Annual Utah outdoor show features lighter gear

SALT LAKE CITY — It's a showcase of technology for everything from socks that can take a beating to water bottles equipped with battery-powered ultraviolet purifiers.

At the world's largest trade show for outdoor gear, one trend this year is lighter or more powerful equipment. The makers of a pint-sized hydrogen battery say it can give a cellphone five complete charges before it needs a recharge itself.

Others are showcasing solar cells that roll up for easy packing. Also on display are featherweight canoes, kayaks and standup paddleboards.

The Outdoor Retailer Summer Market opens for a four-day run Wednesday. More than 1,300 manufacturers and suppliers are packing the floor of a Salt Lake City convention hall, plus three outdoor canopy tents. The summer and winter trade shows have been a mainstay in Utah since 1996, drawing consistently larger crowds, although attendance leveled off this year.

More than 25,000 people are expected at the trade show this week, many of them retailers, who are placing bulk orders for specialty outdoor shops around the world. Exhibitors were unpacking crates Tuesday, displaying a merchandise bazaar that would make a consumer drool — except the public isn't allowed inside.

"This show has morphed into a mecca for the outdoor action-sports world," says Peter Kray, publisher of the Gear Institute of Santa Fe, N.M., a network of outdoor gear testers and experts who try out and promote the best gear.

A number of magazines and websites, including gearjunkie.com, also rate the gear and fashions to come out of the Salt Lake show before the new products hit the mainstream. Kray's picks include Smith Chroma Pop lenses — "awesome color" — and an improvement on Easton tent poles that nearly doubles their strength and flexibility in heavy winds.

Kray also is celebrating a hydration bladder not for water, but whisky or tequila — "perfect," he says.

Even socks have come a long way, with more than 100 companies in a foot race to stich the finest wool blends. A pair can cost $25, but makers say they last practically a lifetime. Cabot Hosiery Mills Inc. says its Darn Tough Vermont socks can withstand 30,000 machine rubs before wearing thin.

The jam-packed expo underscores a thriving corner of the economy. Outdoor-gear sales have grown at 5 percent or more annually through recent years of recession, analysts said.

"The industry is doing well. Patagonia has weathered the storm," said Tania Bjornlie, a trade-show manager for the Ventura, Calif.-based industry giant long known for its sleek outdoor clothing.

Patagonia is showing off a new line of day packs. "Everything at the show is getting more technical, lighter, faster," Bjornlie said.

Utah has become a cottage industry for innovators and established brands including Petzl, best known for its headlamps and climbing gear. Petzl says business is growing steadily: It's opening a new factory in a Salt Lake City suburb.

Outdoor sports "is a passion for a lot of people," said John Evans, a Petzl marketing director. "Even if the economy is not running at full steam, people still pursue their passions."

A hydrogen battery pack the size of a deck of cards can be found at an exhibit for Brunton, a subsidiary of Stockholm-based Fenix Outdoor AB., which specializes in navigation, optics and now, "portable power."

At $150, Brunton's hydrogen battery pack can be recharged at retail shops for $8 a pop. Brunton says the battery takes hydrogen out of water and mixes ambient oxygen when it's time to charge a cellphone or other electronic device.

"It's the lightest, toughest, most portable hydrogen reactor," said Walter Kaihatu, vice president for sales and marketing at Boulder, Colo.-based Brunton. "It has really high capacity. It can charge a cellphone five times from dead, and works in a range of temperatures."

22.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Boston Harbor lighthouse up for grabs

BOSTON — It's prime oceanfront property — but with a twist.

The U.S. government is accepting bids for ownership of Graves Island Light Station, a working lighthouse on a tiny Boston Harbor island about nine miles off the coast.

The 113-foot structure is more than a century old and has space for two bedrooms and a kitchen, but no bath. It also has a private dock.

The buyer will get the entire 10-acre island — a rocky ledge near the entrance to a major shipping channel.

