Graham steady in 2Q

Graham Corp. reported second-quarter net income was unchanged from a year ago while sales increased by 4 percent.
The Batavia-based manufacturer (NYSE: GHM) of equipment to the oil, petrochemical and power industries, reported profits of $4.4 million, or 43 cents per share.
Net sales of $23.9 million were up $800,000 from $23.1 million year-over-year.
Graham officials cited the […]

BG Group priced out of Origin bid

British natural gas producer BG Group PLC on Tuesday abandoned its hostile takeover bid for Origin Energy Ltd., Australia’s second-largest power retailer.
BG Group (BRGGY), Britain’s third-largest oil and gas company, conceded defeat after Origin (OGFGF) announced a coal seam liquefied natural gas joint venture with U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips (COP, Fortune 500) valued at […]

Lehman

One of the most compelling dramas in New York’s theater district this summer hinges on Lehman Brothers’ courtship of a Korean bank.
Just over a week after early enthusiasm over the reported talks dissipated, South Korea’s largest newspaper reported Wednesday that a group led by Korea Development Bank is offering to buy a 25% stake […]

Pricier gas and tolls push up public transit use in San Francisco

Transit ridership in San Francisco has increased 6.5 percent in the past year, boosted in part by rising gas prices.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said Tuesday that ridership on MUNI rose by 13.5 million to about 220 million boardings in fiscal year 2008, which ended June 30.
MUNI attributed its increased ridership to a number […]

ECB Likely to Keep Rates at 7-Year High Even as Recession Looms

The European Central Bank will probably keep interest rates at a seven-year high this week, and may even threaten to raise them, at the risk of prolonging the economic slump.
All but one of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict the bank will leave the benchmark rate at 4.25 percent on Sept. 4 […]

Japan Inflation Accelerates, Households Cut Spending

Japan's inflation rate exceeded 2 percent for the first time in a decade as prices of food and gasoline surged, sapping household budgets in an economy that may already be in a recession.
Core prices, which exclude fresh food, climbed 2.4 percent in July from a year earlier after rising 1.9 percent in June, […]

New Intel products to be made in Chandler

Intel Corp. is providing more information about its future multi-core future products, and some of them will be coming out of the California company's Chandler facility.
Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager for Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, laid out the groundwork Tuesday for the future of Intel's Core i7 processors, which […]

India Rate Rise Means BRICs to Suffer in Price Fight

India joined Brazil, China and Russia in raising borrowing costs to combat inflation, adding to the risk of a slowdown in the world's fastest-growing economies.
The Reserve Bank of India yesterday unexpectedly increased the repurchase rate to 8 percent from 7.75 percent, joining its fellow members of what Goldman Sachs Group Inc. terms the […]

Mecklenburg unemployment dips to 5%

The unemployment rate in Mecklenburg County declined to 5 percent in April from 5.2 percent in March.
In April, 22,803 residents were unemployed among the county's labor force of 454,352, according to the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina.
Unemployment in the Charlotte/Gastonia/Concord area was 5.1 percent, down from 5.3 percent in […]

Rebates Won

The Bush administration's tax rebates won't prevent the U.S. economy from stagnating in the second quarter as soaring food and fuel bills hurt consumers, a Bloomberg News survey showed.
“Consumers have gone into the bunkers,'' said Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, the New York- based research group that tracks confidence. They […]