The Beaufort Gazette from Beaufort, South Carolina • 9

8A July 30 2011 beaufortgazettecom islandpacketcom BusinessSaturday DOW 12143 9687 NASDAQ 2756 987 839 10 YE AR NOTE 280 15 MUNICIPAL BONDS 524 01 CRUDE OIL $9570 $174 BRIELY Japan threatens action to protect yen economy TOKYO Japan warned riday it would consider intervention in the foreign currency market as a means to protect its disaster hit economy which is being held back by the strong yen The yen hit a four month high of 7750 against the dollar in Asia on riday as traders sought safer invest ments over concern that the United States was close to defaulting on its debt obligations Tire surge in the yen led inance Minister Yoshihiko Noda to suggest that the strength gave a misleading picture of the Japanese economy Local AM stations to be purchased WVGB AM 1490 and newly con structed 945 are being purchased by Partners Broadcast Group based on Hilton Head Island WVGB AM owned by Vivian Broadcasting Co currently broad casts a gospel music and talk format 24 hours a day William Galloway president ofWVGB will continue to provide Sunday morning gospel and community talk programming on both stations according to Part ners Broadcast The owners of Partners Broadcast Group also own Low Country Radio the licensee ofWLHH in Ridge land known as 1049 The Surf CJ Jones is managing partner and chief executive officer of Low Coun try Radio and Partners Broadcast Group Joel Garrett is a partner and the chief operating officer and Joe Mule is a partner and the chief ad ministrator Slow growth debt crisis risk recession By PAUL WISEMAN and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER The Associated Press WAS1 11NGTON The economy is at risk of slipping into another reces sion It nearly stalled in the first six months of the year the government reported riday Economic growth was feeble in the second quarter and practically nonexistent in the first The new picture of an economy far weaker than most analysts had expect ed suddenly made a second recession a more serious threat and the threat will rise if Congress reach a deal to raise the debt limit only question now is: How much weaker could things said Nariman Behravesh chief economist at IBS Global Insight In April May and June the economy grew at a 13 percent annual rate be low expectations And the government changed its growth figure for January ebruary and March to 04 percent far below the previous estimate of 19 percent Combined the first half of the year amounts to the worst six month per formance since the recession officially ended in June 2009 Over the past year the gross domes tic product the broadest measure of the health recorded ac tual growth of 16 percent Since 1950 year to year growth has dipped below 2 percent 12 times Ten of those times the economy was al ready in recession or soon fell into one says Mark Vitner senior econoinist at Wells argo Securities JOHN RAOUX The Associated Press Applicants seeking employment create resumes and look for open po sitions on laptops at a job fair Tuesday in Cape Canaveral la tel gr Tf T'Tsr3g 7iTry 1 MMMwflt Jh' JhSbKl si jHhHBhH iijflSNHn Normal economic growth is closer to 3 percent High gasoline prices leave people with less money to spend on other goods and services And not all spend ing on gas contributes to the US econ omy because some of the money goes to oil producing countries GDP figures also are inflation adjusted so spending $1 more for a gallon mean $1 of additional help to the economy Manufacturing disruptions from the Japan earthquake cuts in state and local government and tighter house hold budgets have weighed down the economy too Add to those problems tire uncertain ty fanned by the political stalemate in Washington with Republicans refus ing to raise the federal $143 trillion borrowing limit unless Democrats agree to deep federal spending cuts on the terms The dismal second quarter report led economists to reduce their esti mates for growth in the second half of the year Capital Economics which had expected the economy to grow 25 percent this year now says 2 percent looks more likely Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors says he's waiting until the debt limit deadline passes to revise his economic forecasts for the rest of 2011 He knows scale back his estimates He just know how much Report: recession worse than once thought By MARTIN CRUTSINGER The Associated Press WASHINGTON 2007 2009 recession already in the record books as the worst in the 66 years since the end of World War II was even worse than previously thought rom the start of tire recession at the end of 2007 to the end in June of 2009 the US economy slarank 51 percent That is 1 percentage point worse than the previous estimate that the reces sion reduced total output during that period by 41 percent The new estimates emerged from the annual revision of economic data prepared by the Commerce Depart Bureau ofEconomic Analysis and released riday Among the previous 10 postwar re cessions output in only two dropped by more 3 percent In the 1957 58 re cession the economy contracted 37 percent And during the 1973 75 downturn the economy fell 32 per cent from the start of the recession to the end The government attributed the bigger declines in output in part to weaker consumer spending and business investment than previously estimated Beaufort chamber plans networking in Bluffton The Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce plans a Bluffton net working event from 8:30 to 9:30 am Thursday at the Holiday Inn Express at 35 Bluffton Road Lynn McGee of the University of South