Isle economic gauge falls for 17th straight month

The state's leading economic indicators declined in October, marking the 17th straight month the forecasting gauge has done so.

The indicators, designed to predict economic activity five to 10 months in advance, is beginning to show the effects of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, which compiles the indicators.

Six of its 10 components were down in October, the latest month for which data is available. Taking the biggest falls were unemployment claims, average work hours and Pacific region consumer confidence. Rising were the interest rate spread, the number of Oahu real estate sales, construction permit values and the average price of Oahu residential real estate.

Aloha loses $5.6 million during 3rd quarter

Aloha Airlines posted a net profit of $5.6 million in the third quarter of 2001, but only because it was able to include money provided by the federal government that compensated airlines for losses incurred because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The company's financial report, filed at the U.S. Department of Transportation, shows an operating loss of $1.25 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, on revenues of $84.4 million and expenses of $85.7 million. Aloha has received $7.7 million in funds from the new federal program. Aloha had a net profit of $567,000 in the third quarter of 2000.

Aloha has said its losses led it to talk to Hawaiian Airlines about a merger and they came to an agreement which is undergoing scrutiny by employees and government authorities. As a privately owned company, Aloha does not have to disclose its finances, except to a publicly accessible Transportation Department office. The figures include only Aloha Airlines, which is owned by Aloha AirGroup Inc., and not AirGroup's smaller subsidiary, Island Air.

CNBC revamps lineup for daytime programming

NEW YORK >> CNBC is revamping its daytime programming lineup, adding four shows and shifting the time slots of others.

CNBC will add a new early morning show, "Wake-up Call," from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. HST and "Midday Call" from 6 a.m.-8 a.m. Maria Bartiromo also will host "Closing Bell" from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and at 11 a.m. she'll be joined by Tyler Mathisen for another hourlong segment of the show. Also, CNBC's main morning show "Squawk Box" will be moved from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. to be closer to the opening of stock trading at 4:30 a.m., while the evening wrapup show "Business Center" will start one hour earlier, at noon.

Wendy's sticks by earnings despite death of Thomas

CHICAGO >> Wendy's International Inc. said today it stands by its earnings forecast for 2001, as the No. 3 hamburger chain faces a future without its founder and longtime spokesman Dave Thomas, who died early yesterday. Wendy's repeated its October forecast for earnings of $1.64 to $1.67 a share in 2001, up 7 to 9 percent from a year earlier.

Wendy's, which featured Thomas prominently in its television commercials for more than decade, also said today it would not make major changes to its long-standing marketing message, which has focused on fresh-beef hamburgers and other simple fast-food fare. Thomas died at 69 of liver cancer in his Florida home.

In other news . . .

LONDON >> P&O Princess Cruises PLC has won approval from German authorities for its planned merger with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., sailing past the first of three regulatory obstacles to the deal.

The would-be partners still need permission from competition watchdogs in Britain and the United States to form a $6 billion business that would overtake rival Carnival Corp. as the world's biggest cruise ship operator.