Business briefs 2/4/05

Worker productivity rises in 2004, down at year's end

WASHINGTON -- The productivity of American workers, the critical component for rising living standards, increased by 4.1 percent in 2004, capping a remarkable three-year period in which worker efficiency climbed at the fastest pace in a half century. However, the Labor Department reported Thursday that productivity for the final three months of the year was up at an annual rate of just 0.8 percent, which was the slowest quarterly increase in almost three years.

Clearance sales, spring clothes bring in shoppers

NEW YORK -- Consumers lured by clearance sales and a fresh assortment of spring clothes gave many of the nation's retailers solid sales in January and hopes for even stronger business in the months ahead. Late-month snowstorms in the Midwest and Northeast depressed results for some merchants, but didn't hurt the industry's overall performance.

Two more telephone companies talk merger

NEW YORK -- MCI Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc. are reportedly discussing the telephone industry's second big merger in days, though some experts dismiss the potential marriage as so flawed that the talks may be a ploy by MCI to lure another suitor such as Verizon. The companies, both still recovering from financial scandals which have hobbled their businesses, did not comment on Thursday's report in The Wall Street Journal, which said a $6.3 billion takeover by Qwest is being discussed.