Business news with words demand+department. 55 news.

HONG Kong's exports grew at the slowest pace in 14 months in November on weak demand in the United States, where a housing recession threatens to stall economic growth. Shipments rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier to HK$244 billion (US$31 billion) after gaining 9.8 percent in October, the statistics department said yesterday. The deepest housing slump in 16 years may undermine US consumer spending. The US economy will expand at a one percent annual pace in the fourth quarter after growing at a 4.9 percent rate from July through September, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed this month by Bloomberg News.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A big jump in demand for civilian aircraft pushed durable-goods orders up for the first time in four months in November, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A big jump in demand for civilian aircraft pushed durable goods orders up for the first time in four months in November, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Excluding transportation orders, however, durable goods orders fell by 0.7% in November. New orders for non-defense aircraft and parts shot up by 20.9% in November, the data show. However, new orders for defense aircraft and parts dropped by 20.1% in the same month. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting orders for durable goods to climb by 2.9% in November after falling by 0.2% in October.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The results of the Treasury Department's 3-month and 6-month bill auction show demand remains robust for risk-free short-term instruments ahead of the end of the year. The Treasury awarded $20 billion in 3-month bills at 3.28%, compared with last week's 3.0%. The bid-to-cover -- which measures bids received to bids tendered -- was 2.32, unchanged from last week. The indirect bid, a carefully watched category that includes foreign buyers, was 26.4%, up from 16.0% the week before. The Treasury also awarded $19 billion in 6-month bills at 3.49% compared with 3.28% last week. The indirect bid rose to 37.1% from 30.5% and the bid-to-cover rose to 2.61 from 2.34 last week. The auction "was well-bid, helped by the $2 billion cut in offering size to $39 billion, though light trading conditions limited demand," wrote analysts at Action Economics.

OIL prices jumped in light trading yesterday after the government reported that consumer spending surged last month, raising hopes that the US economy will weather the crisis roiling credit markets and that demand for oil and gasoline will strengthen. The Commerce Department said consumer spending jumped 1.1 percent in November, the biggest one-month gain since 2004 and well above analyst expectations for an 0.7 percent increase. Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose US$2.25 to settle at US$93.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices were also supported by stocks, which rose yesterday, and a slightly weaker dollar. Energy investors often view stock market moves as reflective of overall economic sentiment. Also, oil futures offer a hedge against a weak dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling. Many observers blame oil's rise last month to near US$100 on speculators

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude oil rallied more than $2 Friday to over $93 a barrel after a government report showed November U.S. consumer spending increased by the largest margin in more than two years, easing fears that oil demand from the world's largest crude consumer may slow. Crude oil for February delivery ended the session up $2.25, or 2.5%, at $93.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Commerce Department reported Friday that U.S. nominal consumer spending increased 1.1%, the most in two and a half years. Economists had been expecting November's spending to rise 0.9%. At the same time, nominal incomes only rose 0.4% in the same month.

Demand for baby cashmere clothing and iPods has helped John Lewis achieve a further week of record festive sales, the department store chain said yesterday.

Wheat prices surged above $10 a bushel for the first time Monday amid concerns that strong demand globally could result in a grain shortage in the United States next year -- worsening food price inflation. Wheat supplies in the U.S. have dwindled this year as one wheat crop after another around the world has been damaged by poor weather, most recently in Australia and Argentina. That's sent buyers scrambling for stockpiles at any cost. U.S. wheat exporters already have sold more than 90 percent of the 1.175 billion bushels the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects will be exported during the whole marketing year, which ends in June 2008. Kansas wheat producers likely won't benefit much from the spike, as most of last year's crop has already been sold, said Marsha Boswell, a spokeswoman for Kansas Wheat. "Last year during harvest, we had flooding and also freeze damage in April, so there was a lot of wheat we were not able to harvest," she said. "So there's not a lot of wheat left in the state to be sold at that price right now." However, the higher bushel price is good news for farmers looking ahead to futures pricing for next year's harvest.

THE difference in yield between Japanese and US 10-year bonds climbed last week to the widest in a month on signs inflation is a bigger threat in the United States than in Japan. The extra yield investors demand to hold Treasuries instead of Japanese notes climbed as high as 2.696 percentage points on Friday, after a Labor Department report showed the biggest increase in US producer prices in 34 years. Japan's bond yields rose less than US debt after confidence among the Asian nations' largest manufacturers slumped more than forecast, cementing speculation the Bank of Japan will delay raising interest rates. "JGBs are a better buy than Treasuries at the moment," Xinyi Lu, chief strategist at the international treasury division at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News. "Nobody believes very firmly that there will be inflation here again." The yield on the 1.5-percent bond due December 2017 fell two basis points last week to 1.545 percent at

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Inventories at U.S. businesses rose 0.1% in October, below expectations and slower than the 0.7% increase in sales, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, fell to 1.26 in October from 1.27 in the previous month. This is the lowest inventory-to-sales ratio since July. Economists had been expecting the nation's inventories to rise 0.3% in October. A new piece of data in the report was the 0.4% increase in October retail inventories, which follows a 0.1% gain in September.

