U.S. markets mixed on Monday
NEW YORK, March 15 (UPI) -- U.S. markets closed mixed Monday with blue-chip stocks led by retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which rose 2.82 percent on an advisory upgrade from Citigroup.
Citigroup flipped Wal-Mart's status from "hold" to "buy," The Wall Street Journal reported. Dow Jones component Caterpillar Inc. dropped 1.46 percent after China's Premier Wen Jiabao said China would not allow its currency to appreciate. Technology stocks held back, despite the Federal Communications Commission announcing a 10-year plan to have broadband services extended to 100 million Americans.
By close, the Dow Jones industrial average added 17.46 points or 0.16 percent to 10,642.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.52 points or 0.05 percent to 1,150.51. The Nasdaq composite index lost 5.45 or 0.23 percent to 2,362.21.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,263 shares advanced and 1,733 declined on a volume of 4.1 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 1/32 to yield 3.699 percent.
The euro fell to $1.3677 from Friday's $1.3762. Against the yen, the dollar was nearly flat at 90.49 yen, up from Friday's 90.47 yen.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.01 percent, 0.72, to 10,751.98.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 index dropped 0.57 percent, 31.80, to 5,593.85.
Dodd puts financial reform on the line
WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., unveiled his 1,336 page regulatory reform bill Monday, saying it included Republican input.
The bill "reflects an awful lot of work that has gone on between Democrats and Republicans on this committee," Dodd said, The New York Times reported.
The bill seeks to create a consumer protection agency as an autonomous program housed at the Federal Reserve -- although a council of regulators can vote to reject some of its rulings.
The bill also reins in risk-taking by banks and establishes a system for the government to take over financial firms, not just banks, deemed so large their collapse would ripple through the financial system.
Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., a Republican, said the bill "will ensure that large financial institutions face the same resolution process as small banks and eliminates the possibility of future government bailouts."
Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, charged by Congress with monitoring the $700 billion bank bailout program established in 2008, said "we are now heading toward a series of votes in which the choice will be clear: Families or banks."
FCC to submit far-reaching broadband plan
WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Monday it would submit a plan to Congress meant include all Americans in the Internet revolution.
Similar to past efforts for the government to extend electricity to remote rural settings, the FCC said in its "Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan," envisions broadband as the dominant data delivery system, surpassing land line phones and broadcast systems such as television and radio.
The plan says "all Americans should have broadband service with sufficient capabilities, all should be able to afford broadband and all should have the opportunity to develop digital literacy skills."
"Above all else, the plan is a call to action to meet that challenge for our era," the FCC's executive director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative said in a statement.
The plan calls for subsidizing the extension of broadband service and encouraging mobile broadband providers to "construct and build networks" that push the country's mobile coverage to one that is "seamless and competitive."
The plan calls for rule changes "to ensure a competitive and innovative video set-top box market," which would facilitate managing cable and broadband services.
The plan sets a goal of connecting "100 million households to affordable 100-megabits-per-second service."
iPad sales: Zero to 51,000 in 2 hours
CUPERTINO, Calif., March 15 (UPI) -- Apple Corp. sold 120,000 iPad digital readers on its first day, industry observers said.
Fastcompany.com reported Monday that Apple may have needlessly limited iPad sales on Friday's "pre-order" day to two per customer because the average sale was for 1.1 units. However, business was brisk, especially considering that, as a "pre-order," none of the customers had even seen an iPad up close.
Sales apparently declined on the second and third day of the sale, Apple Insider reported. By comparing order numbers, however, Apple Insider said 51,000 iPads were pre-ordered in the first 2 hours of the sale.
Fortune Brainstorm Tech industry analyst Philip Elmer-DeWitt said Saturday and Sunday sales slowed to 1,000 per hour.
Another industry analyst, Daniel Tello, predicted Apple would sell a half million iPads before the April 3 launch date and 1 million within two weeks after that.
About 70 percent of buyers opted for the Wi-Fi version of the iPad, presumably because it was available sooner than the 3G version, Fastcompany.com said.
