Fed: Winter storms held back economy

Fed: Winter storms held back economy

WASHINGTON

A Federal Reserve survey shows severe weather held back economic growth in much of the nation from January through early February. Even so, conditions strengthened in most U.S. regions, thanks to slight gains in areas such as employment and commercial real estate.

Eight of the Fed’s 12 regions reported improved activity, according to the Beige Book survey released Wednesday. The improvement was depicted as “modest to moderate.”

New York and Philadelphia, two regions hit hard by winter storms and freezing cold, reported a dip in activity attributed to the weather. Retail sales, including auto purchases, were depressed. So was manufacturing. Factories reported power outages and delayed deliveries of supplies.

The Beige Book is based on anecdotal reports from businesses and will be considered with other data when the Fed meets March 18-19.

Oil prices fall 1.8%

The price of oil fell nearly 2 percent Wednesday as concerns over the crisis in Ukraine eased and U.S. supplies rose for a seventh- straight week.

Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery dropped $1.88, or 1.8 percent, to close at $101.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, oil fell $1.59 to close at $103.33.

Russia and the West sought to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine. Still, the situation remains tense. Both pro-Western and pro-Russia demonstrations continue to flare up in the country, and Russian troops are fanned out across Crimea and control most of its strategic facilities.

2-year extension

WASHINGTON

Warding off the specter of election-year health- insurance cancellations, the Obama administration Wednesday announced a two-year extension for individual policies that don’t meet requirements of the new health-care law.

The decision helps defuse a political problem for Democrats in tough re-election battles this fall, especially for senators who in 2010 stood with President Barack Obama and voted to pass his health overhaul.

The extension was part of a major package of regulations that sets ground rules for 2015, the second year of government-subsidized health-insurance markets under Obama’s law — and the first year that larger employers will face a requirement to provide coverage.

2 guilty of selling secrets to China

SAN FRANCISCO

Two men were convicted Wednesday of stealing an American company’s secret recipe for making a chemical used to whiten products from cars to the middle of Oreo cookies and selling it to a competitor controlled by the Chinese government.

The four-man, eight-woman federal jury found Robert Maegerle, 78, and Walter Liew, 56, guilty of economic espionage, and each could face 15 years or more in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Associated Press