Nissan 370Z is 100% sports car

The 2013 Nissan 370Z Roadster Touring boasts outstanding sports car performance that is priced well under the German and Italian competition — an entry level 370Z is yours for under $45,000.

Our gorgeous test Z was dressed in a midnight blue metallic paint and capped with a black cloth droptop. Conspicuous red-painted brake calipers glared out from 19-inch Rays alloy wheels, which were part of a sport package that pushed the price of our tester up to $50,000.

While the price tag says entry level, the Z is 100 percent sports car. The Nissan's 3.7 liter V-6 engine produces 332 horsepower. The Z, which weighs in at 3,488 pounds, does 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds. A 6-speed manual transmission was a blast to rip through, especially with the top down.

Driving the Z was all about performance. Our tester's firm suspension, bigger wheels and low ground clearance provided sharp handling. The Z felt fast even at low speeds as it was hard to hold back in stop and go situations. The Z's sport tuning was great for highway straightaways and twisty roads, but gave the coupe a harsh feel on bad pavement and bridge expansion joints. The Z also suffered from permeating road noise with the top up, which was a great excuse to keep it down.

Despite being only a two seater, I found plenty of leg room with the roadster's power adjustable seats. The leather and mesh cloth buckets were both heated and air conditioned, features that kept the convertible top down on cool nights and in hot weather. The coupe's interior featured a leather-wrapped steering wheel and stick shift. Aluminum-trimmed pedals also stood out. Storage space was limited, but I did find some space behind the seats for a bag or two of groceries.

Trunk space was sparse, barely enough room to fit a couple of overnight bags, but it does offer a diagram on how to fit a bag of golf clubs into the tight space.

The Z has an engaging dashboard with red dials and digital readouts constantly changing on six gauges.

While overwhelming at first, I found the additional controls on the steering wheel, combined with a compact media center and a full array of radio dials, simple to operate.

The Z is expensive when compared to the Subaru Scion coupe offerings, which are clearly out-muscled on the straightaways by the Nissan, but all match in handling. On the higher end, the Z's agility, muscle and abundance of modern technology really gives the $90,000 Porsche Boxter S a run for the money. 

Clearly the Z is not a long road tripper and it would be hard to justify as a daily driver, but who wouldn't love to haveone sitting in his garage for a midsummer night dinner reservation for two or for a fall foliage run.

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The Ticker

Dow has worst week

Stocks fell yesterday, closing out what was the worst week of the year for the Dow Jones industrial average.

The market was dragged lower by a weak performance from retailers and companies sensitive to higher interest rates. Homebuilders and banking stocks were among the best performers.

Stocks had a decent start to the week, but investors were hit hard the past three days. The Dow retreated 2.2 percent for the week, its worst in 2013. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 2.1 percent for the week, its second-worst performance of the year.

The possibility of a cutback in the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program in September has roiled the bond market, which has spilled over into stocks. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.83 percent, its highest level since July 2011.

Judge hurts Icahn bid for Dell

A Delaware judge yesterday dealt a blow to activist investor Carl Icahn's effort to stop CEO and founder Michael Dell's $24.8 billion buyout offer for the struggling computer maker.

He refused to fast-track proceedings on Icahn's claims that Dell Inc. directors have betrayed their duties to shareholders in trying to win support for Michael Dell's bid.

After three delays, Dell's board has scheduled a special shareholder vote on Sept. 12 for Michael Dell's offer of $13.75 per share, plus a 13-cent dividend. That's to be followed by an overdue annual meeting on Oct. 17.

Icahn, who is seeking to oust Michael Dell as CEO, wanted the vote and annual meeting to be held on the same day. That would give shareholders a chance to vote on a rival board he is offering as part of his proposal, a complex alternative plan that he says would be worth at least $15.50 per share.

Egypt violence sends oil higher

The price of oil rose for the sixth consecutive day yesterday on continuing violence in Egypt and supply disruptions elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

U.S. benchmark crude edged up 13 cents to $107.46. It rose 1.4 percent for the week. Brent crude, which is used to price imported crude used by many U.S. refineries, rose 80 cents to $110.40 per barrel for October delivery.

The average retail price for a gallon of gasoline rose less than a penny to $3.54 per gallon. It is down 9 cents per gallon in August, however, and it is 17 cents lower than it was last year.

THE SHUFFLE

• Acella Construction Corp., a construction services company, announced that Dennis Tellier, left, has joined the firm as a project superintendent. Tellier will coordinate site construction activities and supervise field personnel to complete projects on time and within budget.
• Eastern Insurance Group LLC announced that Timothy J. Lodge has joined the agency as a senior vice president in its commercial lines division. Lodge will work out of Eastern Insurance's Providence, R.I., office as a sales executive focusing on the real estate, manufacturing and technology industries.

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Mass. likely to mirror U.S. start stats

Massachusetts builders appeared to follow a national trend of breaking ground on more apartments than single-family homes in July, particularly in Boston and its suburbs, according to a local builders group.

"Massachusetts continues to lag behind the vast majority of states in new construction, which is going to lead to a spike in housing prices," said John Smolak, chairman of the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of Massachusetts' governmental affairs committee. "Because of housing prices and the state of the economy, apartments are a more affordable option."

In some parts of the state, existing homes for sale are drawing multiple bids because of a lack of new housing starts due to regulatory hurdles such as zoning and energy-efficiency requirements, Smolak said.

State housing-start statistics will not be available until later this month.

Nationally, developers broke ground on homes at a faster pace in July, but the rise was because of apartment construction, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Commerce Department. Builders began work on fewer single-family homes — the bulk of the market — and sought fewer permits to build them.

Robert Authier, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said one of the reasons may be that it can be harder for buyers to get a mortgage.

"We've seen nine straight months of housing price increases," Authier said. "A lot depends on whether an appraisal is keeping pace with rising home prices. If the appraisal comes in lower than the value ratio of the house, the buyer won't qualify."

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MIT, Ford: Road worries

Ford Motor Co. is collaborating with the high-powered brains at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help tackle some of the biggest future transportation problems they foresee, such as global gridlock.

"We want to try to solve the problems that matter," said MIT professor John Leonard. "We want the world to bring the problems to our doorstep so we can try to solve them."

