IN BRIEF

Casino companies sniff around Massachusetts

A few Las Vegas-based casino companies are poking around Massachusetts as the commonwealth's government prepares to take another look at legalized gambling, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.

Steve Wynn and Boyd Gaming Corp., have hired lobbyists and sent representatives to discuss the possibility of legalized gambling with policymakers.

Although some developers want resort casinos legalized, owners of the tracks would like to see slot-machine parlors at their establishments legalized.

Boyd Gaming has met with a dog track owner and a harness race course owner in the past several weeks, presumably about buying the course or forming a partnership.

Station Casinos was reportedly meeting with the dog track owner Thursday and met with another track owner recently.

Harrah's Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman, who lives in Massachusetts, and Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Sheldon Adelson, who grew up in the Bay State, have expressed interest in the past in pursuing projects in Massachusetts.

Bank parent warned of noncompliance

Community Bancorp on Thursday said it received notice from the Nasdaq National Market that it is not complying with listing requirements, because it did not file its first quarter financial report on time.

Nasdaq earlier sent the company a similar notice to the Las Vegas bank holding company on its failure to file an annual report on time.

Community Bank shares, which trade under the symbol CBON, fell 19 cents, or 14.07 percent, Thursday to close at $11.16.

NEW YORK

Chrysler exec sees close of sale of assets to Fiat

Chrysler Chief Executive Robert Nardelli said he expects the sale of the bulk of Chrysler's assets to a group headed by Italy's Fiat Group SpA to close today, assuming the judge overseeing the automaker's bankruptcy protection case approves the deal.

Nardelli testified in court Thursday that he expects the required U.S. regulatory approvals for the sale to be in place by today and international approvals to follow shortly thereafter.

But it's likely that if U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzalez does approve the deal, attorneys representing three Indiana state pension and construction funds, which hold Chrysler debt and are aggressively opposing the sale, will appeal the decision and force the company to postpone the closing. Fiat could back out if the deal doesn't close by June 15.

WAUKESHA, Wis.

Target investors resist push to enlarge board

Rejecting a hedge fund's bid to enlarge Target Corp.'s board and infuse it with new blood, the company's shareholders re-elected a slate of four incumbents Thursday at their annual meeting, according to preliminary vote totals.

Activist shareholder William Ackman had sparred with Target for months in a contentious campaign to add five of his own picks -- including himself -- to the Minneapolis-based retailer's board of directors, replacing the four incumbents, whose terms were set to expire.

Ackman, head of Pershing Square Capital Management, which holds 7.8 percent of Target's outstanding stock, has argued that its board needed members with new perspective to compete effectively with its chief rival, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Shareholders rejected that argument at their meeting in an unfinished store outside Milwaukee and re-elected Mary Dillon, Richard Kovacevich, George Tamke and Solomon Trujillo, whose terms were set to expire. Shareholders also sided with the company in approving a measure that keeps the board's size at 12 members, instead of enlarging it to the 13 Ackman proposed.

CINCINNATI

Procter & Gamble execs see tough road

Procter & Gamble Co. leaders expect another tough year for sales of consumer products, while saying Thursday they have aggressive plans to build up their market share against competitors during the recession.

The maker of Tide detergent, Gillette shavers and other familiar household brands offered a cautious outlook to analysts in New York on Thursday, projecting earnings per share in a range of $3.65 to $3.80 for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The company says that would represent growth at a rate of roughly zero to 4 percent compared with its estimates for the current year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings per share of $3.91.

P&G officials led by A.G. Lafley, chairman and chief executive, said the company will intensify business-building efforts in developing markets such as China, India and Brazil, invest aggressively in marketing and developing new products for its major brands, and continue to cut costs and boost productivity.

SAN JOSE, Calif.

'Intelligent agent' app unveiled for iPhone

What could be one of the most significant advances in artificial intelligence in a decade is heading toward the iPhone App store this fall.

Siri, a San Jose company, announced Wednesday that it would offer an "intelligent agent" for Apple's iPhone that would, the company said, be able to find movie theaters, book restaurant reservations and airline flights, buy from online retail sites. It could even answer trivia questions like "How many calories are in a banana," all by understanding spoken commands.

Experts in artificial intelligence, or AI, say Siri will either be the first "intelligent agent" that responds to natural language -- or the most recent failure in a series of spectacularly unsuccessful attempts to write software code that replicates some basic functions of the human brain.

SEATTLE

Dell's first-quarter profits fall 63 percent

Dell Inc. said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter profit fell 63 percent as the recession continued to crimp computer sales around the world.

Dell's earned $290 million, or 15 cents per share, in the three months that ended May 1, down from $784 million, or 38 cents per share, a year earlier.

The most recent results included a 9 cents-per-share charge from closing plants and paying severance to laid-off workers. Excluding the charge, Dell earned 24 cents per share, or a penny better than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast.

Sales dropped 23 percent to $12.3 billion.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices rise as investors snap up notes

Long-term borrowing rates fell back on Thursday as investors returned in numbers to pick up newly issued Treasury notes.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.94 points to 95.88, pushing the yield down to 3.67 percent from 3.69 percent.

The 30-year bond rose 2.66 to 96.03, sending its yield down to 4.53 percent from 4.60 percent.