The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Monday, May 12, 2008: Pollo Campero opens franchise in US Wal-Mart store LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Pollo Campero, a Latin American fried-chicken favorite that had been seen in the U.S. only in takeout boxes aboard arriving flights, has teamed up with Wal-Mart to expand its reach to the nation's growing Hispanic population. A restaurant bearing the Guatemalan chain's mascot chicken in a cowboy hat now sells its famed product inside a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rowlett, Texas. Officials with the chain's fledging U.S. arm, Campero USA Corp., hopes to expand its reach into more than 20 Wal-Mart locations across the country by the end of 2009. ___ Toyota says new US auto plant delayed TOKYO (AP) _ A senior Toyota executive said Monday that plans for a new auto assembly plant in Mississippi are being delayed by worries about slumping American auto sales and a broader U.S. economic slowdown. The vehicle assembly plant being built in Blue Springs, near Tupelo, Miss., was initially to be up and running by late 2009 or early 2010, said Toyota Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita. ___ Person close to talks: Cablevision close to buying Newsday NEW YORK (AP) _ Cablevision Systems Corp. is close to buying the Long Island newspaper Newsday from Tribune Co. for $650 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said Sunday. The deal, which could be announced as soon as Monday, would net Cablevision, a cable TV company also based on Long Island, its first newspaper. It would also provide much-needed cash to Tribune Co., which is struggling under $8.2 billion in debt it took on when it went private last December. ___ Oil prices retreat from $126 a barrel record BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Oil prices retreated Monday in Asia from last week's record close near $126 a barrel as the dollar strengthened against the euro and yen. Investors often buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the greenback falls, but that effect can reverse when the dollar gains against other currencies, as it has in Tokyo currency markets on Monday. ___ PMI Group swings to hefty 1Q loss on defaults WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) _ Mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. said Monday it swung to a first-quarter loss from year-ago profit, due to hefty payouts on default claims and charges to write off its investment in bond insurer FGIC. Delinquencies and defaults among mortgages have increased rapidly over the past year. For each default and foreclosure, PMI is forced to pay out claims to investors that hold the mortgages. ___ Study: Retirement savers make costly 401(k) mistakes NEW YORK (AP) _ Despite extensive efforts to educate workers about saving for retirement, many employees are not doing a good job of managing their company-sponsored 401(k) accounts, a new study indicates. The analysis of nearly 1 million retirement portfolios found that 69 percent have inappropriate risk or diversification of holdings and 36 percent have worrisome concentrations of company stock. In addition, one-third of savers aren't putting enough aside to qualify for the full company matching contribution. ___ China's April inflation rises to 8.5 percent BEIJING (AP) _ China's inflation rebounded in April to near decade-high levels, adding to pressure on Beijing to cool rapid price rises and avert possible unrest ahead of the Summer Olympics, according to official data reported Monday. Consumer prices in April were up 8.5 percent compared with the same month last year, the National Statistics Bureau reported. That was up from March's 8.3 percent rate and just short of February's 8.7 percent, the highest inflation in 12 years. ___ US health secretary: Chinese Heparin in US now safe SHANGHAI, China (AP) _ A blood thinner manufactured in China and linked to dozens of deaths in the United States is now safe because of tighter testing and controls, a top American health official said Monday, while warning that all U.S. imports would face closer scrutiny in the future. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has linked 81 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions to a contaminant found in China-made shipments of the drug heparin. Continued... |