US Business
US Black Friday shoppers spend more than in 2008
Washington, Nov 29 - US shoppers were out in full force Saturday during the year's most important weekend for retailers after laying out an estimated $10.66 billion on Black Friday in stores.
The figure was up about 0.5 percent over Black Friday 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal. The information was compiled by ShopperTrak RCT Corporation which tracks sales at more than 50,000 stores.
The increase was disappointing measured against expectations by retailers' chief marketing officers of an 1.8 percent boost over 2008 in their own stores, according to a survey conducted by BDO Seidman LLP in October and reported by Bloomberg financial news
service.
But compared to 2008, when sales in November and December declined 5.8 percent from 2007, the increase was good news.
Categories: US Business
IMF okays sale of gold reserves
Washington - The International Monetary Fund's executive board on Friday approved the sale of 403.3 tons of gold from its reserves to secure its finances and fund loans to low-income countries.
The sale amounts to one-eighth of the IMF's reserves and is valued at about 13 billion dollars at current gold prices.
The move is part of a plan outlined by the IMF last year to diversify its income by selling part of its gold reserves to create an endowment. The money will help to fund a major increase in the IMF's lending over the past year to help countries suffering from the global financial downturn.
Categories: US Business
Oracle sales swoon as businesses tighten belts
San Francisco - Business software maker reported a 5-per- cent decline in quarterly revenue Wednesday as businesses held off on buying new software.
The Silicon Valley company said its sales dropped to 5.1 billion dollars, but the company managed to increase profits by 8 per cent to 1.1 billion dollars, compared to 1.07 billion dollars in the year-ago quarter.
The company said that sales of new software sank 17 per cent to 1 billion dollars, but were offset by a rise in software updates and product-support revenues of 6 per cent to 3.1 billion dollars.
Oracle President Safra Catz said the company was able to increase profit despite weak sales by "substantially" improving its operating margins.
Categories: US Business
