Friday, Jan. 09, 2009

The Buzz on Business

GOLD GAINS, INTEREST RATES HURT DOLLAR: Gold prices pulled off a moderate advance Thursday, but other commodities slumped.

Gold prices advanced as the dollar weakened against other major currencies, including the euro and the British pound, even after the Bank of England cut its official interest rate to 1.5 percent, the lowest level in its 315-year history.

Lower interest rates can spur economic activity, but have a tendency to weaken currencies. Some analysts believe interest rate cuts in other countries could give the greenback a boost.

Gold for February delivery rose $12.80 to settle at $854.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Other precious metals prices slipped. March silver fell 0.8 cent to $11.0970 an ounce, while March copper futures fell 3.25 cents to $1.4790 a pound.

Energy prices suffered on the Nymex after an inventory report that signaled further erosion in energy demand. According to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, inventories in the lower 48 states fell less than expected last week. Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 93 cents to settle at $41.70 a barrel. In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures rose 1.18 cents to settle at $1.0882 a gallon, while heating oil fell 2.35 cents to settle at $1.5196 a gallon.

PORN KINGS WANT SHARE OF BAILOUT: And now, Debbie Does D.C. In an announcement that launched a thousand unprintable puns, adult entertainment moguls Larry Flynt and Joe Francis said Wednesday that they are asking Washington for a $5 billion federal bailout, claiming that the porn business is suffering from the soft economy. Francis insisted in a phone interview that this is no joke or publicity stunt, though his tone suggested otherwise. "The government's handing out money to the auto industry," Francis, producer of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series, said on the phone from his Santa Monica office. "Why shouldn't it hand some to an industry the nation could not live without?" The request, Francis said, was being made in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

BUY A HOME, GET A BENTLEY: An Arizona home builder is hoping to unload a pair of multimillion-dollar homes that have been languishing on the market for about a year by sweetening the deal with free cars -- two Bentleys. The homes are located in Paradise Valley, a wealthy Phoenix suburb. Each home is selling for about $1 million less than the original price, according to Five Star Development Group, based in Scottsdale. One property, dubbed the "Old-World European Villa," measures more than 7,800 square feet and is priced at just under $5 million. The second one, named the "Tuscan Estate," has five bedrooms, five and a half baths and measures about 7,500 square feet. It's listed for just under $4 million. Five Star is offering buyers for each of the homes a free 2009 Bentley Continental GT valued at about $200,000. For buyers who don't dig the Bentley, Five Star is offering either a 50-hour card good for rides on a NetJets aircraft or an annual one-month vacation stay at a Newport Beach Marriott hotel for life. Should a buyer prefer to knock off $200,000 from the price of the homes, that's another option, said Five Star spokesman Brendan Mann.

BEE NEWS SERVICES

Figuratively Speaking

1, 2, 3, 4, 5: Ranks of Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, George Kaiser, George Soros and William Barron Hilton on the list of BusinessWeek's "The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists."

3: Number of years Warren Buffett has topped the list. $40.655 billion: Amount given by Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, since 2004. $2.625 billion: Amount given by Bill and Melinda Gates, Microsoft's co-founder and his wife, since 2004.

JOHN MacINTYRE,

UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE