Oil drops under $118, settles at 3-month low Oil prices briefly dropped below $118 a barrel Wednesday -- $30 below their record high -- after a jump in U.S. crude and other fuel supplies fed beliefs that high energy prices are eating into demand. Light, sweet crude for September delivery finished the session down 59 cents, at $118.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was crude's lowest settlement price since May 2; prices earlier in the day fell as low as $117.11, a 20 percent drop from their trading high of $147.27 reached July 11. At the pump, the U.S. average price for a gallon of regular gasoline dropped by a penny overnight, to $3.862, according to AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
Oil drops under $118, settles at three-month low
August 7, 2008 at 4:58AM
Connecticut latest state to sue Countrywide Connecticut sued Countrywide Financial Corp. on Wednesday, becoming the latest state to take the mortgage lender to court because of its lending practices. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal alleged that California-based Countrywide misled borrowers into taking on risky home loans they could not afford. California, Illinois, Florida and the city of San Diego have made similar claims in their own lawsuits against the company. Blumenthal's office and Connecticut's departments of Banking and Consumer Protection are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They're alleging that the company violated state consumer protection and banking laws and charged unjustified fees to homeowners who defaulted on loans. "Countrywide conned homeowners into mortgages they simply could not afford," Blumenthal said.
Ford adding blind-spot mirrors early to Edge Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday that it will introduce its blind-spot mirror this fall on the 2009 Ford Edge crossover. The automaker had planned to bring the mirror to market next year, but moved up the date after getting a lot of positive feedback, said Kelly Kohlstrand, a member of Ford's advanced product marketing and technology planning team. Ford also is in a race with General Motors Corp. to bring the technology to market. Blind-spot mirrors -- in the outer corner of the side mirrors -- will be standard on some versions of the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse crossover, according to GM spokesman Terry Rhadigan. Kohlstrand said the mirrors will be standard on the Edge, and will be added to other Ford vehicles in 2009.
Fuel costs take big pinch out of CarMax sales Used-vehicle retailer CarMax Inc. said Wednesday that its same-store used unit sales fell 17 percent in June and July, as high fuel prices drove customers away. The Richmond, Va.-based company originally withdrew its fiscal-year sales and earnings guidance in June after posting a steep drop in sales beginning Memorial Day weekend. The company said it plans to temporarily slow its store growth and push back some store openings to the next fiscal year. Although CarMax has no stores in Minnesota, it bought a 15-acre site in Maplewood last year that could handle a 20,000-square-foot store and as many as 450 cars. But company spokeswoman Elia Imler said CarMax has no plans to build a store there "for the foreseeable future."
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The funding is expected to give more than 5,000 Minnesotans, especially in rural areas, high-speed broadband access across the state and help at least 139 businesses and 368 farms.
