AP News, April 7th, 2007
If you were looking for a job as a teacher last month, you were in luck. Same goes for health workers, retail clerks and building contractors.
All told, the economy added 180,000 new jobs, dropping unemployment to a 4.4 percent rate that matched a five-year low.
The mostly positive snapshot of the nation's employment climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, showed that companies ramped up hiring and paid workers more. That's good news for employees and jobseekers, and bodes well for the national economy, too, which is suffering a sluggish spell and a painful housing slump.
Those include people looking for work at factories, where jobs in March were cut for the ninth straight month. Makers of autos, furniture, clothing and textiles all eliminated jobs last month. Another soft spot: residential construction, a casualty of the housing slump.
But there were many more job winners than losers. Construction jobs led the way, especially for contractors and for commercial building. Retailers, health care providers, educational services and leisure and hospitality companies were among those boosting their payrolls.
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) _ Internet phone company Vonage Holdings Corp. will be barred from signing up new customers as punishment for infringing on patents held by Verizon Communications Inc., under an injunction ordered Friday.
The injunction is to take effect Thursday. Vonage said it will seek emergency relief from an appeals court as soon as the injunction is put in place.
The order issued by U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton is less severe than the punishment he initially proposed _ a blanket injunction that might have disrupted phone service for all 2.2 million of Vonage's existing customers.
But Vonage's lawyers said the compromise crafted by the judge _ at Verizon's suggestion _ is almost as devastating.
The injunction comes a month after a jury in Alexandria, Va., found that Vonage infringed on three patents held by Verizon.
The jury awarded Verizon $58 million in compensation for Vonage's past use of the patents, plus future royalties for their continued use.
But the judge later ruled that an injunction of some form was appropriate to prevent Vonage from using the infringed patents to continue to steal customers away from Verizon.
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NEW YORK (AP) _ U.S. Treasury bond prices tumbled and stock futures rose in holiday-shortened trading Friday after the unemployment rate fell to a five-month low, signaling that the economy could be stronger than expected.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note surged to 4.75 percent _ its highest level since mid-February _ from 4.68 percent late Thursday. Yields move in the opposite direction of bond prices. The bond market closed at 11 a.m. EDT for Good Friday; stock and many other financial markets were closed Friday.
Stock futures trading pits were closed Friday but electronically traded Standard & Poor's 500 index futures expiring in June rose 5.3 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,458.00, while Nasdaq 100 index futures advanced 10.5 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,838.75.
Bond investors were concerned that signs of economic strength would dissuade the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates. But it appeared from stock futures activity that equity investors, worried in recent months about a possible economic slowdown, drew comfort from the Labor Department's report that the unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent in March instead of rising to 4.6 percent as expected.
The employment news also sent the dollar higher.
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PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) _ Though Best Buy also has its detractors, customers' dislike of Circuit City illustrates a challenge facing the electronics retailer as it competes in the shadow of its larger and younger rival. Its sales staff at stores is thinner and product selections are often more limited and less organized.
The companies' financial results are telling. Best Buy, the nation's No. 1 electronics retailer, this week posted an 18 percent rise in fourth-quarter profits despite a bruising environment of flat-panel TV price drops. No. 2 Circuit City, on the other hand, swung to a loss in the quarter and is shaving its total work force by 8 percent, laying off 3,400 of its most experienced (and expensive) clerks.
Analysts say Best Buy is executing well on all fronts. Its rapid expansion and earlier investments in its Geek Squad tech support service and high-end Magnolia home theater segment _ all part of its "customer centricity" strategy _ are paying off.
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WASHINGTON (AP) _ A Department of Education official who owned about $100,000 worth of stock in a student loan company while overseeing lenders has been placed on leave, a spokeswoman for the department said Friday.
Matteo Fontana, who oversees lenders and guarantee agencies that participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, was placed on leave with pay a day after his ownership of the stock in Education Lending Group Inc. was disclosed.
The case has been referred to the inspector general, said department spokeswoman Katherine McLane.
McLane also said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has asked for the resignation of Lawrence Burt from the department's Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.
Burt, associate vice president and director of student financial aid at the University of Texas at Austin, is under investigation by the UT System Office of General Counsel regarding allegations of impropriety.
Securities and Exchange Commission records showed Burt also owned 1,500 shares in Education Lending Group Inc., the former parent company of Student Loan Xpress.
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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Consumers increased their borrowing in February at the slowest pace in four months.
The Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer borrowing rose at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent in February. That was down from a 3.3 percent growth rate in January and marked the smallest increase since October.
The moderation in February was led by consumers borrowing less freely to finance cars, vacations, education and other so-called nonrevolving credit. Demand for such credit edged up at only a 0.4 percent pace. That was down sharply from a 4.2 percent growth rate in January.
Consumers didn't lay off on their credit cards, however.
Use of revolving credit, primarily credit cards, rose at a brisk pace of 3.4 percent in February. That was a big pickup from a 1.7 percent growth rate logged in January.
Still, the slower overall growth in consumer borrowing comes as gasoline prices are rising, the housing market is still stuck in a slump and the stock market has experienced some turbulence.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it will increase the frequency of investigations at plants that make peanut butter and similar products, saying this year's salmonella outbreak showed peanut butter is riskier than health officials had thought.
All Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter that ConAgra Foods Inc. made at its Sylvester, Ga., plant was recalled in February after health officials linked the product to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 400 people nationwide.
Peanut butter will almost certainly move up on the FDA's list of high-risk foods, and the agency bases its inspection schedule on the relative risk of foods. He said peanut butter is not likely to knock fresh produce off the top of that list, because the risks are highest with foods that don't get cooked later.
For example, three people died last year and more than 200 became sick after eating spinach tainted with E. coli. And Taco Bell blames lettuce contaminated with E. coli for sickening more than 70 people last fall.
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By The Associated Press
Markets were closed in observance of Good Friday.
