“UAL posts 3Q loss, sees business travel improving - Mercury” plus 4 more

UAL posts 3Q loss, sees business travel improving - Mercury
Gunman prays with clerk before finishing robbery - Honolulu Advertiser
Stock futures point to lower Wall Street open - WTOP Radio
Archibald: Verdict out, but the doctor is in - Everything Alabama Blog
Rangers officials meet with potential owner - WKOW-TV.com

UAL posts 3Q loss, sees business travel improving - Mercury

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 03:19 AM PDT

By Joshua Freed, AP Airlines Writer

United Airlines aircraft are parked at gates at Los Angeles International Airport. The parent of United Airlines reported a money-losing third quarter Tuesday. AP Photo

United Airlines parent UAL Corp. reported a money-losing third quarter on Tuesday but said it is beginning to see signs that business travel could pick up soon.

The recession has hurt business travel at all the big airlines. While United and other carriers have used discounts to fill seats, it will be tough to turn a profit unless higher-spending business travelers begin flying again.

"We have a long way to go, but we are beginning to see encouraging early signs among business and premium travelers, both domestically and internationally," chief financial officer Kathryn Mikells wrote in a note to employees.

UAL Corp. lost $57 million and revenue fell 20.3 percent to $4.43 billion. But the loss was smaller than analysts expected, and the revenue drop-off per passenger was 14.7 percent, less than in the second quarter.

United reduced flying by 8.2 percent compared to the same period last year. It managed to cut costs at the same time, though, with spending for each mile it flew dropping 1.6 percent, not counting fuel and some accounting charges.

United said it believes that cost controls could mean better per-passenger revenue once business travel improves.

"We continue to be an industry leader in unit cost control and are on our way toward making this an important competitive distinction," Mikells wrote.

Passengers paid an average of $13 each in charges for add-ons such as checked baggage, better coach seats, and faster trips through boarding for a total of $289 million in fees, United said. The per-passenger average rose almost 13 percent compared to a year earlier.

The third-quarter loss was much smaller than the $792 million loss during the same period last year. That loss was driven by accounting for fuel hedges.

United ended the quarter with $2.5 billion in unrestricted cash. It raised money with debt and a stock offering earlier this month, after the quarter ended.

United is still working through fuel hedges put in place last year when it thought fuel prices would keep rising. It reported losing $131 million on settled fuel hedges in the third quarter, although it also had a $59 million gain on hedges that haven't settled yet.

United said in June that it would take bids from Boeing and Airbus for replacing some of its biggest planes. On Tuesday, it said it is evaluating those proposals, and that it expects "to make a decision soon on whether to pursue a potential order."

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Gunman prays with clerk before finishing robbery - Honolulu Advertiser

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 08:41 AM PDT

INDIANAPOLIS — Police say an armed robber spent nearly 10 minutes on his knees praying with a clerk at an Indianapolis check-cashing business before fleeing with $20 from the register — and then later turning himself in.

Security video from the Advance America branch clearly showed the man's face during the stickup Monday, and a 23-year-old surrendered yesterday on a preliminary charge of robbery.

Police say the robbery took an unusual turn after the gunman came around the counter and the clerk starting crying and talking about God.

The man told the clerk he had a 2-year-old child to support and asked for prayers about overcoming his hardships.

Police say the man removed the bullet from his gun and gave it to the clerk before taking her cell phone and the money.

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Stock futures point to lower Wall Street open - WTOP Radio

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 03:48 AM PDT

By TIM PARADIS
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Investors are finding encouragement about the direction of the economy from the latest batch of earnings reports.

Stocks rose Wednesday after a handful of banks, including Morgan Stanley, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo, posted better results for the July-September quarter. All of them also had higher loan losses, however, bringing fresh reminders that the broader economy is struggling even as the financial industry recovers.

Last week, Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. also reported higher credit losses as consumers and businesses struggle to pay off their bills.

The dollar fell to its lowest level against the euro since August 2008. That lifted commodity prices and, in turn, helped energy and materials stocks.

Technology stocks rose after Yahoo Inc. and SanDisk Corp., a maker of flash memory cards, reported profits that topped analyst expectations after the close of trading Tuesday.

Other companies reported third-quarter results too, not all of them positive. Airlines slumped after American Airlines parent AMR Corp., Continental Airlines Inc. and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines posted losses.

The mixed earnings reports come as investors remain eager to see whether companies will be able to continue to improve earnings even as revenue growth remains difficult in many areas. Cost-cutting is again helping many turn in results that are ahead of expectations, as occurred in the first half of the year.

Jim Porter, chief executive of New Century Capital Management in Hinsdale, Ill., said the latest profit reports from banks are encouraging but still not great. He said investors are looking ahead to a continued improvement as reason enough to buy.

"No one wants to come in and make big bets right now, so what people are doing is putting a toe in the water and when it doesn't hurt them they're buying more," he said.

