The Des Moines Register du lieu suivant : Des Moines, Iowa • Page 28

8C DM SATURDAY March 26, 2005 ebf Dcs Jlloincs Kcqistcr LYNN HICKS, Executive Business Editor, 51 5-284-8290e-mail: lhicksdmreg.com MARKETS FOR SALE Four-bedroom house with pool Tax deal for track in Newton finds favor overlooking golf course in Georgia. i ft Tl Lawmakers say the plan would help the town's economy but not cost the state. The financial markets were closed Friday in observance of Good Friday. NEWS OF NOTE Bill includes money to widen Wal-Mart street The U.S. House has approved a federal highway bill that includes $37 million for widening and extending the Bentonville, street that provides the main access to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The company asked Rep. John Boozman, to help get federal money for the proposed project. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, added an amendment that put the work into the $284 billion bill, which is now before the Senate. A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company wants Eighth Street improved so the 10,000 workers at company headquarters will have an easier time getting to their jobs.

Wal-Mart, as measured by sales, is the world's largest company. Officials have said $37 million would cover widening the street from two to five lanes and connecting it to Interstate Highway 540. The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the bill in April. Thumbs down: Sales have dropped sharply at Wendy's fast-food restaurants in northern California where a woman claimed she found part of a finger in a bowl of chili. The hamburger chain serves about 6 million meals a day across the nation, but a Piper Jaffray Co.

analyst said he doesn't expect ...1 Tk What it means QAre sales taxes collected on tickets and concessions at athletic facilities such as Kinnick Stadium, Jack Trice Stadium and the new Iowa Events Center? A -Typically, admissions to athletic events and concessions are taxable. QAre sales taxes collected on events such as the Iowa State Fair, or other events run by government or quasi-government agencies? A Some government functions are subject to tax. State Fair admissions, however, are exempt from the tax, although vendors at the fair do collect the tax. QAre any business-related items exempt from the sales tax? A Machinery and equipment used in processing is exempt, and so is equipment used in agricultural production. Source: Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance By TIM HIGGINS and WILLIAM RYBERG REGISTER STAFF WRITERS Legislation that would allow a proposed Newton race-car track to keep the state sales tax money it generates is finding a warm reception from key Iowa lawmakers.

"I think the train has left" the station, said Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, who is part of a subcommittee working on the proposal. "I think it is a done deal." The legislation was introduced in the House and Senate this week. The proposal would allow U.S. Motorsports Entertainment Corp.

to retain a maximum of $12.5 million that customers of the race track would pay in sales taxes on tickets and concessions. Once that total is collected, sales taxes from the track would begin flowing into the state treasury. Although McCoy predicted the proposal would "sail through the Senate," he acknowledged that it could set "a dangerous precedent" for See TAX, Page 7C $309,000 a steal in one of the state's best school districts Still for sale one year later. 4 r-fl'' Mutual funds post negative returns GObf wURSE LOT SCHECHTERTEAH 1 L- --W -T-ft imCMO I 1 V' 4 1 ISSS) Fie RIC FELDASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS Sherry Hersh blames rising interest rates for keeping her ranch home on the market in Georgia. Home sellers fret as mortgage rates rise for seventh time in less than a year Only funds aided by rising oil prices showed growth.

By MICHAEL MARTINEZ ASSOCIATED PRESS New York, N.Y. The stock market's retreat during the past three weeks has eroded the value of mutual funds, most of which posted negative returns for investors for the quarter, according to a preliminary survey released Friday by mutual fund watcher Upper Inc. U.S. diversified equity funds the most common mutual funds found in 401(k) and other savings plans, with more than $3 trillion in assets posted an average 3 percent negative return for the first quarter, Lipper said. Growth funds, which incorporate riskier stocks than core or value funds, had the worst returns.

Small-cap growth funds had a negative return of 5.27 percent, followed by large-cap growth funds' 5.18 percent negative returns. Only specialty diversified funds, usually those that invest using religious or ethical philosophies, had positive returns, averaging 4.37 percent. With the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index having lagged, it's no surprise that the worst sector performers were technology funds, with a 9.39 percent negative return, and telecommunications funds, with a 7.55 percent negative return. The only sector funds with positive returns benefited from skyrocketing oil prices. Natural resources funds, which include oil companies, had positive returns of 11.25 percent, while utility funds had returns of 1.58 percent.

