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Oil price surges to record close

By Times Wires
Published October 26, 2007

NEW YORK

Oil futures jumped to a new record close of $90.46 a barrel Thursday on news that OPEC production increases aren't coming as fast as expected and that the cartel won't announce new output quotas when it meets next month. Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose $3.36 to settle at $90.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $90.60 earlier, a trading record.

WASHINGTON

Analysts skeptical of home sales rise

New home sales postedan unexpected increase in September, but analysts viewed the small gain as highly questionable given the severe credit crunch that rocked the housing industry this summer, predicting further sales declines before the worst housing slump in more than two decades ends. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes rose by 4.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000 units. Economists had looked for a 2.5 percent decline. The September increase was viewed with skepticism, as all the strength came in the West, a region pounded by the credit crunch. "This is definitely not a signal that the housing market is turning around," said David Seiders, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders.

BP to pay $373M to settle charges

Global energy giant BP PLC agreed Thursday to pay $373-million to settle criminal and civil charges that it overcharged U.S. propane consumers by millions of dollars and ignored environmental warnings that resulted in an Alaska oil spill and a deadly explosion in Texas. Additionally, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted four former BP traders who were caught on tape discussing an alleged scheme to pump up profits by cornering the propane markets. BP America chairman and president Bob Malone apologized in a statement. "These agreements are an admission that, in these instances, our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law. For that, we apologize," he said.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.

Fraud charges for ex-body armor duo

The former CEO of the nation's leading supplier of body armor to the U.S. military was indicted Thursday on charges of insider trading, fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that netted him more than $185-million, prosecutors said. David H. Brooks, 53, the founder and former chief executive of DHB Industries Inc. of Pompano Beach, which has since changed its name and relocated, appeared in federal court on Long Island and was ordered held without bail. His lawyer entered a not guilty plea. Also named was Sandra Hatfield, 54, the former chief operating officer of DHB. The pair was accused of falsely inflating the value of the inventory of DHB's top product, the Interceptor vest, to help meet profit margin projections. The vest, designed to withstand rifle fire and shrapnel, was made for the Marine Corps and other branches of the military.

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 00:07:09]