Leornard is principal investigator for the Ford/MIT Alliance, which is now in its 15th year.

"MIT is clearly at the very top level," said Ed Krause, Ford's global manager for external alliances. "MIT does a great job blending theoretical research and practical research."

The transition to electric and hybrid vehicles isn't an issue, as far as the alliance is concerned. "We can sort of see our way to that solution," Krause said.

Instead, the alliance is primarily focusing on problems that have barely presented themselves, such as global gridlock.

Rooted in the idea that developing countries such as China and India will eventually be overrun with cars, Ford — surprisingly — is trying to find a solution.

"Increasing amounts of people and wealth are going to end up in these cities. How is that going to change how people move and how goods move?" Krause said. "If there's a huge traffic jam, how are you going to get ambulances somewhere?"

One way to help address the issue is by designing a new transportation system. MIT professor Cynthia Barnhart is working on a solution that "integrates vehicle-sharing and public transportation systems. The goal is to provide users with end-to-end transportation while helping to alleviate gridlock," Leonard said.

Global gridlock is an issue that Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford, is especially passionate about. He has given a number of talks on global gridlock, including one at the high-profile TED Talks series, Krause and Leonard said.

Researchers from MIT have also worked on other projects, including making batteries more efficient and analyzing the business of selling cars to make it more efficient.

"They really run the gamut of all sorts of different things," Leonard said.

One added benefit is the research that comes from MIT has real-world use.

"Our alliance with Ford and other major companies give us this grounding in real-world and practical problems," Leonard said. "It's a way for our work to have impact."

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Many left waiting for bombing insurance $$

Scores of insurance claims either have been closed without payment or remain open four months after the Boston Marathon bombings, leaving business owners and residents in limbo, according to the state Division of Insurance.

Of the 207 claims reported as of July 26, 84 claims were closed with a total of 
$1.17 million in payments, and 76 were closed without payment. The remaining 47 claims were still pending.

"We're still fighting for money," said Brett Fodiman, one of the owners of the Forum Bar and Restaurant. "No one's helped us out. We hired an adjuster to help us manage all our losses. If the city and state were involved, it might speed things up. But for now, this battle is still going on."

Sheila Dillon, director of the city's Department of Neighborhood Development, said the department registered more than 500 businesses in the affected area and asked them to name their insurance carriers. The department helped about 80 of those businesses with insurance issues, often using local attorneys donating their time.

"We asked (insurers) for a very high-level point person, flexibility and speed," Dillon said.

But for some businesses, payment has been elusive.

"We're still in talks; it's an ongoing thing," despite help from a lawyer the city provided, said Anthony Liquori, owner of Escape Salon, which was closed for nearly a week.

To date, the Division of Insurance has received four complaints — three from businesses and one from a Watertown resident, said Amie O'Hearn Breton, a division spokeswoman.

"All of them have been resolved favorably through the division's assistance," she said. "The division was able to recover additional monies for the affected consumers."

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The Ticker

Judge stalls ruling on airline bankruptcy

Lawyers for American Airlines pressed a judge yesterday to approve the company's plan to merge with US Airways and exit bankruptcy protection, but the judge delayed a ruling because of the federal government's lawsuit against the merger.

The U.S. Justice Department Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the merger, which it said would hurt competition and increase prices for consumers by leaving four airlines controlling more than 80 percent of the U.S. air-travel market.

Judge Sean Lane delayed a decision on the plan until at least Aug. 29.

Facebook tests mobile payment app

Facebook plans to test a mobile payment service that lets users make purchases inside mobile applications using payment information they have added to their account on the social network.

Facebook Inc. said yesterday that it is working on a "very small test" and the company said there is no set schedule for making the service available to users. The service would use payment information that shoppers store on Facebook to automatically complete checkout forms of certain mobile apps. Then the app would process the purchase.

Ford to cut hybrid mileage estimates

The U.S. government may change the rules for the gas mileage estimates that car buyers see on window stickers after finding that fuel economy figures for Ford's C-Max gas-electric hybrid were inflated.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which monitors mileage testing, said yesterday that it will cut the C-Max's combined city-highway mileage estimate by nearly 9 percent to 43 mpg, from 47. Ford Motor Co. will change its window stickers to reflect the correct estimate and said that it will compensate drivers for the difference.

C-Max buyers will get a $550 check, while those who leased will receive $325.

THE OUTLOOK

• Commerce Department releases housing starts for July.
• Labor Department releases second-quarter productivity data.

THE SHUFFLE

• J Barrett & Co. is announcing that Kate Chapman has joined the agency in its Beverly Cummings Center office. Chapman, who served in the military as a medic in Iraq and in personal security with a private firm, also has a strong background in finance and sales.
• Nixon Peabody LLP has hired Richard J. McCarthy as its new chief financial officer. McCarthy oversees the global firm's financial operations including legal project management, accounting, tax, financial planning, compliance and risk management.

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Heat’s a bit off on high apartment prices in Boston

It is no secret that rents for apartments in Boston are expensive, making it difficult for tenants to find affordable places to live.

According to Trulia's latest report released in July, rents in Boston rose 4.1 percent compared to the same time last year. The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Boston area is $2,275 and vacancies still are in the 3 percent range.

But there may be some relief for people looking for a place to live.

"This September rental market has loosened up a bit," said broker Joseph Baglio of Back Bay Residential. "There is more availability and less 'panic' to find a place than there was last year."

According to Multiple Listing Service, last year there were 705 apartments for rent in Boston in August (for a September move-in) compared to 978 on the market this year, a 28 percent increase.

"There has been some softening with a few of the larger buildings paying some of the broker fees to bring in clients such as Garrison Square and Landmark Square," Baglio said. And some of the private landlords, who thought they would be able to push rents again this year, have to roll back prices a little to get the apartments filled."

Frank Carroll, principal of Boston Realty Net said, "This spring was very busy with people securing apartments for September in April, May, June. Many renters, especially in the more affordable studio and one-bedroom apartments, were staying put, trying to avoid moving costs."

