News money 2008-05-16 Andanh.com

Workers, city face uncertainty over GE Fri, 16 May 2008 01:31:00 EST
State and local leaders scrambled to calm fears about the future of Louisville's Appliance Park -- while its 5,000 employees grappled with uncertainty. (Click here for more coverage)

Six-level parking garage is planned on Jefferson Thu, 15 May 2008 22:54:00 EST
A large parking garage is planned on Jefferson Street across from the entrance to Coyote's nightclub in a rapidly developing area of downtown.

Ford mum on new vehicle Thu, 15 May 2008 22:55:00 EST
Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said yesterday that he expects Ford Motor Co. to announce soon the new vehicle to be built at the Louisville Assembly Plant -- an assertion rebuffed by the automaker.

CBS will pay $1.8 billion to acquire CNet Networks Thu, 15 May 2008 22:55:00 EST
CBS Corp. is gaining a big online reach with its acquisition of CNet Networks, but also a company that has faced heavy criticism from investors. Those concerns as well as the hefty $1.8 billion price tag helped send CBS shares down after the deal was announced yesterday.

Stocks post 2nd session of gains Thu, 15 May 2008 22:55:00 EST
The stock market notched its second straight daily advance yesterday, with investors assuaged by a pullback in oil prices and some better-than-expected economic data.

Investor Icahn declares war on Yahoo CEO Yang Thu, 15 May 2008 22:56:00 EST
Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang spent months fending off Microsoft's unsolicited takeover bid. Now he might only have a few weeks to persuade the software maker to revive its last offer of $47.5 billion or risk being fired in a shareholder mutiny led by activist investor Carl Icahn.

Q: I already know the assessed value of the home I want to buy. Why do I need an appraisal? Thu, 15 May 2008 22:59:00 EST
A: The assessed value is for tax purposes only. A certified appraisal shows the home's market value, which is used to determine a sale price and to qualify for a mortgage or home-equity line.

Business People Thu, 15 May 2008 21:45:00 EST
Financial services, health services, real estate and professional service announcements are in today's Business People. Submit new items at courier-journal.com/businesspeople Sign up for the daily Business People newsletter at courier-journal.com/newsletters.

Florida simulcasters get break on Maryland races Thu, 15 May 2008 23:01:00 EST
The Friday and Saturday race cards at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, including the Preakness Stakes, will be available to Florida's simulcast facilities, according to an announcement from Churchill Downs Inc.'s Calder Race Course near Miami.

Airbus, Honeywell work on jet biofuel Thu, 15 May 2008 23:01:00 EST
Plane maker Airbus and diversified manufacturer Honeywell International said yesterday that they are developing a biofuel that by 2030 could satisfy nearly one-third of the worldwide demand from commercial aircraft, without affecting food supplies.

Valvoline plant plans expansion in Miss. Fri, 16 May 2008 09:14 EDT
Chemicals maker Ashland Inc. has announced a $12 million expansion of its Valvoline blending plant in Hernando in north Mississippi.

The company said the expansion would add 30 jobs at the plant. The expansion was announced Thursday in Hernando.

The plant produces car care items like Eagle One glass cleaner, chrome and wire cleaner and Nano-Protectant for stores such as AutoZone, NAPA and O'Reilly.

When the new building is completed in about a year, the plant will roll out as many as 1,000 new products geared toward car detailers, auto dealers, auction lots and others, said plant operations manager Chris McGee.

McGee said the new construction will represent a 50 percent expansion in the blending plant's space.

Analysts say possible sale of GE appliance unit makes sense Thu, 15 May 2008 15:34 EDT
The possible sale by General Electric Co. of its 101-year-old appliance business makes sense as consumer sales fall and financing continues to be squeezed, analysts said Thursday.

The Fairfield-based GE is not commenting on news reports that it plans to auction off its Louisville, Ky.-based appliances business. It was first reported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal.

Analyst Nicholas Heymann of Sterne Agee said in an investor note that a possible sale of the business should not be a surprise. Sales in the appliance business, which posted revenue of $7 billion last year, are likely to decline between 10 percent and 12 percent this year due to weak consumer spending and a drop in home improvement sales and residential construction.

"It's not going to bounce back tomorrow," he said in an interview. "A $600 rebate check is not going to buy a $5,000 appliance."

Matt Collins, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, said selling the business makes sense even if it would be too late. The sharp drop in the housing market now makes an appliance manufacturer less attractive.

