Britain begins its inquiry into LIBOR The British government officially announced a review into the rate-setting process at the center of the recent financial scandal. The review comes as British and U.S. regulators face mounting scrutiny for their passive approach in policing benchmark rates, including the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR. Since Barclays struck a $450 million settlement last month over rate manipulation, lawmakers have blasted authorities for failing to stop the illegal activities at the British bank, despite evidence of problems. The two-month inquiry will focus on whether British officials should regulate LIBOR and how governance of the rate can be improved.
American growth drives Chrysler's profit Chrysler, though it is majority owned by an Italian automaker, is unburdened by the anemic European economy. That distinction from its Detroit rivals, as well as a competitive lineup of cars, drove the automaker to earn net income of $436 million in the second quarter, compared with a $370 million loss for the same quarter last year. Powered by a 32 percent increase in domestic retail sales, revenue rose 23 percent in the quarter that ended June 30, to $16.8 billion from $13.7 billion a year ago.
California recovers $20M from JPMorgan A decade after companies like Enron Corp. manipulated California's electricity market to generate billions in excess profits, another big power trader is being investigated for allegedly gaming the state's electricity system. California officials believe a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the New York investment bank, pulled down an extra $73 million by exploiting a small wrinkle in the state's electricity market over several months in 2010 and 2011. Officials said they've recovered $20 million from the company so far. For its part, JPMorgan said in court papers earlier this month that no wrongdoing has been found.
GM, chief marketer part ways ... General Motors' global chief marketing officer, Joel Ewanick, elected over the weekend to resign, the automaker announced Sunday. "I can tell you that he failed to meet the expectations the company has for its employees," said GM spokesman Greg Martin. He declined to be more specific. Ewanick, 52, joined GM in May 2010 to lead marketing in the company's North America unit. He soon set in motion the first of several management shake-ups as GM continued its restructuring post-bankruptcy.
... As do Yahoo and exec passed over for CEO Former interim CEO Ross Levinsohn is leaving Yahoo Inc. after being passed over for the Sunnyvale, Calif., company's top job in favor of former Google executive Marissa Mayer, but he leaves with a large cache of Yahoo shares as a going-away present, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Levinsohn, the former head of Yahoo's Americas region, had been seen as the likely candidate to permanently replace CEO Scott Thompson before Yahoo shocked Silicon Valley by landing Mayer earlier this month.
Buyers pounce on Apple's Mountain Lion Apple says Mac users downloaded 3 million copies of Mountain Lion, its latest operating system, in the first four days it was available since its release Wednesday. Apple charges $20 for the software. That pays for downloads for all of a buyer's personal computers. Apple provides the OS at no extra charge to buyers who bought a Mac on or after June 11.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