Construction of new rental properties in Boston, such as Factory 63, the Kensington and Gatehouse 75, have finally come to fruition this year to create supply and ease potential renters' frustrations. Also contributing to Boston's rental inventory were many individual investors, buying single properties for cash and renting them out, Carroll said.

"We saw a number of cash buyers this spring, looking to purchase property, such as a condo in Boston, either as an investment or for a family member to live in at a later date."

Boston is still seeing some softness in the high-end market.

"A stunning two-bedroom home in Battery Wharf on the Waterfront has stayed on the market since early May with a $9,100 per month price tag," Baglio said.

Carroll said, "More affordable neighborhoods, such as South Boston, where you can get a two-bedroom in the $2,000s, turn much faster; where in the Back Bay, a two-bedroom would be about $4,500 and those higher price rentals move slower."

Some good news to ease the Sept. 1 crunch, Carroll said, is "that both apartment owners and renters want to avoid the September 1st rush and are staggering the leases to an August date, middle of September or even October date."

Even better news is that next year more newly constructed apartments will be complete, helping to ease the tight supply of apartments in Boston.

Jennifer Athas is a licensed real estate broker. Follow her on Twitter @Jenathas.

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L'Oreal makes $843M bid for Chinese skincare brand

HONG KONG — French cosmetics giant L'Oreal is making an $843 million takeover offer for skincare company Magic Holdings to help it expand in China's fast-growing beauty market.

Magic Holdings International Ltd. is the "ideal fit" for L'Oreal SA's existing China business and the deal also gives Magic an "ideal partner" to expand into new markets, the companies said in a joint filing Thursday.

Magic is the market leader in the rapidly expanding product category of facial masks, with 26 percent market share last year, according to AC Nielsen data.

"Facial masks are one of China's beauty market's fastest growing areas with very promising development prospects," L'Oreal said in a statement. "L'Oreal intends to develop this Chinese brand by contributing its science based expertise."

Emerging markets such as China have become increasingly important for the French cosmetics maker, which is trying to counter stagnant growth in its traditional markets. Last year the Paris-based company made more money from "new markets," which include Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, than from North America or Western Europe.

China's economic growth has slowed from double-digit rates but remains much higher than developed economies.

Magic's sales rose 29 percent last year to $200 million.

The French company is offering 6.30 Hong Kong dollars (81 cents) for each Magic share. Magic's stock price soared 18 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange to HK$5.98 on Friday.

Six key shareholders holding 62.3 percent of Magic are already supporting the deal, which needs approval from China's Ministry of Commerce.

L'Oreal has 3,500 staff, a research center and two factories in China.

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Microsoft restores Outlook.com service on the Web

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft said it has fixed a problem that prevented some people from getting their email on Outlook.com, but mobile users might still be having problems.

Service had been restored on the Web shortly after 2 p.m. PDT Wednesday, according to an update on Microsoft's website. That's more than seven hours after Microsoft first acknowledged that some people had been locked out of their Outlook.com accounts.

Some Outlook.com users trying to check email on mobile devices might still be encountering trouble that engineers were trying to clear up, according to a Microsoft statement.

Earlier in the day, some people also could not retrieve their files stored on Microsoft's SkyDrive service. But that problem had been resolved by late morning PDT.

Microsoft blamed the breakdown on an unexplained "incident." The Redmond, Wash., company said only a small number of users were affected, but didn't provide further specifics.

Even if only a small percentage of Outlook.com users were cut off, millions of people could have been inconvenienced. Microsoft boasts it has more than 400 million accounts on Outlook.com.

Microsoft Corp. transferred all the users of its other Web email, including those with the hotmail.com and msn.com domains, to Outlook earlier this year as part of its attempt to outshine Google Inc.'s Gmail and Yahoo Inc.'s email.

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Karen Spilka flips tech tax vote

An Ashland state senator running for Congress is trying to lead the charge to repeal the so-called "tech tax" just weeks after she voted at least three times to support the measure — a flip-flop her rivals say is a conveniently timed attempt to score "political points."

State Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) joined fellow Democrats to slap a 6.25 percent tax on software sales and services last month as part of the Legislature's transportation bill. Spilka voted to enact the bill and at least twice voted against Republican-sponsored amendments to strip the tax from the bill.

But after weeks of pushback from the tech industry, Spilka yesterday filed a bill to repeal the tax, saying new information has surfaced since the vote.

"I've heard from a lot of tech businesses and a lot of people — more than I think we normally hear from," said Spilka. "There's a lot of information that has come to light about the tech tax and the potential impact. ... It's the opposite message we want to send the tech industry."

Asked if she still would have introduced the bill even if she weren't running for Congress, Spilka replied, "Absolutely," but also denied having any regrets for voting for the tax.

"No, I voted on the best information I had at the time," said Spilka. "There wasn't the human outcry that there is now."

Spilka, former chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, is squaring off against Democrats Peter Koutoujian, Carl M. Sciortino, William N. Brownsberger and Katherine M. Clark for the congressional seat vacated by U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey.

"While others try to score political points off of this issue, I have said from day one that I preferred a reform of our tax code to make it more progressive for families and small businesses," said Sciortino in a statement.

But a spokesman for Brownsberger said, he, too, now supports a tech tax repeal and believes Spilka is right.

"It's not lost on me that she's a candidate for Congress and that we found out about her filing this bill in the media as opposed to an email to her colleagues," said House Minority Leader Brad Jones.

Critics of the tax accused lawmakers of not doing their homework.

"We were on a very dangerous path of tax-first, ask questions later," said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, whose two amendments Spilka voted against. "There was such a rush to increase taxes that a lot of time was not taken to fully consider this."

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said Spilka's position change reflects the epiphany other lawmakers are having on the tech tax.

"It's certainly striking that a tax of this enormity could be passed without having a greater scrutiny and understanding in advance," he said.

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Finish line cos. struggling

Four months after the Boston Marathon bombings, some Boylston Street businesses are still struggling to return to a sense of normalcy, even as the one that was closed the longest marks a welcome milestone with its relaunch today.

Forum General Manager Christopher Loper called the brass band processional that will make its way from the site of the marathon finish line to the renovated bar and restaurant at 5:15 p.m. "a relief and a show of strength."

