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Consumer prices fell 0.2 percent from September to October along the Wasatch Front

Lower prices for utilities and medical care offset a modest increase in transportation expenditures as consumer prices fell 0.2 percent from September to October along the Wasatch Front.

That left the year-over-year inflation rate at 1.2 percent, according to the latest Zions Bank Wasatch Front Consumer Price Index.

Utility prices dropped 4.3 percent as electricity providers switched to lower winter rates, Zions Banks President Scott Anderson noted, while Utah "continues to remain insulated from rising national medical-care prices." Wasatch Front medical care costs went up 2.2 percent in October; the national rate was 4.3 percent.

Transportation costs rose 1.1 percent from month to month, led by gasoline. The average gallon of regular gas in Utah costs $2.33 per gallon, compared to $2.15 nationally.

Other declines were in housing (-0.1 percent), education and communication (-0.5 percent), food eaten away from home (-0.2 percent) and recreation (-0.9 percent).

Going up were prices for personal care products, cosmetics and laundry services (1.1 percent), food eaten at home (0.6 percent) and clothing (0.2 percent).

About 3.5 million Mountain West residents to travel over 50 miles during Thanksgiving weekend

About 3.5 million Mountain West residents are expected to travel more than 50 miles over the extended Thanksgiving weekend, a 1.5 percent increase over last year.

"This ongoing travel trend is spurred by improvements in the economy, increased consumer spending and overall strength in consumer confidence," said AAA Utah spokeswoman Rolayne Fairclough, predicting it will be the most traveled holiday in the last nine years.

The projected increase is evenly divided between driving and flying. Both are expected to go up by 1.6 percent, to 3 million motorists and 249,000 flyers. The number of train and boat riders is pegged at 229,000, up 0.3 percent.

AAA's Leisure Travel Index, Fairclough added, showed that prices are relatively flat at lodges given three diamonds in annual AAA rankings, averaging $155 per night.

Airfares, by contrast, are expected to be up 21 percent. Car-rental rates are forecast to be down 13 percent.

FranklinCovey Co. announces launch of FranklinCovey China

FranklinCovey Co.'s business in China is entered a new era. After operating offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for 15 years under a license agreement, the Salt Lake City-based company is now launching FranklinCovey China as a direct office.

FranklinCovey has 550 clients and 52 employees in China. More than 200 of those companies participated in kickoff events recently in Beijing and Shanghai, said FranklinCovey CEO Bob Whitman.

Ronnie Tan will be president of FranklinCovey China.

SLC digital marketing agency Axis41 acquired by Merkle

Axis41, a Salt Lake City digital marketing agency with 170 employees, said it has been acquired by Merkle, a Maryland-based marketing company with 17 offices in the United States, two in Europe and two in China.

Terms were not disclosed.

Merkle President and CEO David Williams said "Axis41 has found perfect harmony in the intersection of technology and creative."

Axis41's three founding partners — Ron Pynes, Steve Wiest and Reed Wright — will continue to operate the company under Merkle's chief growth officer Harry Brakeley.

Utah business people on the move

• Marc Probst , Intermountain Healthcare's chief information officer, has been elected to the Nemours Foundation board. Nemours is a children's health system that operates hospitals in Delaware and Florida and 60 pediatric facilities in four eastern states.

• Deer Valley Resort 's new director of human resources is Chris Lampe . He started in the ski industry as a 16-year-old instructor in Washington, taught three years at Park City Mountain Resort before moving into human resources 19 years ago.