Business News

[Fivetears]

Chain store sales up in latest week:
NEW YORK - U.S. chain store sales rose in the first week of August, helped by back-to-school tax holidays in some states and summer clearance sales, a report showed on Tuesday. Sales at major retailers were up 3.2 percent on a year-over-year basis for the week ended August 5, following a 2.8 percent rise the week before, said Redbook Research, an independent company.
Sales at U.S. retailers so far in August were 0.2 percent higher when compared with the same period in July.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060808...iFXZTeAgoSyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

 

[Fivetears]

Productivity rises at 1.1 pct pace
WASHINGTON - U.S. business productivity rose at a faster-than-expected 1.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter while unit labor costs increased at their fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2004 as hourly compensation surged, preliminary Labor Department data showed on Tuesday. The report will provide the Federal Reserve with a final key piece of data before its policy committee meets later on Tuesday to decide whether to pause a two-year campaign of rate hikes. Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters had expected productivity to climb 0.9 percent after a previously reported increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter. The Labor Department revised the first quarter figure sharply upward, to 4.3 percent.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060808...IsBhEdFEXGyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

 

[Fivetears]

Criticism flies over BP's pipeline maintenance
Even though it markets itself as environmentally conscious, oil giant BP had a troubled record in its Alaskan operations even before late Sunday's announcement that it is shutting down Prudhoe Bay production to replace corroded, leaking pipeline. The move will take away about 8% of U.S. domestic oil production for weeks or months. Environmentalists say that BP (BP) appears to have let its infrastructure deteriorate in what is an aging oil field, instead of investing in upgrades, such as new pipe.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-08-08-pipeline-usat_x.htm

 

[Fivetears]

Nokia to Buy Loudeye for $60 Million
Finland - Nokia Corp. said Tuesday it has agreed to buy U.S.-based digital music distributor Loudeye Corp. for about US$60 million (euro51 million) as the world's No. 1 handset maker seeks to grab a larger share of the growing digital mobile music market. Under the deal, Nokia will pay US$4.50 (euro3.50) for each share of Loudeye, a provider of digital music platforms and digital media distribution services. "By acquiring Loudeye, Nokia can offer consumers a comprehensive mobile music experience, including devices, applications and the ability to purchase digital music," the Finnish company said.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060808/nokia_loudeye.html?.v=2

 

[Fivetears]

Productivity Gains Slow, Labor Costs Surge
WASHINGTON -U.S. productivity growth slowed during the second quarter, while unit labor costs increased at a rate higher than expected. Non-farm business sector productivity increased 1.1% during April through June, after rising 4.3% in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Productivity is output divided by hours worked. The median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC was productivity rising at a 0.8% annual rate in the second quarter. Unit labor costs - a gauge of inflationary pressures - rose by 4.2%. Costs in the first quarter increased 2.5%.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060808-000265-0845

 

[Fivetears]

NWA attendants delay strike due to terror alerts
The Association of Flight Attendants has decided to postpone possible strike action against Northwest Airlines for 10 days due to current security worries. The union, which had intended to launch job actions in the coming week, announced Friday that security duties come first. This moves the strike deadline to 10:01 p.m. EDT, or 4:01 p.m. HST, on August 25, a Friday. Northwest Airlines said Friday night that the union and the airline's flight attendants recognized that the passengers' needs were paramount at a time like this.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=ACBJ&Date=20060812&ID=5943018

 

[Fivetears]

JetBlue Courts Corporate America
In an attempt to make greater inroads with corporate customers, low-cost airline JetBlue signed agreements on Friday with travel reservation systems giants Sabre Holdings and Galileo International. The terms of the agreements were not disclosed. Galileo is a unit of Cendant. JetBlue specializes in point-to-point routes between underserved markets and on metropolitan areas with relatively high fares. It has been popular with cost-sensitive consumers but since mid 2005 has taken small steps to broaden its appeal to business travelers. The company was unprofitable in 2005 and expects to lose money this year as well. The agreement highlights the airline's new focus of targeting business travelers, while still maintaining its base of cost conscious customers. In the five-year Sabre deal, travel agents who subscribe to the global reservation system will have access to all of JetBlue’s flights. They will also be available on Travelocity, Sabre’s consumer-oriented website
http://www.forbes.com/2006/08/11/jetblue-0811markets12.html?partner=msn

 

[Fivetears]

Gates Stresses Search for HIV Vaccine
TORONTO - Bill and Melinda Gates, whose foundation has contributed $1.9 billion to fight AIDS, said Sunday that the search for HIV prevention drugs that would empower women could be the "next big breakthrough" in combating the disease. The couple joined more than 24,000 scientists, activists, celebrities, HIV-positive people and humanitarians from 132 countries for a conference on how to combat the disease that has killed 25 million people since the first case was reported a quarter of a century ago. Gates, who recently announced he would step down from his day-to-day duties at Microsoft Corp. and devote more time to philanthropy, said the search for a vaccine to prevent the virus that causes AIDS was now the foundation's top priority.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=AP&Date=20060813&ID=5943159

 

