Markets maintain losses for third day
NEW YORK -- Wall Street extended its declines into a third day Tuesday as investors opted to collect profits following mixed news from PeopleSoft Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp.
Volume was light as the bond market was closed for Veterans Day. The stock market was open for a full session.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 18.74, or 0.2 percent, at 9,737.79, following a two-day loss of 100 points.
SOUTH SOUND
Jo-Ann Stores opens at Harrison location
Jo-Ann Stores Inc. has opened a 33,000-square-foot crafts and home-decor "superstore" at 2725 Harrison Ave. in west Olympia.
The store replaced the smaller Jo-Ann's on Cooper Point Road. It will employ about 60 people during the holiday season, most of whom will work part time.
The Olympia superstore is one of 20 that Ohio-based Jo-Ann will open across the country this year. It has about 1,000 stores nationwide and more than 35 in Washington state.
Olympia's mayor to speak on local issues
Olympia Mayor Stan Biles, who will leave office at year's end, will speak at a noon forum today.
Biles will discuss issues such as criminal justice, the local economy and the future of state government.
The Thurston County Chamber of Commerce is hosting the forum at Saint Martin's College Pavilion, 5300 Pacific Ave.
The luncheon event costs $17. For more information, call 360-357-3362.
RETAIL
Holiday optimism helps third-quarter reports
NEW YORK -- Amid growing optimism that the holiday season will be cheerier than a year ago, two major retailers, J.C. Penney Co. and May Department Stores Co., reported third-quarter profits that beat Wall Street projections.
Penney said Tuesday that its net income fell 35 percent in the August-October period, dragged down by disappointing results from its Eckerd drugstore division, though its department store business saw improvement. Its results still beat analysts' expectations.
Meanwhile, May's earnings nearly tripled over the same period last year, bolstered by cost savings from its divestiture of 34 underperforming stores.
TECHNOLOGY
PeopleSoft refund offer challenges Oracle bid
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Business software maker Oracle Corp. might drop its hostile takeover bid of PeopleSoft Inc., because its rival is offering generous customer refunds if the deal goes through.
Oracle filed a sternly worded court motion Monday, demanding that Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft halt its "Customer Assurance Program." The program guarantees customers will receive refunds of two to five times their initial license fee -- often tens of millions of dollars or more -- if an acquiring company fails to support PeopleSoft products.
In a motion filed with the Delaware Court of Chancery requesting a preliminary injunction against the program, Oracle criticized the program as so "Draconian" and "unreasonable" that it could make the takeover "unfeasible."