U.S. markets close lower Wednesday
NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. markets closed lower Wednesday after Automatic Data Processing Inc. said the country lost 371,000 non-farm jobs from June to July.
The monthly report is an improvement over the past three months, when ADP reported job losses that averaged 498,000 per month.
By close, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 39.22 points, 0.42 percent, to 9,280.97. The S&P 500 lost 2.93 points, 0.29 percent, to 1,002.72. The Nasdaq index lost 18.26 points, 0.91 percent, to 1,993.05.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,388 stocks advanced and 1,640 declined on a volume of 7.2 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury fell 19/32 to yield 3.762 percent.
The euro rose to $1.4416 from Tuesday's $1.4398. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 94.98 yen from Tuesday's 95.27 yen.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 1.18 percent, 122.48 points, to 10,252.53.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 index shed 24.24 points, 0.52 percent, to 4,647.13.
Details of Microsoft, Yahoo! deal come out
REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. intends to pay Yahoo! Inc. 88 percent of the revenue from searches on Yahoo! Web sites, a regulatory filing said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filing revealed details of the Microsoft and Yahoo! advertising partnership announced on July 29, CNNMoney.com reported Wednesday.
The agreement includes Microsoft hiring 400 Yahoo! employees and paying Yahoo! $150 million over three years. Microsoft, in turn, will be allowed access to Yahoo!'s search engine technology. Microsoft recently launched its own search engine called Bing.
The deal combines two heavyweights in the Internet advertising business and is subject to approval by antitrust regulators.
Combined, however, the two companies still fall far short of the dominant position in the business, which is held by Google.
Lehman's tax bill raises questions
NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- New York City's attempt to claim $627 million in back taxes from Lehman Brothers in bankruptcy court does not imply lax procedures, a city official said.
Although court filings claim Lehman Brothers fell behind on its taxes in 1996, "we have vigorously pursued the taxes owed by Lehman and other financial-services firms," Sam Miller, an assistant commissioner at the city's Department of Finance told The New York Times Wednesday.
Others have questioned the city's enforcement of tax policies, suggesting the city has a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge arrangement because of how important Wall Street is to the city," David Skeel Jr., professor of corporate law at the University of Pennsylvania said.
While the city attempts to push its way toward the front of the creditor line in Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, corporate bankruptcy attorney Stephen Selbst asked how the corporation's tax bill got so large.
"How did the city get to the point where the city was looking at so many tax years and so much money," he asked.
Junkyards mixed on clunkers program
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The "Cash for Clunkers" program is a mixed blessing for U.S. junkyard and recycling businesses, various business owners said.
Nathan Adlen, co-owner of Aadlen Bros. Auto Wrecking in Sun Valley, Calif., called the program a "bonanza," for junkyards. "As good as (Car Allowance Rebate System) is for advertisers, dealerships and related auto businesses, it's going to be better for us," he said.
But Andrea Gregovich, daughter of junkyard owner said the market will be flooded with used parts of clunkers -- cars that people don't want, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
"There's going to be so many cars all at once, it's going to be hard to make a profit," she said.
The federal program gives car buyers rebates up to $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for a new model with better fuel efficiency. In its first week, owners traded in about a quarter of a million cars.
The recession has spurred a demand for used parts, as people hold onto cars longer, the newspaper said. But the price of scrap steel has fallen dramatically from $550 a ton to $125 a ton as the automakers are buying less recycled steel, Bruce Savage, vice president of communications at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, said.
