Chrysler CEO says bankruptcy possible
DETROIT - Chrysler LLC Chief Executive Robert Nardelli told lawmakers considering financial support for the auto industry Friday that Chrysler would be pushed toward bankruptcy or even liquidation if it doesn't get federal loans.
Nardelli told the House Financial Services Committee that a million people who depend on the automaker for their livelihoods would be unemployed if the company failed.
Chrysler on Friday said it hired the prominent bankruptcy law firm of Jones Day to help study whether bankruptcy would be a better option than government loans. The firm was hired after lawmakers asked for a study during congressional hearings in November, spokeswoman Lori McTavish said in a statement.
Home loan troubles break records again
WASHINGTON - A record one in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage were either at least a month behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of September as the source of housing market pressure shifted from risky loans to the crumbling U.S. economy.
The percentage of loans at least a month overdue or in foreclosure was up from 9.2 percent in the April-June quarter, and up from 7.3 percent a year earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.
The foreclosure crisis continued to be concentrated in states like Florida, where a stunning 7.3 percent of all loans were in foreclosure at the end of September, by far the highest in the country.
Hartford Financial doubles share price
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Shares of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. more than doubled Friday as investors cheered the insurer's better-than-expected 2008 forecast and assertion that its balance sheet is sound enough to handle continued market declines.
Hartford shares soared $7.38 to close at $14.59, trading as high as $16.08 during the session. That's more than double Thursday's closing price of $7.21 but still well below the 52-week high of $98.07 that the stock reached a year ago. The stock traded around $70 a share as recently as mid-September, but had fallen to around $7 in recent days.
Consumers trim borrowing in Oct.
WASHINGTON - U.S. consumers unexpectedly cut back on their borrowing in October as the economy sunk deeper into recession.
The Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in October. That compared with a 3.1 percent growth rate logged in September, and marked the deepest cutback since August.
Economists expected consumers to boost their borrowing by around $2 billion in October from the previous month. Instead, consumer debt dropped by $3.5 billion to $2.58 trillion.
-The Associated Press