Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • B11

10829TDCB11B final; 0829 Friday Busi 10829TDCB11B ZALLCALL 23 "3:21:30 082808 Richmond Times-Dispatch BUSINESS Friday, August 29, 2008 B11 BUSINESS BRIEFS GDP rises, but fears persist Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, grew at a revised 1.7 percent annual rate in the second quarter, compared with the 1.5 percent estimated last month and 0.9 percent for the first three months of the The gross domestic product measures the value of al goods and services produced within the United States. Trade boosts key economic figure, but forecast is gloomy From Wire Reports The U.S. economy expanded faster than previously estimated in the second quarter, helped by a surge in exports that probably will wane as Europe and Japan head toward recessions. Gross domestic product increased at a 3.3 percent annual pace, compared with the initial estimate of 1.9 percent, the Commerce Department said yesterday in Washington. Trade contributed the most to U.S.

growth in almost three decades. The expansion is likely to weaken in the second half as consumers burdened with falling home values and dwindling job prospects rein in spending. Separate figures showed that the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits reached a five-year high last week. "Outside of trade, the econ omy is considerably weaker," said Carl Riccadonna, an economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York.

"When you look at the spending, it looks terrible for the second half of the year." The increase last quarter in GDP, which measures the value of all the goods and services produced by the United States, was bigger than the median estimate of a 2.7 percent gain in a Bloomberg News survey of 78 forecasters. The expansion was the fastest since the third quarter of 2007 and followed growth of 1.9 percent in the first three months of the year. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 425,000 last week, matching economists' forecasts, from 435,000 the previous week. The level remains well above the 321,000 average of last year. The number of people staying on unemployment rolls rose to 3.423 million, the highest since November 2003.

The labor market may continue to weaken" as firms trim payrolls, said Russell Price, a senior economist at Block Financial Advisors Inc. in De- RESS EUGENE HOSNIKQmE ASSOCIATED "We cant be overly upbeat" about the GDP report, said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, J. "Yes, it was a lot higher than people expected, but conditions are dramatically different now than they were in the second quarter." The last of the government stimulus checks went out early in July, Baumohl noted, and their onetime boost to consumer spending is largely over. A weakening labor market is one reason consumer spending is likely to slow after the government sent out about $92 billion in tax-rebate checks. The U.S.

has lost 463,000 jobs so far this year and wages haven't kept up with inflation, according to Labor Department data. Bloomberg News and the Los Angeles Times contributed to this report I 1 1 1 IV 1 1 1 IV 1 1 1 1 1 Ml OB I Ml I I SOURCE: Darartmant ofConnmna HE ASBOCWTH) PRESS trait Excluding trade, the economy would have expanded at a 0.2 percent pace after growing 0.1 percent in the first three months of the year. The revised GDP report is "kind of the last hurrah" for the US. economy, Martin Regalia, chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said at a news conference.

"We've begun the process of supping into a good old-fashioned China's tallest building The Shanghai World Financial Center, the tallest building, stands among other high-rises near the Huangpu River. The 101-story structure, China's tallest building, will open to the public tomorrow, 14 years after its developer began the project The 614-foot building had once been expected to be world's tallest, but others surpassed it during its long oonstniction. The Burj Dubai daimed the title in July 2007. Though still under construction, it already stands at more than 1,800 feet its final height a closely guarded secret. Previously, Taiwan's Taipei 101 had been the tallest, with spires that reach 1,667 feet.

The tallest building in the United States, the Sears Tower in Chicago, comes in at 1,451 feet Before they were destroyed in the Sept, II, 2001, attacks, the World Trade Center towers both topped 1,360 feet The Freedom Tower being planned for the site will measure 1,776 feet when it is completed in 2011. Biz to Go Carpenter's sleep tour is an actual snooze-fest VIRGINIA Elsewhere I said 19 U.S. poultry Hilb Rogal Hobbs asks shareholders to OK sale an in If you're a pillow-scruncher when you sleep, Dan Schecter blames it on the pillow. "There's a difference between hugging and scrunching," he said as he launched the Zzzz Across America sleep tour for the Carpenter a Richmond-based company that specializes in foam pillows and mattresses. Scrunching could mean your pillow has lost its loft because it's too old.

