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Show BUSINESS PAGE 6 D) People on the Move Bank of American Fork promotes executive — Bank of American Fork, which has 10 branchesin Salt Lake and Utah Counties, promoted Barbie Nuttall to assistant vice president/branch sup- SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2006 BUSINESSEDITOR| Grace Leong - 344-2910 gleong@heraldextra.com A NEWS& NOTES Dailys Herald Vv Vv EXCHANGING THE DOLLAR Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P 500 Gold Silver os Yen Friday 11899 118.18 Final 11,076.34 +104.06 Final 2,262.04 +12.32 Final Per ounce Per ounce fn : Py iu ad 1,281.58 +9.35 $539.90 -$5.60 $9.895 —$0.008 Canadian dollar Mexican peso 1.1607 10.7020 1.1614. 10.732 ‘ wrsday ' ' Hiring increases, jobless rates still up port services manager at its operations center in American Fork. Nuttall has worked with the Bank of American Fork for 13 years. starting in 1993 asa part-timeteller. Since then, she has Jeannine Aversa served the bank in the proof department, as a vault teller, as manager of branch support services and as managerofthe call hire and maybe moreinclined to rewardexisting workers or WASHINGTON— Hiring picked upacross the economy center Real Estate in February, with employers MassageEnvy clinic opening in American Fork — Massage Envy, a massagetherapyclinic franchise with 74 locations nationwide, will openits first Utah County clinic in American Fork on March 17. The new2,900-square-footclinic, owned by Bobbie Jo and Gary Andersen. will be open for business at The Meadows Shopping Center in American Fork. Grand openingfestivities will be held March 4, including a ribbon cutting by the American Fork Chamber of Commerce on March24 from noon-2 p.m. businesses are in the mood to adding nearly a quarter-mil- lion jobs in the biggest boostin three months. Encouraged by help-wantedsigns, job seekers turnedoutin droves, nudging the unemploymentratehigher. Theoverall picture emerging from the Labor Department's report Friday suggested that lure newones with fatter paychecks, economistssaid. Employers expanded payrolls by 243,000 jobs in February. That wasbetter than expected and an improvement over the 170,000 in January. Construction,retail, financial services, health care and education were amongthe industries seeing employmentgains last month. Thateclipsed weak- nessin manufacturing, mostly reflecting job losses in the struggling automotivesector. “Businesses are apparently seeing strong enough growth in demandfortheir goods and services to look far more workers — and businessesare being forced to payup for thembe- cause wages are rising strongly, too,”said economist Joel Naroff,president of Naroff Eco- nomic Advisors, “The job mar- ket is becoming more and more friendly if you are a workeror looking to becomeone.” Brighter job prospects sent people streaming into the labor market, however, bumping up the unemploymentrate to 4.8 percent in February. While that was upslightly from a 4 1/2 year lowof4.7 percent in January, the new unemploymentratestill indicated a healthyjobs climate. “People are now looking for jobs becauseit is now worth looking,” said Bill Cheney, See JOBLESS, D5 Theclinic nowhas 14 massagetherapists, and will have 25 thera- pists within the next year. Andersen said most of the therapists are from the Utah College of Massage Therapy in Utah County and a feware from Provo College and Myotherapy of Utah. " “Ninety-nine percent of mystaff is from Utah County; it was really important for me to draw our staff from here because there are so manygreattherapists looking for a professional, well-pay- ingclinic to work for,” Andersensaid Cleaning products shop opensin American Fork — JackMorris, whichsells cleaning products such as Brulin, Oreck, Rubbermaid and Unger, openedits first shop at 17 N. Merchant St. in American Fork. The new JackMorrisstore,located in the old Ace Hardware building,is the most recent renovation project in the historic downtown American Fork businessdistrict. Covering about 4,800 square feet, the renovated building includes the JackMorris retail store, a JackMorris warehouseandoffice space. “The local demand has grown sufficiently in both the industrial and home-cleaning marketsin the last few years,” said Randy Morris, co-ownerandsonof founder, Gene ‘Jack’ Morris. “Combining the deliveryfunction of our warehouse’ with a walk-in retail store was thenaturalnext step in our expansion.” NATIONAL