CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Wachovia Corp., the nation's fourth-largest bank, named Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel chief executive on Wednesday, ending a nearly six-week search for a new leader.

The Charlotte-based bank also said it has set aside $4.2 billion pretax to cover bad loans for the quarter, leading to an estimated second-quarter loss of about $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion.

The quarterly loss will equal $1.23 to $1.33 per share, excluding an expected write-down of goodwill. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit.

Wachovia is expected to release second-quarter earnings on July 22.

Steel succeeds Ken Thompson, who was ousted by the bank's board in June after a series of missteps.

Among them was Thompson's decision to buy mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. in 2006 for roughly $25 billion at the height of the nation's housing boom.

Steel, 56, who has been the Treasury Department's liaison with Wall Street since the fall of 2006, announced his resignation Wednesday, effective immediately. He is an alumnus of investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. He is also a Durham, N.C., native and is chairman of the Board of Trustees at Duke University, his alma mater.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson praised Steel and said, "I know he will excel in his future endeavors."

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Anheuser-Busch claims that Belgian brewer InBev's unsolicited takeover bid isn't just bad for the bottom line, but is an "illegal scheme" that threatens to defraud Anheuser-Busch shareholders if a federal judge doesn't step in.

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. made the claim in a lawsuit filed late Monday, just hours after InBev SA filed its own motion seeking to oust Anheuser-Busch's board of directors. The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis federal court, claims that InBev is deceiving Anheuser-Busch shareholders about the company's $46 billion takeover bid by concealing a number of facts.

The suit says InBev doesn't have the solid financing to underwrite the deal, as the company claims, and that it has not disclosed that it operates a brewery in Cuba, which could complicate its efforts to operate in the United States.

"Anheuser-Busch is asking the court to prevent InBev from taking any further steps to solicit Anheuser-Busch's shareholders until it provides full and accurate information concerning its proposal," Gary Rutledge, Anheuser-Busch's vice president of legal and government affairs said in a statement Tuesday.

InBev did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday. But the company did make a public appeal for support of its bid in Anheuser-Busch's home town.

InBev took out a full-page ad in Tuesday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, saying the takeover would make for a stronger, more competitive global company. It says Budweiser would be expanded globally, and St. Louis

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. threw its weight behind investor Carl Icahn's effort to dump Yahoo Inc.'s board, saying Monday that a successful shareholder rebellion would encourage the software maker to renew its bid to buy Yahoo's Internet search engine or possibly the entire company.

The unexpected endorsement gives Icahn a carrot to dangle before Yahoo shareholders as he wages an acrimonious campaign to replace Yahoo's nine directors at the company's annual meeting Aug. 1.

It marks the first time that Microsoft has publicly sided with Icahn since the billionaire investor launched his attempted coup nearly eight weeks ago.

The two sides decided they could work together after Icahn held "frequent" discussions with Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and some of his top lieutenants during the past week, according to a letter that Icahn sent Monday to Yahoo shareholders.

Industry analysts said Icahn now has more credibility with Yahoo shareholders because he has been arguing that a purge of Yahoo's board is the only way to salvage a deal with Microsoft.

"This breathes new life into Icahn's proposal," said Stanford Group analyst Clayton Moran. "It really pushes the power to Icahn and his board (nominees)."

The prospect that a changing of the guard at Yahoo might pave the way to a friendly deal with Microsoft

Don't make these critical mistakes with your nest egg, even if times are tough

Recession or not, these are fast becoming hard times, and hard times can lead to bad decisions.

Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority warned investors to think twice before taking steps that might compromise their nest eggs, such as taking out a reverse mortgage, getting a 401(k) debit card, or cashing in life insurance policies to weather tough financial times.

"Each of these should be considered strategies of last resort," Mary Schapiro, chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said last week in a speech.

"They may raise cash quickly, but each also carries long-term consequences that can undermine financial security in retirement and pose the potential for losing a significant, and sometimes irreplaceable, asset," Schapiro said. FINRA is a nongovernmental organization that oversees U.S. security firms.

According to FINRA, Americans are faced with the perfect financial storm. Rising costs of fuel and food, declines and volatility in the housing and financial markets, and an ever-tightening credit crunch have gathered to form a storm that could lead some Americans to make poor financial decisions. "But tough financial times don't necessarily justify resorting to risky ways to make ends meet," Schapiro said.

Investors could be risking their most valuable assets when they use reverse mortgages, life settlements

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation lost jobs for a sixth month in a row in June, a storm of pink slips drenching this year's July Fourth holiday for more than 60,000 Americans and leaving thousands more worried about the future.