The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/17Sv1Zl ) reports the General Services Administration began an auction on the property in June and the current high bid is $101,000.

After the sale, the U.S. Coast Guard would continue to maintain the automated lighthouse, including its foghorn, with access to the property as needed.

22.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Microsoft Office comes to Android, but not tablets

NEW YORK — Microsoft is bringing a pared-down version of its Office software to Android phones, but it won't work on Android tablets just as it doesn't on iPads.

The software will be available starting Wednesday. It requires a $100-a-year subscription to Office and won't be sold separately.

The new offering follows the release of an iPhone version in June and brings an Office app to phones running the most widely used operating system on new smartphones.

Microsoft Corp. is trying to make its Office 365 subscription more compelling, without removing an advantage that tablet computers running Microsoft's Windows system now have — the ability to run popular Office programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

"The release of this app shows that we're committed to keep providing additional value for Office 365 subscribers," the company wrote in a blog post. "Office 365 subscribers will now be able to access, view, and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with Windows Phone, iPhone and Android phones."

Microsoft is pushing subscriptions as a way to get customers to keep paying for a product that was historically sold in a single purchase. The company touts such benefits as the ability to run the package on multiple computers and get updates for free on a regular basis. However, a subscription can be more expensive than buying the package outright for just one or two computers.

Microsoft said it designed Office Mobile for Android phones specifically for small-screen devices, even though many people will prefer editing documents on a tablet's larger screen. The company has a version for iPads and Android tablets, called Office Web Apps, but that runs on a Web browser and requires a constant online connection. The new Android software is an app that gets installed on the phone and can work offline.

With a subscription, customers typically get to use Office on up to 10 devices. Five of them can be Windows or Mac computers or Windows tablets. The other five can be iPhones or Android phones. Windows phones come with Office installed and do not count toward the limit.

In keeping the software off the iPad, the top-selling tablet computer, Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder has estimated that Microsoft is potentially ceding $1.4 billion a year in revenue, based on 10 percent of the 140 million iPad owners paying for a $100 subscription. Gownder said failure to provide it on the iPad or Android tablets gives incentives for users to explore competing offerings such as QuickOffice from Google and iWork from Apple.

Like the other mobile versions, the new Android software is designed for lightweight use. For example, you can use it to view and edit an attachment sent by email. But it's not meant to create a complex spreadsheet from scratch.

The new software requires Android 4.0 or later — the Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean flavors of Google's operating system. It's available through Google's online Play store. At first, it's available only in the U.S., though Microsoft plans to expand to 117 markets with versions in more than 30 languages.

Microsoft did not announce any plans for BlackBerry phones.

___

Online:

Office: http://office.microsoft.com

Play: http://play.google.com

22.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Global stock markets buoyed ahead of Fed statement

MILAN — Strong eurozone unemployment data combined with better-than-expected U.S. jobs and economy figures to give a modest boost to stock markets on Wednesday.

Eurostat figures showed the number of unemployed across the 17 European Union nations fell for the first time since April 2011, providing further hope that the region's economy could soon start showing signs of recovery.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Economists had expected growth of 1 percent for the period. Also Wednesday, a private survey from payroll company ADP showed that U.S. businesses created 200,000 jobs this month.

As welcome as the figures were, markets were also focused on news from the Fed's Open Market Committee meeting. The U.S. central bank will release an updated policy statement after concluding the two-day meeting.

The Fed is not expected to announce any big changes, but investors expect that an improving U.S. economy will prompt the Fed Reserve to ease back on its huge bond-buying program in coming months.

The Fed is buying $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds every month to spur growth and lending. Recent hints that the Fed might start scaling back its stimulus program have sent stocks reeling.

Analysts from Capital Economics said in a note Wednesday that the latest round of U.S. economic figures suggest "that the recovery is gaining momentum and probably strengthening the Fed's resolve to taper its asset purchases in September."

Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.2 percent to 6,649. Germany's DAX was up 0.2 percent at 8,285. France's CAC-40 was up 0.4 percent to 4,003.

Wall Street welcomed the upbeat economic news, with the Dow Jones industrial index up 0.6 percent to 15,616 and the broader S&P 500 rising the same amount to 1,696.

Investors are also focusing on U.S. employment figures for July, due out Friday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the central bank could begin to scale back its bond purchases later this year if the economy strengthens, but Fed officials typically put greater weight on employment and inflation data than the GDP figures.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index tumbled 1.5 percent to close at 13,668.32. The Tokyo benchmark closed down 3.3 percent on Monday and then recovered about halfway Tuesday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3 percent to 21,883.66. South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.2 percent to 1,914.03.

Benchmarks in mainland China rose while Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan fell.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was up 11 cents to $103.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.47 to close at $103.08 on the Nymex on Tuesday.

In currencies, the euro 0.08 percent to $1.3269 from $1.3259 late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 98.34 yen from 98.06 yen.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed.

22.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

New US Treasury securities on sale in January

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it expects to start offering investors a new Treasury security with variable interest rates in January. It will be the first new Treasury security in 15 years.

Treasury officials said they hope to be able to tell investors the size of the initial offering in November, providing time for bond traders to adjust their computer systems for the new product.

Offering a variable interest rate carries some risk to the government, which would have to pay more if, as economists expect, rates begin to rise in coming years from the current super low levels. But the government is counting on attracting more investors who will be drawn by the prospect of potentially higher yields.

A final rule describing the new floating rate notes was published Wednesday in the Federal Register. The floating rate notes are the first new product Treasury has offered investors since TIPS, Treasury inflation protected securities, were put on the market more than 15 years ago.

Matthew Rutherford, Treasury's assistant secretary for financial markets, said that Treasury is not currently contemplating any other new products such as a 50-year bond or a 100-year bond. Rutherford said he thinks Treasury's 30-year bond adequately served the needs of investors looking for a longer-term security.

Rutherford told reporters at a news conference that Treasury still believed it would be able to meet its borrowing needs and keep the government operating until sometime after Labor Day when Congress will return from its August recess.

He refused to be more specific about when Treasury will run out of bookkeeping maneuvers to avoid hitting the current $16.7 trillion debt limit but private economists have said Treasury may be able to avoid hitting the limit until late October or early November. Treasury has been using various bookkeeping maneuvers to avoid hitting the borrowing limit since May 17.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is urging Congress to move quickly in September to take away the "cloud of uncertainty" about the nation's ability to pay its bills by increasing the borrowing limit and avoid a repeat of 2011 when a prolonged standoff over the issue between Republicans and the administration rattled financial markets.

Treasury announced Wednesday that as part of its regular quarterly refunding auctions next week it would sell $32 billion in 3-year notes, $24 billion in 10-year notes and $16 billion in 30-year bonds.

The money raised would be part of the $209 billion in borrowing it is projecting will be done in the July-September quarter. It has projected $235 billion in borrowing needs for the October-December quarter but that amount will depend on Congress increasing the debt limit.

22.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Investors look to Fed for further clues on rates

WASHINGTON — When the Federal Reserve offers its latest word on interest rates this week, few think it will telegraph the one thing investors have been most eager to know: When it will slow its bond purchases, which have kept long-term borrowing rates low.

The Fed might choose to clarify a separate issue: When it may raise its key short-term rate. The Fed has kept that rate near zero since 2008. It's said it plans to keep it there at least as long as unemployment remains above 6.5 percent and the inflation outlook below 2.5 percent.

Unemployment is now 7.6 percent; the inflation rate is roughly 1 percent.

Chairman Ben Bernanke has stressed that the Fed could decide to keep its short-term rate ultra-low even after unemployment reaches 6.5 percent. Testifying to Congress this month, Bernanke noted that a key reason unemployment has declined is that many Americans have stopped looking for jobs. When people stop looking for work, they're no longer counted as unemployed.

