Business news for Thu, 20 Mar 2008. 1305 news.

Just when consumers and the U.S. economy need banks to lend more freely, the mortgage industry is making it harder to borrow - even for those with good credit.

To head off a catastrophe, Bernanke has reinvented the central bank while injecting a huge dose of money into the system

Low-cost smartphone is keeping Palm's brand alive during low period in company's financial history, which looks bound to continue for at least another quarter.

The wireless spectrum auction fails to pave the way for new competitors; instead, AT&T and Verizon Wireless solidify their positions

The smartphone maker Palm reports a three month loss but says its reorganisation is still on track.

(Crain’s) — Pay by Touch, a technology system that allowed shoppers to pay through fingerprint verification, has been shut down at retailers — including Jewel-Osco. California-based Solidus Networks Inc. says on its Web site in an announcement dated Wednesday that it was ceasing ...

(Crain’s) — Seven United Airlines 747s were pulled out of service Thursday for retesting after the Federal Aviation Administration found that equipment used to test the planes after standard service had not been properly calibrated. United said the retesting found no safety-related issues. ...

Gibson is suing Wal-Mart and five other major retailers that sell the Activision "Guitar Hero" game, claiming it violates a patent held by the Nashville-based company.

CNET Car Tech posts video of the Nissan Denki Concept from the 2008 New York auto show.

The "d" block of the 700MHz spectrum auction reserved for public safety didn't hit its reserve price, and consumer advocates want to know why.

Colorado received another bleak economic indicator in the form of a five-year forecast released by the Colorado Legislative Council Staff on Thursday.

D.C. United's new stadium a big payoff for soccer team.

Losing the battle for a prized piece of the airwaves isn't necessarily a setback for Google Inc.

The 1929 Bentley 4?-Liter Tourer by Vanden Plas enjoyed a macho image based on its Le Mans exploits and no-nonsense engineering

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said the collapse of Bear Stearns last week was due to a lack of confidence, not a lack of capital. In a letter sent to the chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and published on the SEC website late Thursday, Cox noted that Bear Stearns's problems escalated when rumors spread about its liquidity crisis which in turn eroded investor confidence in the firm. "Notwithstanding that Bear Stearns continued to have high quality collateral to provide as security for borrowings, market counterparties became less willing to enter into collateralized funding arrangements with Bear Stearns," said Cox. The letter also showed that Bear Stearns' liquidity pool started at $18.1 billion on March 17 and then plummeted to $2 billion on March 13. Ultimately market rumors about Bear Stearns' difficulties became self-fulfilling, Cox said.

S&P's latest screen uses technical analysis to find top-ranked names from the best-positioned sectors

(Crain’s) — The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy reorganization of Northbrook-based Sentinel Management Group Inc. sued McGladrey & Pullen LLP and one of M&P's partners Thursday, seeking $550 million in damages resulting from what he alleges were “gross dereliction of its duties” as ...

While a separate criminal probe involving top former Inflight Newspaper executives simmers, a bankruptcy court trustee has begun the work of recovering funds from the defunct Valley Stream distributor, filing suit last week against its former comptroller on charges of diversion of funds.

Candy distributor Liberty Distribution Co. LLC began 10 years ago with a single customer. Today, the company has three warehouse locations in the U.S. and customers that include some of the biggest retail chains in the world.