UPI NewsTrack Business

Stocks slide to the close

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. markets failed to find traction Wednesday after research firm Markit said business activity in the eurozone contracted in February.

The region's Purchasing Manager's Index came in at 49.7 for the month with numbers below 50 indicating business activity in retreat. The manufacturing index for the region came in at 49, the highest level in six months.

A day after financial leaders in Europe agreed to support Greece with an emergency bailout loan of $172 billion, investors were back to focusing on fundamentals.

The National Association of Realtors said the supply of existing homes on the market fell for the second consecutive month in January. NAR said there was a 6.1-month supply of homes on the market at the current pace of sales. That is down from a 6.2-month supply in December.

A smaller supply indicates prices could rise.

In other business news, the International Council of Shopping Centers said retail receipts in the U.S. jumped 3 percent in the week ending Saturday, as shoppers looked for winter clear out sales, took some interest in spring merchandise and spent some money on Valentine's Day.

By close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 27.02 points or 0.21 percent to 12,938.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 4.55 points or 0.33 percent to 1,357.66. The Nasdaq composite index lost 15.40 points or 0.52 percent to 2,933.17.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,193 stocks advanced and 1,855 declined on a volume of 3.4 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 17/32 to yield 2.007 percent.

The euro rose to $1.3248 from Tuesday's $1.3236. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 80.24 yen from 79.75 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.96 percent, 90.98 points, to 9,554.00.

In London, the FTSE 100 index slipped 0.2 percent, 11.65, to 5,916.55

EU threatens Hungary with sanctions

BRUSSELS, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The European Commission Wednesday threatened Hungary with sanctions if it did not get better control of its government deficit.

"This unprecedented step follows the commission's repeated warnings to Hungary urging it to step up its efforts to end the country's excessive government deficit, and its subsequent failure to take appropriate action," the commission said in a statement.

The commission said it would withhold a third of Hungary's European Union subsidies if it did not meet its financial targets.

That would cut $655.8 million out of Hungary's subsidies, the EUobserver reported Wednesday.

The commission said Hungary must make "structural" changes in its finances, rather than making a one-time adjustment.

The country has not had its deficit below the 3 percent threshold since 2004, the year it joined the European Union, the EUobserver reported.

In a response from Budapest, "Our government regards it as an unfounded and unfair proposal," government spokesman Peter Szijjarto said.

Szijjarto said the threat of sanctions was "unfathomable," given the public deficit was under the 3 percent target in 2011, "and will remain so this year as well."

Survey: Retirement's long off in Canada

TORONTO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Only one in three Canadians expects to be fully retired by age 66, a Sun Life Financial survey published Wednesday in Toronto showed.

The Ipsos Reid polling firm conducted online interviews with 3,701 working Canadians aged 30-65 in late November and early December and found 48 percent are planning to phase in their retirement by working part-time or freelance.

"These results are not surprising given the current economic volatility, increasing consumer debt loads, rising healthcare costs, longer life expectancy and lack of planning," Sun Life Financial President Ken Dougherty said in a release. "We're also finding that some Canadians believe they'll have to work longer to be able to pay for basic living expenses."

Debt also weighed heavily in the survey, with 47 percent of respondents saying they are worried about debt in retirement. Accordingly, 44 percent said paying down debt is their number one financial priority, far ahead of the 20 percent who said saving for retirement was their top priority.

The poll had a 1.6 percent margin of error, the release said.

GM CEO to donate $1M to housing program

DETROIT, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- General Motors Co. confirmed Wednesday that Chief Executive Officer Daniel Akerson is writing a check for $1 million for Habitat for Humanity.

GM spokesman Greg Martin confirmed reports that the CEO, who has a long history of philanthropic giving, would write the check for a program called Leaders to ReBuild Detroit, Crain's Detroit Business reported.

The Detroit News said Akerson once walked into a soup kitchen in Detroit to give the program a five-figure check.

Akerson was scheduled to speak Wednesday at the J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy at a Leaders to Rebuild Detroit event, kicking off a three-year initiative to rebuild Motor City, the News said.

The initial focus of the program is the Morningside Commons neighborhood. The initial target is to assist at least 500 families in the next three years with housing projects, including repairs, weatherization and home construction.

Akerson became CEO of GM in the fall of 2010 after several tumultuous years for the automaker, including a stint in bankruptcy court in 2009.

His philanthropic check-writing has included a $25,000 gift to the Wounded Warrior Project in Detroit and sponsorship of the Chuck Davey Boxing Classic in 2010 and 2011.

In the fall of 2010, Akerson wrote a $10,000 check for Detroit Public Schools athletic programs. In earlier years, Akerson and his wife, Karin, gave generously to "So Others Might Eat," a food and shelter program in Washington, D.C.

In 2010, he received that program's McKenna Humanitarian Award, the newspaper said.