If that trend continues, Bernanke said that lower unemployment could mask a still-weak job market and that the Fed might feel short-term rates should stay at record lows.

In the statement the Fed will issue when its two-day meeting ends Wednesday, it could specify an unemployment rate below 6.5 percent that would be needed before it might raise its benchmark short-term rate. It might also say that it won't raise that rate if inflation remains below a specific level.

Investors would react to any such shift in the Fed's guidance. Financial markets have been pivoting for months on speculation that the Fed will or won't soon slow its $85-billion-a-month in Treasury and mortgage bond purchases. Those purchases have led more consumers and businesses to borrow, fueled a stock rally and supported an economy slowed by tax increases and federal spending cuts.

The Fed has signaled that it might slow its bond buying as soon as September — if the economy has strengthened as much as the Fed has forecast. If not, the Fed would likely maintain its stimulus.

On Wednesday, the government will report how fast the economy grew in the April-June quarter. Most economists predict an annual rate of barely 1 percent — far too weak to quickly reduce unemployment. Most think the growth is picking up in the second half of the year on the strength of a resurgent housing market, stronger auto sales, steady job gains and higher pay.

Many economists think the key goal of the Fed's policy discussions Tuesday and Wednesday will be to stress that the Fed's actions in coming months will hinge on how the economy fares, not on any timetable.

Some economists think the Fed will be mindful that the Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 500 points in two days after it met in June and Bernanke said the Fed would likely slow its bond-buying this year and end it next year because the economy was improving.

"The Fed is going to try to calm things down," said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Gordon College, in Wenham, Mass.

Last month, in what was likely his last economic report to Congress, Bernanke said that even after the Fed has begun slowing its bond purchases, its policymaking will keep lending costs down. Besides keeping its short-term rate low, Bernanke stressed that the Fed will maintain its vast investment portfolio — which exceeds $3.4 trillion —to help keep long-term borrowing costs down.

Some economists still think the Fed will start trimming its bond purchases at its Sept. 17-18 meeting. Unlike this week's meeting, the September meeting will be followed by a news conference in which Bernanke could explain the actions.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, said she believes September is a likely time for the Fed to scale back its bond buying. Yet she doubted it will do anything this week to signal that possibility.

"The less said right now, the better" for financial markets, Swonk said.

David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors, said he still thinks the Fed will start trimming its bond purchases gradually starting in September. But he thinks that date could slip if the economy doesn't strengthen over the next two months. Other economists think the Fed may prefer to wait until after September to trim its purchases to make sure the economy is sustaining its gains.

The Fed's moves to reduce its bond purchases will likely occur just as it will be managing a transition to a new leader. Bernanke is widely expected to step down when his second four-year term as chairman ends Jan. 31.

Vice Chair Janet Yellen is viewed as a leading candidate to replace Bernanke, though former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and others have also been mentioned.

22.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cuba criticizes US embargo fine for AmEx, bank

HAVANA — Cuba is objecting to the U.S. government's recent sanctions against companies for violating the 51-year-old economic and financial embargo against the island.

A Foreign Ministry statement notes last week's settlement in which American Express Co. agreed to pay $5.2 million because of more than 14,000 tickets it issued for travel between Cuba and other countries.

It also says Intesa SanPaolo paid a fine of nearly $3 million on June 28 after the U.S. Treasury Department determined that the Italian bank had processed 53 financial transfers involving Cuba between 2004 and 2008.

The Foreign Ministry accuses Washington of repeatedly "making absurd concessions" to the Cuban exile lobby.

The statement was published Tuesday in Communist Party newspaper Granma.

22.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

Arson eyed at planned NM horse slaughterhouse

ROSWELL, N.M. — A New Mexico company seeking to convert its cattle plant to a horse slaughterhouse might have been the target of arson.

The Roswell Daily Record reports (http://bit.ly/17e7iRe) a fire Saturday that burned part of the exterior of Valley Meat Co.'s building and damaged a refrigeration unit appeared to have been deliberately set.

