http://http://www.kentucky.com/473/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2009 Kentucky.com Business - Wire 60 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:28:07 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench interactive-ops@herald-leader.com http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017761.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017761.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:57 EST
The new Prius, either a station wagon or SUV, is set to go on sale by the end of next year. It will be the first from Toyota Motor Corp. with a lithium-ion battery, which is more powerful than the nickel-metal hydride battery, now in its hybrids, according to the nationally circulated Yomiuri newspaper.

Toyota, the world's top automaker, declined comment on product plans.

The Yomiuri said the Prius will sell for about 2 million yen ($22,000), but did not give details.

Toyota leads rivals in hybrids, especially in Japan, where government ecological incentives have made it a top-seller for months.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017753.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017753.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:57 EST
The U.S. and European economies, which are barely starting to recover from the global meltdown, are less at risk, but in Asia the massive liquidity flowing into regional markets could push asset prices up dangerously high, Zoellick told a business forum on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

"In this region some care must be taken because as we get recoveries ... we could see inflation or some flow into commodities markets or certain asset price markets," Zoellick said.

Stimulus spending and loosened credit and monetary policies have helped spur a recovery in the region, especially in India and in China, which clocked growth at 8.9 percent in the third quarter.

Zoellick noted that Asian central banks, which normally take their cues from the U.S. Federal Reserve, are doubly reluctant to raise interest rates to fight inflation because that will likely push the values of their currencies higher - weakening the potential for growth in their exports by making them less competitive.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017755.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017755.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:57 EST
The biggest economic crisis since the 1930s has been the focus of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, an annual gathering of 21 member economies from Asia and the Pacific Rim.

As spending drops and savings increase among consumers in the United States, the world's biggest economy, "somebody else has to spend more somewhere else in the world. This has to be in Asia," Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

"The next few years' growth will be slow worldwide but in the long term, Asia will do well," Lee said in a keynote address to a conference of business leaders.

He said the demographics are favorable for growth in China and India, two rare bright spots in the world economy with growth rates of over 6 percent.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016281.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016281.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:50 EST
A new federal study documenting the warming waters of the North Atlantic confirms that they're right - and that the typical meal could eventually change to the Atlantic croaker, red hake and summer flounder normally found to the south.

"Fishermen are businessmen, so if they have to go farther and deeper to catch the fish that we like to eat, eventually it won't be economical to do that," said Janet Nye, a fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the lead author of the study.

"It just won't be in your local seafood store, or maybe it'll be more expensive," said Nye, who works at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass. "So I think there'll be a natural, hopefully slow, switch to different seafoods."

For the study, which first appeared Oct. 30 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, Nye and three other NOAA biologists analyzed water temperature trends from North Carolina to the Canadian border off Maine from 1968 to 2007. They then looked at fish survey data collected each spring and assessed where the fish were caught and how abundant they were.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016615.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016615.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:36 EST
"The determinations I render I design first and foremost to make sure those companies thrive and that the taxpayers get their money back," said Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury Department's special master for executive compensation.

Feinberg spoke following reports that American International Group Inc. CEO Robert Benmosche was threatening to leave after chafing under Feinberg's oversight of pay at the firm. Benmosche said Wednesday he was frustrated but planned to stay on.

Feinberg didn't learn about Benmosche's purported threats to leave the company until reading those news reports, he told reporters after his speech.

But he said Benmosche had told him that Feinberg's pay rules for the 25 highest-earning employees would cause key personnel to leave, making it difficult for the company to return its taxpayer bailouts.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016822.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016822.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:56 EST
Greenbrier said it expected revenue in the new fiscal year, which began in September, will be lower than in the one that just ended. But higher margins in refurbishment and parts businesses will drive higher earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

The company earned $6.7 million, or 37 cents per share, in the quarter ended Aug. 31. It earned $7.4 million, or 45 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

The results included tax benefits of $6.8 million and charges such as severance costs of $2.5 million. Without those items, the company would have earned 14 cents per share.

