Hawaii retail sales stronger than average

Hawaii retail sales in December were up 2.3 percent from the previous December, beating the national average of 2.1 percent, according to Tele- Check Services Inc., a leading check acceptance company.

TeleCheck bases its study on the value of goods paid for by check and says it is a good measure of retailing as a whole since payment by check accounts for about one-third of all retail purchases. The best year-over-year improvement was in the Southwest and Southeast, where eight states had increases of 2.3 percent or more. Oklahoma led the nation with an increase of 2.7 percent.

U.S. delivery companies to boost prices up to 40%

New York >> U.S. delivery companies' plans to raise their prices this month will increase the cost of some shipments by almost 40 percent and the worst hit industries will be catalog and Internet merchants, the Wall Street Journal said.

This month, FedEx Corp., United Postal Service Inc. and Airborne Inc. will start charging $1.10 to $1.35 extra for each residential air delivery, the paper reported. UPS and Airborne are also following FedEx's practice of imposing a separate fee for air shipments to residences considered out of the way, it said. As delivery volumes fall because of slowing economies, parcel carriers are having to find additional revenue wherever they can, the Journal said. Increased charges tend to coincide with the new year and customers say rivals are copying each others' prices and fees.

Business chiefs predict jump in Japan joblessness

TOKYO >> A total of 80 percent of top executives at Japan's biggest corporations predict that unemployment -- already at a record high -- will rise above 6 percent in 2002, according to a newspaper survey released today.

Twenty-four out of 30 heads of the nation's largest employers, including the presidents of Sony and Toyota Motor Corp., said hiring conditions would worsen as they retrench amid the deepening economic slump, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

The government announced last month that the jobless rate rose to 5.5 percent in November. That was the third straight monthly increase. Hit by the global slowdown that has worsened since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, export-driven Japanese companies are seeing profits slide and resorting to job cuts that were taboo in a corporate culture based on worker loyalty and job stability.

'Sell' rating sends shares of Kmart to 5-year low

DETROIT >> Capping a Scroogelike holiday season for Kmart, a Wall Street analyst's negative report sent the price of the company's shares plunging by 13.2 percent to $4.48 in heavy trading yesterday, marking a five-year low for the nation's No. 2 discount chain.

The analyst, Wayne Hood of Prudential Securities, slashed his per-share earnings estimate for the fourth quarter by more than 50 percent, to 20 cents from 43 cents, predicted a loss for the year of 12 cents, and urged investors to sell. At the same time, he wrote, "The next six months represent a critical time for Kmart, and we would not be surprised if the company were to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy if trends do not improve."

A Kmart spokesman, who said the company had not had advance warning of the report, insisted everything at the company was progressing normally.

[Taking Notice]

NEW JOBS

>> Central Pacific Bank has named Sharon Yoshida as vice president and assistant controller in the Controllers Division. Yoshida joins CPB after serving as vice president and manager of the financial and regulatory reporting department at Bank of Hawaii.

In addition, Scott Kurosawa and Toni Demos have been named assistant vice presidents and relationship banking officers at the bank. Kurosawa will work out of Central Pacific Bank's Pearlridge Branch. Demos will join the staff at the bank's Ward Branch.

RECOGNITION

>> Laurie Scully has been named a certified diabetes educator by the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators. Scully, who is nurse educator at the North Hawaii Community Hospital Diabetes Wellness Center, met educational and professional practical experience standards along with passing an exam in order to receive the designation.