[Fivetears]

UAW says Delphi talks "at best disappointing"
CHICAGO - The United Auto Workers said on Friday negotiations with bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi Corp. have been "at best disappointing," raising the possibility of potentially crippling strikes. Delphi, its unions and GM have been in talks for months to try to reach agreement over Delphi's proposed wage and benefit cuts for U.S. hourly workers. Absent an agreement, Delphi wants authority to impose those cuts, which the unions have vowed would trigger strikes. Such strikes could quickly hamper production at GM, potentially costing it billions of dollars while it is deep into its own restructuring plans.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060811...OWAW0jsEGayBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

 

[Fivetears]

Trickle-Down Despair At Ford
Pull up a stool during lunch hour at Miller's Bar, a modest but popular joint a mile west of Ford Motor Co.'s boxy "Glass House" headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., and you can hear plenty of frazzled workers worried about the state of the company. These are hard days in "Ford Country," as Dearborn is often called. Market share has fallen four points, to 16%, since 2001, when family scion William C. Ford Jr. took over. The company is worth $14 billion, half what it was then. Things have gotten so bad that Ford has hired an investment banker to look into selling off troubled luxury brands like Jaguar. These problems are well-known. What outsiders can't detect is the depth of employee despair, much of which stems from internal problems such as managerial churn and constant strategy changes. At Miller's, another senior manager who last April was bused to a conference center on the grounds of the Henry Ford historical museum in nearby Greenfield Village for a presentation about the company's dire health, said he has never felt so downbeat. "The trouble with the auto business is that it takes years to fix what's wrong," says this employee, who, like others, did not wish to be identified for fear of losing his job. "We're four years into fixing it already, and it will be three more years till we see any daylight. Who ever heard of a seven-year turnaround plan?"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20060811...3ZOEOgw4ZGyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

 

[Fivetears]

PepsiCo names first woman CEO
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Soft drink and snack company PepsiCo Inc. announced Monday that Chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund will retire in May 2007, and that Chief Financial Officer Indra Nooyi will assume the CEO job this October, becoming the first woman to hold the post. Reinemund, who has seen PepsiCo pass rival Coca-Cola in terms of market capitalization in December for the first time in its history, will remain as chairman of the company until his retirement. Pepisco Chief Financial Officer Indra Nooyi, who will assume the CEO job in October. Indian-born Nooyi, who was ranked No. 11 in Fortune's list of the most powerful women in business, joined the company in 1994 and was named CFO in 2001.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/14/news/companies/pepsico_ceo/index.htm

 

[Fivetears]

The world catches up to Honda
While other automakers rushed to beef up their pickup trucks and SUVs with stronger frames and bigger motors, Honda stood to one side, refusing to develop either a V-8 engine or a traditional body-on-frame light truck. Likewise, when other manufacturers engaged in a horsepower race to lure consumers and take advantage of cheap gasoline, Honda held back. Staying true to its philosophy of "maximum man, minimum machine" it concentrated on smaller, more efficient four- and six-cylinder engines. Finally, while other automakers reluctantly explored internal combustion alternatives like gas-electric hybrids and fuel cells, Honda plunged all the way in, launching research efforts into everything from clean diesels to hydrogen power. Honda's decision to stick with what it believes in is now paying off big time. Look at what happened in July. For its first quarter, Honda reported sales up 15 percent and operating profit up 19 percent. The Honda Accord and Civic ranked as the second and fourth best selling passenger cars in America. In a U.S. market where overall sales fell 17.4 percent, Honda brand vehicles rose 6 percent.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/11/news/companies/pluggedin_taylor.fortune/index.htm

 

[Fivetears]

BP's hard road ahead
NEW YORK - BP estimates it will cost $100 million to replace the 16 miles of corroding pipeline at its giant oilfield in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. As if that wasn't enough, the company must also face tough questions about why the two hundred million dollars a year it says it spent in maintenance wasn't enough to keep the 400,000 barrel per day field, the country's largest, running smoothly. BP now faces the task of explaining what went wrong, just when it knew of the problem, and complete the difficult job of bringing the field back to full capacity. The maintenance failure led BP to shut down most production after pipeline walls were found to have corroded by as much as 80 percent. Originally the company said all 400,000 barrels per day would be offline for months. But last Friday, after inspecting the pipes, BP said half the field will remain open, at least for now.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/14/news/economy/bp_fix/index.htm

 

[Fivetears]

Wal-Mart charge hurts profit
CHICAGO - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday reported a 26 percent drop in quarterly profit -- its first earnings decline in more than 10 years -- because of a charge for selling its German stores to a rival, but it maintained its full-year profit forecast. Excluding an $863 million loss on the sale of the German stores to Metro AG, earnings per share were 72 cents in the latest period, in line with the average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. Quarterly sales rose 11.3 percent to $84.52 billion. Wal-Mart has been adding more upscale merchandise, such as trendy clothing and organic food, to try to get wealthier shoppers to buy more high-margin items. The retailer is also in the process of remodeling hundreds of stores, and some analysts have questioned whether those efforts have caused disruption and hurt sales.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060815/bs_nm/retail_walmart_earns_dc_7

