IN BRIEF

LV atop list of cities with home-price dips

Home prices declined in 21 U.S. cities in January, led by Sacramento, Calif., and Las Vegas, as banks sold foreclosed homes at bargain prices.

The price per square foot in Sacramento, the capital of California, dropped 28 percent to $166 from a year earlier, a report released Thursday by New York-based Radar Logic, a real estate data company, shows. Las Vegas fell 25 percent to $137 a square foot.

Rising foreclosures and tighter lending standards are deepening the U.S. housing slump as it enters its third year. The median price of an existing single-family home dropped 8.7 percent in February from a year earlier, the most in four decades of record keeping, the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors said in a March 24 report.

WASHINGTON

Borrowers fall behind on loans in quarter

Borrowers fell behind on their car, home equity and home improvement loans in the last three months of 2007 at a delinquency rate not hit since the early 1990s.

The American Bankers Association reported Thursday that late payments on a group of consumer loans increased to 2.65 percent in the October-December quarter, up from 2.44 percent in the July-September quarter. It was the highest level since the first quarter of 1992, when the economy had just emerged from a recession.

Payments are considered delinquent if they are 30 or more days past due. The survey is based on information supplied by more than 300 banks nationwide. Late payments increased across all eight loan categories surveyed by the bankers' association.

WASHINGTON

Smart minicar scores poorly in crash tests

The Smart Fortwo two-seat minicar received one of the lowest crash-test scores among 2008 car models for protecting passengers, according to federal test results released Thursday.

Smart said the results were as expected, although the company has told customers the Fortwo was designed to get four stars in testing.

The Smart, a European model developed by Daimler AG, scored four out of five stars for protecting drivers in a head-on collision under tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But the Smart garnered only three stars in the same test for passenger protection, meaning the agency estimates passengers face a 21 percent to 35 percent chance of serious injury.

NEW YORK

Supply shortfall pushes corn to record price

Corn prices jumped to a record $6 a bushel Thursday, driven up by an expected supply shortfall that will only add to Americans' growing grocery bill and further squeeze struggling ethanol producers.

Corn prices have risen nearly 30 percent this year amid dwindling stockpiles and surging demand for the grain used to feed livestock and make alternative fuels including ethanol. Prices are poised to go even higher after the U.S. government this week predicted that American farmers -- the world's biggest corn producers -- will plant sharply less of the crop in 2008 compared to last year.

Corn for the most actively traded May contract rose 4.25 cents to settle at $6 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier rising to $6.025 a bushel -- a new all-time high.

Motorola cuts 2,600 jobs in first quarter

Motorola, the largest U.S. maker of mobile phones, cut 2,600 jobs in the first quarter, costing the company $104 million in pretax expenses.

The reductions affected all business units during the first three months of the year, Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said in a regulatory filing.

Chief Executive Officer Greg Brown took over from Ed Zander this year after Motorola lost market share to Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics Co. He said in January that the company had started to cut expenses by $500 million. Brown didn't say how many people would be fired.

The latest reductions follow 7,500 job cuts started last year. The company said Wednesday it will stop making handsets in Singapore by year's end, eliminating 700 jobs.

LOS ANGELES

Apple says company top U.S. music seller

Apple says a new consumer study shows its iTunes online music store vaulted past Wal-Mart Stores in February to become the top overall music retailer in the United States.

Apple said Thursday that consumer surveys conducted by market research firm The NPD Group show iTunes' music sales surpassed those of the discount retailer in January and February.

Itunes has sold more than 4 billion tracks since its launch in 2003, thanks in part to the popularity of its iPod portable music players.

The NPD surveys count every 12 digital downloads as one CD. They exclude mobile music sales.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices increase amid economic worries

Long-term Treasury prices edged higher Thursday after worries about a faltering economy were reinforced by news of a sharp jump in jobless claims.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained just 0.03 points to close at 99.03 with a yield of 3.607 percent, unchanged from 3.60 percent late Wednesday, according to BGCantor Market Data.

The 30-year long bond rose 0.13 points to 99.81 with a yield of 4.39 percent, down from 4.43 percent the day before.