Kentucky.com: Business
News, sports and entertainment from Kentucky.com

• Springs Inn up for sale
  The Springs Inn, a Lexington landmark for almost 60 years, is up for sale.Lodging manager Brad Link, said the motel on South Broadway has been on the market for about two months. And while it's not closing, its banquet and food-and-beverage operations are being phased out.The banquet business will close today, and the food-and-beverage department is expected to end operations by mid-January."As of right now, we are taking motel reservations up through the end of July," he said, noting room rentals are up year-over-year. "We're not going past that because if the property is sold, it will be up the new owners as far as setting rates or whatever their plans are for it."We figure that a sale probably will take about six months or so."
• 67,000 tickets already reserved for World Equestrian Games
  It wasn't exactly a Hannah Montana stampede, but 67,000 tickets to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games were reserved in the two weeks they were available in November.It was "a very, very good program" that yielded about $3.2 million in deposits, said Marty Mathews, chief financial officer of the World Games 2010 Foundation.It is also "a very powerful thing to take back to potential sponsors" as evidence of the strong interest in the games, CEO Jack Kelly told foundation board members Thursday.The foundation, which is organizing the games, eventually expects to sell 500,000 to 600,000 tickets to the 16 days of competitions at the Kentucky Horse Park that will determine eight world championships.To test a new Ticketmaster reservations system devised for the 2010 games, members of the Lexington-based U.S. Equestrian Federation were allowed to reserve tickets during two weeks in November.
• Lexington builder Angelucci files for bankruptcy
  A veteran Lexington home builder is now a casualty of the sluggish housing market.Ralph Angelucci has filed for bankruptcy liquidation for his company, Ralph Angelucci Builder Inc.Angelucci, a Lexington native who has built houses locally for 37 years, agreed the housing market was a factor in his decision, but he declined further comment on Monday.He listed $1.17 million in debts and $746,141 in assets.In addition to potential losses for creditors, the bankruptcy might affect 16 recent buyers of Angelucci houses. Their home warranties are held by the company and were listed in the bankruptcy.
• Oil rises on tough US talk on Iran
  Oil prices rose Friday as the U.S. government lobbied international powers not to back down on OPEC's second largest producer, Iran, over its nuclear program.The falling U.S. dollar and estimates of stronger Chinese economic growth also continued to draw buyers back into the market.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday urged Europe and Russia to ratchet up pressure on Iran to halt uranium enrichment and come clean about its nuclear programs.Rice's talks with European and Russian officials showed Washington remains committed to isolating Iran despite a new U.S. intelligence estimate that contradicted years of assertions that Iran is secretly pursuing atomic weapons.Energy traders worry that any conflict between the West and Iran will cut into oil supplies from the Middle East.
• Hiring up modestly, jobless rate steady
  Employers hired at a moderate pace in November and the unemployment rate held steady at a relatively low 4.7 percent, reassuring signs for an economy that is fighting to avoid a recession.The Labor Department's report Friday showed that companies are still adding to their ranks - albeit at a slower pace - even as deepening troubles in the housing and credit markets are weighing heavily on national economic activity.Employers added a net 94,000 new jobs to their payrolls last month. That was down from a surprisingly strong gain of 170,000 jobs in October, but was still sufficient to prevent the unemployment rate from rising. The jobless rate has held steady at 4.7 percent for three months in a row."The economy has been hit by some large juggernauts, but the labor market is holding together reasonably well," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group. "Today's report would suggest there is no need to panic about the economy."Still, fallout from the housing collapse was painfully evident. Construction companies slashed jobs last month. So did mortgage companies, banks, real-estate firms and manufacturers. Those losses, however, were more than offset by hiring gains elsewhere, including in health care, retail, hotels and motels, temporary help firms, computer services and the government.
• Jobs report sends oil futures lower
  Oil futures retreated Friday, giving back much of the previous session's big gain after the government's November jobs report wasn't as robust as some traders had hoped.Retail gas prices, meanwhile, declined again, dropping 1.1 cents overnight to $3.023 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices have fallen nearly 9 cents, or 3 percent, since mid-November and are expected to retreat below $3 a gallon as long as oil prices generally keep falling.The Labor Department report "wasn't a blockbuster number that would keep feeding the oil bull," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., in Chicago.The report showed employers added 94,000 jobs to their payrolls in November following October's 170,000 gain. The data quashed the hopes of some oil investors that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a half percent instead of the more widely expected quarter percent when it meets Tuesday, Flynn said.Interest rate cuts tend to weaken the dollar against other currencies. Oil futures offer a hedge against a weak dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling.
• Consumer confidence near 2-year low
  Consumer confidence barely budged from a two-year low as housing troubles, a credit crunch, high energy prices and turbulence on Wall Street continue to make people uneasy about the economy and their own financial situations.The RBC Cash Index showed confidence clocking in at 65.9 in early December. That hovered close to a reading of 64 in November, which marked the worst showing since the devastation wrought by the Gulf Coast hurricanes in 2005."There's a great deal of angst out there," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. "There is a great deal of fear and foreboding."Economists said a host of factors were to blame for the still gloomy mind-set of consumers. The collapse of the housing market, which has dragged down home values, has made people feel less wealthy. Home foreclosures have shot up to record highs. Harder-to-get credit has made it difficult for some to make big-ticket purchases. High energy prices are squeezing wallets and pocketbooks. And, Wall Street's gyrations have made some worry about the value of their nest eggs.Over the past year, consumers' confidence has deteriorated sharply, reflecting the toll of the problems facing the economy. Last December, confidence stood at a solid 86.9. The index is based on the results of the international polling firm Ipsos.
• Signs points to more Chrysler job cuts
  For a newly private company, executives at Chrysler LLC haven't been too secretive about the numbers on their balance sheet.Twice in the past two weeks, top executives have said Chrysler will lose $1 billion or more this year, leading several industry analysts and some employees to believe that they are preparing workers and the marketplace for further cuts in models, factory capacity and jobs."They don't have to say anything if they don't want to," said Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman. "They're making a bit more of a public announcement to it, and I would surmise that is because there are more cuts coming."The company delivered on some temporary cuts Thursday, saying it will shut down shifts at two U.S. pickup truck plants - St. Louis North and Warren, Mich. - for the whole month of January. It also will idle a pickup plant in Mexico for two weeks next month, all due to slumping pickup sales.The truck plant shutdowns are temporary and designed to control growing inventory, said a person who was briefed on Chrysler's production plans. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans could be changed.
• Jobless claims make big drop
  The number of laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week by the largest amount in three months.The Labor Department reported that applications for jobless benefits dipped by 15,000 last week to a total of 338,000. The decline was the largest since the level of claims had dipped by 22,000 in the first week of September.Analysts cautioned against reading too much into the improvement given the volatility in the numbers around holiday periods. Claims had surged the previous week to the highest level since February.