"It's the light at the end of the tunnel for a lot of us who work here and for the city of Boston," Loper said.

But while the Forum officially will reopen to the public tomorrow, other businesses that reopened within days of the bombings have met with varying degrees of success.

Joy Lee, manager of Samurai Boston, said the eatery lost about $45,000 in the 10 days it was closed, but insurance covered only $20,000 of that. Lee had to replace one dishwasher who left because he couldn't afford to go that long without pay. And business is down, she said, by about 25 percent.

"Hopefully next month, when students come back, business will be better," Lee said.

Farther down Boylston Street, Bangkok Blue lost about $18,000 in sales in the 10 days it was closed, but insurance covered only $5,000, said Pornsri Lawton, the restaurant's owner.

Business generally has been flat.

"I'm doing my part, trying to make quality food," Lawton said. "We just need more business."

The Back Bay Association is joining with other groups and businesses to encourage more diners and shoppers to visit the area with "Back Bay on Display," which will include two neighborhood-wide events.

"Back Bay Night Out" will be held Sept. 12, when stores and restaurants will offer special discounts. "Back Bay Holly-Days," a holiday decorating competition, will be held in November and December.

"The bottom line is, neighborhood-wide, we are still struggling," said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the association. "It's not over. It's ongoing."

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Board chief: City can take care of its liquor licenses

The city can effectively regulate its entire liquor license process, the chairwoman of the state-appointed Boston Licensing Board said at a hearing yesterday to reclaim that local control from the Legislature.

The number of licenses — capped by the Legislature — is the only part of the process over which the city doesn't have authority, Nicole Murati Ferrer said.

And of the 675 licenses for restaurants, none is currently available for city issue, while 354 of 570 retail liquor licenses remain unused for stores. "There's definitely a public need for more opportunity out there," Murati Ferrer said.

City Councilor Ayanna Pressley believes the city could help revitalize neighborhoods by controlling the number of licenses and the areas in which they're issued. More licenses would make it cheaper for those who can't pay up to $350,000 for those traded on the open market by current holders, she said.

Tran Le of Dorchester's Pho Le restaurant said current costs are a barrier for a small business. Beer and wine would help her profit margin and allow reinvestment in her eatery, she said.

"It's hard to make money on food," agreed Darryl Settles, owner of Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen. "Liquor is really going to bring it to the bottom line."

But while restaurants help economic development, the majority fail, noted restaurant and license broker Daniel Newcomb. "I don't think that it's the silver bullet that everyone says it is," he said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, in a letter supporting the push to lift the license cap, said restaurants are essential to diverse neighborhoods. He's backing legislation to hike the number of licenses and allow the city to appoint Licensing Board members.

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Backers of Demoulas CEO take to Web

A new online petition supporting Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas calls on his rival cousin, backing a move to unseat him, not to "underestimate the damage you will do to thousands of families if your corporate raid is successful."

The petition addressed to shareholder Arthur S. Demoulas, which has garnered 1,728 signatures since its July 31 posting, credits the CEO as a leader who "works tirelessly for our growth as if we were family."

"We fought for him and helped to save Market Basket, but that was just round one," it states. "We understand that Arthur S. Demoulas will continue to look for ways to oust our CEO based on an agenda that is driven by spite and greed rather than job performance."

Company shareholders led by cousin Arthur S. Demoulas won a court order forcing directors backing the CEO to attend a July board meeting at which his removal was set for a vote. Court documents allege fiscal recklessness and a lack of accountability by the CEO. But his supporters claim those shareholders favored borrowing $1.5 billion for a payout to their benefit, at the expense of the Tewksbury chain's employee profit-sharing plan and low prices.

While the July meeting ended without a move to oust the CEO, those aligned with him expect the long-time family feud to continue and the board to take up the issue again. Neither of the cousins could be reached for comment, and board members and other shareholders have remained mum.

Meanwhile the City Council in Lowell, where the 72-store chain got its start, is set to vote tonight on a resolution backing Arthur T. Demoulas as CEO.

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Comcast expands low-cost Internet plan, ups speed

LOS ANGELES — Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, is expanding the number of low-income families that can automatically qualify for its $9.95-per-month Internet access. It's also boosting download speeds on the service to 5 megabytes per second from 3 Mbps to attract more subscribers.

The price is a big discount from a typical plan, which costs around $50 a month. The speed is good enough to watch online video.

"We don't want this product to be perceived as a second-class product," says Comcast executive vice president David Cohen. "Our goal is to make this product more attractive. We really want to keep moving the needle."

Comcast first began its Internet Essentials program in 2011 as a voluntary condition of its $13.5 billion takeover of NBCUniversal.

The Federal Communications Commission, which ultimately approved the deal, has been pushing for affordable high-speed Internet access across the country.

Cohen says Internet access is essential to educate children, to look for a job and to stay informed and entertained.

So far, 220,000 households with an estimated 900,000 people have been connected by Comcast under the program.

While it's doing a public service, Comcast benefits in the long run if families that never had access come to see the value of an Internet connection at home.

About 2.6 million families in Comcast's coverage area are eligible. Families qualify if they have children in school who get subsidized or free lunches. Starting immediately, students at about 25,000 schools with large low-income populations are automatically qualified, up from 20,000 previously.

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Oil rises above $107 per barrel

BANGKOK — The price of oil rose Tuesday as traders waited for more economic news from the U.S.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was up $1 to $107.11 a barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 14 cents to close at $106.11 on Monday.

"Everything is in a bit of a wait-and-see approach," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia, as traders waited to see whether the U.S. Federal Reserve would begin winding down its massive stimulus program.

The Fed launched a major bond-buying program more than four years ago to help the U.S. economy weather the fallout from the global financial crisis. Recent data have shown that the economy is strengthening, raising expectations that the Fed could start tapering off its purchases as early as September. The central bank's next policy meeting is set for Sept. 17-18.

The Fed's strategy, which has depressed returns on bonds, has made stocks and commodities more attractive to investors. If the program is drawn down, that could cause a bit of weakness in energy commodities, Shamu said.

"But it's always positive to see the U.S. economy is ticking along," he said. Traders were also waiting for the release of U.S. retail sales data later in the day to gauge consumer demand, a key driver of growth.