Farm bill heads to White House Fri, 16 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Congress responded speedily to voters' angst over rising grocery prices and $4-a-gallon gasoline Thursday, bucking President Bush's veto threats with lopsided votes to boost food stamps and farm subsidies -- after ordering Bush to quit pouring oil into the nation's emergency reserves.

Republicans, worried about steep losses in the fall elections, abandoned Bush on the votes.

"If you're running for office this year, obviously you want to demonstrate that you can put up a record of accomplishment that's based upon working with both sides of the political aisle," said GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.

Despite Bush's strong opposition, 35 of the Senate's 49 Republicans voted Thursday with Democrats to pass and send to the White House a $290 billion farm bill that will increase food aid for the needy as well as subsidies for farmers enjoying record high incomes. A hundred Republicans in the House had voted the same way Wednesday, a day after the party's third straight loss of a long-held GOP seat to Democrats in special elections.

"I think the fact that they've lost three House seats in a row, people are thinking, 'Gee, do I really want to stand with the president? It looks like this ship's going down,'" said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

Public can visit farms, Fayette infill projects Fri, 16 May 2008 02:05 EDT
Lexingtonians drive by Central Kentucky's famous horse farms, but how often do they have a chance to go through the gates and drive up to the barns, talk to employees and see the horses up close? Like most people, very seldom.

On Saturday's Buildings & Bluegrass Tour, organized by Fayette Alliance, six horse farms and three general agricultural farms will be open to visitors. So will a downtown condominium project on Old Georgetown Street.

This is the second year for the tour. It offers a chance to see "some of the world-renowned Bluegrass landscape that we all treasure ... and discover some of the really innovative ways developers are renovating our downtown," said Knox van Nagell, executive director of the Alliance.

The Alliance favors a Lexington growth strategy of development on 5,000 acres of vacant and underutilized land inside the Urban Service Area boundary, and repairing outdated sanitary sewer and storm-water systems, while preserving the Thoroughbred and general agricultural industries.

The Fayette Alliance is a coalition of infill developers, neighborhood associations and farmers.

Oil back above $125 in volatile trading Fri, 16 May 2008 10:59 EDT
Oil prices continued to rise Friday after a whipsaw overnight session that paired the expiration of options with a bevy of news that swung the price of oil per barrel in a $6 range.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery was up $1.08 to $125.20 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.

During Thursday's session, the front-month crude oil contract dropped as low as $120.75 before bouncing back to finish at $124.12 a barrel.

"It was one of those volatile days that we fully expect to see more of in the days and weeks ahead," said a research note from U.S. energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, predicting greater volatility as May ends.

In London, July Brent crude gained $1.07 to $123.70 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Churchill suit adds horsemen's groups Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Churchill Downs filed suit Wednesday against Kentucky horsemen to stop them from blocking Internet wagering and Florida's off-track betting sites. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville, alleges that Kentucky horse trainers and owners have joined with horsemen in 15 other states to force Churchill Downs to give them a bigger share of the revenue from advance-deposit wagering, which includes Internet wagering.

Churchill alleges that the horsemen's groups are conspiring "to fix prices and orchestrate a joint boycott."

The complaint, filed originally on April 24, was amended on Wednesday to add the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, KTA executive director David Switzer, KHBPA president Rick Hiles and executive director Marty Maline. Switzer, Hiles and Maline had no comment last night.

Other defendants include the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Group, Florida HBPA, and officers of both groups.

Racehorse owners and trainers have formed a negotiating body, the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Group, that is pushing for a third of the revenue from advance-deposit wagering platforms.

Toyota Prius sales top one million units Thu, 15 May 2008 13:29 EDT
Toyota's Prius started out a decade ago as a risky experiment in green technology. Today, it's the world's first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid vehicle to hit the one million mark in sales.

The Prius, which went on sale in Japan in 1997, has been a big hit with drivers around the world and is now sold in 40 countries and regions. And its popularity is going strong amid surging gas prices and growing concerns about the environment.

A cumulative 1.028 million Prius vehicles have been sold globally as of the end of April, Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday.

Toyota, Japan's top automaker, sells other hybrid models, but the Prius has been by far the most popular model. Toyota has said it plans to sell a million hybrids annually sometime in the few years after 2010.

When including the other hybrid models, Toyota's cumulative overall sales of gas-electric vehicles total 1.46 million, according to Toyota, which also makes the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury cars.

Bourbon on a roll Thu, 15 May 2008 06:44 EDT
Some barrels are just more special than others.

