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The American home is shrinking. Toll the bell for the McMansion.

After years of growth, the Census Bureau recently reported that median new home size fell to 2,135 square feet in 2009 after peaking at more than 2,300 earlier in the decade.

"Home buyers are asking for less, cutting back on options and reducing square footage," said Steven Pace of the North Carolina-based Pace Development Group, which builds both custom and tract houses ranging in price from below $250,000 to more than $2 million.

"They’re saying, ‘Maybe we don’t need that 5,000 square footage;" he said. "’Maybe our bath doesn’t need to be big enough for our whole family and all our neighbors to take a shower at the same time.’"

Kermit Baker, chief economist for the American Institute of Architects, pointed out that consumers don’t ask for as much for spaces devoted to single purposes, such as media rooms for watching videos and game rooms for shooting pool. Instead, the requests are for rooms with shared uses.

"We continue to move away from the ‘McMansion’ chapter of residential design," he said.

Now, the typical U.S. owner-occupied home has six rooms, with three of them being bedrooms, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Housing Survey cheap business cards. The most common number of baths is two or more.

For those who remember the days of long, hot summers. Those are over, too. Nearly 90% of all new homes now have central air conditioning. And 63% of all homes are now cooled.

These are a big increases from even 10 years ago, when only 52% of owner-occupied homes — i.e. non-rental properties or second homes — boasted central air.

More than three-quarters of all homeowners now load up dishwashers, up from 65% a decade ago. And garbage disposals can be found in nearly half of owner-occupied homes, up from 46%.

On a broader scope, the survey revealed that, despite the recent hoopla about the new urbanism and return to cities, most Americans still lead a "Leave it to Beaver" lifestyle.

Of the more than 76 million owner-occupied homes in 2009, 63 million were traditional detached, single-family residences. And city dwellers, you’re outnumbered: Far more homeowners live in the suburbs than in cities.

Regionally, the South, held the largest number of owner-occupied units, followed by the Midwest, then the West and finally the Northeast.  

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Investors were hit with a triple whammy of bad economic news Thursday: manufacturing still stinks, more people are jobless and confidence in the future is less than hoped.

As a result, stocks finished sharply lower: the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) tumbled 144 points, or 1.4%, to 10,271 and the S&P 500 (SPX) slipped 19 points, or 1.7% to 1,076. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (COMP) composite fell 37 points, or 1.7%, 2,179.

Stocks were coming off two days of gains, driven by solid earnings outlooks from retail giants Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target. But even during this week’s earlier rallies, traders were saying they were remaining cautious given fears about a double-dip recession — or at least, a slower recovery.

Thursday’s disappointing numbers on weekly jobless claims, manufacturing in the Philadelphia region and leading indicators just fanned the flames on those gloom-and-doom fears.

"Today’s news on the U.S. economy has been nothing but awful," Paul Ashworth, senior economist with Capital Economics said in a note to investors.

A report that showed manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region slowed to a 13-month low "suggests the industrial recovery is teetering on the brink," he said.

Economy: A report from the government showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance unexpectedly jumped 12,000 to 500,000 last week from an upwardly revised 488,000 the previous week. The figure was the highest level since the week ended Nov. 14.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting claims to drop to 475,000.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s economic index took an unexpected dive in August, turning to negative 7.7 when analysts had expected a positive 7.5. The index measures manufacturing activity in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, and any number below zero indicates business activity in the sector is slowing down.

Meanwhile, the index of leading economic indicators - a measure of the economy’s future performance - increased a mere 0 guaranteed payday loans.1% in July, the Conference Board said. Analysts had forecast a 0.2% increase for the month.

Companies: After the close, Dell reported higher quarterly earnings and revenue that surpassed analysts’ forecasts. But shares of Dell (DELL, Fortune 500) fell about 1% in after-hours trading after losing 1.2% during regular hours.

Also after the bell, Hewlett-Packard reported quarterly earnings and sales that strongly topped its year-ago results. HP’s (HPQ, Fortune 500) stock dipped 0.3% in after-hours trading, after it fell 1.5% during the day.

Earlier Thursday, Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) said it will acquire security software maker McAfee (MFE) for $7.68 billion. Shares of Intel slipped 3.3%, while McAfee’s stock spiked about 57%.

World markets: European stocks closed lower. The FTSE 100 in Britain slipped 1.7% and the DAX in Germany moved down 1.8%. The CAC 40 in France fell 2%.

Asian shares finished the session in positive territory. The Nikkei in Japan climbed 1.3%. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.2%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the euro but fell against the U.K. pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil futures for September delivery slipped 99 cents to settle at $74.43 a barrel. Gold for December delivery rose $4 to settle at $1,235.40.

