http://www.kentucky.com/103/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Daily Business Report 60 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:15:52 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464482.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464482.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:32 EDT
Sayre Christian Village broke ground Thursday on a $4.6 million expansion of its affordable housing complex that will provide 42 new apartments for senior citizens.

Sayre and city and federal officials broke ground at the village at 3816 Camelot Drive in south Lexington.

Sayre Christian Village already provides affordable housing and long-term care to over 300 low-income senior citizens.

Christian Benevolent Outreach, the parent organization that operates Sayre Christian Village, worked with the city and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464532.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464532.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:03 EDT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. . The Tennessee Valley Authority's .megasite. economic development program is proving to be a megahit with major manufacturers.

The plan hatched by the nation's largest public utility in 2004 to lure vehicle manufacturers to large consultant-certified, ready-to-go sites in the Southeast is paying off . four sites have sold since 2005, including three in just over a year.

Volkswagen's decision Tuesday to build a $1 billion, 2,000-employee auto plant at the Enterprise South industrial site in Chattanooga is the latest.

Previously announced and lured by the same program: ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464687.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464687.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:09 EDT
The market was clearly pleased when Citigroup Inc., while reporting a second-quarter loss Friday morning, beat analysts' forecasts and joined Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in delivering stronger results than the market anticipated. But investors who ecstatically sent the Dow Jones industrials soaring by more than 480 points over Wednesday and Thursday were brought back down to earth by results from Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Google's results were lower than expected, the result of the weakening economy hurting advertising revenue, while Microsoft missed forecasts by a penny. Also, AMD's chief executive stepped down after the chip maker posted a wider-than-expected loss.

Still, the market that has hungered for good news about financial companies after a year-long credit crisis got it from Citi. The banking company reported a $2.5 billion second-quarter loss due to write-downs tied to deteriorating credit markets. The results surpassed projections, and helped to mitigate some of the market's concerns following a big loss from Merrill Lynch & Co. reported late Thursday.

It was a good sign to some analysts that the market didn't sell off sharply after two straight days of hefty gains.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463925.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463925.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:46 EDT
A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved store-closing sales for the remaining Dawahare's locations, as the company prepares to shutter operations within the next few months.

Liquidator Gordon Brothers Retail Partners can begin the sales, which will continue through the end of August at all locations and might extend into September at select ones.

In a five-hour auction to determine the liquidator, Gordon Brothers agreed to pay 41.5 percent of the retail value of Dawahare's merchandise. Court filings said the percentage payment was based on the inventory being no less than $8.6 million.

Gordon Brothers also has committed to pay a fixed $15,000 for the sale of fixtures, furniture and equipment at each of no fewer than 17 Dawahare's stores and as many as 22. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463491.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463491.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:19 EDT
Futures began the day lower after Google Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., and Microsoft Corp. had all posted quarterly results that missed analysts' expectations after the closing bell on Thursday. Meanwhile, oil prices moved higher after falling $15 over three days amid news of an output cut in Nigeria.

But Citi's better-than-expected results helped assuage nervous investors. The largest U.S. bank by assets reported a $2.5 billion second-quarter loss due to write-downs tied to deteriorating credit markets.

Dow Jones industrial futures rose 24 points, or 0.21 percent, to 11,425.

Citi's report followed stronger-than-expected reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. that helped relieve some of investors' worries about the health of the banking sector. Wall Street has grown concerned that souring mortgage debt would force some banks to go under. The Dow had triple digit gains Wednesday and Thursday in response to the banks' reports.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464531.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/464531.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:46 EDT
LOUISVILLE . Shares of Yum Brands Inc. tumbled more than 6 percent Thursday, a day after the fast-food company blamed surging commodity costs for taking a bite out of U.S. profits.

Yum's CEO, speaking on a conference call with analysts Thursday, expressed frustration with a slumping U.S. performance at KFC, one of the company's core chains along with Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

.KFC is taking the bloom off of what could have otherwise been a very good year,. David C. Novak said. .That, along with commodities, have taken the fun out of the U.S. business this year..

Despite commodity inflation and weakness at KFC, Yum beat Wall Street forecasts in the second quarter. Novak said Yum's brand and geographic diversity lets it weather tough times. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463305.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463305.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
WASHINGTON . The price of a quart of milk, a plane ticket and a host of other products rose in June at nearly the fastest pace in a generation, taking an even bigger-than-expected bite out of the buying power of Americans.

In the latest shock wave to hit the economy, consumer prices rose 1.1 percent in June from the month before, far faster than the expected rate of 0.7 percent and almost double the reading from May, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The news was the back half of a one-two punch on inflation. On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that prices at the wholesale level were rising by the highest annual rate in 27 years.

