TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Business Briefs

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

TAMPA BAY AREA
Hotel Building Ballroom

The Sheraton Riverwalk Hotel in downtown Tampa has begun construction of a $3 million riverfront ballroom as part of $6 million in upgrades since Virginia-based Crescent Hotels and Resorts bought the hotel in September.

The ballroom project, scheduled for an August completion, will add more than 5,000 square feet to the hotel, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom that can be divided into two smaller sections.

More Taking The Train
Amtrak's Silver Star, which serves Tampa daily with one train to New York and one to Miami, has gained 7 percent ridership from October through March.

Ridership grew to 164,645 passengers between all destinations, compared with the six-month period a year earlier. Revenue on the Silver Star increased 4.4 percent to $13 million for the fiscal year's first six months.

NATION

Brief Relief From Inflation

Wholesale inflation slowed in April after a big jump in March, but the improvement is likely to be temporary, analysts said, as consumers are battered in coming months by surging prices for gasoline, food and a host of other items.

Most worrisome, analysts said, were indications that rising energy and food costs were spreading to other parts of the economy.

For April, wholesale inflation was up 0.2 percent, the Labor Department reported Tuesday, after a much bigger 1.1 percent jump in March.

Although April's figure was lower than expected, the closely watched core inflation reading, which excludes energy and food, jumped by 0.4 percent, double what was expected. In the past 12 months, core inflation has risen by 3 percent, the highest reading in more than 16 years.

Is Waterford Shattering?

Debt-ridden Waterford Crystal faced a renewed cash crisis Tuesday after the Irish government said it would not act as guarantor for new bank loans. Waterford Wedgwood, parent company of the iconic Irish crystal maker, announced last month that banks would not extend more credit unless the government stepped in to guarantee repayment. The company warned that Waterford's plant, a major tourist attraction in the southeast Irish city of the same name, might have to close unless the government helped secure a $61 million loan.

Among the government's concerns were that it would set a precedent in Ireland for bailing out a multinational company that has most of its operations overseas, and the risk that taxpayers could get sucked into a series of dead-end bailouts and assume legal responsibility for funding workers' layoffs and pensions.

ENERGY

Fueling A New High

The June contract for light, sweet crude oil rose as high as $129.60 in New York trading Tuesday before settling at $129.07, up $2.02 from Monday's record high.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline reached $3.80, AAA said Tuesday, meaning that gas prices were up about 19 percent from this time last year. Diesel jumped nearly 2 cents to a record $4.54 a gallon.

A staff and wire report

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT