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Business is fat for surgical toolmaker

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 18, 2007

RUSKIN

A Hillsborough County company plans to cut the fat even as it expands by 100 employees. That's because B &M Precision Inc. makes liposuction tubes and surgical cutters and probes. B&M vows to boost employment by 2010 in exchange for $300,000 in state and local tax refunds. The company was founded in 1978 by Czechoslovakian immigrant and Olympian Miroslav Mitusina. The machinist and other jobs will pay an average of about $42,000, and B&M will invest $15-million in an extra 65,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Based in Ruskin, B&M now employs about 130.

WASHINGTON

Survey sees gloom in housing market

A key measure of industry sentiment on the U.S. market for new homes fell to its lowest point in more than 16 years, as builders struggle with rising inventories of unsold houses across the country, a trade group said Tuesday. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index, which tracks builders' perceptions of current market conditions and expectations for home sales over the next six months, fell to 24 this month, the lowest reading since January 1991, the NAHB said. Index ratings higher than 50 indicate positive sentiment about the market. The seasonally adjusted index has been below 50 since May 2006. Wall Street economists had expected a reading of 27, according to the consensus forecast of economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

NEW YORK

The retail scene is a pretty picture

U.S. retailers' same-store sales climbed 3.4 percent last week compared with a year earlier, the biggest gain in three months, as consumers spent more on groceries and began back-to-school shopping. July sales at stores open at least a year may increase 3 percent, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS Securities LLC said today. Rising food prices caused more shoppers to purchase groceries at discounters, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and bulk outlets, including Costco Wholesale Corp. Retailers cleared out merchandise last month to prepare for an influx of back-to- school spending, said Michelle Tan, an analyst with UBS. "Department stores with kids and juniors business, particularly in southern states, will get a lift in July," Tan said Tuesday in a report.

[Last modified July 18, 2007, 00:58:56]