Income up for Ambassadors
Despite booking fewer travelers, Spokane-based Ambassadors Group on Wednesday reported second-quarter income of $19.2 million compared with $17.2 million for the second quarter a year earlier.
Net income improved to 99 cents per share, up from 87 cents per share in the year-ago period, the company reported.
Ambassadors Group schedules and sponsors educational and professional travel groups around the world.
It reported second-quarter bookings of 15,595 travelers, an 11 percent drop compared with 17,885 in the same quarter of 2008. But gross margin increased 10 percent, to $40.3 million in the second quarter, compared with $36.7 million in the same period of 2008.
That improvement, said a company release, follows a global decline in air travel prices.
Major domestic oil field found
Los Angeles – Occidental Petroleum Corp. says it has discovered oil and natural gas in a Kern County field that may represent the biggest find in California in more than 35 years.
The nation’s fourth-biggest oil company said Wednesday that it had found the equivalent of 150 million to 250 million barrels of oil, adding that two-thirds of the new source is believed to be natural gas. The Los Angeles company owns 80 percent of the Central California field.
“We believe this to be the largest new oil and gas discovery made in California in more than 35 years,” said Ray Irani, Occidental chairman and chief executive.
Analysts described the discovery – probably the result of improved exploration technology – as major. The find could lead other energy companies to redouble their U.S. drilling efforts, they said.
Bernanke resists adding agency
Washington – Ben Bernanke put himself at odds with the Obama administration Wednesday by resisting its plan to create a consumer protection agency for risky financial products. The Federal Reserve chief said those responsibilities should stay with the central bank.
Bernanke’s pushback on the White House plan comes at a politically delicate time for the Fed chairman. His term expires early next year, and President Barack Obama will have to decide whether to reappoint him.
In his second straight day on Capitol Hill, Bernanke argued that the Fed has expertise that would be difficult to replicate at a new agency. Consumer oversight, he said, coincides with the Fed’s mission to oversee the safety and soundness of banks.