• NY attny. general sues foreclosure banks • U.S. service industry growth surges • Factory orders up • Micron CEO dies in plane crash • Greek bailout deal held up by labor reform talks • EU probes new Google privacy
• NY attny. general sues foreclosure
banks • U.S. service industry growth surges
• Factory orders up • Micron CEO
dies in plane crash • Greek bailout deal held up
by labor reform talks • EU probes new Google
privacy policy
NY attny. general sues foreclosure banks
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s attorney general on Friday accused some of the nation’s largest banks of deceit and fraud in using an electronic mortgage registry that he said puts homeowners at a disadvantage in foreclosures while saving banks over $2 billion.
Democrat Eric Schneiderman sued Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo over their use of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., or MERS, claiming the banks submitted court documents containing false or misleading information that appeared to provide the authority for foreclosures when there was none.
The lawsuit also names the registry operator, MERSCORP Inc. of Virginia.
Schneiderman claims the MERS system has eliminated homeowners’ ability to track property transfers through traditional public records. He said the electronic system now stores that data and is plagued by inaccuracies and what the lawsuit calls “faulty and sloppy document preparation and execution practices.”
U.S. service industry growth surges
WASHINGTON — U.S. service companies grew at the fastest pace in 11 months in January as companies started hiring to keep up with rising demand.
The Institute for Supply Management said Friday that its index of non-manufacturing activity jumped to 56.8 percent in January from 53 percent in December. The survey’s employment index soared to 57.4 percent, its highest level since February 2006. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.
The trade group of purchasing managers surveys businesses including restaurants, hotels, retailers, financial services firms and construction companies. The service sector employs 9 out of 10 U.S. workers.
Factory orders up
1.1% in December
WASHINGTON — Orders to U.S. factories rose in December, supported by a rebound in business investment in capital goods such as heavy machinery.
The results cap off another strong year for U.S. manufacturing. Combined with strong figures released Thursday on job growth in January, they signal the economic recovery is gathering strength.
Factory orders rose 1.1 percent following a 2.2 percent gain in November, the Commerce Department reported Friday. For the year, total orders were up 12.1 percent following a gain of 12.9 percent in 2010. Orders had plunged 22.1 percent in the 2009, the year the deep recession ended.
Micron CEO dies
in plane crash
BOISE, Idaho — A small experimental plane piloted by the chief executive and chairman of Micron Technology Inc. crashed after take-off Friday at the Boise airport, killing the head of the memory chip company.
Steve Appleton, a stunt pilot who survived a similar crash in 2004, was 51.
National Transportation Safety Board air investigator Zoe Keliher said Appleton tried to take off once but landed again immediately, and then taxied to a hangar for about five minutes. She said witnesses reported the plane then took off again and only got to 100 or 200 feet in the air before it steeply banked or rolled, appeared to stall and crashed. Appleton’s body was thrown from the wreckage.
Greek bailout deal held up by labor reform talks
ATHENS, Greece — Greek unions and employers’ associations on Friday rejected private-sector wage cuts, as demanded by the country’s international bailout lenders if Athens is to receive a new rescue package and avoid bankruptcy.
The impasse appeared to be holding up final negotiations for massive new debt agreements — a eurozone finance ministers’ meeting, previously scheduled to back the new proposals, was postponed to later in the week.
Apart from the bailout talks, Greece is also conducting urgent negotiations with its private creditors, who are being asked to take steep losses on their Greek government bonds. More talks on the write-down — which would slash Greece’s national debt by $131.6 billion — were held in Athens over the weekend.
EU probes new Google privacy policy
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s data protection authorities have asked Google to delay the rollout of its new privacy policy until they have verified that it doesn’t break the bloc’s data protection laws.
Google publicized its new privacy rules — which regulate how the Web giant uses the enormous amounts of personal data it collects through its search engine, email and other services — with much fanfare last week.
Since then, it has launched a huge publicity campaign informing its users around the globe of the new policy, which is set to come into force on March 1.
But that launch date may now be under threat.