Brent crude, traded on the ICE Futures exchange in London, rose 90 cents to $109.87 a barrel.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Heating oil rose 2.9 cent to $3.049 a gallon.

— Wholesale gasoline rose 2.4 cent to $2.928 a gallon.

— Natural gas rose 2.2 cents to $3.332 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Markets solid ahead of US retail sales data

LONDON — Hopes over the European economy coupled with a strong bounce-back in Japan's Nikkei stock index to shore up markets Tuesday, ahead of key U.S. retail sales data that could have a bearing on when the Federal Reserve starts to rein in its monetary stimulus.

The Nikkei's 2.6 percent advance buoyed stock markets across Asia and into the European session. European stocks and the euro received a further boost after figures showed industrial production in the eurozone rose by 0.7 percent in June from the month before, meaning output rose by 1.2 percent in the second quarter.

Coupled with a better-than-expected ZEW survey into German investor confidence in August, hopes are high that the eurozone will be confirmed to have emerged from recession when second-quarter figures are published on Wednesday. The eurozone has been in recession since the latter part of 2011 and the consensus in the markets is that the bloc's economy grew by a quarterly rate of 0.2 percent in the April-June period.

Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics, said the figures "provide further signs that the eurozone has emerged from recession."

That's a relief for investors as it provides an indication that the worst of Europe's debt crisis has passed. The euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.3310, having traded around the $1.3290 mark before the figures were released.

Germany's DAX was up 0.8 percent at 8,426 while the CAC-40 in France rose 0.3 percent to 4,084. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.5 percent higher at 6,605.

Wall Street was poised for a solid opening, with Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.4 percent.

The main focus later will be July retail sales figures. Retail sales are particularly important as they account for around 70 percent of the U.S. economy. As such, the figures could have an impact on expectations of when the Fed will start to reduce its monetary stimulus. Most economists think that so-called tapering will start as soon as next month.

"If we see a poor figure today, it will only make it more difficult for the Fed to justify tapering in September as it would suggest the health of the consumer is not enough to support a sustainable recovery on its own," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari.

Earlier, Japan's Nikkei though was the standout performer, a day after disappointing second-quarter Japanese economic growth figures weighed on sentiment. The Tokyo benchmark closed 2.6 percent higher at 13,867 amid hopes that slower growth may prompt the country's policymakers to take further action to shore up the economy. The Bank of Japan has already embarked on a big monetary stimulus program to get inflation up and get Japan out of its two-decade stagnation.

On Tuesday, there was also speculation that the government may cut corporation tax alongside a planned increase in consumption tax.

Erlam said the increase in consumption tax "doesn't appear to be too major a concern to investors as long as it's accompanied by a cut in corporation tax, which could in theory encourage hiring, wage increases and investment."

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.2 percent to close at 22,541.43 while South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.5 percent to 1,913.03. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Indonesia and the Philippines also rose.

Oil prices tracked equities higher, with the benchmark New York rate 71 cents at $106.86 a barrel.

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Handy pebble rocks a little

With the flood of Apple iWatch and Samsung Galaxy Gear rumors, it would be easy to see a future where everything we need is in a mobile device on our wrist, or in frames around our eyes. Still, that literal version of a constantly connected society isn't here yet — Google Glass notwithstanding. Until then, there's Pebble smartwatch.

The waterproof watch is not the most fashionable thing that can go on a wrist, but does look much better than other smartwatches, which tend to have massive faces to accommodate touchscreens, something Pebble does not have.

Instead, three physical buttons on the right and one of the left are used to navigate through Pebble's simple menu interface.

It is a simple approach, and it's one that I didn't fully appreciate until I had worn it for a couple weeks. We're all flooded with unwanted emails, but you still have to take your phone out and have a look.

Pebble receives emails and texts, showing the sender, subject and the first few lines. It also can show who is calling your phone and control your phone's music, through a phone app.

One of Pebble's most promising features is app integration. The watch automatically pairs with the popular fitness app Runkeeper, for example, and support for a golf range-finding app has been promised. For Android phones, apps now send breaking news alerts and Twitter notifications to the Pebble.

You can get custom watch faces — Star Trek-inspired, "Beer O'Clock" (hint: it's always beer o'clock) and Etch A Sketch among them.

Pebble has released software updates every couple weeks to improve performance and make improvements, so many of early gripes have been addressed.

Pebble, the California-based company that sells the watch — it's their only product — made news last year when their Kickstarter campaign shattered the record for a crowd-funding effort, topping $10 million in contributions and selling more than 85,000 watches. This happened before any watches had been produced, based entirely on the concept.

The fact that an essentially unknown company pulled that off speaks to the desire for wearable devices, but the backlash against Google Glass also speaks to the lack of acceptance for an always-on, always-connected, piece of hardware that is an intrinsic part of our lives. Pebble is not a five-to-10-year jump ahead like Glass, but it is a step toward what seems to be the next generation of devices.

Available for pre-orders in red, white, orange, gray and black from getpebble.com and in stores now in red and black at Best Buy, Pebble will set you back $150.

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White House calls for increased grid spending

NEW YORK — The cost of weather-related power outages is rising as storms grow more severe and the U.S. electric grid gets older, an Obama Administration report says. It calls for increased spending on the nation's electric power system.

Power outages cost $18 billion to $33 billion per year, according to the report, a figure that has been rising steadily over the past 20 years. That can rise to $40 billion to $75 billion in years with severe storms such as 2008's Hurricane Ike and last year's Superstorm Sandy.

The White House report says spending to make the grid stronger and more flexible will save the economy billions.

Thunderstorms, hurricanes, blizzards and other extreme weather caused 58 percent of all outages since 2002 and 87 percent of outages affecting 50,000 or more customers.

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Japan economy up sluggish 2.6 percent for quarter

TOKYO — Japan's economy grew a slower-than-expected 2.6 percent last quarter as companies wary over the prospects for a sustained recovery kept a tight rein on investment.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the world's third-largest economy grew 0.6 percent in April-June from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said Monday in its preliminary estimate.

Japan's public debt surpassed the 1 quadrillion yen ($10.4 trillion) mark last week and the country needs a strong recovery to boost tax revenues enough to begin reducing its debt burden.

