Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Wednesday, September 2, 1998
U.S. factory orders surged 1.2% in July
WASHINGTON -- Orders to U.S. factories jumped 1.2 percent in July, the best showing since last November, with growth led by a rebound in demand for electronics and industrial machinery.Orders totaled a seasonally adjusted $335.2 billion, the Commerce Department said today.
July was the second month of recovery in factory orders from a 2.2 percent May drop that was the biggest in three years. In June, orders rose 0.3 percent -- slightly more than originally reported.
Even with the two-month recovery, analysts say that U.S. manufacturers haven't felt the last of the economic turmoil in Asia. Export sales are plummeting, and imports, made cheaper by currency devaluations in Asia, are more attractive to U.S. consumers.
Amazon.com, Yahoo! expand partnership
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Internet bookseller Amazon.com Inc. will become the premier book merchant for search-engine Yahoo! Inc. under a global partnership agreement.Under the pact, which expands an existing relationship, Amazon.com merchant "buttons" will be featured on Yahoo! sites in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea. The buttons provide links to Amazon.com's online catalog of books and allow consumers to place purchase orders.
Amazon.com, based in Seattle, is the largest electronic seller of books. It also sells CDs, videos and audiotapes. Yahoo! is based in Santa Clara, Calif.
In other news . . .
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Blaming turmoil in world financial markets, the government announced it would devalue the national currency by allowing it to drop as much as 9 percentage points against the dollar. The central bank's announcement last night was made after the peso had come under increasing pressure because of speculation neighboring Venezuela would pare the value of its currency.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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