LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY "Our motto will be 'Yam Good Potatoes.'" Cindy Neal, manager of the new sweet-potato storage and distribution facility at Poplar Grove.
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Short-term T-bill interest rates slide
WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction with six-month bills falling to the lowest level since late August.
The Treasury Department auctioned $18 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.900 percent, down from 4.185 percent last week. Another $16 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 3.990 percent, down from 4.225 percent last week.
The three-month rate was the lowest since these bills averaged 3.840 percent on Oct. 1. The six-month rate was the lowest since it averaged 3.950 percent on Aug. 20.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,901.42 while a six-month bill sold for $9,798.28.
Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, fell to 4.14 percent last week, down from 4.24 percent the previous week.
Dell ready to sell PCs through Staples
ROUND ROCK, Texas - Dell Inc. plans to sell computers and other electronics gear at 1,400 Staples Inc. stores, the latest departure from the direct-to-customer business model pioneered by the No. 2 computer maker.
Dell and the world's biggest office products supplier announced Monday that Staples would offer Dell desktop and notebook computers, monitors, printers, ink and toner starting Nov. 11. Dell products also will be available through Staples' Web site.
Initial Dell computer models to be sold at Staples include Inspiron 1721 and 1521 notebooks and Inspiron 530 desktops.
Round Rock-based Dell was founded in the 1980s on a lowercost, direct-to-consumer business model that made the company the global leader in PC sales. But Hewlett-Packard Co. took the top spot last year, and Dell started considering new ways to sell its products beyond the Internet and telephone sales.
In May, Dell struck a deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, to sell PCs in about 3,000 stores. Dell also has struck partnerships recently with Bic Camera Inc. in Japan, Carphone Warehouse PLC in Britain and Gome stores in China.
With the Staples deal, Dell products will be available in more than 10,000 stores, Dell said.
Framingham, Mass.-based Staples already offers several other major computer brands, including HP, Acer and Toshiba Corp.
Bear Stearns, Citic plan joint venture
NEW YORK - Investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. and Chinese bank Citic Securities Co. said Monday they will form a strategic partnership that includes $1 billion in cross-investments and the creation of a new Asian joint venture.
Citic, which is owned by the investment arm of the Chinese government, will invest in Bear Stearns through 40-year convertible trust preferred securities that will convert to about 6 percent of Bear Stearns' outstanding shares. Citic could potentially increase the stake to 9.9 percent.
Bear Stearns will acquire a similar stake in Citic through a sixyear convertible debt security. Bear Stearns will also have options to acquire additional shares.
The announcement of the deal was fairly swift, as Vice Chairman Jiang Dingzhi of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said Oct. 16 at a Communist Party meeting that Citic was interested in investing in Bear Stearns.
Aside from the cross-investment, the pair will form a new joint venture based in Hong Kong that will offer capital markets services across Asia. Bear Stearns will contribute its current Asian operations in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore to the new joint venture.
Citic will contribute its operations in Hong Kong and pay Bear Stearns a financial consideration for the new 50-50 joint venture.
Each company is expected to have representation on the other's board of directors.
EU looks over Google bid for ad tracker
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission said Monday it would take until Nov. 13 to examine Google Inc.'s $3.1 billion bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick to review proposals by the world's largest search engine meant to eliminate antitrust concerns.
Google lawyer Julia Holtz said the California company had committed to keep certain DoubleClick business practices unchanged. She did not give details.
The Nov. 13 deadline is for the EU to clear the deal or decide to open an in-depth probe that can take up to four months.
Rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. say the deal will damage fair competition in the growing Internet advertising market.
Business, Pages 24 on 10/23/2007