IN BRIEF

LV among cities with top foreclosure rates

The 26 U.S. cities with the worst foreclosure problems are concentrated in four states — California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, a report released today shows.

The report on foreclosures for the first quarter by RealtyTrac Inc. said the highest foreclosure rates were found in Las Vegas; Merced, Calif.; and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida. Next on the list were the California metro areas of Stockton, Riverside, Modesto, Bakersfield and Vallejo-Fairfield.

Rounding out the top 10 were Phoenix and Port St. Lucie, Fla. Outside of the four high-foreclosure states, the worst foreclosure rates were in Boise City, Idaho (No. 27); and Greeley, Colo. (No. 29).

SAN FRANCISCO

Yahoo will lay off nearly 700 workers

Yahoo Inc. will lay off nearly 700 workers after getting off to a bumpy start under a tough-talking new boss who has promised to engineer a long-awaited turnaround at one of the Internet’s best-known franchises.

This marks Yahoo’s third round of mass layoffs in little over a year, but the first batch since the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company hired Bartz in January. The people losing their jobs will be notified during the next two weeks.

Yahoo dumped about 1,000 jobs in February 2008 and 1,500 or so late last year while co-founder Jerry Yang was still running the company. Yang stepped down, largely because he wasn’t able to snap the company out of its financial funk during his 18-month tenure as CEO.

Yahoo earned $118 million, or 8 cents per share, during the first three months of the year. That represents a 78 percent drop from net income of $537 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 13 percent to $1.58 billion.

DETROIT

Banks may forgive Chrysler debt for stake

Banks and hedge funds that hold $6.9 billion in Chrysler LLC debt have proposed forgiving $2.5 billion of it in exchange for about a 40 percent stake a Chrysler-Fiat alliance, two people briefed on the proposal said.

One person said the lenders delivered their counterproposal to Chrysler and the U.S. Treasury Department late Monday night. Neither person wanted to be identified because the negotiations are private.

The lenders also want Fiat to invest $1 billion cash in Chrysler, and they want to appoint one person to the company’s board, according to term sheets obtained by The Associated Press.

NEW YORK

Investors’ tempers hot at Citigroup meeting

Five hours and dozens of angry speakers into Citigroup Inc.’s annual meeting Tuesday, a long line of shareholders still waited at the microphone for their chance to vent.

Everything was fair game — from executive pay to the company’s decision to sponsor the Mets’ new baseball stadium, Citi Field. When Chairman Richard Parsons recognized five departing members of the board, a cry rose from the audience: “Thank God, you’ve gone!”

CEO Vikram Pandit tried to appease the group at the New York Hilton hotel, emphasizing to shareholders that Citigroup isn’t the same company it was just a year ago, when it was became clear the bank was buckling under the weight of billions of dollars in bad debt.

Indictment sought for philanthropist

A prosecutor says he’ll ask a grand jury to indict a prominent Nebraska philanthropist on felony theft and bad check charges for failing to repay $14.75 million in gambling debts to two Las Vegas casinos.

A lawyer for Terrance “Terry” Watanabe told a judge Tuesday he wants to present evidence showing that the 52-year-old former Omaha businessman doesn’t owe the money.

Watanabe wasn’t required to appear in court Tuesday. He’s free on $1.5 million bail pending resolution of charges that could get him probation or up to 16 years in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Bernie Zadrowski says he plans to seek an indictment this week.

CHICAGO

Caterpillar reports loss during quarter

Caterpillar Inc., hampered by more than half a billion dollars in costs from its large-scale work force cuts as well as recession-battered sales, swung to a loss in the first quarter and lowered its profit guidance for full-year 2009.

The Peoria, Ill., heavy-equipment giant reported a net loss of $112 million, or 19 cents a share, in stark contrast to the year-ago quarter’s robust net income of $922 million, or $1.45 a share.

Revenue fell 21.8 percent, to $9.23 billion from $11.8 billion.

NEW YORK

Confidence in banks rekindled; Treasurys slip

Treasurys retreated Tuesday after investors regained some confidence about banks.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.38 points to 98.69. Its yield rose to 2.90 percent from 2.84 percent late Monday.

The 30-year bond fell 0.81 points to 95.66, and its yield rose to 3.74 percent from 3.69 percent.