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SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment is offering free one-day admission to any United Kingdom, Irish or continental European tourists stranded in Florida due to the interruption in international air travel caused by Icelandic volcanic ash.

Park officials said the offer is valid starting April 17 at SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica waterpark and Busch Gardens Tampa.

Stranded tourists wanting to take advantage of the offer must present a valid return airline ticket from April 14 through April 21 — or until normal flight schedules resume — plus a valid ID such as a passport or drivers license to the parks’ front gate guest services window.

One ticket will be offered at each park for each return flight ticket presented along with a valid ID. Children under age 3 are free.

Additional information is available by calling (888) 800-5447 or visiting http://www.seaworldparks.co.uk.

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Retail sales soared in March, the government said Wednesday, in the latest sign of improving consumer confidence.

The Commerce Department said total retail sales jumped 1.6% last month, the largest monthly increase since November, from an upwardly revised 0.5% gain in February.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had anticipated that sales would rise 1.2% in the month.

March retail sales surged 7.6% compared to the same month in 2009.

Sales excluding autos and auto parts rose 0.6% last month, also topping forecasts. A consensus of economists had projected sales excluding autos to edge up 0.5% in March.

Sales of motor vehicles and parts posted a strong 6.7% gain, while sales of electronics and appliances fell 1.3%.

"This is another good reading," said Adam York, an economist at Wells Fargo. "But we’re not out of the woods yet."

York said March sales benefited from promotions tied to the Easter holiday, which came earlier than usual this year. He said some of those gains may be shifted over to the April report.

"These are decent numbers," he said. "It suggests that the consumer is recovering, but by no means are we looking at a strong economic recovery."

The rebound in retail sales comes as the labor market has shown tentative signs of improvement. The Labor Department said earlier this month that the economy gained more jobs in March than any other month in the last three years guaranteed pay day loans.

Sales at many of the nation’s retail chains reported strong sales in March due to unusually warm weather, Easter shopping and improved consumer confidence.

Thomson Reuters, which tracks monthly same-store sales for 30 chains including Costco (COST, Fortune 500) and Target (TGT, Fortune 500), said last week that chain stores posted the biggest single monthly sales gain on record in March, extending a run of seven straight monthly increases.

All of this bodes well for the economy, which is driven mainly by consumer spending.

After a prolonged slump, U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, turned positive in the second half of 2009. But the subsequent gains in GDP have been driven mostly by reductions in business inventories and government stimulus.

The economy remains vulnerable enough for policymakers at the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates near historic lows to help boost activity.

The Fed will release its latest report on regional economic activity later Wednesday. Separately, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will testify before a joint session of Congress on the economic outlook.  

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The economy seems to be recovering but is "far from being out of the woods," Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said in a speech Wednesday.

Bernanke, speaking before the Dallas Regional Chamber business group, said unemployment remains one of the "toughest problems" for policymakers, and one that he expects to ease only gradually.

Bernanke said he expects the Fed’s easy money policies and a gathering recovery "will be sufficient to slowly reduce the unemployment rate over the coming year" from its current level of 9.7%. But he admitted that the jobless rate remains a major concern.

"The economy has stabilized and is growing again, although we can hardly be satisfied when 1 out of every 10 U.S. workers is unemployed and family finances remain under great stress," Bernanke said.

The Fed chief also noted that bank lending continues to be weak and inflation expectations stable. Those observations should allow the central bank to continue to hold short-term interest rates near zero percent for what the Fed has called an "extended period" while keeping prices stable.

Fed meeting transcripts released Tuesday show some officials remain concerned that the economy could slip from its recent recovery track in the second half, as companies work through inventories accumulated in the downturn and fiscal stimulus payments slow.

Signs that the recovery is faltering could prompt officials to expand their support for the markets and delay a long-awaited policy tightening.

Investors have been anxious to see the Fed tighten monetary policy after nearly a year and a-half of near-zero interest rates. In the past two months, the Fed has ended a year-long bond purchase program and raised the rate it charges banks for emergency borrowing.

Among those seeing a need to tighten policy is Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig. In a speech Wednesday in New Mexico, he called for the Fed to drop its extended-period commitment and to "sometime soon" begin raising the key fed funds overnight lending target to 1% from its recent range of 0%-0.25%.

That said, the Fed has made clear it’s in no hurry to tighten policy, with the recovery in its earliest stages and so many Americans out of work.

