In brief: GM pulls plug on Hummer after China deal falls apart

San Francisco – Hummer is about to guzzle its last gallon.

General Motors Co. said Wednesday it will shut down the stranded brand after its sale to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines collapsed.

GM Vice President John Smith said the Detroit carmaker, which has struggled to streamline its brand portfolio, is disappointed the deal fell through. Smith didn’t offer an explanation as to why the two sides were unable to hammer out an agreement.

Auto analysts suggested that Chinese regulators might have objected to the deal because the Hummer’s bad mileage doesn’t match up with the country’s push toward a leaner, more environmentally friendly car industry.

MarketWatch

Oregonian lays off 37, most from newsroom

Portland – Oregon’s largest newspaper has cut 37 workers, or about 5 percent of its staff.

The Oregonian delivered the bad news to workers Wednesday and offered them severance packages.

The newspaper said most of the affected employees worked in the news department, but advertising, circulation and accounting also lost people.

The Oregonian and other newspapers have been hurt by the recession and the migration of advertising to the Internet.

The Oregonian Publishing Co. has 750 employees following the layoff. The news department employs more than 200.

Associated Press

Bernanke wants to keep record-low interest rates

Washington – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Wednesday that record-low interest rates are still needed to ensure that the economic recovery will last and to help ease the sting of high unemployment.

In his twice-a-year report to the House Financial Services Committee, Bernanke struck a confident tone that the recovery should endure. But he also sought to tamp down expectations.

The moderate economic growth the Fed expects will lead to only a slow decline in the nation’s nearly double-digit unemployment rate, he said. He offered no new clues about the timing of an interest rate increase. Most economists think it is months away. Bernanke said rates will need to stay at exceptionally low levels for an extended period “as the expansion matures.”

Associated Press

SEC appoves new limits on short selling stocks

Los Angeles – The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved new restrictions on “short sellers” – traders who bet on falling stock prices.

The SEC, which has been wrestling with the issue for nearly two years, voted 3 to 2 to limit short sales in any stock that falls 10 percent in one session. At that point, and through the following day, a short sale would be permitted only at a price above the highest price any bidder is offering to pay for the stock.

SEC chief Mary Schapiro said in a statement that the new rule reflected the agency’s concern that “excessive downward price pressure on individual securities, accompanied by the fear of unconstrained short selling, can destabilize our markets and undermine investor confidence in our markets.”

Los Angeles Times