IN BRIEF
LAS VEGAS
TruGreen’s LV office will settle complaint
The Las Vegas office of TruGreen LandCare has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a sexual harassment complaint from a female employee.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported the settlement Monday.
According to the commission, a male manager at the company’s Summerlin office intimidated and harassed a female employee, calling her obscene, gender-based derogatory terms.
The commission says the manager yelled at the woman almost daily.
After the woman complained she was transferred to work as a manual laborer in the field as punishment.
The company agreed to pay the woman $100,000, provide harassment training to its employees, and make semiannual reports for two years about its employment practices.
SAN FRANCISCO
Co-founder of Skype to step down at eBay
EBay announced Monday that the co-founder and chief executive of its Skype division was stepping down, and that the parent company would take $1.43 billion in charges for the Internet phone service division.
Of the charges to be taken in the current quarter, $900 million will be a write-down in the value of Skype, eBay said. That charge, for what accountants call impairment, essentially acknowledges that San Jose-based eBay, one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies, drastically overvalued the $2.6 billion Skype acquisition, which was completed in October 2005.
CHICAGO
Nokia will buy Navteq in $8.1 billion deal
Nokia Corp. has agreed to buy digital mapmaker Navteq Corp. for $8.1 billion in a deal that shakes up the global positioning satellite device market and underscores the intent of the world’s largest mobile phone maker to use more navigation in its handsets and other products.
The deal announced Monday, one of Nokia’s biggest ever, brings the Finnish company’s ample financial resources to a location-based services industry fast accelerating toward mainstream use as consumers embrace the growing variety of applications for global positioning systems.
Analysts said it also headed off a potential similar move by a company such as Google or Garmin Ltd. to snatch away Chicago-based Navteq, one of the few remaining providers of mapping data with the pending acquisition of rival Tele Atlas NV by TomTom NV.
Higher expenses send Walgreen profits down
Walgreen Co.’s on Monday posted its first earnings decrease in nearly a decade during the fourth quarter. The drugstore chain blamed its poor performance on higher expenses and lower reimbursements for popular generic medications.
“Overall, the Deerfield-based company said its profit slipped nearly 4 percent, sliding from $396.5 million, or 40 cents per share, for the three months ended Aug. 31, from $412.3 million, or 41 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenue rose 9.8 percent to $13.4 billion from $12.2 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 47 cents per share and revenue of $13.5 billion.
NEW YORK
Manufacturing growth slows in September
The nation’s manufacturing sector expanded at a slower-than-expected rate in September, suggesting there’s room for the Federal Reserve to consider another rate cut later this month.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group based in Tempe, Ariz., said Monday that its manufacturing index registered 52.0 in September, down from 52.9 in August. It was the lowest reading since the gauge was at 50.9 last March.
Analysts had expected a reading of at least 52.5.
A reading of 50 or more signals expansion; below 50 signals contraction.
Optimistic that a rate cut is likely, investors pushed the Dow Jones industrial average up 148.59, or 1.07 percent, to 14,044.22 in afternoon trading. The blue-chip index surpassed its closing record of 14,000.41 set in mid-July, rising as high tas 14,056.09.
Broader market indexes also rose sharply. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 15.25, or 1.00 percent, to 1,542.00; and the Nasdaq composite index rose 29.22, or 1.08 percent, to 2,730.72.
WASHINGTON
Interest rates mixed in Monday auction
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday’s auction with three-month bills rising to the highest level in two weeks while six-month bills were unchanged.
The Treasury Department auctioned $16 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.84 percent, up from 3.82 percent last week. Another $14 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4 percent, unchanged from last week.
As stock price flags, Hershey boss to retire
Hershey Co., the largest U.S. candy maker, said Chief Executive Officer Richard Lenny will retire at the end of 2007 following a 29 percent share decline in the past two years.
The board has “begun the succession process,” the Hershey, Pa.-based company said in a statement. Lenny, 55, joined the company as CEO in 2001 from Kraft Foods.
Lenny may be leaving out of frustration with the trust that controls the majority of Hershey’s shares, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Hershey Trust five years ago tried and failed to sell the company after opposition from Pennsylvania lawmakers. Cadbury Schweppes Plc plans to divest its soft-drinks unit, increasing speculation the two candy makers might combine.
NEW YORK
Manufacturing report sends Treasurys higher
Long-term Treasury prices rose Monday after a national survey of manufacturing came in weaker than economists expected but was strong enough to show that the industrial sector continues to expand.
The Institute of Supply Management index of manufacturing activity dipped to 52.0 in September from 52.9 in August. Some economists had expected a reading closer to 52.5, but all readings above 50 point to expansion.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.25 points to 101.47 with a yield of 4.56 percent, down from 4.57 percent before the ISM news and 4.59 percent at Friday’s close.
The 30-year long bond advanced 0.66 points to 103 0.13 points with a 4.80 percent yield, down from 4.84 percent at Friday’s close.
