Union membership drops in Mass., US
THE REGION
Union representation in Massachusetts dropped to 13.5 percent of the employed last year, down from 416,000 or 14.2 percent in 2003, according to information released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, the number of employed workers in Massachusetts dropped to 2.92 millon, from 2.93 million in 2003. The federal agency reported that across the country union membership was lower last year. For example, 12.5 percent of the country's salaried and hourly workers were union members in 2004, down from 12.9 percent in 2003. The occupations with the highest percentage of union members were, at 37 percent each, educators, trainers, librarians, firefighters, and police officers. Overall, 36.4 percent of government workers were union members last year, while just 7.9 percent of private sector employees belonged to unions, about half of what it was in 1983. (Diane E. Lewis)
Magellan fund falls back in 2 categories
Fidelity Investments' largest equity mutual fund, Magellan, slipped farther back into the fund pack in terms of size and performance in 2004. Assets fell 6.9 percent, or $4.7 billion, to $63.3 billion at year-end, despite a 7.49 percent investment return. Magellan ranked fifth among the largest stock and balanced funds in terms of assets at year-end, down from third at the end of November. While Magellan returned 7.49 percent in 2004, its benchmark, the Standard & Poor's 500 index, returned 10.88 percent, the third straight year Magellan was outperformed by its index. In terms of performance, Magellan ranked 1,474 out of 2,226 growth funds for 2004, according to Lipper Inc. Alpha Equity Research Inc., which tracks mutual fund flows, reports that Magellan had a net outflow of investor funds of $9.28 billion in 2004, including $3.54 billion in the fourth quarter. Magellan also had net investor outflows in the four years preceding 2004, according to Alpha Equity. (Dow Jones)
Ultra-fast Internet access planned
Verizon Communications Inc. said it will offer ultra-fast Internet access and future cable television services over a new fiber-optic network in Portsmouth and three other New Hampshire communities: Bedford, Epping, and Salem. Verizon also said the Massachusetts town of Westborough is another location where it will be activating services over the so-called FiOS network this year. The moves bring to 26 the number of New England communities identified by Verizon as confirmed locations in which it will deploy FiOS. Initially FiOS will be used only for very fast Internet access, such as 15-megabits-per-second connections for $45 a month combined with phone service, but Verizon plans to use the network to deliver video in competition with Comcast Corp. and satellite TV. (Peter J. Howe)
THE NATION
Crude oil futures prices inch higher
Crude oil futures prices rose slightly amid worries there could be more violence in advance of elections in Iraq Sunday and uncertainty about the outcome of a weekend OPEC meeting. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 6 cents to settle at $48.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after climbing above $49 earlier in the day. Meanwhile, February heating oil slipped 0.64 cents to settle at $1.3969 a gallon in late afternoon trading, and in London, Brent crude for March delivery fell 7 cents to settle at $46.44 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Traders said the market was most nervous about the Iraq elections as pressure eased over the meeting of ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, following comments from several key players that the group is unlikely to cut output quotas. In other Nymex trading, February unleaded gasoline futures fell 0.74 cents to settle at $1.3519 per gallon, and February natural gas futures fell 10 cents to settle at $6.39 per 1,000 cubic feet. (AP)
Riggs Bank pleads guilty, will pay fine
Riggs Bank pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of failing to report suspicious transactions in the accounts of foreigners, including two dictators, and agreed to a $16 million proposed fine for what federal prosecutors called ''systemic misconduct." The guilty plea by Riggs could throw into question its deal, disclosed in July, to be acquired for $779 million by regional bank PNC Financial Services Group of Pittsburgh. However, shares of parent Riggs National Corp. rose 1.5 percent, suggesting that investors expect the merger to go through now that Riggs has resolved the case and avoided prosecution with the plea agreement. The $16 million fine would be the largest criminal penalty ever imposed on a bank as big as Riggs, according to prosecutors, and it comes atop a record $25 million civil fine levied on the bank by a Treasury Department agency last May. But US District Judge Ricardo Urbina, who must approve the proposed criminal fine and plea agreement, appeared to display some skepticism regarding its adequacy at a hearing yesterday. (AP)
Ex-partner at auditing firm sentenced
A former partner of accounting firm Ernst & Young was sentenced in San Francisco to a year in prison and two years of supervised release for financial document tampering, prosecutors said. Accountant Thomas Trauger, 42, of Berkeley, Calif., admitted in October that he changed and destroyed documents in an effort to impede a federal investigation. The 2003 charges stem from a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the collapse of NextCard Inc., a credit card issuer that offered cards exclusively on the Internet. The investigation found that Trauger did not inform the SEC about changes and deletions for 2001 documents. The tampering violated rules set out by the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reforms. (Reuters)
Kozlowski said to have urged honesty
Two former top Tyco International executives who are accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars earned every penny they got from the company and never acted with criminal intent, defense lawyers told jurors. The lawyers represent L. Dennis Kozlowski, 58, former chief executive, and Mark Swartz, 44, former finance chief, accused of stealing $150 million outright and profiting illegally on $575 million in Tyco stock sales. Kozlowski's lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, began by rejecting the allegation, made by Assistant District Attorney Owen Heimer in his opening statement Wednesday, that the former chief executive's method of theft was to instruct, deceive, and conceal. ''Dennis Kozlowski instructed employees to be honest," Kaufman said. ''The facts are that every penny my client earned was on the books and records of the company." (AP)
THE WORLD
Cellphone shipments set two records
Worldwide shipments of cellphones reached the highest level ever in the fourth quarter, posting a 24 percent gain over the same quarter a year earlier, the technology research firm IDC reported. Nokia Corp.'s introduction of nine new models helped the Finnish phone maker maintain its market-leading position, although number two Motorola Inc. grew at a faster rate on the strength of its own new models, Framingham-based IDC said. Global shipments of mobile phones reached 194.3 million units in the October-December period, breaking the previous record of 164.5 million set in last year's third quarter, IDC said. Shipments increased 18.1 percent from the third quarter to the fourth. Shipments also broke a full-year record in 2004, with 664.5 million units shipped compared with 513.8 million in 2003, a 29.3 percent gain. (AP)
