BUSINESS BRIEFS
Most Hawaii stocks suffer declines
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Hawai'i stocks were mostly lower amid worries about the economy and concern that the bank bailout bill won't be enough to stimulate growth.
Ten of the 11 issues in the Honolulu Advertiser-Bloomberg Hawaii Index fell. The index declined 4.3 percent to 95.30, led by drops in Hoku Scientific and Cyanotech Corp. One stock rose — Central Pacific Financial, which was up 29 cents to $18.41.
Broader market indexes had another bad day as the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 348.22, or 3.2 percent, to 10,482.85, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 46.78, or 4 percent, to 1,114.28.
Hoku was off 43 cents, or 7.1 percent, to $5.60. Cyanotech fell about 13 cents to $1.92.
Among larger companies, Alexander and Baldwin Inc. slid 5.4 percent to $42.67, and Bank of Hawaii was off $2.84 to $53.76.
SENATE OKS FEDERAL LOCALITY PAY
The U.S. Senate has approved a measure that would switch federal workers in Hawai'i and Alaska from cost-of-living allowances to "locality pay," a move that should increase workers' retirement income.
The bill, if signed by President Bush, would affect about 40,000 federal civilian employees working outside the continental United States, including U.S. territories. About 17,000 federal employees work in Hawai'i.
Hawai'i Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel K. Inouye backed the measure, which was in response to a Bush administration proposal to do away with COLA and phase in locality pay. Employees receive COLA payments of 13 percent to 25 percent. This income is not taxed and is not considered part of a worker's base pay for retirement purposes.
Federal employees in the rest of the country receive locality pay, which is taxed, but is factored into base pay used to calculate retirement benefits. Akaka said the bill addresses the "inequity in retirement benefits for federal employees in Hawai'i, Alaska and the territories."
GENERAL GROWTH SHARES FALL 48%
Shares of General Growth Properties Inc., the owner of Ala Moana Center and Ward Centers, fell 48 percent after proxy adviser Glass, Lewis & Co. said the mall owner should have a ban on short selling of its stock removed, Bloomberg News reported.
The decline was the biggest drop in more than 15 years for the Chicago-based company and came after a series of events that led to it being criticized by Glass Lewis. Bloomberg reported General Growth Properties requested that its stock be included on a list of firms whose stock is banned from short selling.
After it was added to the list, executives sold 2.44 million shares of the stock, Bloomberg said. Glass Lewis, which advises large institutional shareholders on investment issues, yesterday criticized General Growth and said the company should be removed from the short-sale list.
Short selling is an investment strategy where someone borrows shares of a company and sells them. The investor is betting the shares can be repurchased at a lower price later and returned to their original owner.
ALUMNI WELCOME AT UH CAREER FAIR
The University of Hawai'i Center for Career Development & Student Employment is inviting alumni to the Fall 2008 Career Fair Oct. 14.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Campus Center Ballroom. Alumni will have the opportunity to meet with potential employers
For more information, including a list of participating employers, go to: http://cdse.hawaii.edu/fair.