Analysts had forecast annualized growth of 3 percent or higher for the quarter. The economy expanded at a revised 3.8 percent pace in January-March.

The weaker data will likely raise pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to push ahead with reforms he has promised to help improve Japan's competitiveness and sustain growth in the long run. It might also encourage the government to postpone a planned increase in sales tax.

Masamichi Adachi, an economist at JPMorgan in Tokyo, said public spending did not rise as quickly as planned in the April-June quarter so extra money for projects in the pipeline will likely boost growth in the coming months.

"We can expect accelerated spending in the latter half of the year," he said. "This is decent enough to say the Japanese economy is maintaining solid momentum."

If forecasts for a continued fall-off in growth in the current quarter are accurate, however, the calls for more radical reforms are bound to build, as investors watch for signs that Abe's "Abenomics strategy" can really fuel a lasting recovery from years of stagnation.

The data show the strongest contribution to growth last quarter came from public spending and exports, while private investment weakened.

Many of Japan's corporations have enjoyed higher profits due to the yen's fall against other currencies, boosting the value of their overseas earnings when they are counted in yen terms. The recovery in exports has been a boon for big global corporations such as Toyota Motor Corp.

But corporate investment has remained flat, falling 0.1 percent in April to June. Residential investment also weakened, despite signs of a recovery in housing construction.

Meanwhile, wages have risen only for some workers, accentuating concerns over whether household income will keep pace as prices rise under the government's campaign to end deflation through extreme monetary easing.

Abe and some of his advisers have expressed uncertainty over a government commitment to raise the sales tax by 3 percentage points in April. A decision on that is due within months, and it appears increasingly likely Abe might opt for a more gradual approach to raising the tax, which now stands at 5 percent, to help improve public finances.

"The GDP data is a good figure," said Economics Minister Akira Amari, who has been quoted as saying that raising the sales tax is "not optional."

The government has said it is considering increasing tax incentives for corporate investment, among other options, to spur private spending.

"Personal consumption is expected to continue to rise gradually, but given that investment is weaker than consumption, we need to support a recovery in capital investment," he said.

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Follow Elaine Kurtenbach on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ekurtenbach

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Car company's big plans haven't come to fruition

TUNICA, Miss. — It seemed like a win for everyone involved when a startup car company, backed by political heavyweights, wooed investors with plans to build a massive auto plant in the Mississippi Delta, hire thousands of people and pump out a brand new line of fuel-efficient vehicles.

GreenTech Automotive Inc. announced in 2009 production would start in three years and foreign investors who plunked down at least $500,000 for the venture would get the opportunity to live in the United States while an impoverished area of Mississippi would get desperately needed jobs and tax revenues.

But today, the company is under a federal investigation and about the only thing on its land in Tunica County is a temporary construction office. The company says it will be producing cars by April, but its plans have changed drastically, from a goal of 250,000 a year to 30,000.

And the federal investigation is reverberating far beyond Mississippi, bringing scrutiny to a Virginia gubernatorial candidate and the company run by the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Back in 2009, it was a big deal," said 21-year-old casino employee Perry Turner, who lives across the highway from GreenTech's mostly empty site in rural Tunica County. "I haven't heard much else about it."

Some analysts say it was a risky business plan and foreign investors may have been more interested in an easy way to get a visa and a chance at citizenship than trying to support a venture that had a good chance to turn a profit or create jobs.

In October 2009, GreenTech's owner, Chinese businessman Xiaolin "Charles" Wang, unveiled four prototype cars during a flashy ceremony and promised to build a $2 billon plant in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.

Besides backing from foreign investors, some 100 acres were donated by Tunica County's economic development foundation, at a cost of $1.8 million, and in 2011 the state gave a $3 million loan toward site preparation. For a time, the company's chairman was politically connected heavyweight Terry McAuliffe, a close adviser to both former President Bill Clinton and his wife, a former Democratic national chairman. McAuliffe is now a contender for Virginia governor.

The cars were supposed to start rolling off the assembly line in 2012. The company now hopes to start producing cars next year. And while they say they still plan to build a plant in Tunica County, all that was on the land on a recent afternoon was a construction trailer, a few pieces of equipment and a few workers strolling around.

The company instead now uses a former elevator factory 30 miles away in Horn Lake. A McAuliffe spokesman said about 100 small electric vehicles were built by the time McAuliffe resigned from the company in December. The thousands of promised jobs have yet to materialize.

"It takes time to build a brand new company in a capital-intensive industry like electric vehicles, and we will not cut corners on quality or safety as we progress. We have a plan. The plan is working. We're sticking to it," GreenTech said in a statement.

The company said it has more than 100 workers and "once production is ramped up" should employ at least 350 — the same number of jobs required under the state loan agreement.

Jeff Rent, a spokesman for the Mississippi Development Authority, said the company has assured the agency they're on track to meet hiring goals.

Industry analysts say the company faces hurdles to succeed.

"A brand-new electric car company without an established U.S. partner, or global partner, is a lofty goal," said Joe McCabe, president of AutomotiveCompass, which forecasts global vehicle and power train production. "They're one of several other electric manufacturing startups entering a tough market. They have to come with something better to the game, not just an also-ran."

Other analysts say GreenTech exposes problems with a program used to attract foreign investors — known as the EB-5 visa program.

David North, a fellow with the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that examines immigration policies, said the foreign investors in the EB-5 program are primarily motivated by a desire to get green cards for them and their families, not to find lucrative propositions.

"So this EB-5 program by its very nature is often linked to second- and third-class investments," he said.

Under the EB-5 visa program, foreigners can invest $500,000 or $1 million in American business ventures depending on the location of the project. In GreenTech's case, the program called for $500,000 investments.

The EB-5 program is capped at 10,000 investors a year, and had 6,106 applicants in 2012.

Under the rules of the program, each EB-5 investment must create at least 10 jobs. In exchange, the foreign investors get to stay in the United States for up to two years and can then apply for full citizenship, a speedier process than afforded to most other immigrants who must wait five years after establishing residency before being eligible for citizenship.

