Business Briefs

Saturday, September 11, 2004 Page: 1C

Southern Union gets OK
A federal court has approved Southern Union Co.’s purchase of CrossCounty
Energy, LLC, the gas pipeline subsidiary of the bankrupt Enron Corp.

Southern Union, headquartered in Wilkes-Barre, will purchase the company in
a joint venture with GE Commercial Finance’s Energy Financial Services for
$2.45 billion.

The closing on the sale is expected no later than mid-December.

CrossCountry’s holdings include 9,700 miles of interstate natural gas
pipeline in North America.

Southern Union is one of the nation’s largest natural gas providers. It
operates more than 10,000 miles of pipeline. Southern Union is the parent
company of local gas provider PG Energy.





Techneglas meeting set

Former salaried employees of Techneglas Inc., which closed its Jenkins
Township plant last month, will meet Sept. 22 to discuss concerns about
pensions and benefits in light of the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

The meeting will be held at the Dupont VFW at 6 p.m.



Techneglas, which manufactured glass for television picture tubes, closed
its local plant and two in Ohio in August, leaving about 1,000 people out of
work. Slack demand for the types of tubes manufactured at the plants led to
the closings, company officials said.



Economy gets good news

The economy got a double dose of encouraging news Friday as wholesale
prices went down and moderating energy costs helped improve the country’s
trade deficit.

The latest batch of economic reports suggested inflation, for the most
part, is under control, and the economy has emerged from a late spring lull
and, in the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, “regained some
traction.”

The Labor Department’s Producer Price Index, which measures costs of goods
before they reach store shelves, dipped 0.1 percent in August after edging up
by 0.1 percent in July. Cheaper gasoline, cars and food helped restrain
wholesale prices last month.

Excluding food and energy costs, core prices watched closely by economists
also fell 0.1 percent in August, their first decline since February and an
indication that most other prices were well-behaved, analysts said.

The Commerce Department reported that U.S. trade deficit shrank to $50.15
billion in July as U.S. exports rose and imports declined for the first time
in nearly a year. The decline reflected a drop in the foreign oil bill.



From staff and wire reports



WALL STREET

Stocks float on oil prices



A sharp decline in oil prices and a surprise drop in wholesale prices
pushed stocks higher Friday as investors’ concerns about third quarter
earnings were mitigated. The Nasdaq composite index surged with investors
buying heavily into an oversold technology sector.

Oil prices fell briskly through the afternoon, again moving below $43 per
barrel after spiking higher on Thursday. A barrel of light crude settled at
$42.81, down $1.80, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors welcomed the 0.1 percent drop in the Producer Price Index, the
Labor Department’s measure of wholesale prices, since the news was a strong
sign that the economy has still managed to keep inflation at bay despite this
summer’s rising oil costs.



PRICE TO PUMP



AAA, the national auto club, reported the following average price in the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton area for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.

Yesterday $1.836

Two days ago 1.828

A month ago 1.862

A year ago 1.677

Record high 2.027 (5/29/04)

: www.fuelgaugereport.com