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& fnncenov.20.2008for up-to-the-minute business news from around the nation and world, go to newschief.com
INBRIEF
Lakelad residetamed t bard
>> LAKELAnD Jason W.Brown o Lakeland wasappointed to CornerstoneHospice Foundations boardo directors.
The nonprot groups PolkCounty operational center ison Havendale Boulevard inWinter Haven.
Brown graduated romFlorida Southern Collegewith a bachelors degreein communications. He isthe weekly seminar hostand speaker or One SourceFinancial Inc. on topicscentered around Financial
Planning. Brown, who ismarried and has two daugh-ters, is a ormer candidateor Polk County Commis-sioner District 1.
oil falls while U.S.cuts driig
>> SIoUX FALLS, S.D. Oilslipped below $54 a barrelWednesday as stock marketsacross the globe ell and yetanother U.S. government re-port illustrated the disarrayin the housing market.
U.S. motorists, stung byrecord gasoline prices, joblosses and alling homeprices, let the roadways
in droves, logging almost11 billion ewer miles inSeptember, according to theTransportation Department.
Governments, businessesand consumers have slashedenergy expenditures, whichhas halved the price o crudesince record highs in July.
Light, sweet crude or De-cember delivery ell 77 centsto settle at $53.62 a barrel onthe New York Mercantile Ex-change, about where priceswere in January o 2007.
BASF temprarilyclsig 80 plats
>> FRAnKFURT, Germay Chemical company BASFSE said Wednesday it istemporarily closing 80 plantsworldwide due to slumpingdemand and cutting produc-tion at 100 more, includingacilities in Texas and Louisi-ana. Some 20,000 workers areaected.
It also abandoned its goalto match last years prot,citing slowing demand or itsproducts, particularly romautomotive customers.
BASF shares plunged 13.7percent to end at 21.96 euros($27.67) in Frankurt.
BASF spokesman GarethRees said the shutdowns andslowdown have already begun
and will extend into January.Workers were being encour-aged to take vacation time andreduce their overtime.
Cstructi sikst ew recrd lw
>> WASHInGTon Construc-tion o new homes plungedlast month to the lowest levelon records going back nearly0 years as U.S. builders
slashed production whileWall Street nosedived.
Embattled homebuild-ers, who enjoyed a ve-yearboom, are now building newhomes and apartments at arecord-low pace, according
to government data releasedWednesday. New buildingpermits, a barometer o u-ture activity, also plummetedto the lowest pace on record.
With construction drop-ping, the number o unsoldhomes should all quickly inthe coming months, wroteIan Shepherdson, chie U.S.economist at High FrequencyEconomics.
Reprt: Ecmyhittig hspitals
>> TREnTon, n.J. The dis-mal economy has Americanhospitals ailing, with newdata showing declines in
overall admissions andelective procedures, plus asigniicant jump in patientswho cant pay or care, theAmerican Hospital Associa-tion said Wednesday.
Hospitals also have beenhurt by losses on their in-vestments due to the turmoilon Wall Street, and manyare nding it more expen-sive to borrow money ithey can at all, according toa report rom the associa-tion, which represents about,000 U.S. hospitals.
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Dow falls below 8,000; S&P at 5-year lowBy JoE BEL BRUnoad SARA LEPRot a p
NEW YORK Wall Streethit levels not seen since 2003 onWednesday, with the Dow Jonesindustrial average plungingbelow the 8,000 mark as the ateo Detroits Big Three automak-ers amid a slumping economydisheartened investors.
A cascade o selling occurredin the inal minutes o the
session as investors yankedmoney out o the market. Formany, the real ear is that the
recession might be even moreprotracted i Capitol Hill isunable to bail out the troubledauto industry.
Investors also scoured eco-nomic data that included min-utes rom the last meeting othe Federal Reserve in whichpolicymakers lowered projec-tions or economic activity thisyear and next. Economic wor-ries caused across-the-boardselling, with nancial stocks
particularly hard hit.The S&P 500, widely consid-ered the broadest snapshot o
corporate America, slipped 6.12percent to 806.58; and the Dowgave up 5.07 percent to 7,997.28.Both closed at their lowest lev-els since March 2003.
