Stocks ho-hum in mid-afternoon

NEW YORK, July 14 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks wavered between positive and negative territory Tuesday, despite Goldman Sachs Group's stronger-than-expected earnings reports.

In mid-afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 8,333.79 points, up 2.11, or 0.03 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 posted a 1.74-point gain, or 0.19 percent, to 902.79 points, while the Nasdaq composite index posted a 0.19 percent gain, 3.41 points to 1,796.62.

The so-so activity came as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the Production Price Index rose 0.6 percent in June, the best gain in five months. The price report balanced out traders' concerns about a rise in oil prices, which traded at a $60.01 on the commodities floor.

Goldman Sachs surpassed its most optimistic second-quarter estimate, posting income of $3.44 billion, or $4.93 a share, up from $2.09 billion and $4.58 a share last year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Bonds dropped in value, with yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rising to 3.426 percent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average ended up 2.3 percent, snapping a nine-session losing streak.

London's FTSE added 0.8 percent.

In international currency trading, the dollar was at 1.3980 against the euro Tuesday, compared to 1.3996 the previous day. Against the yen, the dollar was at 93.08, compared to 92.93 Monday.

N.C. prison complex will be Madoff's home

BUTNER, N.C., July 14 (UPI) -- Convicted multibillion-dollar swindler Bernard Madoff was transferred Monday to a federal prison in Butner, N.C., to serve his 150-year sentence.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons transferred Madoff to the Butner Federal Correctional Complex after he was housed temporarily in an Atlanta facility, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Butner facility is about 30 miles north of Raleigh, and an eight-hour drive from New York. Madoff's attorney had requested his client be housed at a federal prison in Otisville, N.Y.

The Butner complex includes two medium-security prisons, a low-security prison, medical facility and satellite prison camp for minimum-security male inmates, the Journal reported.

Madoff, 71, had been incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York since his guilty plea on 11 counts. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years on June 29, for bilking billions of dollars from thousands of investors. His scheduled release date is Nov. 14, 2139.

He also was ordered to forfeit his property to comply with a $170 billion legal judgment against him.

Exxon to explore algae-based fuels

IRVING, Texas, July 14 (UPI) -- Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which once disdained alternative energy exploration, announced it will explore biofuels development.

Exxon, based in Irving, Texas, said Tuesday it plans to invest $600 million in producing liquid transportation fuels from algae in partnership with biotechnology company Synthetic Genomics, The New York Times reported.

The agreement could address what environmentalists say is a critical gap in Exxon's energy strategy, which critics say has been dismissive of global warming and renewable fuels, the Times said.

"We literally looked at every option we could think of, with several key parameters in mind," said Emil Jacobs, Exxon's vice president for research and development in the company's research and engineering unit. "Scale was the first. For transportation fuels, if you can't see whether you can scale a technology up, then you have to question whether you need to be involved at all."

The company spent several years exploring various fuel alternatives, Jacobs said, noting any large-scale commercial plants to produce algae-based fuels would be between five to 10 years off.

GM can shed sponsorships, judge rules

DETROIT, July 14 (UPI) -- A U.S. federal judge ruled financially challenged General Motors Co. can walk away from dozens of expensive sponsorships and pricey perks to save money.

The ruling Monday allows GM to walk away from 54 deals that did not directly relate to the automaker's core operations, the Detroit News reported Tuesday.

The agreements included VIP suites at international auto raceways, naming rights for a Lansing baseball stadium and Times Square billboards.

Separately, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber approved an agreement that would allow GM to join with Parnassus Holdings LLC to buy Delphi Corp, mired in bankruptcy since October 2005.

GM has already ended sponsorships with PGA golfer Tiger Woods, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and a number of events such as the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards.

"The executory contracts are no longer necessary for the debtors' ongoing business and create unnecessary and burdensome expenses for the debtors' estates," a GM lawyer wrote in a court filing.

Producer Price Index rises in June

WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 1.8 percent in June, the third straight month a gain was recorded, the U.S. Labor Department said Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted June increase in finished goods prices was broadbased, the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a release.

The PPI increase was stronger than forecast and the largest since November 2007, analysts told The Wall Street Journal.

The index for energy goods rose 6.6 percent after advancing 2.9 percent in May. Prices for consumer foods increased 1.1 percent after following a 1.6 percent drop in May.

For non-food and non-energy goods, the index rose 0.5 percent in June after dipping 0.1 percent in the previous month, the BLS said.

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