State jobless rate hits 6-year low
Washington’s unemployment rate in January dropped to 4.7 percent, the lowest rate in six years, but state economists said the job market is “decidedly mixed.”
The January jobless rate was the lowest since December 1999, and well below the 5.2 percent reported a month ago. Jobless rolls fell to 155,000, down 18,500 from December.
The U.S. unemployment rate in January was 4.7 percent, down from 4.9 percent in December.
Seasonally adjusted employment grew by 13,600. Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee said that despite employment setbacks in a few areas, “Washington’s economy continues to be strong.”
Lee acknowledged that a number of employers laid off workers during January.
San Jose
Google plunges on CFO comment
Google Inc.’s shares plummeted by as much as 13 percent Tuesday after the company’s chief financial officer raised the specter of slower earnings growth – a remark that soured recent investor enthusiasm that had been building for the Internet’s leading search engine.
The latest in a series of abrupt downturns in Google’s stock followed CFO George Reyes’ answer to a question during an investor conference hosted by Merrill Lynch in New York.
Google’s shares plunged by as much as $51.87, or 13 percent, on the Nasdaq Stock Market immediately after Reyes’ comments, but then recovered as investors digested his remarks. The shares wound up shedding $27.76, or 7.1 percent, to close at $362.62 on the Nasdaq. Washington
High court tosses Big Oil lawsuit
The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit that accused two oil companies of inflating gas prices by at least $1 billion.
Justices unanimously said gas distributors did not prove that ChevronTexaco Corp. and Shell Oil Co., a U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, violated antitrust laws in the joint venture, which ended four years ago.
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the court, said the companies had a legal partnership. “The pricing decisions of a legitimate joint venture do not fall within the narrow category of activity that is per se unlawful” under federal law, Thomas said.
Spokane
Talk will cover plans for WSU lab
Yogendra “Yogi” M. Gupta, director of the Washington State University Institute for Shock Physics, will talk about plans for WSU’s Applied Sciences Laboratory on Friday morning in downtown Spokane.
Presented as part of a monthly series by the Technology Alliance and the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research, Gupta’s presentation will start at 7:30 a.m. at the Davenport Hotel.
Created in 2004, the Applied Sciences Laboratory’s goal is the creation of new products and components that can be developed and sold by technology companies.
For information, visit www.nwabr.org.