BUSINESS BRIEFS
Oil prices slide, but experts say another rise due
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Oil prices pulled back yesterday after the previous session's wild, record-setting rally, dropping below $107 a barrel as uncertainty over the U.S. financial bailout plan and a stronger dollar led investors to shed commodities.
It was crude's first down session in five days. Some decline was to be expected after crude soared 16 percent on Monday — the biggest one-day gain ever — partly because of a technical fluke.
Still, oil market watchers say crude is showing early signs that it may be poised for another big climb.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $2.76 to settle at $106.61 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dipping as low as $104.05.
TOMATO, EGG SECTORS IN PROBE
WASHINGTON — A federal investigation into possible food price-fixing has been expanded to include two major industries, tomato processing and egg products.
The Justice Department said yesterday that prosecutors are conducting separate inquiries into whether the tomato and egg industries engaged in anticompetitive practices.
Federal prosecutors also have been looking at possible price-fixing in the citrus industry for at least a year.
NOMURA TO BUY LEHMAN UNITS
TOKYO — Nomura, Japan's largest brokerage, said yesterday it would buy the European and Middle Eastern operations of Lehman Brothers — just a day after disclosing it had acquired the Asian units of the failed U.S. investment bank.
The deal is a major step in the liquidation of what was once the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S.
Nomura Holdings Inc. said it would take over Lehman Brothers' equities and investment banking operations in Europe and the Middle East.
CHRYSLER PLUGS IN TO ELECTRIC RACE
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Chrysler LLC charged up the electric car race yesterday, muscling in on General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt by unveiling three electric-powered models and promising to put one of them on sale in the U.S. sometime in 2010.
The company showed three electric prototypes: a Dodge sports car, a Jeep Wrangler and a Chrysler minivan.
The Dodge sports car is completely electric and based on Lotus Europa underpinnings, but the Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler minivan models will be extended-range vehicles similar to the Volt, which GM has said will go on sale in November 2010.
ELI LILLY TO BARE DOCTOR PAYMENTS
WASHINGTON — In an industry first, Eli Lilly and Co. says it will disclose how much money it paid to individual doctors nationally for advice, speeches and other services.
The drug company's move comes as members of Congress push a disclosure bill in an effort to prevent such payments from improperly influencing medical decisions.
Beginning next year, Eli Lilly will disclose payments of more than $500 to doctors for their roles as advisers and for speaking at seminars.
DEMAND GROWS FOR TREASURYS
NEW YORK — The credit markets grew more tense yesterday, boosting demand late in the day for both short- and long-term government maturities as doubts heightened on Wall Street about Washington's ability to solidify plans for a $700 billion bailout of the nation's banks.
Demand for safe, short-term Treasurys was high most of the day, as investors noticed scant signs of recovery in the squeezed credit markets.
And a slide in the stock market gave even the less attractive long-term Treasury bonds a lift.
