Retail drops in Spokane County

Only seven of 39 Washington counties reported gains in retail sales for the first quarter of 2009, compared with last year.

Spokane County was not one of the lucky seven. Its total sales dropped by 7.7 percent, said the Washington Department of Revenue.

The two big gainers were low-population Skamania and Garfield counties, gaining 38 and 25 percent, respectively, from last year. The two largest losses in taxes were felt by Franklin and Lewis counties, dropping 22.7 and 25.8 percent respectively from last year’s first quarter.

King County fell 15.3 percent.

Spokane City reported a net drop of 3.4 percent in total retail sales. But one year ago the North Division Costco store was not yet inside city limits. The 2009 numbers reflect the additional Costco sales that the city didn’t have in 2008. The city’s annexation took effect in April 2008.

Trillions go to Wall Street

WASHINGTON – The federal government has devoted $4.7 trillion to help the financial sector through its crisis, a watchdog report said Monday.

Under the worst of circumstances, the report said, the government’s maximum exposure could total nearly $24 trillion, or $80,000 for every American.

Transformer toy rescues Hasbro

NEW YORK – Transformers aren’t just titans at the box office; they’re flying off toy shelves, too. Toy maker Hasbro Inc. said Monday strong sales of the morphing robots helped its second-quarter profit rise past analyst expectations.

Summer movie tie-in toys have been one bright spot for toy makers during the consumer-spending slowdown.

Slump continues in gas and oil

HOUSTON – Halliburton on Monday said its profit tumbled for a second straight quarter, primarily from a falloff in natural-gas production in North America, and the oilfield services giant offered little hope for an uptick in drilling before year’s end.

Weatherford, its smaller rival, also reported significantly lower second-quarter profits.