A Stern Glance

The Corporate and News and Information Blog of Stern And Company Public Relations

Archive for February, 2009

Serving the Media’s Agenda

Feb 24

Posted by Steven D. Stern in Media Relations | Comments off

You don’t sit at your desk all day, waiting for a phone call from journalists. Similarly, reporters don’t sit at their desks waiting for news about your company. In fact, given today’s smaller news staffs (because of reduced advertising revenues) and their increasingly busy workdays, there’s a very good chance reporters may not even see your news release.

Distribution of a release via PR Newswire or BusinessWire will ensure that it reaches key news outlets, news databases and online news portals. But these services are simply the electronic equivalent of dropping a document on the receptionist’s desk. They do not guarantee that the journalists who actually report for the media important to your company will ever see your news release, much less appreciate its importance.

A reporter for a local newspaper may receive up to 100 releases a day, and countless additional emails. Journalists on major national publications are besieged by several times this number. You may think your news release is very important, but to a journalist it will be just one item in a stack, unless you differentiate it. How do you make it stand out? Read the rest of this entry »

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Boyd Gaming “interested” in Station Casinos at $950 Million

Feb 23

Posted by Steven D. Stern in General | Comments off

Boyd Gaming Delivers Non-Binding Preliminary Indication of Interest to Station Casinos, Inc.

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD – News) announced today that it delivered a non-binding preliminary indication of interest (the “Indication of Interest”) to the Board of Directors of Station Casinos, Inc. (“Station”).

The full text of the Indication of Interest delivered to Station follows:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Joint Statement by the Treasury, FDIC, OCC, OTS and the Federal Reserve

Feb 23

Posted by Steven D. Stern in Economy, General | Comments off

Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Reserve Board today issued the following joint statement:

“A strong, resilient financial system is necessary to facilitate a broad and sustainable economic recovery.  The U.S. government stands firmly behind the banking system during this period of financial strain to ensure it will be able to perform its key function of providing credit to households and businesses.  The government will ensure that banks have the capital and liquidity they need to provide the credit necessary to restore economic growth.  Moreover, we reiterate our determination to preserve the viability of systemically important financial institutions so that they are able to meet their commitments. Read the rest of this entry »

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Consumer Prices Rose 0.3 Percent In January

Feb 20

Posted by Steven D. Stern in Economy | Comments off

U.S. Consumer Prices rose in January, advancing for the first time since July as energy costs rebounded, government data showed on Friday, but a severe economic downturn was likely to keep inflation pressures muted in the months ahead.

The Labor Department said its closely watched Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent after falling 0.8 percent in December. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast headline CPI rising 0.3 percent.

Core prices, which exclude food and energy items, rose 0.2 percent after being flat in December. That compared to analysts’ prediction for a 0.1 percent increase.

On a year-over-year basis, consumer prices were flat, the weakest reading since August 1955. The index rose 0.1 percent year-on-year in December.

Energy prices rebounded 1.7 percent in January, reversing five months of declines. However, compared to the same period last year, energy prices tumbled 20.4 percent.

The Labor Department also reported that real average weekly earnings fell by 0.1 percent in January after seasonal adjustment and that a 0.3 percent increase in average hourly earnings was offset by the increase in the Consumer Price Index. The Department also reported that average
hours were unchanged.

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Wholesale inflation takes biggest jump in 6 months

Feb 19

Posted by Steven D. Stern in Economy, General | Comments off

Inflation at the wholesale level surged unexpectedly in January, reflecting sharply higher prices for gasoline and other energy products.

The Labor Department reported today that wholesale prices increased by 0.8 percent last month, the biggest gain since last July and well above the 0.2 percent increase that economists had expected.

The acceleration was led by a 3.7 percent surge in energy prices with gasoline prices jumping by 15 percent, the biggest gain in 14 months.

Even outside the volatile food and energy sectors, wholesale prices showed a bigger-than-expected increase, rising by 0.4 percent. Economists had expected a slight 0.1 percent rise in so-called core inflation.

Food prices were well-behaved last month, falling for a second straight month. The 0.4 percent decline in January reflected lower costs for beef and dairy products which offset gains in the price of vegetables and chicken products.

In addition to the big jump in gasoline costs, prices for home heating oil were up by 5.4 percent and liquefied petroleum gas, which is often used to heat homes in rural areas, surged by 20.2 percent, the biggest jump in more than six years.

Outside of food and energy, there were increases for pharmaceuticals, light trucks and passenger cars and civilian aircraft.

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