National Business Digest

NATION

Chrysler LLC owner looks to exit auto business

DETROIT — Chrysler LLC could be sold in pieces to other companies as its majority shareholder Cerberus Capital Management LP seeks to exit the auto business, according to a person briefed on the discussions. Cerberus, the New York-based private equity firm, has been shopping the beleaguered automaker to General Motors Corp., the combined Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA and other companies.

Many combinations are being discussed, said the person who has been briefed on the talks.

Oil prices take a tumble

NEW YORK — Oil prices tumbled below $67 a barrel to 16-month lows Wednesday after the government reported big increases in U.S. fuel supplies — more evidence that the economic downturn is drying up energy demand.

The price of crude oil has tumbled 55 percent from its peak of $147.27 reached in mid-July.

The drop has pulled down the retail price of unleaded gasoline to $2.858 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That’s down about 3 cents from Tuesday, and down more than $1.25, or 31 percent, from its mid-July record.

Boeing profits drop

CHICAGO — Boeing Co.’s third-quarter profit dropped 38 percent as a strike and supplier production problems hurt results at the world’s No. 2 commercial airplane maker. Its shares fell almost 8 percent in afternoon trading on Wednesday.

Boeing, a maker of passenger and military jets, satellites and other defense systems, has endured several setbacks, including a 46-day worker strike that analysts estimate has cost roughly $100 million a day in deferred revenue and production delays on its highly anticipated next-generation passenger jet.

Just weeks before the quarter ended Sept. 30, Boeing was forced to shut down commercial aircraft plants in Washington state, Oregon and Kansas when about 27,000 union workers walked off the job after rejecting a final labor contract offer.

Associated Press