AUTOMOTIVE

GM, FORD BRANDS SET RECORDS IN RELIABILITY SURVEY

General Motors and Ford dominated an annual study of durability among 3-year-old cars and trucks, taking the top spot in a record 12 of 19 vehicle categories surveyed by J.D. Power & Associates.

American vehicles were the most reliable in categories including “entry midsize car” and “full-size sport-utility vehicle,” and cut customer complaints an average 13% in 2005, the firm said yesterday. Last year American makers topped seven of 17 segments studied. Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand was the most reliable overall for an 11th straight year in 2005.

“There have been some significant strides for the domestic automakers, they’re not just talking about quality,” said Jim Sanfilippo, executive vice president of Automotive Marketing Consultants in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “This is going to take a big bite out of the perception of a quality gap with Asian brands.”

The decline in complaints among American brands this year outpaced the 11.9% improvement for the industry and 12.1% gain for Asian brands.

The number of complaints per 100 vehicles sold in America fell to an average 237, the firm said. Lexus had the fewest problems at 139 per 100 vehicles. Porsche AG finished second at 149, a 38% reduction from a year earlier. Hyundai, at 260, had a 31% decline.

– Bloomberg News

NEW YORK

NYC GROWTH OUTPACES NATION IN FIRST QUARTER

New York City’s economy grew faster than the nation as a whole in the first quarter of 2005, but the Big Apple also experienced a higher rate of inflation than the rest of the country, according to a report released yesterday by city Comptroller William Thompson Jr.

New York’s “gross city product,” which measures the total dollar-value of goods and services produced in the five boroughs, grew at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 4.0% in the first quarter. The nation’s gross domestic product grew at a 3.5% rate during the same period. But although the first three months of 2005 mark the sixth consecutive quarter of growth for New York, Mr. Thompson cautioned that the city’s financial outlook is not entirely rosy.

Prices increased at an annual rate of 4.1% in the city last quarter, more than a full percent higher than the inflation rate nationwide.

Meanwhile, despite widespread concerns that New York’s real estate market has grown overheated, the city’s vacancy rate continued to drop-from 12.2% in the first three months of 2004 to 10.4% last quarter.

– Special to the Sun

WALL STREET

JPMORGAN, 19 OTHER FIRMS SETTLE MUNICIPAL BOND CASE

JPMorgan Chase & Company, Goldman Sachs Group, Piper Jaffray & Company, and 17 other firms will pay a combined $1.65 million to the NASD for late and improper reporting of municipal bond trades, a record fine by the regulator for such lapses. The firms made late or inaccurate reports to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board from January 2003 to October 2004, the NASD said in a statement yesterday. At the time, bond dealers were to report the trades by midnight of the day of the trade.

“Accurate and timely trade reporting ensures that dealers and investors alike obtain an accurate picture of market activity and prices,” NASD Vice Chairman Mary Schapiro said in the statement. The firms neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.

– Bloomberg News