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WALL STREET-MIDDAY
Stocks extend winning streak
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market is on it longest winning streak since September, notching its sixth gain in a row yesterday.
Corporate deals and some respectable earnings reports gave stocks a lift. Netflix and Harley-Davidson both jumped after reporting earnings that beat analysts' expectations. Allergan, which makes Botox, jumped after Valeant Pharmaceuticals and activist investor Bill Ackman disclosed that they are trying to buy the company.
The S&P 500 rose seven points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 1,879. The Dow rose 65 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,514. And the Nasdaq composite rose nearly 40 points, or 1 percent, to 4,161. Solid earnings reports from U.S. companies have been fueling the gains.
WORLD MARKETS
Asia shares mixed on lackluster China data
TOKYO (AP) — Shares were mixed in Asia today as weak data from China sapped upward momentum from an overnight rally on a flurry of deals in the pharmaceutical sector.
A preliminary survey of Chinese manufacturers by HSBC showed slight improvements in prices and demand, but contractions in new export orders and employment in April. The results were expected, but helped pull Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 0.6 percent to 22,592.41. Shares in mainland China also fell.
Sentiment was also buoyed by a solid start for Seibu Holdings Inc. whose shares rose 5 percent in the morning after an initial public offering in its relisting on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The dollar was relatively flat against the euro and the yen. Benchmark crude oil fell to near $101.50 a barrel.
THE DAY AHEAD
Major business and economic events scheduled for Wednesday:
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a busy day for earnings reports, but there's also a fresh gauge of the housing market on the schedule.
The Commerce Department releases figures on sales of new homes last month. Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes slipped 0.2 percent, citing a tight supply of available homes and rising prices.
Also today, HSBC releases its monthly flash purchasing managers index for April.
As for earnings, Procter & Gamble, Boeing, Delta Air Lines and Reynolds American release their quarterly financial results before the market opens.
Michelin reports first quarter sales and Ericsson presents its quarterly results.
After the market closes, Apple, Facebook and Safeway release their results.
GENERAL MOTORS-IMPALA INVESTIGATION
Feds investigating brakes on Chevrolet Impala
DETROIT (AP) — Federal regulators are investigating the 2014 Chevy Impala after a driver reported that the emergency braking system activated multiple times without warning.
The driver says that in one instance, the Impala was traveling at 40 miles-per-hour with no one in front of it when the brakes activated. The car was rear-ended. No injuries were reported.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the investigation to determine whether the alleged defect is widespread. More than 60,000 Impalas of the 2014 model year are on U.S. roads.
The investigation is unrelated to GM's recent recall of 2.6 million older model Chevrolets and other cars for defective ignition switches.
JAPAN-TOYOTA
Toyota sells 2.58 million vehicles, outselling GM
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota kept its position at the top in global vehicle sales for the first quarter of this year, outpacing rivals General Motors and Volkswagen.
Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that it sold 2.583 million vehicles in the January-March period, ahead of Detroit-based GM at 2.42 million and Volkswagen of Germany at 2.4 million.
The Japanese automaker's first quarter sales rose by more than 6 percent from the same period the previous year. GM's sales grew 2 percent, while Volkswagen's added nearly 6 percent.
Toyota finished first last year with a record 9.98 million vehicles in sales, remaining the top-selling automaker for a second year in a row. General Motors Co. finished second and VW third.
Toyota is targeting sales of more than 10 million vehicles this year.
COAL ASH SPILL-NORTH CAROLINA
Duke: Moving coal ash would cost up to $10 billion
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Duke Energy says that removing all of the company's coal ash away from North Carolina's rivers and lakes would take decades and cost up to $10 billion, with the state's electricity customers likely footing nearly all the bill.
Duke's North Carolina president Paul Newton is telling state lawmakers that the company needs flexibility to consider more cost-efficient options that include leaving much of its 100 million tons of toxic ash in place after being covered with giant tarps and soil.
State officials say all 33 of Duke's unlined dumps are contaminating groundwater.
Environmental groups are calling for new legislation requiring Duke to move its coal ash to lined landfills away from waterways following the massive Feb. 2 spill in Eden that coated 70 miles of the Dan River in gray sludge.
NORTH DAKOTA-FLARING MEETING
Oil companies fight North Dakota proposal to slow production to control natural gas flaring
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota oil companies don't like a proposal that would have the industry cut back on oil production to control the amount of natural gas that's being wasted.
Companies spoke out against the proposal at a hearing yesterday in Bismarck. Instead, the industry wants regulators to consider self-imposed steps to curb natural gas flaring.
North Dakota drillers currently burn off, or flare, a record 36 percent of the valuable gas because development of gas pipelines and processing facilities haven't kept pace with oil drilling.
Oil industry officials have pledged to capture 85 percent of the gas by 2016, and 90 percent within six years as infrastructure catches up with oil development.
Watford City physician Lyle Best says slowing oil development would improve many problems in the state, including flaring.
AUSTRALIA-F-35 FIGHTERS
Australia lifts F-35 order from 14 to 72 fighters
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has increased its order for F-35 Joint Strike Fighters by 58 to 72 to be fully operational by 2023 in a declaration of confidence in the troubled stealth war plane.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Wednesday he expects the additional 58 U.S. jets, developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. will cost 12.4 billion Australian dollars ($11.5 billion).
The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program and has been troubled by schedule delays and cost overruns.
Abbott says he is confident that the cost of about AU$90 million per jet will continue to fall with time.
Australia is a funding partner in developing the F-35 and ordered its first 14 jets in 2009.
BLOOMBERG-EUROPE-CITY INNOVATION
Finalists named in Bloomberg European city contest
NEW YORK (AP) — Twenty-one European cities from Cardiff, Wales, to Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, are finalists in a lucrative innovation contest devised by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg Philanthropies announced the finalists Wednesday. They will compete for a grand prize of 5 million euros, or nearly $7 million, and four 1 million euro awards. Winners will be announced in the fall.
The cities were asked for projects that could solve major social or economic problems or make government more effective.
A few examples: Amsterdam wants to create an online game to engage unemployed young people in finding jobs across Europe. Madrid wants to make energy out of the heat thrown off by underground infrastructure.
Kirklees, in England, envisions citizens pooling resources ranging from cars to unused space to expertise.
MICROSOFT-BING IN CLASSROOMS
Microsoft expands ad-free Bing search for schools
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft is expanding a program that gives schools the ability to prevent ads from appearing in search results when they use its Bing search engine. The program, launched in a pilot program earlier this year, is now available to all U.S. schools, public or private, from kindergarten through the 12th grade.
The program is meant to create a safer online environment for children, but also promote use of Bing, which trails market leader Google Inc.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. is also giving away a first-generation Surface tablet computer to schools where community members sign up to use the ad-supported version of Bing outside of the school. Sixty parents and friends who do 30 Bing searches a day could earn their school a Surface in a little over a month.
CALIFORNIA BUS CRASH
FedEx sued over deadly California bus crash
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The mother of a teenager who was among 10 people killed in a fiery Northern California bus crash is suing the bus company and FedEx.
Attorney A. King Aminpour says the negligence suit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles asks fpr $100 million.
Seventeen-year-old Jennifer Bonilla, of Los Angeles, was on a bus taking students to tour a university April 10 when it was struck by a FedEx truck on a freeway in Orland.
Five teens and five adults died, including both drivers.
Some witnesses say the FedEx truck was on fire before the crash. The lawsuit alleges FedEx trucks have a history of catching fire.
Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Corp. declined to discuss the litigation but says it's cooperating with investigators.
A call seeking comment from the bus owner, Silverado Stages, wasn't immediately returned.
JETBLUE PILOTS
JetBlue pilots vote for first time to unionize
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Mediation Board says pilots at JetBlue Airways Corp. have voted overwhelmingly to unionize, reversing two earlier votes.
The pilots will join the Air Line Pilots Association. Of the 96 percent of pilots eligible to vote, the association says 71 percent voted to unionize.
JetBlue CEO Dave Barger says both the airline and the pilot's union will now organize negotiating committees.
ALPA President Capt. Lee Moak says the association is ready to work with JetBlue's pilots to achieve their goals.
JetBlue's pilots voted down union representation in 2009 and 2011.
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world's largest pilot union, billing itself as representing nearly 50,000 pilots and 31 airlines in the United States and Canada.
IRS BONUSES
IRS awards bonuses to 1,100 who owe back taxes
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government investigator says the Internal Revenue Service paid $1 million in bonuses to employees who owed back taxes.
An additional 1,700 workers got bonuses even though they had been disciplined for some kind of misconduct within the previous year.
Overall, the IRS's inspector general says the agency paid more than $2.8 million in bonuses from 2010 to 2012 to employees who had conduct issues.
In a report issued Tuesday, the inspector general says the bonus program complied with federal regulations. But, the report says, paying bonuses to workers who owe back taxes conflicts with the IRS mission to enforce tax laws.
The IRS says it has stopped issuing awards to executives with disciplinary problems. The agency says it is considering a similar policy for union workers, subject to negotiations.
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