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Stocks lose traction Monday

NEW YORK, June 11 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes failed to get a bounce Monday from Spain's weekend agreement to accept a bank bailout loan of $125 billion.

Markets rose in most of Asia, rising 2.44 percent in Hong Kong. In Europe, markets opened with brisk gains before falling back on news demand for Spain's benchmark bonds was weak.

The DAX 30 index in Germany, up 0.85 percent early in the day, closed up only 0.17 percent.

Stocks were down in France and flat on the pan-Europe Stoxx 600 index. The FTSE MIB index in Italy fell 2.79 percent.

Markets were up early in New York, but down sharply with sharp slides in late trading.

By close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 142.97 points of 1.14 percent to 12,411.23.

The Nasdaq composite shed 48.69 points or 1.7 percent to 2,809.73.

The Standard and Poor's 500 gave up 16.73 points or 1.26 percent to 1,308.93.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 631 stocks advanced and 2,433 declined on a volume of 3.2 billion shares.

The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 13/32 to yield 1.592 percent.

The euro fell to $1.2482 from Friday's $1.2517. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 79.42 yen from 79.48 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index added 1.96 percent, 165.65 points, to 8,624.90.

In London, the FTSE 100 index slipped 0.05 percent, 2.71, to 5,432.37.

Google reaches e-book deal in France

PARIS, June 11 (UPI) -- A prominent publishers group in France said a deal with Google had allowed the country to move forward with electronic book sales.

"What we are saying is that this agreement respects our copyright law in France. That is very important," said Christine de Mazieres, managing director of the French Publishers' Association.

The group that represents 600 publishers and the Societe des Gens de Lettres, a writers' group, gave up their lawsuits against Google, which was based on copyright violations, The New York Times reported Monday.

The deal includes an agreement for Google to put together a "framework" for bringing French books to the electronic book market.

The deal also gives publishers the right to decide what books will be put into digital form.

"No question, this is an innovation," said Philippe Colombet, the head of Google Books France. "We are interested in exporting these deals elsewhere."

Google said the deal makes France the only place where it has reached an agreement potentially to publish every book still under under copyright, but out of print, a status that defines most of the books in the world.

United Airlines hikes long-haul bag fee

CHICAGO, June 11 (UPI) -- United Airlines said higher costs have forced the U.S. carrier to again raise its fees for a second bag on international flights, this time from $70 to $100.

The 43 percent hike comes a year after a 40 percent increase.

"This change reflects an increase in costs associated with carrying bags, such as fuel and handling," the airline said in a statement.

The Chicago Tribune reported Monday that United's $100 fee matches Delta Air Lines, which also charges $100 for a second bag, though that fee is $80 with online check-in.

The larger fee is expected to give United "modest" returns, said Hunter Keay, an analyst with Wolfe Trahan & Co. in a report.

It is expected to increase revenue at United by $30 million per year, Keay said.

GE mulls lending divestiture

FAIRFIELD, Conn., June 11 (UPI) -- U.S. conglomerate General Electric is mulling a reduction of its banking business, GE Capital, to calm nervous investors, sources told The Wall Street Journal.

The parent company could sell off as much as 16 percent of GE Capital, despite its return to profitability, as investors are nervous given GE Capital, as a side business, amounts to a bank that ranks seventh largest in the country, the newspaper said.

"It's a better business today than it has ever been," said GE Capital Chairman Mike Neal last week. However, "Is it severable? Sure. Everything is," he said.

In the first three months of the year, GE's banking unit earned a profit of $1.8 billion, about half of the company's total profit. It did so with 5 percent fewer loans than it had in the same quarter of 2011, the Journal said.

In 2012, GE Capital expects to pay $7 billion to GE in dividends. But the company's stock price has not reflected any new-found confidence among investors.

Despite the contribution of its lending business, for the most part "GE investors do not value its financial-company earnings as highly as they do its industrial-company earnings," said Bob Spremulli, an equity analyst at TIAA-CREF, which is a major GE shareholder.

"Investors, including ourselves, want GE to de-emphasize the earnings contribution of GE Capital to the total and want them to demonstrate growth in the industrial earnings," Spremulli said.