THE NATION

Vacant homes hit new high in second quarter

The number of vacant houses hit an all-time high in the second quarter as the U.S. real estate recession pushed homeowners into foreclosure.

A total of 18.6 million U.S. homes stood empty, more than at any time in history, as lenders seized a record number of properties. The figure was 6.9 percent higher than a year earlier, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report yesterday.

The collapse of the mortgage market caused by a surge in loan defaults last year has prompted more than $467 billion in credit losses and asset writedowns at the world's biggest financial firms.

The vacancy rate, the share of U.S. homes for sale, was 2.8 percent, the Census Bureau said.

N.Y. sues UBS for fraud in sale of securities

NEW YORK -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued banking giant UBS for fraud yesterday, accusing the company of marketing tens of billions of dollars of auction-rate securities as safe even when they knew the investments were in trouble.

The civil lawsuit claims bank executives pulled their personal investments from the foundering market last winter when they realized a crisis was brewing but continued to tell customers all was well.

UBS said in a statement that while some of its employees exercised "poor judgment," none engaged in illegal conduct.

U.S. accuses Dutch firm of manipulating prices

DENVER -- Federal regulators accused a Dutch trading firm, its chief executive and two other top employees yesterday of manipulating energy futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleged Optiver Holding BV attempted to manipulate light sweet crude oil, New York Harbor heating oil and New York Harbor gasoline futures contracts during March 2007.

The defendants tried to manipulate prices 19 times and succeeded in causing artificial prices on five occasions, earning about $1 million in profit, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York.

A spokesman for Optiver in Chicago couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

House GOP votes down plan to tap oil stockpile

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans yesterday scuttled a bill that Democrats hoped would help lower gasoline prices by forcing the Energy Department to release 70 million barrels of oil -- about a three-day supply -- from the national stockpile.

Democrats promised that the action would have produced immediate relief at the pump, as was the case with similar releases in 1991, 2000 and 2005. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds about 700 million barrels.

Despite winning a clear 268-157 majority, the measure still lost. Democratic leaders had brought the proposal up for debate under rules requiring a two-thirds vote to pass.

Energy investors gain a little back in oil prices

NEW YORK -- Energy market investors managed to win back modest gains yesterday after oil's big drop a day earlier but again drove natural gas prices sharply lower as a three-week sell-off of that fuel continued unabated.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose $1.05 to settle at $125.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- gaining back about a quarter of Wednesday's decline.

August natural gas tumbled 46.5 cents to settle at $9.283 per 1,000 cubic feet, its lowest point since March.

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