http://www.kentucky.com/103/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Daily Business Report 60 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:55:19 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596165.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596165.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
Associated Press

NEW YORK . Citigroup Inc. is cutting about 53,000 more jobs in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to steady itself after suffering substantial losses from deteriorating debt.

The plans, posted on the company's Web site, were discussed by CEO Vikram Pandit at the company's town hall meeting with employees Monday in New York.

The company had already announced in October that it was eliminating about 22,000 jobs. With the new cuts announced Monday, total head count is being reduced by 20 percent from its peak of 375,000 at the end of 2007. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596225.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596225.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:09 EST
Ford, which owns 33.4 percent of Mazda, will sell about a 20 percent stake, the companies said in separate statements.

The sale would net Ford 52 billion yen ($540 million) based on Mazda's closing price Tuesday, barely a quarter of what a 20 percent stake in the Japanese automaker was worth one year ago. Mazda's shares rose 6.4 percent to 184 yen Tuesday amid media reports of a coming sale.

Hit by a slump in the U.S., Ford is burning through cash reserves and, along with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, is seeking a $25 billion government lifeline to weather the deepening economic crisis. On Monday, GM said it would sell its remaining 3.02 percent stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million).

Ford racked up losses of $8.7 billion in the second quarter, its worst result ever, and has used up $11 billion of a cash stockpile in the past year. The share sale was "in line with Ford's plan to strengthen its balance sheet," it said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596327.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596327.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:54 EST
Investors were disappointed as the government reported wholesale prices plunged a record amount in October. The Labor Department's Producer Price Index fell 2.8 percent last month, the biggest decline on records that go back more than 60 years.

However, they are drawing some encouragement about corporate earnings as computer maker Hewlett-Packard says it expects fiscal fourth-quarter and 2009 results that beat Wall Street forecasts.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 16 points to the 8,258 level.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596403.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596403.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:49 EST
Its shares climbled more than 13 percent in morning trading.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company expects earnings of 84 cents per share and adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share for the three months ended in October. This is slightly better than the $1 per share, excluding items, that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are expecting.

HP forecast revenue of $33.6 million, compared with analysts' expectations of $33.09 billion.

The company "delivered another solid quarter as it continues to benefit from its global reach, diverse customer base, broad portfolio and numerous cost initiatives," said Mark Hurd, chairman and chief executive, in a statement.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596166.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596166.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
Associated Press

NEW YORK . The stock market is trying to form a bottom, but the economic landscape keeps changing.

With the Treasury switching its financial bailout plans and Congress fighting over a potential rescue package for automakers, investors are having a tough time figuring out what the future will bring. And that will likely mean more wild swings in the market this week.

"These are tremendous dollops of uncertainty, one after the other," said Quincy Krosby, chief investment strategist for The Hartford. "A market needs confidence that things are going to get better. And right now there is a marked, marked lack of confidence that things are going to get better." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596167.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596167.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
RICHMOND, Va. . A Mexican billionaire who controls a chain of electronics stores in Latin America now holds a 13 percent stake in Circuit City Stores Inc., which is under bankruptcy protection.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who is on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people, owned more than 22 million shares of the nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer as of Nov. 12, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday.

He bought 5.3 million shares of Circuit City at an average price of 22 cents apiece, two days after the Virginia-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, according to the documents.

The transaction raised Salinas' stake to 22.1 million shares, making him the company's largest shareholder based on outstanding share figures listed on Circuit City court documents. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596292.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/596292.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:03 EST
As prospects dimmed in Washington on Monday for a $25 billion bailout of the U.S. auto industry, those watching in Kentucky feared that one of the state's leading industries could be crippled.

With four automotive plants and hundreds of parts suppliers, Kentucky has more than 50,000 people employed in the industry. And they're primed for hurt if bailout talks fail, and so are the domestic automakers.

.We are in the perfect storm,. said William Parsons Jr., who organizes the annual Global Automotive Conference in Kentucky. .Other than this dip in oil prices, we are being hammered in every possible way..

And even Japanese automaker Toyota , whose flagship North American plant is in Georgetown, would be in trouble if the Detroit Three fail because the four share many of the same parts suppliers. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595833.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595833.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:30 EST
There were still 14 days of selling on tap and he had just sold a mare for $2.5 million. But as he stood outside the Keeneland sales pavilion Nov. 3, Three Chimneys president Case Clay didn't like what he was seeing transpire inside the ring.