The only time in the past quarter-century that monthly inflation in consumer prices has increased so much was in September 2005, when prices jumped 1.3 percent, mostly because Hurricane Katrina shut down oil refineries and energy prices spiked. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462480.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462480.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:49 EDT
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of single-family homes dropped by 5.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000 units, the weakest performance since January 1991, another period when the housing industry was going through a severe downturn.

However, construction of multifamily units surged by 42.5 percent last month, thanks to a change in New York City building codes that spurred a wave of apartment construction in that area. Taken together, single and apartment construction rose by 9.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.066 million units.

But the total increase was viewed as an aberration that did not give a true picture of the continued weak state for the housing industry because it was skewed by the huge jump in apartment building in New York.

Private economists are predicting that housing will continue to be under strains for the rest of the year. The troubles in housing, combined with related turmoil in the financial sector attributed to billions of dollars of losses on mortgage loans, are dragging down the total economy, raising risks of a recession.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462498.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462498.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:54 EDT
The Fed chief made his remarks to the House Financial Services Committee, his second day on Capitol Hill where he briefed lawmakers on the problems plaguing the economy.

Bernanke appeared amid a backdrop of fading confidence in the U.S. financial system and in the national economy.

The Fed and the Treasury Department on Sunday came to the rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, offering to throw them a financial lifeline.

The two companies hold or guarantee more than $5 trillion in mortgages - almost half of the nation's total- and are major sources of financing for the mortgage market. The Bush administration is asking Congress to temporarily increase lines of credit to Fannie and Freddie and to let the government buy their stock. The Fed has offered to let the companies draw emergency loans.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463302.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463302.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
NEW YORK . Oil prices settled sharply lower for the second time in a row Wednesday, leaving crude more than $10 cheaper in just two days of frenzied trading and prompting speculation that the hard-charging market might be running out of steam.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $4.14 to settle at $134.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier sinking as low as $132. The drop follows a $6.44 sell-off Tuesday, the biggest since the Gulf War.

The two-day slide of $10.58 a barrel marks a dramatic turnaround in crude prices, which as recently as Friday traded at record highs above $147 a barrel. But even with this week's sell-off, prices remain about 80 percent above levels a year ago and up about 40 percent from the start of the year.

Analysts are unsure whether the drop represents a long-term shift or simply a brief correction to crude's monthslong bull run. But the decline is prompting market veterans to ask how much support remains for such high prices. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463301.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/463301.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
COLUMBUS, Ohio . The buying spree by Cleveland-Cliffs continued Wednesday with a nearly $10 billion acquisition of Alpha Natural Resources, broadening the onetime Midwest company's international reach as well as its exposure to a global steel industry clamoring to fuel its mills.

Its biggest acquisition to date, the cash-and stock deal will create a company with the largest reserves of iron ore and metallurgical coal in the United States.

The company will be named Cliffs Natural Resources, and own nine iron ore facilities and more than 60 coal mines in North and South America and Australia.

The iron ore business will operate from Cleveland and the coal business from Abingdon, Va. Alpha Natural Resources has a division in Roxana, Ky. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462435.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462435.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:04 EDT
The uptick in stock futures comes a day after falling oil prices and stronger-than-expected bank results swept Wall Street to a huge rally.

Investors are awaiting a government report on home construction and building permit applications for June. The Commerce Department report, due an hour before the 9:30 a.m. EDT opening bell, is expected to show construction of homes and apartments declined in June. A report is also due on weekly unemployment claims as is a Philadelphia Federal Reserve report on regional manufacturing.

But a flurry of quarterly results from companies like Merrill Lynch & Co. and Coca-Cola Co. could offer insights into the well-being of the economy. Investors will also be looking for signs of the toll that high commodity prices are having on companies dependent on consumer spending.

JPMorgan Chase said early Thursday its second-quarter profit fell to $2 billion from $4.2 billion a year earlier. But the company's results excluding one-time items topped Wall Street's expectations.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462214.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462214.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17 EDT
An automotive trade publication is casting doubt on the future of Toyota's Avalon, which is produced in Georgetown.

Edmunds Inside Line has reported that Toyota is .studying whether to cancel the planned replacement for the Camry-based Avalon..

Attributed to unidentified Toyota insiders, the publication's story said Toyota might instead build a long-wheelbase Camry in Georgetown, beginning in about 2010 or 2011.

Toyota spokesman Rick Hesterberg in Georgetown said Toyota does not release information about future product plans .for obvious competitive reasons.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462215.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462215.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17 EDT
CHARLOTTE, N.C. . The government's seizure of IndyMac Bank raises concerns for many consumers about whether their banks might be next.

