Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 12

Reno GazfiteJournal Business STEVE FALCONE, BUSINESS EDITOR: PHONE, 788-6322; FAX, 788-6458 TUESDAY FEBRUARY 1,1994 MEM I January 31, 1W4 DOW (Industries) NYSE tm'A TV TIT 500 AMEX MldCap NASDAQ Income, spending increased in 1993 WASHINGTON Americans' personal incomes and spending increased in 1 993 at rates that economists see as harbingers of healthy expansion this year. The Commerce Department reported Monday that earnings rose 4.7 percent last year, helped by a 0.6 percent increase in December. The yearly figure was nearly double the 2.7 percent rise in inflation. Consumer spending rose 6. 1 percent, the biggest increase since a 6.8 percent gain in 1 990.

Consumer spending represents two-thirds of the nation's economic activity. David Jones, an economist at Aubrey G. Lanston said, "These numbers do confirm a solid year of economic growth." Alpine Meadows Amfed Financial 25 Amservlnc. 1Vb 516 BankAmerlca 46V2 1Vs Clorox 51 Coeurd'Alene 20 Comstock Bank R.R. Donnelley 31 Echo Bay 13V4 First Interstate 70Vg -1V4 FirstMiss Gold 6Vs First Western Fin.

7V -Ve FMCGold 5 Ve Gannett 57 General Motors 6114 2 Granite Const. 26 1 Harding 9 -Vb Nevada Power 23V4 Newmont 53 Pacific Telesis 57 J.C. Penney 52 Reno Air 8 -Va Rotech 17'2 Santa Fe Pacific 24 Vb Sierra Pacific 197s Sierra Tahoe 7 -Va Southwest Gas 18 1 US Bancorp 25V2 T-billS' Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities rose in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department sold 1 2.6 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 2.99 percent, up from 2.96 percent last week. Another 1 2.6 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 3.16 percent, up from 3.14 percent last week.

I a separate report, the Federal Reserve said that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, the most popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, was unchanged at 3.5 1 percent. Bonds: Treasury bond prices ended lower despite initially rising on suggestions from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that inflation remained under control for now. Market analysts traced part of the decline in government bond prices to a wave of corporate borrowing, including a 1 billion deal from the Province of Quebec. As part of corporate bond transactions, underwriters typically sell Treasury securities to hedge against potential losses. The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond dropped 5-16 point, or $3.

1 3 per 1 ,000 in face value. Its yield rose to 6.23 percent. i iUTIt lThiMlilif iiiiin NYSE Diary Advances: 1,396 Declines: 733 Unchanged: 638 207 New lowi 13 Associated Press ROVING: German automaker BMW is buying England's Rover from British Aerospace, merging two of Europe's great car names and putting the last big British-owned auto company under foreign control. BA bought the company from the government in 1988. The $1.2 billion deal angered giant Honda, a 20 percent shareholder in Rover.

Total issues: 2,767 Composite volume: 395,355,410 1993 avg. comp. 323,714,610 Greenspan signals interest rate hike Not if, when: Federal Reserve chairman says short-term rates to go up. the second best showing in 29 years, will work to hold down prices this year. Still, he noted "upward pressure on prices of a number of industrial materials" and warned it would be a mistake to delay raising rates until after inflation clearly had gotten worse.

Greenspan depicted an economy with enough vigor currently to withstand a modest rate hike. "The economic fundamentals appear to be in place for further solid gains in the level of activity in the quarters ahead," he said. the Fed eventually could translate into increases in short-term consumer rates. Long-term rates, such as those on corporate bonds and 30-year mortgages, are set in financial markets and would not necessarily be affected by a Fed move, at least not at first. At the White House, President Clinton said "there's no evidence that inflation is coming back," but he sounded almost resigned to a modest increase in short-term rates.

"What 1 hope is that it won't unexpected and prolonged weakening of economic activity, we will need to move them." He carefully avoided saying exactly when, but private economists widely expect an increase in the overnight rate for loans among banks before the end of spring. It would be the first increase in this federal-funds rate in five years, when the rate peaked at 9.75 percent, and the first change of any kind since September 1992 when the rate fell to a nearly 30-year low of 3 percent. A rise in the rate engineered by raise long-term rates because there is no need to do it. And I hope that the stock market won't take an adverse view because we've still got good strong growth in this economy," he said. The Democratic chairman and vice chairman of the joint committee Rep.

