Cascade Bank sold 3,200 pink Athena Partners wristbands during the last two weeks of 2004. The plastic wristbands are fund-raisers for the Seattle-based Athena group, which raises money for research into cancers specific to women. The Everett-based bank plans to continue selling the bands, for $1 a piece, at its 18 branches through at least the end of January, a spokeswoman said.
Hotel occupancy rate rises in county
Nearly 57 percent of rooms at Snohomish County’s hotels and motels were occupied during November, up from less than 53 percent for the same month in 2003, Smith Travel Research reported. The average rate charged per room also was up, from $62.78 in 2003 to $65.38 in November, according to the monthly survey. The county’s occupancy rate through the first 11 months of 2004 averaged 60.4 percent, an improvement of more than 9 percent over the same period in 2003.
Bayer buys back Levitra sales rights
Bayer will pay $272 million to buy back marketing rights for Levitra outside the United States. GlaxoSmithKline, which sold the rights to Bayer, said it will continue to co-promote the erectile dysfunction drug in the U.S. market, however. Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline began jointly selling Levitra in summer 2003, but it since has fallen to third in the market behind Cialis, sold by Bothell-based ICOS Corp. and Eli Lilly &Co., and Pfizer’s Viagra.
UPS orders 10 new Airbus super-jumbos
United Parcel Service Inc. has ordered 10 of Airbus’ new A-380 super-jumbo jets as the shipping giant moves to expand the capacity of its air network to accommodate strong international growth. In a related development Monday, UPS also cut a previous order for smaller A-300s from the European aircraft maker – from 90 planes to 53. The A-380s will be delivered beginning in 2009 and continuing through 2012.
T-bill rates rise in Monday auction
Three-month bills sold Monday at a discount rate of 2.33 percent. Six-month bills were auctioned at a discount rate of 2.6 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors – 2.376 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,941.10 and 2.671 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,868.56. In a separate report, the Federal Reserve reported Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for changing adjustable rate mortgages, rose to 2.82 percent last week from 2.77 percent the previous week.
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