Markets head lower
NEW YORK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. stock markets opened mixed, then headed lower Tuesday as investors waited for a report on automobile sales for September.
The monthly Autodata Corp. report, due mid-afternoon, is highly anticipated, as auto sales indicate the general mood of consumers and hint at how auto suppliers and steel manufacturers are doing.
In afternoon trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 55.17 points or 0.41 percent to 13,459.94. The Nasdaq composite index lost 2.60 points or 0.08 percent to 3,110.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 2.01 points or 0.14 percent to 1,442.48.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 4/32 to yield 1.615 percent.
The euro rose to $1.293 from Monday's $1.2888. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 78.08 yen from 78.02 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index shed 0.12 percent, 10.46, to 8,786.05.
In London, the FTSE 100 index dropped 0.19 percent, 11 points, to 5,809.45.
Google tops Microsoft in market value
NEW YORK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Internet giant Google surpassed its West Coast rival Microsoft in market value Monday, as one market analyst said Google is here to stay.
"There's finally a realization on the part of investors that this is not a one-trick pony," Candor Fitzgerald market analyst Youssef Squali said.
The Financial Times reported Google's value rose to $249.1 billion Monday, nearly $2 billion more than Microsoft.
That makes Apple, Google and then Microsoft one, two and three in value among technical firms.
In late August, Apple became the most valuable company in history with share prices pushing the firm to a $623.1 billion valuation.
Microsoft, which has slid back since, had held the record with a value of $620.6 billion, which was the company's worth in 1999.
The second most valuable company, which Apple surpassed in August 2011, is ExxonMobil, valued at $406 billion.
But among technical firms, Google has survived doubts about its diversity with its Android operating system for mobile phones, which has helped it jump to the head of the pack in mobile advertising. It now commands about half of that market, the Times said.
Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney, who evaluates Internet firms, said Google is on track to surpass Facebook in online display advertising, which could bring the company $6 billion in revenue in 2012.
Former US Fidelis president sentenced
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A circuit judge in St. Louis sentenced the former head of US Fidelis, Darain Atkinson, to eight years in prison on state charges Monday.
The sentence will run concurrently with a federal sentence that included an order for the company's former president and co-founder to pay $4.5 million in overdue taxes, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Judge Jon Cunningham said he had spent part of the weekend reading statements from victims in the case.
"Some of these people were retired or disabled. They talked about their economic situations and how the one thing they needed was a car that would run," Cunningham said at the sentencing.
"Your bad actions, your greed, caused all this difficulty," he said.
The company, which was previously known as National Auto Warranty Services, sold auto repair warranties. It failed in 2009, and Atkinson and his brother Cory were accused of stealing more than $100 million.
The company was also charged with misleading customers.
Cory Atkinson received a sentence of 40 months on federal charges and was ordered to pay $4.49 million in overdue taxes. On state charges, he was given a sentence of four years.
Canadian radio revenues rise in 2011
OTTAWA, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Revenue for private Canadian radio broadcasters rose 3.7 percent to $1.6 billion in 2011, 97.7 percent of which was from advertising, Statistics Canada said.
"The profit margin before interest and taxes was 19.4 percent in 2011, up from 19.1 percent in 2010, as profits totaled $313 million," the agency said. "However, the margin was lower than the 21.1 percent profit margin recorded in 2008, just before the economic slowdown."
The FM radio sector had operating revenues of $1.3 billion in 2011 with a profit margin before interest and taxes of 21.5 percent, up from 21.3 percent in 2010, StatsCan said.
The shrinking AM sector's operating revenues grew by 1.1 percent to $311 million and profitability grew from 10.1 percent in 2010 to 10.6 percent.
Since 2009, 16 Canadian AM stations have gone off the air, the report said.
N.Y.C. firms see uptick in September
NEW YORK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The pace of business activity in New York City picked up in September, but optimism dropped, the Institute of Supply Management said Tuesday.
The ISM-NY Inc. report said the city's Index for Current Business Conditions rose from 51.4 percent in August to 52.9 percent in September.
The six-month outlook for businesses dropped from 61.3 percent in August to 56.4 in September.
The report said the six-month outlook index was at an 11-month low.
The overall conditions index, while improving, did not reach July's level of 55.2 percent, nor did it come close to the year's peak, which occurred in March with the index at 67.4 percent.
Furthermore, the current business conditions index held above 60 percent from January through April. The low point of 2012 so far was 49.7 percent in June, while the low point over the past 12 months was in October 2011 with a reading of 45.7 percent.
For September, the revenues index at 55 percent was the highest it has been in four months, while the index measuring expected demand reached 62.5 percent.
The employment index for September fell to 52.8 percent from 55 percent in August. The index was higher than the 48.8 percent reading of September 2011, however.
Figures below 50 indicate a contraction, while higher numbers indicate growth.