Analysts, who usually exclude items from their forecasts, expected a loss of 3 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017043.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017043.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:51 EST
The Business Roundtable, which represents big company CEOs, said some of the changes being considered by Congress have the potential to reduce future health care cost increases, bringing medical inflation closer in line with overall economic growth. But the group also warned that other provisions in the bills could raise costs.

If current trends prevail, per-employee health care costs will triple by 2019, the report estimated. If the changes Congress is considering are carried out correctly, it could yield a savings of $3,000 per worker. A more aggressive approach - with hospitals and doctors paid for quality, not quantity - could save $5,000 per employee.

Obama greeted the analysis as welcome validation at a time when other business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business have soured on the Democrats' health care bills and are mobilizing the opposition.

The report "underscores what experts and businesspeople have told us all along - comprehensive health insurance reform is one of the most important investments we can make in American competitiveness," the president said in a statement released by the White House.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017184.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017184.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:41 EST
NYSE:

Advanced Auto Parts Inc., down $1.59 at $38.69

Third-quarter sales at stores open at least one year for the car parts retailer missed Wall Street expectations.

Lee Enterprises Inc., up 11 cents at $3.64]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017321.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017321.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:58 EST
The plant will produce polysilicon, a raw material used to make solar cells and semiconductor devices.

Before remarks at a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Gov. Phil Bredesen noted that the sun was shining into the faces of people in the audience and said that it was appropriate "because that is the future up there."

The plant is scheduled to be completed in 2012 and create more than 800 construction jobs. The plant is expected to have about 500 full-time employees when complete.

Bredesen said the Hemlock plant lays the groundwork for the solar industry in Tennessee.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016341.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016341.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:35 EST
The increase reported Thursday by the EU's statistical office Eurostat was slightly below market expectations for a 0.5 percent increase but means that industrial production over the July to September rose by 2.2 percent.

Though September's increase was way down on the 1.2 percent recorded in August, partly because of the end of some of the car scrappage programs across the region, it was the fifth straight monthly rise. That helped trim the annual rate of decline to 12.9 percent from 15.1 percent.

Industrial production is important for the eurozone as much of its future growth will hinge on exporting high value items like cars, particularly from Germany.

The September industrial figures will be incorporated into growth data out Friday. These are expected to show that the eurozone as a whole is officially out of recession.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016681.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016681.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:05 EST
Western region Superintendent Victor Agbetornyo said Thursday that police are trying to identify the dead.

He says the victims were prospecting in an illegal gold mine in the town of Dompoase when it collapsed on Tuesday.

Police did now know how many people were working in the mine at the time but other miners escaped unharmed.

Police in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, say they have launched an investigation.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016847.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016847.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:16 EST
The Pasadena, Calif.-based company said Wednesday it expects fiscal 2010 earnings of $1.25 to $1.35 per share on revenue of $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion.

In a note to investors, Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Debra Coy pointed to a higher consensus estimate of $1.37 per share and her firm's estimate of $1.33 per share. Analysts predicted revenue of $1.53 billion while her firm anticipated $1.47 billion.

"We believe the cautious outlook is due to continued delays in release of federal government work, as well as continued weakness in commercial building-related work and some state and local consulting work, which is hurting capacity utilization and margins," Coy wrote.

She continued: "We had been preparing for conservative guidance, though the bottom end of the range will probably scare some investors."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017062.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017062.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:20 EST
Amtrak said in a news release that tracks are blocked, and service is not expected to resume Thursday. Service between Richmond and Washington, D.C., and points north was not affected.

CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said five cars derailed Thursday morning in Henrico County and struck a caboose on an adjacent track. There were no injuries, and no hazardous materials were involved. Sullivan said three of the derailed cars were empty. The others carried pulp board and coal.

He said the cause of the derailment was unknown.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017199.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017199.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:34 EST
Democrats who control the Ohio House, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio Business Roundtable - generally a bigger supporter of Republicans - all want another bond issue for the Ohio Third Frontier to go on the May ballot. But Republican Senate President Bill Harris said no one has demonstrated why the proposal should be on the ballot so soon when funding for the program is available through 2011.

