Business briefly
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Wholesale price declines boost stock market
An unexpected drop in wholesale prices sent stocks soaring Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrials climbing more than 130 points as Wall Street gained renewed confidence in the Federal Reserve’s management of inflation and the economy. Prices at the wholesale level, with food and fuel prices removed, fell 0.3 percent in July, according to the Labor Department, the best showing for core inflation in nine months. Including energy and food, wholesale prices edged up only 0.1 percent.
Housing sales fall in 28 states
The nation’s once-booming housing market slumped even further in the spring with sales declining in 28 states, led by big drops in the once red-hot areas of Arizona, Florida and California. Sales of existing homes fell nationwide to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.693 million units in the April-June quarter, down by 7.5 percent from the record rate of 7.193 million units in the spring of 2005, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.
Bothell biotech enters key drug trial
Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc. of Bothell has finalized a contract that allows for a critical phase 2 clinical trial of its experimental brain cancer drug. Synteract of Carlsbad, Calif., will manage the trial for the small, financially challenged biotechnology firm. Northwest Biotherapeutics’ DCVax-Brain Brain is a personalized cancer vaccine that uses the patient’s own immune cells. Earlier tests showed patients receiving the drug survived twice as long as those on approved therapies.
Home Depot reports stronger earnings
The Home Depot Inc., the nation’s largest home improvement store chain, reported Tuesday a 5.3 percent jump in second-quarter earnings on a strong rise in sales. However, it said its earnings growth for the year will be at the low end of its previous guidance, signaling it wants to do more to improve its business.
Food price cuts ease inflation fears
Falling food prices helped to keep inflation at the wholesale level contained in July. But a relentless rise in energy prices was expected to make the relief short-lived. The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices increased a slight 0.1 percent in July, far below the 0.5 percent jump in June. The improvement reflected a retreat in food prices, which had surged by 1.4 percent in June only to decline by 0.3 percent in July.
Oil field shutdown spurs hearing
A congressional committee has scheduled a Sept. 7 hearing to examine the management of the nation’s largest oil field by British operator BP PLC. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will look at BP’s corrosion control practices for its oil-transit lines at Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, such as those involved in two spills this year before the partial shutdown last week of the sprawling oil field near the edge of the Arctic Ocean.
From Herald staff and news services
