BRIEFLY ON ASSIGNMENT ADOPTS STOCK PLAN.Byline: - Staff and Wire Services CALABASAS - Temporary staffers On Assignment Inc. said Thursday that its board of directors has adopted a stockholder rights plan. The plan grants preferred stock Stock shares that have preferential rights to dividends or to amounts distributable on liquidation, or to both, ahead of common shareholders. Preferred stock is given preference over common stock. Holders of preferred stock receive dividends at a fixed annual rate. purchase rights as a dividend. The move is designed to deter coercive or unfair takeover tactics, the company said. Mortgage rates reach record low WASHINGTON - Mortgage rates around the country tumbled to new lows this week, good news for people looking to buy homes or refinance. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to a record low of 5.26 percent for the week ending June 5, Freddie Mac Freddie Mac: see Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. , the mortgage giant, reported Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey. The previous low rate of 5.31 percent was set last week. The new rate marks the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking 30-year mortgages in 1971. Records that reach back earlier indicate that the rate is the lowest in more than four decades, economists said. Retailers report small sales gains NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of - The nation's largest retailers reported modest sales gains for May as the stock market rebound and the end of the U.S.-led war in Iraq failed to entice consumers to splurge. Rainy weather in certain regions, especially the Northeast, and a weak job market limited spending for yet another month, reflected in Thursday's reports by individual retailers. That continued a sluggish pace seen since last August. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a small gain that was a bit below Wall Street expectations. Apparel stores for the most part reported sluggish sales, with a few exceptions such as Gap Inc., which posted sales at stores open at least a year that exceeded Wall Street expectations. Sears, Roebuck and Co. posted a decline in same-store sales Same-store sales is a business term which refers to the revenue generated by one of a retail chain's specific outlets during a certain period of time (often a fiscal quarter or a particular shopping season), compared to an identical period in the past, usually in the previous year. in its domestic business that was smaller than analysts projected. Jobless claims Initial Jobless Claims is a report issued by the U.S. Department of Labor on a weekly basis. This report tracks how many people have filed for unemployment benefits in the previous week. It is a good gauge of the U.S. job market. up to five-week high WASHINGTON - The number of American workers filing new claims for jobless benefits climbed to a five-week high last week as companies coped with an economy that is struggling to regain firm footing. The Labor Department The Department of Labor (DOL) administers federal labor laws for the Executive Branch of the federal government. Its mission is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working reported Thursday that new applications for unemployment insurance rose by a seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted Mathematically adjusted by moderating a macroeconomic indicator (e.g., oil prices/imports) so that relative comparisons can be drawn from month to month all year. 16,000 to 442,000 for the workweek ending May 31. The increase pushed claims to their highest level since the week ending April 26. Ex-Rite Aid exec enters guilty plea HARRISBURG, Pa. - A former Rite Aid Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) is a United States retailer and pharmacy chain, operating over 5,000 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Rite Aid Corporation is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains. executive pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy, just days before he was to go on trial with two other former executives for what prosecutors say was an attempt to defraud To make a Misrepresentation of an existing material fact, knowing it to be false or making it recklessly without regard to whether it is true or false, intending for someone to rely on the misrepresentation and under circumstances in which such person does rely on it to his or shareholders. Franklyn Bergonzi, a former executive vice president and chief financial officer, could face up to five years in jail. Prosecutors say Bergonzi and other top company executives falsified Rite Aid's books to inflate the stock price, which eventually resulted in a $1.6 billion restatement of earnings in July 2000. AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. withdraws book group sale NEW YORK - AOL Time Warner Inc. has decided not to sell its book division after failing to receive what it thought were adequate bids, a company spokeswoman said Thursday. The company had received several offers, but none that reflected the value of the AOL Time Warner Book Group, spokeswoman Mia Carbonell said, confirming a story by The Wall Street Journal. |
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