PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - Dec 4
Dec 4 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* The United Automobile Workers union said Wednesday that it would make major concessions in its contracts with the three Detroit auto companies to help them lobby Congress for $34 billion in federal aid.
* General Motors Corp GM.N has promised Congress that it can recreate itself as a different kind of car company - smaller, with a more cooperative relationship with its union, and a lineup of fuel-efficient cars to compete with the best of the foreign brands.
* The housing market may finally be getting some relief, with lower mortgage rates already encouraging refinancing and Treasury officials considering ways to entice new buyers.
* Shares in the Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG.N) plummeted 25 percent, to $1.87, after the firm said that it had temporarily suspended redemptions at its largest fund.
* After years of being blamed for job losses in America and elsewhere, India's high-tech companies and outsourcing firms are going through a downturn of their own.
* In a day of especially grim news for the book business, Random House, the world's largest publisher of consumer books, announced a sweeping reorganization aimed at trimming costs, while Simon & Schuster laid off 35 people.
* In a rare bright spot for the retail industry, e-commerce sites had a strong holiday weekend, with online sales from Friday through Monday up 13 percent compared with last year, according to data released Wednesday by comScore.
* German automakers may not be facing the existential crisis that has pushed their American competitors to seek a government bailout. But the signature industry in Germany is warily bracing itself for a potentially lengthy downturn.
* In a sign of the economic times, Harvard has sent a letter to its deans saying that the university's $36.9 billion endowment fund lost 22 percent of its value in the last four months and could decline as much as 30 percent by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
* A group of managers and senior employees of Lehman Brothers' Neuberger Berman unit was selected as the winning bidder for the bankrupt investment bank's money management business on Wednesday, after an auction was held in federal bankruptcy court in Lower Manhattan.
* In the latest sign of consolidation among midsize American banks, Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) plans to buy Chevy Chase Bank for about $520 million. The deal will allow it to rely more on customer deposits for financing.
* Investors in the Reserve Primary Fund, the giant money market fund that has been frozen for more than two months, are finally getting some details about how the beleaguered fund plans to handle its continuing liquidation.
* Seeking a strong foothold in the United States, Electricite de France (EDF.PA), the giant French utility, offered on Wednesday to pay $4.5 billion for half of Constellation Energy Group Inc's (CEG.N) nuclear power unit, a deal that could scuttle a proposed takeover by the billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
* The chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday that China had no plans for further investments in Western financial institutions, nor did it have any plans to "save" the world through economic policies.
* Federal regulators on Wednesday adopted new rules designed to stem conflicts of interest and provide more transparency for Wall Street's credit-rating industry, widely faulted for its role in the subprime mortgage debacle and ensuing credit crisis.
* President-elect Barack Obama and leaders in Congress are fashioning a plan to pour billions of dollars into a jobs program to jolt the economy and lay the groundwork for a more energy-efficient one.
