IN BRIEF
Signature Homes enlists in 'green' effort
Las Vegas-based Signature Homes has signed up to participate in the Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership, which was established to promote "green" building of new homes in Las Vegas.
The partnership between Southern Nevada Home Builders Association and Green Building Initiative of Portland, Ore., provides home builders with technical expertise to use the 10-page green building guidelines developed specifically for conditions in Southern Nevada.
The partnership will administer an impartial, third-party inspection and verification that the program guidelines have been met in the design and construction of the home.
Signature plans to launch its green building of homes at Cortona subdivision in northwest Las Vegas near Centennial Parkway and Torrey Pines Drive. The project is still in the design phase. About 70 homes are planned, with the first models expected in first quarter 2008.
FRANKFURT, Germany
Deutsche Bank will write off big losses
Deutsche Bank AG said Wednesday it will write off about $3.12 billion in losses from the U.S. mortgage morass, but that gains from asset sales and tax credits will allow Germany's biggest bank to report a third-quarter profit of about $1.98 billion.
In the face of the 2.2 billion-euro writedown, the latest to hit major banks in the United States and Europe, Chief Executive Josef Ackermann remained upbeat about the bank's future and the industry.
The news sent Deutsche Bank shares higher to close at 95.51 euros ($135.56), or up 2.14 percent in Frankfort, and up $2.67, or 2 percent, to close at $135.04 in New York Wednesday.
NEW YORK
Bear Stearns to cut jobs, fuse businesses
Bear Stearns Cos. said Wednesday it is laying off 310 workers and fusing its two mortgage businesses, after turmoil in the home loan industry contributed to a dramatic slide in the investment bank's profit this summer.
The news came only hours after Credit Suisse Group said problems in the mortgage market will linger as long as 18 months. It announced a fresh round of layoffs in its commercial mortgage-backed securities division, mostly in New York.
Bear said it is integrating its Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage and Encore Credit divisions into a single subsidiary. The new unit will soon begin offering loans that are eligible to be purchased by government-sponsored entities. Such loans are considered safer than most.
WASHINGTON
Officials: Raise limits for two U.S. agencies
Efforts in Congress to let mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinance more at-risk loans could have a key flaw: many of those loans were made with such loose standards that borrowers are likely to default anyway, analysts said.
Top Democrats in the House and Senate on Wednesday urged the White House to do more to help borrowers struggling to repay loans resetting at higher rates. They advocated further raising the caps that limit how much money the two government-sponsored mortgage companies can invest in home loans and securities backed by them.
While the government last month nudged those limits slightly higher, the action did not go as far as Democrats, or the companies, had hoped amid a surge in defaults among loans made to people with weak, or subprime, credit.
PHILADELPHIA
Wal-Mart workers get more in damages
Wal-Mart workers in Pennsylvania who previously won a $78.5 million class action award for working off the clock will share an additional $62.3 million in damages, a judge ruled Wednesday.
About 125,000 people will receive $500 each in damages under a state law invoked when a company, without cause, withholds pay for more than 30 days.
A Philadelphia jury last year awarded the workers the exact amount they had sought, rejecting Wal-Mart's claim that some people chose to work through breaks or that a few minutes of extra work here and there was insignificant.
DULUTH, Minn.
Accused downloader claims innocence
A Minnesota woman, who record companies say illegally shared music online, testified in federal court Wednesday that she didn't do it, though she acknowledged giving conflicting dates for the replacement of her computer hard drive.
Six major record companies accuse Jammie Thomas, 30, of sharing 1,702 songs online in violation of the companies' copyrights. The record companies claim they found the songs on a Kazaa file-sharing account they later linked to her.
Thomas' trial is the first trial in 26,000 similar cases brought by record companies against individuals across the country.
DETROIT
New pact leaves some factories on shaky turf
In the document that spells out the tentative pact between General Motors Corp. and the UAW, their futures are listed as: "demand and business case dependent," "no future product allocation," or even possible sale or closure.
Fifteen factories in places such as Orion Township; Wentzville, Mo.; and Wilmington, Del.; have been left on shaky ground by the pact that the United Auto Workers hailed as having won unprecedented job security from GM.
Most of the 15 factories will see their current work go out of production in 2011, when the four-year contract would expire, with the next generation of their main products listed as dependent on demand and business cases, according to a UAW document called the "white book" that spells out contract details.
At four of the factories, the document says no future product has been identified for them.
The automaker has 58 factories in the United States.
LOS ANGELES
Disney to build first hotel with no park link
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts said Wednesday it has purchased 21 oceanfront acres on the Hawaiian island of Oahu to build its first hotel not associated with a theme park.
The Ko Olina Resort & Marina, which will also offer Disney Vacation Club timeshare units, is Disney's latest attempt to capture more of the tourism market.
"Building a resort hotel in Hawaii is the next chapter in our effort to create immersive Disney experiences that allow families to reconnect and recharge in the areas of the world they most long to visit," Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo said in a statement.
The company did not specify what features the hotel would have, although one a Disney spokeswoman said Imagineers are working with local architects, engineers and cultural advisers to create an "authentic Hawaiian experience."
NEW YORK
Service sector news sends Treasurys lower
Treasury prices closed lower Wednesday after data showing growth in the service sector helped build a case that recent housing and credit market ailments did not infect the broader economy.
The fixed-income market is on alert this month for clues about whether the economy has softened and therefore whether the Federal Reserve is likely to cut rates at its Oct. 30-31 meeting.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.31 points to 101.63 with a 4.54 percent yield, up from 4.52 percent at Tuesday's close. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The 30-year long bond dropped 0.25 points to 103.38 with a yield of 4.79 percent, up from 4.77 at Tuesday's close.
