IN BRIEF
LV Chamber lays off 20 percent of staff
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce laid off about 20 percent of its work force on Tuesday, chamber officials said. The organization, which had 58 employees before the cuts, cited economy-related declines in membership, event participation and sponsorship as impetus for the staff trimming.
"Certainly our membership numbers are soft and our levels of membership are less, and there is a softening of attendance at events," chamber spokeswoman Cara Roberts said. "It is also a projection of what our board thinks is likely to happen in the next few years with the economy."
The layoffs were spread across the organization, Roberts said. The chamber offered its terminated employees severance that include two weeks of pay, plus an additional week's pay for every year of employment. Those cut will also get optional job placement services.
The now-6,550-member Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is down about 250 members from a year ago, Roberts said in an earlier interview.
Las Vegas companies named in scheme case
A federal judge in Knoxville, Tenn., issued a preliminary injunction against two Las Vegas companies accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan froze the assets of Centurion Asset Management and Advanced Trading Services and prohibited the Las Vegas companies from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.
The order stems from a commission complaint filed in March, charging Dennis Bolze of Gatlinburg, Tenn., and Centurion with fraud and misrepresentation in a $20 million commodity pool Ponzi scheme. Bolze was arrested in Pennsylvania in March on a related criminal charge.
WASHINGTON
Goldman boss calls for pay overhaul on Street
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein says Wall Street compensation needs to be overhauled and hedge funds subjected to government oversight to reduce the kind of excessive risk-taking that stoked the global financial crisis.
Lloyd Blankfein, who received compensation valued at nearly $43 million last year, said Tuesday that lessons from the crisis include the need to "apply basic standards to how we compensate people in our industry."
The chief executive of the Wall Street powerhouse suggested a handful of guidelines, including having an individual's performance evaluated over time to avoid excessive risk-taking and only paying junior employees mostly in cash. The percentage of pay awarded as company stock should increase significantly along with an employee's total compensation, he added.
WASHINGTON
Consumer borrowing plunges in February
Consumer borrowing plunged more than expected in February as Americans cut back their use of credit cards by a record amount.
The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that consumer borrowing dropped at an annual rate of $7.48 billion in February, or 3.5 percent, from January.
The decline was led by a record drop in borrowing on credit cards, which fell at an annual rate of $7.8 billion, or 9.7 percent. That is the sharpest drop in dollar terms since federal records began in 1968, and the steepest percentage fall since 1978.
PITTSBURGH
Alcoa records loss of $497 million in quarter
In a bleak start to the earnings season, Alcoa Inc. reported a quarterly loss of $497 million, as the stumbling global economy continued to erode prices and demand for the aluminum maker's products.
The Pittsburgh-based company lost 61 cents per share in the quarter ended March 31, reversing year-earlier income of $303 million, or 37 cents per share. Excluding one-time items totaling $17 million, or 2 cents per share, Alcoa's loss would have been 59 cents per share.
Revenue fell 43.7 percent to $4.15 billion from $7.38 billion.
NEW YORK
Treasury prices climb as stocks head down
Treasury prices rose Tuesday as a tumble in stocks rattled investors.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.25 points to 98.69. Its yield fell to 2.90 percent from 2.93 percent late Monday.
The 30-year bond rose 0.28 points to 96.13, and its yield fell to 3.73 percent from 3.75 percent.
