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Show PAGE 6 W I SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2004 BUSINESS EDITOR Local Industry News & notes V V V V Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P500 Gold Silver Final 10,260.20 Final Final 1.113.63 Per ounce $400.50 -- 5.50 Per ounce $6,553 --0.215 1,844.48 --28.95 -- 4.68 344-291- gleoogOhefaldextra.com 0 EXCHANGING THE DOLLAR Thyndty 109.46 $1.2157 $1.7892 1.3008 11.4840 Friday 110.60 $1.2071 $1.7759 1.2988 11.5070 Yen Euro British pound CanarJandoH Mexican peso Economy adds 144,000 jobs ShopKo names two new senior executives ShopKo Stores Inc., a Green Bay, Wis., department store chain with three stores in Utah County, named Rid( Barartayk its director of planning and rechain. Baranczyk will overplenishment systems for its see the systems and processes that manage the flow of merchandise to ShopKo's stores. Baranczyk joined ShopKo in 1979 as a part-tim- e teammate at a ShopKo store in Winona, Minn. He has since held several store management and replenishment positions. Jeffrey Herkert was named ShopKo's director of application and integration services. He will direct application development, integration and technical support activities. Herkert joined ShopKo in 1992 as a programmer analyst and was later promoted to project manager. 140-sto- votes for a president. George W. Bush, who has the job, sparred with Democratic rival John Kerry on the campaign trail over the health of the economy and the availability of work. Bush seized upon the report as evidence his policies are working. "It shows that our economy is strong and getting stronger," he told a crowd Friday at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. "Our growing economy is spreading prosperity and opportunity and nothing will hold us back, he enthused. But Kerry, stumping in Ohio, said the new figures constitut Jeannine Aversa THE . ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Employ- ers stepped up hiring in August, expanding payrolls by 144,000 and lowering the unemployment rate marginally to 5.4 percent. While the figures didn't amount to a national job fair, analysts said, they did hold out the promise of stronger growth following the summer hill. The latest snapshot of the employment climate, contained in a Labor Department report Friday, came just about two months before the country National briefing Medicare premiums to rise 17 percent next year Medicare premiums for doctor visits will rise percent next year, the Bush administration said Friday. The h increase is the largest in the program's WASHINGTON 17 V V30.08 Appointments Grace Leong I were created in those two months 59,000 more than previously reported. "The report suggests the economy is gradually pulling out of its soft patch," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Banc of America Capital Management. "It is still difficult to find a job but companies are beginning to selectively look for new hires." Other business analysts, while still hopeful about future job growth improvements, weren't as certain that the economy was coming out of its ed another example of what he called Bush's "record of failure The Massachusetts senator added: "I don't think this is something to celebrate. I think it's something to get to work on." The 144,000 net jobs added to the economy in August while slightly less than the 150,000 positions economists were the were forecasting most since May and marked the 12th straight month that payrolls grew. Employment figures for June and July still relatively lackwere revised to show luster a combined 169,000 net jobs See ECONOMY, D5 $11.60-a-mont- Monthly payments for Part B of the government health cart prodoctor visits and most gram for older and disabled Americans other expenses will jump to $78.20 from $66.60. The premiums are updated annually under a formula set by law. The federal government picks up about 75 percent of the cost of Part B benefits and beneficiaries pay the rest. Firm wants $25M for guiding Enron bankruptcy The price of success is $25 million, according to a HOUSTON filing Friday by the corporate rescue firm of Enron Corp.'s interim chief executive. r Stephen Forbes Cooper LLC applied to a Manhattan bankruptcy court for the "success fee" as payment for guiding the disgraced former energy trading giant through the Chapter 11 process. The fee would be in addition to $63.4 million in fees the firm had received as of June 30. The sale of Enron assets yielded $ 12.85 billion. Cooper's firm boasts that his management is to thank for adding $6.2 billion of that amount, nearly doubling their value. EU may soon settle antitrust case against Coca-Co- A" - la - The European Union is moving closer to BRUSSELS, Belgium g antitrust case against The