Wednesday, after it was filled, Buffalo Trace Distillery employees past and present rolled the 6-millionth bourbon barrel produced since Prohibition into a special warehouse built to hold just one barrel. Then, several employees formed a line to autograph the barrel.

The 6-millionth barrel will age there for the next 10-12 years, said Buffalo Trace spokeswoman Angela Traver. It displaced a barrel put there on Dec. 31, 1999.

Buffalo Trace put up its 5-millionth barrel way back in 1981. That reflects the industry's slowdown years ago and its recent resurgence, Traver said. For comparison, in 2005 Jim Beam sealed its 10-millionth barrel. Heaven Hill Distilleries filled its 5-millionth barrel in 2006.

State sees decline in foreclosed properties Thu, 15 May 2008 06:37 EDT
Foreclosure filings increased in 43 states in April, but Kentucky saw a 26.4 percent decrease when compared with April 2007.

The state also had a 26.2 percent decline in filings from March 2008, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that monitors foreclosures.

RealtyTrac said Wednesday that new foreclosures rose 64.75 percent nationwide in April, compared with April 2007, and 4.4 percent from March 2008.

One in every 519 U.S. households -- 243,353 properties -- received a foreclosure filing during April 2008, RealtyTrac said.

"The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we've seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005," said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

Toyota eyeing emerging nation for new factory Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Toyota Motor Corp. is considering building a new plant to make low-cost, small cars for emerging markets, a spokeswoman said.

The automaker, which has announced plans to open a small-car plant in India, is in the early stage of planning for a second factory in an emerging country, said a spokeswoman who asked not to be named because of company policy. Toyota has not decided details such as the location, production capacity and the time line for the plant, she said.

The Tokyo Shimbun regional newspaper reported Wednesday that Toyota is eyeing a factory in Brazil for a launch in 2011 for the fast-growing auto markets in South America.

Toyota plans to invest billions of dollars in the plant, which would have a production capacity of about 150,000-200,000 vehicles a year, the newspaper said. The small sedan and hatchback models would be priced at around $9,540, the paper said.

Other top carmakers, including General Motors Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., are also working on cheap cars targeting India and other emerging markets.

Report: GE will shed Louisville appliance business Fri, 16 May 2008 02:05 EDT
General Electric Co. plans to auction off its Louisville-based appliances business, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

GE has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to run an auction for the appliance division, according to the newspaper, which quoted unidentified sources. The sale could yield between $5 billion and $8 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Spokesmen for the Fairfield-based industrial conglomerate and Goldman Sachs would not comment.

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson said in a statement that he had contact with GE leaders within the past 10 days "based on my concerns about additional job cutbacks at their Louisville operations," where some 5,000 people are employed. "Officials told me they were looking at possible reductions throughout their global operations, including Louisville, but they did not indicate that selling Appliance Park was part of their plans.

"We will certainly make the case to GE or to any potential buyer that Louisville is the best place to continue operations and headquarters," Abramson said.

Business notes Fri, 16 May 2008 06:57 EDT
NATIONAL

INVESTOR SEEKS TO OUST YAHOO CEO

Spurred on by outraged shareholders, activist investor Carl Icahn notified Yahoo Inc. Thursday that he will lead a revolt to oust Chief Executive Jerry Yang and the rest of the Internet company's board unless they renew negotiations with Microsoft that fell apart May 3 when the two sides couldn't agree on a price. Icahn has nominated an alternate slate of directors to replace the current board in an election scheduled July 3 at Yahoo's annual meeting. An Icahn-led board presumably would fire Yang as CEO.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DECLINES

Industrial output plunged in April as factories making everything from autos to heavy machinery felt the adverse effects of the weak economy. Analysts held out hope that production will revive in the second half of the year, helped by the government's economic stimulus checks. Industrial production dropped 0.7 percent last month, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday, more than double the decline that economists had expected. Manufacturing output dropped 0.8 percent, with half of that weakness coming from large cutbacks in auto production.

U.S. oil shipments canceled Fri, 16 May 2008 18:39 EDT
Responding to congressional pressure, the Bush administration on Friday said it is suspending oil deliveries into the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the remainder of the year.

The move came days after Congress passed legislation requiring President Bush to temporarily halt shipments into the reserve in hopes of lowering gasoline prices. The president is expected to sign the bill.

