Business and Finance news

Confidence among U.S. consumers probably fell this month to the lowest level in more than 14 years as Americans fretted over jobs, record gasoline prices and falling home values, economists said before a report today.
The Conference Board's confidence index probably fell to 61, the lowest since October 1993, from 64.5 in March, according […]

New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman has submitted a $580 million bid for Tribune Co’s Newsday daily newspaper on Long Island, New York, matching a bid by News Corp (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Murdoch’s New York Post daily tabloid newspaper is […]

U.S. consumer confidence fell more than forecast in April to a 26-year low as record fuel prices and rising unemployment threatened to reduce spending.
The Reuters/University of Michigan sentiment index decreased to 62.6, from 69.5 the previous month. The measure was down from a preliminary estimate of 63.2 issued on April 11.
Consumers are […]

Ikanos Communications Inc. on Thursday reported a $4.8 million first-quarter loss, compared with $9.1 million in the year-ago quarter.
The Fremont networking equipment maker reported increased revenue of $29.7 million compared with revenue of $24.7 million for the first quarter of 2007.
"I am excited about our future at Ikanos and I believe […]

The Austin City Council is considering a three-year membership with the nonprofit Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization. As a result of the membership CTSI, whose mission is to advance the commercialization and global adoption of clean technologies and sustainable industry practices, plans to relocate its Cambridge, Mass., headquarters to Austin.
The City […]

The mood is anything but festive this year as New York Jews shop for Passover meals. Food-price inflation and the decline of the U.S. economy and dollar are to blame.
Passover begins at sundown today. The cost of putting on a seder, the annual holiday dinner celebrating the Jews' flight from slavery in Egypt, […]

Medivation Inc. said its Alzheimer's drug Dimebon improved cognitive function in patients when compared with a placebo.
Data from a study of the drug were presented at a neurology conference in Chicago this week. Steven Ferris, a psychiatry professor at New York University, said the drug improved memory, orientation, language and praxis, or motor […]

Orlando "Dan" Davidson has been named executive director of Hawaii's Land Use Commission.
Davidson, who is currently executive director of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., starts his new job on May 16. He will replace Anthony Ching, who was named executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority in December.
[…]

Sales and prices of Oahu's single-family homes were down for the first quarter of 2008.
The number of single-family homes sold in the first quarter was down 28 percent from the same period last year — 651 this year compared to 854 in 2007 — according to the latest report from Prudential Locations. […]

Omani inflation accelerated to a record 11 percent in February, from 10 percent in the previous month, as the cost of food and housing soared.
Food prices jumped 20 percent, up from 17 percent in January, the Omani Ministry of Economy said on its Web site today. Rents increased an annual 14 percent in […]