BUSINESS BRIEFS
Economy seems to be slowing
Advertiser News Services
NEW YORK — A widely watched gauge of economic activity slipped in May, the Conference Board said yesterday, suggesting that the nation's economy is likely to cool in the coming months.
The Conference Board, an industry-backed research group, said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators fell 0.6 percent to 137.9 in May after it declined 0.1 percent to 138.7 in April.
Also indicating that economic growth is losing steam, the Labor Department reported yesterday that the number of claims for unemployment benefits climbed by the most in five weeks.
SANYO, NOKIA CALL OFF VENTURE
TOKYO — Sanyo and Nokia said yesterday they have scrapped their planned cell-phone joint venture, just four months after announcing a deal they had trumpeted as a step in growing globally in a competitive technology.
Finnish manufacturer Nokia Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. of Japan decided it would be better to pursue other options, the companies said.
HOUSE VOTES TO EASE ESTATE TAX
WASHINGTON — The House voted yesterday to cut taxes on inherited estates and relieve thousands of heirs from paying tax collectors beginning in the next decade.
The vote was 269-156 to exempt individual's estates up to $5 million from taxation and couple's estates up to $10 million, while also blunting the impact on even richer families. The compromise measure now goes to the Senate.
