Stocks sink as inflation concerns top oil prices
NEW YORK -- Wall Street's 2005 slump extended into a third session Wednesday as renewed concerns about inflation and higher interest rates sapped confidence from buyers.
Investors still were digesting the latest news from the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee, which sent stocks tumbling Tuesday when it released the minutes of its Dec. 14 meeting. Several members of the policy making group expressed concerns about inflation, citing a drop in productivity growth, a weakening dollar and high oil prices, and hinted that interest rates were likely to be rise to deal with those issues.
"There's a lot of indecisiveness today," said Brian Williamson, an equity trader at The Boston Company Asset Management. "Sellers got washed out late yesterday and today, and the market found a level where it had been trading a month or so ago and it's holding its ground. But because of what happened yesterday, you're not seeing that much conviction in the market."
RETAIL
Frango to get a much longer name this month
SEATTLE -- The chocolate truffle in the hexagonal box will taste the same and remain available at Bon-Macy's, but it won't be called a Frango after Jan. 29, the store said Wednesday.
Instead it will be called Frederick & Nelson The Original.
The name change is because of the termination of the licensing agreement between Bon-Macy's and Marshall Field's, now owned by The May Department Stores, a competitor of Bon-Macy's.
Chicago-based Marshall Field's owns the rights to the Frango name, and Bon-Macy's officials said their company was unable to renew the licensing agreement.
The new name dates back to a tradition begun in 1918 when the Candy Kitchen of Seattle retailer Frederick & Nelson introduced the truffle under the name Frango. When Frederick & Nelson filed for bankruptcy protection in 1991 and later closed, Bon-Macy's purchased from Marshall Field's the original Frango recipes and the rights to manufacture, package and sell the candy in the Northwest.
AIRLINE
Delta reportedly plans to slash fares 60 percent
ATLANTA -- A cheaper air-fare schedule is reportedly coming to Delta Air Lines Inc., a move that could lure back customers to an airline struggling to avoid bankruptcy.
Delta is planning to replicate nationwide a fare-cutting plan called Simpli-Fares it has been testing since August in Cincinnati, leaving some flights 60 percent cheaper than before, according to a report in Time magazine.
The Atlanta-based airline wouldn't confirm or refute the report Monday, but airline industry analysts said they expected the change and one travel agent was already booking flights at lower fares.
The airline also plans to halve ticket-change fees from $100 to $50, Time said.
INTERNET
Blog pioneers Six Apart, Movable Type merge
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two startups that helped spread the phenomenon of online journals known as blogs are joining forces to create a more diversified company, further signaling their maturity from a quirky craze to serious business.
San Francisco-based Six Apart, developer of the popular Movable Type software and a blogging service called TypePad, is buying Portland-based Danga Interactive Inc., which operates LiveJournal, a youthful blogging community.
The companies did not disclose financial specifics of the cash-and-stock deal, announced Thursday.