Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, October 27, 1998
Hawaii income growth among worst in U.S.
Hawaii was among the four worst states for personal income growth in the second quarter, the Commerce Department today.The department said U.S. personal income in the second quarter rose at its slowest rate in three years, still managing to outpace inflation. Personal income nationwide rose 1.1 percent, to $77.986 billion, in the second quarter, above the 0.2 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index, the department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said.
During the first quarter of 1998, personal income rose 1.4 percent.
South Dakota, Hawaii, New Jersey and Michigan posted the slowest growth rates in personal income during the second quarter. Incomes in those states ranged from 0.4 percent to 0.6 percent.
Nevada, Arizona, South Carolina, Utah and Vermont posted the largest gains in second-quarter personal income, ranging from 1.6 percent to 2.0 percent, the department said, Bloomberg News reported.
Telecom trends subject of local conference
The latest trends in telecommunications will be among the topics discussed at a conference Thursday at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.Called "Communications in a Converged World," the Telecom '98 conference, sponsored by the Hawaii Tele-Communications Association, focuses on the ways business communications are converging over data and telecom networks.
Among the topics to be covered in the daylong conference are how to economically tap into voice, fax and video capabilities over the Internet and what telecom tools businesses will need for the new millennium. One session will feature pitches from the three companies that provide local dial-tone phone services for businesses.
Cost of the conference, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., is $125. For information, call 528-4822. The conference is being held in conjunction with Oceanic Internet Computer Expo '98, Hawaii's largest high-technology trade show. Conference participants will be able to visit exhibits at the computer show.
Kmart has appetite for merger -- report
NEW YORK -- Kmart Corp. has been seeking a merger partner in the supermarket business, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Analysts told the Journal that Floyd Hall, Kmart's chairman and CEO, informed a gathering of analysts last week that he has been looking for a business combination in the grocery industry.Patrick McCormack, an analyst with BT Alex. Brown Inc., told the paper a Kmart official confirmed that the Troy, Mich., retailer in June had sought a three-way deal with Albertson's Inc. and American Stores Co., two grocery chains that merged without Kmart in an $8.4 billion deal.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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