Daily Briefing | Today's Financial News

Jun 01, 07:20 AM

Current Headlines: GDP growth slows Economic growth skidded to a near halt in the first quarter, with the worst showing in more than four years. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product increased by a 0.6 percent pace in the period, much weaker than estimated a month ago. Stocks finished largely flat Thursday after the weak reading. See Wall Street, Page D3. Junk e-mail continued to hit mailboxes around the world Thursday, despite the arrest in Seattle a day earlier of a man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers.

Even if Robert Soloway is convicted and his operations shuttered, spam experts say, dozens are in line to fill the void. "Soloway is a large spammer, but hardly the only large spammer," said John Levine, co-author of "Fighting Spam for Dummies."

Soloway, 27, was once on a top-10 list of spammers kept by The Spamhaus Project, an international anti-spam organization. Others have since topped him, mostly in Russia and other countries out of reach of U.S. or European law.

But Soloway remains on a Spamhaus list of about 135 spammers deemed responsible for as much as 80 percent of all junk e-mail. MORE CIRCUIT CITY CUTS

Richmond-based Circuit City Stores Inc. cut retail management positions and eliminated about 200 jobs at its corporate offices Thursday as it began another phase of its restructuring plan. Circuit City said it will eliminate an average of one manager for each of Circuit City's 654 U.S. stores. The changes come two months after the company laid off 3,400 store employees. DELL TO TRIM 8,000 JOBS Computer manufacturer Dell Inc. said Thursday that it will lay off about 8,000 employees over the next year. The layoffs, which represent 10 percent of Dell's global work force, come as Dell struggles to regain market share. Dell made the announcement alongside its quarterly earnings report. See Earnings, Page D3

- From wire reports

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