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WASHINGTON >> U.S. consumers increased their spending at the weakest pace in six months, while the 12-month rise in consumer prices was the largest in nearly five years.
Consumer spending edged up 0.1 percent in February following a similarly sluggish 0.2 percent increase in January, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The small gains suggest that overall economic growth likely slowed in the first quarter.
Incomes, however, were up a solid 0.4 percent in February, offering hope for stronger consumer spending in the months ahead.
Ford boosts CEO pay 19% amid overhaul
Ford Motor Co. increased Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields’s compensation by 19 percent last year as heavy spending to develop self-driving cars and electric vehicles weighed on profits.
Fields received $18.8 million in salary, bonus and stock, Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford said Friday in a regulatory filing. Including the value of his pension and other compensation, the total was $22.1 million, compared with $18.6 million in 2015.
The 56-year-old CEO is leading an overhaul of Ford’s business model so the company can take on self-driving cars from the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and Uber Technologies Inc. Fields has warned the cost of investing in new technologies would reduce profits last year and this year before rebounding in 2018.
ON THE MOVE
Bennet Group Strategic Communications has announced the following promotions:
>> Sitarani Palomar to senior director. She was previously a chief creative officer for Organic Media Network.
>> Megan Tsuchida to director from manager. She joined the firm in 2013.
>> Alika Ke-Paloma to account manager. She has a background in public affairs and nonprofit organizations.
>> Kalli Abernathy to senior account executive. She previously worked for Legacy Marketing Partners and BHATE Geosciences Corp.
>> Nathaniel Cox to assistant account executive. He returned to Hawaii in 2016 after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from New York University.
>> The firm has hired Chloe Williams as an account executive; Kylie Arrell, account executive; and Taryn Pascua, account coordinator.
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