Local mortgage banker honored

DURHAM -- D. Bryan Parker of Wells Fargo Mortgage in Durham has been named 2009 Mortgage Banker of the Year by the Mortgage Bankers Association of the Carolinas, the lending professional organization for North and South Carolina. The award was presented at the annual conference of the mortgage lenders' national organization, Mortgage Bankers Association of America.

Parker specializes in residential, renovation and construction lending, and has worked in the industry in the Triangle since 2001.

Dell production moving abroad

WINSTON-SALEM -- Production at the North Carolina plant that Dell Inc. is closing in Winston-Salem will be moved to Mexico and other countries, according to a federal document.

The High Point Enterprise reported Friday that Dell indicated in a Trade Adjustment Assistance Act petition that the work that has been done in Winston-Salem will be given to third-party providers in Mexico and other countries.

Dell said last week it will close the plant, cutting almost one thousand jobs in North Carolina. The plant will cut 600 jobs next month and the rest in January. The petition allows workers at the Winston-Salem plant to collect additional unemployment benefits.

North Carolina spent millions of dollars in tax breaks, cash grants and other promises to lure Dell to Winston-Salem.

GE profit falls to $2.4 billion

General Electric Co.'s troubled financial unit dragged down third-quarter earnings 44 percent, overshadowing gains in divisions that make power plant turbines and household appliances.

GE's quarterly profit fell to $2.4 billion, or 23 cents per share, hurt by sharply lower earnings at its GE Capital arm, which loans money for businesses ranging from credit cards to shopping centers. A year earlier, the company earned $4.3 billion, or 43 cents a share.

GE's overall revenue dropped 20 percent to $37.8 billion, coming up short of what Wall Street was looking for.

Shares of Fairfield, Conn.-based GE fell 73 cents, or nearly 4.3 percent, to $16.06.

6 charged with insider trading

NEW YORK -- One of America's wealthiest men was among six hedge fund managers and corporate executives arrested Friday in a hedge fund insider trading case that prosecutors say generated more than $25 million in illegal profits and should be a wake-up call for Wall Street.

Raj Rajaratnam, a partner in Galleon Management and a portfolio manager for Galleon Group, a hedge fund with up to $7 billion in assets under management, was accused of conspiring with others to trade based on insider information about several publicly traded companies, including Google Inc.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference it was the largest hedge fund case ever prosecuted and marked the first use of court-authorized wiretaps to capture conversations by suspects in an insider trading case.

-- From staff, wire reports