AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Monday, March 10, 2008:

Oil Prices Steady Above $105 a Barrel

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices steadied on Monday after retreating from last week's record amid easing tension between oil producers Venezuela and Colombia over the weekend. Crude contracts had risen above $106 a barrel on Friday after a weak U.S. jobs report that fueled hopes the Federal Reserve would continue cutting interest rates.
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Investors Await Retail, Inflation Data

NEW YORK (AP) — This week on Wall Street, investors will find out if consumers' worries about housing, jobs and rising prices are affecting their spending — and, in turn, posing a further threat to the economy. The market begins Monday with the Dow Jones industrial average back below 11,900 and having closed at its lowest level since October 2006. Stocks were battered last week by another round of bad news about the economy and the staggering credit market.
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Investing Joins 3 R's at Unusual School

CHICAGO (AP) — Like their peers elsewhere, the students at a one-of-a-kind public elementary school on the South Side of Chicago are dazzled by pop-culture stars — Beyonce and Common, Kanye West and Lil' Wayne, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Listen closely to the hallway chatter at Ariel Community Academy, though, and you may hear unexpected references to uncool dudes like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. After all, these kids have their portfolios to worry about.
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BMW Cuts at Home, Builds Up US Factories

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — On one side of the Atlantic Ocean, BMW says it will cut 7.5 percent of its work force over two years. On this side of the water, the company says it plans to increase production by more than 50 percent by 2012. "This is completely driven by the plunge in the dollar," said Greg Gardner with Oliver Wyman, publisher of the Harbour Report on automotive manufacturing activity. "It is untenable to produce at a much higher cost in Germany."
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Reports: FBI Investigating Countrywide

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities are investigating Countrywide Financial Corp. for securities fraud, according to media reports. The FBI is in the early stages of an inquiry into whether company officials misrepresented its financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans, The Wall Street Journal first reported Saturday, citing law enforcement officials and finance executives with knowledge of the development.
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Cambodia Property Boom Enriches, Divides

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — An old hospital was razed to make way for Phnom Penh's tallest building — a 42-story twin condominium tower. A garbage-strewn slum became prime real estate after police evicted its dwellers to a parched rice field outside the capital. Cambodia is experiencing a construction boom fueled by foreign investment, particularly by South Koreans, and buying and selling among the country's few nouveaux riche — while leaving the poor majority behind.
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Chile Boosts Public Pensions for Poor

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Once a model for privatized social security in dozens of countries from Peru to the U.S., Chile is undertaking the largest-ever overhaul of its pioneer private system, adding sweeping public payouts for low-income seniors. The new $2 billion-a-year program will expand public pensions to groups left out by private pensions — the poor and self-employed, housewives, street vendors and farmers who saved little for retirement — granting about a quarter of the nation's work force public pensions by 2012.
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Foreign Companies Become NYC Landlords

NEW YORK (AP) — For foreign companies in New York, it's a huge cost of doing business: Employees move to the city or come here on assignment, and the company has to put them up in temporary corporate housing that routinely exceeds $4,000 a month. But a growing number of foreign firms are buying up high-end Manhattan condos and taking on the role of landlord themselves, brokers say. The companies, many from Europe and Asia, say the strategy makes perfect sense because of the booming Manhattan real estate market and the favorable exchange rate.
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Ameriprise to Begin Issuing MasterCards

NEW YORK (AP) — Asset manager Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. is pairing up with MasterCard Inc. to become a credit card lender for the first time, the two companies planned to announce Monday. It looks like a tough time to be entering the credit card space. Default and delinquency rates are climbing from what had been historically low levels due to the housing slump and a rebound in bankruptcies.
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Japan Opposition Doubts Bank Nominee

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's opposition suggested Sunday it would fight the government's choice of a nominee for the central bank chief, setting the scene for a divisive fight in the country's stalled parliament. The government on Friday nominated Toshiro Muto, a deputy governor at the Bank of Japan, to take over later this month. The term of the current bank head, Toshihiko Fukui, ends March 19.
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Gold Prices

LONDON (AP) — Gold bullion opened Monday at a bid price of $979.90 a troy ounce, up from $976.15 late Friday.
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Japan Markets

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's stock market fell to its lowest level in 2 1/2 years in since September 2005 amid renewed concern about a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
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Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) — The dollar fell against the yen and the euro in Asia Monday on speculation that gloomy economic conditions in the U.S. will prompt the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates next week.