LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Business equipment spending is still on track to post a solid gain in the third quarter, but perhaps not quite as robust as earlier thought."
Brian Bethune,
chief U.S. financial economist at IHS Global Insight, in a note to clients Article, 1DTally of exploration rigs rises by 7
HOUSTON - The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. this week rose by seven to 1,017.
Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday that 710 of the rigs were exploring for natural gas and 297 for oil.
Ten were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week, the rig count stood at 1,995.
Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Oklahoma gained seven and Louisiana was up six. North Dakota added two and California, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming each rose by one. Texas lost six rigs while Arkansas and Alaska each dropped two. The rig count tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981, during the height of the oil boom. The industry posted a record low of 488 in 1999.
2 airlines tack $10 fee on 3 busy days
MINNEAPOLIS - American and United airlines this week have added $10 surcharges for most of their tickets for travel on three busy days around the Thanksgiving and New Year's holidays.
According to FareCompare.com, both carriers added the charge - technically, a fuel surcharge - for most of their fares for travel on Nov. 29, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, as well as Jan. 2 and 3. FareCompare noted that the Sunday after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year, and that the two dates in January are heavily traveled as well.
Rick Seaney of FareCompare said the airlines probably added the charge because it was a quick, targeted way to charge more on busy travel days.
American added the charge on Wednesday and United matched it on Thursday.
Mild inflation forecast for food prices
Retail food prices in the U.S. are rising at a slower pace than expected a month ago as the recession cuts energy costs and slows demand for meat and dairy products, the government said.
Food costs will rise 2 percent to 3 percent this year, less than the August estimate of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday. A rise at the lower end of that range would be the smallest gain since 2002.
The USDA left its forecast for 2010 unchanged at 3 percent to 4 percent.
Supermarket price increases are easing "as lower commodity and energy costs combine with weaker domestic and global economies to pull inflation down from 2008 levels," Ephraim Leibtag, a USDA economist, said in a note accompanying the report. "Pressure on retail food prices has subsided, resulting in low-to-moderate food-price inflation in 2009."Agribusiness CEO compensation falls
DECATUR, Ill. - The chief executive officer of agribusiness leader Archer Daniels Midland Co. received compensation worth $14.9 million in fiscal 2009, a decrease of nearly 2 percent from the previous year, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures filed with regulators.
CEO Patricia Woertz's base salary was virtually unchanged at $1.29 million, compared with $1.3 million the year before. Her bonus fell 33 percent to $2.04 million, down from $3.04 million.
That cut came during a tumultuous year for Archer Daniels Midland, which is involved in businesses as diverse as growing and shipping grain and producing food additives and ethanol. Record-high grain prices last summer helped its commodity trading unit, but the gains were offset when the global recession stifled demand and dragged down prices last fall.
The stock and options Woertz received were worth $11.3 million on the day they were granted, 8 percent more than the $10.5 million worth she was awarded a year earlier.
Sharp rise seen in tobacco smuggling
The rate of tobacco smuggling has increased in recent years, resulting in the loss of more than $5 billion annually in federal and state taxes, according to a report Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general.
The value of seizures from bootleg tobacco products more than quadrupled to $26.68 million in fiscal 2008, up from $6.28 million in fiscal 2004, according to the report.
Smuggling cigarettes is profitable because of a disparity among states' taxes, which range from 7 cents per pack in South Carolina to $3.46 per pack in Rhode Island, according to the report. Some cities or counties add an additional tax of as much as $2 per pack.
By purchasing cigarettes in low-tax areas and peddling them in high-tax locations, sellers can earn a profit of "several thousand dollars on a few cases of cigarettes," according to a statement from the inspector general's office.
Business, Pages 34 on 09/26/2009