BUSINESS BRIEFS
New York judge allows Madoff to remain free
Advertiser Wire Services
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NEW YORK — A judge allowed disgraced investor Bernard Madoff to remain free on bail yesterday, rejecting an attempt by prosecutors to send him to jail for mailing more than $1 million in jewelry to family and friends over the holidays.
The decision means Madoff will avoid having to leave the comfort of his $7 million penthouse and await trial in a cramped jail cell with nothing but bunk beds, a sink and toilet. Madoff will remain under house arrest and under the constant watch of security guards.
The ruling further outraged investors who have been clamoring for Madoff to be sent to jail for allegedly carrying out the largest financial fraud in history.
The judge acknowledged the huge public interest in the case, but said that sound legal considerations must take priority. He said that prosecutors failed to make a good enough argument that keeping Madoff free on bail represents an economic harm to the community.
ALCOA LOSES $1.19B IN FOURTH QUARTER
PITTSBURGH — Alcoa Inc., the world's third-largest aluminum company, said yesterday it lost $1.19 billion during its fourth quarter as prices and demand for the metal plunged in a troubled global market.
Alcoa's loss highlighted the impact of the weakening world economy on key aluminum markets, such as the construction and auto industries.
Prices of the metal, used in everything from cars and aircraft to window frames and beer cans, have fallen steeply along with other commodities since mid-2008.
Alcoa, the first component of the Dow Jones industrial average to post results and considered a bellwether of earnings to come, said quarterly revenue sank 19 percent to $5.7 billion from $7 billion in the year-earlier period.
GM UNVEILS PLANS FOR ELECTRIC FUTURE
DETROIT — General Motors Corp., a wounded company living on cash borrowed from the government, didn't behave like one yesterday as it unveiled ambitious plans to research and assemble lithium-ion batteries in Michigan and picked a Korean company to supply the cells to power the Chevrolet Volt electric car.
But a top executive raised the prospect that GM will need more federal loans later in the year if the U.S. auto market doesn't improve, saying the company presented a worst-case scenario to the government last year that would require $18 billion in loans, $4.6 billion more than the Bush administration has granted.
FDIC SAYS BANKS MUST TRACK FUNDS
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are asking financial institutions to monitor their use of government money received under the $700 billion rescue plan and other support.
Banks and other financial institutions should track how the federal money or guarantees they received helped them boost "prudent lending" and efforts to help at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosures, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said yesterday in a directive issued to the roughly 5,100 state-chartered banks and savings and loans for which it is the primary regulator.