The federal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Immigrant Investor Program also designates so-called "regional centers," companies that have authorization to handle the company's EB-5 investments — and can collect thousands of dollars in fees from foreign investors to process their visa applications.

In this case, Gulf Coast Funds Management — a company headed by Tony Rodham, Hillary Clinton's brother — is the designated "regional center" and has raised 45.5 million from foreign investors for GreenTech, according to an internal immigration services document obtained by The Associated Press that outlines background information about the firm. Rodham has not responded to phone messages at Gulf Coast Funds or a message sent to an email address listed in government reports submitted to the government.

Hybrid Kinetic Motors, a predecessor to GreenTech, paid Gulf Coast $250,000 for assistance in setting up the EB-5 program, according to a lawsuit between Wang and his former partner. Regional centers collect additional fees for processing the investments.

Of GreenTech's 91 foreign investors, only one has received permanent residency status, according to an internal immigration services document obtained by the AP that outlines background information about the firm; the name of the investor was not disclosed.

Simone Williams of GreenTech said "every one of our first two rounds of EB-5 investors was approved and their investment was released to GreenTech Automotive." But she did not provide the number of investors.

She said the government's pace in approving foreign investors has slowed down plans to start construction at its Tunica County facility.

Christopher Bentley, spokesman for immigration services, said in an email he couldn't comment on details on the plans by GreenTech and Gulf Coast Funds.

In May, the SEC subpoenaed unspecified documents from GreenTech and banking records from Gulf Coast, according to nearly 100 pages of documents recently released by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

The documents indicate GreenTech allegedly improperly guaranteed investors returns on their money. GreenTech has acknowledged receiving the subpoenas and said the company is cooperating with investigators.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general also is investigating allegations that USCIS director Alejandro Mayorkas— President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 slot at DHS — used his influence to help Gulf Coast obtain a foreign investor visa for a Chinese executive.

Since the 2009 groundbreaking, GreenTech has changed its business plan. Instead of producing versions of the four prototypes it showcased then, including hybrid cars, it now says its plant, when built, will have the capacity to make 30,000 electric vehicles each year, including a sedan and small electric vehicles known as MyCars. It now aims to have the first ones rolling off the line in Tunica by April.

In the meantime, GreenTech has been using space at an old elevator factory in Horn Lake, Miss., where the company says it's building MyCars, neighborhood electric cars that are a cross between a golf cart and a full-sized vehicle. It's not clear how many of the MyCars — which are not legal to drive on U.S. highways — have been sold.

GreenTech recently declined an AP request to tour the Horn Lake facility. The company won't say how many MyCars it has produced or sold, but says it has "international distribution agreements for 30,000 vehicles over the next three years."

Local officials haven't lost hope it will all still happen as advertised.

"I still look at this as an ongoing economic development project," said Lyn Arnold, president and CEO of the Tunica County Chamber of Commerce.

Some residents are ready to see results, like 33-year-old waitress Shaquita Pickett, who said a car plant would be a big boost for the county.

"We really do need one here because we need better jobs," she said.

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Weiss reported from Charlotte, N.C. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Jackson, Miss.; Bob Lewis in Richmond, Va.; Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington D.C.; Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans; and AP researchers Judy Ausuebel and Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

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Follow Holbrook Mohr on Twitter at http://twitter.com/holbrookmohr

Follow Mitch Weiss on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mitchsweiss

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Blue Cross reaches out over insurance law changes

MORRISVILLE, N.C. — Just down from the Target and Gander Mountain big-box stores and between a nail salon and dental office, North Carolina's largest health insurer opened its first retail store.

It has some exercise offerings — step aerobics classes and stationary bike workouts — but for now, its main product is providing in-person information about changes coming in October with the health insurance overhaul law.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is opening half a dozen of these offices in strip malls statewide to first educate and then, starting in October, enroll consumers shopping for coverage because of the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." Blue Cross affiliates in Florida and Pennsylvania have had similar stores open for years.

The North Carolina company also hauls an air-conditioned showroom trailer to fairs and farmers markets to reach out to the estimated 600,000 people who will be newly shopping for individual policies — some of them subsidized by the government for consumers who might have trouble affording a policy. Many of the individual policies will be sold on a statewide Internet marketplace designed to make buying coverage comparable to finding a hotel room or rental car.

North Carolina's Republican General Assembly and governor oppose the law and so the federal government is running the state marketplace where insurers will sell policies.

As people who have been uninsured or had their coverage provided by employers start shopping around, BCBSNC is reaching out like never before to expand on its 375,000 insurance policies for individuals, marketing director Bruce Allen said. The goal is explaining the federal law, which requires everyone to have coverage or pay a fine and subsidizes many middle-class consumers who might otherwise not be able to afford policies on their own. The law also prohibits insurers from rejecting customers who have pre-existing health conditions.

"There's a big segment of the population that really wants to talk to someone face to face about it," Allen said. "It's a new market that's entering that doesn't have health insurance, never had it, and really needs kind of that step-by-step walk-through to understand a really critical decision for them to make."

Across the country, Blue Cross companies are among the health insurers most aggressive in reaching out to build consumer trust and capture their spending on policies. Spots for a broad new print, television and online advertising campaign are multiplying. Meetings with civic organizations community groups, and religious institutions are taking place from Vermont to Texas. The North Carolina company has rented movie theaters and invited guests to watch first-run films, with the addition of a 15-minute ad explaining the Affordable Care Act and laptop-ready staffers in the lobby offering individual guidance on the law.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, the umbrella organization for the country's 38 Blue Cross companies, launched a campaign last month with the Walgreen Co. drugstore chain, with signs and brochures in about 8,000 stores.

WellPoint, the largest operator of Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans, is teaming up with Spanish-language TV and radio network Univision in California, New York, Colorado and Georgia for meetings, broadcast advertisements, and newscast segments describing what coverage means and how to buy insurance on an online exchange.

Blue Cross Blue Shield companies already are some of the country's biggest sellers of health insurance policies for individuals. Seven Blue Cross companies, including North Carolina's, were among the top 10 at the end of 2011, according to Atlantic Information Services Inc., which specializes in health industry data and news.

