IN BRIEF

CHICAGO

Retail sales rise as shoppers spend before, after Christmas

Shoppers spent heavily during the week ended Saturday, both before and after Christmas, after a snowstorm during the last weekend of the holiday shopping season led to pent-up demand.

Retail sales rose 8.8 percent during the week ending Dec. 26, according to research firm ShopperTrak. Meanwhile, traffic edged down 1 percent compared with a year ago.

On the day after Christmas, consumers spent $7.9 billion, up from $7.8 billion on the same day last year. That was the second-biggest sales day of the season after "Black Friday," or the Friday after Thanksgiving, when shoppers spent $10.66 billion.

ShopperTrak said four of the top seven performing traffic days this holiday season occurred during the week ending Saturday, including Monday, Dec. 21 to Wednesday, Dec. 23, and Dec. 26.

ShopperTrak continues to estimate sales rose 1.6 percent during the holiday season. The Chicago-based company tracks total retail sales at more than 50,000 outlets.

WASHINGTON

GMAC, coping with losses, gets more money from government

The government gave GMAC Financial Services $3.8 billion more in cash and took a majority stake in the auto lender, aiming to stabilize the company as it struggles with big losses in its home mortgage unit.

The fresh infusion is on top of $12.5 billion in taxpayer money Detroit-based GMAC has already received from the government. The new aid will boost the federal government's ownership in GMAC to 56 percent, from 35 percent, and means the U.S. now holds a majority stake in three companies that it bailed out with taxpayer funds -- GMAC, General Motors and insurer American International Group Inc. The government also has taken control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

GMAC needs much of the aid to prop up its mortgage division -- Residential Capital LLC, dubbed ResCap, which struggled with big losses on mortgages gone bad as the housing market collapsed. The company said it would take $3.3 billion in mortgage-related write-downs, part of a $3.8 billion expected charge in the fourth quarter. GMAC is also preparing to sell off mortgage assets in an effort to reduce volatility.

WASHINGTON

Import duties may be coming for steel brought from China

The Commerce Department says it may impose anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese steel grating, saying it has been sold in the U.S. for up to 145 percent below its normal value.

Chinese companies have been assigned preliminary duties ranging from 14 percent to 145 percent, the department said. It said it would make a final ruling in April.

The department defined steel grating as two or more pieces of steel joined by any assembly process. Imports of steel grating from China rose over 500 percent by volume from 2006 to 2008, when they were valued at about $91 million, the department said.

China and the United States have simmering trade disputes over market access for goods ranging from steel pipes, poultry and tires to Hollywood movies.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Pay limits cause exec to leave American International Group

American International Group Inc. has lost a top executive due to the government's limits on executive pay.

AIG said Wednesday that vice chairman and general counsel Anastasia Kelly has resigned, effective immediately.

Kelly left because of the reduction in her base salary mandated by the government's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, AIG said.

AIG also said Suzanne Folsom, chief compliance and regulatory officer, has left to pursue other opportunities. The company did not say if pay was a reason for her departure.

NEW YORK

As inventory declines, prices for crude oil top $79 a barrel

Oil prices edged above $79 a barrel Wednesday as the nation's crude supply fell for the fourth week in a row.

Gasoline supplies also fell unexpectedly and the contract for January delivery, which expires today, neared a yearly high. Benchmark crude for February delivery added 41 cents to settle at $79.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose 39 cents to settle at $78.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

After weeks of declines, prices at the pump appeared to be catching up to crude, which has risen 7.3 percent since Dec 21. They jumped 1.5 cents overnight to a new national average of $2.623 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

FRANKFURT

Guide for cracking cell-phone encryption posted online

A German security expert has raised the ire of the cell phone industry after he and a group of researchers posted online a how-to guide for cracking the encryption that keeps the calls of billions of cell phone users secret.

Karsten Nohl, 28, told The Associated Press this week that he, working with others online and around the world, created a codebook containing how to get past the GSM standard encryption used to keep conversations on more than 3 billion mobile phones safe from prying ears.

Nohl said the purpose was to push companies to improve security. The collaborative effort put the information online through file-sharing sites.

GSM, the leading cell phone technology around the world, is used by several wireless carriers in the U.S., with the largest being AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. use a different standard.

The GSM Association, a trade group that represents nearly 800 wireless operators, said it was mystified by Nohl's rationale.

NEW YORK

General Motors will continue to hear bids for Saab brand

General Motors Co. is pressing ahead with plans to shut down Saab, though it will continue to hear bids for the Swedish car brand, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

Tom Wilkinson said the automaker is not commenting on reports that a deadline for proposals for Saab has been extended to Jan. 7. GM had previously said it was giving bidders until Thursday to come forward with an offer for Saab until it decided earlier this month that it would wind down the brand.

Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs said GM's decision to wind down Saab still stands, though it will still entertain bids. Today is "no longer a magical date" where a GM decision should be expected, Gustavs said.

GM has been in talks to sell Saab over the last month with Dutch car maker Spyker Cars. It has also heard from other suitors after an attempt to sell the brand to a consortium led by Swedish sports car manufacturer by Koenigsegg Automotive AB fell apart in November.

Lawsuit claiming iPod headsets defective dismissed by court

Apple Computer Inc., the maker of the best-selling iPod digital music player, won a federal appeals court ruling upholding dismissal of a lawsuit claiming the device and headsets sold with it are defective and the company doesn't adequately warn about the possibility of hearing loss.

The lawsuit, filed by an iPod customer in Louisiana and another customer in California in 2006, had to be dismissed because it failed to show that the devices weren't fit to be sold for the ordinary use of listening to music, the appeals court said today.

The customers alleged that iPods can play music at 104 decibels -- a noise level equivalent to helicopters and power mowers. While a noise warning is in user manuals, there is no indication of the iPod's volume capability on the device itself, according to the complaint.