Business in brief: Nordstrom to be museum tenant

Seattle – The Seattle Art Museum has found a new tenant to fill the office building vacated by Washington Mutual. Nordstrom has signed a letter of intent to lease about 265,000 square feet of space in the Second Avenue building.

The Nordstrom lease will make up about 75 percent of the money the museum lost when Washington Mutual moved out after the bank collapsed. WaMu had been paying the museum $5.8 million a year.

A museum spokeswoman says the budget has been challenging since Washington Mutual left and museum officials were thrilled to have a letter of intent from Nordstrom.

The retailer expects to sign a lease early next year and move in later in the year.

Associated Press

Ford may have buyer for Volvo

Detroit – Ford Motor Co. may pull off a feat its crosstown rival hasn’t been able to manage: the successful sale of a Swedish car company.

Ford is close to selling its Volvo brand to Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., the Dearborn, Mich.-based car maker said Wednesday. The companies have worked out “all substantive commercial terms” related to Volvo, Ford said, and the deal could be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2010.

If the deal is sealed, it would stand in sharp contrast to failed efforts by General Motors Co. to sell its Saturn and Saab brands in recent months.

Ford wouldn’t disclose what Geely is offering to pay for Volvo, which is based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Unconfirmed reports suggest it could be $2 billion. Ford paid $6 billion for Volvo in 1999, but it has been a steady money loser.

Los Angeles Times

China warns recovery weak

Beijing – China’s central bank warned Wednesday that the country’s economic recovery is still weak despite improving conditions and said changes in its development model are urgently needed.

In a quarterly report, the People’s Bank of China also said it is studying ways to improve oversight of China’s financial industry and guard against excessive risk.

The communist government is trying to reduce reliance on exports and investment by boosting domestic consumption, a key element of its $586 billion stimulus. Economists say such a change is essential if China is to continue growing, and the plunge in global demand has made it more necessary.

Driven by the stimulus, China’s growth rose to 8.9 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter after dipping to 6.1 percent in the first quarter as exports fell.

Associated Press