Coca-Col- a Co., settling its having judged the beverage giant's offer to modify distribution deals in Europe good enough to begin gauging the industry's reac tion, sources close to the talks said Friday.. The European Commission is sending letters to Coke's soft drink rivals and other third parties seeking their input to the offer made by Coke in early August, three sources said on condition of anonymity. A Coca-Colspokesman would not comment Friday on the details of the offer, but confirmed that the EU was moving forward with industry consultations. long-runnin- a Yukos' taxes increases to $74B owed to Russia MOSCOW Russia's Tax Ministry raised its tax bill for 2001 against the floundering Yukos oil giant by some $700 million, bringing total back tax claims against the nation's biggest oil producer to $7.4 billion, the company said Friday. Yukos already faces a $3.4 billion bill for 2000, of which the company has paid $2 billion. The Ministry also had begun pursuing the company for allegedly unpaid taxes in 2001. According te the revised claims for 2001, Yukos dodged taxes through illegal onshore tax havens to the tune of $4 billion, Interfax reported the Tax Ministry's claim as saying. Earlier the Tax Ministry had said Yukos owed $3.3 billion for 2001, the company said. - FILEAssociated Press at Teotihuacanis is shown in this September 2003 photo at the archeological site 18 miles from Mexico City. A e store is being built a from the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan and a small, embattled group opposed to seeing the store from atop the pyramids is fighting a lonely battle for what it calls Mexico's landscape and culture. A pyramid half-mil- Mexicans upset with Wal-Ma- rt Mark Stevenson 3Com expects revenue to be 10 percent lower THE 3Com Corp. said' Friday its quarterMARLBOROUGH, Mass. ly revenue will come in around 10 percent below its previous expectation, an announcement that sent shares of the communications network supplier down 10 percent. The company expects revenue in the range of $160 million to $ 164 million for its first fiscal quarter, which ended Aug. 27. Re-suits will be reported Sept. 16. ASSOCIATED manuel D'Herrera, a business owner in Teotihuacan, 30 miles north of Mexico PRESS City. MEXICO CITY A half-mil- " STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST 2,000-year-o- Yesterday's performance of selected publkly traded companies COMPANY AA Alcoa Inc. ABS Albertson's, mc' ' 32.85 40.13 25.28 037 . LAST CHANGE COMPANY MYGN Myriad Genetics NATR NaMSunstsr ' 16i3-0.e- Prod ..' 15.01. ABX BarndcGold 19.76 423 NETM NetManagthc AEP Amer Electric Pwr 32.91 0.16 NOW. Novel Inc AJG AmerlrrtlGroip 71.76 0.13 NUS Nu Skin AMGN Amgenlnc 59.53 0.38 NWN Northwest Natural Gas 31.45 AWA ArrVVestHcJdino5'B, 6.73 0.11 PCG PG&E 29.25 415 AWE AT&T .14.59 0.02 PFE 32.55 015 Wireless Svcs ' Pfizer, , Corp Inc ' Bank of America 43.61 0.24 PTZ Pulitzer BLL BAUCORP 37.61 0.01 0 BIS BellSouth Corp 27.06 O03 RO Qwest Comrruiications Royal Dutch Petrol ADR 38.80 0.41 S SBC SCOX SCO BN BantaCorp C Citigroup CBAG CRESTED CORP CMCSA Comcastd'A' Inc 461-0.1- DAL ChevronTexacoCorp Delta Air Lines 0.28 0.00 27.67 421 99.77 SKO ' 0.01 5152 421 Searsjtoebudc 39.84 415' SBCCcrnnunkations 2120 O02 ' WS Disney (Walt) Co DNEX DkmexCorp 4839 1J2 SPI Sent) Corp Scottish Power ERICY EncssonOMITerB 26.62 1.45 STA StPaulTravdersCos ETR EntergyCorp Franklin Covey 6058 419 STR QuestarCorp FC 1.74 0.00 SWFT GDW Golden West 0.42 GE GerJ Electric HCA HCAhc HRB Block (H&R) HSIC Schem (Henry) IBM ADS 6.400.051 3432 4177 1843 1234 14J0 437 403 417? 405 432 417 , 29X17 ADS TGT Target Corp Unocal Corp 45.93 O20 39.01 036 UDR UiMDaitfonRltyTr ' UNH UntedHeaN) Group 431 ' 20.05 1.58 USB Ui. Bancorp 2123 6704 2954 0.13 lntlBus.Machres 39.0J 074 USK U.S. Nordstrom, KRON Kronoshc LFB LongviewFbe LU jjcerrt Technologies Southwest Airihes 10841 UC) MQ MCKESSON MER Merri h: CORP. 38.95037 USNA Energy Cop U5ANA Hear Sciences 495 420 3.05 406 1425 472 UTMD UtahMkIPioducB VZ VeramCorrruKjtioni WEN Wendy's Wets Fargo WsVMart Store! 42XB . ' 1257 ' Lynch UCL 3145 51.8 WFC 002 006 020 X WMT WM MlTYErrtaprises Merit MerJcal Systems 1S2S ITjOO 412 XR MbosortCorp 27.11 451 4421 7JON Technology Corp 1123 M' i j t r' 404 2J0 405 2118 422 1959 4006 011. 