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Ford tops Canadian sales

Ford Motor Co. of Canada has claimed the top spot in Canadian vehicle sales in June for the first time in 50 years, the company reported Thursday.
Ford Canada said it sold 27,408 vehicles in June, a 25 percent increase over the same month of 2008.
The increase came in a month when General Motors sought bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Chrysler Canada dealers were short of vehicles because its North American plants were shut as it also went through a bankruptcy protection process in the United States.
Ford sold more than 5,000 units ahead of perennial market leader General Motors, whose sales were 31 percent below where they were a year ago.
Chrysler Canada’s sales fell by a whopping 58 percent to just 9,200 vehicles.
Exelon ups NRG bid
Exelon Corp. on Thursday sweetened its hostile takeover bid for NRG Energy Inc. by 12 percent to $8 billion in stock, citing newly identified cost savings along with NRG’s recent deal for Reliant Energy’s Texas retail business.
Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe called it a “best and final offer.” The new bid ups the price for NRG by about $1 billion.
If NRG combines with Exelon, the new company would be the largest U.S. power generator, providing energy to about 45 million homes. Exelon is already the nation’s largest nuclear power company.
EU rates unchanged at 1%
The European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1 percent Thursday, preferring to wait and see if its “spectacular” infusion of credit into the banking system will loosen lending to consumers and businesses in the euro zone’s struggling economy.
Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the ECB was pleased by the demand for its record euro442 billion ($623 billion) in 12-month credits to banks last week, but wouldn’t comment about what more it might do. The new loan program comes on top of cutting the bank’s main interest rate from 4.25 percent to 1 percent since October.
The ECB sets interest rates for the 16 countries that use the euro, a bloc of some 320 million people that accounts for nearly 17 percent of the world’s economic output.
Hershey’s leaving ’Net
The nation’s second-largest candy maker, The Hershey Co., announced it is closing the Hershey Gifts online service July 31.
Spokesman Kirk Saville says the company is looking into other e-commerce options, including strategic partnerships and licensing agreements.
He would not say how much revenue the service brings in or whether it is losing money. About 12 Hershey’s Gifts employees will lose their jobs, and Saville says the company is working to find them jobs inside the company.