BUSINESS: Business today

ORDERS UP, JOBS DOWN: An unexpectedly strong advance in orders to factories for big-ticket goods combined with a report that new jobless benefit claims hit the highest level in a year depict an economy inching away from the threat of a double-dip recession but still unable to mount a sustainable rebound, economists said. The Commerce Department said orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods rose by a solid 2 percent in March, surprising economists who had been looking for a decline. The Labor Department, meanwhile, reported that the number of newly laid off Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000 last month to 455,000, the highest level since late March 2002.

VERIZON TOLD TO NAME NAMES: U.S. District Judge John D. Bates rejected a constitutional challenge by Verizon Communications Inc., which is trying to avoid turning over the names of two of its Internet subscribers suspected of illegally offering free music for downloading. Bates determined that First Amendment protections concerning anonymous expression do not conflict with the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The latest ruling means consumers using dozens of popular Internet file-sharing programs can more easily be identified and tracked by copyright owners.

INCUBATOR GRANT AWAITED: The U.S. Department of Energy is expected to decide within a week whether to give $200,000 to establish a technology incubator program at the Young-Rainey STAR Center in Largo to foster development of local tech companies, according to the center's assistant director, Paul Sacco. If the center gets the grant, it plans to ask the Pinellas County Commission to donate 20,000 square feet of office space at the center for the incubator, which would accept applications from Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, Polk, Sarasota and Manatee counties.

COMPETITION HURTS CHRYSLER: DaimlerChrysler AG said Thursday it will be difficult for its U.S.-based Chrysler Group to achieve its 2003 profit target, following a first quarter in which heavy incentives and lower volume offset cost savings. The German-American automaker said its first-quarter profit fell amid heavy price competition and the Iraq crisis, but results still beat analysts' expectations. DaimlerChrysler earned 588- million euros ($646-million) for the first three months of 2003. That compared to 2.5-billion euros a year earlier when profits were inflated by the sale of shares in its information systems division. Analysts were expecting a profit of 508- million euros ($558-million).

GE BUYS SILICONE UNIT: General Electric Co. said Thursday it agreed to acquire Crompton Corp.'s silicone unit in a deal valued at as much as $1.05-billion. The purchase, expected to close in the summer, will give GE access to the $450-million in annual sales that the Crompton unit brings in. Under the agreement, Crompton will get GE's specialty chemicals operation, which is valued at $160- million. GE also will pay Crompton $645-million in cash, as well as payments of $105-million to $250-million over three years, based on performance targets.

5TH CFO AGREES TO DEAL: Aaron Beam, a founder of HealthSouth Corp. and its first chief financial officers, agreed to plead guilty Thursday and join four other former CFO's in helping prosecutors probe the role of fired Chief Executive Richard Scrushy in an alleged $2.5-billion accounting fraud. Beam, 59, will admit to one count of bank fraud for lying between April 1996 and October 1997 to lenders of HealthSouth, an operator of rehabilitation hospitals, prosecutors said.

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright