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Show TRW PAGE 6 2alttr;4Hcrttlft FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2008 JIM BUSINESS EDITOR V Local Industiy Dow Jones News & notes Final 12,049.39 -- 214.60 2,220.50 Silver 1,304.34 -- 29.36 fler ounce $975.00 -- $14.00 Per ounce $20,131 -- $0,554 -- 52.31 Wdneday Thurjday Yen Euro Pound 103.87 $1.5262 $1.9916 1.0139 10.7053 103.09 $1.5365 $2.0092 1.0144 10.8225 " Canadian dollar Mexican peso v Retail SLC hose distributor to open in Springville Evco House of Hose, a Salt Lake hose and fitting distributor with seven stores including one in Orem, is opening a new location in Springville in May. Founded in 1958, the company now has nearly 80 workers and plans to celebrate its 5()th anniversary in May. H d City-base- Final' Final Gold S&P500 gleongffiheialdextta.com THE DOLLAR EXCHANGING U Nasdaq - 344 2910- Grace leong lore MsiMO siiiini s: .1 Business design company opens new office in Pleasant deGrove ThinkBox Design Marketing, a Highland-base- d Web of business and sites, brochures, logos, graphics signer other marketing materials, opened a new office at the All American Plaza at 1348 W. State Road in Pleasant Grove. Founded in 2005, the company now has seven workers. lens u People On the Move SLC medical records services company names new exec MediConnect Global Inc., a Salt Lake City provider of medical records retrieval, scanning and storage services, named Bryan Christiansen its senior vice president of finance. Christiansen will manage the finances of all its corporate operations worldwide. He has a broad range of corporate finance, strategic growth, operational, and international experience including serving as chief of staff and vice president of operational strategy at Affiliated Computer Services, a diversified outsourcing company, and as a consultant at Monitor Group, a global strategy consulting firm. - ST SoO.23l.2oUO . Payson nutritional supplements company names new mannutritional supple-- , ager Sabinsa Corp., a Payson-base- d ments maker, named Benoit Le Gall its quality assurance and quality control manager for the Payson office. Le Gall will be responsible for upholding TGA certifications, maintaining FDA cGMP compliance and managing its laboratories, air handling, and water purification systems. Le Gall has more than eight years of experience as a chemist with a strong background in quality control and laboratory practices. He previously served as a research associate at Texas A&M University, as well as the University of Brest, France, where he received a Ph.D. in chemistry. His management background includes a Master of Business Administration from the Paris GradffittSchool of Management. j Retailers report mixed sales results in Feb. NEW YORK Consumers gave the nation's stores some relief in February, spending a little more freely although they mostly gravitated toward discounters and grocers. The challenge for merchants in coming months is to get shopa tough task when pers to splurge on spring fashions Americans are worried about plunging home values, tighter credit and rising gas prices. As retailers reported mixed February sales results Thursday , it was clear that shoppers bought the basics, helping e Stores Inc. and Costco operators like Wal-MaWholesale Corp. exceed Wall Street expectations after a dismal January and disappointing holiday season. But customers largely shunned apparel stores, hurting merchants like Gap Inc., Limited Brands Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. low-pric- rt mall-base- d Jobless claims drop, no overall change The number of people signing up for WASHINGTON unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, a spot of welcome news that nonetheless failed to change the overall picture of a softer employment climate. