New claims for state unemployment insurance rose sharply last week, fresh evidence that the weakening economy is making it harder for workers to hold onto their jobs.
The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 407,000 for the work week ending May 19, said the Labor Department. That was the highest level since April 28, when claims shot up to 425,000. The new increase was bigger than many analysts expected.
The week before, jobless claims rose 4,000 to 392,000, according to revised figures. The government had previously reported that claims had fallen by 8,000 to 380,000. A government analyst attributed the large revision on a computer glitch that affected data sent to federal officials by one state, which the analyst would not identify.
TiVo awarded patents: TiVo (TIVO), whose television recording devices allow the pausing of live broadcasts, said Thursday it has received patents on several of its technologies, giving it formal recognition for developing the so-called personal video recorder.
The patents cover a method for recording one program while playing back another, a method to process various video and audio streams at low cost, and a storage format that allows television watchers to pause and scan through live television, TiVo said.
Research firm Forrester Research projects there will be 8.2 million households with personal video recorders by 2002.
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Sony pays to show trailer: Sony Pictures became the first studio to pay theater chains to show a trailer, which theaters traditionally show with no cost to studios.
"It was a minimal amount of money but it was well spent," Jeff Blake, Sony's president of worldwide marketing and distribution, told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't apologize for anything we did."
Blake wouldn't say how much Sony(SNE) paid to General Cinema Theatres and AMC Entertainment (AEN) for showing the trailer for "The Animal," but sources close to the studio said it was $100,000.
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Cisco says never again: Cisco(CSCO) is unlikely to see a repeat of its disastrous third quarter, when the world's largest maker of data networking gear posted its first-ever net loss, a senior executive said.
"Precipitous" twin slowdowns in the global economy and telecom equipment spending took the company and much of the industry by surprise, said Rick Justice, Cisco's senior vice president in charge of global sales.
But the Internet gear maker would weather the storm, having taken steps to slash costs -- shedding 6,000 full-time staff -- and focus on exploding markets like China, Justice said.
"About catastrophic drops in the business, we don't foresee that happening," he said. "This is a business where we don't anticipate precipitous drops, because we believe that's already occurred."
"Could there be another 100-year flood on top of the last 100-year flood? I suppose. If there's something we've learned from the last time, it's that you'd better be prepared," said CEO John Chambers, describing the rare nature of the firm’s third-quarter loss.
Reuters and AP contributed to this report**
