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Show ft PAGE 4 THURSDAY. JUNE 12, 2008 BUSINESS EDITOR Grace Leong Ijocal Industiy news¬es Y Y V Gold Silver Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P500 Final Final Final 12,083.77 -- 205.99 2394.01 1335.49 --22.95 -- 54.93 ; Pprnunre Pprniinre $879.70 -- $11.8 $16,829 -- $.222 344-291- 0 gleongheraldextra.com EXCHANGING THE DOLLAR Yen ISf Canadian dollar Mexican peso $1.5571 $1.9631 1.0194 10.4384 Wednesday 107.42 $1.5449 $1.9531 1.0226 10.4384 Manufacturing Provo shooting range maker relocating Construction on Provo-baseAction Target's production plant and corporate headquarters at the Mountain Vista Business Center began on Wednesday. All 140 workers at the maker of shooting range and firearms training equipment will be relocated to the Mountain Vista plant in south Provo, which is expected to be completed by summer 2009. The project is expected to cost more than $10.1 million, induspart of which is funded with $9 million in trial revenue bonds. Under the deal, Provo will lend its status to Action Target and won't be held liable to pay the bonds if the company defaults. For now, Key Bank is underwriting the bonds. "Our sales are up 20 percent on average over the past two years. Homeland security needs in general have jumped since the 911 terrorist attacks. Law enforcement, military, border control, U S. Postal Service and airports all provide firearms training for their staff," said Lee Stephenson, chief financial officer of Action Target. ; The company, currently located at an plant on 200 N. 1280 West, plans to expand its production capacity by up to 40 percent. d 127,000-square-fo- 85,000-square-fo- Technology Grace leong in Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming, ranked second among the top 10 areas Nearly 160,000 households in in the country that are deemed the Beehive State and parts of the least prepared for the transition. Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming could find themselves staring About 18 percent of the Salt at a blank television screen on Lake market, or 157,437 houseFeb. 17, 2009, if they aren't pre- holds, do not have a digital TV set or a television set that is pared for the transition from analog to digital TV, according connected to a cable or satellite to a Nielsen ratings report reservice, or a digital converter leased on Wednesday. box, the report said. NationA federal law enacted in wide, just under 10 percent of 2006 requires all TV stations to 112.8 million households, or 10.6 million households, are unstop broadcasting analog sig- nals starting in February. prepared for the transition. Anne Elliot, vice president of To help with the transition, the government launched a ; communications of New York-baseNielsen Co., said she $1.5 billion coupon program on Jan. 1 to help millions of believes it could be due to relaconsumers pay for digital contively low cable and satellite TV verter boxes. The boxes, which subscription rates in the Salt cost between $40 and $70, pro- Lake market compared with vide a clearer picture and free that of the national average. local programming. Cable and "Households that subscribe satellite TV subscribers do not to cable or satellite are better need the boxes. prepared for the digital transiSo far the coupon program tion because those providers alhas achieved limited success, ready take digital signals from TV stations and supply that to but regulators believe some areas, including Utah, could do their analog TV customers," more to be better prepared for she said. "The mere fact that the transition to digital TV. the Salt Lake market is below The Nielsen report found the national average for cable that the Salt Lake market, and satellite subscriptions is an indicator why that market is which comprises a total of less prepared." 874,650 television households DAILY HERALD. ; d iMergent to issue quarterly cash dividend iMergent, an Orem company, will issue a quarterly cash dividend of 11 cents a share on the company's common Stock, payable on June 30, to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 20. People on the Move Orem Coldwell Banker office adds agent Wyatt Davis joined the Orem office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. He was formerly with Windermere Real Estate. National Briefing to extend jobless benefits House refuses Utah unprepared for digital TV The House on Wednesday narrowly WASHINGTON defeated a Democratic attempt to give unemployed Americans an extra three months of jobless benefits after the White House threatened to veto the bill. But Democratic leaders said they will bring the bill back for a second vote on Thursday. The bill would have extended the average benefit check by 13 weeks for all unemployed Americans. Job seekers in high unemployment states would have been able to get an extra 13 weeks on top of that. House Democratic leaders brought up the bill under a vote for