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance fell by a seasonally adjusted 24,000 to 351,000 for the week ending March 1. Although the drop left claims lower than the 360,000 showing that economists were expecting, the longer-terpicture shows a slowing in the jobs market. A year ago, new filings for unemployment benefits stood at 327,000. What counts is the trend, which is clearly rising," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. "Claims are not quite at recession levels a trend in but they are heading that way," excess of about 370,000 he said. Jobless claims will rise higher over the next few months, he predicted. On Wall Street, stocks tumbled. The Dow Jones industrials plunged 214.60 points to close at 12,040.39. Stocks of Local interest AA COMPANY LAST CHANGE COMPANY MU MICRON MYGN Myriad Genetics, NATR NATURES 0.69 NETM NetManage, Inc 42.88 1.73 N0VI Novell, 6.49 035 NUS 4424 1.00 NWN NORTHWEST 3837 0.3404 ALCOA INC 0.04 ABSOLUTESKY ABX BARRICK GOLD 51.72 AEP AMER ELECTRIC POW 41.20 AIG AMER AMD ADV MICRO DEVICES AMGN Amgenlnc BAC BK OF AMERICA BAM BROOKFIELD BU BMY INTL GROUP 0.00 TECHNOLOGY 1.16 0.00 3.76 0.09 Inc. 6.28 0.23 NU SKIN ENT INC 16.90 0.36 41.38 1.12 1.03 OMTR Omnitufe,lnc 0.37 PCG PG&E BALL CP 44.09 0.35 BRISTOL MYERS 21.77 0.42 C CITIGROUP 21.17 0.98 CMCSK Comcast 19.40 0.1731 COST Costco CVX CHEVRON INC CORP NAT 20.65 1.19 CP 37.30 0.68 Q QWEST 5.12 0.20 RZ RASERINC 8.71 029 SCOXQ SCO GROUP 020 0.00 SHLD Sears Holdings 93.49 2.78 SU SMITH INTL INC 63.79 0.34 INC 87.80 0.99 SKYW SkyWeslMc 21.64 1.00 0.091 0.00 56.57 1.11 25.43 0.54 35.02 Q43 DAL DELTA AIR LINES 13.50 0.83 SNTO SENTOCORP DIS WALT DISNEY 3U5 0.39 STR QUESTAR DNEX Dtorex 72.48 1.32 SY SYBASE INC ERIC LM Ericsson ETR ENTERGY CP PC FRANKLIN COVEY CO GE GEN ELECTRIC CO HRB H R BLOCK INC HSIC , 02927 8.36 Inc. SUNSHINE 36.52 CP 6.74 36.21 28.51 CP 19.95 0.90 T AT&T 106.81 2.15 TGT TARGET CP 5227 0.53 7.60 0.10 TRV THE TRAVELERS CO 46.50 0.70 32.86 0.81 UDR UDRINC 2225 0.85 17.83 0.59 UNH UNITEDHEALTH 45.81 1.41 Henry Schein,lnc 5827 0.62 USB USBANCORP 31.10 0.68 IBM INTL BUS MACHS 112.52 2.87 USEG U.S. 3.86 0.01 INTC Intel Corporation JetBlue 19.87 0.3299 USNA USANA 28.62 0.89 5.15 0.1402 UTMD Utah Medical Products 30.90 0.28 45.5818 2.5282 VZ VERIZON WACHOVIA INC Energy Corp. 3528 0.67 CP 27.43 12991 INTL INC 23.64 0.43 JCP PENNEYJCCO AVN NORDSTROM 35.00 2.34 WB LEE LEE ENTERPRISES 10.44 0.15 WEN WENDYS LUV SOUTHWEST 12.50 0.49 WFC WELLS FARGO 27.83 1.15 MCK MCKESSON 58.00 0.92 WMT WAl 49.98 0.4281 MER MLCOCMNSTK 45.86 3.4572 WNI SCHIFF NUTRIT INTL 6.14 0.04 INC AIRLINES CORP MER-- J MERRIU MMSI Merit Medical Sys.tnc Microsoft Corporation MSFT Press Homeowner equity at ': J.W. Elphinstone THE ASSOCIATED nOUSInS PRESS 1- 1 1 Americans' percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Homeowners' portion of equity slipped to downwardly revised 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly U.S. Flow of Funds Accounts, and declined further to 47.9 percent in the fourth quarter the third straight quarter it was under 50 per- financing. Economists'expect this figure to drop even further as declining home prices eat into the value of most Americans' single largest asset. Moody's Economy.com estimates that 8.8 million homeowners, or about 10.3 percent of homes, will have zero or negative equity by the end of the month. Even more disturbing, about 13.8 million households, or 15.9 percent, will be "upside down" if prices fall 20 ln anothef .sign of a distressed housing market, home equity dipped below 50 per- cent a historic low. Home mortgage volume fell 17.5 percent last quarter and pending home sales also are reaching new lows. Mortgage origination volume $1.2 Equity to home value ratio Pending home sales Index $1.19 trillion Seasonally adjusted 0) 85 percent TV r 84.2 fl s 1947 0.4.... ' DELINQUENCIES Subprime $0.08 Prime $0.02 90 ........ J .i... ' I .. i. - . 55 V V 85.9-- fift 00 '01 02 '03 '04 '05 '06 07 2007 47.9 1 AK. 2005 2006 ' J '50s. '60s 70s '80s '90s 'OOs 2007 ANNUAL MONTHLY QUARTERLY cent. That marks the first time homeowners' debt on their houses exceeds their equity since the Fed started tracking the data in 1945. The total value of equity also fell for the third straight quarter to $9.65 trillion from a downwardly revised $9.93 trillion in the third quarter. Home equity, which is equal to the percentage of a home's market value minus mortgage-related debt, has steadily decreased even as home prices jumped earlier this decade refidue to a surge in cash-ou- t nances, home equity loans and lines of credit and an increase in 100 percent or more home -1 II N U I H J) low AP SOURCES: Federal Reserve; Mortgage Bankers Association; National Association of Realtors