Business Highlights

Business Highlights

	Published : Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:16 By : Agencies Print this Story

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - After six months of hype, thousands of people are getting their hands on the iPhone Friday, the new cell phone that Apple Inc. is banking on to become its third core business next to its moneymaking iPod players and Macintosh computers.

Customers were camped out at Apple and AT&T stores across the nation. The gadget, which combines the functions of a cell phone, iPod media player and wireless Web browser, goes on sale in the United States at 6 p.m. in each time zone.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks slid Friday as investors, securing positions before the second half of the year begins, sold off due to rising oil prices and lingering worries about subprime mortgage lending troubles.

The erratic day capped off a strong second quarter for Wall Street, which pushed the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 1,000 points over the last three months.

The stock market initially rose Friday, encouraged by Commerce Department data that fit well with the Federal Reserve's assessment Thursday that the economy appears to be growing moderately and that inflation, while still a concern, seems to be easing.

Friday's reports said May construction spending rose by the largest amount in nearly 1-1/2 years and consumer spending increased for the second month in a row.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumers boosted their spending in May as their incomes grew solidly, an encouraging sign that high gasoline prices haven't killed people's appetite to buy. Inflation moderated.

It was the second month in a row that consumer spending went up 0.5 percent, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.

Incomes, the fuel for future spending, rebounded in May, growing 0.4 percent. That was an improvement from the 0.2 percent drop reported for April.

In other economic news, construction spending rose 0.9 percent in May, the biggest gain in nearly 1 1/2 years, the department said in a second report. Brisk spending on big government projects, such as hospitals and other health care facilities, and by private builders on commercial construction, such as office buildings, eclipsed continued weakness in the housing sector.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices settled above the psychologically important $70 a barrel mark on Friday for the first time since August 2006 on worries about gasoline supplies in the heart of the summer driving season.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $70.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $71.06 earlier in the session. Oil last closed above $70 a barrel on Aug. 31.

At the pump, gas prices continued to defy analyst expectations by falling 0.4 cent overnight to a national average price of $2.971 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Retail gas prices, which typically lag futures markets, peaked at $3.227 a gallon on May 24.

DETROIT (AP) -- Workers at struggling auto parts giant Delphi Corp.'s largest union have approved a historic contract agreement that cuts wages for many longtime workers but secures thousands of jobs at plants that once were in jeopardy.

The ratification comes after two years of sometimes contentious negotiations and averts a threatened strike that would have crippled Delphi's former parent, General Motors Corp.

Sixty-eight percent of the workers who voted were in favor of the new four-year pact, while 32 percent were against it, the UAW's leadership said in a statement Friday.

About 17,000 workers at 18 Delphi facilities across the U.S. were eligible to vote on the deal, which also allows some plant closings and cuts wages for longtime workers from around $27 per hour to a pay range for everyone that runs from $14 to $18.50.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) -- The maverick founder of Commerce Bank NA, a New Jersey bank that has grown into a powerhouse on the East Coast, is retiring as the bank resolves a probe by federal banking regulators.

In a surprise announcement Friday, the company said Vernon W. Hill II had resigned from the bank and would retire from its holding company, Commerce Bancorp, on July 31.

Commerce also announced that it had entered into an agreement with the Comptroller of the Currency to stop doing business with companies owned by its executives and their relatives.

A person close to the situation said regulators had pressured the bank's board to seek Hill's resignation because the bank had business deals with Hill and his relatives. The person, who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the bank, spoke only on condition of anonymity.

BEIJING (AP) -- China enacted a law Friday meant to improve workers' rights after the communist government took the unprecedented step of seeking input from foreign companies and the Chinese public.

The measure, the biggest change in Chinese labor law in more than a decade, was preceded by intense debates, warnings about potential damage to business, and charges from activists that U.S. and other foreign companies were trying to suppress workers' rights.

Approval came two weeks after the discovery by police of children and adults working as slaves at brick kilns in the country's central provinces, highlighting abuses that have accompanied China's economic boom.

The law is meant to set standards for layoffs, severance, use of temporary workers and other conditions in China's rapidly evolving labor market. A provision added at the last minute in response to the slavery scandal would punish officials for negligence or misconduct.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The co-founder of Neteller, which processed billions of dollars in Internet gambling transactions for Americans, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of criminal conspiracy.

Stephen Lawrence, whose company was once one of the primary ways U.S. citizens placed bets with offshore bookies, acknowledged in a federal courtroom in Manhattan that the operation was illegal.

His lawyers said he was cooperating with U.S. investigators, and had also agreed to be at least partly responsible for the $100 million the government is seeking in restitution.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Farmers this year planted the most corn since the waning days of World War II, outpacing already high expectations for the crop, according to a federal report issued Friday.

Fueled by high demand and high prices for corn, farmers planted an estimated 92.9 million acres of corn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported. That's 19 percent more than in 2006 and was well above an earlier government estimate.

The record for corn planting was set in 1944, as American farmers responded to a huge demand for the crop in war-torn Europe.

In March, the Agriculture Department predicted corn growers would plant 90.5 million acres.

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A new airline passenger information sharing agreement between the EU and the United States aimed at thwarting terrorism will likely go into effect by July following concessions from both sides this week.

Envoys from the European Union's 27 nations reached a 'basic political understanding' on the new deal, which was struck Wednesday by EU and U.S. negotiators, the German EU presidency said.

The diplomats said less data on passengers would be exchanged under the new agreement, but the U.S. would be able to hold the information for longer.

Washington has pushed for more information, saying it is needed to help fight terrorism.

By The Associated Press

The Dow fell 13.66, or 0.10 percent, to 13,408.62, after swinging dramatically higher and lower over the course of the day.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.36, or 0.16 percent, to 1,503.35, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 5.14, or 0.20 percent, to 2,603.23.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $70.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $71.06 earlier in the session.

Gasoline for July, which expired after the session closed, rose 2.75 cents to settle at $2.2942 a gallon on the Nymex.

August Brent crude on the ICE Futures exchange in London rose 89 cents to settle at $71.41 a barrel on Friday.

In other Nymex trading, natural gas prices rose 11.8 cents to settle at $6.773 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Heating oil futures for July, which also expired, rose 1.36 cents to settle at $2.0319 a gallon on the Nymex.