Business briefs 12/16/03

Dow subsidiary to pay for illegal safety claim

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co. will pay a $2 million fine for making illegal safety claims in advertising of its pesticides, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Monday. The penalty involving the popular Dursban and other pesticides is the largest in the nation's history, he said.

Snow, Saddam usher in slow shopping weekend

It was a mixed weekend for businesses hoping to hear cash registers jingle, with snow hampering shoppers in the Northeast even as retailers hoped the capture of Saddam Hussein might buoy consumer confidence. Shoppers were out in force on Saturday, according to industry observers, but business dropped on Sunday for many stores, dampened by the second major snowstorm in the Northeast in just over a week. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said that December same-store sales growth is tracking near the low end of its 3 percent to 5 percent projected range.

Government says tech firms showing good signs

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. technology industry is showing healthy growth for the first time since parts of the Internet sector collapsed two years ago, but jobs and wages still are down, the Bush administration says in a new report on the digital economy. In the report, due for public release today, the government predicted steady but moderate growth among technology companies and said technology investments are helping fuel growth in other areas. Manufacturing plants with computer networks, for example, are more productive than those without, even taking other factors into account. But the report also said technology employment is recovering slowly. It said the number of technology workers dropped by 11.2 percent since 2000 to 4.8 million employees -- compared with a decline of less than 2 percent in all private industries.

-- From wire reports