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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Tuesday, August 15, 2000

Hawaiian buys back 1 million shares

In a single trade today, Hawaiian Airlines Inc. bought 1 million shares of its own stock as part of its ongoing share repurchase program. The move pushed the stock's volume for the day to more than 25 times the average daily volume for the last 12 months.

The price remained about normal for its recent action, closing on the American Stock Exchange at $2.37 1/2, down 6 cents. The 1 million-share block also traded at $2.37 1/2. Today's volume was 1.1 million shares, compared to a daily average of just less than 40,000 for the 12 months prior to today's sale. In March, the company said it would buy back up to 5 million shares of its stock. As of June 30, the company had repurchased more than 1 million of its shares.

Home Depot meets Wall St. expectations

ATLANTA -- Second-quarter earnings rose 23 percent at Home Depot Inc. as the world's largest home improvement chain avoided slumping sales that have battered other retailers. Net income for the three months ending July 30 was $838 million, or 36 cents per share, in line with the forecast of analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial. For the same period in 1999, Home Depot earned $679 million or 29 cents per share, the company said today. Investors, apparently looking for better earnings, sent the company's shares plunging $5.94 to close today at $53.75.

Oil prices climb to Gulf War levels

LONDON -- Oil prices surged today to their highest levels since the Persian Gulf War, with traders blaming low U.S. inventories of crude and concerns that the world's largest producer, Saudi Arabia, has curbed production. September contracts for North Sea Brent crude rose $1.32 a barrel to an intraday high of $32.80 on the International Petroleum Exchange before falling to $32.39 in late trading. In the United States, benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $32.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 43 cents from yesterday's close. Oil prices last reached these levels in November 1990, on the eve of Operation Desert Storm.