Dell to repay city, county $26M

WINSTON-SALEM — Computer giant Dell Inc. has agreed to pay back more than $26 million to a North Carolina city and county and two special funds for incentives given to its soon-to-be-closed manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem.

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines sent a letter Monday confirming Dell will repay $15.5 million in upfront city spending within 30 days. Dell also will repay almost $11 million in grant and county costs.

Dell spokesman Kip Thompson acknowledged the company’s agreement to the terms in a letter written Tuesday.

Dell announced Oct. 7 it was closing its 4-year-old large computer assembly plant by the end of January. More than 900 workers will lose their jobs.

The computer company was given more than $300 million in state and local incentives.

McDonald’s profit rises 6%

CHICAGO — McDonald’s Corp. profit climbed almost 6 percent in the third quarter, as U.S. customers gobbled up its more expensive Angus burgers, the company said Thursday. But the company rattled investors when it said its strong domestic performance could finally falter in October because of the recession.

The world’s largest burger chain, which has been among the notable winners of the recession because of its cheap menu and value meals, cautioned that the fast-food business was slowing around the globe but that McDonald’s would continue to see growth.

In a statement, CEO Jim Skinner cited a “declining informal eating out market around the world” in October and said McDonald’s sales in U.S. restaurants open at least a year would be “flat to slightly negative” in October.

For the three months that ended Sept. 30, McDonald’s earned $1.26 billion, or $1.15 per share. That compares with a year-ago profit of $1.19 billion, or $1.05 per share.

But revenue slid 3.5 percent to $6.05 billion, dragged down by fluctuating global currencies.

Heating fuel costs rising

NEW YORK — Sparked by a cold snap in the northeast, home heating fuels are getting more expensive even though supplies are well above normal for this time of year.

Heating oil futures spiked with crude oil contracts last week. Retail prices followed, surging an average of 10.2 cents per gallon for residential customers by Monday, according to an Energy Information Administration report released Thursday.

Natural gas prices rose everywhere for retail customers, with hikes of between 31 cents and $1.14 per each million British thermal units in the lower 48 states.

Those prices are still well below what they were last year, when worries about peaking world crude demand pushed all energy commodities higher. But energy experts are having a tough time finding fundamental reasons for the recent jump in prices, given the amount of heating oil and natural gas piling up in storage.

The government said Thursday that the U.S. has crammed 3.7 trillion cubic feet of gas in underground caverns, the most on record.

— From wire reports