Business

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, August 1, 2008 Boeing: Shares drop to $61 as investors mull oil prices, possible labor strike Shares of the Boeing Co. slid to a three-year low Thursday amid concerns over high oil prices and a possible strike at the company's commercial airplane business. Shares of the Chicago-based company declined $2.71, or 4.3 percent, to close at $61.11. Earlier on Thursday, the stock fell to $61.01, its lowest point since June 2005. In a note to investors, Banc of America Securities analyst Harry Nourse estimated a 70 percent chance of a work stoppage at Boeing this year. A Boeing spokesman said the company believes initial talks are going well and said that Boeing adopted a new negotiations approach this year. SonoSite, GE settle one suit Bothell's SonoSite Inc. and General Electric have settled the first of two lawsuits filed between the companies, which both sell hand-held ultrasound devices. Terms of the settlement were not released. The settlement follows last week's decision by a federal judge to grant summary judgments in SonoSite's favor on five of the six patents that GE had asserted. The court also granted motions in GE's favor on two patents. GE still has a second lawsuit pending against SonoSite. Weight loss spray found ineffective MDRNA Inc. said a nasal spray designed to treat obesity did not show significant signs of causing weight loss during phase 2 tests. The Bothell-based company, formerly known as Nastech, said the drug may still be effective in combination with other weight loss drugs. MDRNA indicated earlier this year it might try to sell the drug program. Bothell biotech opens drug tests Seattle Genetics Inc. of Bothell has launched a phase 1 clinical trial of SGN-70, an antibody-based drug being tested against autoimmune diseases. The clinical trial will be conducted in Switzerland and is expected to involve about 60 volunteer patients. SGN-70 is the fourth drug candidate that Seattle Genetics is testing in humans at this time. Helix BioMedix doubles loss Helix BioMedix Inc. of Bothell, a developer of wound-healing proteins called peptides, said its second-quarter revenue totaled $87,000, compared with $141,000 a year ago. The company posted a net loss for the latest period of $1.4 million, or 6 cents per share, close to double the net loss in the year-ago period. Another record for Exxon Mobil Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter 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 slumped 3 percent. The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income for the April-June period 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 year-earlier quarter. Excluding an after-tax charge of $290 million related to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings amounted to $11.97 billion, or $2.27 per share. From Herald staff and news services

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