Business digest 12/14/05

Fed campaign to raise rates winding down

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve lifted interest rates to the highest level in 4 1/2 years Tuesday but also indicated its 18-month rate-raising campaign was winding down. At least one more increase in borrowing costs seemed in store to keep inflation under control. Chairman Alan Greenspan and his Fed colleagues voted unanimously to boost the federal funds rate, the interest banks charge each other on overnight loans, by one-quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent. It was the 13th consecutive increase of that size since June 2004. That's when the Fed policy-makers embarked on a credit tightening campaign to lift the funds rate -- which had been sliced to a 46-year low of 1 percent when the economy was faltering -- to more normal levels.

Best Buy hiring spree cuts third-quarter gains

MINNEAPOLIS -- Best Buy Co. Inc. has been adding personal shoppers, business experts, and home theater installers so it could focus on its most profitable customers. But its hiring spree dragged third-quarter profits down by 7 percent, and on Tuesday Best Buy trimmed its full-year forecast. Investors punished the stumble by the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, sending Best Buy shares down almost 12 percent. CEO Brad Anderson said the company would stick with its strategy of focusing on its most profitable customers -- but at less expense.

DirecTV paying to settle do-not-call complaints

WASHINGTON -- DirecTV Inc. will pay $5.34 million to settle charges that its telemarketers called households listed on the national do-not-call registry to pitch satellite TV programming, Federal Trade Commission officials said Tuesday. The settlement, if approved by a federal judge, would be the FTC's largest civil penalty in a consumer protection case. In all 17 previously settled no-call cases, the FTC assessed just $808,500 in penalties. The DirecTV complaint, filed by the Department of Justice at the FTC's request, named the company and five telemarketing firms it hired, as well as six principals of those firms.

No action from SEC on claims against Taser

PHOENIX -- The Securities and Exchange Commission has recommended no enforcement action be taken against stun gun maker Taser International Inc. for safety claims it made about its weapons and an accounting issue it was investigating, the company said Tuesday. The news helped send the company's shares up 15 percent in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, reversing only in part what has been a deep slide in Taser's stock this year. The SEC first launched an inquiry in January about claims Scottsdale-based Taser made about safety studies and a $1.5 million, end-of-year sale of stun guns to a firearms distributor in Prescott, Ariz. Some stock analysts questioned the deal because it appeared to inflate sales to meet annual projections.

-- From wire reports