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| Wal-Mart and TJX report solid 1st-quarter profit gains Tue, 13 May 2008 17:43 EDT Solid first-quarter profits from discounters Wal-Mart and TJX show that more Americans are hunting for bargains as they struggle to cover their monthly credit card payments, put food on the table and gas in the family car. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, posted a 6.9 percent increase in first-quarter profits, helped by improved customer service, better inventory control and strong international sales. The results beat Wall Street's projections by a penny, but the company issued a cautious outlook for the current quarter and warned that the economy would be a "critical factor" in 2008. TJX Cos., which operates stores under the T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods names, said its first-quarter profits rose almost 20 percent, meeting analysts' projections. But lower investment income and costs from European expansion left TJX's profit margin slightly below the company's expectations. Wal-Mart shares fell $1.37, or about 2.4 percent, to $56.65. TJX shares slipped $1.49, or about 4.6 percent, to $30.65. |
| Median home prices drop in many cities Tue, 13 May 2008 20:30 EDT Median home prices fell in two-thirds of the cities surveyed during the first three months of this year while sales declined in 46 states compared to a year ago, according to the latest report highlighting the depth of the nation's housing woes. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that median prices for existing single-family homes dropped in 100 of 149 metropolitan areas in the January-March period, while 48 metropolitan areas saw price increases and one reported no change. The 67 percent of cities reporting price declines was the largest percentage of cities reporting price drops in the history of the survey, which goes back to 1979. In the fourth quarter, prices had fallen in 36 percent of the cities surveyed. Nationally, the median home price - the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less - fell to $196,300 in the first quarter, down by 7.7 percent from the same period a year ago. The biggest percentage price decline by metro area was a 29.2 percent drop in the Sacramento, Calif., metro area. |
| Airbus announces new delays to A380 Tue, 13 May 2008 08:27 EDT Airbus on Tuesday announced new delays on deliveries of the superjumbo A380, already almost two years late, saying the company is behind schedule switching to automated production. The European aircraft maker said in a statement that it will deliver 12 planes in 2008 instead of 13, and 21 planes in 2009 instead of 25. Executives will talk to customers about deliveries for 2010 - originally foreseen at 45 - in the coming weeks. Airbus CEO Tom Enders said the switch from individual production of the planes to serial production is about two to three months delayed. He declined to say when Airbus will meet its goal of delivering four A380s per month, a pace the planemaker had hoped to meet in 2010. "This is unfortunately not the first delay and as CEO of Airbus I have to say I regret this very much," Enders said in a conference call. But he said the additional delays should not be compared with the problems that have so far plagued the superjumbo program. |
| Motorsports affiliation is essential to corporate identity It takes exactly one minute and 41 seconds for engineers at the Firestone Motorsports facility to balance, stagger, and letter a racing tire, which is probably a good thing since the company has produced 5,100 tires for the month of May and 32,000 total for the racing season. |
| UPS will add vehicles to fuel-efficient fleet Tue, 13 May 2008 23:57:00 EST UPS, the world's largest shipping carrier, said yesterday that it has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles and another 300 compressed natural gas vehicles as it seeks to make its trucks more fuel-efficient and environment-friendly. |
| Churchill purse cuts start today Wed, 14 May 2008 02:11:00 EST Leaders of Kentucky and national horsemen's groups urged members last night to maintain the fight with Churchill Downs Inc. over account-wagering revenues -- even if it costs them money in purses at the company's Louisville track. |
| Bird sues over use of name by resort Wed, 14 May 2008 02:11:00 EST Basketball legend Larry Bird is suing the owners of his former home in Orange County, Ind., claiming their plans to turn the property into a resort are illegal. |
| Bernanke: Market woes ease Tue, 13 May 2008 23:58:00 EST Turmoil in financial markets has eased somewhat, but the situation is still "far from normal," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech yesterday. |
| Area Business Association offers 'Networking at Noon' events Tue, 13 May 2008 12:56:00 EST As a kind of business equivalent of speed dating, it's one of the strategies that has helped dramatically increase association membership. Each person had four minutes to tell about his or her business. |
| Q: What's a good credit score? Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A: The score can range between 400 and 900. Generally, a score on the scale developed by Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) of between 770 and 850 is considered very good and will get you the best rates and terms. |
| Smart fortwo receives top crash-test scores Wed, 14 May 2008 00:01:00 EST The 2008 Smart fortwo micro-car, the smallest passenger vehicle sold in the United States, has earned top scores in insurance-industry crash tests. |