approval. The procedure that required a final vote was just three votes shy of the two-thirmargin, same as needed to overcome a presidential veto. said the vote House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Thursday will only need a majority for passage. $300-a-wee- k tion, which is overseeing the program. To date, 42,000 households in the Salt Lake market have requested more than 76,000 coupons. Less than 3,000 households in Provo have requested the coupons, the : agency said. CouBut some are finding that the 90 days pons expire government-issue- d coupons after being mailed and are expiring before they can be cannot be reissued. redeemed, and some consumers have a hard time finding converter boxes, which are About 77 percent of the Salt sold out in some stores. Since the program began six Lake market subscribes to cable and satellite TV, compared months ago, about 802,000 couwith a national average of 88 pons have expired without being used, Sedmark said. Under percent. Nearly 40 percent of the Salt Lake market subscribes current rules, consumers with to cable alone, well below the expired coupons cannot reapnational average of 62 percent. ply for new coupons. "If you fail to use the coupon The coupon program aims in 90 days, you can ask for to help, nationwide, up to 21 million owners of analog TV your family or friends to apply for the coupon and share it with models that rely on antennas or rabbit ears to receive broad- them, or you can subscribe to casting signals. Each household cable or satellite, or buy a new is eligible for two $40 coupons, digital TV set," Sedmark said. which have a y expiration "The monies for the unused date. So far, 16.7 million couexpired coupons go back into a fund that helps others requestpons have been requested. Of that, 3.2 million coupons have ing for the coupons." been redeemed so far, said There are 1,900 retailers Todd Sedmark, spokesman for nationwide including Best the Department of Commerce's Buy, Circuit City, Kmart, Sears National Telecommunications and Wal-Maparticipating in the program. and Information Administra Between now and March 31, 2009, U.S. households can apply for the $40 coupons online at www.DTV2009. gov, or by phone at 90-da- rt Feds: Expect $4 gas through 2009 Government says prices will peak at $4. 15 a gallon two-thir- 279-14- lr! i H Ml THE four-mont- I m ..asm f d u f gets unsolicited $46B bid Anheuser-Busc- h ST. LOUIS Cos. says Belgium-base- d brewer InBev has offered to buy the company for roughly " $46 billion. h says the offer is an unsolicited, nonbind-in- g proposal. But shareholders might be eager to approve the deal. The purchase price works out to $65 per share for Anheuser-Busch- , a steep premium over the company's share price of $58.35 Wednesday afternoon. Anheuser-Buscsays its board of directors will evaluate the proposal, but the company didn't give its timetable for making a decision. Anheuser-Busc- h i 1 ; f ? I I experts. Motorists are paying $4.05 a gallon on average nationwide, and considerably more in some parts of the country, according to a survey of gas stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's an increase of nearly $1 a gallon since January. "hi Stocks of local interiest Yesterday's performance of selected publicly traded companies COMPANY AA ALCOA INC ABSY ABS01UTESKYINC LAST CHANGE 39.32 G01D ABX BARRKK AEP AMER ELECTRIC AIG AMER INTl GROUP AW ADV MICRO DEVICES AMGN AMGEN BAC BK BAM BR0OKFIEL0 BU. 340 0.0000 CP POW Of AMERICA - 0.0350 INC SYM COMPANY MU MICRON MYGN MYRIAD GENETICS LAST CHANGE TKHN0L0GY 39.61 0.41 NATR NATURE 42.01 0.53 NETM NETMANAGE 33.26 1.02 NOVL NOVELL INC NU SKIN ENT INC 5 SUNSHINE 6.96 - 0.47 NUS 42.95 - 0.87 NWN NORTHWEST 0.77 OMTR OMNITURE. INC NAT GAS 7.34 0.46 45.42 0.51 7.50 0J5 7.13 0.02 6.17 0.20 16.51 0.35 45.73 0.28 21.04 0.79 39.13 0.43 4.28 0.17 0.45 CP 28.85 ASSET M 34.23 - 0.67 PCG PG&E BAUCP 4985 - 0.53 Q QWEST COMM BMY BRISTOL MYERS SQIBB 19.93 0.18 RZ RASERTECHINC 8.51 C CITIGROUP INC 19.21 105 SCOXQ SCO GRP INC (THE) 0.10 CMCSK COMCAST CL A 21.30 0.24 SHLD SEARS HLDGS CORP 80.00 COST COSTCO 68.87 1.59 Sll SMITH INTL INC 78.75 1.41 CVX.. CHEVR0NC0RP 99.42 0.64 SKYW SKYWESTINC 15.06 0.18 0.01 SPCI WHOLESALE C INC CP INTL IN 0.00 - 2.03 DAL DELTA AIR LINES NEW 5.36 - 0.57 SNTO SENTOCORP 0.06 DIS WALT 33.27 - 0.56 STR QUESTARCP 67.14 0.91 DNFX DIONEXCP 70.89 1.12 SY SYBASE INC 31.53 0.32 ERIC LM ERICSSON 11.89 0.19 T AT&T INC. 36.14 1.08 ETR ENTERGY CP 3.01 TGT TARGET CP 51.61 1.58 - 0.05 TRV THE TRAVELERS CO 46.65 1.78 - 0.50 UDR UDRINC 24.22 0.14 0.64 UNH UNITEDHEALTH 31.95 0.65 0 56 ADR 118.50 8.87 fC FRANKLIN COVEY CO GE GEN ELECTRIC CO 29.83 HRB H R BLOCK INC 22.11 HSIC HENRY SCHEIN INC IBM INTL BUSINESS INTC INTEL CP JBLU JETBLUE AIRWAYS JCP PENNEY J C CO HOLDIN JWN NORDSTROM LEE LEE ENTERPRISES IUV SOUTHWEST 52 97 MACH USB USBANCORP 69 USEG US ENERGY CORP 0.87 USNA USANA 0.22 UTMD UTAH MEDICAL PROD 37.43 0.75 VZ VERIZON 