David Obey of Wisconsin and Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland urged Greenspan to postpone any rate increase as long as possible Greenspan acknowledged that many of the forces that restrained inflation to 2.7 percent in 1993, pushes rates higher as a way of keeping inflation in check, and Greenspan warned that waiting until inflation worsened would only mean harsher increases later. "Short-term interest rates are currently abnormally low," he told Congress' Joint Economic Committee. "At some point, absent an WASHINGTON (AP) The Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates which could mean higher consumer rates on auto loans, adjustable mortgages and bank deposits the only-question is when. Chairman Alan Greenspan said Monday.

The Federal Reserve generally TECHNOLOGY Sparks firm offers safe drinking water Purification systems: Vector is on the leading edge. irln a I ii'JL i 3 mazA rtVtfSl I -sr u2l FAR EAST GAMING Harrah's looks at China, Indonesia By Wayne R. Melton GAZETTE-JOURNAL Lew Phillips, head of Harrah's northern Nevada operations, departed Monday for a Far East gaming conference in Hong Kong, where he hopes to establish contacts needed to build new casinos in that region. "I'm excited about the possibilities of gaming, and at Harrah's, we're going to take a look at China and Indonesia." Phillips said. That would make Harrah's the first U.S.-based gaming company to launch operations in those nations.

Many of the world's top gaming executives, including Steve Wynn, Mirage Resorts chairman, are scheduled to speak or attend the two-day conference in Hong Kong. The Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada. Reno, was instrumental in planning the seminar, the first of its kind in the Far East. Professor William Eadington, director of the institute, recently predicted the gathering will be the first of many similar annual functions as gaming industry executives help plan the spread of gaming to the Far East market. Most Far East countries currently have no major casino facilities.

Eadington said this makes the entire region a key target because companies that tap the market first may reap the most financial gain. Before that can happen though, casinos must be approved for the first time in many of those nations. Government officials from some of those countries are expected to at the conference to establish initial contacts, he said. Phillips was instrumental in winning approval for a new Harrah's 344-room facility in New Zealand. He said nations all around the Pacific Rim show promise for start-up gaming facilities.

The New Zealand facility isn't part of the Far East, but it marks a major step in Harrah's spread to that side of the Pacific Ocean, he said. Phillips said he'll continue to serve as head of Harrah's Northern Nevada Division while helping to oversee management and design of the Auckland casino and possibly assisting the company's Far East start-up plans. iifiiffiiiliiiirffa-J--' -J Jean Dixon AikinGazette Journal VECTOR ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES: Len Kaminiski, left, vice president of sales, and Duane Dunk, vice president of business development, with one of the firm's water purification systems. HARRAH'S AUCKLAND: An artist's rendering of the Sky Tower hotel-casino in New Zealand By Susan Skorupa GAZETTE-JOURNAL The technology wave is sweeping into environmental fields and a local company is on the leading edge, says the firm's founder. "We've zeroed in on water the demand for safe dnhTarTg water," said Amyn Dahya, president and founder of Vector Environmental Technologies.

With its Diamond Rain system, Vector hopes to make inroads in allowing developing nations to provide disease-free drinking water for even their most rural communities. tyn Vector evolved from Dahya's Casmyn engineering and research lab, which he moved to Sparks from Toronto in 1990. "We wanted to focus on water, the No. 1 health problem in the world," said David Chase, Vector's vice president of finance. "We wanted to do water pollution control and purification." The company has created several products, including an oil-separation system to recover oil from spills and hazardous materials storage systems.

But its Diamond Rain water purification system, company officials said, can provide low-cost clean water for communities where no water treatment facilities exist. Vector is tailoring the systems HARRAH'S NEW ZEALAND Name: Harrah's Auckland. Square feet: 1 .6 million. Opening: Late 1995. Partner: Brierly Investments Ltd.

Building: $150 million, excluding Sky Tower portion. Ownership: Brierly 80 percent; Harrah's 20 percent. Facility manager: Harrah's, which receives management lee. vide two, five or 15 gallons of clean water per minute. Individual household models run about 1 50.

The large systems that serve communities can cost up to $100,000 each, depending on options, transportation costs and other factors. Over the next three to five years, Vector has agreed to install Diamond Rain systems in Vietnam to supply purified water for 50 million people. The project amounts to about half a billion dollars, with systems going into hospitals, schools and rural communities. "The technology is geared to be affordable to countries with very low GNP (Gross National Product)," Dahya said. "We have shrunk the systems like personal computers." to rural markets with 200 to 50,000 residents, Dahya said.

