IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Futures fall

US stock-index futures fell after new claims for unemployment benefits topped economists' forecasts and UBS AG said a slowdown in business spending will hurt sales at Cisco Systems Inc.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in June lost 9.1, or 0.7 percent, to 1,361.8 at 8:58 am in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 69 to 12,550. NASDAQ-100 Index futures fell 16 to 1,846.25.

Late payments rise

Consumers fell behind on car, credit-card and home-equity loans at the highest level in 15 years during the fourth quarter, another sign the US economy is slowing, according to an American Bankers Association survey.

Payments at least 30 days past due increased across all eight categories of loans tracked, the Washington-based group said.

More curbs likely

The Bank of England said financial institutions plan to cut mortgage and corporate lending, intensifying a credit squeeze that has put the economy on course for its slowest growth in 16 years.

UK banks predict a "slightly larger" reduction in home loans in the second quarter after offering fewer of them in the past three months, the central bank said yesterday in London, citing a quarterly survey.

Oce dips

Oce NV, the world's largest maker of wide-format printers, fell the most in two months in Amsterdam trading after saying service revenue at its largest division fell on lower demand from US banks and builders.

Service revenue at the Digital Document Systems unit, excluding currency swings, takeovers and results from its fax business, fell 1.7 percent in the first quarter, the Venlo, Netherlands-based company said yesterday.

Syngenta surges

Syngenta AG, the world's biggest maker of agricultural chemicals, said first-quarter sales rose 20 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, boosted by demand for crop protection products and seeds.

The rate of sales growth is likely to slow during 2008 and will probably exceed 10 percent for the full year, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said yesterday.

Turbine order

Siemens AG, Europe's biggest engineering company, won an order from Portland General Electric Company for the installation of 141 wind turbines in Oregon with a capacity of 2.3 megawatts each.

Siemens announced an order for the delivery of 130 wind turbines from US company Cannon Power Corp on Monday. Both orders have a combined value of more than $1.1 billion, Siemens said yesterday

Agencies

(China Daily 04/04/2008 page17)