The airline industry boosted many one-way fares by up to $10 late Monday, as carriers struggle with weakening domestic results. Continental Airlines Inc. raised one-way fares in 30 percent of the top U.S. markets by $5 for advanced-purchase tickets and by $10 for last-minute seats, according to farecompare.com, an airfare tracking Web site. That triggered competitors American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways to match on overlapping routes. It’s the industry’s fifth or sixth attempt to increase fares this year, said Rick Seaney, chief executive of farecompare.com.
Fed chairman predicts growth
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted Tuesday the economy will rebound from an anemic performance at the start of the year even if the housing slump continues. Economic growth in the first three months of this year nearly stalled, logging just a 0.6 percent pace. It was the worst quarterly showing in more than four years. However, Bernanke said he believes some of the forces that figured prominently in that poor performance, including a bloated trade deficit, cutbacks by businesses in inventory investment and weak federal defense spending, have been at least partially reversed.
Union weighs Wall Street Journal buy
Billionaire investor Ron Burkle is working with a union representing workers at Dow Jones &Co. to explore alternatives to Rupert Murdoch’s $5 billion bid for the company, which publishes The Wall Street Journal.
GM speeds push for plug-in car
General Motors Corp. has awarded two contracts to companies that will help speed up development of its plug-in electric car called the Chevrolet Volt, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said Tuesday. Wagoner also said GM would introduce four new hybrid models this year. All of those have previously been announced.
Honda drops Accord hybrid
Honda will discontinue the hybrid version of its Accord sedans, the company said Tuesday, ceding Toyota’s dominance of the market with its Prius hybrid. Honda Motor Co., Japan’s No. 2 automaker, will continue to make gas-and-electric models of its Civic sedan but will stop offering the hybrid Accord with the new model expected to go on sale later this year, company spokesman Yoshiyuki Kuroda said in Tokyo.
General Mills to raise prices
General Mills Inc. said on Tuesday it would raise cereal prices to match increases by competitors, but investors sent its shares down more than 3 percent, and one analyst downgraded the stock. General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe said customers should actually see lower prices per box, but the boxes will be smaller, so the effect is a price increase of a few percent.
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