IN BRIEF

WASHINGTON

Interest rates decline in Treasury bill auction

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction.

The Treasury Department auctioned $20 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.825 percent, down from 4.885 percent last week.

An additional $17 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.8 percent, down from 4.89 percent last week.

Low prices help Dow shake slump, post rise

Wall Street found a foothold Monday as investors, still anxious that a credit crunch could crimp U.S. growth, took advantage of low prices after last week's steep losses. The Dow Jones industrial average surged more than 90 points.

Earnings and takeover activity boosted the stock market, which was coming off the Dow's and the Standard & Poor's 500 index's biggest weekly drops in nearly five years. The Dow rose 92.84, or 0.7 percent, to 13,358.31.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 14.96, or 1.03 percent, to 1,473.91, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 21.04, or 0.82 percent, to 2,583.28.

BEIJING

China tightens credit to curb economy

China tightened credit Monday in a new effort to cool its sizzling economy, ordering banks to shrink the pool of money for lending by increasing their reserves for a sixth time this year.

The move was widely expected after the economy grew by 11.9 percent last quarter, its fastest rate in 12 years, despite earlier efforts to slow the expansion. Beijing raised interest rates on July 20 for a third time this year.

The amount of reserves that lenders must keep with the central bank was raised 0.5 points to 12 percent of their deposits, the central bank said.

STAMFORD, Conn.

Xerox says new paper will help save trees

Xerox Corp. on Monday unveiled a new paper that the office equipment manufacturer says uses half as many trees as traditional paper and reduces mailing costs.

Xerox's new paper for digital printing uses pulp that is produced by grinding wood into papermaking pulp instead of using the more widespread chemical pulping process.

Xerox also says its new paper uses 90 percent of a tree, twice the proportion typically used to manufacture paper for digital printers. It also requires less water and fewer chemicals and is produced in a plant using hydroelectricity to partially power the pulping process.

NEW YORK

Treasurys decline as stocks regain footing

U.S. Treasury prices fell Monday as stock prices found some footing and gained.

At 5 p.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was down $3.13 per $1,000 in face value, or 0.31 points, from its level at 5 p.m. Friday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 4.81 percent from 4.77 percent.