The New York Times-20080129-Today in Business

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Today in Business

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BUSH PUSHES STIMULUS PLAN In his final State of the Union address, President Bush called for Congress to pass his economic stimulus plan quickly.

REVELATIONS ABOUT TRADER Management at Societe Generale had new questions to answer when Jerome Kerviel, the renegade trader who lost $7.2 billion, told French prosecutors that his trading spree started as in 2005 -- a year earlier than the bank had said. [A1.]

All Mr. Kerviel, the bank employee that the French press is calling the mad trader, wanted was to earn respect and a big bonus. [C1.]

BOWING OUT AT SEARS In a humbling admission of failure, Edward S. Lampert, the chairman of Sears Holdings, removed himself from day-to-day management of the ailing retailer and fired the company's chief executive, Aylwin B. Lewis, above. But analysts say that until Mr. Lampert injects money into its shabby Sears and Kmart stores, the shake-up is unlikely to fix what ails the company. [C1.]

SUBWAY VS. QUIZNOS When Quiznos invited people to submit homemade commercials in a contest intended to attack its main competitor, Subway, it led to a lawsuit and questions about a genre of advertising. [C1.]

THE JOURNAL IS MOVING UPTOWN The Wall Street Journal is moving to Midtown and plans to add a sports page as its new owner, Rupert Murdoch, begins to make changes in the 119-year-old newspaper. [C1.]

THE STATE OF PRIVATE EQUITY Checking on the state of private equity in Davos, Switzerland, where most of the private equity big-wigs were gathered for the annual World Economic Forum. DealBook: Andrew Ross Sorkin. [C1.]

MARKETS MAY MERGE The CME Group, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Nymex Holdings, the owner of the New York Mercantile Exchange, are discussing an $11 billion merger. [C3.]

HOUSING SLUMP WORSENS Sales of new homes fell last year by 26 percent, the steepest drop since recordkeeping began in 1963, the Commerce Department said. [C3.]

IN-STORE CLINICS CLOSE CheckUps, the New York-based operator of walk-in medical clinics, has shut 23 clinics operating in Wal-Mart stores in Florida and three other Southern states. [C3.]

SALE MAY NOT OCCUR Alliance Data Systems, the big credit card processor, warned that its proposed $6.4 billion buyout by the Blackstone Group, which had agreed to buy Alliance Data last June, could be in jeopardy because of requirements by bank regulators. [C4.]

CHRYSLER OFFERS BUYOUTS Chrysler buyouts of as much as $100,000 have been offered to most of its hourly workers in the Detroit area as the automaker tries to eliminate up to 10,000 more jobs. [C5.]

A WARNING FROM MCDONALD'S McDonald's, which reported a rise in quarterly profit, said that sales at restaurants open at least a year were flat last month. [C2.]

EX-SAFENET C.F.O. IS SENTENCED The former chief financial officer of SafeNet, a maker of computer network security products, has been sentenced to six months in prison and fined $1 million for securities fraud in connection with an options backdating case. [C10.]

FORGOING MILLIONS Angelo R. Mozilo, the chief executive of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, is voluntarily giving up $37.5 million in severance and consulting pay in connection with the lender's proposed takeover by the Bank of America Corporation. [C3.]

A MERRILL PRESIDENT LEAVES Merrill Lynch & Company has announced that a president, Ahmass L. Fakahany, would leave as the firm builds a new management team after $12 billion in net losses in the credit market in the second half of 2007. [C9.]

A DRAG ON VERIZON Verizon Communications said its traditional telephone business continued to hurt its bottom line but added the company was not yet seeing the effects of a slowing economy. It also reported that its wireless business showed solid growth as the company reported net income of $1.07 billion for the period ended Dec. 31, up from $1.03 billion in the same period in 2006. Its share price rose 35 cents to close at $38.11.[C3.]

TYSON PROFIT PLUNGES The meat producer Tyson Foods said that its first-quarter profit plunged 40 percent and that it would have to raise prices to offset the higher cost of feed for cattle, chickens and pigs. The company also withdrew its earnings guidance for the year. [C6.]

AUDITOR SETTLES ENRON CASEDavid B. Duncan, a former partner at Arthur Andersen who was in charge of the Enron Corporation account, has settled allegations that he violated securities laws when he signed audit reports that were false and misleading, the Securities and Exchange Commission said. [C6.]

TRAVEL BLOGS TAKING OFF Companies in the travel business including Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Southwest Airlines have started blogs to promote products and brands, and so have business travelers wanting to share their experiences and their complaints. Even the chief executive of Marriott International is writing a blog. [C8.]

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