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   BUSINESSFriday 11 March 2016

Great Harvest Bread sues Panera Bread over trademark 

JIM SALTER                      behalf of Great Harvest’s         intentionally causes confu-      used the phrase, but to                                       are especially concerned
Associated Press                more than 200 owner-              sion.                            no avail. Panera has since                                    about the alleged infringe-
ST. LOUIS (AP) — One res-       operated stores, claims           “We need to protect the          sought a trademark for                                        ment.
taurant chain that made         the company received a            investment being made            “Food as it should be,” and                                   Great Harvest says it spe-
its name off fresh bakery       trademark in October 2014         by our individual small busi-    Great Harvest has formally                                    cializes in handcrafted
products is suing another,      for its mantra, “Bread. The       ness  owners from being          opposed it, Great Harvest                                     breads with whole wheat
alleging federal trademark      Way it ought to be.”              drowned out or overrun by        said.                                                         purchased from family-
infringement for use of         The lawsuit says suburban         a multi-million dollar nation-   The Associated Press left                                     owned farms.
what it calls a confusingly     St. Louis-based Panera de-        al advertising campaign,”        messages seeking com-
similar advertising slogan.     buted its “Food as it should      Great Harvest president          ment from Panera repre-                                         Panera operates nearly
Great Harvest Bread Co.         be” advertising campaign          Eric Keshin said in a state-     sentatives on Thursday.                                       2,000 bakery-cafes in 46
filed suit Thursday in federal  just eight months later, in       ment.                            A spokeswoman for Great                                       states and Ontario, Can-
court in Charlotte, North       June 2015. Great Harvest,         Great Harvest said it asked      Harvest says the suit was                                     ada, under the Panera
Carolina, against Panera        based in Dillon, Montana,         Panera to suspend adver-         filed in North Carolina be-                                   Bread, St. Louis Bread Co.
Bread. The suit, filed on       says the Panera campaign          tising and promotion that        cause franchisees there                                       and Paradise Bakery &
                                                                                                                                                                 Cafe names.q

An early rally fades, leaving US stocks mostly flat

BERNARD CONDON                  Trader Andrew Silverman works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks swung                                          analyst at currency trader
AP Business Writer              between gains and losses on Thursday, then ended right back where they started.                                                  OANDA.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks                                                                                                                                           The bank’s efforts also un-
swung between gains and                                                                                                                 (AP Photo/Richard Drew)  derlined the weakness of
losses on Thursday, then                                                                                                                                         the 19-country eurozone
ended right back where          The new European Central          The interest rate paid to        banks to remove the mon-                                      and the desperation by
they started.                   Bank moves included a             commercial banks to store        ey and use it to make loans,                                  monetary authorities to do
With seconds to close, the      cut in interest rates, cheap      money at the central bank        but it’s an unprecedented                                     something about it. The
Standard and Poor’s 500         loans to banks and several        was cut further into nega-       and controversial policy.                                     policy announcements
eked out a gain, finishing      new measures, such as tar-        tive territory, to minus 0.4     “The central bank came                                        ended up rattling investors
just 0.02 percent higher.       geting corporate bonds in         percent from minus 0.3           out all guns blazing,” said                                   more than reassuring them.
Stocks rose at the open         its bond-buying program.          percent. The aim is to get       Craig Erlam, senior market                                    “The effectiveness of cen-
of trading, echoing a                                                                                                                                            tral bank policy has be-
surge in markets in Europe,                                                                                                                                      come less and less,” said
where the central bank                                                                                                                                           Ernie Cecilia, chief invest-
announced a series of                                                                                                                                            ment officer of Bryn Mawr
moves to jolt the region’s                                                                                                                                       Trust. “There really isn’t a lot
economy to faster growth.                                                                                                                                        of growth to show. Europe
Then, as central bank chief                                                                                                                                      is really struggling.”
Mario Draghi spoke at a                                                                                                                                          In the U.S., several com-
news conference, inves-                                                                                                                                          panies lost ground after
tors started having second                                                                                                                                       releasing disappointing
thoughts and stocks there                                                                                                                                        earnings and outlooks. Ca-
sank, as did U.S. markets.                                                                                                                                       nadian Solar sank 13 per-
The S&P 500 edged up 0.31                                                                                                                                        cent and Vail Resorts lost 4
points to end at 1,989.57.                                                                                                                                       percent.
The Dow Jones industrial                                                                                                                                         With nearly all companies
average gave up 5.23                                                                                                                                             out with fourth-quarter re-
points, less than 0.1 per-                                                                                                                                       sults, earnings per share for
cent, to 16,995.13. It was up                                                                                                                                    the S&P 500 are now esti-
as much as 130 points ear-                                                                                                                                       mated to have fallen 4.2
lier. The Nasdaq composite                                                                                                                                       percent from the same pe-
gave up 12.22 points, or 0.3                                                                                                                                     riod a year earlier, accord-
percent, to 4,662.16.                                                                                                                                            ing to S&P Capital IQ.q

US budget deficit running lower this year than in 2015 

MARTIN CRUTSINGER               So far this budget year, the      climbing by 24 percent to        the Obama administration.                                     decade, driven higher by
AP Economics Writer             deficit stands at $353 bil-       $544 billion this year. The      The measured included                                         rising costs for Social Secu-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The           lion, down 8.7 percent from       administration is even more      many of the domestic                                          rity and Medicare, which
federal government re-          the same period in 2015.          pessimistic, forecasting the     spending increases that                                       will come under pressure as
corded a budget deficit in      That improvement is not           deficit will climb to $616 bil-  President Barack Obama                                        millions of baby boomers
February only slightly larger   expected to last. Both the        lion this year.                  and Democrats in Con-                                         retire.
than a year ago. For the        Obama administration and          In December, Congress            gress had been seeking.                                       For the current 2016 bud-
first five months of this bud-  the Congressional Budget          approved a budget pack-          Meanwhile, Republicans                                        get year, which began on
get year, the deficit is run-   Office are forecasting defi-      age that increased spend-        won greater funding for                                       Oct. 1, the government has
ning below the pace set         cits for the full year that will  ing by $1.14 trillion this year  the military and permanent                                    collected $1.25 trillion in
last year.                      be significantly higher than      and will provide $680 billion    tax cuts for business invest-                                 revenue, an increase of 5.3
The Treasury Department         last year’s $439.1 billion def-   in tax cuts over the coming      ment.                                                         percent from a year ago.
says the deficit in February    icit, the lowest annual defi-     decade. The agreement            Both CBO and the admin-                                       Government spending has
totaled $192.6 billion, up 0.1  cit in eight years.               was part of a compromise         istration see the deficit                                     totaled $1.6 trillion, up 1.9
percent from a year ago.        The CBO sees the deficit          between Republicans and          worsening over the next                                       percent from a year ago.q
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