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Show PACE 6 2mty$5Hcral& E THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2008 BUSINESS EDITOR i Grace Leong IjOttil Industry News & Notes V V V V Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P500 Gold Silver Final Final Final Per ounce 12,099.66 -- 293.00 2,209.96 -- 58.30 1,298.42 Per ounce $944.70 -- $58.50 -- 32.32 344 291 0 gleongheraldextra.com EXCHANGING $18,295 -- $1,595 THE DOLLAR Yen Euro Pound Canadian dollar Mexican peso Wednesday Tuesday 100.00 $1.5613 $1.9849 1.0080 1 10.7181 00.00 $1.5711 $2.0182 1.0080 10.6838 People on the Move MORE BAD NEWS? Zions Bank adds manager in Orem Zions Bank named Fred Bernhardt its commercial relationship manager at its Orem ol f ice at 42 W. 800 Nort h. Me is responsible for managing existing commercial banking client relatieaships, overseeing business development activities and represent ing the bank in community affairs. Bernhardt has more than 20 years of expertise in commercial banking. He was most recently with Pacific State Bank in Stockton, Calif., and has worked for Union Bank of California and Bank of America. He is also a member of the Risk Management Association, BYU Management Society and the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum. i 3 National briefing V Number of uninsured declined in 2007 The Utah Department of Health SALT LAKE CTIY says there was a drop in the number of residents who were uninsured in 2007. A survey released Wednesday shows a decrease from 11.9 percent of Utah residents who were uninsured in 2006 to 10.6 percent in 2007. The survey estimates that 287,200 ' people lacked health care coverage last year. That's a de- crease of 19,000 from the previous year. Health officials say the most likely reason for a drop in the uninsured last year was the state's strong economy. Legal costs keep rising in Nacchio case DENVER Qwest and Legal bills for both Denver-base- d the federal government continue to rise as former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio's insider-tradin- g case keeps going. The government is reviewing its options after a three-judg- e panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Nacchio should receive a new trial because the trial judge improperly prevented a defense expert from testifying. Federal prosecutors could ask the entire appeals court to review that decision. John Toothman, founder of the legal fees consulting firm The Dev il's Advocate, est imated Nacchio's team already has rung up at least $15 million in legal expenses and could charge $10 million more if there is a retrial. Nacchio also faces civil charges. 1 tM i n RICHARD Specialist Charles Jenness rubs his head as he works at DREWAssociated Press his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 22. Economy could keep sagging Tom Raum THE ASiOCIATED'PRESS WASHINGTON Any present optimism may be pre- PAUL SAKUMAAssociated Press Visa's record IPO jumps 28 percent NEW YORK Shares of Visa Inc. soared more than 28 percent in their market debut Wednesday, opening at $59.50 as investor demand for the largest initial public offering in U.S. history drew spirited bidding. It took about 45 minutes to align buyers and sellers before the share finally opened Wednesday, as demand surged amid renewed interest this week in financial shares. Gold plummets after interest rate cut NEW YORK Gold futures plummeted to a three-weelow Wednesday after a U.S. interest rate cut at least temporarily calmed distressed financial markets, diminishing the n investment. metal's appeal as a Other commodities traded lower, with crude oil, silver, copper and agriculture futures all falling sharply as part of a broad commodities sell-ofThe Federal Reserve on Tuesday lowered interest rates for the sixth time since Septembermoving aggressively to counter growing turmoil in financial markets that led to the of investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. The interest rate cut helped to propel the Dow Jones industrials up 420 points Tuesday. k safe-have- f. near-collaps- e Stocks of Local interest Yesterday's performance of selected publicly traded companies SYM COMPANY LAST CHANGE SYM COMPANY AlCOAINC 35 62 2.98 MU MICRON ABSOLUTESKY 0.037 0.00 MYGN Myriad Genetics, ABX BARRICKGOLDCP 45.27 4.31 NATR NATURES AEP AMER ELECTRIC 0,34 NETM NetManage, AIG AMER INTL GROUP NOVl Novell AMD ADV MICRO NUS NU SKIN ENT INC AMGN Amgenlnc NAT 41.96 1.12 BAC BK OF AMERICA 23.08 0.97 P0W DEVICES CP 40.27 42.18 6.15, , - 49 0.24 0.98 PCG 44 1.07 Q C CITIGROUP INC 20.41 0.30 Costco CVX CHEVRON V CORP 0.80 26.22 0.11 Comcast 0.20 NORTHWEST 21.46 CMCSK 6.02 18.87 pc Omniture, BRISTOL MYERS COST 0.14 0.027 NWN BMY 0.04 3.73 OMTR 42 0.19 Inc. 0.37 BROOKFIELD 5.80 35.57 8.36 .' 