Business news in brief

In the Region

Jury scraps $32M Vioxx award

Merck & Co. doesn't have to pay a $32 million jury award to the family of a former user of the pharmaceutical company's Vioxx painkiller who died of a heart attack, a Texas court ruled Friday. Vioxx was pulled from the market in September 2004 amid claims that it caused heart attacks and strokes. Merck is based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., and has major operations in Montgomery County. - Bloomberg News

Urban Outfitters OKs buyback

Urban Outfitters Inc. said its board approved the repurchase of an additional 10 million shares of the Philadelphia company's common stock. The company has completed the buyback of a separate 10 million shares that was authorized last November. As of early June, the retailer had 160 million shares outstanding. The stock closed Friday at $24.77, down from a high this year of $38.50 in early March. Urban operates stores that sell apparel, accessories, and houseware. - Paul Schweizer

Elsewhere

GDP growth stalls to 1%

The U.S. economy grew at a meager 1 percent annual pace this spring, the Commerce Department reported. Fewer exports and weaker growth in business stockpiles led the department to lower its gross domestic product estimate for the April-June quarter from its previous rate of 1.3 percent growth. That means the economy expanded only 0.7 percent in the first six months of the year. Nine of the last 11 recessions since World War II have been preceded by a period of growth of 1 percent or less, economists noted. Corporate profits, however, rose a healthy 3 percent in the second quarter compared with 1 percent in the year's first quarter. - AP

787 jet wins FAA clearance

The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the way for the Boeing 787 to take its first commercial flight. Both the FAA and European regulators certified the plane for flight. Boeing Co. plans to deliver the first 787 to Japan's All Nippon Airways in September. The airline plans to fly it for the first time as a charter Oct. 26 and begin regular service Nov. 1. Delivery is about three years late. - AP

Pipeline from Canada OKd

The U.S. State Department removed a major roadblock to a planned $7 billion oil pipeline from western Canada to the Texas coast in a report that says the project is unlikely to cause significant environmental problems during construction or operation. Calgary-based TransCanada wants to build the 1,700-mile pipeline to carry crude oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta to refineries in Texas. It would carry an estimated 700,000 barrels of oil a day. - AP