IN BRIEF

PLANO, Texas

J.C. Penney warns profit will miss forecasts

J.C. Penney Co. Inc., which has stores anchoring hundreds of malls across the country, delivered fresh evidence Friday that the economy is faltering in the face of higher gasoline prices and lower consumer confidence.

The department store chain warned that first-quarter profits will be one-third lower than Wall Street expected, sending its shares tumbling.

The company said it now expects first-quarter net income of about 50 cents per share, down from its earlier forecast for a profit of 75 cents to 80 cents per share. Analysts had been expecting 75 cents per share, a survey by Thomson Financial shows.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key measurement in retailing, are expected to fall at least 10 percent in March and by a "high-single digit" percentage for the entire quarter, which ends May 3.

J.C. Penney shares fell $3.04, or 7.5 percent, Friday to close at $37.48 on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK

Oil futures slip as fears of export halt recede

Oil futures pulled back sharply Friday after fears of a major disruption of Iraqi crude exports dissipated. A stronger dollar also lessened investors' appetite for crude.

At the pump, meanwhile, retail gasoline prices rose closer to record levels, while diesel prices extended their slide.

In Iraq, a key oil export pipeline that was bombed Thursday was repaired Friday, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Word of the explosion had raised concerns that Iraqi exports would fall sharply and sent oil prices surging higher.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery fell $1.96 to settle at $105.62 a barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

PHOENIX

Airlines look for ways to lighten jets' loads

Your ginger-ale doesn't come in a glass anymore on most US Airways flights. On Delta you'll find yourself in a thinner, lighter seat. If you fly JetBlue cross-country, you'll get a dainty bag of 100-calorie crisps in place of the original snack box of cookies, crackers and spreadable cheese.

With jet fuel prices so high, airlines have no choice but to scour their planes for ways to lighten the load. There's no room for even the smallest bits of dead weight, from redundant wing lights to extra wires in the walls. Manufacturers also are using lighter materials in plane construction.

"The pressure is immense" to cut weight, said John Heimlich, chief economist for the Air Transport Association of America, an industry trade group. "Every penny more per gallon adds $195 million to the industry's expenses per year."

Jet fuel, which the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration tracked at $3.17 per gallon in New York on Tuesday, has doubled since the beginning of 2007.

LOS ANGELES

KB Home quarterly loss exceeds $286 million

KB Home, one of the nation's biggest residential homebuilders, said Friday it posted a loss of more than $268 million in its first quarter as weak home sales amid a worsening housing market forced the company to take a large write-down related to falling home prices.

Jeffrey Mezger, KB Home's president, said a growing supply of unsold new and existing homes on the market, tight mortgage lending and industrywide discounting drove down sale prices and compressed margins during the quarter.

That forced the builder to take impairment charges and walk away from land option contracts.

For the quarter ended Feb. 29, the Los Angeles-based company posted a loss of $268.2 million, or $3.47 per share, compared with a profit of $27.6 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

The latest period included a charge of $223.9 million in write-downs related to falling home prices.

Revenue fell 42.9 percent to $794.2 million from $1.39 billion last year.

PORTLAND, Maine

Illicit program enabled Hannaford data breach

Unauthorized software that was secretly installed on servers in Hannaford Bros. Co.'s supermarkets across the Northeast and in Florida enabled the massive data breach that compromised up to 4.2 million credit and debit cards, the company said Friday.

The Scarborough, Maine-based grocer confirmed a report in The Boston Globe that it told Massachusetts regulators this week about the link between the breach and the illicit programs, known as "malware."

At least 1,800 cases of fraud have been linked to the data breach, with unauthorized charges showing up as far afield as Mexico, Italy and Bulgaria.

SAN ANTONIO

Lenders don't show at Clear Channel meeting

The lenders committed to financing the $19.5 billion private buyout of Clear Channel Communications didn't show up to a meeting of the company and buyers even after a judge issued an order barring the banks from hindering or undermining the deal, the company said in a filing Friday.

Representatives from Clear Channel and the private equity buyers, led by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee LLC, met Thursday. But the lenders didn't show, and Clear Channel said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that "the company continues to be ready, willing and able to consummate the merger ... The company is unable, however, to estimate a closing date at this time and cautions the markets that a closing may not occur."

NEW YORK

Consumer spending data boost Treasurys

Treasurys finished a wobbly week with a gain Friday after data showing an anemic rise in personal spending compelled investors to put money into safe assets.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.69 points to 100.47, and yielded 3.45 percent, down from 3.52 percent late Thursday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.