1.24 BALL Inc. SUNSHINE 39.97 Ba CP TECHNOLOGY 38.56 BAM Inc. PG&ECP 36,64 0.86 QWEST 4.59 0.12 RZ RASER 7.69 1.16 SC0XQ SCO GROUP 0.11 0.02 ' INC 18.84 0.14 SHLD Sears Holdings 97,53 0.50 60.88 0.78 Sll SMITH INTL INC 59.64 3.99 81.89 4.23 SKYW SkyWestlnc 0.00 DAL DELTA AIR LINES 10.43 0.34 SNTO SENTOCORP 0.09 DIS WALT DISNEY 3U4 0.48 STR QUESTAR CP 53.90 3.35 DNEX Dionex Corporation 71,88 1.02 SY SYBASE INC 26.04 0.09 ERIC LM 36.5042 0.5658 ETR ENTERGY 50.14 0.85 FC FRANKLIN GE 17.39 2.00 T AT&T INC. 104.83 2.45 TGT TARGET 7.48 0.04 TRV THE TRAVELERS CO 46.41 1.34 GEN ELECTRIC CO 35.59 0.55 UDR UDRINC. 24.76 0.09 HRB HR 20.32 0.56 UNH UNITEDHEALTH 35.55 0.49 HSIC HeniyScheialnc 56.85 0J2 USB US BANCORP 32.93 0.71 USEG U.S. USNA USANA Ericsson CP COVEY CO BLOCK INC IBM INTL BUS MACHS INTC Intel Corporation JBLU JetBlue JCP PENNEYJCCO 116.94 21.0899 1.47 0.6615 CP Energy Corp. 3.17 0.14 28.15 0.54 5.00 0.01 UTM0 Utah Medical Products. 29.827 0.163 39.01 0.87 VZ VERIZON COMMUN 35.13 0.16 CP 28.30 0.16 INTL INC 23.15 0.06 JWN NORDSTROM 33.51 0.09 WB WACHOVIA LEE LEE ENTERPRISES 10.40 0.21 WEN WENDYS LUV SOUTHWEST 11.76 0.40 WFC WELLS FARGO 30.58 0.96 Ma MCKESSON 50.78 0.20 MER MLCOCMNSTK INC AIRLINES CORP 54,44 0.19 WMT WAL MART STORES 41.45 5.18 WNI SCHIFF NUTRFT INTL MER-- J MERRILL LYNCH 16.35 0.30 X UNITED STATES STEEL MMSI Merit Medical Sys,lnc Microsoft Corporation 15.50 0.01 XEL XCEL ENERGY 28.62 0.80 ZION Zions Bancorporation MSFT problems "the most wrenching since the end of the second World War." Fannie, Freddie gets S200B to buy mortgages Marcy Gordon reduced from the current 30 percent to 20 percent, and further reductions will be WASHINGTON considered by the regulaThe government on Wednesday tor in the future. Fannie and Freddie will likely raise relaxed capital requirebillions of dollars through ments at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a special sales of stock. "Fannie Mae and Freddie plan to quickly inject an additional $200 billion of fiMac have played a very important and beneficial role nancing for home loans. in the mortgage markets The initiative, which will and the last year," OFHEO Fannie over Freddie require Director James B. Lockhart to raise substantial funds, is part of a broader governsaid at a news conference. ment strategy to ease a "We believe they can play an even more positive role credit crisis that has made ' in it difficult for consumers providing the stability and businesses to borrow, and liquidity the markets and spread fear throughout need right now." The companies' shares global financial markets. . The Office of Federal were buoyed by news of the agreement. Fannie stock Housing Enterprise Overjumped $2.64, or 9.4 persight, which oversees the d comgovernment-sponsorecent, to $30.86 in late morning trading, while Freddie panies, said the mandatory cash cushion for Fannie and shares advanced $2.98, or now nearly $20 , 11.4 percent, to $29. The Freddie will be companies' shares have billion for the two reduced by a third under the plummeted to fresh new plan. The goal is to free-u- p lows in recent weeks amid money to help new home concern over their ability to buyers take out loans and to find buyers for their mortgagsecurities amid e-linked help existing home owners refinance into more affordplunging home prices and able mortgages. rising foreclosures. The capital requirement See MORTGAGES, C5 for each company will be THE ASSOCIATED PRESS . financial problems "the most wrenching since the end of the second World War." The economy is replacing cent moves by the Fed and the Iraq as the main worry of electioadministration say the economy n-year voters. This shift has has taken hits from which it put the administration in crisis will be hard to recover. management mode and led to "This is a serious combinaincreasing calls to action by tion of events, the housing the presidential contenders. The Fed has cut its key slump and the credit crunch, short-terat the same time," said Alice rate six times since Rivlin, founding director of the