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By TIMES WIRES
Published September 7, 2006

Oil prices fall below $68, a five-month low

Oil prices fell to a five-month low Wednesday, dipping below $68 a barrel amid easing gasoline demand at the end of summer and growing doubts among some traders that Iran will pull supplies off the market. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.10 to settle at $67.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing price for front-month futures since April 7. A more subdued forecast for this year's Atlantic hurricane season has contributed to a recent tumble in energy prices.

Sinkhole-prone areas to save on insurance

Homeowners who live in areas of the state prone to sinkholes, including portions of Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties, could see a portion of their property insurance lowered by as much as 14 percent, state regulators confirmed Wednesday. A law passed in May allows regulators to lower the amount homeowners pay for sinkhole coverage. The rate relief affects only the sinkhole portion of policies and excludes wind coverage. While nearly every Florida policyholder will see a reduction, the areas most affected will be where the sinkhole percentage of the premium is the highest.

Bucs still rank sixth in NFL ticket prices

The average price of a ticket to see a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game has risen 6.9 percent to $69.97 this season, compared with an average ticket price increase of 5.6 percent among all NFL teams, according to Team Marketing Report's annual survey. The report placed Tampa Bay sixth in the league in average cost of a ticket, unchanged from last year's rank.

Productivity gain drops as wages climb

The productivity rate of American workers slowed in the spring, while wage pressures increased. The Labor Department said that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, increased at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the April-June quarter, slightly better than the 1.1 percent increase estimated a month ago but down from a 4.3 percent growth rate in the January-March period. Wages registered a second sizable increase, rising at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the second quarter, up from an initial estimate of a 4.2 percent increase - good news for workers, but the kind of development that leads the Federal Reserve Board and economists to worry about inflation.

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[Last modified September 6, 2006, 23:05:14]