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Letter to the editor

5 Big Stories: The Week in Business

A look back the week's top Business stories

By Jeff Harrington, Times Deputy Business Editor
Published October 21, 2007

1. Remembering Black Monday

Friday marked the 20-year anniversary of the second worst day in the stock market's history.

What it means: It's a sobering and worrisome memory given current concerns of a credit crunch and housing market turmoil. But Wall Street safeguards make a repeat occurrence less likely.

2. Florida retail sales fall off

Led by depressed sales of construction materials and home improvements, the state has seen a drop in recent months in retail sales tax collections.

What it means: Short of a surprise uptick in the economy, Florida is on track to report its first annual decrease in sales tax collections since the 1992 recession.

3. Citrus groves thinning

Florida farmers are replanting fewer trees than at any time in the past 30 years as crop land is disappearing.

What it means: Not only is the Florida landscape changing quickly, fewer groves is one reason orange juice prices have been driven up more than a third in the past five years.

4. Three Americans share Nobel economics prize

Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson win for developing a theory on maximizing gains from a transaction.

What it means: Their theory has been used in everything from labor negotiations to auctioning of government bonds to determining which insurance policies will provide the best coverage.

5. Ikea comes to South Florida

Thousands from as far away as Naples flock to the opening of the Swedish furniture retailer's first Florida store.

What it means: Brace yourself. An Ikea outlet opens in Orlando in November and is slated to arrive in Tampa in 2009.

[Last modified October 19, 2007, 22:20:39]