In Brief

WINDSOR, Ontario

After makeover, casino opens with new name

Caesars Windsor casino is opening under its new name after a $439 million makeover designed to compete with expanded casinos in nearby Detroit.

Operators of Casino Windsor announced its rebranding as Caesars Windsor in December 2006. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. underwrote the project.

The casino includes a 27-story, 369-room Augustus Tower hotel and 100,000 square feet of convention space.

Kerkorian continues to build stake in Ford

Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. bought 40.8 million more Ford Motor Co. shares to build his stake to 6.5 percent, increasing his bet that the second-biggest U.S.-based automaker can be revived.

Tracinda's new shares were valued at $253.8 million based on Wednesday's closing price and add to previous holdings of 100 million shares, or 4.6 percent. The latest purchases consist of 20 million shares acquired in a tender offer and 20.8 million more bought since Monday, Tracinda said Thursday in a filing.

Kerkorian disclosed in late April he had acquired 100 million shares. The purchases reported Thursday brought his stake to 140.8 million shares and would make him the fourth-largest shareholder in Ford, Bloomberg data show.

Kerkorian is the majority shareholder in Las Vegas casino operator MGM Mirage.

NEW YORK

After China decision, oil prices head lower

Oil prices dropped sharply Thursday after China said it will raise fuel prices, a move that could dampen the booming Asian nation's oil consumption.

Prices also were given a downward push by the Iraqi Oil Ministry's announcement that it is close to signing oil service deals with several major Western oil companies in an effort to boost its crude output.

Retail gasoline prices, meanwhile, slid overnight.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $4.75 to settle at $131.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

At the pump, gasoline prices slipped 0.2 cents overnight to a national average of $4.073 a gallon, a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service shows.

In Las Vegas, a gallon of regular self-serve unleaded gasoline was a record $4.276 on Thursday, AAA said in its Daily Fuel Gauge report.

The price is up 15.5 percent from $3.702 a week ago and up 37.1 percent from $3.119 a month ago, AAA said.

NEW YORK

Citigroup finance chief foresees write-downs

Citigroup's chief financial officer on Thursday warned that the nation's largest bank by assets would suffer more "substantial" write-downs on debt investments in the second quarter.

CFO Gary Crittenden also said that there will likely be more write-downs related to leveraged loans and bond insurers. He said that credit costs on the whole would be higher in the second quarter than in the first due largely to reserve builds in the mortgage portfolio.

Crittenden did say that Citi's second-quarter write-downs on structured debt products known as collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, would be lower than they were in the first quarter.

RICHMOND, Va.

Circuit City reports wider quarterly loss

Circuit City Stores said Thursday its loss widened in the first quarter because of a more than 11 percent drop in sales at established stores.

The nation's second-largest electronics retailer also said it expects a bigger loss in the second quarter than analysts are expecting and said it is suspending its dividend to keep capital available for its turnaround efforts.

Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City reported a loss of $164.8 million, or $1 per share, in the three months ended May 31, compared with a loss of $54.6 million, or 33 cents per share, a year ago.

Thomson Financial said analysts expected a loss of $1.06 per share.

Revenue fell 7.6 percent to $2.3 billion from $2.49 billion.

Same-store sales -- stores open at least a year -- dropped 11.3 percent.

Circuit City shares fell 7 cents, or 1.73 percent, Thursday to close at $3.98 on the New York Stock Exchange.

SAN FRANCISCO

Yahoo investor wants Microsoft to make case

A disgruntled Yahoo shareholder is urging Microsoft Corp. to make a more compelling case for its bid to buy the Internet pioneer's search operations -- a proposal that was trumped by an advertising deal Yahoo reached with Google.

Mithras Capital, which owns 1.7 million Yahoo shares, made the plea to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a letter sent Thursday.

If Microsoft can more clearly explain why its alternative is more lucrative than the Google deal, Mithras believes a majority of Yahoo shareholders will back Carl Icahn's effort to replace Yahoo's board at Yahoo's annual meeting Aug. 1.

Icahn's board then could exit the Google partnership and accept Microsoft's competing offer, Mithras partner Mark Nelson wrote.

Microsoft declined to comment on Mithras' letter.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices slide as stocks rebound

Treasury prices slid Thursday amid an advance in the stock market and a big drop in energy prices.

The benchmark 10-year note fell 0.56 points to 97.28, and its yield rose to 4.21 percent from 4.14 percent late Wednesday. Yields move opposite from prices.

The 30-year long bond rose 0.63 points to 93.88. Its yield rose to 4.76 percent from 4.72 percent.