The Boeing Co. will meet again with Pentagon officials on Saturday to discuss revised requirements for a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract. The Air Force initially awarded the deal to Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS but has reopened the competition after government auditors found flaws in its evaluation process. Both Boeing and Northrop met with Defense Department officials earlier this week. The Pentagon had been expected to release shortly its final request for proposal on the lucrative contract. Defense officials want to announce the contract winner by the end of 2008.
Economy data gloomy, complex
Inflation is running at the fastest pace in 17 years, the job market is under further strain and foreclosure filings are surging. A raft of gloomy economic data Thursday represented a setback for those hoping to see signs of better times ahead and it may keep the Federal Reserve jammed between rising inflation and slowing growth. The Labor Department reported that consumer prices shot up by 0.8 percent in July, double the increase that economists had expected. The rise was only slightly lower than the 1.1 percent surge in June that had been the second- highest monthly increase in the last 26 years. The big gains left inflation increasing by 5.6 percent over the past year, the largest 12-month jump since the January 1991.
Nordstrom profits drop 21 percent
Nordstrom Inc. says its second-quarter profit dropped 21 percent as its affluent consumers pull back on fashions in a tough economy. The upscale department store chain also cut its full-year profit forecast. The Seattle-based chain said Friday that earnings for the three-month period ended Aug. 2 fell to $143 million, or 65 cents per share, compared with $180 million, or 71 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Total sales fell 4.3 percent to $2.29 billion in the quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected profits of 64 cents per share on revenue of $2.31 billion.
New Blackberry will be out soon
The new BlackBerry model should be coming to North America within a month now that Research In Motion Ltd. has started selling it in Germany and Chile. The BlackBerry Bold is a high-end BlackBerry that has twice the screen resolution of current models made by RIM. The Bold, or 9000, matches the resolution, but not the size, of the screen on Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which has emerged as a potent competitor in the smart-phone category. AT&T Inc. says it will be the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Bold, as it is for the iPhone.
Banks borrowing Fed reports
The Federal Reserve says banks borrowed slightly more over the past week from its emergency lending program. Wall Street firms did not draw any loans for a second straight week. which could mean pressures are easing. The Fed reported Thursday that commercial banks averaged $17.7 billion in daily borrowing over the past week. That’s compared with a daily average of $17.37 billion in the previous week.
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