Breakfast Briefing // Nation World

NYSE seat sells for $1.6 million NEW YORK - A seat on the New YorkStock Exchange sold last week for $1.6 million, down from a record $2million last month. The most an investor is willing to pay for aseat now is $1.4 million, and the lowest at which an owner is willingto sell a seat is $1.775 million, the exchange said. A seat givesthe holder the right to trade stocks and vote at exchange meetings.There are 1,366 seats on the exchange.U.S., France resume aviation talksPARIS - U.S. and French negotiators will resume talks Monday on anaccord to expand access to each other's aviation markets, a Frenchofficial said. An agreement could stir up trans-Atlantic competitionand push down fares. After six years of stalemate, France has agreedto allow more U.S. passenger flights over five years. In return itwill be allowed to to almost double its flights to the United States.The lack of a treaty has stunted air traffic between the twocountries and prevented both Air France and U.S. carriers fromexpanding services to meet with demand. An accord would let AirFrance forge closer links with partners Delta Air Lines andContinental Airlines and allow them to market each other's flights.Official: Japan's growth on track TOKYO - The director general ofthe Japanese Economic Planning Agency said the nation's economy wouldgrow 1.9 percent this year, in line with government projections.Japan's economy contracted 0.2 percent in the year ended Tuesday,according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. That would be thefirst contraction in 23 years, and economists foresee only 0.8percent growth this year. The government has spent $554 billionsince 1992 to boost the economy out of recession with little effect.Meanwhile it increased the national sales tax last year, snuffing outany chance of a consumer-led recovery.Report won't show inflation WASHINGTON - Falling energy prices andthe rising dollar have kept a lid on U.S. inflation in recent months,and reports for March due out this week are likely to carry the samemessage. Wednesday's report on prices paid at the wholesale level isexpected to show the producer price index fell for the fifth straightmonth, according to a Bloomberg News survey. The core index, whichstrips out volatile food and energy prices, is expected to beunchanged from February. Fed policymakers left U.S. borrowing costsunchanged at their meeting last week. U.S. central bankers, who willmeet May 19, have held the overnight bank lending rate steady at 5.50percent for more than a year as inflation has stayed close to itslowest level in over a decade.McCain backs local satellite TV LAS VEGAS - U.S. Senate CommerceCommittee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) will push legislation thatwould let satellite TV companies air some local TV signals as cabledoes. McCain said that direct broadcast satellite companies shouldnot be required to air every single station and program in a marketbecause it is not feasible. McCain wants to let direct broadcastsatellite companies air local TV signals and to reduce the fees theyare required to pay for the right to air broadcast programming.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) hasintroduced legislation that would let satellite broadcasters airlocal TV signals only if they carry every station in a market.Actors, producers sign pact LOS ANGELES - Film and TV producersreached a tentative contract agreement with actors, said the ScreenActors Guild, the American Federation of Television & Radio Artistsand the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers in a jointstatement. Contract details were not released. The agreement mustbe ratified by the union's rank-and-file, which has more than 130,000members.