U.S. markets slip on manufacturing data
NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Manufacturing data trumped news of a debt-ceiling compromise struck in Washington and sent U.S. stocks down Monday morning.
The Institute of Supply Management said its headline index measuring manufacturing activity dropped from 55.3 in June to 50.9 in July, marginally above the break-even point of 50.
The news sent stocks down despite President Barack Obama's announcement that Republicans and Democrats had resolved a weeks-long impasse in budget negotiations that had threatened, had no deal been struck, to push the country into default.
By close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 10.75 points, 0.09 percent, to 12,132.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 5.34 points, 0.41 percent, to 1,286.94. The Nasdaq composite index lost 11.77 points, 9.43 percent, to 2,744.61.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,616 stocks advanced and 1,428 declined on a volume of 4.2 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 14/32 to yield 2.749 percent.
The euro fell to $1.4251 from Friday's $1.4398. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 77.26 yen from Friday's 76.77 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 1.34 percent, 131.98, to 9,965.01.
In London, the FTSE 100 index lost 0.7 percent, 40.76, to 5,774.43.
HSBC to cut 30,000 positions
LONDON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- British bank HSBC said Monday it would eliminate 30,000 jobs to streamline its operations and save as much as $3.5 billion through 2013.
The announced job cuts amount to 10 percent of the bank's workforce, The New York Times reported. The restructuring includes HSBC backing out of retail banking in Poland and Russia and comes after solid gains in the second quarter.
HSBC said its profits rose 36 percent to $9.2 billion January through June. In the same six months a year earlier, HSBC earned $6.7 billion.
HSBC Group Chairman Douglas Flint said in a statement, "I am delighted to report how effectively the new management team under the leadership of Stuart Gulliver is working together and making progress."
He also said, "The mood in the organization is upbeat and there is real commitment and enthusiasm to tackle the tasks ahead of us."
GM's Volt is a first-year sellout
DETROIT, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- For 2011, General Motors' return to electric-powered vehicles has been a sellout success, the U.S. automaker said Monday.
GM said the production run for 2011 was set at 4,488 for the hybrid Chevrolet Volt and they've all been sold, except for 100 of them, which have already been spoken for as dealer demos and for study by GM engineers.
The Volt has sold at the average rate of 440 per month, the Detroit Free Press reported. It was launched in December.
Once the Volt makes it to the dealership, the average turnover time for a vehicle is 13 days.
The Volt is powered by batteries and gas. When the batteries run low, a small gasoline engine kicks in to keep the car going.
The Volt's main rival is the Nissan Leaf, a car powered only by an electric motor.
Through June, GM had sold 3,071 Volts, while Nissan had sold 3,894 Leafs.
GM has increased its production schedule to 16,000 for 2011 and plans to make 60,000 in 2012. GM plans eventually to make 100,000 Volts per year.
Nissan, not resting on its laurels, said it had the capacity to build 150,000 Leafs per year at its plant in Smyrna, Tenn.
OnStar tests its own 'Marauder's Map'
DETROIT, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- General Motors said it would do a marketing test for an OnStar application that lets consumers at home know the location of a vehicle.
Like the Marauder's Map in the Harry Potter books and movies that let Potter and his pals know the whereabouts of people in the castle by tracking their footsteps, the OnStar application would send signals to a home computer that told them the location of their vehicle or whether or not it had reached its final destination, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.
"What parent hasn't asked their teenage driver to call or send a text when they arrive somewhere only to not hear from them?" asked OnStar President Linda Marshall in a statement.
GM is playing catch-up on advanced technology for vehicles, having lost some ground with Ford's on-board computer system called Sync.
This summer, GM is launching MyLink in the Chevrolet Volt and the Equinox, which includes a feature of sending text messages with a voice-activated system, the newspaper said.
