DURABLE GOODS ORDERS DROP: New orders for big-ticket durable goods - items expected to last at least three years - dropped by 0.9 percent last month, the first decline since April, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. It marked a reversal from the 1.5 percent increase in orders registered in July. The August showing, weaker than the 0.5 percent increase economists were forecasting, highlighted both the struggle of manufacturers to get back to full throttle and a tender spot for the national economy's revival.
ISABEL CUTS JOBLESS CLAIMS: New applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week by a seasonally adjusted 19,000 to 381,000, a seven-month low, the Labor Department said. But at least half of the drop was related to workers not being able to file jobless claims because of Hurricane Isabel, which pummeled the East Coast, a department analyst said. Economists said the job market remains sluggish and will be the last part of the economy to show sustained improvement.
ANCHOR GLASS TRADES UP: On their first day of trading, shares of Anchor Glass Container Corp. climbed 80 cents to close Thursday at $16.80 on trading volume of 5.7-million. The Tampa company said Wednesday that its initial public offering of 7.5-million shares was priced at $16 a share. Anchor's shares have been listed on the Nasdaq National Market and trade under the symbol AGCC.
TRADING HALTED IN AEROSONIC: Aerosonic Corp. of Clearwater says the American Stock Exchange has halted trading in its common stock because it hasn't reported earnings for fiscal 2003 and two subsequent quarters. The aircraft equipment manufacturer says it is working with auditors on the final phases of an audit and will file its annual report for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 by Oct. 31, and reports for the quarters ended April 30 and July 31 by Nov. 15. Aerosonic said it doesn't expect the trading halt to affect operations. Its shares last traded at $9.87. Aerosonic said in March it had overstated results for fiscal 2001 and 2002 and the first three quarters of 2003. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating.
NORTHWEST CLOSES CALL CENTER: Northwest Airlines is closing its reservations center near Detroit in early December because of decreased call volumes and increased use of the Internet for booking flights. The carrier said Thursday it will handle customer calls through its five remaining U.S. call centers. Northwest said the 570 contract employees at the reservations center in Livonia, Mich., will be eligible to transfer to one of its centers in Baltimore; Chisholm, Minn.; Minneapolis; Seattle; and Tampa.
SHAREHOLDERS FIGHT W.L. ROSS: Shareholders opposed to a proposed buyout of Cone Mills Corp. by financier Wilbur Ross on Thursday pushed through their nominees for the company's board of directors. Cone Mills filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday as part of a bid by Ross to buy substantially all the company's assets for $90-million. Cone Mills, the world's largest denim maker, expects to complete the sale to Ross - originally announced Sept. 16 - within 90 days. The sale is subject to approval by a federal bankruptcy judge.
EX-E&Y PARTNER ARRESTED: Federal authorities arrested a former Ernst & Young partner Thursday for allegedly tampering with documents providing insights into the collapse of online credit card issuer NextCard Inc. Thomas Trauger, 40, is accused of altering records used in the financial audits of NextCard after regulators raised doubts about the company's accounting practices in October 2001. Court documents say the accountant then destroyed key documents to cover up his alleged malfeasance. Trauger, who pleaded innocent to obstruction and falsifying records charges, was released on $1-million bail.
SEATTLE PAPERS STAY JOINED: The Seattle Times cannot dissolve a 20-year-old publishing agreement with the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a King County, Wash., judge said Thursday in a ruling that keeps Seattle a two-newspaper town. Under the agreement, the Times handles circulation, distribution and other nonnews functions for both papers in exchange for a greater share of their joint profits. Without the agreement, the Hearst-owned Post-Intelligencer says it could not survive.
IBM FIRES 400: International Business Machines Corp., the world's largest computer maker, fired about 400 marketing and administrative workers in its software business to reduce costs, spokesman Tim Breuer said. The employees were notified Wednesday and represent about 1 percent of the 38,000 workers in IBM's software division, Breuer said. The fired employees worked for IBM in Austin, Texas; Somers, N.Y.; Raleigh, N.C.; Boulder, Colo.; and Cupertino, Calif., Breuer said.
MORTGAGE RATES FALL AGAIN: After rising sharply since late June, rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages retreated for the third week in a row, a trend that should help keep the housing market humming. For the week ending Sept. 26, the average rate on 30-year mortgages dipped to 5.98 percent from 6.01 percent a week ago, the mortgage company Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey of rates.
FASB GETS VOLUNTEERS: Several high-profile public companies volunteered Thursday to join a "road-testing" program the Financial Accounting Standards Board expects to kick off soon to determine how best to value employee stock options. At a meeting held by the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, financial executives at Coca-Cola Co., Exxon Mobil Corp., CVS Corp., and Yahoo! Inc., told the FASB they are willing to help the standard setters solve the thorny issue of how to value stock options.
SEARS GOING ONLINE: Sears Roebuck & Co. said Thursday it will begin selling clothing on its own Web site by the end of 2004. The department store chain said its Sears.com site will sell Lands' End clothing as well as the company's other apparel brands. The Landsend.com site's operations won't be affected significantly by the changes at Sears.com, according to Bill Bass, vice president and general manager of Sears' catalog and Internet operations.
CHEESECAKE FACTORY EXEC QUITS: Michael Berry resigned as president and chief operating officer of the restaurant unit of the Cheesecake Factory Inc., the company said Thursday. The company said it will begin a search for Berry's replacement "in the near future." Cheesecake Factory said he resigned to pursue other interests. The company operates 66 restaurants under the Cheesecake Factory name, including one at International Plaza in Tampa.
ORACLE, PEOPLESOFT SPAR: A Delaware judge has given Oracle Corp. one day to turn over Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's e-mails discussing his $7.3-billion hostile takeover bid of PeopleSoft Inc. or sign a statement that all of them have already been furnished. PeopleSoft accused Oracle of withholding Ellison's e-mails to protect its lawsuit and takeover attempt. Oracle countered that PeopleSoft has yet to supply more than 2,000 e-mails detailing how PeopleSoft's executives initially responded to Oracle's unsolicited offer.
AMAZON GOES SEARCHING: Amazon.com Inc. is invading Google's turf with a new online search engine company that hopes to pluck some of the profits flowing into the rapidly growing sector. Amazon has dubbed its search startup "A9" and set up offices in Palo Alto, Calif., not far from Google's headquarters. A9 hopes to launch in October with 30 employees and grow as it develops an e-commerce search engine that will be licensed to other Web sites, said spokeswoman Alison Diboll. "This is part of Amazon's ongoing evolution from an online bookstore to a technology services company," Diboll said.
