Business briefs: October 29, 2009

From staff reports

WASHINGTON -- Dream Dinners featured on national news

Dream Dinners, which has a franchise in Fort Mill, was featured recently on a segment of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

Dream Dinners provides an array of affordable pre-cut, pre-cooked entrees that customers can assemble, pack and store for future use.

Meere Pattison and Mary Beth Lakshmanan opened Dream Dinners of Fort Mill in 2006 and have more than 1,600 customers. The shop is located at 1646 S.C. 160 West.

Local woman named five-star ambassador

April Dunifer was named a McDonald's five-star employee ambassador for the Carolinas.

Dunifer has worked for five years at the Rock Hill McDonald's on South Herlong Avenue and was selected from hundreds of applicants from both states.

The award honors employees who exemplify teamwork, community involvement, work ethic, leadership and “Lovin' the Golden Arches.”

New home sales fall a surprising 3.6 percent

Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a temporary tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales fell 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from a downwardly revised 417,000 in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 440,000.

It was the first decline since March. Sales in September were off 7.8 percent from a year ago. Despite the surprising decline, the market is up 22 percent from the bottom in January, though down more than 70 percent from the peak in July 2005.

Metro jobless rates fall as more workers drop out

The unemployment rate fell in September in most metro areas, although that's largely because more people gave up on job searches than found new work.

The September unemployment rate fell in 223 of 380 metro areas, or about 59 percent. The jobless rate rose in 123 metro areas, and was unchanged in 34.

Thirteen metro areas reported unemployment above 15 percent, down from 16 areas in August.

But in many cases the drops resulted from discouraged workers leaving the labor force, perhaps to return to school. After jobless workers stop looking for work, they are no longer counted in the unemployment rate.

Energy prices slide on surprise jump in gas supply

Energy prices slumped Wednesday after the Energy Department reported a higher than expected jump in U.S. gasoline supplies.

Retail gasoline prices have ticked upward since the middle of the month, around the same time that crude futures rose above $75 per barrel for the first time this year.

The rising cost of crude and ensuing production cuts by refiners who are also stung by those prices has helped push gasoline prices higher for 15 days in a row.

The report by the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday seemed to wash away fears of tightening supply, at least for now.