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Show PAGE 6 FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2008 BUSINESS EDITOR Local bidusty News & Notes V V. V , A Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P 500 Gold Silver Final Final Final Per ounce 11,378.02 -- 205.67 2,325.55 --4.17 1,267.38 -- 16.88 Per ounce $913.90 $11.00 People On the Move medical devices maker names new board member Dynatronics Corp., a Salt Lake City maker of medical devices and rehabilrtatipn equipment, elected Mark A. Crockett to its board of directors. Crockett filled the vacancy created board member, E. Keith by the recent passing of long-tim- e Hansen. Crockett is a principal of NightWatch Capital, a midsized hedge fund. He is also the director of client services for Harvest Earnings, a consulting firm for banks and corporations. Previously, Crockett served as CEO of Tax One, a chain of tax preparation centers. He had worked with McKinsey & Co. and the law firm of Latham & Watkins. Crockett earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Brigham Young University and a juris doctorate degree from Stanford University. National Briefing some Rebates helped economy A ( glrongrjiadextra.corri 344-291- 0 THE DOLLAR EXCHANGING $17,750 $0,328 Yen Euro Pound Canadian dollar Mexican peso Thursday Wednesday 107.90 $1.5593 108.10 $1.5574 $1.9814 1.0239 10.0402 $1 .9829s 1.0235 10.0402 RIVERBOTTOMS MORTGAGE FRAUD SLC value-oriente- d Grace Leong Sandy man pleads guilty David Bolick is second man to change plea on illegal propertypping case self as a "victim" in a December interview with the Daily Herald, is the second of six Utahns indicted to change his . Grace Leong Riverbottoms neighborhood plea in the past week. Last inProvo. DAILY HERALD week, Bradley Grant Kitchen David Bolick of Sandy of Provo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit One more individual has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail mail and wire fraud as part of pleaded guilty to federal charges of running a mortgage fraud and wire fraud in a plea his plea agreement. fraud scheme that artificially The other defendants include agreement struck with the U.S. inflated the value of several Attorney's Office on Thursday. Steve Wells Cloward, Ron homes in the affluent high-enBolick, who described him Clarke, Jeffery David Garrett and Rebecca Ann Hadlock. But the government last week dropped federal charges against Hadlock because of a lack of evidence. In January, all six had eny tered pleas to four counts of mail fraud, nine counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. In a not-guilt- See d The prospects for a quick economic WASHINGTON recovery dimmed Thursday, with new data showing the rate this spring economy grew at a and actually despite some oomph from tax rebate checks shrank late last year. Americans boosted spending on food, clothing and other items in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported. But the gross domestic product stillincreased at a 1.9 percent annual rate, up from 0.9 percent in the first quarter but less than the 2.4 percent economists were looking for. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the number of people rose to 448,000 last week, the most in newly laid-of- f five years. More job cuts are expected in coming months, and Americans may cut back on spending, kindling recession fears. FRAUD, B5, d Bristol-Mye- Big earnings 11 a . offering $4.5B for ImClone rs Bristol-Myer- s TRENTON, N.J. Squibb Co. on Thursday offered $4.5 billion in cash for its cancer drug partner, biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc., saying the two are "a natural fit." The proposal offers ImClone stockholders $60 per share, a 30 percent premium to the New York-base- d company's closing price of $46.44 on Wednesday. New York-baseBristol-Myerthe world's No. 14 drugmaker by revenue, already owns about 17 percent of ImClone. The two companies have been partners since September 2001 in developing Erbitux, which is approved for treating advanced colorectal cancer and head and neck cancers. d, s, Complaint accuses Merrill Lynch of fraud BOSTON Massachusetts security regulators accused Merrill Lynch of fraud Thursday for allegedly promoting securities when they knew the inthe sale of auction-ratvestments were becoming increasingly unstable. The administrative complaint filed by Secretary of State William Galvin claims that Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith the main subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co. aggressively sold the securities while downplaying the risks. Auction-rat- e securities have their interest rates set at periodic auctions, depending on the submitted bids. The investments were once considered safe, but the market collapsed in February amid turmoil in the credit markets. e Chavez to nationalize President Hugo Chavez said CARACAS, Venezuela Thursday he intends to nationalize the Bank of Venezuela, which is owned by the Santander banking group of Spain. Chavez said he made the decision to nationalize after learning that Santander had begun to make contacts with a local bank to sell the institutioa He said the local bank asked for authorization from the government, but that he, "as the head of state," nixed the sale. A Bank of Venezuela spokesperson speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue told The Associated Press that the bank heard of the nationalization on television and has no other information. Santander purchased the Bank of Venezuela in 1996. The financial institution is the country's bank. st STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST performance of selected publkly traded companies COMPANY LAST CHANGE SYM COMPANY LAST CHANGE MU MOON MYGN MYRIAD GENETIC NATURE SSUNSHIN AA ALCOA IN 33.75 1.09 ABSY ABS0LUTESKY IN 0.0350 0.0050 ABX BARRKKGOLDC 4235 0.06 NATR AEP AMER ELECTRIC POVV 39.50 - 0.65 NOVL NOVELL IN A1G AMERINTL 26.05 0.71 NIK NU SKIN ENT IN AMD ADV MICRO DEVICE 4.21 0.02 NWN NORTHWEST AMGN AMGE 62.63 033 OMTR 32.90 - 0.71 PCG 33.62 0.41 PFE PFIZER IN Q QWEST RZ RASERTECHIN SC0XQ GROUP ' TECH NOLOG 4525 17J5 0.13 38.53 026 18.67 021 026 SCO GRP INC (THE) 333 934 025 SEARS HLDGS COR 81.00 SMITH INTL IN 74.38.