Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) reported a net loss of $1.0 million, or $0.01 per share, compared to a net loss of $220.8 million, or $2.51 per share, in the same period last year.  Adjusted Earnings for the fourth quarter 2009 were $0.2 million, or less than $0.01 per share, compared to $11.4 million, or $0.13 per share, for the same period in 2008.  

Net revenues were $384.9 million for the fourth quarter 2009, compared to $422.6 million for the same quarter in 2008, a decrease of 8.9 percent. Click here for the full news release.

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

Construction spending was $884.1 billion in January 2010, 0.6% below December 2009 and 9.3% below January 2009.  Construction spending is 27.1% below its March 2006 peak.

Personal spending  jumped by a larger amount than expected in January but Americans’ incomes barely budged as millions of Social Security recipients did not get their usual cost of living boost. The weak income growth could depress spending in the months ahead, acting as a further drag on the fragile economic recovery.

The Commerce Department reported today that personal spending rose by 0.5 percent in January, slightly better than expected. But incomes edged up only 0.1 percent, significantly lower than the 0.4 percent gain that economists had expected.

The income gain was the weakest showing in four months and raised more concerns about whether consumers will be able to keep spending at a sufficiently strong pace to support an economic rebound. Consumer spending is closely watched because it accounts for 70 percent of total economic activity.

The 0.1 percent rise in incomes was below the 0.4 percent gain that economists had expected. The weakness came even though private wages and salaries were up by $16.1 billion at an annual rate, compared to a $2.3 billion gain in December.

However, households did not get the usual boost they see from the government’s annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security and other benefits. The 50 million recipients of Social Security saw no gain at all in Janury because of low inflation, the first time that has occurred in more than three decades. In January 2009, incomes had risen at an annual rate of $41.1 billion because of that year’s cost of living adjustment.

For the past two years, income growth has been held back by job losses caused by the worst recession since the 1930s. For all of 2009, personal incomes actually fell by 1.7 percent, the weakest showing since the Great Depression year of 1938, when incomes had fallen by 7.7 percent.

In January, after-tax incomes actually dropped by 0.4 percent, the biggest monthly decline since last July.

With after-tax incomes falling as spending increased, the personal savings rate dipped to 3.3 percent in January, down from 4.2 percent in December. For all of 2009, the savings rate had risen to 4.3 percent, the highest annual savings rate since 1998.

Inflation continued to be a no-show. A price gauge tied to personal consumption edged up a small 0.2 percent in January and was unchanged when volatile food and energy prices were removed.