The decision came as Bush, visiting Saudi Arabia, sought to get the Saudis to pump more oil. Saudi Arabia announced it decided a week ago that it increase production by 300,000 barrels a day in response to customer requests, although it also told U.S. officials it believes world supplies are sufficient to meet demand.

The Energy Department said it will not sign six-month contracts schedule to have begun starting July 1, for the acceptance of 76,000 barrels of oil a day. The department also plans to defer deliveries under existing contracts once the legislation passed by Congress late Wednesday becomes law.

Bush had opposed halting the shipments, arguing that such a relatively small amount of oil would not influence prices. The reserve, a system of salt caverns on the Louisiana and Texas Gulf coast, is 97 percent full, holding 701 million barrels of crude.

Surprise rebound in housing, outlook still shaky Fri, 16 May 2008 18:25 EDT
Construction of new homes increased by the biggest percentage in more than two years in April, a rare spot of good news amid the worst downturn in housing in more than two decades.

Analysts, however, played down the increase, noting that all the strength came from the volatile apartment sector. They said the painful housing slump is far from over as a record flood of foreclosures continues to add to the sizable stockpile of unsold homes.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that housing construction rose by 8.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million units. While apartment construction rose by 36 percent, building in the much larger single-family sector of the market fell by 1.7 percent, the 12th consecutive monthly decline, pushing single-family activity down to a 16-year low.

"It is definitely too early to uncork the champagne on the long and winding road to more healthy housing-market conditions," said Brian Bethune, an economist at Global Insight. He said he did not expect housing activity to stabilize until the end of this year.

Len Blum, managing director of investment bank Westwood Capital, said the slump in housing will run for another year because of a number of problems, from banks tightening up on lending standards to the reluctance of many people to commit to a home purchase at a time when home prices are still falling.

Oil sets record near $128; pump price at high, too Fri, 16 May 2008 17:49 EDT
As President Bush wrapped up a meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Friday, the country's oil minister announced the desert kingdom had opened its taps and was pumping an additional 300,000 barrels of crude a day.

Back in Washington, the Bush administration bowed to congressional pressure and agreed to temporarily stop filling a key government oil stockpile, potentially increasing supply even further.

One day, two moves designed to allay concerns about an overheated oil market that's squeezing drivers and inflating the prices of all sorts of goods.

The response in the oil trading pits? Traders did what they've been doing for months now, and pushed crude oil and gasoline futures to new highs.

"All in all, we're seeing another strong move here on little fundamental news," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates, an oil trading advisory firm in Galena, Ill.

Japan stocks edge lower, ending winning streak Fri, 16 May 2008 04:49 EDT
Tokyo stocks edged lower Friday after a four-day winning streak as investors sold recent gainers such as precision equipment and electronics makers.

The Nikkei fell 0.2 percent to 14,219.48, after rising more than 4 percent in the previous four sessions. The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues rose 0.2 percent to 1,395.87.

"Although investors are expected to chase the market higher in the near future," the market is still not on a firm upward trend, said Seiichiro Iwasawa, chief strategist at Nomura Securities. "It is not rising yet."

The Nikkei will likely ascend gradually, however, helped by a recovery in U.S. stocks, traders said. Also, Japanese companies' forecasts for this fiscal year through March seem too conservative, lifting sentiment on hopes of upward revisions, they said.

Electronics and precision equipment makers fell, with Sony losing 2.1 percent to 5,160 yen and Nikon sliding 1.8 percent to 3,200 yen.

Japan's economy grows at 3.3 pct annual pace in 1Q Fri, 16 May 2008 01:04 EDT
Japan's economy grew at a stronger-than-expected 3.3 percent annual pace in the first quarter, racking up its third consecutive quarter of growth.

Japan's gross domestic product - or the value of a nation's goods and services - grew 0.8 percent in the January-March quarter from 2007's fourth quarter, according to Cabinet Office data released Friday. That would be a 3.3 percent annual pace.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected, on average, a 0.7 percent quarterly rise and an annual rate of 2.8 percent.

But analysts warned that growth in Japan - the world's second largest economy - was almost certain to slow in coming months. They noted technical factors, such as a downward revision for the previous quarter and an extra day in February for the leap year, boosted the first-quarter numbers.

"The appearance of good news is actually partly false," said Kenichi Kawasaki, an economist at Lehman Brothers in Tokyo.

Judge approves $640 million computer settlement

Banking on green: Start-up broadening range of alternative energies
Nexamp hopes to continue growth and branch out into energy trading, financing and carbon footprint assessments.

Chinese Dir