Business briefs 12/22/06

Stores extend hours to hit holiday goals

NEW YORK -- The nation's retailers are pulling out all the stops to hit their holiday sales goals by expanding hours in the final days before Christmas and ratcheting up discounts. Some mall-based stores like L.L. Bean are pulling all-nighters. Federated Department Stores Inc.'s Macy's store in Elmhurst, N.Y., will be open 83 hours straight through Christmas Eve; neighbors Express and AX Armani will also pull all-nighters. Clearly, winners and losers already have emerged. Deep discounting of flat-panel TVs led to a buying surge, as well as a profit blow to Best Buy Co. and Circuit City Stores Inc. Luxury stores' business has been sparkling as well-heeled shoppers are showing no restraint for $5,000 handbags. Other mall-based stores have stuck to their already generous promotional calendar, keeping profits intact so far and refusing to buckle under pressures from shoppers to hold out for the best bargain.

Pfizer exec still to get retirement benefits

NEW YORK -- Pfizer Inc.'s former chief executive, Henry A. McKinnell, who was forced into an early retirement in part because of investor anger about his rich retirement benefits, will get every penny of them and more, a new regulatory filing shows. McKinnell's package, which the company disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, totals more than $180 million. It includes an estimated $82.3 million in pension benefits, $77.9 million in deferred compensation, and cash and stock totaling more than $20.7 million. The company said McKinnell's departure "contractually obligated" it under his employment agreement to provide McKinnell with certain severance payments and benefits. Beyond that, Pfizer will pay a lump sum severance of $11.9 million and will fully vest stock grants worth $5.8 million, according to the filing.

Economy's growth slows in third quarter

WASHINGTON -- Economic growth slowed to a 2 percent pace in the July-to-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That was slightly worse than the 2.2 percent annual rate the government estimated a month ago, yet better than the anemic 1.6 percent rate initially calculated for those months. In other economic news, the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid-off workers signing up for unemployment benefits rose by 9,000 to 315,000 last week. The uptick did not alter economists' views that the jobs climate is decent. The Conference Board reported that a gauge of future economic activity advanced 0.1 percent in November, suggesting the economy is not in danger of stalling.

-- From wire reports