.We're worried,. Clay said moments after selling Away, the dam of Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles, during the first session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. .It's day one and we're worried about the next couple of weeks..

It turned out worse than many had expected.

The 15-day Keeneland November sale concluded Monday with brutal across-the-board declines that surpassed even the most pessimistic of outlooks going in. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595081.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595081.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:50 EST
NEW YORK . In this brutal season of cutbacks, the office holiday party is getting downsized, too.

From American Express to MTV, employers are canceling Christmas celebrations because of the gloomy economy. At some other workplaces, last year's catered affair is this season's potluck.

"It's grim," said Daniel Briones, president of the National Association of Catering Executives and catering director at the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia. He called the drop-off in business the worst since 2001, when the holidays unfolded in the shadow of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

For some companies, this is about appearances as much as money. No firm wants to be pilloried for plowing cash . in some cases, taxpayer dollars . into ice sculptures while workers fear for their jobs and shareholders for their investments. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595100.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595100.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:34 EST
After a turbulent week that sent the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 340 points, investors found little solace in the latest news. Stocks zigzagged throughout the session, finally giving way to a stream of late-day selling that left the Dow Jones industrials lower by 223 points.

In a signal that banks are still struggling in the wake of massive losses tied to bad mortgage debt, Citigroup Inc. is cutting another 53,000 jobs in the coming quarters. The company said that in addition to job cuts, it plans to lower expenses by about 20 percent and has reduced its assets by more than 20 percent since the first quarter of the year.

Investors were also nervously waiting to see if the nation's troubled automakers would get a bailout. Senate Democrats, who plan to introduce legislation Monday, want to use part of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout to help prop up Detroit's Big Three carmakers: General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. A vote was expected as early as Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a better-than-expected reading on industrial production did little to boost investor sentiment. The Federal Reserve said Monday that industrial output rose 1.3 percent last month, after plunging in September by the largest amount in over 60 years. Economists, on average, had expected an increase of 0.2 percent, according to a survey by Thomson/IFR.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595231.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595231.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:34 EST
Details of the confidential settlement weren't released Monday.

The agreement came after four days of a civil trial in Logan County Circuit Court.

The widows of miners 33-year-old Don I. Bragg and 47-year-old Ellery Elvis Hatfield had sued Richmond, Va.-based Massey, two subsidiaries and CEO Don Blankenship.

Bragg and Hatfield died after getting lost in thick smoke from a conveyer belt fire at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine in January 2006.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595078.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/595078.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:40 EST
PNC Bank will become Kentucky's largest bank if its purchase of National City wins final approval.

The new PNC would be so large . 12.5 percent of all deposits held by the state's 234 banks . that it probably would trigger action by federal regulators in more normal economic times.

But federal intervention is not likely in this case, says University of Kentucky banking professor Don Mullineaux.

The federal government wants the $5.6 billion merger to occur . in fact, it is indirectly paying for it . because National City is a troubled bank that PNC can fix. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/593250.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/593250.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:52 EST
Tim Gilbert, the general manager at NBC affiliate WLEX-18 who oversaw the station's rise to No. 1 in local news, is retiring at the end of February.

"I don't want to be someone who stays at the dance too long," said Gilbert, 66. "The station is in terrific shape. The product is solid. The revenue is solid. The bottom line is in good shape."

Gilbert came to the station as director of sales in 2000, shortly after it was purchased by present owner Cordillera Communications. He had previously worked in markets including Fort Wayne, Ind., and Buffalo, N.Y. He became general manager in 2002.

During his time, WLEX wrested the local TV news ratings crown from the once-dominant CBS affiliate WKYT-27. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/594987.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/594987.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:17 EST
NEW YORK . IBM Corp. is throwing its considerable weight behind an idea that seemed to have faded: broadband Internet delivered over ordinary power lines.

The technology has been around for decades, but most efforts to implement the idea on a broad scale have failed to live up to expectations.

IBM is partnering with a small newcomer called International Broadband Electric Communications Inc. to try to make the idea work in rural communities.

