Business in brief: Retail sales hint at turnaround

New York – U.S. retail sales figures from a key data service show signs of a rebound in October from last year’s plunge.

SpendingPulse, a service of MasterCard Advisors, reports that categories including jewelry and apparel posted gains in October compared with a year earlier. For instance:

•Jewelry sales rose 7.2 percent in October, compared with a 14.3 percent drop a year earlier, but they are 8 percent lower than in October 2007.

•Clothing sales rose 3.4 percent, compared with an 8.3 percent drop a year ago, but they were 5.2 percent lower than two years ago.

Associated Press

Madoff auditor makes apology

New York – Bernard Madoff’s longtime auditor pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges Tuesday, saying he failed to do his job to verify the disgraced money manager’s financial records but did not know Madoff was running history’s biggest Ponzi scheme.

David Friehling, 49, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, apologizing to the thousands of victims who lost billions of dollars while he audited Madoff’s financial records between 1991 and 2008. The plea was part of a cooperation deal with prosecutors.

Associated Press

Stronger growth seen for China

Beijing – The World Bank raised its 2009 growth forecast for China from 7.2 percent to 8.4 percent but warned today that a sustained recovery will require a shift in the economy to emphasize consumer spending instead of industry and investment.

The strength of China’s rebound led the bank to increase its growth forecast for developing East Asia by 1.3 percentage points to 6.7 percent.

The World Bank said its higher outlook for China reflects the government’s stronger-than-expected stimulus.

Associated Press

Disney plans climate projects

Washington – Seeking to help fight climate change, the Walt Disney Co. says it will spend $7 million in partnership with three conservation groups to protect tens of thousands of acres of forest lands in the Congo basin, the Amazon basin and in two regions of the United States.

In partnership with Conservation International, Disney is providing $4 million for forest protection projects at two reserves in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and for a forest program in the Amazon basin area of Peru.

The company also said it will work with the Nature Conservancy and provide $2 million for tree planting on 2,000 acres of former forest lands in the lower Mississippi Valley, and $1 million for the Conservation Fund’s forest protection project along California’s North Coast.

Associated Press