Deals on autos for holidays are done, but more to come
Detroit – U.S. automakers ended their holiday discount programs Tuesday as scheduled but hinted that more deals could be on the way.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group all kicked off holiday incentive programs in mid-November. While automakers typically offer year-end discounts, this year’s deals came several weeks early in an effort to boost flagging sales.
The holiday programs knocked $4,000 or more off the price of some vehicles. GM and Ford posted a fixed maximum price on their vehicles at dealerships, while Chrysler offered free gas for two years as well as two years of free scheduled maintenance.
All the programs ended Tuesday as scheduled, but Chrysler and Ford said they may announce new deals as early as today.
The holiday deals didn’t appear to pump up sales as much as the Big Three might have hoped.
Automakers are scheduled to release December sales figures today, but industry analysts have already forecast a weak month compared with last year.
WASHINGTON
Geico drops Colorado rates by 7.1 percent
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Geico unit, the fourth-largest U.S. car insurer, has lowered rates in Colorado by an average of 7.1 percent after fewer accidents reduced claims.
Geico has dropped its rates by an average of 25.7 percent since 2003, spokeswoman Shannon Boyle said Tuesday. Colorado eliminated its “no-fault” system that year, requiring the insurer of the driver responsible for the accident to foot the bill for injuries and damage.
DENVER
Customers backed up at Frontier counters
Customers suffered through long lines at Frontier’s ticket counters Tuesday because of high passenger volume on one of the last busy days of the holiday travel season. Planes were more than 90 percent full on average, combined with software problems at two check-in kiosks.
“Once you get backed up a little bit, it’s tough to catch up,” said chief executive Jeff Potter.
He said some lines caused waits as long as 25 minutes.
DENVER
Denver site checks in Southwest passengers
A small Denver-based company has launched a website aimed at Southwest Airlines travelers who want better seats, competing with boardfirst.com.
Southwest does not have reserved seating and boards by groups based on how early passengers check in. “A Group” passengers get first dibs on seats and overhead bin space. Southwest’s policy allows 24-hour advance online check-in. APassOnly.com says it uses an automated system to check customers in and charges $2.50, half the price of boardfirst.com.
LONGMONT
Applied Films sells its interest in Suzhou
Applied Films Corp. announced Tuesday that it completed the sale of its 50 percent interest in Suzhou NSG AFC Thin Films Electronics Co. Ltd., to Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Ltd., its China joint-venture partner, for $14.6 million in cash.
NEW YORK
Analyst sees bigger drop for GM stock
Shares of General Motors Corp. may tumble another 33 percent this year as the automaker’s cost-cutting efforts fall short of forecasts, a Banc of America Securities analyst said.
GM shares will drop to $13 by year’s end, from an earlier forecast of $16, analyst Ron Tadross said in a research note Tuesday. His projection is the lowest among Wall Street analysts, according to Bloomberg.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.
Bonds forecaster: Yields seem ominous
The U.S. bond market’s most accurate forecaster says yields are sending ominous signs about the economy.
James F. Smith, a University of North Carolina professor, who predicted last January that the benchmark 10-year yield would end the year at 4.49 percent, said the bond market is waving a caution flag on the economy. Two-year Treasury yields last week rose above those on 10- year notes, creating a so-called inverted yield curve for the first time since December 2000. An inversion preceded the past four U.S. recessions.
ENCINO, Calif.
Movie-ticket sales show huge fall-off
Movie-ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada fell the most in 20 years in 2005, dropping 5.2 percent to $8.95 billion as some big-budget films failed to attract audiences.
The number of tickets sold declined by 7 percent to 1.41 billion, according to figures released Tuesday by Encino, Calif.-based Exhibitor Relations Co. The drop in attendance is fueling concern that theaters are losing ground to video games, the Internet and DVDs.
SEATTLE
Microsoft says patch for flaw needs testing
Microsoft Corp. says it will be at least a week before it issues a fix to a recently discovered vulnerability that could let an attacker take control of an Internet-connected computer.
Microsoft said Tuesday it has created a patch for the flaw in its Windows operating system but needs to test it first. The software giant said it hopes to release the patch as part of its regular monthly security updates next Tuesday.
NEW YORK
Calpine says delay would harm creditors
Calpine Corp., the U.S. power-plant owner that filed the largest bankruptcy of 2005, said creditors will be harmed if a hearing is delayed on the company’s request to throw out eight unprofitable contracts.
Southern California Edison Co. and others have asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland to postpone a hearing scheduled to start Thursday, arguing that he has no jurisdiction in the matter.
NEW YORK
Viacom, CBS are officially divorced
Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. rang in 2006 as two separate companies, completing a breakup of a major media conglomerate in hopes of winning back friends on Wall Street.
WASHINGTON
Treasury auctions $32 billion in bills
The Treasury Department auctioned $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.070 percent and an additional $15 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 4.265 percent.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three- month price was $9,897.12, while a six-month bill sold for $9,784.38.
