Las Vegas business briefs

Friday, March 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Local

* CHAMBER LEADER EXITING -- Mark Smith, the 11-year president and general manager of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, will leave that post at the end of the year, chamber officials announced today in a statement. Diane Dickerson Merica, chairman of the chamber's board of trustees, said a national search already has begun for candidates to succeed Smith, who spent 20 years as a television broadcaster and general manager of KLAS-TV Channel 8 prior to taking the top job at the chamber. Merica was unavailable to comment today on reports that Pat Shalmy, who will end his tenure as Clark County manager next Friday, is being considered for the job. Smith indicated he would spend more time with his family and with other business ventures upon leaving the chamber.

National

* ECONOMY GREW IN 1996 -- The U.S. economy grew at a robust 3.8 percent annual rate as 1996 ended, slightly slower than previously estimated but still too fast to calm a jittery Wall Street. The final estimate released today for fourth quarter growth in gross domestic product -- the economy's total output of goods and services -- was down a tiny 0.1 percentage point from a month ago. But at 3.8 percent, the economy from October through December still grew at a much more rapid clip than the 2.1 percent gain in the third quarter last year.

* NEW HOME SALES DECLINE -- Sales of new homes fell 0.7 percent in February, the first decline in four months, as demand dropped in all parts of the country except the West. The Commerce Department said today that sales of new single-family homes totaled 811,000 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate last month. The small decline in February compared to a 3.5 percent increase in January. The only region of the country to show an increase was the West where sales rose 11.7 percent in February to an annual rate of 210,000 units.

To contact the SUN business news desk, call 259-4083 or e-mail mike@lasvegassun.com