IN BRIEF
NEW YORK
FDIC takes control of Florida bank
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday it has taken control of the First Priority Bank of Bradenton, Fla., and that SunTrust Banks will assume the bank's deposits.
First Priority is the eighth U.S. bank to fail this year in the aftermath of the mortgage crisis, and the first Florida bank failure since March 2004. Andrew Gray, spokesman for the FDIC, said the bank had "significant loan losses" in the Florida commercial real estate market that eroded its capital.
Last month, California mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp became the largest regulated thrift to fail in U.S. history. IndyMac's holding company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Thursday.
The six branches of First Priority Bank will reopen on Monday as SunTrust branches.
"It will be a pretty seamless transition for the depositors," Gray said.
SAN JOSE, Calif.
Yahoo board emerges intact after meeting
Yahoo Inc.'s board emerged largely unscathed from the Internet company's annual meeting Friday as a subdued crowd of shareholders raised few questions about the directors' rejection of Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion takeover bid.
Some shareholders expressed displeasure by opposing the re-election of Yahoo's current directors, but the resistance wasn't as intense as last year, when three directors were rejected by more than 30 percent of the vote.
In this year's balloting, only two directors -- Chairman Roy Bostock and Arthur Kern -- were opposed on ballots representing at least 20 percent of Yahoo shares. Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang, who steered the Microsoft negotiations with Bostock, was approved by 85 percent of the shares cast.
NEW YORK
N.Y. official poised to charge Citigroup
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Friday said he is prepared to charge Citigroup Inc. with fraudulent sales of auction-rate securities and with the destruction of key documents.
Cuomo joins the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators in examining Citigroup's sale of auction-rate securities. They believe the instruments were being aggressively marketed despite a rapid weakening in trading.
Auction-rate securities have their interest rates set at periodic auctions, depending on the submitted bids. The investments were once considered safe, but the market collapsed in February amid turmoil in the credit markets.
NEW YORK
Oil prices increase by $1.02 a barrel
Oil prices ended slightly higher Friday, pushing back above $125 a barrel as the threat of a conflict with Iran rattled energy markets after a week of wild swings.
Light, sweet crude jumped more than $4 to a high of $128.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level in nine sessions, before easing back later to settle at $125.10, up $1.02. Prices fell $2.69 to settle at $124.08 on Thursday.
In another sign of waning demand for gasoline, U.S. filling stations hungry for business lowered the price of a gallon of regular overnight by just over a penny on average to $3.898, according to auto club AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Gasoline is down 5.2 percent from a record high of $4.114 a gallon reached July 17.
Traders grew jittery after reports quoted Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying that Iran's nuclear program was nearing a "major breakthrough."
NEW YORK
Treasury prices see little changes
Treasury bond prices were little changed Friday after the Labor Department said the economy lost fewer jobs than expected last month.
In late trading, the 10-year Treasury note rose 0.16 points to 99.5 points. Its yield fell to 3.94 percent from 3.95 percent Thursday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Yields move in the opposite direction from prices.
The 30-year long bond rose 0.25 points to 96.94 points. Its yield fell to 4.56 percent from 4.58 percent Thursday.
