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In brief: Investors don't like Jabil's forecast

By Times wires
Published September 29, 2007

St. PETERSBURG - Jabil Circuit Inc., the maker of phones for Nokia Oyj and electronics for Hewlett-Packard Co., fell the most in six months in New York trading Friday after its forecast disappointed some investors. The company's shares dropped $1.66, or 6.8 percent, to close at $22.84 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The decline was the largest since March 23. Jabil has fallen 7 percent this year. Jabil said Thursday that sales this quarter would rise to $3.3-billion. It expects earnings to climb to between 33 cents and 37 cents a share, excluding some costs.

Consumer spending grew in August
WASHINGTON - Consumers shrugged off sagging home prices and financial market turmoil in August to push up spending by a better-than-expected amount. In other news, a key inflation gauge showed price pressures outside of food and energy eased further last month and construction activity rose, thanks to continued strength outside of housing. The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose by 0.6 percent in August, the best showing in four months and better than the 0.4 percent increase that had been expected.

GM-UAW contract means lower wages
DETROIT - Local union leaders on Friday endorsed a tentative agreement between General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers that requires GM to pay out at least $3-billion for retiree health care, establishes lower wages for thousands of new employees and offers promises for future work at U.S. plants, according to a summary of the agreement provided by the UAW. The agreement still is subject to a vote of GM's 74,000 UAW members, which should be completed by Oct. 10.

Stolen laptop had data on 800,000
SAN FRANCISCO - Someone stole a laptop computer containing unencrypted personal information of 800,000 people who applied for jobs at Gap Inc., the retailer announced Friday. The laptop stored Social Security numbers and other data from people who applied online and by phone between July 2006 and June.

3Com board okays $2.2B sale to firm
MARLBOROUGH, Mass. - 3Com Corp., a maker of networking hardware and software, will be sold to affiliates of private-equity firm Bain Capital Partners LLC for $2.2-billion in cash, 3Com said Friday. Shareholders will receive $5.30 in cash for each share of 3Com stock. 3Com's board approved the deal and recommended shareholders approve it.

Shareholders back A.G. Edwards deal
ST. LOUIS - A.G. Edwards Inc. stockholders on Friday approved a $6.8-billion plan to be acquired by Wachovia Corp. to form the nation's second-largest retail brokerage firm.A.G. Edwards, the St. Louis financial services holding company, said the deal is expected to close Monday.

Seeing the light
Volkswagen AG said Friday it was recalling 340,000 cars in the United States because head lights didn't comply with federal safety standards. The recall targets 2005-08 Jetta models, and 2006-2008 Rabbit, GTI and R32 models.

[Last modified September 28, 2007, 23:14:39]