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AP Business NewsBrief at 5:21 p.m. EDT
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Wall Street looks to US consumers for directionNEW YORK (AP) _ With millions of stimulus checks going out to taxpayers, Wall Street wants to know where that money will be spent _ and this week's data could help investors gauge the mind-set of the average consumer. Tax rebates have historically been helpful in boosting the economy, but they only really work if they're used to buy goods and services. With many consumers weighed down by debt and saving up to keep up with the cost of basic necessities, some market experts are concerned that what's best for most individuals _ saving their rebates _ might not end up helping the broader economy.
Rebate excludes many taxpayers with foreign spousesSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration's plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities: first up, remodeling the bathroom. But Shelat is married to a foreigner who still hasn't completed the often years-long process that allows her to apply for a Social Security number. Her not having that number makes even him ineligible for the tax rebate checks that started going out last week because they filed jointly.
Retailers likely to post grim 1st-quarter resultsNEW YORK (AP) _ After slashing inventory and cutting expenses, the retail industry is still bracing for the largest overall quarterly profit decline in at least nine years when merchants report their first-quarter earnings this week. Faced with one of the worst consumer spending climates in almost two decades, stores are going to have to find clever ways to attract increasingly thrifty shoppers contending with higher gas and food bills and a slumping housing market.
G-8 labor officials begin 3-day meeting in JapanTOKYO (AP) _ Labor ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations met with international trade union and business groups Sunday to discuss the reduction of workplace emissions of "greenhouse" gases blamed for global warming, officials said. The talks, in Niigata on Japan's north coast, are aimed at boosting support for global environmental initiatives before Japan hosts the G-8 summit in July.
High demand, price of rice good news to US farmersWILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) _ Dipping its left wing, a canary-yellow biplane makes a sharp turn and dives over a flooded field, showering rice on the shallow water 15 feet below. It's aerial seeding season for rice farmers in California, which produces about 20 percent of the crop grown in the U.S. With the price of rice surging internationally, much of the medium-grain rice being planted between the Sutter Butte mountains and California's Coastal Range has already being sold, even though harvest still is months away.
Mesa Air looks for shareholders' OK to offer more sharesPHOENIX (AP) _ Mesa Air Group Inc. hopes shareholders will soothe its financial troubles this week by allowing the airline to issue millions of new shares valued at nearly twice the company's current market capitalization. The Phoenix-based carrier is expected to ask permission Tuesday at its annual shareholders meeting to sell as much as $37.8 million in new common stock. The shares would help the airline pay off debt that comes due in June and bolster the company's beleaguered operation.
Gas prices knock bicycle sales, repairs into higher gearBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ Four-dollar-a-gallon gas is good for business _ if you run a bike shop. Commuters around the country are dusting off their old two-wheelers _ or buying new ones _ to cope with rising fuel prices, bicycle dealers say. "Everyone that comes in the shop is talking about the gas prices," said Barry Dahl, who opened Barry's Bikes in Bismarck in April. He sold more than 50 bicycles in the first month, double the projections in his business plan.
Startup shows off electric car planned for IsraelTEL AVIV, Israel (AP) _ Israelis got a first demonstration Sunday of the electric car that developers hope will revolutionize transportation in the country and serve as a pilot for the rest of the world. The silver car doing circles in a Tel Aviv parking lot looked like a regular sedan _ except it had no exhaust pipe and there was an electric socket where the mouth of the gas tank should have been.
News Corp. ends bid to buy Long Island newspaper NewsdayNEW YORK (AP) _ News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has withdrawn its bid to purchase the Long Island paper Newsday, a News Corp. spokeswoman said Saturday. The decision to revoke the offer came just days after Murdoch confidently predicted he would clinch a deal to buy the newspaper within a week.
Deutsche Telekom CEO asks shareholders for patienceBERLIN (AP) _ Deutsche Telekom AG's chief executive is asking shareholders to show patience, pointing to the global credit crisis as a reason for the company's lackluster share price, according to an interview published Sunday. Rene Obermann took over as head of Europe's biggest telecom company in late 2006. Last week, the company reported a rise in first-quarter net profit but a decline in revenue.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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