Cascade Financial Corp., the parent company of Cascade Bank, will raise its quarterly dividend by 1 cent, to 8 cents a share, the company said Friday. It will pay the increased dividend on Oct. 27 to shareholders of record on Oct. 13. “Increasing our cash dividend by 14 percent is an excellent way for us to share our success with our shareholders,” CEO Carol Nelson said.
Factories hummed during September
Manufacturing activity remained strong in September, and construction spending surged to a record high in August, according to two reports issued Friday that provided an optimistic look at the economy.
Mutual funds have poor quarter
With a disappointing third quarter behind them, mutual funds are hoping for a better performance in the last three months of the year. Technology and growth funds, which suffered the most during the summer, are in a good position for a comeback – if the economy continues to show signs of strength. According to updated figures from fund tracker Lipper Inc., only specialized, diversified equity funds – those that hedge against bear markets – and equity income funds focusing on dividend yields had positive returns among U.S. diversified equity funds for the third quarter. Even those returns were minimal, with specialized equity funds posting a 1.23 percent return and equity income funds earning a 0.55 percent return.
PeopleSoft board fires stubborn CEO
Business software maker PeopleSoft Inc. unexpectedly fired CEO Craig Conway, dumping the feisty leader who engineered the company’s dogged resistance to Oracle Corp.’s $7.7 billion takeover bid during a 16-month saga. Just a few hours after PeopleSoft disclosed Conway’s ouster, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday that it would not appeal a court decision removing an antitrust hurdle to Oracle’s offer. Taken together, the news convinced many analysts that PeopleSoft is clearing the decks for an Oracle takeover.
Gates weighs in on outsourcing
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates discussed outsourcing during a speech at the University of California, Berkeley on Friday – a topic of major concern to the audience packed with engineering students whose futures now seem as uncertain as Silicon Valley’s economy. Asked what the future may hold for the area’s technology industry now that engineers here must compete against lower-paid tech workers in China, India and other countries, Gates seemed cheerful.
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