"For other insurers, the majority of their experience is in the employer-provided market, so they don't know the individual market as well and are unsure whether this will be profitable, so they're moving very carefully," said David Ridley, director of the health sector management program at Duke University's Fuqua business school. "In contrast, Blue Cross Blue Shield — with their experience in the individual market, its experience interacting with government as the insurer of last resort — is moving much more aggressively and creatively."

Outside the Blue Cross Blue Shield world, Humana Inc. has signaled plans to station representatives in grocery stores and pharmacies in the 14 states where its policies will be sold on online insurance marketplaces. Pittsburgh-based UPMC Health Plan has set up kiosks in six western Pennsylvania malls to reach insurance consumers with questions, and it launched a computer application in an effort to offer a fun way to understand the details of the law and its polices.

Spokesmen for Assurant Health and Aetna described no novel marketing twists tied to the upcoming changes.

Government, too, is ramping up efforts to reach the working poor, young people and others with no health coverage. President Barack Obama's administration and many states are launching campaigns this summer to get the word out. Grassroots organizers are recruiting pastors, barbers and mothers to convey the message. In some neighborhoods, volunteers organized by a coalition of health companies and advocates hand out brochures.

But any company marketing efforts come as most Americans are confused or uninformed about what the new health insurance law means to them. Only about one in five had heard about the health insurance marketplaces as of June, according to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"There is a lot of misinformation out there. One of the things that we hear often is that I have to go buy a government plan on the marketplace," Allen said. "We spend a lot of time explaining to people, 'You're going to buy a private insurance plan. There is no government plan.' "

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Associated Press writer Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio.

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City eyes authority on liquor licenses

A Boston city councilor is making a fresh push to wrest control of Boston's liquor licensing process from the Legislature, arguing that giving the city the power to increase the number of licenses issued would help revitalize neighborhoods by reducing costs for prospective restaurateurs.

"This is not about changing Main Street into New Orleans' Bourbon Street," City Councilor Ayanna Pressley said. "One of the critical factors I see for thriving neighborhoods are successful restaurants."

State lawmakers have had control of the number of liquor licenses in the city since the 1930s. Pressley's home rule petition seeking the change is scheduled to be vetted at a public hearing Wednesday.

Pressley also wants to stop licenses being moved from empowerment zones, urban renewal districts and transit-oriented developments.

"The current law is hurting small business," Pressley said. "There's a limited number of licenses, so there's not enough to go around, and they just go to the highest bidders."

Restaurants can sell their licenses for as much as $350,000 for an all-alcohol version — and $500,000 in the Back Bay, where residents oppose adding new licenses.

Boston's 1,030 liquor licenses are given out with wide divergences in neighborhoods. Of 99 North End licenses, 91 are for restaurants and bars while 17 of Roxbury's 26 licenses are for liquor stores.

"There's a disparity issue," Pressley said. "The city should be able to work with neighborhoods and decide how best to allocate them. Clearly, a restaurant cannot be successful without a beer and wine or full alcohol license. Most of your profit margin is not going to come from your food, it's going to come from your bar."

She will face some pushback from the restaurant industry, which is concerned about disruption if more licenses are given out, with a resulting drop in the value of licenses.

"Existing restaurants have based their whole business model ... on an asset with a certain value," said Massachusetts Restaurant Association CEO Bob Luz. "To negate that value now would be unfair to existing businesses."

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Raynham joins group to organize casino worker training

The Massachusetts Casino Careers Training Institute has added Raynham Park to the list of prospective slots parlor and casino operators agreeing to collaborate on workforce development issues with the consortium of community colleges.

As the would-be operators complete license applications to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, they must identify workforce development resources they'll tap, according to Jeff Hayden, vice president for business and community service at Holyoke Community College, one of the state's 15 community colleges that formed the institute.

"They need to show when they have jobs, how they're going to fill them with local Massachusetts residents," Hayden said.

A slots facility and three casinos in Greater Boston, southeastern Massachusetts and western Massachusetts are expected to create 10,000 jobs.

The basic memorandums of understanding require the proposed operators to supply information about the types of those jobs and needed qualifications and training.

They're expected to be replaced with more detailed, formal agreements once the commission chooses operators.

The institute also has agreements with prospective casino operators MGM Resorts, Mohegan Sun and Hard Rock International, and proposed slots parlor operator Penn National.

The institute signed an agreement with the Gaming Commission in December to work together to create training, certification and licensing plans for workers.

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Biotechs push to save tax credit for rare-disease medicine makers

Some of the Bay State's biggest biotech companies are teaming up with drug makers and patient advocacy groups across the country to wage battle to protect the crucial federal tax credit that provides a key incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for "orphan diseases."

The measure, slated for debate as part of upcoming tax reform discussions in Congress, allows pharmaceutical companies to claim a tax credit of 50 percent of research and testing costs for drugs meant for diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. — such a small market that they would not otherwise be worthwhile for large pharmaceutical companies to target.

Development of the so-called orphan drugs has skyrocketed since the tax credit was approved in 1983, with some of Massachusetts' powerhouse biotechs specializing in the market.

"We believe it provides an important incentive for companies to pursue research into serious diseases that despite affecting a small number of people are often life-threatening and have few available treatments," said Nikki Levy, a spokeswoman for Cambridge-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals, maker of Kalydeco, a drug for people with cystic fibrosis who have a specific genetic mutation.

The cost and limited potential for profit would make such drugs difficult to develop without the tax credit, pharmaceutical companies say.

"The Orphan Drug Tax Credit has been a crucial incentive to those companies as they have made significant breakthroughs in areas such as cystic fibrosis, Parkinson's disease and sickle cell anemia," said Massachusetts Biotechnology Council President and CEO Robert K. Coughlin.

There are roughly 7,000 rare diseases, and around 50 percent of those affected are children.

"We strongly urge you to keep this critical tax credit in place," the National 
Organization for Rare Disorders, which represents a number of health organizations, said in a letter to congressmen who have questioned the credit.

"Repeal of the tax credit would cause irreparable harm to the goal of promoting development of therapies for patients with rare diseases," said Lori Gorski, a spokeswoman for Genzyme, a Cambridge-based company that spent 12 years developing 
Kynamro, which targets an inherited high-cholesterol condition that affects one in a million people.

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