Briefcase
Demand for 777 ramps up output
NEW YORK – Boeing said Monday it’s again increasing the production rate for its 777 aircraft due to strong customer demand.
The Chicago company will boost output to 8.3 of the 777 planes a month in the first quarter of 2013. In March it announced plans to increase production to seven airplanes per month from five starting in the middle of next year.
United Airlines first placed the 777 into service in 1995. There have been 907 deliveries of the aircraft, which comes in several different versions including a freighter. Several major commercial airlines use the long-range aircraft, and FedEx uses the cargo version.
Wells Fargo agrees to modify loans
LOS ANGELES – Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to modify some 14,900 adjustable-rate loans made by banks it acquired, according to filings released Monday by California prosecutors who said the mortgages were harmful to borrowers.
The agreement with the state attorney general’s office will result in more than $2 billion in principal write-downs, interest-rate reductions and other concessions through the end of June 2013, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Chief Financial Officer Franklin Codel said.
The deal applies to mortgages marketed as “Pick-a-Payment” loans by Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Bank and World Savings Bank, a subsidiary of Oakland, Calif.-based Golden West Financial Corp.
Adobe earnings surpass forecasts
NEW YORK – Software maker Adobe Systems Inc. on Monday posted earnings for its latest quarter that exceeded analyst expectations, and it provided a rosy outlook.
Investors pumped the stock up by $1.57, or 5.4 percent, to $30.75 in extended trading, after the release of the results.
The maker of Photoshop, Acrobat and Flash software earned $269 million, or 53 cents per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 3. In the same period last year, it posted a loss of $32 million, or 6 cents per share, weighed down by tax effects and restructuring costs.
Boom used to stop oil to be part of Volt
NEW ORLEANS – Boom from the BP oil spill is getting a new charge from the maker of the Chevrolet Volt electric car.
General Motors says that instead of going to landfills, roughly 100 miles of plastic boom material will be converted into vehicle parts.
The parts deflect air around the vehicle’s radiator.
The Volt, a compact car, can go about 35 miles on battery power before a gasoline engine kicks in to generate electricity.
At the height of the oil spill, more than 2,550 miles of boom was used in the Gulf of Mexico to try to keep oil from reaching shore. Today, response officials say only one mile of boom is being used.
Tens of thousands of tons of boom and oily debris have made their way to landfills or incinerators.