UPI NewsTrack Business

U.S. markets lackluster Tuesday

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. stock markets slid Tuesday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics said prices for producers rose faster than expected in November.

Producer prices rose 2.4 percent in the month, a sharper increase than the 1.7 percent predicted.

The New York Federal Reserve banks said business conditions in the Empire State "leveled off in December, following four months of improvements."

North of New York, Statistics Canada reported new vehicle sales rose 3.5 percent in October with the sale of 133,559 cars and light trucks.

By close, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 49.05 points, 0.47 percent, to 10,452.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 0.55 percent, 6.18 points, to 1,107.93. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.5 percent, 11.05 points, to 2,201.05.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,212 stocks advanced and 1,815 declined on a volume of 5 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bill fell 11/32 to yield 3.594 percent.

The euro fell to $1.4533 from Monday's $1.4653. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 89.61 yen from Monday's 88.58 yen.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 0.22 percent, 22.20, to 10,083.48.

In Britain, the FTSE 100 index lost 29.57 points, 0.56 percent, to 5,285.77.

Dreamliner debuts to cheers and a gray sky

EVERETT, Wash., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Boeing's Dreamliner aircraft, two years overdue, took off on its maiden flight near Everett, Wash., Tuesday, collecting accolades from its creators.

"It's more environmentally friendly, it's more efficient, uses less fuel, it's going to cost the operator less to fly, it's going to allow the passengers to pay less and feel better when they land," said Boeing Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Albaugh.

Albaugh called the Dreamliner a "game changer," CNN reported Tuesday.

It may, as well, be a game saver. Boeing has orders for 850 of the planes that have a sticker price of about $150 million.

Albaugh said he agreed with Scott Hamilton, an aviation consultant who explained the Dreamliner's delays as a case of "too much outsourcing, too soon, with too little oversight."

Albaugh said, "in hindsight … there are a few things we might have kept inside, yes."

The Seattle Times said Dreamliner No. 1 took to the skies -- albeit gray skies – at 10:27 a.m. on "slender composite plastic wings (that) swept sharply upward in a graceful wingtip-to-wingtip curve" as thousands of Boeing employees cheered.

Canada bankruptcies decline at record pace

OTTAWA, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Canadian consumer and business bankruptcies fell a record 27.7 percent in October to 8,816, the federal regulator in Ottawa reported Tuesday.

The monthly decline from September levels coincided with a 15.4 percent increase in the number of credit protection proposals filed to 3,640, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada said in a release.

Despite the monthly decrease, the fallout from the recession was evident from year-over-year figures on insolvencies, which include proposals and bankruptcies.

"For the 12-month period ending Oct. 31, 2009, total insolvencies increased by 31.9 percent compared [with] the 12-month period ending Oct. 31, 2008," the agency said. "This is entirely due to an increase in consumer insolvencies."

Confidence and benefits back at Ford

DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. said it was confident enough in its prospects to restore merit raises and benefits to salaried workers taken away a year ago.

Ford Americas President Mark Fields said simply in a memorandum to salaried staff that, "our plan is working," The Detroit News reported Tuesday.

Ford said it would return to making contributions to retirement funds on Jan. 1, putting in 60 cents for every dollar tucked away by an employee with a cap in the benefit of 5 percent of the worker's salary.

Ford, like many other companies, retracted 401(k) contributions when the economy soured a year ago. "The benefits were suspended due to difficult business conditions," Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said.

Ford is expected to lose money on the year, but managed to post a $1 billion profit in the third quarter after making money in the second.

Ford said tuition assistance would be available for salaried workers starting March 1. Merit raises -- withdrawn with Ford's $14.6 billion loss in 2008 -- will return April 1.