IN BRIEF

NEW YORK

Oil prices decline as dollar gains strength

Oil prices slumped back below $71 a barrel Tuesday as a stronger dollar overshadowed expectations of a sizable OPEC output cut and led investors to shed commodities bought as an inflation hedge.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $3.36 to settle at $70.89 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract rose $2.40 to settle at $74.25 a barrel.

Crude oil is down 52 percent from its all-time peak of $147.27 reached July 11.

IPhone sales drive Apple profits higher

Apple Inc. said its profit jumped 26 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter as the newest iPhone outsold the market-leading BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd.

For the three months ended Sept. 27, Apple's profit climbed to $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per share, from $904 million, or $1.01 per share in the same period last year.

Sales rose 27 percent to $7.9 billion from $6.22 billion.

Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates expected a profit of $1.11 a share on revenue of $8.04 billion

Yahoo will lay off up to 10 percent of workers

Yahoo said Tuesday that it would lay off at least 10 percent of its work force over the next few months to grapple with the fallout of the deepening economic crisis.

At least 1,500 employees will lose their jobs as part of Yahoo's cost-savings plan, which the Internet company hopes will reduce costs by $400 million a year. Yahoo is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has offices in Santa Monica, Calif., San Francisco and New York. It didn't say where the cuts would occur.

Yahoo shares fell 79 cents, or 6.14 percent, Tuesday to close at $12.07 on the Nasdaq National Market.

PITTSBURGH

Caterpillar earnings slide by 6 percent

Caterpillar Inc.'s third-quarter profit slipped 6 percent, as the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment said Tuesday that higher steel and freight costs offset record global sales.

The company reported third-quarter net income of $868 million, or $1.39 per share, down from $927 million, or $1.40 per share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected earnings of $1.41 per share.

Manufacturing costs rose $442 million, mostly because of higher material and freight costs, investor relations director Mike de Walt said.

Revenue jumped 13 percent to $12.98 billion, setting a record for the quarter.

Caterpillar shares fell $2.07, or 5.06 percent, Tuesday to close at $38.83 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Treasury prices climb as stocks stumble

Treasury prices rose Tuesday as stocks sank.

The 10-year note rose 1.03 to 102.13 and yielded 3.74 percent, down from 3.87 percent.

The 30-year note rose 1.22 to 104.91 and yielded 4.21 percent, down from 4.26 percent.