Blog: www.kgmb9.com/howard

Video Headline:

Three different companies this morning have posted higher profits that are the direct result of current economic problems. The companies are McDonald's, Pepsi and Pfizer Pharmaceutical. Let me explain. Mortgage defaults killed the market for mortgage-based securities. Money dried up for lending. The Fed kept things rolling by pouring dollars into the economy. That hurt the value of each individual dollar, and the dollar plunged against other currencies. Now, let's say you're McDonald's, and you sell hamburgers in Japan for yen, in India for rupies, in France for euros. When those strong currencies are converted into weak dollars, they equal MORE dollars. McDonald's attributes its 1.2 billion dollar spring profit to strong international sales. Pepsi says its profit is up 9% and a third of that is just from currency exchange rates. Pfizer says its profit doubled on currency exchange rates. Its profit rose 9% but would have risen only 2% if the dollar had been strong.

Other Headlines:

Tight credit changes another hotel deal in Waikiki. Outrigger has dropped plans to bring a partner in for the Ohana Islander, at Kalakaua and Lewers. It will own and renovate the boutique hotel itself.

United Airlines and US Airways are the latest companies to see their stock soar after posting big losses. US Airways said it expects to bring in hundreds of millions more revenue from all the annoying new fees. United negotiated better cash terms with its credit card partners. Now we'll see how investors react to this morning's news of a 377-million-dollar loss at Northwest.

General Dynamics has finished installing three 53-foot antenna towers in Wahiawa. Those, and towers like them in Virginia, Australia and Italy, will ground a new global mobile communications system for the military.

Hoku Scientific has completed installation of a solar power system at the distribution headquarters of Paradise Beverages -- 15-hundred modules -- 525 thousand kilowatt hours a year.

From our Who's-New-at-the-Desk Desk, after nine years with Pacific Business News, my dear friend Tina Yuen is the new director of multimedia for Maui Divers.

---