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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, March 8, 2006

BUSINESS BRIEFS
Gasoline prices rising next week

Advertiser Staff and News Services

The wholesale price of regular gasoline in Honolulu could rise about 12 cents to $2.01 a gallon next week, according to Advertiser calculations. That price excludes taxes and a dealer markup.

The state sets a cap on the price that wholesalers can charge for gasoline, but retail prices are unregulated. The cap is adjusted weekly. The Public Utilities Commission tomorrow will announce the official wholesale cap for next week.


STATE SELLING $350 MILLION OF BONDS

Hawai'i is planning to sell $350 million of general obligation bonds this week.

Citigroup Inc. was hired to lead a group of banks managing the sale, arranging terms and fees. In advance of the sale, the state had its credit rating on $4.1 billion of outstanding bonds raised to the third-highest rank by Fitch Ratings.


NYSE SHARES ON BIG BOARD

NEW YORK — Billions of shares of stock trade daily on the famous floor of the New York Stock Exchange. But for the first time since this capitalist icon was born in 1792 under a Buttonwood tree on Wall Street, investors today will be able to buy and sell shares of the exchange itself.

The new profit-driven firm, valued at roughly $11 billion, will be called NYSE Group and trade under the symbol NYX on the Big Board. Its shares will trade just like other corporate giants, such as IBM and Coca-Cola.


FORECAST WRONG, GOOGLE SAYS

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. advised investors yesterday to disregard an internal financial forecast mistakenly posted on its Web site — a mix-up that included a reference to management's concerns about the online search engine leader's profits narrowing amid tougher competition.

The material included a projection that Google's revenue will rise by about 55 percent this year to $9.5 billion. Google also indicated its robust profit margins might weaken this year.