Chaves County Sheriff's Department Lt. Britt Snyder says fire officials were investigating the Roswell blaze and have not yet determined the cause. But he called the fire "very suspicious."

The Humane Society of the United States and other groups are seeking to block the planned Aug. 5 opening of Valley Meat and another recently approved horse slaughterhouse in Iowa.

___

Information from: Roswell Daily Record, http://www.roswell-record.com

22.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

Morgan Stanley settles securities case in NJ

NEWARK, N.J. — Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle claims the company violated New Jersey law in its sale of nontraditional exchange-traded funds.

The state Bureau of Securities claimed Morgan Stanley failed to adequately train and supervise its financial advisers.

The state also says the advisers recommended nontraditional ETFs to elderly investors who were seeking income. The state says such transactions were unsuitable and resulted in losses.

Exchange-traded funds typically involve shares representing an interest in a portfolio or securities that track an underlying benchmark or index. The nontraditional versions reset daily and are intended to achieve objectives only on a daily basis.

The state says Morgan Stanley failed to fully inform investors.

Morgan Stanley did not admit or deny any wrongdoing.

22.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sprint feels pain of Nextel close, widens 2Q loss

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Sprint Corp., the ailing No. 3 of the U.S. wireless business, has had the surgery. Now it's in for a trying recovery period.

In the last few months, Sprint has sold a majority stake to Softbank Corp. of Japan, bought the failing Clearwire network and shut down its own Nextel service, which had dogged its results for years.

Sprint is now racing to make up for lost time. With the help of Softbank's cash, it's quadrupling its capital spending to make up for years of underinvestment in its network, which lags those of competitors in terms of data speed and coverage. That's good for subscribers but not necessarily good for investors who are exasperated with the company's 23 consecutive quarters of losses.

CEO Dan Hesse said Tuesday that he expects Sprint to have a hard time gaining subscribers on its contract-based plans, which generate the most revenue, until next year, when the company fires up new antennas on its cell towers and has phones that can take advantage of them.

Sprint's second-quarter results, reported Tuesday, were hampered by the shutdown of the Nextel network, which it bought in 2005. It was popular for its push-to-talk feature, which let phones work like walkie-talkies. The service, however, wasn't compatible with Sprint phones and didn't support wireless broadband, which is necessary for smartphones. The cost of running two incompatible networks was a big part of the reason Sprint hemorrhaged money for years.

The quarter was "ugly, but no worse than expected," said Kevin Smithen at Macquarie Capital.

Sprint lost more than 2 million wireless customers in the quarter, most of which were on Nextel. Sprint managed to convince only 34 percent of the 1.3 million departing Nextel subscribers to sign up for Sprint service, a lower figure than some analysts expected, given Sprint's past success with conversions.

Sprint gained 412,000 subscribers by buying U.S. Cellular coverage areas in Chicago and parts on the Midwest in May. Separately, it bought out the minority shareholders of Clearwire Corp., a wireless network operator of which Sprint already owned a majority. That acquisition closed after the end of the quarter.

Sprint's net loss grew to $1.6 billion, or 53 cents per share. It lost $1.4 billion, or 46 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding unexpected charges related to the Nextel shutdown, the adjusted loss came to 31 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a loss of 30 cents per share.

Revenue rose to $8.88 billion from $8.84 billion thanks to the U.S. Cellular acquisition.

Sprint's stock rose 23 cents, or 4 percent, to $5.97 in morning trading. The day's high of $6.02 was the highest level since SoftBank Corp.'s deal to acquire 78 percent of Sprint closed on July 10.

SoftBank paid $21.6 billion for the Sprint stake. Shareholders got $7.65 per share.

Sprint had 53.6 million subscribers by June's end, down from 55.2 million at the end of March.

___

AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima contributed to this report.

22.26 | 0 komentar | Read More