32.90 123.25 - 2 21.81 CP INC AIRUNES MCK MCKESSON MER MLCOCMNSTK CORP 3.67 - HEALTH SC1EN COMMUN 30.55 - 25.46 0.68 0.06 2.92 - 0.13 28.78 1.01 36.67 085 1897 26J7 0.79 0.36 0.91 WB WACH0V1ACP 534 0.23 WEN WENDYS 13.50 0.41 WFC WELLS FARGO & CO N 25.55 58.52 U6 5.89 0.02 INTL INC 1.06 1.39 WMT WAL MART STORES 35.46 - 2.49 WNI SCHIFF NUTRfT INTL - 0.37 X UNITED STATES STEEL 72.46 395 0.21 XEL XCEL ENERGY INC 20.64" 0.16 0.77 ZION 7J0NS 35.96 1.74 55.01 MERRILL LYNCH 16.63 MMSI MERIT MEDICAL SYS 15.40 MSFT MICROSOFTCP 27.12 J - GROU - BANCORP PRESS fill-u- p h BOSTON campaign to acStaples Inc.'s quire Corporate Express NV finally yielded an agreement Wednesday, a $2.7 billion deal that Staples hopes will put further distance between itself and U.S. rivals Office Depot and OfficeMax. Its two rivals combined would be smaller than Staples once the deal closes. With U.S. retail sales of office supplies slumping, Staples also hopes to expand in the more profitable business of delivering office supplies to corporate customers Corporate Express' strength and build off the Netherlands-basecompany's clout in Europe. SVM ASSOCIATED Gasoline prices WASHINGTON should peak at $4.15 a gallon this summer, the government says finally an encouraging word for motorists who might be will just keep thinking the cost of a climbing. But wait: The predicted relief is pretty modest. Prices at the pump are likely to stay around $4 a gallon much of next year, according to Wednesday's projections by the Energy Department's statistical agency. Oh, and the government tends to err on the optimistic side. Guy Caruso, head of the federal Energy Information Administration, delivered the sober news at a congressional hearing on energy prices and the future of oil. Even as he spoke, oil prices jumped again, edging for a time above $138 a barrel and putting yet more upward pressure on gasoline prices. By the end of the day the market seemed ready to set new records above $ 140 a barrel. A drop in gasoline inventories, concerns about hurricanes that could disrupt Gulf of Mexico supplies, and most important the high oil prices all have contributed to a belief that the upward spiral of gasoline costs will continue at least for a few months, according to Caruso as well as private energy Staples lands Corporate Express for $2.7B Anheuser-Busc- h Josef Hebert RIC A FRANCISAssociated customer at a gas station pumps gas Wednesday in Beverly Hills, Calif. And little relief is in sight. Prices are likely to remain close to or above $4 for the rest of the year and averPress age $3.92 a gallon in 2009, the Energy De-- . partment agency forecast. Inflated energy, food costs weigh on economy Jeannine Aversa Chafing under price hikes, "consumer spending slowed ... as incomes were pinched WASHINGTON The by rising energy and food economy remained "generally prices," the Fed said. Manuweak" heading into summer facturing activity, meanwhile, as rising costs for energy and was "generally soft" and the food pounded consumers and housing market remained forced some companies to push stuck in a rut. Businesses also were hit by their own prices higher. The Federal Reserve's new higher costs, especially for energy, metals, plastics, chemisnapshot of business condicals and food. Such reports tions, released Wednesday, underscored two big sore were "widespread," the Fed said. To cope, manufacturers spots for the country: listless economic activity coupled with in several areas "noted some high energy and food prices. ability to pass along higher Those rising prices carry the costs to customers" the Fed risk of both spreading inflation said. Retailers, however, reand putting another drag on ported "mixed results with overall economic growth. respect to raising final goods THE ASSOCIATED PRESS prices," the Fed said. Over the past week, Fed Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have been sounding an ever-loudalarm against' inflation. Given those concerns, Bernanke has signaled g camthe Fed's paign, started last September to bblster the weak economy, is probably over. Many economists predict the Fed will leave its key rate at 2 low, when percent, a four-yea- r it meets next, on June For now, "policymakers won't raise rates because of concerns about the economy, but they can't lower them because of concerns about worsening inflation. So it's basically rate-cuttin- 24-2- a stalemate. The right thing for the Fed to do is to leave rates alone," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. However, with inflation moving up on the Fed's list of concerns, Wall Street investors and others are now thinking the Fed might be forced to start boosting rates later this year to curb inflation. On Wall Street, stocks tumbled as soaring oil prices fanned inflation concerns. The Dow Jones industrials plunged 205.99 points. Oil prices closed at $136.38 a barrel. Gasoline prices reached another record a national average of $4,052 a gallon. |