BUSINESS BRIEFS
Consumer prices dip 0.1% in March
Advertiser News Services
WASHINGTON — Consumer prices dipped unexpectedly in March, leaving prices over the past year falling at the fastest clip in more than a half-century. The recession is expected to keep a lid on inflation as widespread layoffs dampen wage pressures and weak demand keeps companies from raising prices.
The Labor Department said yesterday that consumer prices edged down 0.1 percent last month as a drop in energy prices offset the biggest rise in tobacco prices in more than a decade.
GM RECEIVES OFFER FOR SATURN BRAND
DETROIT — An Oklahoma City private equity firm has teamed with a group of Saturn dealers in an effort to buy the money-losing brand from General Motors Corp.The proposal from a group led by Black Oak Partners LLC is among several that General Motors Corp. has received for the brand, according to GM.
AMR SEES $375M FIRST-QUARTER LOSS
DALLAS — American Airlines parent AMR Corp. lost $375 million in the first quarter as people flew less this year than they did a year earlier.Still, the loss reported yesterday was much narrower than Wall Street expected, and AMR's long-depressed shares jumped 79 cents, or 18.7 percent, to close at $5.01 after hitting $5.15 earlier in the day.
Even though it cut flights, American Airlines' planes were not as full. Corporate travel was especially weak and revenue tumbled 15 percent compared with the first quarter of 2008.