"We can take them to any rural community and park them along a lake or other water source, and in a single pass we can kill all the microbes in the water," he said. The systems consist of modular filtration technology that requires little maintenance beyond filter changes. The chemical filtration removes microbe and chemical pollutants caused by industrial, agricultural, human and other waste. Smaller systems can be used in individual households in urban areas where other water purification methods might exist, Dahya said. Diamond Rain systems vary in size according to a community's needs.

Three current models pro In mid-February, Phil Satre, chairman of Promus Harrah's parent firm, is scheduled to break ground for Harrah's Sky Tower in Auckland, Phillips said. Super ads: Quayle, Brite Glass draw local attention the Super Bowl who works his way from a seat in the top row of the Georgia Dome down to the playing field by betting people, including the former VP, they can't eat just one chip. Three callers enjoyed Pepsi's commercial with a chimp that breaks out of a laboratory, hits the beach and turns into a party animal. ty. Everyone was saying what an awesome commercial that was." The cartoon cow appeared in an ad for the glass-installation firm that ran during the Super Bowl pre-game show.

Quayle's chip commerical was the favorite in the unscientific random phone survey, with four callers mentioning it. Quayle appeared with a young boy at But a Reno company, Brite Glass, attracted the attention of some local viewers. Three of 1 9 callers to the Reno Gazette-Journal's TalkLine picked a Brite Glass commercial that featured a singing cow as the Super Bowl's best sales pitch. "I liked the cow," said Shirley Rodriguez of Reno. "I was at a Super Bowl par By Don Cox GAZETTE-JOURNAL The big corporations dominated Super Bowl television commercials.

Pepsi Cola had its monkey. McDonald's had Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. Wavy Lay's potato chips had former vice president Dan Quayle. Gaming Tourism Lake Tahoe games South Shore locations ($1 million and over revenue) in November: 50 million 1 25(5 Macy profits rise 37.6 in December NEW YORK (AP) R.H. Macy Co.

Inc. reported a S203.3 million profit during the crucial month of December, a 37.6 percent rise over the department store company's earnings in the same month a year earlier. Macy, which is reorganizing in bankruptcy court, said Monday that improvements in gross margins and continuing expense reductions contributed to the results, which compared with earnings of $147.7 million in December 1992. The company also reported in early January that total December sales fell 1.5 percent, while business at stores open at least a year a key measure of the strength of any retailer rose 1 Circus plans new attractions to boost theme park attendance LAS VEGAS Circus Circus hopes to boost attendance at its Grand Slam Canyon amusement park withabout 1 5 million in new attractions. Circus Circus Chairman William Bennett said about $7 million in new rides and equipment was ordered and will be operational by late May.

The biggest new attraction will be a replica of the space shuttle that will include educational areas and a thrill ride, Bennett said. Bennett said the pink, domed indoor park, which opened in August behind the Circus Circus hotel-casino, hasn't been packed because it doesn't have enough attractions. The theme park has a roller coaster, water flume, water tube ride and laser tag arena. The park originally had a 10 admission price, which allowed one visit to each of the four main attractions. Admission is now free, and rides are $2.50 each.

Louisiana regulators mull appeal as Horseshoe construction starts BATON ROUGE, La. State Police gaming regulators have delayed a decision on whether to appeal the Riverboat Gaming Commission's overturning their denial of a gaming license for Horseshoe Entertainment in Bossier City. State Police tend to want to appeal because its gaming regulators denied a license in November after finding the Las Vegas company unsuitable. Horseshoe appealed that denial to the Riverboat Gaming Commission, which voted Saturday to reverse the State Police finding. Horseshoe attorney Robert Piper said Monday state pol ice have no appellate rights and Horseshoe will challenge state police's legal standing if they attempt an appeal.

George Nattin, Horseshoe's general manager, said the group has already spent $20 million of an anticipated $60 million. Construction, restarted Monday, will be in full swing by Wednesday. Aztar 7V4 Bally Gaming 14 Bally Mfg. 87s Boomtown 18V4 Caesars World 55Va Casino Data Sys. 23V2 -1 Circus Circus 37 V2 Grand Casinos 2834 Vz Hilton Motels 64 1' IGT 29V2 Jackpot Ent.

133e -Ve MGM Grand 33V8 -1 Mirage 247s 7a Monarch 1 1 Primadonna 24 -I- Promus Cos. 50 Rio Hotel 15V4 Sahara Gaming 13 -'A Sands Regent 12V2 Showboat 19 Sodak 27'A United Gaming 9Vz -Va Video Lottery Z2Va Va $1 Megabucks 1 .03 million Source: Nevada Gaming Control Board Gazette-Journal.