088 5927 5325 321 415 WtttoNuMonlntrA' UJ. Steel ' 38.11 Xcet Energy Zions Bancorp 62.64 " 083 361 023;. O01 414 1754 406 056 ASSOCIATED PRESS ," rt rt See MEXICO, D5 . ralAu- , NEW YORK AT&T HM MU 404 T Intel Corp MSFT 14.01 SY Penney MMSI 17.69 3284 428 3888 0.08 4894 0.11 64.000.115 8439 418 Finl INTC MJTY SNTO he THE SwiftTransportation Sybase he . JCP LUV SkyVVest 134 044 58.90 Wal-Mart- Analysts hope for strong month for stocks xPuttingBlak behind bars The normal election year Meg Richards earnings for the entire pattern shows the market period depend on this won't be easy month, Tobias lying in Jury and most of Wall Street then so we've chief 3.930109 Stopko Stores SKYW ' i 001 Ml ld d afraid of losing business to Wal-Mar-t. The opponents don't deny that, but they argue that small stores and markets should be preserved, even if they offer little cultural purity. There is a street market at Otumba, a mile or so away, that will be destroyed by said D'Herrera. The market is full of plastic stuff and Chinese goods, but it still should be preserved." While Wal-Mastarted work without the presence of the government-mandate- d archaeologist and refuses to allow a reporter to visit the site, it says it has "promoted and respected Mexican culture and traditions." The store's walls and roof struts are alexecutives say ready up, and Wal-Mathey have taken steps to make the store in- conspicuous. 0.17. 001 3.04 402 2237 414 4.10 0.10 03 ' 4850 Group SmrthMI Sit 0.12 he 5.46 5.79 26.13 Erterpree'A' BAC CVX j SYM LAST CHANGE He claims a tall sign will loom near the huge twin pyramids that draw hundreds of thousands of touristslannually, although a government-appointearchaeologist disputes that. And while the store is visible from atop the pyramid, so are many other modern businesses and houses. Underlining his group's lack of support, D'Herrera said probably 70 percent of the town's mostly poor residents support the new store because it will offer lower prices than the area's small shops. The housewives want to go shopping with credit cards ... and the teenagers want to go skateboarding in the parking lot, like in the United States," he said. The archaeologist, Veronica Ortega, said the opponents represent shopkeepers . e discount store rising a from the ancient temples of Teotihuacan has touched off a fight by a small coalition that doesn't want to see the big, boxy outlet from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. But with most people in the area supt, the group is waging a porting lonely battle for what it calls its defense of Mexico's landscape and culture. The dispute in Teotihuacan a town built next to the ruins of the metropolis illustrates how the allure of low prices and US. lifestyles often wins out in Mexico, leaving traditionalists struggling to draw a line in rapidly shifting cultural sands. "We'd rather not have Mickey Mouse on top of the Pyramid of the Moon," says Em Wal-Mar- SVM owned store professionals know to keep their expectations in check in September, historically the , worst month of the year for r stocks. As summertime draws to a close, money managers are getting back to business, cleaning house, and often sending the market lower in the process. September has opened strong eight of the last nine years, but it's ended with a ? knock-ou- t punch for stocks for the last five, partly be--1 cause institutional traders ire making quarter" portfolio changes. But some analysts, noting the market's unusual sell-of- f this Jury, question whether the pattern will hold true this year. ,. end-of-t- . Levkovich, U.S. equity strategist at selling off, gust, been much weaker than norQtigroup's Smith Barney divimal," said Tim Hayes, global sion, wrote in a recent note to stock strategist at Ned Davis clients. And when Labor Day Research in Venice, Fla. The falls deeper in the month, like market may have already had this year, things can get even sell-of- f. that more complicated "We suspect that there will During seven of the last 10 be a fair amount of nervouspresidential races, the major indexes posted gains for Sepness about earnings this quartember, according to the ter, especially if the August Stock Trader's Almanac. The employment numbers ... are month ended in a loss three less than exciting Levkovich times in 1972 and 1984, told investors. d when incumbents ran and data reThe won, and in 2000, when there ' leased by the Labor Departwas no incumbent. ment on Friday offered some Part of what drives Septempromise after two months of ber's typical weakness is the anemic jobs growth, but it wasnt enough to electrify the difficulty of assessing the outlook for third-quartmarket. Employers added summer oowrums. it's almost as if See STOCKS, D5. SethSutel THE PRESS NEW YORK Even in the context of current outrage against corporate malfeasance, the tone of a report released this week detailing financial ' self dealing by Conrad Black and his top lieutenant at Hollinger International Inc. was blistering. "A Corporate "Flagrant abdication of duty by a director, who also happens to be a former Assistant Secretary of Defense. v tooting." ' However, putting Black bars OTTecovering the $400 million that investigators V pre-electi- -- Klep-tocrac- y. much-awaite- "Ag-gress- . er ASSOCIATED be-hi- . See BLACK, D5 . |