KGET: Business News

Frontier ending Denver-Aspen flights

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:34:38 -0800

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Frontier Airlines is ending its Denver-Aspen flights in April.

The airline has been flying two round-trips on 74-seat airplanes during the ski season and one in the off-season. The service will end April 16th.

Aspen tourism officials tell an Aspen newspaper they are disappointed but not surprised by the announcement Friday. The airline has said it wants to sell the Bombardier Q400 planes it uses on the route.

United also provides Denver-Aspen service. American flies to Aspen from Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Tourism officials say that anyone who booked a Frontier flight between Aspen and Denver after April 15th will be switched to United.

Netflix settlement trims 14 pct off 4Q earnings

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:54:07 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It turns out Netflix's fourth-quarter earnings aren't quite as good as the video subscription service told investors a couple weeks ago.

The company lowered its net income by 14 percent to account for a $9 million payment that will be made as part of a legal settlement reached after the Jan. 25 release of Netflix's results for the final three months of last year.

Accounting for the payment lowered Netflix's fourth-quarter earnings from a previously reported $40.7 million, or 73 cents per share, to $35.2 million, or 64 cents per share. Netflix Inc. disclosed the change in a regulatory filing late Friday.

The settlement covers claims made under the Video Privacy Protection Act, a law that prohibits rental services from sharing information about what their customers have been watching.

Stocks have worst day of 2012

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:04:33 -0800

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks have finished their worst day of the year. They fell right at the opening bell on news that European finance ministers are insisting that Greece cut even more in wages and spending if the nation hopes to get bailout money to pay its creditors.

The Dow finished 89 points lower. The S&P 500 lost nine, to complete its first losing week this year. The Nasdaq composite is down 23 points.

MF Global trustee says at least $1.6B missing

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:02:54 -0800

UNDATED (AP) - The court-appointed trustee overseeing MF Global's liquidation says an additional $400 million is missing from customer accounts, bringing the total to a least $1.6 billion.

The trustee, James Giddens, said in a statement Friday that the new estimate was based on his investigation and it could change again. Giddens has been combing through the accounts of MF Global, which was headed by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, since it filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31.

Giddens says most of the cash transactions in the last week before the bankruptcy filing have been traced. Regulators are investigating whether MF Global tapped money from clients' accounts as its financial condition worsened. That would violate securities laws.

Giddens has returned about $3.9 billion to customers.

Budget deficit drops to $27 billion in January

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:09:26 -0800

WASHINGTON (AP) — The budget deficit fell sharply in January compared to a year earlier, as an improving economy lifted income tax revenue.

The Treasury Department says the budget deficit dropped to $27 billion last month, from $50 billion in January 2011. Most of the drop was due to several accounting changes.

Excluding the impact of those changes, the budget gap declined 18 percent last month, mostly because of higher tax receipts.

In the first four months of the 2012 budget year, which began Oct. 1, the deficit fell by $70 billion to $349 billion, the department said.

While the deficit is likely to shrink this year, it is still forecast to top $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row.

Nissan recalls thousands of cars

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:17:15 -0800

DETROIT (AP) — Nissan is recalling 39,000 Versa small cars because the transmissions can be shifted out of park without the driver's foot on the brake.

The 2012 model cars were made from June 9, 2011 through January 13, 2012 and sold in the U.S. and Canada.

Federal safety regulations require that a driver's foot must be on the brake before a car can be shifted into gear.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says on its website that a driver could inadvertently put the car into gear, increasing the risk of a crash.

Nissan said Friday that no crashes or injuries have been reported. The company says it will replace the shifter knob for free and make sure the car works properly.

The problem affects cars with automatic and continuously variable transmissions.

Michelin reports strong 2011 profit

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:30:30 -0800

PARIS (AP) — Tire maker Michelin says earnings rose 39 percent last year as a strong first half helped offset a slowdown in the last half of the year that caused sales growth to miss the company's targets.

Michelin, based in Clermont-Ferrand in central France, reported net profit of €1.46 billion ($1.94 billion) for 2011, up from €1.05 billion in 2010.

Sales volumes grew 6.7 percent last year, slower than the 9.3 percent rate they'd set through the first nine months of the year, as European economies slowed at the end of the year.

The company forecast Friday that its operating income would rise to €2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) by 2015, from €1.9 billion last year, with the goal of cutting costs by €1 billion over five years.

Oil prices drop

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:47:23 -0800

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices fell to near $99 a barrel today in Asia as encouraging news about the U.S. economy was tempered by European demands for Greece to make further spending cuts before getting a new bailout.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 61 cents at $99.23 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.13 to settle at $99.84 on Thursday.

Crude has bobbed around $100 for the last few months, buoyed by signs the U.S. economy is improving. On Thursday, the U.S. reported that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to near a four-year low last week, suggesting the job market is gaining strength.

GM gets environmental OK for new plant

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:37:17 -0800

SHANGHAI (AP) — Environmental authorities in central China say they have approved a proposal by General Motor's flagship venture for a new factory, though the company said it has not yet decided on the plan.

The go-ahead by the Hubei Environmental Protection Bureau, in a notice posted this week on its website, is just one approval among many that would be required for such a large project.

GM's office in Shanghai issued a statement saying the company will make sustainable plans for expanding auto production capacity in line with market conditions and will share details "at a proper time."

Shanghai GM, a venture with state-owned automaker SAIC, has four vehicle manufacturing plants in China, two of which are currently undergoing expansion.

Lehman Brothers sues Citigroup for $2.5B

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:40:40 -0800

NEW YORK (AP) — Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is suing several units of Citigroup Inc. to recover $2.5 billion it transferred to a backup account at Citi months before seeking bankruptcy court protection.

The failed investment bank filed the lawsuit on Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Among other claims, Lehman says Citibank is wrongfully withholding the money as a potential source of funds in a dispute over derivative contracts.

In a statement Thursday, Citigroup called the lawsuit unjustified and accused Lehman of trying to renege on its obligations and claw back assets to which it has no right.

Lehman's bankruptcy filing in September 2008 was the biggest in U.S. history. Lehman Brothers Holdings is the company that controls what's left of the investment bank's assets.