Business in brief June 30

| The Associated Press

6/30/2008 -

Wachovia quits offering risky loan

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Beleaguered consumer bank Wachovia Corp. said Monday that it will quit offering a mortgage payment option that allows borrowers to pay less each month than the bank charges in interest.

The choice to pay less was one of the options of Wachovia's controversial Pick-A-Payment mortgages, which offer customers four different payment options each month. Wachovia said it will no longer offer the less-than-full interest payment option on all new home loans.

Wachovia also said it is waiving all prepayment fees associated with its Pick-A-Payment mortgages.

Critics have said paying less than the amount of interest charged can lead to negative amortization. That means the borrower owes more than the value of their home, increasing the chance of foreclosure.

Oil prices end down after topping $143

NEW YORK — The price of crude oil hit yet another record on the last day of a tumultuous first half, spurting past $143 a barrel before ending lower on demand fears and a resilient dollar. Crude has shot up nearly 50 percent since the start of the year, in large part on the dollar's troubles, and analysts expect that trend to remain intact as the second half of 2008 begins.

A government report lowering oil and gasoline demand estimates and a dollar hanging tough nullified investor concerns over supply, a fragile global economy and continued tensions in the Middle East.

Oil usage in April was lower than previously estimated, falling to 4.2 percent to 19.768 million barrels per day from 20.631 million. That was 3.9 percent lower than in April 2007 and the lowest level for the month in six years.

The price of oil, which began 2008 at $96 a barrel, has risen in part on expectations of higher demand in China and other developing nations. But its almost relentless advance has also forced consumers and businesses to cut back the amount of gas and oil they use; it is also posing a threat to U.S. economic growth that could further slice into demand.

Poll: 9 in 10 hit hard by gas prices

WASHINGTON — Four-dollar gasoline has stolen a beach vacation from Julie Jacobs' family, "little small luxuries" like exotic bath washes from Angela Crawford and dinners out from folks all over the country. Phil English has had to sell his beloved but fuel-guzzling red pickup.

Like a plague that hits every economic class, race and age, soaring fuel prices are inflicting pain throughout the U.S. Nine in 10 people are expecting the ballooning costs to squeeze them financially over the next half-year, says an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Monday.

Nearly half think that hardship will be serious. To cope, most are driving less, easing off the air conditioning and heating at home and cutting corners elsewhere. Half are curtailing vacation plans; nearly as many are considering buying cars that burn less gas. U.S. auto companies are closing plants that make pickups and sport-utility vehicles that people have stopped buying.

As the price of gasoline has spiraled upward, so, too, has the public's ire.

Stocks end difficult first half

NEW YORK — Wall Street ended a grueling first half quietly Monday, closing mixed as investors again based their trades on what has become the dominant force in the market: the price of oil. The major indexes closed out the first six months of 2008 with double-digit declines and are perilously close to the levels of a bear market.

This was the worst first half for the Dow Jones industrials since 1970, when the country fell into recession. The more diverse Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes had their worst first half since 2002, when Wall Street was still suffering through the aftermath of the dot-com bust, the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and a recession.

On Monday, stocks pulled back in the early going as oil reached yet another record, this time above $143 a barrel. The market then gathered some strength as crude lost momentum and allowed some investors to consider buying equities that have been turned into bargains by months of volatility.

There is little expectation on the Street that the chaos of the first half will soon end. Besides the punishing effect of higher oil, which threatens to stifle consumer spending and in turn, an economy still struggling to grow, the stock market is still contending with warnings of losses at financial companies — the continuing fallout of the housing slump and the credit crisis that began nearly a year ago.