Business Wire will host a a free luncheon on The Impact of Social Media on Traditional News Reporting on March 11, 2010.  John Edwards of Las Vegas Review Journal, Steve Green of Las Vegas Sun and George McCabe of B&P Public Relations will provide their own unique insight on the impact that social media has had on traditional news reporting.

11:30 am – 12:00 pm: Networking & Lunch
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm: Program
12:45 pm – 1:00 pm: Q & A

Location:
Gordon Biersch Las Vegas
3987 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89169

To register, please RSVP
to billy.russell@businesswire.com

John Felmy, the Chief Economist for the American Petroleum Institute.

Date & Time: February 26th, Friday, 11:30 Check-in, 12 PM Lunch
Place & Cost: Lawry’s Prime Rib, Members $30 and non-members $40

Click here to register.

Employers initiated 2,043 mass layoff events in the fourth quarter of 2009 that resulted in the separation of 321,569 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of fourth quarter 2009 events decreased from last year, following 12 consecutive quarters of over-the-year increases. A year earlier, the number of events, at 3,582, reached a record high for any fourth quarter, with data available back to 1995.

Wholesale prices shot up at double the expected pace in January, propelled higher by big increases in energy costs. The surprisingly large jump was viewed as a temporary blip and not the start of inflation problems, however.

The Labor Department reported today that wholesale prices rose 1.4 percent last month, reflecting higher costs for gasoline and other energy products. Private economists had expected a 0.7 percent increase.

Core inflation at the wholesale level, which excludes energy and food, rose 0.3 percent in January, faster than the 0.1 percent increase economists had predicted.

The 1.4 percent January rise in the department’s Producer Price Index was the biggest gain since a 1.5 percent increase in November. Wholesale prices had risen 0.4 percent in December.

Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up 4.6 percent, the largest 12-month increase since a 5.2 percent rise in the 12 months ending in October 2008. The price pressures at the wholesale level are coming primarily from big increases in the cost of energy.

The 12-month rise in core prices at the wholesale level was a more moderate 1 percent. Economists believe that inflation is not a problem at the moment and is not likely to become a threat any time soon because of all the downward pressures on wages and prices as a result of the recession.

The country has lost 8.4 million payroll jobs since the downturn began in December 2007 and those job losses plus fears of further layoffs have kept a lid of wage pressures. The weak growth in incomes means that consumer demand has suffered, preventing companies from raising the prices they charge for their products.

In another report issued today, the Labor Department said that the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits jumped to 473,000 last week, an increase of 31,000 over the previous week. The large increase served notice that the labor market is still facing serious problems.

The wholesale price report showed that energy prices rose 5.1 percent last month, the biggest gain since energy prices rose 5.6 percent in November. The January increase was led by a 11.5 percent advance in gasoline prices and a 16.2 percent increase in the cost of home heating oil.

Food prices rose 0.4 percent in January following a 1.3 percent jump in December. Last month, the price increases came in meat, up 3 percent, processed poultry, up 2.3 percent and milk products, which rose 1.7 percent.

For technical reasons, we have removed all posts, with the exception of essays, from 1/04 through 12/31/08.