May 23, 2013

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Reporter: AP

Business News Aug 19

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of online reviews site Angie's List hit another all-time low Friday, a few days after the lifting of a ban that had prohibited insiders from flooding the market with additional stock.
On Tuesday the stock suffered its biggest one-day drop thus far and closed at $11.17 when the so-called lock-up period on insiders ended.
On Friday Angie's List Inc. fell further, down nearly 5 percent, to close at $10.64. It traded as low as $10.43 earlier in the day, below the previous all-time low of $10.77 set in November.
The stocks of two other newly traded tech companies, Groupon Inc. and Facebook Inc., also hit all-time lows on Friday. Facebook had a similar lock-up period expire this week, while Groupon started the week by reporting lackluster quarterly earnings.

VIENNA (AP) -- Luxembourg's prime minister says Greece won't leave the 17-nation eurozone -- arguing that an exit wouldn't be politically feasible and would carry unforeseeable risks.
Greece has been kept afloat by international loans but fallen behind on implementing reforms and austerity measures demanded in exchange, feeding speculation about a possible euro exit.
But Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, who also chairs eurozone finance ministers' meetings, was quoted Saturday as saying in an interview with Austria's Tiroler Tageszeitung newspaper: "It will not happen -- unless Greece violates all the conditions and keeps to no agreements."
Juncker said he assumes Greece will redouble efforts to reach its targets -- so "there is no reason to assume that this exit scenario can become relevant." He said an exit would be "technically" but not "politically" feasible.

LONDON (AP) -- Former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond offered a "highly selective" account to a parliamentary hearing on the banking rate-fixing scandal, British lawmakers said Saturday in a highly critical report.
In its report regarding manipulation of a key inter-bank interest rate, Parliament's Treasury committee demanded sweeping changes to regulation of the banking industry, calling for authorities to get wider powers to prosecute offenders.
Barclays has been fined $453 million by U.S. and British agencies for feeding false data which went into calculations of the London interbank offered rate, known as LIBOR, a market index that influences the costs of a range of financial instruments, including home mortgages.
The committee criticized both the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority over failures to uncover the scandal sooner, and said it was highly unlikely that the practice of rate-fixing was confined to one bank.
"The sustained rigging of a crucial benchmark rate has done great damage to the U.K.'s reputation. Public trust in banks is at an all-time low," committee Chairman Andrew Tyrie said. "Urgent improvements, both to the way banks are run and the way they are regulated, is needed if public and market confidence is to be restored. The manipulation was spotted neither by the FSA nor the Bank of England at the time. That doesn't look good."
Tyrie said his committee was calling for higher fines for firms that fail to cooperate with regulators, a tightening of laws to make it easier to prosecute rate-fixing offenses, and stronger governance from the Bank of England -- which was criticized as naive and "relatively inactive," over manipulation of the LIBOR rate.
In evidence given to the panel at a hearing in July, Diamond appeared to suggest that a Bank of England executive had encouraged Barclays to manipulate rate data -- a charge the bank has denied.
Legislators said they believed they had been misled by Diamond.
"Select committees are entitled to expect candor and frankness from witnesses before them. Mr. Diamond's evidence, at times highly selective, fell well short of the standard that Parliament expects, particularly from such an experienced and senior witness," Tyrie said.
In response, Diamond said he strongly rejects the committee's allegations about his own testimony and attack on his former bank's reputation.
"I answered every question that was put to me to me truthfully, candidly and based on information available to me," Diamond said in a statement. "I categorically refute any suggestion to the contrary."
He said the committee's claims that Barclays had a corporate culture "that had gone badly awry," were misplaced.
"The picture being presented today of what Barclays stood for under my watch could not be further from the truth. There is no question that the behavior of a small group of traders related to LIBOR manipulation was reprehensible and not in keeping with Barclays' high standards," he said.
Britain's government has announced that Tyrie will lead a Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, intended to look at steps needed to restore confidence in the country's banking sector.
"The manipulation of key global benchmark rates has been another example of a culture of irresponsibility within the banking system, which the Government is determined to fix as quickly as possible," Britain's Treasury said in a statement.

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors and Isuzu are recalling more than 249,000 SUVs because the window and door lock switches can cause fires.
The recall covers the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 97-X SUVs from the 2006 and 2007 model years. The SUVs were sold or registered in 20 states and Washington, D.C., where salt and other chemicals are used to clear roads in the winter.
GM says fluid can get inside the driver's door, causing a circuit board to short. The short can knock out switches for the power door and windows, causing fires. GM says there have been fires but it doesn't know of any injuries.
Dealers will replace the power widow switch for free. Owners will get letters telling them when to schedule appointments.

DETROIT (AP) -- Suzuki is recalling nearly 102,000 cars in the U.S. to fix a wiring problem that can cause the headlights to go out.
The recall covers Forenza compacts from the 2004 to 2006 model years, and Reno compacts from 2005 and 2006.
The company says wires behind the dashboard can heat up and melt part of the wiring assembly. This can cause the low- and high-beam headlights to fail, increasing the risk of a crash.
It was not clear whether the problem has caused any crashes or injuries.
Dealers will reconnect wires at no cost to the owners.


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