"You need a better pillow," said Schecter, vice president for sales and marketing of the consumer products division of Carpenter. "You should change pillows every six to 12 months." Pillow talk is one element of Carpenter's tour, which starts today at the Chesterfield County Fair weather permitting and continues this fall through 13 states. The tour trailer, decorated with sculpted figures sleeping on the root will remain at the county fair through Sunday. Yesterday, company employ-CCS had a chance to try it out. Four computer screens inside the trailer allow people to take a sleep quiz, which can also be found online at a company Web site, Bella Korik, a 28-year-old chemist who said she sleeps EVA RUSSOT1MES-DBPATCH Chris Burton, tour manager for Carpenter Ca's Zzzz Across America, helped Bella Korik take a sleep quiz yesterday on the tour's trailer.

The tour will make Its first stop today at the Chesterfield County Fair. producers it did not identify will be barred from exporting their products there. Boahlf Co. delivered a final contract offer to its union machinists that would boost pay by $34,000 on average over three years, the latest effort by the airplane maker to avoid a strike. The current contract expires Wednesday.

GBettfl has teamed up with EA Sportl in a push to expand its sports marketing into video gaming in a major way. Golfer HfBT Woods, a veteran of marketing for both businesses, helps tee off the new partnership as part of an upcoming global online sports games competition that gives winners a chance to play head-to-head against real-life sports stars. Hdeflty llVBSbMlts released a survey that said large numbers of young workers cash out their 401(k) accounts when they switch jobs, leaving them without an accumulation of cash for retirement. The findings are important because the typical young employee will work for seven employers in his or her career. Several hundred airline service workers including baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors walked off the job at Los JbtfriM brtor-Htloni Airport after months of inconclusive contract talks with their employers.

Union officials say they will continue the action through the holiday weekend, when LAX typically sees 850,000 passengers. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. created a position in his department to oversee policies intended to combat climate change and fund alternatives to fossil fuels. William Pizer will lead the office as dap- surance brokerage based in Glen Allen, said it is mailing proxy materials for its special meeting of shareholders to vote on the company's proposed acquisition by Mil Onitf Hoht- hgsLtd.

In June, the Richmond-area brokerage agreed to be acquired by the London-based insurance broker for $1.67 billion. The meeting for shareholders as of the close of business last Friday will be at 10 a.m. Sept. 29 at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond. HRH and William Group hope to complete the deal around Oct.

1. Dividend increased Philip Morris USA's parent company, Altrta Bmp said yesterday that it increased its quarterly dividend 10.3 percent. The 32-cents-per-share dividend will be paid Oct. 10 to shareholders as of Sept. 15.

THE NATION Gas prices could rise over Labor Day weekend NEW YORK Drivers might want to top off their tanks early before hitting the road for Labor Day weekend. Consumers may well face higher priCM at ttapaip during the busy holiday period as Tropical Storm Gustav swirls toward the Gulf of Mexico on a path that could disrupt energy production. Any damage to oil and gas facilities especially along the vulnerable Gulf Coast could send retail gas prices spiking back above $4 a gallon, analysts say. Supply worries over Gustav have pushed wholesale gas prices up nearly 40 percent along the Gulf in the past few days, meaning filling stations will have little choice but to pass on the costs by ratcheting up prices. Comcast to limit users' Web uploads, downloads tions answered by Dr.

Michael J. Breus, a sleep expert and author of "Good Night" and "Beauty Sleep." The sleep tour and the Web site have a common goal to promote "the gift of sleep, the benefits of sleep and the proper tools for sleep," Schecter said. "It affects memory, reaction time, how you perceive things," he said "Sleep is the body's natural healing." about six hours a night, was advised to "retire to bed one hour earlier." She said it would be bard to manage while juggling work and family responsibilities. She'd be more likely to invest in the suggested pillow and mattress pad. Other exhibits describe the history of pillows, from waxed fiber pillows invented by the Chinese to hard headrests used by the ancient Greeks.

The exhibits also offer a microscopic view of what's living inside your pillow and test reaction time in a computer game. Slow reactions in the computerized pillow-throwing game could be a sign of sleep deprivation. Much of the information is available SleepBetter.org, with practical tips and customized sleep advice. The Web site also offers sleep-related articles, a glossary of sleep terms and ques Friedman institute plan draws protest University faculty voice concern about its independence ket conservative or neoliberal position, where the market is the solution to everything," said Bruce Lincoln, a professor of the history of religions who helped draft the letters and petition. The institute was started this summer with about half a million dollars in university seed money and is seeking $200 million in private donations of $1 million or more.