-32- 1522 0.52 0.05 0.00 BROOKflELD BU BAU.C 44.58 BMY BRISTOL MYERS SOJB 21.12 C CITIGROUP 18.69 133 039 020 CMCSK COMCASTCLASPC 20.54 0.55 SHLD COST COSTCO WHOLESALE 62.68 032 SI CVX CHEVRONCOR 84.56 2.70 SKYW SKYWESTIN DAL DELTA AIR SNTO SENTOCOR DC WALT 035 132 DNEX DWNEXC 0.12 SY 3035 6952 ERIC LM ERICSSON ETC ENTERGY C AD FC FRANKLIN COVEY C GE GEN ELECTRIC C HRB HR HSIC HENRY SCHEIN IN IBM INTL BUSINESS MAC INTC INTEU JBLU 'JCP ' 74 BLOCK IN JETBLUE AIRWAYS C PENNEYJCCOHOLDI IN GA .:.-- . '"' COMM INTL IN 1.72 5 52.88 1.60 33.61 021 INC 3031 4523 44.t2 0.66 25.54 0.05 0.10 0.02 T AT&T - 326 TGT TARGET C a97 0.02 TRV 2829 2433 0.68 UDR UNH. VN1TEDHEAITHGR0U 28.08 0.80 53.56 024 021 USB USBANCOR 30.61 0.42 127.98 0.88 USEG US ENERGY COR 3.06 0.03 22.19 0.04 USNA USANA 34.09 406 527 3033 2a74 009 052 UTMD UTAH MEDICAL PRO 29.80 0.77 VZ VEREONCOMMU 34.04 0.30 - 0.45 WB WACHOVIA 0.42 WEN WENOYSINTLW 1559 5539 003 023 026 WFC WELLS FARGO & CO 1727 2235 NE 3027 0.19 3.02 ;0.93 58.62 0.06 0.10 X 2021 O02 XEL XCEL ENERGY WC 25.72 0.51 ZJON DONS NORDSTROM LEE ENTERPRISE lUV SOUTHVVESTAIRUNE Ma MCKESSON MER MLCOCMNST 26.65 MER-P-J MERRILL LYNC 11.50 MMSI MERIT MEDICAL MSFT MKROSOFTC -- WMT.WAL Wt SOE C MART STORE SCHffF - HEALTH NUTHT WT UNITED STATES STEE BANCORP . RYANAssociated Press r earnings' f Exxon reports record 2Q profit THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HOUSTON Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarte- r earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest profit from operations ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results were well short of Wall Street expectations, and its shares fell The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income for the April-Junperiod came to $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 40 percent to $138.1 billion from $98.4 billion in the quarter. Excluding an after-tacharge of $290 million related e year-earli- x to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings amounted to $11.97 billion, or $2.27 per share. Analysts on average expected Exxon Mobil to earn $2.52 per share on revenue of $144 billion, according to a survey by Thomson FinanciaL The estimates typically exclude one-tim- e items. results were largely expected, given that crude prices in the second quarter were nearly double what they were a year ago. Natural gas prices were significantly higher too. But investors expected even The record-settin- g bigger profits Thursday, especially after Europe's Royal Dutch Shell reported a 33 percent jump in second-quartearnings to $11.6 billion, which felfjust shy of Exxon's own record earnings from 2007. Exxon Mobil shares fell $2.81, or 3.3 percent, to $81.57 in morning' trading. Setting U.S. profit records has become commonplace for See EXXON, B5 0.02 SYBASE IN THE TRAVELERS C DON 0.46 QUESTARC DDR INC . second-quarte- 0.17 10.48 LEE SY NAT '106.92 JWN COR STR 0.24 1.05 BKOf UNESNE 2.61 6.80 0.08 OMNfTUREINC "PG&EC : 0.06 5.57 BAM ASSET 4.83 66.50 16.16 BAC AMERICAC " at an Exxon gas station in Vancouver, Wash., Thursday. Exxon MoM Corp. reported of$11.68billionThursday,thebiggestprofitfromoperationseverbyanyU.S.corporation. John Porretto SYM I Gas is pumped " Yesterday's 1'' I ? bank Spanish-owne- d third-large- Ji f 034 0.02 6.05 001 16036 - 6.49 20.06 029 2927 0.17 Weak Japan sales hit Nu Skin shares Provo nutraceutical firm reports strong profits, despite drop in Asian business Grace Leong DAILY HERALD Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. on Thursday reported a 40 percent jump in net profits for the second quarter, but weak sales in its largest market, Japan, weighed on its stock and prompted management changes in its north Asia team. Shares of the Provo "The new regional team's A weak dollar, combined with strong sales in Latin top priority will be to restore America and Canada, helped growth to Japaa" The international market ac- boost the company's second- -' nutraceutical company fell 6.1 counts for about 85 percent of quarter revenues to $321.7 milNu Skin's total sales, with Asia lion, up 12 percent from a year percent or $1.05 to $16.16 at the close of Thursday's trading (primarily Japan and South Ko- ago. The dollar's slide against session. In afterhours trading, rea) accounting for more than most currencies in recent shares fell 0.03 percent or 1 70 percent of sales. months has made U.S. products cent to $ 16. 155 a share. more affordable overseas. Meanwhile, Nu Skin's net The company reported a 13 "We are seeing good global profits jumped 49 percent to $20.6 million, or 32 cents a momentum due to improved percent drop in second-quarte- r sales in Japan, due in part to distributor alignment and share, for the second quarter a "tough regulatory environended June 30, from $13.8 milstrong product initiatives, ment," the company said in lion, or 21 cents a share a year a conference call Thursday. See NU SKIN, 85 ago, the company said. 313 |