U.S. auto sales tumble

The three major automakers on Tuesday reported that their combined U.S. vehicle sales fell nearly 18 percent in November compared with the same month a year ago, but they remained optimistic about the industry outlook.

November sales at General Motors Corp. fell more than 18 percent. Sales of GM cars were down about 6 percent compared with the same month in 2001, while light truck sales – including pickups, sport utility vehicles, vans and minivans – dropped 26.2 percent.

Above, an Ernie Patti Pontiac dealership in St. Louis tries to lure shoppers with financing deals.

Aviation: United to cut more jobs

United Airlines announced plans Tuesday to lay off another 352 pilots in the next two months as part of its plan to decrease its flying schedule next year.

The company said it will cut 220 pilots’ jobs on Jan. 6 and another 132 on Feb. 7, reducing its current total of 8,600 pilots by an additional 4 percent.

The actions will increase the number of pilots laid off to 1,196 from cost-saving measures the carrier announced last month, and 9,000 employees in all. United currently has about 83,000 employees.

Holidays: E-commerce sales up

Online holiday sales started picking up in mid-November, but kicked into high gear on the Thanksgiving weekend, blazing past year-ago figures.

Consumers spent $272.1 million online during the three-day weekend, excluding travel, following Thanksgiving. That’s a 67 percent gain over the three days following Thanksgiving a year ago, according to a report Tuesday by comScore Networks Inc., which captures buying activity from a cross section of 1.5 million Internet users.

E-commerce sales continued to gather momentum Monday, when sales totaled $231.5 million, up 37 percent from the Monday after Thanksgiving a year ago, comScore reported.

Regulators: Wall Street companies fined for record keeping

Securities regulators said Tuesday that they fined five Wall Street firms a total of $8.25 million for not keeping e-mails related to office matters for the required period of time.

The five – Goldman Sachs, Salomon Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray – agreed to pay $1.65 million each and to review their record-keeping procedures, regulators said. None admitted or denied the allegations.

The fines will go to the U.S. Treasury, New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers.