IN BRIEF

Missouri regulators OK Harrah's buyout

Harrah's Entertainment says it has received approval from the Missouri Gaming Commission for its $17.1 billion purchase by two private equity firms.

The transaction, announced in December 2006, still requires approval by other jurisdictions in which Harrah's operates.

Nevada regulators are scheduled to take up the issue Wednesday.

Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group agreed to buy the Harrah's for $90 per share. Shareholders approved the deal in April.

DALLAS

Dell profits increase 27 percent in quarter

Dell said earnings grew 27 percent in the third quarter, buoyed by growth in overseas markets like Brazil and by prices falling for memory chips and other components.

Dell, which posted results after markets closed Thursday, earned $766 million, or 34 cents per share, in the three months ended Nov. 2, up from a revised $601 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 9 percent to $15.64 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected company to post profits of 35 cents per share on revenue of $15.34 billion.

WASHINGTON

Thirty-year mortgage rates decline in week

Mortgage rates fell sharply this week with rates on 30-year mortgages dropping to the lowest level in more than two years.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.1 percent. That was down from 6.2 percent last week and was the lowest rate since the week of Oct. 13. 2005, when rates stood at 6.03 percent.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, slid to 5.73 percent, from 5.83 percent last week. This week's rate hasn't been lower since the week ending Jan. 26, 2006, when 15-year rates averaged 5.70 percent.

E*Trade Financial will get $2.55 billion boost

E*Trade Financial Corp., the online bank and brokerage, got a $2.55 billion infusion from Citadel Investment Group and ousted its chief executive officer after the shares sank almost 80 percent and customers withdrew cash.

Chief Operating Officer Jarrett Lilien took over as acting CEO, replacing Mitchell Caplan, E*Trade said in a statement. Citadel, the Chicago-based hedge-fund manager run by Kenneth Griffin, will get a 17 percent stake in the company and pay about $800 million, or 27 cents on the dollar, for asset-backed securities with a face value of $3 billion.

E*Trade Financial shares fell 46 cents, or 8.71 percent, Thursday to close at $4.82 on the Nasdaq National Market.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.

Court won't hear casino license appeal

The Illinois Supreme Court is refusing to hear an appeal in the long battle over an unused riverboat casino license.

State officials say this is a big step toward freeing up the license so that it can be auctioned off to another gambling company.

But an attorney for the Emerald Casino says it isn't over yet. He has promised to take the case to the US Supreme Court.

Emerald was originally supposed to open a casino in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont.

LONDON

Can't find a bathroom? Send a text message

First came SatNav for lost drivers. Now there's "SatLav,"a toilet-finding service to help people caught short in central London.

On Thursday, the Westminster City Council launched a new mobile phone text message service that will guide Londoners and tourists to their nearest public lavatory. Anyone who sends the word "Toilet" to 80097 will receive a reply giving details of their nearest public convenience.

The service is available across the Westminster, an area that includes many of the capital's most popular sights, such as Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace.

NEW YORK

Treasurys rally; yield back below 4 percent

Treasury prices rallied Thursday, pressing the benchmark 10-year note yield back below 4 percent, after reports stoked hopes alive that the Federal Reserve will cut rates again soon.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rallied 0.84 points to 102.53 with a yield of 3.94 percent, down from 4.05 percent late Wednesday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The 30-year long bond rose 1.38 points to 110.72 with a yield of 4.36 percent, down from 4.43 percent late Wednesday.