IN BRIEF
NEW YORK
Oil prices jump amid fears of inventory drop
Oil prices jumped Wednesday on supply concerns, stoked by a new round of Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq and a growing belief that domestic oil inventories fell last week.
Turkey's military said its warplanes bombed eight suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq on Wednesday. It was the third Turkish strike inside Iraq in less than two weeks. Oil traders worry that the rebels could cut oil supplies from Iraq in retaliation.
The new attacks came as oil investors awaited inventory data from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. It is expected to show that crude supplies fell by 1.3 million barrels last week, the sixth straight weekly decline.
The inventory numbers will be released today.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.84 to settle at $95.97 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose as high as $96.54, a one-month high.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.
FedEx rates increase in freight trucking unit
FedEx Corp. announced a general rate increase of 5.5 percent Wednesday for its FedEx Freight trucking division.
The demand for freight shipping is "severely restrained" by the weak national economy, the company said, noting the 6 percent drop in less-than-truckload shipments with FedEx Freight from a second-quarter earnings report last week.
The rate boost for freight trucking, to take effect Jan. 14, follows increases at the shipper's other divisions, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground.
In October, the Memphis-based company said a rate increase for FedEx Express is expected to average 4.9 percent, after figuring in a 2 percent reduction in fuel surcharges. The company announced a similar rate increase for FedEx Ground last month.
TOPEKA, Kan.
Application deadlines near for Kansas casinos
Developers of a proposed Dodge City casino had no competition in Kansas' smallest gambling market as the deadline approached Wednesday to apply for the necessary state contract.
But two other groups had told the Kansas Lottery that they might apply for the Ford County contract, Director Ed Van Petten said.
Three application deadlines loomed within six days: Wednesday for Ford County, Friday for Sumner County and Monday for Wyandotte County. Another deadline, for Cherokee or Crawford counties, was Dec. 6.
Penn National Gaming applied to build a casino-and-hotel complex costing $365 million or more in Sumner County, near the Wellington exit on I-35. The Las Vegas-based Binion Family Trust also has said it will apply for a casino near Wellington.
Two other groups have applied for casinos near the Mulvane exit of Interstate 35. One includes Topeka investors and Harrah's Entertainment and the second, Foxwoods Development Co. and MGM Mirage.
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran, Malaysia agree to develop gas fields
Iran and Malaysia signed a $16 billion agreement to develop two Iranian gas fields, state-run television reported Wednesday, describing the deal as the largest energy contract in Iran.
Iran's Pars Oil and Gas Co. and Malaysia's SKS Ventures signed the multibillion dollar contract to develop Golshan and Ferdows gas fields in southern Iran.
The contract was formally signed by Ali Vakili, director of POGC, and Mokhtar Al-Bokhari, director of SKS Ventures, in the capital Tehran on Wednesday, according to the report.
NEW YORK
Wal-Mart struggling to process gift cards
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, said Wednesday it is having problems processing gift cards.
In a statement, Wal-Mart said once it discovered the problem, it investigated and found that a "third-party verifier's systems had an inadvertent processing error." The retailer said the error caused delays in gift card verifications.
"We are working with the supplier to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and we apologize for the inconvenience to our customers," the store said in the statement.
TOLEDO, Ohio
Order confirming Dana reorganization signed
Dana Corp., a major auto parts supplier, said Wednesday a judge signed an order confirming a reorganization plan that would allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy next month.
Dana sells brakes, axles and other parts to automakers such as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. The order was signed by Judge Burton Lifland of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
The company said its constituents identified, agreed on and won court approval for about $440 million to $475 million in annual cost savings and revenue improvement.
Google faces lawsuit over toolbar feature
Google, owner of the most-used Internet search engine, must face a Wisconsin company's lawsuit over a toolbar feature that generates Web links from computer- search data, a federal appeals court decided.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington revived part of HyperPhrase Technologies' lawsuit on Wednesday, throwing out a lower court ruling that Google's AutoLink feature didn't infringe its patents.
As part of Google's Web browser toolbar, AutoLink gives users more information than standard Web links. It recognizes data such as addresses and book numbers, then provides links to online maps or books on Amazon.com.
NEW YORK
Treasury prices decline after notes auction
Treasury prices finished lower Wednesday after an auction of new 2-year notes attracted unexpectedly brisk demand but failed to spur the market.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.47 points to 99.72 with a yield of 4.29 percent, up from 4.21 percent late Monday. The market was closed Tuesday for Christmas. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
