News Briefs - Sept. 9
The Latest Headlines:
- Price of Crude Oil Hits Two-Week High
- Oshkosh Gets $144 Million Contract From Marines
- Wholesale Inventories Rise 1.3% in July
- Labor Day, Bad Weather Help Push Jobless Claims Down by 44,000
- Boyd Bros. Stockholders Approve Merger
- Segmentz Names New President; Completes Purchase of Express-1
- Man Sentenced for Defrauding Yellow Roadway
- Oshkosh Gets $144 Million Contract From Marines
Price of Crude Oil Hits Two-Week High
The price of crude oil in New York rose almost $2 a barrel to a two-week high on Thursdasy after the Energy Department reported that U.S. inventories declined in the latest week, Bloomberg reported.Crude oil for October delivery rose $1.84, or 4.3%, to close at $44.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Aug. 24. Prices, which are down 10% from their record of $49.40 a barrel on Aug. 20, are 53% higher than a year ago.
DOE said stockpiles fell a sixth straight week, dropping 1.4 million barrels to 285.7 million. Supplies were expected to decline by 1 million barrels, Bloomberg reported.
Oshkosh Gets $144 Million Contract From Marines
Specialty truck maker Oshkosh Truck Corp. said it received a $144.6 million contract to provide the U.S. Marine Corps with armor kits for trucks being used in Iraq.The company said in its release the Marine Corps could order additional kits, boosting the value of the contract to more than $200 million. The kits are for Oshkosh's Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements, which the Marines are using in Iraq, Bloomberg reported.
In addition, Oshkosh said it would perform suspension upgrades and install air conditioning kits in many of the vehicles. Oshkosh said it would deliver most of the truck armor during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2005. Transport Topics
Wholesale Inventories Rise 1.3% in July
Inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose 1.3% in July, boosted by a record increase in stocks of petroleum products, the Commerce Department said Thursday.Inventories of both durable and non-durable goods rose, and petroleum stocks jumped 21.2% in July, the highest monthly rise on record, the report said.
Analysts expected inventories to rise 0.7%, Reuters reported. Commerce also said wholesale sales rose 0.5%, as auto sales declined a record 2.6%.
The disproportionate increase in inventories propped up the inventory-to-sales ratio, which measures how long it would take to draw down stocks at the current sales pace. The ratio stood at 1.16 months in July, compared with 1.15 months in June. Transport Topics
Labor Day, Bad Weather Help Push Jobless Claims Down by 44,000
The Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless claims fell by 44,000 to 319,000 in the week ended Sept. 4, the largest drop since December 2001, reflecting a decline in the number of filings by Floridians in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley.In addition, the Labor Day public holiday on Monday may have impacted seasonal adjustment factors, Reuters reported.
Claims so far this year have averaged about 344,000, down from 401,000 for all of last year. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 339,250 from 343,000, Labor said.
Claims were expected to fall to 345,000, Bloomberg reported. The decline was the biggest since the week ended Dec. 8, 2001, when claims dropped 77,000.
The number of people continuing to collect state jobless benefits rose to 2.898 million in the week that ended Aug. 28 from 2.878 million the prior week. Transport Topics
Boyd Bros. Stockholders Approve Merger
Flatbed carrier Boyd Bros. Transportation Inc. said late Wednesday the company would go private since its stockholders had approved the merger of BBT Acquisition Corp. into the company.Under the terms of the merger, Boyd's stockholders would receive $9.18 in cash for each share of common stock.
The company said that although it would still do business under the name Boyd Bros., its shares would no longer trade on Nasdaq. Transport Topics
Segmentz Names New President; Completes Purchase of Express-1
Transportation and logistics services company Segmentz Inc. said Wednesday that Mike Welch was named president and said it had completed the acquisition of transportation firm Express-1 Inc. on Sept. 1."Our expansion into the expedited business will be the cornerstone of our growth over the next several years, and with the success that Mike Welch and his team have had, it makes the most sense to empower him to lead that growth," Allan Marshall, Segmentz' chairman and chief executive officer.
John Flynn, who had been president, would remain with the company as advisor Marshall, the company said in a statement. Transport Topics
Man Sentenced for Defrauding Yellow Roadway
U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren said a former employee of Yellow Roadway Corp. was sentenced Aug. 24 to more than three years in prison for an embezzlement scheme that netted him more than $4.2 million, the Associated Press reported.rederick McBride of Overland Park, Kan., was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison without parole, followed by three years of supervised release, AP said. He was ordered to pay restitution of more than $172,000 to his former employer and $4 million to Twin City Insurance Co., its insurer.
McBride pleaded guilty on June 1 to two counts of wire fraud, AP said.
For eight years beginning in February 1995, the former cargo claims adjuster submitted false claims for damage to shipments, according to Melgren, according to AP. He had checks sent to his office and deposited them in various personal accounts. Transport Topics
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