The $1.6 billion Ohio Third Frontier program provides startup money for companies in targeted industries such as advanced energy and materials, the biomedical industry, and power and propulsion. A recent independent study found the program, which began under Republican Gov. Bob Taft in 2002, has created about 41,000 jobs. Voters approved $500 million in bonds in 2005.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle sing Ohio Third Frontier's praises. But now there are growing frustrations between House Democrats and Senate Republicans over an inability to settle the question of when it should be renewed and possibly expanded.

"The politics can be an obstacle, but the policy has been a strong success for Ohio," said Brian Hicks, former chief of staff for Taft, who believes there's no strong reason not to go to the ballot in May. Hicks said an agreement can be reached in which either everyone gets credit for Third Frontier, or no one does.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017325.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017325.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:09 EST
Work is to be performed in West Point, Miss., with an expected completion date of April 30, 2011.

Shares of the Warrenville, Ill., company added 12 cents to $35.53 in after-hours trading, after adding a penny to close at $35.41.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016411.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016411.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:35 EST
Still, many economists worry the nation could be in for a "jobless recovery" as the unemployment rises despite some overall economic growth in the third quarter.

A Labor Department report is projected to show new unemployment insurance claims dropped by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 510,000 last week, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. That would be the lowest total since early January.

Claims have declined since this spring. The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations, fell to 523,750 last week, its ninth straight drop and about 135,000 below the peak reached in early April.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of layoffs and an indication of companies' willingness to hire new workers. Many analysts estimate that claims will need to fall to roughly 450,000 to signal that the economy is adding jobs.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016735.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016735.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:25 EST
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board voted to mandate the early payments of premiums for 2010 through 2012. Amid the struggling economy and rising loan defaults, 120 banks have failed so far this year, costing the insurance fund more than $28 billion.

To address concerns of small banks in weak financial condition, the FDIC also set up an exemption process for those that prove the prepaid fees would be a hardship.

The FDIC expects the cost of bank failures to grow to about $100 billion over the next four years.

It is the first time the agency has required prepaid insurance fees. The idea behind it is for banks to spread the costs over three years rather than paying a one-time fee that would deplete their capital reserves.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016869.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1016869.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:36 EST
The nation's largest independent petroleum refiner said TRC made an offer for up to 5 million shares, or less than 1 percent of the company's common stock, at a price of $16.55 per share. It said the offer price was 4.22 percent below to the closing price of Valero's stock on Nov. 10, the date of the offer.

Mini-tender offers are bids for less than 5 percent of a company's stock. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the offers are often made at below-market prices by firms that have not secured the funds to finance their bids. The agency says shareholders are also not always given the right to withdraw their offers.

Shares of Valero slid 27 cents to $17.18 in afternoon trading.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017070.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017070.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:26 EST
The maker of ammunition, propulsion systems and aerospace supplies also boosted its full-year profit and revenue forecasts late Wednesday, and said its CEO Daniel J. Murphy will retire in March. Chief Financial Officer John Shroyer was named interim CEO effective immediately.

The company said net income for the three months ended Oct. 4 rose to $72.5 million, or $2.19 per share, from $61.5 million, or $1.77 per share, in the year-earlier period.

Sales climbed 10 percent to $1.21 billion from $1.1 billion, driven by continued strength in the company's armament systems and mission systems divisions.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected earnings of $2.06 per share on revenue of $1.18 billion.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017211.html http://www.kentucky.com/473/story/1017211.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:56 EST
Parsons founded XM Satellite Radio and was its chairman before the company's merger with Sirius. His replacement with an outside director brings the company in line with Nasdaq Stock Market rules on independent board members.

In a statement issued by the company, Parsons said "now is the right time to step aside," following the merger of Sirius and XM. He said he was proud "of everything that has been accomplished in satellite radio."

Parsons said the combined company has begun to generate cash flow and improve its financial health despite the economic downturn. He did not indicate any future plans.

CEO Mel Karmazin said Parsons was a pioneer who steered the company in the right direction including the merger.]]>