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U.S. markets make up lost ground

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. markets swung higher Tuesday, recovering ground lost during a three-week trend that has investors concerned a 10 percent downward correction is in play.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed under 10,000 points for the first time in three months Monday, three weeks after hitting a recent peak of 10,725.43 on Jan. 19.

By close, the DJIA added 1.52 percent, 150.25 points, to 10,058.64. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.3 percent, 13.78 points, to 1,070.52. The Nasdaq composite index rose 1.17 percent, 24.82 points, to 2,150.87.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,385 stocks advanced and 666 declined on a volume of 5.1 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bill fell 20/32 to yield 3.639 percent.

The euro rose to $1.3787 from Monday's $1.366. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 89.68 yen from Monday's 89.30 yen.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 0.19 percent, 18.92 points, to 9,932.90.

In Britain, the FTSE 100 index gained 0.38 percent, 19.51, to 5,111.84.

GM to add shifts at three plants

DETROIT, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- General Motors Co. said it would add a third shift at three plants, including 1,000 workers to start at a Lansing, Mich., factory, in April.

With demand for automobiles returning after the worst sales slump in the industry in nearly 50 years, GM also said it would add shifts to plants in Kansas City, Kan., and Fort Wayne, Ind., adding 2,400 more workers to its payrolls.

In Lansing, Mich., 483 of the new jobs would be filled by transplanted GM workers from Spring Hill, Tenn., where the GM plant stopped production in November, The Detroit News reported Tuesday.

The Lansing factory assembles Buick Enclaves, the GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlooks, which are being phased out, the News reportedy. However, GM plans to add the Chevrolet Traverse, previously made in Tennessee, to the Lansing lineup, the newspaper said.

Union blasts Kraft on factory closing

BRISTOL, England, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A British union official said Kraft Foods Inc. was "shameful" in promising to keep a Cadbury factory open, then changing direction at the cost of 400 jobs.

Unite national officer Jennie Formby said the U.S. company was "being very irresponsible to talk about changes at Somerdale," a factory near Bristol, England, that Cadbury had already planned to close before it agreed to a $17.8 billion purchase offer from Kraft last month.

Kraft said it would "be in a position to continue to operate" the Somerdale plant. However, The Times of London reported Tuesday it has learned that Kraft officials changed their minds.

Despite this, a Kraft spokesman said, "we need to review with Cadbury management before making a decision. We are sincere in our intent to keep Somerdale."

Formby, however, said, "some of the workers have had their hopes raised by Kraft management and if they are going to lose their jobs then that is shameful."

In earlier reports, Kraft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Irene Rosenfeld did not commit to the number of jobs that might be lost with the merger, although Kraft said it would realize savings of $675 million within three years.

GMG sells 23 newspapers in $70.6M deal

LONDON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Britain's Guardian Media Group said Tuesday it had sold 32 newspapers, including the Manchester Evening News, to Trinity Mirror in a deal worth $70.6 million.

The media group, publishers of The Guardian and The Observer, purchased the Manchester Evening News in 1924, The Times of London Online reported.

In effect, profits from GMG's smaller, regional newspapers have been subsidizing losses at the national publications, but the tide turned last year when the smaller newspapers failed to generate a profit.

Meanwhile, the Guardian News and Media, which publishes the national newspapers, are losing about $156,000 a day, The Times said.

The sale includes $11.6 million in cash and the assumption of a $58.7 million printing contract.

Trinity Mirror Chief Executive Officer called the purchase, "a perfect fit … which extends our reach across print and online and is a further step towards our strategic goal of creating a multi-media business of real scale."

GMG CEO Carolyn McCall said the sale would "secure the future of The Guardian in perpetuity."