Retail gas price up 10 cents a gallon
Washington The retail price of gasoline rose by more than 10 cents last week to average $2.33 a gallon nationwide — a record, the Energy Department reported Monday.
The previous high was $2.28 per gallon, established the week ending April 11. Adjusting for inflation, retail gasoline prices peaked above $3 a gallon in 1981.
The latest weekly government survey said the average price nationwide of regular-grade gasoline increased by 10.2 cents to $2.328 per gallon, or 41 cents a gallon higher than the same time a year ago.
Pump prices were highest on the West Coast, averaging $2.479 a gallon, and cheapest in the Gulf Coast, where motorists paid on average $2.235 a gallon. In the Midwest, gas averaged $2.316 per gallon.
On Monday, light sweet crude for August delivery declined by 71 cents to settle at $58.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices are roughly 47 percent higher than a year ago.
GMAC expected to earn $2.5 billion this year
Detroit The chief financial officer of General Motors Acceptance Corp., General Motors Corp.’s finance arm, says he expects the division to earn at least $2.5 billion in 2005, versus a record $2.9 billion in 2004.
GMAC Executive Vice President Sanjiv Khattri reaffirmed GMAC’s previous full-year guidance Monday at an investor reception in London, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Khattri said he expects net income from GMAC’s financing operations to fall this year while income from its mortgage and insurance operations will be up, the result of GMAC’s efforts to diversify its portfolio. Auto financing accounted for 77 percent of GMAC’s income in 2002 but fell to 47 percent last year.
Antitrust regulators eye software deal
San Francisco
Government antitrust regulators are seeking more information about the pending $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia Inc. by Adobe Systems Inc. before allowing the deal to go through, the companies said Monday.
The U.S. Department of Justice has requested information about design tools offered by the companies, which are two of the top providers of graphic design software, according to Adobe spokeswoman Holly Campbell.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment other than to say that a request for information — in this case on Adobe’s Illustrator and Macromedia’s FreeHand software — is not a rare occurrence when the government is reviewing an acquisition.