 

[Fivetears]

Home Depot posts profit rise
ATLANTA - Home Depot Inc., the world's largest home improvement retailer, on Tuesday posted a 5 percent rise in second-quarter profit but softened its sales and earnings growth outlook for this year, as the U.S. housing market cools. Citing "mixed economic signals" and a "challenging" second half, the company said profit and sales should rise at the low end of its previous forecast.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060815/bs_nm/retail_homedepot_earns_dc_3

 

[Fivetears]

Staples profit rises 19 percent
NEW YORK - Staples Inc., the No. 1 specialty office supplies retailer, on Tuesday said quarterly profit rose 19 percent, driven by market share gains in North America and improvements in its international operations. Net income for the second quarter ended on July 29 rose to $161.2 million, or 22 cents per share, from $135.2 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier. The results matched the average outlook of analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. Total sales rose 12 percent to $3.88 billion from $3.47 billion, modestly exceeding analysts' average forecast of $3.81 billion.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060815/bs_nm/retail_staples_earns_dc_3

 

[Fivetears]

Dell Will Recall Batteries in PC’s
Dell is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they could erupt in flames, the company said yesterday. It will be the largest safety recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. Dell, the world’s largest PC maker, said the lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony and were installed in notebooks sold from April 2004 to July 18 of this year. The recall raises broader questions about lithium-ion batteries, which are used in devices like cellphones, portable power tools, camcorders, digital cameras and MP3 players. The potential for such batteries to catch fire has been acknowledged for years, and has prompted more limited recalls in the past. But a number of recent fires involving notebook computers, some aboard planes, have brought renewed scrutiny.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/t...f2b0357e0f52&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

 

[Fivetears]

Monsanto to buy Delta and Pine
Missouri - Monsanto Co. on Tuesday said it agreed to buy Delta and Pine Land Co., a leading producer and marketer of cotton-plant seeds, for $1.5 billion in cash to expand its product mix. Under the terms of the deal, Delta and Pine Land shareowners will get $42 a share in cash, a 16 percent premium over Delta and Pine's closing stock price on Monday. Monsanto, which has targeted the cotton industry as a leading growth area, said it plans to finance the deal with cash on hand and a debt offering. The acquisition is expected to boost Monsanto's earnings per share by the second year after completion of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060815/bs_nm/textiles_deltaandpine_monsanto_dc_1

 

[Fivetears]

BP Faces More Pipeline Problems in Alaska
ANCHORAGE - BP PLC planned Wednesday to inspect a major pipeline in Prudhoe Bay after two mishaps forced the line to be shut down - another setback for the operator of the crippled oil field. The first incident occurred last Thursday, days after BP began shutting down much of Prudhoe following the discovery of corroded transit pipe in the nation's largest field. A drilling rig was traveling on a gravel road when some of its tires sank in a soft spot. The rig tilted toward a rack of pipelines, including a line that typically carries 20,000 barrels of crude oil, natural gas and water daily from the Point McIntyre field north of Prudhoe Bay. The line was shut down in mid-July for scheduled maintenance to an oil gathering center in the western half of Prudhoe, BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said Wednesday. The Point McIntyre line is among pipes leading to the facility - called gathering center 1 - and was being phased back into service when the rig listed. As a precaution, BP shut down and depressurized the line and workers brought in a vacuum truck to pick up any oil in case of a spill, the Anchorage Daily News first reported Wednesday. After the rig was righted, the second mishap occurred shortly after midnight Friday as workers moved to restart the line. A pressure surge thrust liquids through with such force that a portion of the elevated line was knocked off support mounts and onto the tundra. Beaudo said the pipeline stayed intact, no oil leaked and no one was hurt.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060816-000720-1511

 

[Fivetears]

Insurance Industry 1, Katrina Victims 0
SAN FRANCISCO - The first trial pitting an insurer against a policyholder seeking redress from last year's hurricanes was decided by a judge in favor of the industry on Tuesday. However, it wasn't a complete victory because the judge questioned some clauses commonly used in homeowners insurance policies. The case involved police officer Paul Leonard and his wife Julie, who claimed Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., a division of Nationwide Financial Services, refused to cover damage to their home from Hurricane Katrina last year. The suit, filed by Richard Scruggs, an attorney famous for his litigation against tobacco firms in the 1990s, argued that Nationwide denied the Leonards' claim without finding out whether the damage was caused by Katrina's wind or the storm waters that were pushed up onto the land and into their Mississippi coastal home. Nationwide argued that its homeowners policies don't cover flooding and the Leonards shouldn't be able to effectively rewrite a contract after the event. Judge L.T. Senter of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi said on Tuesday that the parts of Nationwide's insurance policy that exclude damage caused by water are "valid and enforceable," according to a copy of the ruling. Senter ordered Nationwide to pay the Leonards $1,228 for wind damage to a window and exterior walls above where water damaged their property. That was much less than the more than $130,000 in Katrina damage that the Leonards wanted Nationwide to cover.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060815-000598-1711