BRIEFING Consumers concerned aboutfinancial fate WASHINGTON — Consumer confidence dropped in early Marchaspeoplefretted about the economy's performance and their ownfinancial fate in the months ahead. The RBC CASHIndex,based onresults from theinternational polling firm Ipsos, showed confidenceat 86.2 in early March. That was downconsiderably from February's reading of 96.1 —a 16-monthhigh. Butit was in theballpark with consumers’feelings about economic conditions in Marchoflast year, when the _index stood at 84.2. “Consumersaren't knocking the coveroffthe ball. Their confidenceisn’t a grandslam,but they aren’t striking out, either,” said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research. Evenwith the drop, analysts believe consumersarein a generally good frameof mind about the economy,although they are growing more anxious about the future. Analystsbelieve that angstis tied to consumer concerns about whether the housing market this year will slow gradually, as most economists predict, or whether it might crash. Other things also maybe coloring consumers’ perception about the future,includingrising interest rates and energybills, economistssaid. “It is the litanyof uncertainty this year — the housing market moderation, worryabout energy prices — that maybe factoring into peoples’ views about the future,” said Carl Tannenbaum,chief economistat LaSalle Bs A measurelogking at consumers’ expectations over the next six months, includingconditions wherethey live or work andtheir ownfinancial positions, showed the most deterioration in March from February. That expectations gaugefell to 40.7 in March, compared with 59.4 in February. A year ago, the expectations measure stood at 52.6. Economists track consumerconfidencefor clues about consumers’ willingness to spend, an important force shaping overall economicactivity. FILE/AP Ties thatbind: Hillary Clintonis interviewed and photographedin Chicagoin this March 1992file photo during the presidential campaign for her husband,Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton served on Wal-Mart's boardofdirectorsfor six years when her husband was governorof Arkansas, resigning in May 1992, two monthsafter this photo was taken, and now is feeling political heat over herdeep ties to Wal-Mart. Hillary feels the heat,,pressure of Wal-Martpolitics Beth Eouhy THEA NEW YORK — With retail giant Wal- Mart underfire to improveits labor and health-care policies, one Democratwith deepties to the company — Sen.Hillary Rodham Clinton — has started feeling STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST Yesterday's performance ofselected publicly traded companies SYM COMPANY LAST CHANGE AA ALCOAINC 2823 +042 ABS” ALBERTSONSINC 2556 +001 ABX —BARRICK GOLD CP 2613 +048 AEP AMERELECTRICPOWCO 35.31 -0.36 AIG AMERINTLGROUPINC 67.65 +106 AMD ADVMICRODEVICES 3663 +042 AMGN Amgen inc 7349-009 BAC BK OFAMERICA CP 4595 +040 Bu BALL CP 4332 +008 BIS BELISOUTHCP 3435 +005 BN BANTACORP 4874 +064 £ —cTIGROUP INC 4699 +050 BAG CRESTED CORP 266 +004 EMCSK ComeastCorporaton 26.20 0.15 VX CHEVRON CORP 5408 037 DIS WALTDISNEY.DISNEYC: 2816 +007 DNEX Dionex Corporation 55.36) +211 ERICY LMEncssonTeleghone 3392 047 €R _ENTERGY CP 7093 +064 FC FRANKUNCOVEYCO. 7:15. 022 Gow GOLDENWESTAINCP 6961 +094 GE GENELECTRIC CO 3365 +045 HCA HCAINC \ 4654-052 HRB HRBLOCK INC 2264 +047 HSIC Henry Schein 4591 001 IBM INTLBUSINESSMACH 81.57 +055 INTC Intel Corporation 1985 +010 BBW JetBlue Arways Corporation 10265 0845 XCP PENNEY JCCOHOLDIN’ 61.93 +1.10 WN NORDSTROM INC 41.22 +109 KRON Kron inc 3803-162 LEE LEE ENTERPRISES 3437 +023 Uf LONGVIEWFIBRECO «2477 +030 LU LUCENTTECHINC 283 +001 LUV SOUTHWESTAIRUNES 17.13 +0.10 MCK MCKESSON CORP 5388 +086 MER MLCOCMNSTK 775, +0.71 MITY MIT Enterprises inc 1868 +009 MMS! Merit Medical Systems, inc 14.33 +022 SYM | | | | | | | | MSFT MU MYGN .NATRE NETM _NOVL NUS NWN PCG PRE Q ROPRF SCOX SHLD Si SKYW SNTO S| STA STR SWAT SY T TGT UDR UNH USB USEG USNA UTMO V2 WEN WFC WMT WNI X XEL ZION’ COMPANY LASTCHANGE MicosoftCoporation 27.17 +017 MICRONTECHNOLOGY 1447-005 MyradGenetisinc 2639. +034 Nature's Sunshine Products 1670 +020 NetManage Inc 560 +001 Nowell nc 124 +022 NUSKINENTINC 1739 +004 NORTHWESTNATGAS 33.70. +043 PGRECP 3931 +030 PFIZERINC 2608-011 QWESTCOMMINTLINC 648 +0.08 ROYALDUTCHPETSWIS 65.745 0.00 SCOGroup. Inc. (The) 411 +001 Sears Holdings Corporation 118.23. +1.68 SMITHINTLINC 36.16 +018 Skyest Inc 2167 +005 Sento Corporation 8.082 +0.212 SCOTTISHPWRADS 3959-0001 STPAULTRAVELERSCO 4232. +019 —_QUESTARCP + 6822 +016 Swi Transporation Co, Inc 2399. +025 SYBASEINC 249 010 ATRTING 2723 +028 TARGETCP 5331 +056 —UNITEDDOMINRITYTR 27.42 +0.11 UNITEDHEALTHGROUP 56.17 0.17 USBANCORP 3068 +024 US. Energy Cop. 563 +005 USANAHealthScencesinc. 