Regional business briefs for Wednesday, Dec. 3

• Published December 03, 2008

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Olympia

Fuel station to sell ethanol blend for 85 cents a gallon

OLYMPIA — To raise awareness about ethanol, Wilcox & Flegel Oil of Longview will sell a blend of ethanol fuel known as E85 for 85 cents a gallon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Olympia Shell station at 3505 Pacific Ave.

As part of the promotion, hot dogs and sodas also will be sold for 85 cents each, the company said in a news release. E85 is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Only flex fuel vehicles are eligible to use E85 and purchases are limited to 20 gallons per vehicle. To find out whether your car can run on E85, go to www.e85fuel.com/e85101/flexfuelvehicles.php.

Energy

Gasoline prices could be near bottom

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Retail gasoline fell to a new three-year low Tuesday and in an unprecedented decline, crude oil costs $100 less per barrel than it did four months ago with a U.S. recession eating away at energy demand.

Analysts believe prices at the pump might be bottoming out after a precipitous decline from record highs this summer. Demand could fall even further in January with job losses reducing the number of people who drive to work.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell more than 4 percent, or $2.32 to settle at $46.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier Tuesday prices briefly fell to $46.82, the lowest level since hitting $46.20 intraday on May 20, 2005.

Earnings

Sears posts biggest loss since Kmart merger

CHICAGO — Sears Holdings Corp. posted its biggest quarterly loss since financier Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart into one retail company, mainly because of hefty charges related to store closures and disappointing U.S. sales.

The company also withdrew its operating profit outlook because of the country's economic woes.

The $146 million third-quarter loss — worse than had been expected — is another sign of how difficult it will be for the venerable retailer to right itself amid growing competition and customers who are shopping at its stores even less than before because of the recession.

Homebuilder more than triples last year's loss

Homebuilder Beazer Homes USA Inc. gave Wall Street a double-shot of discouraging news Tuesday: its fiscal fourth-quarter loss more than tripled from a year ago and it expects to lose money throughout 2009.

The protracted housing downturn, rising foreclosures, credit market woes and a deepening U.S. recession have battered homebuilders, but perhaps none as much as Beazer.

Beazer lost $473.9 million, or $12.29 a share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a year-ago loss of $155.2 million, or $4.03 a share.

The Olympian, news services