| Ceradyne gets $31.5 million order for body armor Wed, 14 May 2008 11:21 EDT Ceradyne Inc. has received a $31.5 million order for ceramic body armor from the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The order is for what are called enhanced side ballistic inserts, to be delivered from September to November. The armor is made by Ceradyne plants in Lexington and in Costa Mesa, Calif. U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan wear them as protection against bullets and explosive devices. Ceradyne's stock trades on Nasdaq as CRDN. |
| Foreclosures slow in Kentucky; rate is nation's 8th best Wed, 14 May 2008 09:46 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. |
| Webb fails to sway hoteliers Wed, 14 May 2008 02:06 EDT Developer Dudley Webb met with a skeptical audience Tuesday when he talked to professionals in the tourism industry about the market for an upscale high-rise hotel that he hopes to build downtown. Webb was the keynote speaker at a Bluegrass Hospitality Association symposium at the Lexington Center. He was met with questions mostly about the hotel rooms expected to cost about $200 a night in the CentrePointe project. Where will business come from to fill a 200-plus room high-end hotel, he was asked. Will the project bring in new money, or just pirate business away from existing downtown hotels? Larry Bell, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, asked what Webb's financial consultants found in their market surveys that made another downtown hotel look feasible. Webb said there had been four market studies -- two by hotel chains, one by a consultant hired to conduct a financial analysis for possible tax increment financing, and yet another commissioned by The Webb Cos. |
| Inflation pressures ease despite food price jump Wed, 14 May 2008 20:41 EDT Consumer prices slowed in April despite the biggest jump in food costs in nearly two decades. But with oil near record levels, Americans should brace for more pain at the pump in coming months. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent last month, slightly lower than expected and better than the 0.3 percent rise in March. The lower inflation reflected a flat reading for energy, which helped offset a 0.9 percent jump in food. That was the biggest one-month surge since a 1.5 percent increase in January 1990. Last month's increase was driven by widespread increases in a number of areas from bread, butter and margarine to milk and coffee. Food prices have been climbing rapidly over the past year, reflecting higher world demand and the impact of increasing energy prices on the cost of fertilizer and transportation of products to grocery store shelves. For April, energy prices were unchanged and gasoline prices even fell by 2 percent, a decline that would strike motorists as strange, given that they have been watching the price of gasoline rise relentlessly in recent weeks. |
| Stocks advance after lower inflation reading Wed, 14 May 2008 21:16 EDT Wall Street advanced Wednesday after a better-than-expected report on consumer prices tempered some of the market's concerns about inflation. The Labor Department's report that consumer prices advanced 0.2 percent in April after rising 0.3 percent in March seemed to alleviate investors' worries that the recent surge in energy costs would force prices throughout the economy to spike higher. The moderation in prices comes despite the largest jump in food prices in 18 years. Wall Street has been concerned that higher food and energy costs are cutting into consumers' ability to spend. Any pullback is an unnerving prospect for investors because consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald, said the tame consumer prices reading, along with recent figures on productivity, indicate that businesses are swallowing some of the rising costs they face and not passing all of them to consumers. "You have higher input costs but you're getting more out of your workers so therefore you're able to control your output costs," he said. "The economy is lean and mean and doing well even though on the demand side it's slumping." |
| Lexington can cash in on Ryder Cup too Wed, 14 May 2008 02:06 EDT Most Lexington business owners know the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will be at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010. Fewer know that the 37th Ryder Cup begins in Louisville in just 126 days, delivering a $120 million-plus boost to Kentucky's economy. "We are going to have a big party," Karl Schmitt told the Bluegrass Hospitality Association. "You are probably going to have a big party here, too, though you may not know it yet." Schmitt, the executive director of The Cup Experience, the Louisville host committee for the Ryder Cup, urged Lexington hotels, restaurants and entertainment sites to go after their share of a tourism bonanza by holding special events and training their staffs to help the tourists. Louisville hotels are full and Lexington hotels are filling fast for the Sept. 16-21 golf tournament that long ago sold all of its 240,000 tickets, he said. |