Investors who went overseas for returns fared modestly better, though world equity funds, on the whole, had negative returns of 024 percent for the quarter. The first quarter ends Thursday. Lipper said it will release final results for the quarter on April 1. Wendy's business to suffer long term. Authorities in San Jose, planned to search a fingerprint database to try to identify the finger's owner.

Wendy's said the finger did not come from the restaurant's employees. It is also confident company suppliers are not to blame. Airplane inspections: U.S. airlines will be ordered to inspect the rudders of certain Airbus jets following an incident in which most of the rudder fell off an A310 in flight, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The directive affects A310s and A300-600S.

American Airlines and FedEx, the only U.S. airlines that fly those models, have 112 of those planes. A plane operated by Canadian-based Air Transat lost nearly all of the rudder soon after leaving Cuba for Quebec on March 5. The pilot was able to control the aircraft and returned to Varadero, Cuba. None of the 270 passengers and crew was injured.

Recall: Condoms and home-pregnancy test kits sold in retail stores nationwide are being recalled by their distributor, Harmony Brands, because they may not work correctly. The Oak Park, company said Friday it is recalling Lover brand latex condoms and B-Sure brand one-step home pregnancy test kits. Visit www.harmony brands.com for details. Gas watch: The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Iowa was $2,091 Friday, according to the motorist group AAA. for people to sell their homes at the prices they want.

So far, though, signs of a slowing of the housing juggernaut are mostly anecdotal. New-home sales soared by 9.4 percent in February, the government reported this week. While sales of previously owned homes dipped 0.4 percent last month, the results still were better than analysts were forecasting. See HOUSES, Page 7C conscious of what I will get for the house in order to buy a new house." Real estate and mortgage experts across the nation say Hersh's case could become more common in the wake of the Federal Reserve's decision this week to increase the overnight bank lending rate for the seventh time since last June. Because that helped push up other interest rates including the yield on the 10-year U.S.

Treasury note, which tends to influence mortgage rates they say it could take longer By HARRY WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS Marietta, Ga. A four-bedroom ranch home with a finished basement and swimming pool overlooking a golf course fairway in one of Georgia's top school districts should be a steal for $309,000. Not for owner Sherry Hersh, who blames rising interest rates for keeping her home on the market for nearly a year. "It's made it more difficult to sell it," Hersh says. "It's made me more Principal Bank loses $3.3 million in 2004 Sale of Principal Residential Mortgage pulled escrow money from institute 13 owner insurance on many of the loans that were carried by Principal Residential Mortgage.

When the sale of the Principal mortgage business to CitiGroup CitiMortgage was completed, Principal Bank paid that escrow account money to the new owner. After that payment, the bank lost the income it had been generating from that escrow money that was, in effect, costing the bank nothing. In records filed with the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision, Principal Bank said it lost $6.54 million in the second quarter of 2004, which ended June 30, See PRINCIPAL, Page 7C What happened Principal Bank, which is a division of the Des Moines-based Principal Financial Group, lost $3.3 million in 2004, down from a $16.2 million profit the year before. It was the bank's first loss since 1999.

What it means Principal officials say the loss is tied to its sale of Principal Residential Mortgage. Officials are counting on new services and products to give the bank a boost in 2005. nt tm mi II. HI IX loss since 1999 for the bank that is owned by Principal Financial Group the Des Moines insurance and financial services provider. Barrie Christman, Principal Bank's president, said the loss, and the drop in assets, were tied directly to the sale of Principal Residential Mortgage.

The bank had on deposit $1.1 billion that was in non-interest-bearing escrow accounts the accounts that were used to pay property taxes and home ByS.P. DINNEN REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER Principal Bank is counting on new services and products to make up for the loss of profits and assets caused by the sale last year of its parent company's residential mortgage business. While most major banks in Iowa and across the United States had robust earnings in 2004, Principal Bank lost $3.3 million. That was a stark reversal from the bank's $162 million profit for 2003. The loss was the first annual An article Thursday about awards given to Iowa businesses by the U.S.

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