From wire reports

Fed examines its use of media

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve policy-makers, accused recently of sending confusing signals to investors, held a special meeting Monday to discuss ways to improve the way they communicate with both Wall Street and Main Street.

However, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and his Federal Open Market Committee colleagues - the group that sets interest rate policy in the United States - decided against revamping procedures, at least for now, according to Fed minutes released Thursday. Fed officials let it be known that their communication effort was still being reviewed. The minutes said that Fed policy-makers might consider "from time to time ... changes that might improve the committee's communication of its assessment of the economic situation."

Mortgage rates continue slide

WASHINGTON - Rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages, which had been on a fairly steady upward climb since late June, dropped sharply this week for the second week in a row.

The average rate on 30-year mortgages fell to 6.01 percent for the week ending Sept. 19 from last week's 6.16 percent, Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, reported Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey. This week's rate was the lowest since late July, when rates on 30-year mortgages averaged 5.94 percent.

Rates for other mortgages also went down.

For 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rates dipped to 5.30 percent this week, compared with 5.46 percent last week. Rates for one-year adjustable mortgages went down to 3.81 percent from 3.87 percent.

In the middle of June, rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages had slid to 5.21 percent, the lowest level in more than four decades.

But since late June, rates on 30-year mortgages as well as other types of mortgages have mostly been on the rise.

Factors contributing to the recent rise include signs that the economy is picking up speed and concern about swelling federal budget deficits, economists say. Those factors had pushed bond rates up, which caused long-term mortgage rates to rise. Rates on 30-year mortgages hit a high this year of 6.44 percent in early September.

AFL-CIO leader will seek new term

WASHINGTON - AFL-CIO President John Sweeney intends to seek another four-year term, a decision he says will allow the labor organization to focus less on choosing a successor and more on defeating President Bush in 2004.

The announcement comes well before Sweeney goes up for re-election in summer 2005. The bid, if successful, would keep him in charge for 14 years.

An AFL-CIO vice president since 1980, Sweeney, 69, was first elected president in 1995 and has been re-elected twice.

Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson also intend to run again.

Polaroid Corp. sees brighter fiscal picture

BOSTON - Polaroid Corp., which lost hundreds of million of dollars before going bankrupt in 2001, has earned nearly $33 million so far this year in its new incarnation, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

In addition, the filings show that the new owners, led by the buyout firm of One Equity Partners, were able to use $136.8 million of the bankrupt company's own cash reserves to put toward its $237.7 million purchase.

The names of the new owners and directors of Polaroid - a separate entity from the one that went bankrupt that is now owned by One Equity Partners, a division of Chicago-based Bank One Corp. - also were made public for the first time in the court documents filed within the last week.

The film and camera company's new CEO, J. Michael Pocock, received 707,340 shares of stock in the post-bankruptcy company, or 2 percent of the total. He has a three-year contract under which he earns $600,000 a year, and also was given a $100,000 signing bonus and $20,000 to pay the lawyers who helped negotiate the contract.

Sun Microsystems to cut more jobs

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Troubled computer and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. plans to cut another 3 percent of its work force, or an estimated 1,080 jobs, in an effort to return to sustained profitability despite sagging sales.

At the end of the last quarter, Sun reported it had 36,000 employees. At the end of fiscal 2001, by comparison, it had 43,683 workers.

Spokeswoman May Goh Petry said the company expects said the bulk of the cuts would be made in the current quarter, though some will take place in the fiscal second and third quarters to comply with varying international labor laws.

The company also said it plans to hire in strategic, high-growth areas.

Petry declined to specify what areas are targeted for cuts or new hiring. She also declined to specify how the cuts and hiring will affect overall headcount.