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8B – Daily News – Wednesday, March 9, 2011 NEW YORK (AP) — Financial companies pushed stock indexes higher Tuesday on signs that banks may soon raise their dividends. Bank of America Corp. gained 4.7 percent, the most of the 30 stocks Bank stocks push indexes higher; oil prices dip Wall Street that make up the Dow Jones industrial average, after chief executive Brian Moynihan told an investor’s meeting that the bank could earn more money over the next two years as its business sta- bilizes. That led analysts to note that large con- sumer banks may raise their dividends. Banks slashed dividends during the 2008 financial crisis to cut costs. Financial stocks in the S&P 500 index rose 2.2 percent, the most of any of the index’s 10 compa- ny groups. American Express Co. gained 3.5 percent, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. gained 2.6 percent. Falling oil prices also helped stocks move high- er. Oil prices dipped 0.5 percent to $105 a barrel after Kuwait’s oil minis- ter said that OPEC mem- bers are in informal talks about raising oil output as the conflict in Libya continues. ‘‘Rapidly higher mov- ing oil prices can sub- stantially impact demand,’’ said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services. It’s something OPEC members are ‘‘very, very much aware of and want to avoid.’’ Oil prices have risen 9 percent so far this month. That has pushed stocks lower as investors worry Treasury note rose to 3.54 percent from 3.51 percent late Monday. Brown-Forman Corp. rose 4.7 percent after the liquor company said its net income rose 30 per- cent in the latest quarter thanks to growing inter- national sales and a strong performance by its flagship Jack Daniel’s brand. that higher gas prices will dampen the econom- ic recovery. The Dow Jones indus- trial average gained 124.35 points, or 1 per- cent, to 12,214.38. The S&P 500 rose 11.69, or 0.9 percent, to 1,321.82. Energy companies were the only group in the S&P index to fall, losing 0.6 percent. The Nasdaq composite rose 20.14, or 0.7 per- cent, to 2,765.77. Bond prices fell, push- ing yields higher. The yield on the 10-year Urban Outfitters Inc. fell 16.7 percent after the retailer’s earnings missed Wall Street’s expecta- tions due to higher expenses. Netflix fell 5.8 percent after Facebook announced that it will allow members to stream movies through its pages, a direct competition to Netflix’s popular on- demand offering. Three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 4.3 bil- lion shares. Ford CEO Mulally gets $56.5M in stock award DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford Motor Co.’s top two executives received nearly $100 million worth of stock for their performance during 2009 and 2010, years in which the company’s profits and stock price surged. The awards, disclosed in regulatory fil- ings late Monday, are considered excessive by some Ford assembly line workers. But Wall Street may not see it that way. Ford’s stock price rose 3 percent on Tuesday. CEO Alan Mulally, credited with pro- pelling the company from staggering losses a few years ago to profits of $2.7 billion in 2009 and $6.6 billion last year, received stock valued at $56.5 million before taxes. The man who hired Mulally, Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr., got stock worth $42.4 million, according to paperwork filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Salaries and other compensation were not listed and will be revealed later this year. The Dearborn, Michigan, company was in financial peril late in 2006 when Bill Ford removed himself as CEO and hired Mulally away from Boeing Co. Ford Motor Co. lost $12.6 billion that year. Under Mulally, the company mortgaged assets including its blue oval logo to borrow more than $23 billion, allowing it to weath- er the recession. It avoided filing for bank- ruptcy or following General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC in taking government aid. Ford sold or shuttered five of its seven brands, closed or sold a quarter of its plants and cut its global work force by more than a third. It plowed the savings back into well- received new vehicles such as the Ford Fusion sedan and Ford Edge. Mulally also improved reliability and shifted Ford’s model lineup from trucks and SUVs to smaller vehicles in case higher gasoline prices changed what car buyers wanted. Sales rose 20 percent last year. Joe Phillippi, president of New Jersey- based AutoTrends Consulting LLC and a former Wall Street analyst, said the stock awards are not out of line given Ford’s turn- around. “They made a lot of money for a lot of people,” he said. Mulally, he said, was the catalyst for Ford’s comeback. “He deserves a tremen- dous amount of credit.” But the stock awards won’t sit well with some of Ford’s 40,000 U.S. assembly line workers. Gary Walkowicz, a Ford worker in Dear- born, said it’s another reason workers must demand to get back benefits and wages they gave up to help the company when it strug- gled. “They can’t claim poverty,” he said of Ford. “The concessions we gave up have given them abnormally high profits consid- ering the economy is in a down period.” Since 2005, the union gave up cost of living pay raises, changed inefficient work rules and agreed to take responsibility for retiree health care with a trust mostly fund- ed by Ford. But the factory workers this month will receive $5,000 profit-sharing checks from the company, the first such checks since 1999. A message seeking comment on the executive stock awards was left with a spokeswoman for United Auto Workers President Bob King. Ford spokesman John Stoll said the awards were part of compensation packages from 2009 and 2010 that were disclosed in previous SEC filings. ‘‘We align executive compensation to company performance and long-term shareholder value,’’ Stoll said. Ford’s stock in January closed at a five- year high of $18.79 after falling as low as $1.43 in 2008, when the future of Ford and its Detroit rivals was uncertain.