The opponents' petition voices concerns that wealthy donors would influence over the institute's research. ters and a petition opposing the institute, which would be paid for by private donations and would conduct research in economics, medicine, public policy and law. Critics say that they are concerned the institute will be a partisan, elitist organization and that it shouldn't be under the auspices of a university. "People are concerned about the blurring of the Hne between Friedman's technical work in economics and his fairly well-known persona as a political advocate of a very pure, free-mar University Provost Thomas Rosenbaum said such fears are unfounded. "Donors will receive reports and attend lectures, but they wont belong to the institute." Twenty-five faculty members, researchers and alumni from the university have won the Nobel Prize in economics, many of them taught by Friedman.

Three Nobel winners, Gary S. Becker, Robert E. Lucas Jr. and James J. Heckman, sit on the seven-member committee overseeing the institute.

THE WORLD Toyota reduces sales forecast for next year TOKYO Toyota lowered its global sales target for 2009 by 700,000 vehicles to 9.7 million yesterday. The move shows that even one of the world's most durable automakers The Washington Post CHICAGO Plans by the University of Chicago to establish a research institute named after legendary free-market economist Milton Friedman have caused an uproar at the school on the city's South Side. More than 100 tenured faculty members have signed let NEW YORK I is being hurt by rising material costs, a slowing U.S. market and soaring gas prices. Toyota Mo-tir Corp.

previously seta 2009 global done for various reasons," Atorino said. Raycom's McTear is also optimistic. "It is a terrific, wonderful TV station in a great market, a state capital," he said. "We feel very confident that we will be able to re-market that station." Contact Melissa Ruggieri at (804) 649-6120 or mmggientimesd8patrtux)m. Contact John Raid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or jblackwelltimesdispatchom.

where the Justice Department wants to be sure that the market is competitive." Media industry analyst Edward Atorino at the Benchmark Co. believes that an out-of-market buyer wouldn't have any problems purchasing WTVR. "Sinclair, despite the worst environment for the industry in some time, was willing to pay $85 million for that station. So there are transactions that continue to get WTVR From Page B9 sale of WTVR to Sinclair or how frequently such rejections occur. "I think it's probably unusual but not rare," said Carl Tobias, Williams professor at University of Richmond's School of Law.

"There are probably all kinds of situations Watanabe COHL, the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, said yesterday that it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month. On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site. Few subscribers use more than 250 gigabytes, it said. A user could download 125 standard-definition movies, about four per day, before hitting the Emit.

Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use. Customers who go over the Kmit are contacted by the company and asked to curb their usage. Curbing the top users is necessary to keep the network fast and responsive for other users, Comcast has said. sales goal of 10.4 million vehicles. "We have been going at top speed up to now," President Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters at a Tokyo hotel after announcing the numbers.

"It is time to set more cautious targets." The lower target still would be a 2 percent increase from the company's 2008 sales goal of 9.5 million. But even that figure was reduced last month from an initial 9.85 million units. Toyota has been getting one else's," said Carilion spokesman Eric Earnhart. "In fact, they're lower." Harter, though, said Carilion has room to lower costs. Carilion receives about $50 million annually in tax exemptions as a nonprofit hospital and dispensed $42 million in charity care last year and $30 million the year before.

"It would be easy for them to reduce costs," Harter said. They've got some room." Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 344-3612 or rbowmantimesdspatch.oom. "They're a formidable competitor." According to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, CariKon's costs are generally more expensive than other hospitals in Southwest Virginia, but less expensive than hospitals statewide. For example, a patient treated for heart failure at Carilion would pay an average of $16,619, higher than the $14,093 average of other hospitals in the region but lower than the statewide average of $16,927, according to the association. "Our prices aren't any higher than any Costs From Page B9 Yesterday, Don Lorton, chief financial officer for Carilion, defended the hospital system's prices.

As a nonprofit hospital system, he said, it has to subsidize treatment for the uninsured and emergency room treatment. And he also scoffed at the notion that Carilion lacks competition: Lewis-Gale Medical Center, owned by HCA is in nearby Salem. Said Lorton: closer to ending BBMT 77-year run as the world's top automaker by sales..