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 36.96, or 0.4 percent, to 10,078.44.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.37, or 0.5 percent, to 1,096.43, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 10.63, or 0.5 percent, to 2,174.10.

Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 485.4 million shares compared with 506.7 million shares traded at the same point Tuesday.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite to its price, rose to 3.41 percent from 3.34 percent late Tuesday.

Crude oil rose $1.53 to $80.65 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar weakened. Commodities are priced in dollars, making them cheaper for overseas buyers when the greenback slides.

Among banks, Morgan Stanley rose $2.12, or 6.5 percent, to $34.64 and US Bancorp jumped $1.56, or 6.7 percent, to $25.36. Wells Fargo slipped 43 cents to $30.01.

Shares of Apple Inc. set a record, topping its previous trading high of $202.96 from Dec. 27, 2007. The company, which on Monday posted a 47 percent jump in its third-quarter earnings, rose $6.74, or 3.4 percent, to $205.50.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.50, or 0.7 percent, to 617.91.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.03 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.4 percent, and France's CAC-40 advanced 0.1 percent.

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Archibald: Verdict out, but the doctor is in - Everything Alabama Blog

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 03:26 AM PDT

By John Archibald -- The Birmingham News

October 21, 2009, 5:00AM

Follow me on Twitter during the trial. You can also follow instant updates on the Langford trial Twitter feed. Visit our page for Larry Langford trial coverage.

This thing in Tuscaloosa, it looks just like a big ol' trial.

You can tell by all those U.S. Marshals in their best suits and shiny badges, by the almost-amen corner dozing in the back, and all those reporters pounding away with brand new Twitter accounts.

You can really tell in those down moments, when that off-the-cuff veneer on Teflon Larry Langford slides away to reveal a trace -- just a trace -- of someone far more somber, and vulnerable.

But this thing in Tuscaloosa is more than a trial.

More than the trial of the decade. More, perhaps, than the trial of the century.

This moment, this trial, it's extraordinary.

Larry Langford Trial Media wait outside the Federal Building in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Monday, Oct. 19, 2009, for jury selection to begin on Larry Langford's federal corruption trial. (The Birmingham News / Michelle Williams)

Not just for the defendant, the mayor of Birmingham. Not for the judges or lawyers or the jury of Langford's "peers" -- most of whom live so far in the dark they've never heard of his case.

But what is extraordinary about this trial is not even the guilt or innocence of Langford. What is amazing, two days into a trial expected to last two weeks, is the story it can tell.

It is the history of all of Jefferson County's ugly downfall, right there in a court-reported, under-oath nutshell.

Transcript and all.

It is clear from the witness lists, from exhibits, jury questions and the first day of testimony. All the events that led Jefferson County to the brink of bankruptcy, to a ranking among the most corrupt spots in America, will unfold before a judge.

Testimony has already touched on the origin of the sewer fiasco, with questioning of former Jefferson County Finance Director Steve Sayler, who followed Langford to Birmingham. The witness lists are filled with must-see performers, like Commissioners Bettye Fine Collins and Shelia Smoot and their disgraced former colleagues Mary Buckelew and Gary White.

We will likely hear from Bill Blount, Charles LeCroy, Al LaPierre and Norm Davis, all under oath. We may not get all our answers, but we've been waiting on this for years. Financial institutions such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Raymond James and Lehman Brothers will be under fire from a tough old defense lawyer who doesn't mind mixing it up with anybody.

Heck, lawyer Mike Rasmussen dropped the fact that Remon Danforah -- a U.S. Citizen for more than 35 years -- came from Palestinian descent, just because he thought it would play with a West Alabama jury. Inappropriate? Sure. But this, apparently, is war.

And therapy.

So don't worry about the verdict. All that matters is the catharsis.

Because the people judging our history -- Langford's "peers" -- don't really have much of a clue how long we've been waiting for this stuff.

Not that all the jurors live in caves. One actually admitted to the judge she had read about Langford's charges. She said it didn't register, though, because "it was none of my business."

Oh well. Justice -- and catharsis, too, I guess -- is supposed to be blind.

Follow John Archibald on Twitter through the trial at twitter.com/JohnArchibald

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Rangers officials meet with potential owner - WKOW-TV.com

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 07:23 AM PDT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Officials of the Texas Rangers have met with a potential new owner.

Houston businessman Jim Crane and his advisers took a tour of Rangers Ballpark and met with officials from the baseball and business operations of the team on Tuesday. Team president Nolan Ryan and general manager Jon Daniels were among those who participated.

Hicks Sports Group said in a release that meetings were "routine and part of the normal due diligence process."

Financially strapped owner Tom Hicks said this summer that he was willing to sell controlling interest in the Rangers. Ryan said this month that Hicks could still be in a position of ownership when everything was resolved.

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Business

Wednesday, October 21, 2009