Business

If Red Deer is in the grips of an economic slowdown, it hasn’t prevented the owner of Red Deer’s Millennium Centre from filling more than 40,000 square feet of office space.

It’s an image that continues to haunt Andrew Carpenter.

Red Deer’s reputation as a convention hot spot should strengthen next year with the opening of a full-service Holiday Inn in Gasoline Alley.

Toyota forecast its first annual net loss since 1950 on Friday as plunging demand for cars, especially in the U.S., and the strong yen pummeled earnings at the world’s No. 1 automaker.

HOUSTON — Exactly one year after crude eclipsed US$100 a barrel for the first time, 2009 trading began Friday with prices roughly half their year-ago levels, and some believe oil could be headed even lower.

David Stockburger’s daughter does not seem destined for a career as a real estate agent.

OTTAWA — The median family income rose 2.1 per cent between 2005 and 2006, largely the result of strong economic growth fostered by employment gains.

NEW YORK — Crude futures made their first foray past US$115 Wednesday, propelled to a new record by concerns about how much gas will be available during the peak summer months.

Sales of equipment related to dental and health care were up sharply; demand for instrumentation for the energy sector fell.