| Leitchfield man saddles up to protest high gas prices Wed, 14 May 2008 02:06 EDT Americans facing rising gasoline and diesel prices are walking the walk, saddling up and singing out. Allan Peerce, 53, a sign maker, said he's been accused of trying to drum up business for his shop in Leitchfield, Ky., by riding his horse to jobs and the bank. But Peerce says he already has more business than he can handle and is concerned for truckers whose rig doors he adorns with his artwork. Peerce's horse, Hitman, began wearing a sign reading "In protest of diesel and gas prices" when diesel hit $4 a gallon. If it hits $4.20, he plans to camp out in the city's courthouse square. "Somebody has to stand up and do something," Peerce said. "If I can do it, then two people can do it. If two can, four can, and if four can, eight can. It can grow into whatever we want it to be." In Valparaiso, Ind., Jay Weinberg, 29, collaborated with a friend's band, Planetary Blues, and recorded a protest song. |
| Driving habits to cut your auto fuel bills Wed, 14 May 2008 07:43 EDT You can cut your fuel bills by simply changing the way you drive. Consumer Reports suggests these four tips on how to drive more fuel-efficiently: Minimize driving with a cold engine. Engines run most efficiently when they're warm. In Consumer Reports' city-driving tests, making multiple short trips and starting the engine from cold reduced fuel economy. Engines also produce more pollution and wear faster when they're cold. Combine short trips into one so that the engine stays warm. Drive smoothly. Avoid hard acceleration and braking whenever possible. In Consumer Reports' tests, frequent bursts of acceleration and braking reduced the Toyota Camry's mileage by 2 to 3 miles per gallon and the Mercury Mountaineer's by about 1 mpg. Reduce unnecessary drag. At highway speeds, more than 50 percent of engine power goes to overcoming aerodynamic drag. Don't add to that drag by carrying things on top of your vehicle when you don't have to. Slow down. Aerodynamic drag exponentially increases on the highway the faster you drive. Consumer Reports tested its vehicles' fuel economy at 55, 65 and 75 mph. Driving at 75 mph instead of 65 reduced the Camry's gas mileage from 35 mpg to 30. For the Mountaineer, fuel economy fell from 21 mpg to 18. Slowing to 55 mph improved the gas mileage by similar margins: The Camry improved to 40 mpg and the Mountaineer to 24 mpg. |
| Merck says appeals court overturns Vioxx verdict Wed, 14 May 2008 22:16 EDT A Texas appeals court on Wednesday overturned a multimillion-dollar verdict against Merck & Co. in one of the few trials it lost over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. A jury in Rio Grande City, Texas, in April 2006 awarded $32 million to the widow of 71-year-old Leonel Garza, a short-term Vioxx user who died of a heart attack in 2001. That award - $7 million for compensatory damages and $25 million for punitive damages - later was cut to about $7.75 million under Texas law limiting damages. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the Texas 4th Court of Appeals overturned the verdict, ruling in favor of Merck. The opinion was signed by Justice Sandee Bryan Marion. The judges wrote that Garza's family did not prove his brief use of Vioxx caused two blood clots that the family's attorneys argued triggered his heart attack. The judges also concluded the family did not provide sufficient evidence to rule out his long-standing heart disease as the cause of his fatal heart attack. Garza had a prior heart attack and heart bypass surgery, smoked for nearly 30 years and died of the second heart attack after taking Vioxx for less than a month. |
| High oil prices rekindle oil production in Mo. Wed, 14 May 2008 01:46 EDT Pumpjacks, the oil rigs that resemble those thirsty bird toys, are going up in Missouri for the first time in two decades, the latest region to revive a long-faded industry as crude nears $130 a barrel. The sky-high price of oil has turned extraction methods recently considered cost-prohibitive into cash cows. Bright blue pumpjacks stand over a 10-acre site near the Missouri-Kansas border where MegaWest Energy Corp., a Canadian company, is attempting to draw heavy oil - as thick as molasses, and requiring better technology and extra effort to pull from the ground. The domestic oil revival is taking place in smaller oil fields that require new technology, said Fred Lawrence, vice president of economics and international affairs at the Independent Petroleum Association of America. "We've been producing oil in this country for parts of three centuries. So a lot of the easy oil is gone," Lawrence said. |
| US foreclosure filings surge 65 percent in April Wed, 14 May 2008 20:36 EDT More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments last month, driving the number of homes facing foreclosure up 65 percent versus the same month last year and contributing to a deepening slide in home values, a research company said Tuesday. Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March, RealtyTrac Inc. said. Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida were among the hardest hit states, with metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounting for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure, the company said. Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. One in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in April. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states. |
| Cave City welcomes new business Chamber members and well-wishers gathered on May 1 at a ribbon cutting for the grand opening of Fox Insurance Agency Inc. |
| Local cheesemaker rides high in Wisc. Glasgow’s Bluegrass Dairy and Food went up against the best cheeses in the world and came out near the top of the Colby heap. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 |
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