4256-0004 Utah Medical Products In. 33.00 0.00 VERIONCOMMUN 3419 +061 WENDYSINTLINC, 6262 +206 WELISFARGO&CONEW 6425 +034 WALMARTSTORES 4533 +009 SCHIFENUTRITINTL 516 +0.06 UNMEDSTATESSTEEL 5717 42.12 XCELENERGY INC 1819 +008 ZonsBancorporaton «82.85 +099 her shareofthepolitical heat. Clinton served on Wal-Mart’s board of directors for six years when her husband was governor of Arkansas. And the Rose Law Firm, where she was partner, handled many of the Arkansas-based oun's legal affairs. Clinton had kind words for Wal‘Mart as recently as 2004, when she told an audience at the convention of the National Retail Federation that her time on the board “was a great experiencein every respect.” Butin recent months, as the company has becomea target for Democratic activists, she has largely steered clear “The interesting question is not just Hillary Clinton's history at Wal-Mart, but whyit’s delicate for her to talk about Wal-Mart.” Charles Fishman authorof‘The Wal-Mart Effect’ American consumers depend uponbut many Democratic activists revile. “Theinteresting questionis not just Hillary Clinton's history at Wal-Mart, but whyit’s delicate for her to talk about Wal-Mart,” said Charles Fishman, author of “The Wal-Mart Effect,” a book on the company’s impact on the national econo- my. “Plenty of Democrats denounce WalMart,buttherearealsoplenty of people whoneed it, love it and rely onit.” In 1986, when Wal-Mart's founder, of any mention of Wal-Mart. Andlate last year, Clinton's re-election campaign returned a $5,000 contribution from WalMart, citing “serious differences with current company practices.” AsClinton sheds her Arkansas past and looks aheadto a possible 2008presidential run, the Wal-Mart issue presents an exquisite dilemma: how toreconcile. Sam Walton, tapped Clintonto be the company’sfirst female board member, Wal-Mart was fractionofits current size, with $11.9 billion in netsales. Today, Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer and largest private employer, with morethan $312 billion ‘in sales last year and 1.3 million employees or “associ- ates”in the U.S.alone. But recently, the company has drawn thepolitical demands she faces today withherhistory at a company many See CLINTON, D5 Ontop of pensions, many CEO’s get consulting fees Bruce Meyerson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK —.Asifthe outsized pensions aren't enough, many companies ease their top executivesinto retirement with “consulting”jobs that often don't entail much more than picking upa hefty check. At First Data Corp.,ee T.Fote is guaranteed million in fees for 18 els following his unplannedretirement in late 2005 as chairman andchief executive of the financial transaction services provider.Fote, only 56, chose company laid off 1,000 work- CEOChristopher Galvin in 2004 and 2005. Galvin, grandson of Motorola's founder, retired) oVhen he retires, AT&T Inc. early at 53 after overseeing the company’s decline from the tled to $3.2 million in consulting Estimates ofthe numberof to retire just weeks before the Chairman and Chief Executive Edward Whitacre will be enti- world's top producerofcell phones. pay over three years—ontop of an annual pension benefit estimated at $5.5 million anda companies offering post-retirementconsulting gigs range widely: from 10 percent among one-time retirement payment the Standard & Poor's 500, nowtotaling $18.8 million. Oneofthe richest consulting deals may havebeenthe $2.3 million a year that Motorola Inc. paid former Chairman and WWW.HERALDEXTRA.COM — CALL 375-5103 TO SUBSCRIBE according to The Corporate _Library,to possibly half of major-exchangelisted companies, according to consultants Watson Wyatt & Co, and Equilar Inc. Tra Kay,director of Watson eeecomperaation practice and author ofan upcor bookentitled “Myths Be ties of Executive Compensation,” said an outgoing CEO can help smooththe transition: to a new leader, providing 2 unique expertise from someone_ with vast knowledgeof the company anditsindustry.Still, © Kay acknowledges that the z arrangements also “allow the employee to leave gently.” See FEES, D5 ret 4 POUT PEP UCU CCC CCU Ce Creer erere |