are among the most "problematic" assets, the study said.

Bank of America spent $1.5M on lobbying

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- Bank of America Corp., which accepted $45 billion in taxpayer bailout money, has spent $1.5 million on lobbying so far this year, U.S. Senate records indicate.

The Charlotte, N.C., bank -- one of the nation's largest -- has sought to sway senators and members of Congress on more than two dozen pieces of legislation, records indicate.

BoA has lobbied for flexibility in spending government rescue funds and against restrictions on executive compensation. It also has lobbied on home mortgage issues and credit card fees, as well as a consumer-rights bill, student lending issues and a proposed federal regulatory oversight agency, the records obtained by The Charlotte Observer suggest.

The documents don't say what positions the bank took. Bank spokeswoman Shirley Norton would not comment to the newspaper other than saying it was interested in tax reform and regulatory issues.

Critics argue that until banks repay taxpayer bailout money, they should steer clear of lobbying.

"As long as they hold on to a very substantial portion of public funds, and are publicly owned essentially, they should not be using any of their funds for lobbying purposes or campaign contributions," Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for the non-profit advocacy group Public Citizen, told the newspaper. "And you'll find Bank of America is doing both."

Bank of America's lobbying tab was $2.3 million in the first half of 2008, the Senate records state.

"We're cutting expenses across the company, including lobbying expenses," Norton said.

Hardee's No. 1 franchisee nixes 'holes' ad

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C., July 22 (UPI) -- The biggest Hardee's franchisee has refused to run a racy TV ad for the No. 4 U.S. fast-food chain's new Biscuit Holes because it is "pushing the boundaries."

Ben Mayo Boddie, chairman of Boddie-Noell Enterprises Inc. of Rocky Mount, N.C., says he is outraged by the commercial to name the Hardee's fried biscuit holes with icing.

The ad, from Los Angeles agency Mendelsohn Zien Advertising, asks consumers to "Name Our Holes," with people on the street suggesting names such as "goody balls," "creamy sweet holes," "cinnanuts" and "ball munchers," Advertising Age reported Wednesday.

The commercial puts Hardee's in a "category that diminishes not only the product but the brand itself," Boddie said in a letter to the Parents Television Council, which also complained about the ad.

"The Hardee's marketing team seems intent on pushing the boundaries at every turn," the letter said.

Boddie said his company, which owns nearly 350 Hardee's restaurants, covering most of North Carolina, would not "place this spot in any markets that we have control."

He also asked Hardee's owner CKE Restaurants Inc. of Anaheim, Calif., which also owns and franchises the Carl's Jr. chain, to eliminate the commercials "in all markets."

A CKE statement said the commercials, which air after 9 p.m., target "young, hungry guys."

"We do not aim to exclude or offend any other group with our efforts, but merely to appeal and amuse a very specific audience," the statement said.

CKE does not plan to drop the ads, the statement said.