BUSINESS BRIEFS
Consumers cut their borrowing to 7-month low
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Borrowing by consumers slipped in July to the weakest pace in seven months, reflecting a big slowdown in demand for car loans.
The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that consumer borrowing grew at an annual rate of just 2.1 percent in July, the slowest pace since a 1.9 percent rise last December.
The slowdown reflects a tiny 0.5 percent rate of growth in the category that includes auto loans, down from a 6.1 percent surge in this category in June. Automakers reported that demand for cars fell in July to the lowest level in 16 years.
ALTRIA BUYING UST FOR $10.4B
NEW YORK — Altria, the owner of the nation's biggest cigarette seller, said yesterday that it will buy UST, the maker of Skoal and Copenhagen, in a $10.4 billion deal that is part of the wider consolidation of the global tobacco industry.
Observers say Lorillard, which was spun off from Loews Corp. in June, could be next on the list of potential targets.
Altria owns the Marlboro brand and the nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA. Its acquisition of UST will give it a strong position in smokeless tobacco, a segment of the U.S. market that is growing as cigarettes decline.
CHINA TO REVIEW COCA-COLA BID
BEIJING — Coca-Cola Co. will have to submit its bid to buy a Chinese juice producer for review under China's new anti-monopoly law, state television reported, setting up the first major test of the legislation.
Coca-Cola's $2.5 billion offer last week for China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. already has stirred nationalist opposition. Comments posted on Chinese Web sites criticized the sale as the loss of a leading company to foreign owners.
The anti-monopoly law, which took effect Aug. 1, was welcomed by foreign business groups as a step toward clarifying commercial conditions in China. But Beijing has released no details of what companies must do to comply.
KUWAIT OPPOSES OPEC CUTBACK
VIENNA, Austria — Kuwait's oil minister said yesterday that there is no need for OPEC to cut production, despite crude prices that have fallen nearly 30 percent since July.
Mohammed Abdullah Al-Aleem is part of an OPEC committee whose recommendations could play in OPEC's final decision on what to do about output.
He spoke on the eve of a meeting of oil ministers from the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries who will decide whether to reduce production or keep it at current levels.
OIL ENDS SEE-SAW DAY A BIT HIGHER
NEW YORK — Crude oil prices finished modestly higher yesterday, but only after seesawing wildly as nervous traders watched Hurricane Ike approach the Gulf's oil and gas facilities.
Ike, after scouring the Bahamas and Haiti, made landfall on Cuba as a Category 3 storm. The hurricane was downgraded, but still packed sustained winds close to 100 mph. It is expected to regain its strength and enter the Gulf of Mexico later this week.
KOREAN REGULATOR WARY OF LEHMAN
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's financial regulator urged state-owned Korea Development Bank yesterday to be cautious over any investment in Lehman Brothers.
Jun Kwang-woo's comments came amid weeks of intense speculation that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, could try to reach a deal for a capital injection.
Analysts project that Lehman, considered vulnerable to the credit crisis, could post losses of up to $4 billion when it reports third-quarter results this month and may announce a deal to raise fresh capital to help offset the losses.
