BUSINESS BRIEFS
JPMorgan Chase widens efforts on mortgage relief
Associated Press
NEW YORK — JPMorgan Chase & Co. yesterday became the latest major bank to beef up its mortgage modification efforts as the government also considers a plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
JPMorgan's expanded program aims to help avoid foreclosures on an estimated $70 billion in loans, which could help as many as 400,000 customers. The New York-based banking giant has already modified about $40 billion in mortgages, helping 250,000 customers since early 2007.
JPMorgan will not put any loans into foreclosure as it implements the expanded program over the next 90 days.
CHEVRON POSTS RECORD PROFIT
HOUSTON — Chevron yesterday reported the largest quarterly profit in its 129-year corporate history, joining other oil companies reporting stunning third-quarter earnings gains.
Yet like its peers, Chevron also disclosed its crude production waned and said it will keep a close eye on capital spending.
The company earned $7.89 billion in the third quarter, more than double the $3.72 billion profit of a year earlier. Revenue shot up 43 percent to $78.87 billion from $55.2 billion.
OIL'S UGLY MONTH ENDS WITH RALLY
NEW YORK — Oil prices ended the week with a modest rally yesterday but couldn't erase one ugly October: Crude capped its biggest monthly drop since futures trading began 25 years ago, weighed down as a deflated U.S. economy crushes demand for fuel.
Oil's huge collapse — prices fell 32 percent for the month — has stunned oil-producing countries while giving cash-strapped U.S. consumers a rare dose of relief.
Pump prices have fallen by half since their summer peak above $4 a gallon — a drop that's expected to result in a staggering $100 billion in annual savings for American households.
After trading lower most of the day, oil prices staged a late-session surge on the back of a Wall Street rally.
TREASURY BILL RATES DECLINE
NEW YORK — Major stock indexes shot up more than 10 percent this week, but yields on Treasury bills fell anyway — suggesting demand is still high for the ultimate safe investment.
While investors are relieved that the credit markets are functioning better than they were a few weeks ago, they're not about to rush into risky assets just yet.
The three-month Treasury bill yielded 0.43 percent yesterday, up from 0.37 percent Thursday but well below 0.87 percent last Friday. The discount rate was also 0.43 percent.
Part of the decline is due to the Federal Reserve's decision to reduce the key interest rate by a half-point to 1 percent — the key rate indirectly affects T-bill rates. But normally, the three-month T-bill should be just below the target rate, not half its level.
AMEX ASKED FOR SURCHARGING DATA
NEW YORK — American Express has received a request from the U.S. Department of Justice for information regarding the credit card company's policies related to merchant surcharging, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.
The company said it received a Civil Investigative Demand on Oct. 14 from the Justice Department's antitrust division. The department can issue CIDs to anyone it believes may have information related to an investigation, the filing said. Receipt of such a request does not mean that a formal complaint will be filed.
American Express said it intends to cooperate with the department's request for documents and other information regarding the company's policies related to merchant surcharging and its "anti-steering" policies that prohibit merchants from discriminating against the American Express card in favor of other forms of payment.