Bonds: Prices for Treasurys were higher. The yield on the 10-year note fell to 2.58% from 2.63% late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Market breadth: Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers outnumbered winners five to one on volume of 810 million shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers five to one on volume of 1.8 billion shares. 

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Questioning about the circumstances of Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd's resignation continued on the seond weekend after his departure in the wake of a sexual harassment complaint.

The Wall Street Journal cited a person it says was familiar with the HP board's thinking who said that the former CEO short-circuited an internal investigation by agreeing to a settlement with former actress Jodie Fisher on August 4, two days before his departure was announced.

The Journal reported that the settlement with the former marketing contractor came without the board's knowledge or input, a day before Fisher and her lawyer were supposed to meet with HP's outside counsel and Hurd's personal lawyer.

That story runs counter to another that the Journal attributes to an unnamed source it said is familiar with Hurd's thinking that HP had repeatedly instructed its CEO for three weeks before the settlement to come to an agreement with his accuser.

That source told the Journal that Hurd gave the board everything it asked for up to that point but the directors didn't let him address them or respond directly to questions.

The paper further said, however, that another unnamed source familiar with the board's thinking encouraged Hurd to speak with the board but he declined. It said, however, that the source on Hurd's side didn't agree with that version of the story.

The latest revelations about Hurd's departure come amid continuing scrutiny of the reasons for his sudden exit.

New York Times columnist Joe Nocera called it "one of the great head-scratchers in recent times" in a Saturday piece.

"The consensus in Silicon Valley is that Mr. Hurd was despised at HP, not just by the rank and file, but even by HP’s top executives," Nocera wrote.

The Times columnist suggests that the sexual harassment claim merely gave the board the pretext for doing what it wanted to do, get rid of Hurd without provoking an outcry on Wall Street where he was extremely popular for turning around the company's finances.

"In fact, the directors should be called out for acting like the cowards they are," the columnist wrote in a scathing piece. "Mr. Hurd’s supposed peccadilloes were a smoke screen for the real reason they got rid of an executive they didn’t trust and employees didn’t like."

Fisher, 50, was working as a contractor for HP when the alleged incidents that led to Hurd's resignation on August 6 occurred. She was reportedly paid to appear as a greeter at HP customer events where Hurd also appeared.

HP said an internal investigation didn't find evidence of sexual harassment but did find instances when Hurd's behavior didn't live up to the company's codes of conduct. This reportedly included alleged instances of expenses Fisher was paid that weren't properly reported.

To read more of the Business Journal's coverage of Mark Hurd's career and sudden resignation click here.

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Half of denverbusinessjournal.com readers who answered our latest Business Pulse question say they support John Hickenlooper in the race for Colorado governor, a higher tally than all other candidates combined.

The Business Pulse survey is not a scientific sampling, and is not an attempt to predict actual voting totals, but offers a view of what readers are thinking.

Hickenlooper, Denver’s mayor, is running as the sole Democratic Party candidate for governor.

On Thursday he announced his running mate, Colorado State University-Pueblo President Joseph Garcia.

Another 20 percent of those answering the Business Pulse question said they support Tom Tancredo, a former Republican congressman and presidential candidate who is running as an American Constitution Party candidate.

Among the two Republicans vying to succeed Bill Ritter as governor, former congressman Scott McInnis was picked by 15 percent in our unscientific survey and businessman Dan Maes by 7 percent.

McInnis and Maes are running in a mostly-mail-in GOP primary, which ends Tuesday, Aug. 10. The winner will face Hickenlooper and Tancredo on the November general-election ballot.

There were 1,383 responses to our informal multiple-choice survey, which asked: “As of now, which candidate do you favor for Colorado governor?”

Readers answered:

• John Hickenloooper — 50%.

• Dan Maes — 7%.

• Scott McInnis — 15%.

• Tom Tancredo — 20%.

• Other/don’t know — 9%.

This week’s Business Pulse question: “As of now, which candidate do you favor for Colorado senator?”

Click here to respond, and please leave a comment explaining your answer. The deadline for replies to this question is Monday at 10 a.m. MDT.

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Three internists have left Monroeville-based Premier Medical Associates to join the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, according to spokesman Paul Wood.

Drs. George Wahal, Andrew Margolis and Kahir Ariff will become UPMC doctors next month, Wood said. The move was in the works before Premier reached agreement July 8 with West Penn Allegheny Health System to accept 30 primary care doctors who were employed by the health system, Wood said.

The West Penn Allegheny-Premier deal followed nine months of negotiations, which will increase Premier’s heft as a medical care provider in the city’s eastern suburbs while helping West Penn Allegheny cut losses associated with its employed physicians’ group. Premier is the biggest independent physicians’ group in the region; UPMC is the dominant hospital network, followed by West Penn Allegheny.

