Tourism company orders 61 Boeing jets

Pacific Northwest

Boeing

TUI Group, a European tourism company, has ordered 11 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners and 50 smaller 737 passenger jets, Boeing announced .

The orders are worth about $4.7 billion at list prices, Boeing said, although large customers frequently negotiate discounts.

The orders were previously listed by Boeing as from an unidentified customer. Two of the 737s have already been delivered.

Naverus

Company to help Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines said it will partner with Kent-based Naverus to develop a high-tech navigation system that enables its jets to fly much more precise routes and reduce fuel consumption.

The system, known as Required Navigation Performance (RNP), uses global-positioning satellites, aircraft avionics and new flight procedures to guide the aircraft. Alaska Airlines was the first U.S. airline to use RNP procedures.

Southwest plans to upgrade all its jet to fly RNP routes. Carefully designed RNP procedures can also reduce diversions, improve safety and minimize emissions and noise.

Washington Mutual

Agreement on NYC theater name

Seattle-based Washington Mutual has reached a naming-rights agreement for a 5,600-seat theater at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed.

WaMu becomes the first company to reach an agreement for naming rights to any of Madison Square Garden's properties.

WaMu entered the New York area in 2002 by buying Dime Bancorp for $4.86 billion, giving it 125 branches in New York and New Jersey. It now has more than 325 branches in the area.

Boeing

Tentative contract reached in St. Louis

Boeing said Wednesday night it had reached a tentative pact with workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 in St. Louis.

The company said the agreement calls for an average 9.5 percent wage increase and a 17 percent increase in pension benefits.

The nearly 2,600 workers at plants in suburban St. Louis are part of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, making everything from fighter jets like the F-18 Super Hornet and F-15 Eagle to missiles and component parts.

Union members still need to vote on ratification.

Economy

Home-building permits plummet

Home building in the U.S. posted a small gain in April, but permits for future construction fell nearly 9 percent, the largest amount in 17 years, a sign the housing industry is still in a deep slump.

"The drop in permits is one of the biggest on record. It suggests the contraction in housing is not over and has some months to play out," said Bill Hampel, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association.

Southwest Airlines

Galileo deal aims to fill empty seats

Southwest Airlines has empty seats and wants to make it easier for business travelers to buy them.

Southwest's Chief Executive Gary Kelly said Wednesday the company has signed a 10-year agreement with Galileo, the nation's second-largest global-distribution-system operator.

Faced with growing fuel-cost pressures, Kelly reiterated Southwest is seeking new ways to generate revenue.

Southwest, like most low-cost carriers, relies more on direct bookings from customers than on travel agents.

Federated

Retailer sees profit, misses estimates

Federated Department Stores said Wednesday it swung to first-quarter profit, but adjusted earnings missed Wall Street estimates as sales at newly converted Macy's stores remained weak.

The company earned $36 million, or 8 cents a share, in the quarter ended May 5, compared with a year-ago loss of $52 million, or 9 cents a share, hurt by a hefty charge.

Federated holds its annual shareholders meeting today.

Option One Mortgage

600 to lose jobs at subprime lender

Option One Mortgage of Irvine, Calif., is laying off 20 percent of its staff, or 600 workers, and closing 12 loan-processing offices nationwide, including one in Bellevue, the company said Wednesday.

The job cuts, which run through Sept. 3, come as parent company H&R Block is selling the money-losing subprime unit to private investment fund Cerberus Capital Management L.P.

Option One's layoffs are the latest in a string of lender cutbacks as loan defaults rise.

Hewlett-Packard

Strong PC sales cheer investors

Hewlett-Packard's second-quarter profit fell 7 percent because of a big tax gain recorded last year, but investors cheered a dramatic rise in the sale of personal computers and servers that helped the tech giant narrowly beat Wall Street's forecast.

For the three months ended April 30, HP earned $1.78 billion, or 65 cents a share, compared with $1.90 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the same period last year.

The latest results were squeezed by restructuring and other one-time expenses costing 5 cents a share.

Google

Search leader offers even more

Google will include images, book excerpts, news and video in its search results as part of a new program called Universal Search.

Information included in Web search results will also include maps, local businesses and YouTube videos, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products, said Wednesday.

Google has extended its lead in Internet search over Yahoo! and Microsoft, helping to spur a 73 percent gain in revenue last year.

Compiled from The Associated Press, Dallas Morning News, Orange County Register, Bloomberg News and Seattle Times staff