IN BRIEF

Macy's, Dillard's plan stores at new mall

Department stores Macy's and Dillard's will join Nordstrom at a 1.5 million-square-foot mall in Summerlin Centre, a planned community scheduled to open in October 2009.

General Growth Properties this week announced the two stores would be anchor tenants at The Shops at Summerlin Centre. The mall will also feature the first Crate and Barrel store in Nevada.

In total, the mall is expected to include 100 stores and 10 restaurants.

Separately, Macy's on Wednesday posted results that beat Wall Street expectations because of what analysts said were tight controls on expenses despite a $59 million loss and first-quarter sales slump.

Losses totaled 14 cents a share in the three months ended May 3, compared with a profit of $36 million, or 8 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago, Macy's said.

Revenue fell 2.9 percent to $5.75 billion from $5.92 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast a loss of 2 cents a share on revenue of $5.6 billion.

NEW YORK

Gasoline prices hit record; oil costs fall

Gasoline prices roared above $3.75 a gallon Wednesday, while oil prices fell after an Energy Department report gave a mixed picture of the nation's petroleum reserves.

At the pump, the average national price of a gallon of regular gas rose 2.6 cents overnight to a record $3.758 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gasoline prices are 67 cents higher than a year ago, and are expected to continue rising at least until the Memorial Day weekend.

Meanwhile, light, sweet crude for June delivery fell $1.58 to settle at $124.22 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The EIA report said crude inventories rose by 200,000 barrels last week, less than the 2.5 million barrel jump analysts surveyed by research firm Platts had expected.

Freddie Mac tops forecast; doubts linger

Freddie Mac beat Wall Street's expectations in the first quarter, but the mortgage finance company didn't vanquish concerns about its ability to weather the housing bust.

Changes in accounting practices helped McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac achieve better-than-expected results Wednesday. For example, Freddie adjusted how it accounts for derivatives, financial instruments used to hedge against swings in interest rates.

Under the new accounting practices, the company said it lost more than $1.3 billion on those derivatives in the first quarter, compared with a loss of nearly $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Freddie reported a first-quarter loss of $151 million, or 66 cents a share, beating the expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who expected a loss of 92 cents per share.

Revenue more than doubled to $1.53 billion from $694 million.

FAIRFIELD, Conn.

General Electric will auction off business

General Electric Co. plans to auction off its appliances business, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

GE has hired Goldman Sachs Group to run an auction for the appliance division, reported the newspaper, quoting unidentified sources. The sale could yield between $5 billion and $8 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Spokesmen for the Fairfield-based industrial conglomerate and Goldman Sachs would not comment.

LOS ANGELES

Broadcom founders charged by regulators

Securities regulators on Wednesday charged Broadcom Corp. co-founders Henry Nicholas III and Henry Samueli with falsifying the company's reported income, leading to what is believed to be the largest accounting restatement to date because of backdating stock options.

A civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission also charges former chief financial officer William J. Ruehle and general counsel David Dull. It seeks injunctions, unspecified monetary penalties as well as removing Samueli and Dull from their positions.

The four men are accused of violating federal securities laws by misrepresenting the dates on which stock options were granted to its executives and employees.

NEW YORK

Clear Channel takes deal, closer to buyout

A lot has changed in the year and a half since radio industry leader Clear Channel Communications struck a deal to go private. Credit markets seized up, radio advertising continued to falter and another radio buyout deal failed.

All that helps explain why Clear Channel didn't mind taking a lower price and slightly higher lending rates to settle a dispute with its lenders late Tuesday, clearing the way for the long-delayed buyout deal to proceed.

The final $36 per-share price was 8 percent below the latest offer of $39.20, and even below the original price of $37.60 that major shareholders had opposed as being too low.

But Clear Channel wasn't taking any chances of the financing falling apart, noting in a late-night announcement Tuesday that the company, its two private equity partners and six lending banks had agreed to "fully negotiated and documented definitive agreements" for financing.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices mixed amid inflation news

Treasury prices traded mixed Wednesday, after investors briefly rallied on a report showing mild April inflation.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.06 points to 99.63 and yielded 3.92 percent, up from 3.91 percent late Tuesday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Bond prices move in the opposite direction of yields.