U.S. construction spending declines 0.6 percent in May

Builders began work on fewer projects in May, led by steep drops in apartment building and less spending by state and local governments.

Construction spending declined 0.6 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $757.9 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday. That put overall spending barely above an 11-year low hit in February. And it is roughly half the $1.5 trillion pace considered healthy.

Analysts say it could be another four years before construction returns to healthier levels. The weak construction spending data showed Americans are reluctant to both build and buy.

U.S. auto sales in June rise by 7 percent to 1.05 million

Gas prices hit a sweet spot for automakers last month. They fell far enough to spur pickup truck sales, yet remained so high that small cars sold well, sometimes just hours after reaching dealers’ lots.

That made June a good month for General Motors and Ford, which have traditionally relied on truck sales and now have strong line-ups of smaller, fuel-efficient models as well.

Toyota and Honda couldn’t take advantage, however. Their sales plummeted more than 20 percent each as they ran short of cars because of the ongoing problems from the March earthquake in Japan.

Those declines — and the continuing weakness in the U.S. economy — meant sales grew more slowly in June than they might have. U.S. sales rose 7 percent to 1.05 million.

Analysts had expected a double-digit gain.

J&J’s new drug gets FDA OK for reducing fatal blood clots

Johnson & Johnson said Friday that U.S. regulators have approved its new type of blood thinner shown to reduce deadly blood clots in patients who have undergone knee and hip replacements.

The Food and Drug Administration decision makes rivaroxaban the first U.S.-approved drug that works by blocking a clotting protein called factor Xa. That’s in contrast to older blood thinners that work by preventing platelets from sticking together.

The once-a-day pill will serve as an alternative to the popular injection Lovenox, which is the standard treatment for patients who have undergone orthopedic surgery.

J&J said its new drug would be priced similarly to Lovenox, which is marketed by French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA.

Apple-RIM group prevails in bid for bankrupt Nortel

A consortium that includes leading smartphone makers Apple and Research In Motion prevailed over Google this week with a $4.5 billion cash bid for about 6,000 patents and patent applications from bankrupt telecom-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp.

The group offered about five times more than Google’s initial bid of $900 million. Phones running Google’s Android system compete with Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry devices.

Nortel’s patents cover many technologies, including data networking, semiconductors and wireless systems known as fourth generation, or 4G. Nortel said the portfolio “touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets … including Internet search and social networking.”

Google among companies interested in buying Hulu

Search giant Google Inc. is one of about a dozen companies involved in talks to potentially buy online video site Hulu, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

For the owner of YouTube, it would be a strategic buy for the Silicon Valley technology company, which has had a rocky relationship with Hulu’s Hollywood owners.

Hulu has begun presenting its financial information to many prospective bidders, but it’s too early to declare a front-runner, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are confidential.