Posted on Tue, May. 13, 2008
In the Region
JPMorgan Chase says it may face SEC suit
JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it may be sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with an investigation into whether banks rigged the bidding on investments and derivatives sold to municipal governments. The Philadelphia office of the SEC on March 18 issued a so-called Wells notice advising the bank it may face charges "in connection with the bidding of various financial instruments associated with municipal securities," JPMorgan said in a quarterly report filed with the SEC yesterday. JPMorgan previously disclosed that it was cooperating with investigations by the SEC and the Justice Department into the business of selling derivatives and investment products to state and local governments that raise money in the municipal bond market.
- Bloomberg News
PPL energy firm touts solar installation as largest
PPL Renewable Energy, Allentown, is putting up what it says will be the largest rooftop solar installation in the country. The 1.7-megawatt system will go on the rooftops of eight buildings at the campus of pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough Corp. in Summit, N.J. PPL Renewable Energy said yesterday that it would plan, construct and operate the system. PPL also will own the system, which will supply power to the Schering-Plough campus. It will reduce the company's emissions of greenhouse gases - a goal of the drugmaker - by about 1.3 million pounds a year, equal to saving about 66,000 gallons of gasoline.
- AP
Tenaska to sell Pa. power plant and three others
Tenaska Capital Management says it has agreed to sell four power plants to London-based International Power for more than $856 million. The plants are in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Illinois. The Pennsylvania plant, in Armstrong County, delivers electricity to the PJM grid, which serves the Philadelphia region. Omaha-based Tenaska says the plants were owned by its Tenaska Power Fund investment subsidiary, but private equity firm Warburg Pincus also owned part of the plants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, all part of APT Generation. The sales are expected to close by the end of the third quarter.
- AP
A.C. Moore sales take a first-quarter hit
A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts Inc., Berlin, said sales were down in the first quarter as higher gasoline prices and the economy forced consumers to cut back on other purchases. The Camden County arts and crafts retailer lost $1.8 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with a $345,000 profit, or 2 cents a share, in the year earlier quarter. Sales fell 6.5 percent to $126.5 million from $135.4 million in the same period last year. Comparable-store sales, which are sales in stores open at least a year, fell 11.6 percent compared with the 2007 first quarter. Chief executive officer Rick A. Lepley said same-store sales began to improve halfway through the second quarter.
- Linda Loyd
IGI Laboratories must change to keep AMEX listing
IGI Laboratories Inc., an Atlantic County pharmaceutical company, said the American Stock Exchange had told the company it is not in compliance with the exchange's listing rules. The noncompliance notice was sent last week because the company has stockholder equity of less than $6 million, losses from continuing operations, and net losses in its five most recent fiscal years, the Buena-based company said. The company said it has until June 6 to submit a compliance plan and until May 6, 2009, to comply with listing standards. Unless it complies, IGI could be delisted from AMEX. The company said it expected to meet the equity requirement. Its shares closed up 1 cent to $2.56.
- Paul Schweizer
Elsewhere
Wachovia questioned on auction-rate securities
Wachovia Corp. said its securities unit and affiliates have received inquiries and subpoenas from federal and state regulators over auction-rate securities. The bank also trimmed a write-down related to an insurance portfolio by $1 million, reducing its total loss in the first-quarter to $707 million. Wachovia made the disclosures in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its shares rose 59 cents, or 2.1 percent, to close at $28.22. Wachovia said the SEC and other regulators are seeking information concerning the underwriting, sale and subsequent auctions of municipal auction-rate securities and auction-rate preferred securities.
- AP
Federal surplus for April down from year earlier
The federal government ran a budget surplus of $159.3 billion in April, smaller than a year ago. The Treasury Department reported that the budget surplus for April was 10.4 percent lower than in April 2007. The government traditionally runs a surplus in April, the month that tax returns are due. However, the weak economy has been dampening growth in revenues this year. Through the first seven months of this budget year, the federal deficit totals $152.2 billion, nearly double the $80.8 billion deficit during the same period in 2007.
- AP
Energy Dept. report sees promise in wind turbines
An Energy Department report concludes that wind turbines can produce a fifth of the nation's annual electricity needs within about two decades. That is about the same share of electricity produced today by nuclear power. Wind energy today accounts for only about 1 percent of the nation's electricity. The report envisions more than 75,000 new wind turbines, many of them larger than what is in use today, and expansion of transmission systems to move power from high-wind areas to other parts of the country.
- AP
GM reopens or adds shifts at 5 plants after strike
General Motors Corp. reopened or added shifts at five plants idled by an 11-week strike at supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. Work restarted yesterday at an assembly factory for large vans and a stamping plant in Wentzville, Mo., GM spokesman Dan Flores said. Shifts were restored at two Oshawa, Ontario, plants making models including the Chevrolet Impala, and Chevy HHR wagon production went back to full speed in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, according to GM's Web site. Ramping up output may help GM restock dealer showrooms after cuts at all or part of 30 plants.
- Bloomberg News
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rise
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in yesterday's auction to the highest levels since February. The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.800 percent, up from 1.610 percent last week. In addition, $23 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 1.850 percent, up from 1.740 percent last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,954.50; a six-month bill sold for $9,906.47.
- AP
One-year T-bill yield climbs slightly in week
The Federal Reserve said yesterday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, rose slightly to 1.94 percent last week from 1.93 percent the previous week.
- AP
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