AAA predicts rise in holiday travel spending Holiday travel spending will rise about 8 percent this year for the average U.S. family, even as the number of Americans making a trip will remain unchanged from last year, an American Express Co. survey showed. A family of four plans to spend $2,636 on holiday travel, an increase of almost $200 from a year earlier, American Express said. Three in 10 Americans plan to travel during the holiday period, unchanged from 2010, the company said.
September industrial production rose 0.2% Industrial production advanced in September on growing demand for automobiles and computers after stalling the prior month, a sign manufacturers are contributing to growth. Output at factories, mines and utilities increased 0.2 percent, in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey, after being little changed in August, figures from the Federal Reserve showed. Factory production, which makes up 75 percent of the total, climbed for a third month.
Kodak reaches deal to outfit Imax theaters Eastman Kodak Co. agreed to provide laser-projection technology to Imax Corp., bolstering revenue as the unprofitable 131-year-old camera company seeks to stave off bankruptcy. Kodak, based in Rochester, N.Y., will receive an upfront payment of more than $10 million, a milestone payment and ongoing royalties, Bloomberg News reported. Imax gains technology letting it expand the use of digital projection on its big-screen theaters, the Mississauga, Ontario-based company said.
Einhorn comments hurt Green Mountain shares Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. fell the most in two months after hedge-fund manager David Einhorn said the market for its Keurig single-cup brewers is "limited" and the company faces patent expirations. The shares fell 10 percent to close at $82.50, their biggest decline since Aug. 18. Einhorn said he "has a position" in the shares. "I believe the available market is smaller than the bulls believe it to be and that Green Mountain has already penetrated a good chunk of it," Einhorn said.
Air France-KLM gives its CEO the boot Air France-KLM Group ousted Pierre-Henri Gourgeon as chief and appointed Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta to take charge as it struggles with slumping earnings and revelations regarding the role of pilots in a fatal crash. Gourgeon, 65, chief executive since January 2009, had been slated to stay in the post until 2013. Instead, he'll quit, with 68-year-old Spinetta standing in until Air France-KLM adopts a single corporate structure some time that year.
Wal-Mart shakes up its leadership in China Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it was replacing the head of its operations in China, the giant U.S. retailer's latest setback in the country after employees were arrested and detained last week in the western city of Chongqing in connection with a labeling scandal. The company said that Ed Chan, its chief executive in China since 2007, was leaving the company for personal reasons. Clara Wong, a senior executive for human resources, was also stepping down, the statement said. The company has been accused of selling pork that was mislabeled as a more expensive organic variety. Wal-Mart did not link the personnel moves to the controversy.
BP, Anadarko reach deal over gulf disaster BP PLC, the operator of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico that was the source of the worst U.S. oil spill last year, said Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will pay $4 billion to settle all claims over the disaster. Anadarko, which had a 25 percent stake in the well, will no longer pursue allegations of gross negligence against BP. The payment will be made in a single cash sum and will be put in the $20 billion trust being used to repay claims and damages.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