percent from their peak. The latest Standard & Poor'sCase-Shille- index r showed U.S. home prices plunging 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2007 compared with a year ago, the steepest decline in the history of the index. The news follows a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Thursday that home foreclosures skyrocketed to an e high in the final quarter of last year. The proportion of all mortgages nationwide that fell into foreclosure surged to a record of 0.83 percent, while the percentage of adjustable-rat- e mortgages to borrowers with risky credit that entered the foreclosure process soared to a record of 5.29 percent. Experts expect foreclosures to rise as more homeowners struggle with adjusting rates on their mortgages, making their monthly payments Problems in the credit 20-ye- unaf-fordabl- e. 2007 foreclosures crest to new high Jeannine Aversa ASSOCIATED THE PRESS WASHINGTON Home foreclosures soared to an high in the final quarter of last year and are likely to keep on rising, underscoring the suffering of distressed homeowners and the growing danger the housing meltdown poses for the economy. The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a quarterly snapshot of the mortgage market released Thursday, said the proportion of all mortgages nationwide that fell into foreclosure shot up to a record high of 0.83 percent in the quarter. That surpassed the previous high of 0.78 percent set in the prior quarter. "Clearly it's the worst it's been," chief association economist Doug Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press. More homeowners at the same time fell behind on all-ti- October-to-Decemb- their monthly payments. The delinquency rate for all mortgages climbed to 5.82 percent in the fourth quarter. That was up from the 5.59 See See EQUITY, FORECLOSURE, B5 B5 LAST CHANGE SYM ABSY JBLU " CHILDAssociated BOB performance of selected publicly traded companies Yesterday's SYM " " Sale signs at two houses within a few hundred yards from each other on Main Street in West Hartford, Conn., Wednesday. NEW YORK NATIONAL BRIEFING :::: lY . ; LYNCH MART STORES 1835 0.35 X UNITED STATES STEEL 112.13 2.56 15.36 0.54 XEL XCEL ENERGY INC 19.68 055 27.57 0.5499 BOH Sons Bancorporation 4427 1.79 Congress taking steps to make toys safer Laurie Kellman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CI Responding to record recalls of products that sickened children, the Senate passed legislation Thursday that would toughen inspections of toys and other playthings made outside the U.S. The bill calls for a public database of consumer complaints, bolsters the Consumer Products Safety Commission to help it certify the safety of overseas products, bans lead in children's goods and sets new standards for safe toys. It won approval by a 3 vote after four days of debate. The Bush administration and other critics said the database unfairly could taint manufacturers. But President Bush stopped short of threatening a veto. Both the Senate and House versions passed with veto- 79-1- before Bush has the chance to make that decision. "The hard work starts" now, . said Sen. Mark Pryor, with negotiators from each chamber working to reconcile their differences. He managed the bill with Sen. Amy Klobu-char, The House's version, passed by a RIC FRANCIS Associated Press Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer scrapes a toy to determine whether it 's painted or molded plastic after A the Consumer Product Safety Commission held a news conference Wednesday in Long Beach, Calif. proof margins, increasing the chances a compromise would draw similar support. "Even though (Bush) doesn't like it, I think he's going to have to take it," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, told reporters during a conference call. Congress has much to do 407-- 0 vote in Decem- ' ber, has many differences, lower a for including cap jury awards. Regarding the database, the House version proposes a study on how to ' create one. .The congressional debate Was thick with emotion. The mothers of two boys sickened by toys tearfully urged Con- gress to speed the legislation to the president, saying many provisions wbuld have helped her children and prevent others from similar dangers. i - ' ' See TOYS, B5 |