BUSINESS BRIEFS
Robert Mondavi dies at age 94
Associated Press
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BERKELEY, Calif. — Robert Mondavi, the pioneering vintner who helped put California wine country on the map, died yesterday. He was 94.
Mondavi died peacefully at his home in Yountville, Robert Mondavi Winery spokeswoman Mia Malm said.
He was 52 and a winemaking veteran in 1966, when he opened the winery that would help turn the Napa Valley into a world center of the industry.
Clashes with a brother that included a fistfight led him to break from the family business to carry out his ambitious plans with borrowed money.
ROSIER ECONOMIC FUTURE PREDICTED
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said yesterday that financial markets are "considerably calmer" now than they were two months ago. He predicted the economy will be rebounding by the second half of this year.In a speech to business executives in Washington, Paulson said the drag from housing, which he characterized as still the biggest risk to the economy, will soon be lessened by nearly $100 billion in economic stimulus payments to U.S. households.
In his remarks, Paulson never used the word recession, although many private economists believe the country is in one.
DOWN-PAYMENT MINIMUMS DROP
WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae is doing away with higher minimum down-payment requirements for borrowers in parts of the country where home prices are dropping.
The government-sponsored mortgage finance company said yesterday it will require minimum down payments of between 3 percent and 5 percent for all loans that it guarantees. That replaces a December policy that required a higher minimum if the loan was for a home in a ZIP code with declining real estate prices.
Washington-based Fannie says the move is part of its effort to help resuscitate the flagging mortgage market.
GM WORKERS RATIFY CONTRACT
LANSING, Mich. — A striking United Auto Workers local at a key General Motors factory says it ratified a new contract with the company and will resume production on Monday.
UAW Local 602 said on its Web site yesterday that its members voted 73.5 percent in favor of the new deal. It will end a strike that began April 17 at the Delta Township plant near Lansing that makes the Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia.
About 3,300 workers work at the factory making the popular vehicles.
DISMAL REPORT ON GLOBAL ECONOMY
UNITED NATIONS — The world economy is "teetering on the brink" of a severe downturn and is expected to grow only 1.8 percent in 2008, the United Nations said in its mid-year economic projections Thursday.
That's down from a global growth rate of 3.8 percent in 2007, and the downturn is expected to continue with only a slightly higher growth of 2.1 percent in 2009, the U.N. report said.
The mid-year update of the U.N. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008 blamed the downturn on further deterioration in the U.S. housing and financial sectors in the first quarter.
ABERCROMBIE EARNINGS UP 3%
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said yesterday that its first-quarter earnings rose 3 percent from a year ago on stronger sales.
Abercrombie said it earned $62.1 million, or 69 cents per share, in the three months ended May 3 compared with profits of $60.1 million, or 65 cents a share, a year ago.
Sales rose 8 percent to $800.1 million from $742.4 million last year.
