Word comes from a shopper here in the newsroom that there were lines at Northgate today – as there were lines at other malls in the Puget Sound region and across the country – with shoppers seeking some free cosmetics.

It’s all part of a court-ordered giveaway that begins today and continues through Jan. 26. Seems there was some price fixing years ago, so several cosmetics manufacturers are distributing free products – on a first-come first-served basis, while supplies last. Each gift is worth in the range of $25 and is available to people who may have been snookered years ago.

Locally, there were lines at Nordstrom and Macy’s stores. Nordstrom spokeswoman Julee Kraus told me this afternoon that she isn’t sure if supplies are lasting, or if all were exhausted today, and she suggests customers call the nearest store to see if there is any free body polish, eau de cologne or other such product available from the settlement.

It was similar with Macy’s, where Douglas Sisson, media relations coordinator, said, “We are distributing product through January 26 on a first-come first-served basis. When the product is gone, it is over.”

Any leftover product will be donated to charity.

Southwest Airlines has published some new bargain fares to and from Seattle. Some are as much as 50 percent off normal fares.

For instance:

Seattle to:

Spokane - $30 each way plus taxes.
Sacramento - $50 each way plus taxes.
Salt Lake City - $51 each way plus taxes.
Las Vegas - $65 each way plus taxes.
Denver - $65 each way plus taxes.
Washington, D.C. - $79 each way plus taxes.
Orlando - $90 each way plus taxes.

The sale ends Thursday. Fares are good for travel Feb. 1 through May 31.

Note taxes are extra. Expect other airlines to match the fares.

Travel is valid Feb. 3 - May 31.

I checked Southwest's Web site and found most of the fares were virtually unavailable. Are they already sold out? Or has Southwest made just a few buyable at these prices to lead people to their site?

Okay – the market didn’t do very well today. One might have expected an Obama Bounce, but there was none.

This doesn’t mean the market will continued its downward ways for the rest of the year. Either way, there’s a good book out there that outlines several criteria well fit for the number-crunchers among us.

The Stock Trader’s Almanac 2009 (Wiley, $39.95) offers a mountain of background concerning how historical forces can mold a year in the market.

For instance, according to the Almanac, 12 of the last 14 post-election years followed the direction established in January trading. Also, every downward January in the S&P since 1950 – every one – preceded a new or extended bear market, or a flat market. And gains in the S&P during the month’s first five days preceded full-year gains 86.1 percent of the time. (Well, sorry, but over the first five days this year, the S&P dropped from 931.80 to 909.73.)

The Almanac’s January Barometer says that as the S&P 500 goes this month, so goes the year - 91.4 percent of the time since 1950. So far, through today, the index has fallen from 931.80 to 805.22 (as of 1:07 p.m., down 5.28 percent on the day).

Then there’s the Almanac’s “Ninth Year of Decades” report. But for the crash in 1929 and the bear market of 1969 (both post-election years), and the cusp of World War II in 1939, all the “nine” years were up during the past 12 decades, the Almanac says.

Under the heading “Market Behavior Under New Presidents,” the Almanac reports that “Democrats fared better in post-election years than Republicans.”

And just for the record, here’s a Bloomberg graph of the first year – on the Dow – for the most recent Democrat to come into the presidency after beating a Republican. This is what it looked like for Bill Clinton in 1993, when the Dow began the year at 3307.87 and finished at 3574.09.

Now there was a year.

The slowing economy has taken a newly opened Seattle luxury hotel as a victim.

The Arctic Club Hotel, a 120-room downtown Seattle luxury hotel opened in July, said it plans to target to a larger audience by reducing rates and by eliminating some of its high-end frills.

The hotel plans to affiliate with a nationwide chain to broaden its exposure to a bigger clientele.

The hotel, is a conversion from the old Arctic Club. It features a high-end restaurant and a banquet room in the historic Northern Lights Dome Room.

One piece of good news on the financial horizon (looking backwards): The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that consumer prices in the Tacoma-Seattle-Bremerton area were down 1.5 percent in November and December.

The local Consumer Price Index is up between December 2007 and 2008, however - but only by a scant 1.7 percent.

The lower price of gasoline accounts for much of the decrease, says BLS Regional Commissioner Richard Holden.

So buy some clothes, cook dinner, turn up the electric thermostat and pour yourself a drink. You can even afford to get sick. Some numbers:

• Grocery prices were down 1.5 percent for the two-month period.
• Food away-from-home, however, cost 1.0 percent more.
• Alcoholic beverages were down 0.3 percent for two months.
• Electricity sparked a 0.7 percent decline.
• Gasoline was down 41.2 percent for the period, and was down 17 percent in December alone.
• Medical care was down 0.3 percent over the two months, and is down 0.5 percent for the entire year.
• The cost of clothing was down 5 percent for the two months, and is down 0.5 percent for the year.

A new BusinessWeek article suggests Boeing, burned by delays and difficulties with its expansive outsourcing program for the much-delayed 787-8 Dreamliner, may cut back on outsourcing for the next version of the Dreamliner.

The business magazine quotes several Boeing sources saying the company may produce and design more pieces of the slightly larger version of the Dreamliner, the 787-9, in house.

The company is also considering sourcing some components both from outside suppliers and its own factories to give it a second reliable source if the outsider doesn't deliver.

The production and design model for the 787 relied on outside partners more so than ever to design and build key pieces of the revolutionary jet.

The idea was to lessen Boeing's internal financing and design costs and to spread the risk to other aerospace companies.

At the same time, such major outsourcing had a political component. In theory, airlines in countries that shared part of the risk and reward in building the Boeing plane would be more likely to order the Dreamliner than a competitor's plane.

But the massive outsourcing was proven perhaps too ambitious. Boeing lost control of its tight schedules (the Dreamliner is two years behind), and some contractors were simply unable to do the job within the original contract parameters.

Bringing more production back to Boeing could be good news for the Puget Sound area where much of the parts-making work could be done.

The final numbers are in and Airbus, as expected, easily won the orders race with Boeing in 2008.

Airbus recorded a net total of 777 (how ironic) orders while Boeing reported a net of 662.

What's fascinating is how they reached those totals.
Airbus had 900 new orders last year but 123 order cancellations.

Boeing won 668 new orders but booked only six cancellations.

Both the orders totals and the cancellation numbers may say something about Airbus and Boeing sales philosophies.

Airbus, perhaps as a legacy of being the underdog for many years, has always taken more risks with new or financially challenged airlines. Witness Skybus and US Air, while Boeing has taken a somewhat more conservative stance. The result: more orders for Airbus, but also more cancellations.

In the end, after battling back and forth (Boeing won the order race last year), the two aerospace manufacturers over the long haul are in a near dead heat.

Airbus' backlog of orders: 3,715 planes worth $462.6 billion at book prices. Boeing's backlong: 3,714 orders worth $435 billion.