IN BRIEF

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J.

Campbell Soup outlook offers signal of hope

Campbell Soup Co. said Monday its 2008 profit will be at the upper end of the range it had previously expected, a hopeful sign for a company coming off a down quarter.

Campbell says it now expects earnings per share excluding one-time charges and gains to be at the top end of its range of 5 percent to 7 percent growth. That works out to $2.05 to $2.09 per share.

Thomson Financial says analysts expect profit of $2.06 per share for the year.

Campbell's today is expected to report on its fledgling efforts to sell its soups in China and Russia as part of a series of presentations to investors.

WASHINGTON

Interest rates mixed in Treasury auction

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with yields on three-month bills rising while six-month bills declined.

The Treasury Department auctioned $23 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.9 percent, up from 1.855 percent last week, and $22 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 2.135 percent, down from 2.255 percent last week.

ST. LOUIS

Anheuser-Busch to cut pension, health benefits

Anheuser-Busch Cos. plans to cut pension and health care benefits for its salaried employees as part of an effort to slash $1 billion in costs by the end of 2010 and fend off an unsolicited $46 billion bid from Belgian brewer InBev.

The brewer laid out its benefit-cut plan in a memo sent to salaried employees Friday.

The memo says employees' individual, lump-sum payouts under the pension plan will be reduced by approximately 5 percent to 6 percent in 2009 and approximately 15 percent by 2012.

Workers also will make a bigger contribution to their health insurance plan, rising from approximately 21 percent today to 25 percent of the cost beginning in 2009.

PITTSBURGH

Casino project will proceed as planned

Construction of a slots casino in Pittsburgh will proceed according to schedule after the developer secured last-minute financing for the project.

Developer Don Barden met with contractors of the Majestic Star project on Monday to inform them that he had secured the $780 million he needed to advance. The announcement came after a threat to stop construction because Barden fell back on his payments in April.

Barden's spokesman Bob Oltmanns says Walton Street Capital, a firm headed by Neil Bluhm of Chicago, will fund the project. Pittsburgh's casino is scheduled to be completed in May.

Barden owns Fitzgeralds in downtown Las Vegas.

NEW YORK

Ten-year Treasury yields static ahead of reports

Treasury prices were little changed Monday as investors hesitated to make any big moves ahead of more readings later this week on the shaky U.S. economy.

The 10-year note finished unchanged at 99.25, and its yield was at 3.97 percent, the same as late Friday.

The 10-year yield began the year at about 4.03 percent.