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U.S. stocks mixed on bank, tech earnings

NEW YORK, July 22 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes were mixed Wednesday afternoon, with bank stocks falling but some technology and consumer stocks rising on another flood of earnings reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 14.58 points, or a 0.16 percent, to 8,901.36 in early afternoon trading. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 1.22 points, or 0.13 percent, to 953.36.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq advanced 4.32 points, or 0.23 percent, to 1,920.52.

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.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 7/32, yielding 3.51 percent, while the 30-year bond was down 18/32, yielding 4.422 percent.

The U.S. dollar rose to 93.76 yen from 93.70 yen in New York late Tuesday. The euro, in U.S. dollars, edged up to $1.422 from $1.4199.

U.S. agency takes over Delphi pensions

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- A U.S. agency will assume responsibility for the pension plans of some 70,000 workers and retirees at a large U.S. auto parts maker, the agency said Wednesday.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said it took the action because Delphi Corp. of Troy, Mich.,couldn't afford to maintain its pension plans and former parent General Motors Co. said it wouldn't assume them.

Delphi, GM's former parts division, has been in bankruptcy protection since 2005.

The federal pension agency said it expected to be responsible for about $4 billion of the hourly worker plan's shortfall of nearly $4.4 billion, about $2.2 billion of $2.6 billion in underfunding for the salaried pension plan and $50 million in underfunding for four smaller plans.

Delphi's hourly pension plan covers more than 47,000 people. The company's salaried pension plan covers an additional 20,000 or more workers and retirees.

The pension agency was created by Congress in 1974 to insure participants in defined-benefit pension plans continue their pensions if their employer is in financial distress or doesn't fully pre-fund its pension obligations.

Nearly 44 million U.S. workers in more than 29,000 private-sector pension plans are protected by the agency and some 1.3 million are covered by pension plans the agency took over.

Studies: Small-business loans hard to find

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- Small-business financing is still hard to come by, despite a loosening of U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loans, two studies indicated Wednesday.

Some 42 percent of small-business owners polled this month said they were not able to get the financing they needed to run their firms, the National Small Business Association said.

That's up from 33 percent in December, the association said.

"Despite several economic stimulus packages and lots of talk, only 3 percent of small businesses reported a positive impact of the stimulus bills on their business," association Chairman Keith Ashmus said.

A separate report from the Service Employees International Union said SBA-backed lending by major banks had significantly dried up.

Bank of America Corp., for instance, made only $10 million in the most basic and most-used type loan of SBA business loan program in the first seven months of this fiscal year, the report found.

In the past two full years, the bank made $102 million and $336 million in those loans, known as 7(a) loans, the union said.

The loans' name comes from section 7(a) of the U.S. Small Business Act that authorized the SBA to provide business loans to small U.S. businesses.

Bank of America would not comment to USA Today on 7(a) lending numbers.

The bank, based in Charlotte, N.C., and one of the country's largest, said in its second-quarter earnings report that its small-business banking division provided more than $580 million in new credit by way of credit cards, loans and lines of credit to more than 35,000 customers.

Ryanair to cut flights, end routes

DUBLIN, Ireland, July 22 (UPI) -- Ryanair Ltd. plans to cut 670 weekly flights, end 10 routes and reduce the frequency of another 30 routes this winter, the Irish low-cost airline said.

The carrier -- the world's largest in terms of international passenger numbers -- refused to say which routes would be affected, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

Ryanair also plans to move some operations from its largest base at London Stansted Airport to Spain, which is abolishing airport landing fees this winter in the hope of keeping tourist numbers up, said the airline based in Dublin, Ireland.

"Aircraft are the ultimate mobile assets," Ryanair Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary said. "I will put them where it's cheapest."

Greece, Belgium and the Netherlands have also eliminated landing fees, and airports around Europe are understood to be arranging discounts with airlines to keep services operating, the Times said.