BUSINESS BRIEFS
GM loses $323M; stock goes up
Advertiser News Services
DETROIT — General Motors Corp. reported a first-quarter loss of $323 million yesterday, the sixth straight quarterly loss for the world's largest automaker, which is in the midst of an overhaul that includes hefty job cuts within its critical North American operations.
But the loss for the January-March period was smaller than its $1.3 billion loss in the first quarter of 2005. Revenue rose 14 percent and the loss in North America narrowed. GM's shares rose $2.07 to close at $22.64 on the New York Stock Exchange.
HERSHEY PROFITS RISE SEVEN PERCENT
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Hershey Co. yesterday reported a 7 percent rise in its first-quarter profit as the nation's largest candy maker posted scant revenue growth. The profit narrowly missed Wall Street expectations. Its shares fell nearly 2 percent.
For the first three months of 2006, Hershey earned $121 million, or 50 cents a share, compared with $113 million, or 45 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.
VIOXX LAWSUIT GOES TO JURY
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas — A jury began deliberations yesterday in a trial over whether the once-popular painkiller Vioxx caused a fatal heart attack in a 71-year-old Texas man.
Plaintiff attorneys asked the jury to award the family of Leonel Garza $22 million in compensatory damages and $1 billion in punitive damages.