Bernanke also questioned whether still-weak property markets could continue to hamper consumers and the financial system.

"Mortgage delinquencies for both subprime and prime loans continue to rise as do foreclosures," he said. "The commercial real estate sector remains troubled, which is a concern for communities and for banks holding commercial real estate loans."

Bernanke also said the United States must confront its profligate ways sooner rather than later if it is to avoid a fiscal crisis. Americans will have to make tough choices on the balance between higher taxes and lower spending on various priorities, he said.

Investors have been fretting about the nation’s grim budget picture and its need for overseas financing, though a sale of government bonds Wednesday shows demand for U.S. debt hasn’t ebbed.

"Unless we as a nation demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth," Bernanke said. 

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General Motors made it official on Wednesday: It is shutting down the Hummer SUV brand and offering rich rebates in a bid to move the remaining 2,200 vehicles.

Buyers can get $6,000 rebates on a 2009 model year Hummer H2 full-sized SUV or H3 mid-sized SUV.

GM is also offering $5,000 on the 2009 Hummer H3T, a pick-up version of the H3, and $4,000 on the few 2010 H3T’s that were made and remain in stock.

Buyers with good credit can also get 0% financing for six years on all Hummer models.

Hummer H3 prices start at about $31,000.

GM sold fewer than 300 Hummers last month. Hummer sales, which had been suffering anyway largely because of the vehicle’s reputation for poor fuel economy, have been hammered by uncertainty over the brand’s future.

Even a $6,000 rebate may not make a new Hummer a good deal, though, said Jeannine Fallon, a spokeswoman for the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.

Even if the H3 entirely meets your needs, buyers who may want to sell or trade in the vehicle in a few years will want to think twice, she said.

"Five years from now, who’s going to want your car?" Fallon said.

Hummer’s image has been ravaged by environmentalists, she said, and its been damaged even further by the fact that GM decided to discontinue the brand. Besides that, she said, the fuel economy of relatively light-weight crossover SUVs will continue to improve, leaving Hummers even farther behind.

Fallon may be overestimating how much people care about brand image, countered Robyn Eckard, a spokeswoman for Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com.

"People used to care about brands and what a brand says about them," she said. "Nobody cares anymore."

Today’s car shoppers are looking for deals, she said. And the same will be true in a few years. That big rebate will only make it that much easier for Hummer owners to offer a good deal in the used car market later, she said.

"Hummer is a good deal now, and it will be a good deal five years from now," she said.

The automaker announced last year that it was letting Hummer go as part of its restructuring plan. A planned sale of Hummer to a Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer, which would have allowed production of the SUVs to continue, fell through in February.

General Motors now retains only four brands: Cadillac, Buick, GMC and Chevrolet. Of the four brands GM dropped only one, the Swedish Saab brand, was successfully sold off. It has been purchased by Dutch exotic car manufacturer Spyker.

A plan to sell Saturn to the Penske Automotive Group, an auto dealership operator, fell through after no manufacturer could be found to supply vehicles for the brand after GM stopped. GM is also closing down the Pontiac brand. No attempt was ever made to sell it. 

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Eden’s Fresh Co. opened a new restaurant in downtown Orlando, its second in Central Florida, on April 2.

The Winter Park-based restaurant, which specializes in salads, wraps and other fresh foods, debuted a 2,700-square-foot eatery with an outdoor patio in the Seaside Plaza building on South Orange Avenue. The space was previously occupied by Sobik’s Subs.

Owner Brian Certo said the downtown location also serves breakfast, something he plans to expand to his Winter Park location in the near future.

The restaurant signed a five-year lease at the end of January for the space, said Yvonne Baker, senior leasing representative with landlord Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW).

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Bombardier Inc. reported Thursday that its net income for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31 was $707 million, down from $1 billion the previous year.

Revenues fell from $19.7 billion to $19.4 billion and earnings per share were down from 56 cents to 39 cent during that same time.

The company’s aerospace division, which includes Bombardier Learjet in Wichita, had revenues decline to $9.4 billion, down from the $10 billion it reported at the end of its last fiscal year.

The group reported 11 net orders in fiscal year 2010, compared to 367 in the previous fiscal year.

Despite the decline in income and revenue, Bombardier’s president and CEO, Pierre Beaudoin, felt the company performed well.

“Against a challenging economic backdrop, we delivered good financial results,” he said in a press release. “We took the downturn as an opportunity to fine-tune the way we operate in order to execute better and cut costs intelligently.”

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