BUSINESS BRIEFS
Factories see rise in demand even as economy sags
Advertiser Staff and News Services
WASHINGTON — U.S. factories saw demand for their products rise in December by the largest amount in five months, a spot of welcome news that failed to change the picture of an economy struggling to stay afloat.
The Commerce Department reported yesterday that orders placed with U.S. factories rose by 2.3 percent in December. That was an improvement from the 1.7 percent gain posted in November and marked the biggest increase since July.
For all of last year, total orders — durable and nondurable goods — placed with U.S. factories went up by just 1.4 percent. It was the worst performance since 2002, when the economy was struggling to recover from the 2001 recession. In 2006, factory orders rose by 5.1 percent.
NEWS CORP.'S EARNINGS RISE 1%
NEW YORK — Improved results from the Fox broadcast network and Fox News Channel lifted second-quarter earnings at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., outweighing lighter returns from movies and TV production, the media conglomerate reported yesterday.
News Corp., which bought Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. in December, earned $832 million in the final three months of 2007, up 1 percent from the $822 million it earned in the same period a year earlier.
The results for News Corp.'s second fiscal quarter were equivalent to 27 cents per Class A share, in line with estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
BANKS TIGHTEN LENDING STANDARDS
WASHINGTON — Many U.S. banks have made it harder for creditworthy borrowers to get a mortgage, according to a Federal Reserve survey released yesterday that underscored the spread of a painful credit crunch.
"About 55 percent of domestic respondents indicated that they had tightened their lending standards on prime mortgages," the Fed survey said. That was up from about 40 percent in a previous survey released in November.
Problems first cropped up in the market for risky "subprime" mortgages made to people with tarnished credit or low incomes and have been spreading to more creditworthy borrowers. Foreclosures have hit record highs.
SEC PROBES SALES BY BANK INSIDER
WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining stock sales by an American board member of Societe Generale, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The SEC inquiry, an expansion of one by French regulators, is investigating stock sales investor Robert Day and two foundations linked to him made days before the bank announced a $7 billion loss caused by a rogue trader.
A spokesman for Day said he had promised to cooperate with any investigations.
GOOGLE MOVING IN ON MICROSOFT
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google Inc. is adding more e-mail security and storage products for businesses, sharpening its aim on a Microsoft Corp. stronghold while the competition between the two rivals also heats up in Internet search and advertising.
The tools to be introduced today build upon technology that Google acquired last year when it bought e-mail specialist Postini Inc. for $625 million. The package of products are designed to weed out junk mail and potential viruses as well as protect against leaks of confidential information sent through e-mail. Google also is offering to retain e-mail data for longer periods.
Google bought Postini largely to address concerns that its corporate e-mail service lacked adequate security and compliance measures.
All the latest features are compatible with Microsoft Exchange as well as Lotus Notes and Novell Groupwise. Prices will range from $3 per user to $25 per user, depending on how much protection and data retention a customer wants.
