BUSINESS BRIEFS
Confidence drops as holidays near
Associated Press
NEW YORK — With Christmas only about eight weeks away, shoppers are feeling more forlorn about the economy than they have since hurricanes Katrina and Rita battered the Gulf Coast two years ago.
The New York-based Conference Board said yesterday that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 95.6 from a revised 99.5 in September. It was the lowest reading since 85.2 in October 2005, when gas and oil prices soared after the hurricanes deluged New Orleans and shut down a large chunk of the nation's oil refineries. Analysts had expected a reading of 99.5 yesterday.
For retailers, the consumer confidence report, which showed its third monthly decline in a row, heightens worries that the holiday shopping season will be challenging after a disappointing fall. For investors, it raised concerns that consumers' growing wariness was another sign that the economy may be slowing too much. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
P&G'S STOCK FALLS AS COLGATE'S RISES
CINCINNATI — Consumer products makers Procter & Gamble Co. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. reported big jumps in quarterly profits yesterday. But the stocks of the companies headed in opposite directions after P&G issued a cautious outlook amid rising commodity costs and U.S. consumer uncertainty.
Shares of New York-based Colgate rose 1.4 percent after the maker of Colgate toothpaste, Palmolive dishwashing liquid and Irish Spring soap posted a 22 percent increase in profit for the third quarter. Shares of its bigger Cincinnati-based competitor, whose brands include Tide detergent, Gillette shavers and Crest toothpaste, dropped by 4 percent after P&G reported a 14 percent profit rise for its first fiscal quarter.
Colgate's earnings climbed to $420.1 million, or 77 cents per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $344.1 million, or 63 cents per share, the previous year. Excluding restructuring and other charges, earnings totaled $466.4 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with $402.6 million, or 73 cents per share, a year earlier.
SALE OF MIDWEST AIR GROUP OK'D
MILWAUKEE — Midwest Air Group Inc. moved a step closer yesterday to ending its yearlong effort to fend off a hostile takeover by AirTran Holdings Inc. when shareholders approved a sale to private equity firm TPG Capital.
Nearly all votes cast by Midwest shareholders approved the sale, worth $450 million in cash, company officials said at a special shareholder meeting.
The only hurdle left is scrutiny by antitrust regulators. They must approve the Midwest Airlines sale because it includes rival Northwest Airlines Corp. as a passive investor. TPG will own Midwest, but Northwest put up nearly half of the money.
Midwest Chairman and Chief Executive Timothy E. Hoeksema said he expects the deal will be cleared by the government and the sale will close by the end of the year.
Shares of Midwest rose 8 cents to close at $16.24 yesterday, while Northwest shares were up 66 cents, or 3.7 percent, to end at $18.30.
Midwest agreed in August to be bought out by TPG for $17 a share in cash. It has about 26.6 million shares outstanding.
DOLLAR'S SLIDE HITS RECORD LOWS
NEW YORK — The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and a 26-year low against the British pound yesterday after lower-than-expected consumer confidence data was released and ahead of today's Federal Reserve interest rate decision.
The dollar slid against the euro throughout the afternoon, as the euro peaked at $1.4440, the latest in a string of all-time highs against the dollar, before settling at $1.4434. The euro had finished at $1.4424 in New York late Monday, the same day it hit its last record of $1.4438.
The pound rose to $2.0679 in late New York trading yesterday — a level last seen in 1981, when Diana married Prince Charles and Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
