Business Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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ECONOMY


JOBLESS CLAIMS RISE BUT STILL POINT TO RECOVERING LABOR MARKET The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits rose sharply last week, but the overall level of applications still points to a recovering job market.


The Labor Department reported Thursday that new filings for unemployment insurance increased by a seasonally adjusted 25,000 to 349,000 for the week ending Nov. 27, which included the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Some analysts were expecting a smaller rise of around 7,000.


Private economists and Labor Department analysts say claims around Thanksgiving and other holidays are typically more volatile, meaning that they can bounce around more from week to week in part because of seasonal adjustment difficulties.


The unadjusted figure for new claims last week showed a steep decline of more than 36,000.


Last week’s level of claims at 349,000 is consistent with a labor market in recovery, analysts say.


The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits, meanwhile, dropped by a sharp, seasonally adjusted 20,000 to 2.72 million for the week ending November 20, the most recent period for which that information is available. That marked the lowest level since late April 2001.


– Associated Press


REGIONAL


PATHMARK POSTS WIDER LOSS, CONSIDERS SALE Pathmark Stores reported a wider fiscal third-quarter loss on sales that barely budged from last year.


Although the Carteret, N.J.-based supermarket retailer said it has taken steps to improve its business, its board has retained investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to help it evaluate “strategic alternatives,” including a sale of the company.


In the quarter ended October 30, Pathmark lost $3.6 million, or 12 cents a share, on sales of $979.9 million. In the same period last year, it lost $200,000, or 1 cent a share, on revenue of $978.5 million.


Pathmark said in late October, when it projected a loss for the fiscal year, that a post-Labor Day sales boost it had expected never materialized.


Sales at stores open more than one year, or same-store sales, fell 0.5 percent in the latest quarter from last year.


The company expects same-store sales for the full year ending Jan. 31, to range from flat to down 1 percent, and the loss to be between 13 cents and 25 cents a share.


In the nine months ended Oct. 30, the company lost $7 million, or 23 cents a share, on sales of $2.98 billion. In the same period last year, it earned $6.9 million, or 23 cents a share, on revenue of $2.978 billion.


– Associated Press


LOCAL


N.Y. TIMES CUTS 4Q VIEW, WARNS OF CHALLENGING 2005 The New York Times Company, citing weaker-than-expected advertising and increased costs, said yesterday that its fourth-quarter and full-year profits will fall short of Wall Street’s expectations and cautioned that 2005 will be “another challenging year.”


The New York Times’s chief financial officer, Len Forman, said in a statement that advertising revenue in the fourth quarter continues to show a “modest” improvement from a year ago, but that it hasn’t been as strong as expected.


“At the same time, costs have increased for promotion, printing, distribution and newsprint, as we have made strategic investments in the content of our products and the availability of the New York Times,” he said.


The company, which publishes the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the International Herald Tribune, said it now expects fourth-quarter earnings of between 69 cents and 73 cents a share, compared with 73 cents a share a year ago. Analysts had expected the company to earn 75 cents a share, according to an estimate from Thomson First Call.


For the full year, the company expects to earn between $1.90 and $1.93 a share, compared with analysts’ expectations of $1.96 a share. In October, the publisher projected earnings to be at or slightly lower than the $1.98 a share it earned in 2003.


For the full year, the company now expects advertising revenue to rise 3% to 4%, compared with its previous forecast of a low- to mid-single digit percentage gain. For 2005, the company forecast ad revenue growth in the mid-single digits.


– Dow Jones Newswires

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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