The global economy is facing a second wave of food inflation after the US agriculture department warned of significant falls in stocks of corn, wheat and soyabean and heavy demand

UNITED States shares have posted their steepest two-week advance since September after President George W. Bush announced a plan to freeze some mortgage rates to prevent foreclosures from causing a recession. Centex Corp and DR Horton Inc led homebuilders as they climbed the most in seven years. Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and other semiconductor companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose the most since June following analyst predictions that demand for computers will increase. All 10 industries in the S&P 500 gained. Stocks have rebounded after losing their 2007 gain at the end of last month, spurred by speculation the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates to prop up the world's largest economy. The S&P 500 declined on Friday after a Labor Department report showed US employers added more jobs than estimated in November, diminishing the odds that central bankers will cut their rate benchmark by half a point tomorrow, Bloomberg News said. "The economy is

A Wichita-based testing laboratory has a new corporate owner. The United States Test Laboratory, 7447 W. 33rd St. North, provides testing of soft body armor, helmets, firearm safety devices, handgun testing, stab resistance and hard body armor testing. It has been purchased by publicly traded National Technical Systems Inc., a California company that provides engineering services, for $12.5 million in cash. The company, founded in 1998, is certified through the U.S. Department of Justice and is an approved lab for the U.S. Army and several other state and local police authorities. Richard Mouser, president of USTL, said the purchase will enable the Wichita company to grow. The company has 10 employees and provides testing services for a number of companies, including BAE, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army. Mouser said the company has experienced high demand for its services and needed additional resources. The body armor market has seen a high rate of growth because of the global war on terrorism. The high demand for products has resulted in a significant increase in testing and development requirements.

OIL futures fell yesterday to their lowest level in six weeks after a mixed government inventory report failed to offset a belief that supplies are growing faster than demand. Investors shrugged off OPEC's decision to keep production levels steady, a possible sign prices have peaked for the year, analysts said. In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said crude supplies plunged by 8 million barrels last week, much more than the expected 700,000 barrel decline. That caused oil prices to jump briefly above US$90 a barrel. But other aspects of the report weighed on prices as the day wore on. Crude supplies grew at the closely-watching Nymex delivery terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma. Inventories of heating oil rose when analysts had expected a decline, and gasoline supplies rose more than expected. "Overall, this is a mixed report," said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Inc, in a research note. Earlier yesterday,

CRUDE oil fell below US$90 a barrel on Friday in the biggest weekly loss in two and a half years on concern that slowing economic growth will cut energy demand. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said supplies in the market were "ample." Consumer spending in the US rose less than forecast in October and incomes increased at the slowest pace in six months, the United States' Commerce Department said in Washington. Al-Naimi, speaking in Doha, said oil prices didn't reflect actual production and consumption trends, Bloomberg News reported. "The market is simply becoming more concerned about a possible recession that could reduce petroleum demand," said James Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. "We have been seeing evidence for some time of a weakening economy and weakening oil demand." Crude oil for January delivery fell US$2.30, or 2.5 percent, to settle at US$88.71 a barrel at 2:45pm on the New York Mercantile

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. economy expanded at the fastest pace in four years in the third quarter, growing at an real annual rate of 4.9%, the Commerce Department said Thursday in its second estimate of last quarter's growth. The upward revision to gross domestic product was due to larger inventory building and a better trade balance. It was in line with Wall Street expectations. A month ago, the government pegged third-quarter GDP at 3.9%. Real GDP has increased 2.8% in the past year, close to the economy's long-run potential. Growth was not balanced in the third quarter, with nearly half the growth coming from inventory building and an improvement in the trade balance. Final worldwide sales of U.S. domestic product increased 3.9%, but domestic demand was weaker, growing at a 2.4% pace.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - With demand for high-technology goods weakening, orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell for the third straight month in October, falling 0.4%, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Orders were slightly weaker than the 0.1% drop expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. The details of the report were worse than the headline number suggested, as orders for volatile defense capital goods rose 16.1%, led by demand for military ships. Excluding defense goods, orders dropped 0.9%. The report provides more evidence that the manufacturing sector is slowing despite booming exports. Demand for core capital investment goods fell 2.3%, the biggest drop since February.

ENERGY futures fell yesterday after the government reported unexpected increases in crude oil and gasoline inventories last week and OPEC forecast fourth-quarter demand for oil would be less than expected. In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said oil inventories rose by 2.8 million barrels during the week ended November 9. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected a decline of 300,000 barrels. That helped send light, sweet crude for December delivery falling 66 US cents to settle at US$93.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading off more than US$2 a barrel earlier. Crude prices have been volatile this week, falling more than US$3 on Tuesday and rising more than US$2 on Wednesday after hitting a record of US$98.62 one week ago. The drop in crude was limited, however, by an unexpectedly large drop in heating oil supplies, a mixed report on Iran's compliance with UN demands over

CORN fell the most last week on speculation that higher supplies in China, the world's largest consumer of the grain, will cut demand for imports. China will produce 145 million metric tons of corn this season, up from 143 million estimated in October, the US Department of Agriculture said in a report on Friday. That would push the country's reserves to 28.1 million tons before the next harvest, up from 25.7 million estimated a month ago. Still, the stocks would 14 percent off from the previous year, Bloomberg News said. "The trade is unlikely to think that the Chinese are going to import corn anytime soon," said Mike Zuzolo, president of Risk Management Commodities Inc in Lafayette, Indiana. Speculation that China would become a net importer of corn for the first time in 12 years helped push corn prices up 12 percent in the past two months, he said. Corn futures for December delivery fell 2.75 cents, or 0.7 percent, to US$3.8675 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade,

THE United States trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in September on record exports, giving the economy a lift as the housing recession deepened. The gap shrank 0.6 percent to US$56.5 billion, the smallest since May 2005, from a revised US$56.8 billion in August, the Commerce Department said yesterday in Washington. The report will probably prompt economists to boost estimates for growth in the third quarter. Exports reached new highs for a seventh consecutive month as a weaker US dollar and growing economies overseas bolstered demand for American products from cotton to semiconductors. Trade will continue to contribute to economic growth and help manufacturers weather a housing-related slump in demand. "For the first time in recent memory, the US is now the net beneficiary of robust global growth, which is providing a powerful offset to housing-related weakness in the domestic economy," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Greenwich Capital in Greenwich,