BUSINESS BRIEFS
Fed report says high prices may spread inflation
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve's new snapshot of business conditions, released yesterday, underscored two big sore spots for the country: listless economic activity coupled with high energy and food prices.
Those rising prices carry the risk of both spreading inflation and putting another drag on overall economic growth.
Chafing under price hikes, consumer spending slowed, while manufacturing activity, meanwhile, was soft and the housing market remained stuck in a rut.
Businesses also were hit by higher costs.
STAPLES GROWING WITH $2.7B BUY
BOSTON — Staples Inc.'s four-month campaign to acquire Corporate Express NV finally yielded an agreement yesterday, a $2.7 billion deal that Staples hopes will put further distance between itself and U.S. rivals Office Depot and OfficeMax.
Its two rivals combined would be smaller than Staples once the deal is completed.
With U.S. retail sales of office supplies slumping, Staples also hopes to expand in the more profitable business of delivering office supplies to corporate customers — Corporate Express' strength — and build off the Netherlands-based company's clout in Europe.
JOBLESS BENEFITS EXTENSION KILLED
WASHINGTON — The House yesterday narrowly defeated a Democratic attempt to give unemployed Americans an extra three months of jobless benefits after the White House threatened to veto the bill.
But Democratic leaders said they will immediately bring the bill back for a second vote today.
The bill would have extended the average $300-a-week unemployment benefit check by 13 weeks for all Americans.
4 HOMEBUILDERS FINED $4.3 MILLION
WASHINGTON — Four of the nation's largest homebuilders have agreed to pay $4.3 million in fines for failing to control runoff at construction sites in 34 states and the District of Columbia, the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department announced yesterday.
The four companies — Centex Corp. of Dallas, KB Home of Los Angeles, Pulte Homes Inc. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and M.D.C. Holdings Inc. of Denver — also agreed to take steps above what is required by law to keep 1.2 billion pounds of sediment out of the nation's waterways.
The settlements are part of a nationwide crackdown by the EPA to find storm water violations at construction sites.
GAS PREDICTED TO REMAIN ABOVE $4
WASHINGTON — Motorists can expect gasoline prices around $4 gallon through next year, the Energy Department said yesterday, with oil prices staying well above $100 a barrel.
Crude oil prices are likely to average $126 a barrel in 2009, $4 higher than this year, as oil supplies and demand are expected to remain tight, Guy Caruso, head of the department's Energy Information Administration, told a House hearing.
Gasoline prices are likely to peak at $4.15 a gallon in August and won't go down much after that, the agency projected in a report. Gasoline was forecast to average $3.92 a gallon through 2009.
FLOODS PUSH CORN PRICES TO RECORD
NEW YORK — Corn prices surged above $7 a bushel for the first time yesterday, pushed higher by Midwest rains that have flooded fields and left farmers with the prospect of a significantly smaller crop.
Corn's jump — its fifth record in as many days — means more headaches for consumers, who can expect higher beef, pork and chicken prices as livestock owners are forced to thin their herds and flocks to cope with higher costs for corn-based animal feed.
