BUSINESS BRIEFS
Fiat making moves to be global power
Advertiser News Services
MILAN — Fiat is trying to build a global automaking powerhouse out of parts scavenged from broken-down General Motors and Chrysler.
The Italian automaker struck a deal last week that could eventually give it a controlling interest in Chrysler. Now it is negotiating to buy GM's main European unit, which includes the Opel and Vauxhall brands.
Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne's grand plan is for Fiat to spin off the resulting automaker, which he said would be big enough to compete with the mightiest of the car companies, with capacity to turn out some 5.5 million vehicles a year.
LATEST HOUSING NEWS HELPS RAISE HOPES
WASHINGTON — Evidence that housing is poised to improve and optimism about the results of banking "stress tests" raised hopes yesterday that the recession is easing and helped lift the S&P stock index into the black for the year.Construction spending and pending home sales both fared better than expected in March, and economists saw the reports as evidence that the overall economy is stabilizing after its bleakest stretch in a half-century. If so, the economy might be able to mount a recovery in the second half of 2009.
BANKS TIGHTEN UP MORTGAGE LENDING
WASHINGTON — A larger share of banks has made it more difficult for people to obtain home mortgages over the last three months even as demand has grown, the Federal Reserve reported yesterday.The Fed's new quarterly survey found that about 50 percent of U.S. banks tightened their lending standards on prime mortgages, up from about 45 percent in the survey issued in early February.