September. That includes a r percentage point Congressional Budget Office reduction Tuesday, to 2.25 perand former vice chairman of the Fed. cent.; Policymakers hinted that more cuts may be in store. Still, she is guardedly hopeful. "The Fed is very aggres- The central bank has shoveled tens of billions of dollars sive and imaginative and has into credit markets. It invoked really taken very strong action, primarily to get the Credit Depression-vintag- e authority over the weekend to engineer markets functioning again. And that's good." the fire-sal- e takeover of Bear But she said it may take Stearns to keep the more action by the administrainvestment house from going tion and Congress and there under. " More than 130 million housemay be a need to put more holds soon will begin receiving public money into this." Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan calls today's See ECONOMY, C5 three-quarte- LAST CHANGE ABSY AA mature. The sagging economy could keep slumping, despite one-da- y stock market rallies, aggressive intervention by the Federal Reserve and efforts by Congress and the White House to put more money in consumers' pockets. Economic fundamentals are dreary and there is only so much the government can do to make things better before making things worse. Even those applauding the re- Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan calls today's financial INC 5.840.01 109.86 10.41 19.992 0.358 47.36 1.76 Three steps to cutting property taxes Marshall Loeb I Look for errors. Find out how your district levies taxes on 100 percent of the market NEW YORK With home value or some fraction of it by prices retreating, you'd think calling the assessor's office. property taxes would too. But Fractional assessments are less don't count on it by the time common than they used to be, but plenty of localities still use you see lower taxable values, your local government may be them. Especially at 70 percent in enough of a squeeze to raise or 80 percent of value, owners the rates that apply to those may not realize their assesstaxable values. ments are out of line. While you may not be able Go to the assessor's office or to control local tax policy, you Web site to see the property can at least do something to card that lists the details of assesssee if your property-tayour home. Check each item ment is realistic. According for mistakes, from the number to Pete Sepp, an official at the of bathrooms to the square National Taxpayers Union, as footage. many as 60 percent of homes Valuing properties is an are overassessed. inexact science; in addition, From the April issue of when paper records were Kiplinger's magazine, here are transferred to computers, three ideas for making sure many errors were made or retained. If there's a mechaniyou're not overpaying and for making your case if you cal error, the assessor may fix are: your assessment on the spot. " MARKETWATCH - ; I Check the neighbors. Pull the property cards for neighbors who have similar homes in terms of age, style and features. Try to compare at least five properties with yours. If the assessment on similar properties is lower by 10 percent or more, you have a good case based on uniformity. The assessor is responsible for maintaining equity among owners. I Make your case. The rules for appeals vary from place to place, but no matter where you are, you'll need evidence. Property cards and photos can' be especially useful if you're comparing the condition of your home with others. Consider getting an independent appraisal as well; check the rules in your jurisdiction before laying out a couple nun-- . dred dollars or more to pay for one. You generally have 30 to 60 days after receiving your and present your evidence for an administrative review. If you aren't granted a reduction, the next level of appeal is an independent board. This is typically free, but may involve a filing fee of $20 to $50. Your last resort is a judicial hearing, usually in circuit court. But taking your appeal that far involves filing fees, legal fees and possibly a witness tax bill to appeal fee for an expert appraiser, the cost of which may outweigh the relief you're seeking. For more information, including forms to help organize your appeal and contact information for your state, get the American Homeowners Association's Homeowner's Property Tax Reduction Kit for $29.95, or free with trial membership at www |