Their strategy is to sign up electric cooperatives that provide power to sparsely populated areas across the eastern United States. The company will have access to 340,000 homes in Alabama, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. About 86 percent of them don't have access to cable Internet or DSL, the company said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592891.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592891.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:27 EST
The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates a Thanksgiving meal for the average gathering of 10 will cost $44.61 this year, up 5.5 percent from last year.

But the cost is less than the same meal 20 years ago, when stripping out inflation.

The turkey-centric holiday comes as beef and chicken prices are soaring. Meat producers are struggling with higher costs for key ingredients such as corn, soybeans and oil.

But while turkey producers face all the same pressures, they don't have the same economies of scale and have to plan a year in advance for the one day a year they count on most. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592961.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592961.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:49 EST
DETROIT . In recent months, General Motors has been burning through about $3.1 million an hour, or $52,000 . the price of a well-equipped Chevy Tahoe SUV . every minute.

How much longer can this go on? And perhaps more important, can GM hang on until Barack Obama and the new Congress can come to the rescue?

With an auto industry bailout running headlong into Republican opposition on Capitol Hill, GM's best hope of avoiding collapse might lie with the incoming administration. But the automaker is practically running on empty already, and analysts and others warn that it might be out of business by the time Obama is sworn in on Jan. 20.

The nation's largest automaker said it had $16.2 billion in cash at the end of September, raising the possibility that GM will fall below the minimum of $11 billion to $14 billion needed for day-to-day operations by the end of the year. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592888.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592888.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:48 EST
WASHINGTON . Consumers, taking a beating from the worst financial crisis in seven decades, cut back sharply on their spending in October, pushing retail sales down by a record amount.

As President George W. Bush and other world leaders gathered for a weekend summit to search for ways out of the mess, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at another interest rate cut. Bernanke said financial markets remain under "severe strain" in a speech to a central banking conference in Frankfurt, Germany. He pledged to continue working with other countries to deal with the crisis and left open the door to a fresh interest rate cut.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that retail sales fell by 2.8 percent last month, the biggest drop on record, surpassing the old mark of a 2.65 percent plunge in November 2001 that occurred after the terrorist attacks.

The October sales decline was led by a huge fall in auto purchases, but sales of all types of products suffered as consumers, worried about their jobs and the market turbulence, cut back sharply on spending. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592973.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/592973.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:49 EST
SAN FRANCISCO . A number of retailers and manufacturers have a gift for holiday shoppers: product packaging that will not result in lacerations and stab wounds.

The companies, including Amazon.com, Sony, Microsoft and Best Buy, have begun to create alternatives to the infuriating plastic "clamshell" packages and cruelly complex twist ties that make products like electronics and toys almost impossible for mere mortals to open without power tools.

Impregnable packaging has incited such frustration among consumers that an industry term has been coined for it . "wrap rage." It has sent about 6,000 Americans each year to emergency rooms with injuries caused by trying to pry, stab and cut open their purchases, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"I shouldn't have to start each Christmas morning with a needle-nose pliers and wire cutters," said Jeffrey P. Bezos, the father of four young children and founder of Amazon.com. "But that is what I do: I arm myself, and it still takes me 10 minutes to open each package." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/591816.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/591816.html Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:33 EST
The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales fell by 2.8 percent last month, surpassing the old mark of a 2.65 percent drop in November 2001 in the wake of the terrorist attacks that year.

The decline in sales was led by a huge drop in auto purchases, but sales of all types of products from furniture to clothing fell as consumers retrenched.

The 2.8 percent drop marked the fourth consecutive monthly decline in retail sales, the longest stretch of weakness on record, and was much bigger than the 2 percent fall economists expected.

In a second report showing weakness, the government said businesses cut back on their inventories by 0.2 percent in September, the first decline since March 2007 and the biggest setback in more than three years.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/591894.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/591894.html Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:32 EST
Ashland Inc. announced Thursday that it has completed its acquisition of Hercules Inc., one of the world's leading suppliers of specialty chemicals to the pulp and paper industry.

When the deal was announced, Ashland said it would pay $2.6 billion in a combination of cash and stock, plus assume $700 million in Hercules debt.

Besides boosting its position in the pulp and paper business, Ashland also will gain new opportunities in municipal, industrial and marine water treatment. ]]>