Carolina Beaufort will present an update on the expansion on Hilton Head Island and in Beau fort and Bluffton Question and answer time will fol low The event is free and open to the public Organizers ask attendees to bring business cards for networking and a drawing Details: Amy Kaylor 843 525 8524 amybeaufortscorg Obama automakers set fuel standard at 545 mpgby 2025 BY THE NUMBERS $8000 Amount of savings in fuel costs over the life of a ve hicle purchased in 2025 compared to 2010 40 PERCENT Estimated reduction in US oil consumption for which the new standards would account By DINACAPPIELLO and TOM KRISHER Tire Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama and automakers ushered in the largest cut in fuel consumption since the 1970s on riday with a deal that will save drivers money at the pump and dramati cally cut heat trapping gases coining from tailpipes The agreement pledges to double overall fuel economy to 545 mpg by 2025 bringing even greater under the hood changes to the autos starting in model year 2017 and introduce more electric and hybrid technology to pickup trucks Cars and trucks on the road today average 27 mpg agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we have taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign Obama said sharing the stage with top execu tives of 11 major automakers and a top automobile workers union official as cars will go further on a gallon of gas our economy will go further on a barrel of Obama said When achieved the 545 mpg target will reduce US oil consumption from vehicles by 40 percent and halve the amount of greenhouse gas pollution coming out of tailpipes It builds on a 2009 deal between the Obama adminis tration and automakers which commit ted car's and trucks to averaging 355 mpg by model year 2016 or American families the president said the agreement which will be sub ject to a midcourse review means fill ing up the car every two weeks instead of everj week That would save $8000 in fuel costs over the life of a vehicle purchased in 2025 compared to a 2010 model a White House analysis said Rising anxiety The last two weeks in the stock market show how day by day investors can go from confident to distrustful In mid July they believed Congress and President Obama could reach a deal to raise the borrowing limit by next deadline They were optimistic enough that a rescue package (or Greece sent the 500 up more than 1 percent in one day July 21 But not only did Republicans and Democrats fail to reach a deal there was a split among GOP lawmakers Investors no longer trust that a deal will be done On top of that the government said riday the economy has grown this year at the slowest rate since the recession ended The result: The 500 fell nearly 4 percent this week The 500 rose on investor optimism and fell along with their confidence 1350 TUES JULY 19 pAI JULY 29 132673 16 4 Ab A 1 0 129228 06 Obama praises a I Jr 1 While debate contin l'340 proposal by six I 'O Bo ues bad economic senators that would I i A news: The gross cut the debt domestic product by S3 7 trillion I THURS JULY 21 i rose at an annual 1330 HJ 1 14 rate of 13 percent in i European leaders 1 (be second quarter I aPProve res' I after barely growing 1 131614 cue plan for Greece It will I the first three 1320 help countries like Ireland I months of 2011 A 132584 and Portugal avoid debt lA I 01 problems in the future A 1310 I 'TUES JULY 26 133194 04 1 A 1305 44 The White House says Obama will veto a 1 iJl 08 GOP plan to raise the debt limit by $1 trillion I 1300 A WED JULY 27 130489 20 1 A Investors fear that disagreement among 130067 Republicans will stop a deal from being 03 ll 1290 reached by the deadline 1 SOURCE: actSet Chip Cutter Elizabeth Gramling AP LocalStocks 4 Name Ticker Close Change PulteGrp PHM 687 07 NextEraEn NEE 5525 99 Boeing Co BA 7047 19 Comfort InnSuites CHH 3049 21 DR Horton Inc DHI 11 88 02 Gulfstream Aerospace GD 68 14 39 Home Depot HD 3493 22 KmartSears SHLD 6967 20 Lowes Companies Inc LOW' '2158 I 21 Marriott Int MAR 3250 22 PacketGazette MNi 225 03 SCANACorp SCG 3919 46 Tenet Healthcare THC 556 Toll Brothers TOL 1996 11 Walmart Stores WMT 52 71 L'L JiLEC ZS InterestRates net hr TREASURIES YEST PVS CHG WK MO QTR AGO 3 month bill 09 07 002 a a a 14 6 month bill 15 12 003 A A A 19 52 wk bill 19 19 A A A 28 2 year note 34 40 006 58 The yield on 5 yearT note 133 152 0T9 169 the 10 year 10 year note 280 295 0 15 300 Treasury fell to 30 year bond 413 425 012 408 1 280 percent 7 riday Chang NET 1YR ing yields affect BONDS YEST PVS CHG WK MO QTR AGO interest rates Barclays LongT Bdldx 377 3 90 013 375 on consumer Bond Buyer Muni Idx 524 5 25 001 A 510 loans Barclays USAggregate 272 275 4)1)3 PRIME EO Barclays US High Yield 712 711 001 VTA 834 CCT 1ALE in Moodys AAA Corp Idx 484 488 004 476 6M0AG0 3 25 13 Barclays CompT Bdldx "178 0Q8 179 1YRAGO 325 13 Barclays US Corp 365 367 002 401 more stock information visit: islandpackelcomAxjsiness or beaufortgazettecomtousiness undocus The blowup of one of this fund's top stock holdings has weighed on recent performance Sino orest Corp is down about 80 percent this year Still the fund has a strong long term record fund target represents weighted average ol stock holdings Represents 75 of fund's stock holdings Davis OppA RPEAX VALUE BLEND GROWTH 7 7 6' CC 3 'V Morningstar Ownership Zone CATEGORY Large Growth RATING ASSETS $274 million EXP RATIO 105 MANAGER Stephen Chen SINCE 2003 02 01 RETURNS 3 MO 46 YTD 28 1 YR 231 3 YRANNL 49 5 YR ANNL 10 1 Wl a an4 gdtthe best lodil deals Pad 2 upto90 off! 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