Markets fall flat Wednesday
NEW YORK, April 21 (UPI) -- U.S. markets fell flat Wednesday after technology giant Apple released a quarterly report that exceeded expectations.
Apple said revenues rose to $13.5 billion, up from $9.07 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. In the fiscal quarter ending March 27, Apple said net profit rose to $3.07 billion or $3.33 per share, up from $1.79 per share in the same period a year ago.
By close, the Dow Jones industrial average had gained 7.86 points, or 0.07 percent, to 11,124.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 1.23 -- 0.1 percent -- to 1,205.94. The Nasdaq composite index gained 4.30, or 0.17 percent, to 2,504.61.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,759 stocks advanced and 1,334 declined on a volume of 5.7 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 14/32 to yield 3.743 percent.
The euro fell to $1.339 from Tuesday's $1.3443. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 93.14 yen from Tuesday's 93.15 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index added 1.74 percent, 189.37 points, to 11,090.05.
In London, the FTSE 100 index lost 60.26 points, 1.04 percent, to 5,723.43.
GM repays loans and spends a little
DETROIT, April 21 (UPI) -- The White House confirmed Wednesday that U.S. automaker General Motors Co. had paid off its $6.7 billion government loan.
The final $5.4 billion payment, which included $700 million in interest, was made in conjunction with $1.1 billion sent to the governments of Canada and Ontario, The Detroit News reported.
The News said Wednesday that GM tapped an escrow account set up by the Treasury to repay the loans.
The payoff does not divorce the taxpayer or the government from the company, which went through bankruptcy last summer. The government maintains ownership of 61 percent of GM after converting about $42 billion in loans into equity shares last year.
With business picking up, however, sources said GM plans to spend an additional $120 million on the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan, known as the Poletown plant.
GM said in December it would invest $336 million in the facility that is slated to produce the Chevrolet Volt, which is scheduled to debut in the fall.
In addition to the upgrade at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edward Whitacre Jr. was scheduled on Wednesday to announce a $130 million expansion of the Fairfax Assembly plant near Kansas City, Kan., so it could increase production of the Chevrolet Malibu.
GM has already shut down Malibu production in Orion Township, Mich., to switch that factory over to small car production, the News said.
Baltimore suit pivots on discrimination
BALTIMORE, April 21 (UPI) -- A lawyer helping Baltimore sue Wells Fargo & Co. in a second round of litigation said the case centers on predatory lending involving African-Americans.
Attorney John Relman said, "Ultimately, the amount of damages in this case is far less significant than whether or not a jury says, 'You're right, Wells Fargo targeted an African-American community with predatory loans and they did it for reasons of greed,'" The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.
A judged dismissed the case last year, calling it "implausible" that the loans could be blamed for inner city decay, despite some of them ending in foreclosure.
The second suit filed against the bank attempts to answer that with specifics. Baltimore City Solicitor George Nilson said the city is seeking $20 million in damages, based on a $1,472 annual increase in cost for fire and police services per vacant property.
Wells Fargo attorney Andrew Sandler said: "There's nothing here. They just want to go fishing to see if maybe they can come up with something."
Passengers dispirited by airline seating
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 21 (UPI) -- Passengers on U.S. discount carrier Spirit said they are sitting up and taking notice that seats on the airline's two new Airbus 320 aircraft don't recline.
"I hate sitting upright," Florida-to-New York passenger Eve Green told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "It felt cheap and uncomfortable."
"What happened to customer service?" asked Bryan Bordeaux who recently flew on Spirit with his wife and the couple's two children. "Between the bag and the seats, I don't know, they are kind of just piling things up here."
A week ago, the airline said it would begin charging up to $45 for carry-on bags that needed to be stowed in overhead compartments, provoking a new round of debate on how far the industry will go to squeeze money out of passengers for services that used to be provided free.
Airline spokeswoman Misty Pinson said the new seats were lighter, thereby assisting fuel efficiency, and cheaper to maintain, helping keep fares low.
Founder of SeatGuru.com Matt Daimler keeps a database on airline seating and said the 28-inch seat pitch on the new Spirit planes -- referring to the distance between the seats -- was "the worst."
"You have to realize that you're giving up some comfort to fly at those low prices," he said.
