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American to cut domestic flights
FORT WORTH, Texas >> American Airlines, the world's largest airline, said today it will cut its domestic flight schedule in the first quarter of 2003 by 3.3 percent as demand for air travel remains depressed.More job cuts may be needed as a result, the airline said, although it is on target for the 7,000 layoffs announced in August.
The airline, a unit of AMR Corp., is seeking to cut costs wherever it can amid massive financial losses, heading toward a goal of permanent reductions of $3 billion to $4 billion. More than $2 billion in savings are already being phased in, American said.
While the domestic schedule is shrinking, the airline does not anticipate any reductions to the international schedule in the first quarter.
Home sales rose in October
WASHINGTON >> Sales of existing U.S. homes rose an unexpectedly strong 6.1 percent in October, the National Association of Realtors said today, as low interest rates fueled home buying.Sales of previously owned homes climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million units from an upwardly revised 5.44 million unit pace in September, the association said.
The October sales pace far exceeded the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters, who, on average, had expected a 5.37 million pace.
Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most popular form of home loan, have hovered at low levels of near 6 percent, something not seen since the mid-1960s.
The median national used home sales price rose to $159,600 from $157,900 the previous month, an increase of 9.8 percent from October 2001.
N.J. to sue Sears, Tyco over losses
NEW YORK >> New Jersey officials said today the state will file suit against four companies accused of accounting irregularities and other misdeeds, leading to $150 million in losses in the state pension.In a suit to be filed within the next two days, New Jersey said it will show how corporate misconduct by Qwest Communications International Inc. , Electronic Data Systems Corp. , Sears Roebuck and Co. and Tyco International Ltd. and their officers led to a precipitous drop in the value of shares owned by the pension fund.
New Jersey's $56.3 billion pension system is one of the worst performing in the country. The pension lost nearly $16 billion from June 2001 through Sept. 30, 2002, mostly due to poor equity investment performance.
BNP shocks France with bank bid
PARIS >> The French banking sector looked set to enter another period of consolidation after BNP Paribas shocked investors over the weekend by paying a massive premium for a government stake in smaller rival Credit Lyonnais.After three years of relative calm, BNP, the parent company of Honolulu-based BancWest Corp., shook the French financial establishment from its slumber by outbidding domestic competitors for the 10.9 percent holding in a hastily called state auction.
Seen until last week as an outsider in any deal for Lyonnais , BNP is now the bank's largest shareholder and a threat to challenge long-favored suitor Credit Agricole for control of France's fourth-largest listed bank.
Grand Canyon water whets miners' thirst
PHOENIX >> Peabody Energy, the world's largest private coal company, needs a new water supply for its mining operations on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in northern Arizona. But a company proposal to drill shafts into the Grand Canyon to tap the Colorado River is drawing fire."It's just totally unacceptable," said Geoff Barnard, president of the Grand Canyon Trust, a Flagstaff-based preservation group. "The Grand Canyon is one of our sacred places."
The proposal calls for building a $125 million pumping station and pipeline within the national park. It would require drilling 1,200-foot shafts through the canyon rim.
Peabody spokeswoman Beth Sutton said the company has not committed to the plan yet, describing it as "an option that we're looking at."
The Hopis, worried that the aquifer's long-term supply could be strained by the region's expanding population, have set a 2005 deadline for Peabody to stop using that ground water and look for an alternative source.
Underfunded pensions draw U.S. court action
WASHINGTON >> The government's pension insurance program is asking a federal court to give it control of the underfunded retirement plan of a former Global Crossing-owned company.Pensions of 5,500 workers and retirees of Frontier Corp. are short by $105 million. The telecommunications company is based in Rochester, N.Y., and was owned by Global Crossing until it was sold last year.
The government corporation is asking the U.S. District Court in New York to terminate the pension plan as of Dec. 3 and to name it as the trustee.
Frontier was sold to Citizens Communications Co. in 2001, and the sale agreement specified that Global Crossing transfer almost all the pension plan to the buyer. Global Crossing, the fiber-optics company that has filed for bankruptcy protection, has not made the transfer, according to the PBGC.