Although it is unlikely the nation will see thousands of banks fail as they did during the savings and loan industry collapse in the late 1980s and early '90s, analysts predict there will be more battered financial institutions unable to survive in today's marketplace.

Here are some questions and answers about the government's role when a bank fails and if other banks are at risk:

Q: What happens when the government takes over a bank? ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462217.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/462217.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17 EDT
Mount Sterling's Nestl. plant is recalling a variety of Lean Pockets that may contain pieces of plastic.

About 350,000 packages of the products, a spinach artichoke chicken package with two sandwiches, are affected.

At this point, the company is uncertain how the pieces of white plastic of various sizes managed to get into the products, said spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn.

Three consumers have complained and two injuries have been reported, O'Hearn said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/461392.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/461392.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:53 EDT
The decline in stock futures comes a day after Wall Street closed mostly lower and the Dow Jones industrial average logged its first close below 11,000 since July 2006.

Oil prices extended their pullback after falling sharply Tuesday amid concerns that a slowing economy will dampen demand. The drop in oil Tuesday did briefly draw bargain hunters into the stock market but the buying failed to hold.

But despite further declines in oil, investors remain worried about the economy and specifically the financial sector. This week has brought fresh attention to potential trouble spots in the mortgage market. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-chartered mortgage giants, remain a concern, as do regional banks that have could have a large amount of bad mortgage debt on their books.

Investors will be looking ahead of the opening bell at the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index. Wall Street expects the government's primary inflation measure to show a 0.8 percent gain from May, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. The data are due at 8:30 a.m. EDT.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/461404.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/461404.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:56 EDT
Sites in Alabama and Michigan were also considered for the plant, which is part of Volkswagen's strategy to increase its presence in America. The company closed its last U.S. production facility in 1988 in western Pennsylvania.

Christian Wulff, the governor of Lower Saxony and a member of VW's supervisory board, told The Associated Press that Volkswagen picked Chattanooga after the board debated the merits of the location and its benefits.

Volkswagen said in a later statement that it approved up to $991.4 million to build the facility, with the plant aiming for a capacity of 150,000 cars a year. It plans to employ 2,000 workers when it starts production in 2011.

"The USA market is an important part of our volume strategy and we are now very resolutely accessing that market," chief executive Martin Winterkorn said in the statement. "Volkswagen will be extremely active there."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/460861.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/460861.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:27 EDT
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission voted unanimously Monday to ban toe grabs on horseshoes of all Thoroughbreds in training or in competition on Kentucky tracks.

A toe grab is a cleat at the front of the horse shoe to improve traction.

The rule was recommended by the health and safety committee of the commission. The committee looked at many years of scientific study showing a significant increase in the risk of front-leg injuries when toe grabs are used. The rule is only for the front legs.

The rule change follows a Jockey Club recommendation to ban toe grabs. Officials said five other state already have adopted such a rule. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/460709.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/460709.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:56 EDT
The Cleveland-based regional bank said it has experienced no unusual depositor or creditor activity and has more than $12 billion in excess short-term liquidity.

Investors have been worried about the solvency of some banks amid the sharp downturn in the mortgage market. Late Friday the government seized IndyMac Bancorp, marking the second-largest failure of a financial institution in U.S. history.

National City has been among those hit hardest by rising mortgage defaults. It recently raised $7 billion in cash to shore up its capital base. The bank said the recent cash infusion has helped it to maintain a strong capital ratio.

Shares of National City tumbled 65 cents or 14.7 percent to $3.77 late Monday. They had reached as low as $2.99 during the day, their lowest level in decades.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/460310.html http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/460310.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:56 EDT
But InBev SA has an ambitious plan behind its $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, hoping to tap into the U.S. company's massive marketing power and make the Budweiser and Bud Light brands into globally recognized products akin to Coca-Cola or Pepsi.

Leaving marketing untouched, though, will mean cuts elsewhere. InBev expects to wring out $1.5 billion in annual savings, most of which will come from better managing the supply chain. InBev keeps a sharp eye on costs, forcing managers to justify every cent spent.

Anheuser-Busch Cos. agreed to the sweetened $70 per share bid late Sunday to create the world's largest brewer and head off what was shaping up as an acrimonious fight. Swallowing Anheuser-Busch will give InBev, the maker of brands including Stella Artois, Beck's and Bass, half the U.S. beer market and a fifth of those in China and Russia.

Gaining control of an iconic beer brand - Budweiser - to sell into emerging markets such as China and Brazil was a key part of the deal, said InBev Chief Executive Carlos Brito, who will retain his position.]]>