Business Highlights
___
VW diesel owners to get $1,000 in gift cards and vouchers
DETROIT (AP) - Owners of 482,000 diesel Volkswagens and Audis in the U.S. are eligible for $1,000 in gift cards and vouchers as the automaker strives to placate customers dismayed by an emissions-rigging scandal.
VW announced the offer Monday. The car owners have been in limbo since mid-September, when VW admitted the cars are equipped with software that turns on pollution controls during government tests and turns them off while on the road.
VW has yet to unveil a fix for the cars. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the cars, with 2-liter four-cylinder diesel engines, emit 10 to 40 times the allowable amount of harmful nitrogen oxide while being driven.
___
US stocks end lower as traders worry about global growth
NEW YORK (AP) - The stock market stumbled Monday as investors worried that the global economy could be slowing just as last week's blockbuster U.S. jobs report appeared to open the way to the first rate hike from the Federal Reserve in nearly a decade.
It was the first notable decline for the market in six weeks.
Investors continue to deal with the fallout of October's unexpectedly strong jobs report, which greatly increased expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to raise short-term interest rates, which have been close to zero since the 2008 financial crisis.
___
Trade slowdown points to world recession risk, watchdog says
PARIS (AP) - A slowdown in international trade could be a harbinger of a new recession for the world's leading economies, a leading global policy organization warned Monday.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says trade figures are worrisome because the stagnating or declining rates of trade seen this year have, in the past, been associated with global recession.
In its world economic outlook issued Monday, the Paris-based group projected global trade growth at 2 percent this year, improving to 3.6 percent next year. In only five years of the past 50 has global trade grown at 2 percent or less, and each time has coincided with a world economic downturn.
___
Target to open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day
NEW YORK (AP) - Target will open its doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, the same time as last year.
But shoppers don't have to trek to a store after eating turkey and stuffing; the same deals will be available online at Target.com on Thanksgiving morning, the retailer said. Target will also offer different deals for 10 days, starting on Nov. 22.
Its plan is the latest sign of retailers spreading their deals beyond Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. The holiday shopping season is critical to retailers, accounting for about 20 percent of annual retail sales.
___
Fuel shortage forces Nepal domestic flights to be canceled
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Airlines in Nepal have been forced to cancel more than half of their domestic flights because of an ongoing fuel shortage, an official said Monday.
More than 70 percent of domestic flights were canceled Sunday and about half were canceled Monday, said Utsav Raj Kharel, the manager of Kathmandu's airport. International flights were operating on a normal schedule because they are required to fill their tanks before flying to Nepal.
Passengers were stranded by the canceled flights in Kathmandu, the capital, and other cities.
___
Lufthansa cabin crew strike affects 113,000 passengers
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - A union representing striking Lufthansa flight attendants rejected the latest offer from the company Monday as the two sides prepared for more cancellations at the airline's German hubs.
Lufthansa said it offered improvements to the contract, as well offering a meeting between union leaders and top management to resolve remaining issues if labor leaders end the strike. But union representatives said the latest offer was only a "minimal" improvement.
About 113,000 passengers on 929 flights were affected at the Frankfurt, Munich and Duesseldorf airports Monday. On Tuesday, only long-haul international flights will be impacted in Munich and Frankfurt, but all flights at Duesseldorf will be struck.
___
DuPont names Breen as chairman and CEO
NEW YORK (AP) - DuPont's board of directors named Edward D. Breen as chairman and CEO after a month of holding those positions in an interim capacity.
Breen was named as an interim leader last month after the sudden retirement of Ellen Kullman, 59, after she had fought off a bruising challenge from activist investor Nelson Peltz.
Peltz's Trian Fund wanted more influence at the conglomerate, but in June shareholders rejected his campaign for seats on the board. The fight eventually resulted in the spinoff of DuPont's performance chemicals unit this summer into a separate business named The Chemours Co.
___
Ruling could expose GM to large verdicts in ignition cases
DETROIT (AP) - A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that people suing General Motors over faulty ignition switches can seek punitive damages that could cost the company millions of dollars or more.
When General Motors emerged from a 2009 bankruptcy, it became known as "New GM." The new company essentially was shielded from liabilities of the old company that was left behind.
But Judge Robert Gerber in New York ruled Monday that employees and knowledge transferred from the "Old GM" to the new company. Plaintiffs, he ruled, can see seek punitive damages if they can show that "New GM" knew of the faulty switches but covered it up.
___
Match Group plans to raise up to $466.2M from its IPO
NEW YORK (AP) - The owner of Tinder, Match.com and OkCupid hopes to raise as much as $466.2 million in an initial public offering, which would put the value of the dating site company in the neighborhood of $3 billion.
Match Group Inc. disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday that it will price its IPO of about 33.3 million shares between $12 and $14 per share. The underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy an additional 5 million shares.
About 31 million Americans have used a dating site or app, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study.
___
UAW leaders approve tentative agreement with Ford
DETROIT (AP) - The United Auto Workers' proposed contract with Ford Motor Co. - approved Monday by local union leaders - is the richest of the Detroit Three, with a promise of $10,250 in bonuses for most workers this year alone.
The union released details of the agreement Monday. Workers must now vote to ratify it.
Ford's deal would eliminate the two-tier wage system the union agreed to in 2007 when the companies were near bankruptcy. The agreement would also add bonuses for many workers, investment in plants and more.
The four-year deal covers 53,000 workers at 22 U.S. plants.
___
Greece: No agreement with creditors on bailout release
BRUSSELS (AP) - Greece failed to convince European creditors Monday to release vital bailout funds to shore up the country's public coffers and its crippled banks but hopes are high that a deal will be concluded within a week.
Greece is due 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) from its bailout as well as 10 billion euros already set aside for the country's banks. But it needs to pass a series of economic reform measures to get the money from the three-year 86 billion-euro ($93 billion) bailout program agreed on this summer in the face of potential economic collapse.
___
By The Associated Press=
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 179.85 points, or 1 percent, to close at 17,730.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 20.62 points, or 1 percent, to 2,078.58. The Nasdaq composite fell 51.82 points, or 1 percent, to 5,095.30.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 42 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $43.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, declined 23 cents to $47.19 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, heating oil fell a penny to $1.477 a gallon, wholesale gasoline was mostly unchanged at $1.371 a gallon and natural gas fell 7 cents to $2.30 per 1,000 cubic feet.