IN BRIEF
NEW YORK
Venture capitalists cut 'green energy' spending
Venture capitalists reined in spending on renewable energy to begin the year, with funding for research and startup projects falling 63 percent through March, an industry report released Monday shows.
It is the latest indicator of just how badly the global economic downturn has dampened the rush toward alternatives to fossil fuels. Oil and gas companies have also been hurt as overall demand for energy has fallen in the recession.
From January to March, venture capitalists spent $277 million on clean energy projects, compared with $715.3 million in the same period last year, according to an Ernst & Young analysis based on data from Dow Jones Venture Source.
DETROIT
General Motors steps nearer to bankruptcy
Bankruptcy protection for the nation's biggest automaker is becoming more probable with a deadline just over two weeks away, the company's top executive told reporters Monday.
General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson is still holding out hope that the company can restructure without court protection, but he says the tasks to complete before a June 1 government-imposed deadline are large.
The automaker, Henderson said, is looking at its operations country by country to determine where it might have to file for bankruptcy, but he says a U.S. bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean that GM would file in other locations.
NEW YORK
Ford Motor will offer 300 million new shares
With Wall Street increasingly confident about Ford Motor Co.'s survival, the company wants to test investors' appetite for more stock.
After the market closed Monday, Ford announced plans to sell 300 million new shares. At Monday's closing price of $6.08 a share, the deal would raise $1.8 billion in cash.
The company said proceeds from the offering would be used to fund a portion of the payments it owes to the United Auto Workers' retiree health care trust.
The company has about 2.9 billion shares outstanding, so a 300 million-share offering would dilute current investors' holdings by about 10 percent.
WASHINGTON
Interest rates drop in Treasury auction
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction with rates on six-month bills dropping to the lowest level since mid-January.
The Treasury Department auctioned $31 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.19 percent, down from 0.195 percent last week. Another $29 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.305 percent, down from 0.33 percent last week.
DALLAS
Ex-Enron chief asks court to review case
Former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review convictions for his role in the collapse of what was once the nation's seventh-largest company.
Skilling attorney Daniel Petrocelli said the appeal was filed Monday, asking the nation's high court to consider whether the federal "honest services" fraud statute was applied correctly. The filing also questions whether Skilling received a fair trial without a change of venue.
In February, similar claims were rejected without a hearing by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Skilling is serving a 24-year prison term that will be reduced after a federal ruling that a sentencing guideline was improperly applied.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
HealthSouth investors seek cash from ex-CEO
Shareholders want HealthSouth Corp.'s founder Richard Scrushy to pay $2.6 billion for his alleged role in a huge fraud that nearly ruined the rehabilitation company, attorneys told a judge Monday.
A lawsuit, filed by stockholders on behalf of the company, seeks to make Scrushy repay HealthSouth for salary, bonuses and stock deals during the years of the accounting scheme, for hundreds of personal plane flights for him and his family and breast implants for a female singer he was promoting.
Scrushy, who was fired, could be ordered to pay most of the cost of a long-running conspiracy uncovered in 2003, even though court documents indicate he doesn't have the money and is in prison for a federal bribery conviction.
A defense attorney said Scrushy was an unwitting victim of the deception, just like others.
NEW YORK
Treasury prices climb as stocks head down
Treasury prices rose Monday as the stock market sank and the Federal Reserve bought more government debt.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.94 points to 99.53, pushing its yield down to 3.17 percent from 3.29 percent late Friday.
The 30-year bond rose 1.56 points to 101.19 and its yield fell to 4.18 percent from 4.27 percent.
The two-year note rose 0.16 points to 99.94. Its yield fell to 0.88 percent from 0.98 percent.