In May, UPMC reported its operating income rose 16 percent year-over-year for the first nine months of 2010. West Penn by contrast, saw an operating loss of $5.2 million between January and March, and announced last month it planned to trim 1,500 jobs and close the emergency room at its hospital in the city's Bloomfield neighborhood.

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BuzzLogic Inc. in San Francisco hired John Donahue as chief technology officer.

The online advertising company’s previous CTO, Jean Sini, left the job in 2009 to start a new business called Untangly in Mountain View.

Donahue worked at Omnicom Media Group, part of Omnicom Inc.

BuzzLogic had hired Sini when it bought Activision in 2008; Sini had helped start that company in 2005 payday loan lenders.

John Maley is BuzzLogic’s top executive: he’s chief operating and financial officer.

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Patterson Cos. Inc. chose S.M. Wilson & Co. to build its new $15 million technology center in Effingham, Ill., about 100 miles northeast of St. Louis.

St. Paul, Minn.-based Patterson (Nasdaq: PDCO) is a distributor serving the dental, veterinary and rehabilitation supply markets.

S.M. Wilson said Monday it would immediately begin work on the 96,700-square-foot, three-level facility, which is slated for completion in mid-2011.

The St. Louis-based construction company is providing design/build services for the project, which is being designed to qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The architect on the project is Omaha, Neb.-based DLR Group.

The facility’s main level features a showroom, employee training center, offices, conference rooms and support space fast payday loans. The facilities top floor has additional training centers, offices, conference rooms and support space.

The building’s lower level will host a walk-out cafeteria, IT department, equipment testing labs, fitness facility, locker rooms, mechanical rooms, and shipping and receiving departments.

Patterson’s project includes a 450-space parking lot, an outdoor pond and walking trails around the facility. The project is scheduled for completion in mid-2011.

S.M. Wilson is one of the largest privately held companies in St. Louis with $439.1 million in 2009 revenue.

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Frito-Lay North America has received a $1.125 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund to launch a long-term project that will install business management software throughout the Plano-based company, creating 125 jobs in the process.

The Texas Enterprise Fund is controlled by the governor and used to recruit companies that want to relocate or expand to Texas.

Aurora Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Plano-based Frito-Lay North America, said the fund’s interest in Frito-Lay’s IT transformation centers around the project's ability to create more than a hundred jobs.

The software upgrade and IT additions are “significant projects that require specific talents and people to do the work,” Gonzalez added.

The project also will create more than $50 million in business infrastructure, the Office of Governor Rick Perry said Friday when confirming the state’s financial commitment through the TEF fund cash advance flexible payments.

Frito-Lay’s project is the next step in parent company PepsiCo.’s multi-year plan to convert and upgrade the company’s business management software throughout product lines and divisions. The state’s investment will support the team responsible for the software conversion.

In response to the money allotted by the fund, Gonzalez said Friday, “As always we value or partnership with both the state and certainly with the City of Plano. We value their commitment to us, and we remain committed to them.”

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Shares of BP Plc continued their slide this week as the company passed the $100 billion mark in market capitalization lost following the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.

BP's stock hit a new 52-week low of $27.07 Friday after a series of setbacks in the company’s effort to cap the leaking oil will and the revelation that it has so far spent as much as $2.35 billion on well cap efforts and spill cleanup.

The stock had closed at $59.49 on April 20, the day of the explosion.

BP (NYSE: BP) has resumed siphoning operations after a remotely operated vehicles damaged the well cap earlier this week, although recovery is at a reduced rate.

Moreover, there are additional concerns about the sustainability of recovery operations as a tropical storm approaches the spill area.

The Houston Business Journal is providing continuous coverage of the Gulf oil spill.

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The Environmental Protection Agency is hosting four public information meetings in the coming weeks on hydraulic fracturing, used in natural gas drilling, to look at its impact on drinking water. One of the meetings is scheduled in Canonsburg, south of Pittsburgh.

Fracing is a process which involves pumping millions of gallons of water mixed with friction-reducing chemicals and fine sand into a well at high pressure to break up the dense shale and release the natural gas trapped inside. The technique, along with the advent of horizontal drilling technology, has made the gas-rich shale formations economically possible to develop, but it also has led to new challenges when it comes to ensuring the water is cleaned up properly after use.

Southwestern Pennsylvania is an area where fracing is of particular interest, due to the widespread Marcellus Shale natural gas play in the area.

The EPA meetings will provide public information about the scope of a proposed study on fracing, and will solicit public comment. Those wishing to participate should contact the EPA at least 72 hours in advance.

The meetings are scheduled as follows:

• July 8 in Fort Worth, Texas
• July 13 in Denver, Colo.
• July 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn in Canonsburg
• Aug. 12 in Binghamton, N.Y., for three sessions

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