The inancial crisis hasalready wiped out $6.69 tril-lion o value rom the S&P500 since its October 2007high, and many ear more isto come. Stocks have tradedwith high volatility in the pastew months, with the major in-
dexes soaring only to plungean hour later as the marketlooks or a bottom.
Survey shows Floridians plan to reduce holiday spending
Consolidation Likely
By DAn STRUMPFt a p
LOS ANGELES Nis-san Motor Co. and RenaultSA Chie Executive CarlosGhosn said Wednesday thathe expects the current cri-sis in the auto industry willsoon lead some carmakers toconsolidate.
Ghosn made his remarks atthe Los Angeles Auto Showwhile the chie executives oGeneral Motors Corp., FordMotor Co. and Chrysler LLCwere in Washington makingtheir case to the House Finan-cial Services Committee or$25 billion in loans to stay inbusiness.
Ghosn said the weakening
global auto market that theauto industry is acing willknock out some competi-tors. He pointed to the U.S.inancial industry, whichhas seen key players recentlydisappear.
Were still stuck in a situa-tion where credit is not fow-ing normally, and the reces-sion that began in the UnitedStates is not only deepeningbut spreading across theglobe, Ghosn said. Its airto say that no one, no onehad predicted how the globaleconomy would be so volatilein 2008.
Both GM and Nissan werereportedly in talks withChrysler about an acquisi-
tion or other combination asU.S. automakers burned upcash because o a sales melt-down due to the U.S. economicdownturn.
GM said this month it wassetting aside considerationsor a strategic acquisitionto ocus on its immediatecash-fow problems, and someanalysts said that could givenew lie to a deal betweenChrysler and Nissan-Renault,which would most likely be in-terested in acquiring certainparts o Chryslers businessrather than the entire com-pany. Nissan already has anagreement with Chrysler tobuild a subcompact car or theU.S. company.
Ghosn acknowledged thatNissan-Renault had been intalks with Chrysler about analliance two years ago, butsaid the talks were inconclu-
sive and suggested a lack oenthusiasm rom Chryslersside was to blame.
We are not convinced thatany alliance can take place ithere is no mutual appetite,Ghosn said. I youre in asituation where someone isexcited about something andthe other is skeptical, its notgoing to work. Alliance is likemarriage.
While the auto industryssituation is most distressulin the U.S., where Octobersales ell 32 percent to theirlowest rate in 25 years, oreigncompanies also are starting tosee sharp sales decreases be-cause o the global economicslowdown.
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The Assciated Press
GAINESVILLE Twas the monthbeore Christmas and all through themall, not many Floridians were shop-
ping, their wallets were small.Tough economic times are orcing
Florida consumers to drastically cutback on plans or holiday spending,according to surveys conducted inSeptember and October by the Uni-versity o Florida Bureau o Economicand Business Research. More than 500consumers participated each month inthe telephone survey. The polls have amargin o error o 3 percent.
The 2008 holiday season will be oneo the worst or retailers in decades.In sharp contrast to previous years,decreased spending intentions werereported across all income brackets,said Barton Weitz, executive director o
the David F. Miller Center or RetailingEducation and Research at UF.
Consumer plans or spending ellas the holiday shopping season grewcloser. The September survey showed a38 percent decrease rom last year, rom$1,328 per resident to $824. The average
dropped again in October to $802.The bad news extended to shopping
malls, which can expect a 15 percentdrop in the number o consumers plan-ning to shop there, compared with 2007.Online shopping is expected to drop by1 percent.
Git cards, however, continue to ap-peal to consumers, with more than 60percent indicating they will spend thesame or more or them than in 2007, the
surveys showed. Consumers, however,are staying away rom buying git cardsrom retailers having nancial dicul-ties, Weitz said.
Department and specialty stores willbe vulnerable to downturns in sales,but discounters such as Wal-Mart andTarget may have opportunities to luremiddle and high-income shoppers intotheir stores, Weitz said.
Stores selling luxury items will su-er, Weitz said, adding that or the rsttime since 2003, high-income house-holds, dened as those making morethan $100,000 a year, expect to decreasespending. He said data only exists orthe last ve years.
The Assciated Press
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Economic worries caused across-the-board selling
The Assciated Press
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Nissan CEO says auto crisis will probably lead to companies combining
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