Home sales, airport traffic declines part of weekly economic review

The City Wire economic review for the week of Dec. 8 – Dec. 12:

• The Arkansas Realtors Association reported Thursday that November homes sales in Crawford and Sebastian counties fell 19.9 percent and 11 percent, respectively. According to the association report, 21,987 homes were sold statewide January-October, down 17.93 percent from the same period of 2007. The value of those homes in that period totaled $3.33 billion, down 18.72 percent from the 2007 period.

• November passenger traffic at the Fort Smith Regional Airport fell 26.3 percent compared to November 2007. This follows a 20.5 percent decline in October traffic compared to the previous year. For the year, 80,287 have flown out of the airport, an almost 12 percent decline compared to the same period in 2007.

• The Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission has approved a 2009 spending budget of $502,037 with estimated revenue of about $406,000. The funding above revenue will come from Commission reserves of about $200,000.

• Possible job gains and certain job losses were again part of the Arkansas news this week. North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays said the town is in the running for a “land-use vehicle plant” that would employ more than 500. Hays said North Little is one of two cities on the short list for the plant, and he thinks a decision could come before Christmas. Franklin Electric is cutting 200 jobs at its Siloam Springs submersible pump plant and moving that production to a plant in Linares, Mexico, according to a company statement. In Texarkana, Alcoa is laying off 60 at its aluminum plant.

• Sales at U.S. retailers fell for a fifth straight month in November, the longest decline in at least 16 years. The Commerce Department said total retail sales fell 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted $355.66 billion last month following a revised 2.9 percent plunge in October. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, sales were down 1.6 percent in November after a revised 2.4 percent October fall.

• General Motors Corp. said Friday it will temporarily close 20 factories across North America and cut 250,000 vehicles from its production schedule for the first quarter of 2009, which includes a cut of 60,000 vehicles announced last week. Normal production would be around 750,000 cars and trucks for the quarter. Many plants will be shut down for the whole month of January, and, all told, the factories will be closed for 30 percent of the quarter.

• The Commerce Department reported Friday that businesses slashed the inventories they were holding on shelves and back lots by 0.6 percent in October, three times the 0.2 percent decline economists expected. It was the biggest cut in inventories since August 2003. The reduction in inventories came as business sales fell by a record 3.5 percent during the month, even larger than the 2.4 percent drop in September sales, which had been the previous record.

• The Dow rose 64.59 points to close at 8,629.68 on Friday. The Dow is down just 0.1 percent for the week.