IN BRIEF
WASHINGTON
Investors group will buy IndyMac assets
A seven-member group of investors has agreed to buy the remnants of failed lender IndyMac Bank, a symbol of the housing boom and bust, for $13.9 billion, federal regulators said Friday.
IndyMac, which specialized in loans made with little down payment or proof of assets, was seized by the government in July after a run on the bank as the U.S. housing market collapsed.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said a holding company led by Steven Mnuchin, co-chief executive of private equity firm Dune Capital Management, agreed to buy IndyMac in a deal reached Wednesday and expected to close by early next month.
Once the deal closes, the investment group would pour $1.3 billion in new capital into IndyMac and continue to operate the Pasadena, Calif.-based bank, the FDIC says.
WASHINGTON
GMAC yields right to provide financing
The auto financing giant GMAC relinquished its exclusive right to provide financing to people buying General Motors vehicles in exchange for up to $6 billion in federal aid.
The deal abruptly ends a 10-year contract between GM and GMAC, according the lender's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. In the past, whenever GM offered vehicle financing and leasing specials, such as below-market interest rates, it did so through GMAC. The lender paid an annual fee to GM for the exclusivity and was required to meet sales targets.
Now, over the next two years, the automaker can offer incentive programs through other lenders under certain requirements, the filing said. After that period, the terms will gradually loosen until 2013, when GM will have the right to offer programs through any lender -- including GMAC -- without any restrictions or limitations.
NEW YORK
Manufacturing index declines in December
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Friday its manufacturing index fell to 32.4 in December, a greater-than-expected decline from November's reading of 36.2. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the reading to fall to 35.5.
Components of the index hit historic lows. New orders fell to their lowest level on records going back to 1948. Prices fell as the number of respondents saying they had paid more in December than in November sank to its lowest monthly reading since 1949.
A reading below 50 for the overall index signals contraction.
HOUSTON
Oil prices open 2009 at half of year-ago levels
Exactly one year after crude eclipsed $100 a barrel for the first time, 2009 trading began Friday with prices roughly half their year-ago levels, and some believe oil could be headed even lower.
Oil markets kicked off the new year with crude climbing above $46 a barrel. A variety of factors were likely at work, including continued violence in Gaza and expectations that OPEC would carry out its largest production cut ever to stem historic price declines.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.74 to settle at $46.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
WASHINGTON
Millions not ready for switch to digital TV
The Feb. 17 transition from analog to digital television broadcasts looms and as many as 8 million households are still unprepared, but the government program that subsidizes crucial TV converter boxes is about to run out of money.
People who still rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air signals will see their screens go dark when the changeover happens. To avoid that, those people have to switch to cable or satellite TV, buy a television set with a digital tuner or buy a converter box that can translate digital signals from the airwaves into analog.
To subsidize the converter boxes, the government has been letting consumers request up to two $40 coupons per home. But any day now, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department in charge of administering the coupon program, expects to hit a $1.34 billion funding ceiling set by Congress.
NEW YORK
Treasury prices plunge as stocks head higher
Treasury prices fell sharply in light trading Friday.
The 10-year Treasury note fell 1.63 to 111.84 and its yield rose to 2.41 percent from 2.25 percent.
The 30-year Treasury bond fell 3.16 to 133.69 and its yield rose to 2.81 percent from 2.69 percent.
