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Florida's jobless rate at a 41/2-year low
By wire services
Published July 23, 2005
Florida's unemployment rate dipped to a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent in June, the lowest rate since December 2000.
That's down from a revised rate of 4.1 percent in May. Employment grew by 3 percent over the previous year, giving the state 228,100 more nonagricultural jobs than it had a year ago. Professional and business services and employment services were the fastest-growing sectors. The construction industry and restaurants and bars also reported significant job growth.
Citizens: Dennis may cost $145-million
Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer for those who cannot find property coverage in the open market, said Friday it predicts statewide losses of $145-million from Hurricane Dennis. Since the storm struck this month, about 4,200 claims have been filed, most of them in the Panhandle.
Staubach Co. opens office in Tampa
The Staubach Co., a real estate services firm founded by former NFL football star Roger Staubach, has opened an office in Tampa. Chris Butler and Chad Rupp have joined the company as co-managing principals of the Tampa office. It's the 58th location for the Addison, Texas, company, which primarily represents corporate tenants.
Highwoods closes on Tampa offices
Highwoods Properties Inc. said Friday it has closed on the sale of office complexes in Tampa's Sabal Park and Charlotte, N.C., for a total of $228-million. A contract to sell the portfolio to Capital Partners Inc. of Orlando was disclosed June 6.
Panel says yes to airline merger
A federal panel on Friday approved a bid by US Airways Group Inc. and America West Holdings Corp. to merge. The federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board said the proposed merger "should better both airlines' competitiveness in a challenging industry environment." The deal still must be cleared by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Chinese carmaker buys MG Rover
Administrators for MG Rover Group Ltd. said Friday that the collapsed British automaker has been bought by Chinese carmaker Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corp. The announcement ended months of speculation about the future of Rover, the country's last major automaker, but also raised questions about how much production Nanjing would retain in Britain - and how many jobs would be involved.
Two picked for SEC
The Bush administration on Friday nominated Roel Campos to a second term on the Securities and Exchange Commission and named SEC market regulation division director Annette Nazareth to fill another opening on the five-member commission. Both are Democrats.
Longhorn gives way to a Vista
Microsoft Corp. dropped the code name Longhorn on Friday, announcing the next version of its flagship Windows operating system will be called Windows Vista.
The world's largest software makeralso said it will release the first of two test versions to developers and information technology professionals by Aug. 3.
The company did not say when it expects to release a test version to a broader audience, but said it remains on target to ship the oft-delayed update to Windows XP sometime in the second half of next year.
"The core idea around Windows Vista is bringing clarity to the user so they can focus on what matters most," said Microsoft executive Brad Goldberg.
Be careful what you say on the floor
There's something new on the New York Stock Exchange floor: technicians armed with microphones on 8-foot poles.
The exchange is recording the conversations of traders as part of a program, mandated under an April settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to address failures at its self-regulatory unit.
"The trading floor should not and cannot reasonably expect their oral communications to remain private," Richard Ketchum, the NYSE's chief regulatory officer, wrote in a June 21 memo to members. Any conversations after July 1 may be recorded, he said in the memo.
The program, designed to help regulators probe claims of improper trading, is part of a settlement that opened the Big Board to outside monitoring for the first time in its 213-year history.
Two and sometimes three technicians roam the floor, carrying a pole speckled with about 15 microphones, mounted at different heights and pointing in different directions.
GM financing does well away from cars
General Motors Corp.'s financing arm may make most of the company's money, but lately that unit has less and less to do with financing car loans.
As car sales at the world's largest automaker remain depressed and borrowing costs jump because of its junk credit ratings, General Motors Acceptance Corp. is increasingly relying on profits from its mortgage and insurance financing units.
In the second quarter, net income from GMAC's financing operations slid $74-million from a year ago, or 16.4 percent. Earnings at the company's mortgage operations, though, gained $19-million, and its insurance operations gained $25-million. Those two units helped GMAC to hold its overall net income decline to 3.4 percent.
Information from the Associated Press and Bloomberg News was used in this report.
[Last modified July 23, 2005, 00:54:16]
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