Weighed down by energy prices and the housing crisis, employers laid off workers in stores, factories and forsaken building sites.

With more job cuts expected in coming months, there's growing concern that many people will pull back on their spending later this year when the bracing effect of the tax rebates fades, dealing a dangerous setback to the shaky economy. These worries are rekindling recession fears.

"The deteriorating jobs climate will dampen many a barbecue this weekend. It's hard to celebrate when you are out of a job," said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.

In June alone, employers got rid of 62,000 jobs, bringing total losses so far this year close to a staggering half-million -- 438,000, according to the Labor Department's report released Thursday. The economy needs to generate more than 100,000 new jobs a month for employment to remain stable.

The jobless rate held steady at 5.5 percent after jumping in May by the most in two decades. Still, June's jobless rate was considerably higher than the 4.6 percent of a year ago. The unemployment rate is

Leisure class gives way to workaholic elite scrambling to maintain their place in life

Being rich used to get you into the leisure class. Money meant freedom -- from work, money worries, household chores and screaming kids (via boarding school).

Now, however, the wealthy seem to be as besieged as ever. The leisure class has given way to what I call the workaholic wealthy -- an elite of BlackBerry-crazed, network-obsessed, peripatetic travelers who have to keep scrambling to maintain their place in life.

According to research by Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist, quoted in an article in the Washington Post, "being wealthy is often a powerful predictor that people spend less time doing pleasurable things and more time doing compulsory things and feeling stressed."

People who make less than $20,000 a year, for instance, spent more than a third of their time in passive leisure, like kicking back and watching TV. By contrast, those making more than $100,000 a year (I would call them affluent, not wealthy), spent less than a fifth of their time in passive leisure. "The richest people spent nearly twice as much time as the poorest people in leisure activities that were structured and often stressful -- shopping, child care and exercise."

In short, stereotypes about the leisure class no longer hold true. "In reality," Mr. Kahneman and his colleagues wrote in a paper they published in the journal Science, "they should think of spending a lot

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Oil prices remained near record highs above $145 a barrel in Asia after Saudi Arabia's oil minister suggested his country doesn't plan to boost production.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery was up 23 cents at $145.52 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midafternoon in Singapore. Crude futures rose to $145.85, a record high, in New York on Thursday before settling at a record finish of $145.29 a barrel.

Oil prices have risen more than 50 percent so far this year.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi said Thursday in Madrid that the world's biggest oil exporter had no immediate plans to boost crude output because there was no need to do so. Naimi said Saudi Arabia is ready to raise production if the kingdom determines supply-and-demand fundamentals have changed. But for now, "all our buyers are satisfied and happy," he said.

Gains by the dollar Thursday against the euro helped keep oil prices from rising further. The greenback strengthened after the European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate an expected quarter point but signaled it didn't expect additional rate hikes that might further boost euro.

The dollar on Friday was slightly weaker against the euro at $1.5720. The yen was holding steady to the

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of General Motors Corp. plunged Wednesday to close below $10 for the first time in more than half a century, on worries about the company's cash needs and speculation about a possible bankruptcy protection filing down the road.

GM shares fell $1.77, or 15.1 percent, to close at $9.98. Their session low of $9.96 marked their lowest point since Sept. 13, 1954, when they hit $9.92, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. The price is adjusted for splits and other changes.

The drop came after a Merrill Lynch analyst cut his rating for GM to "Underperform" from "Buy" and slashed his price target for the company to $7 from $28, saying that the decline in automotive sales has been more severe than anyone expected and will likely continue through next year.

"We believe there is potential downside in the stock below $7 and that bankruptcy is not impossible if the market continues to deteriorate and significant incremental capital is not raised," John Murphy wrote in a note to investors.

David Healy, an auto analyst with Burnham Securities, said the $10 mark is a purely psychological one but highlights the automaker's dramatic share price plunge since the beginning of the year, along with worries that the company may have to file for bankruptcy protection. GM shares are down about 60 percent this year.

"My own opinion is that they're unlikely to file," Healy said. "But the conditions in the auto industry are so

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices shot to a new record above $144 a barrel Wednesday as the government reported a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. supplies and the threat of conflict with Iran weighed on traders' minds.

The latest spike means a barrel of crude has gone up by about half since the end of last year, when oil was going for $96 a barrel. Retail gasoline prices climbed to a record of their own in the U.S.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose as high as $144.32 on the New York Mercantile Exchange shortly after the regular trading session ended. The contract also notched a new closing record, settling at $143.57 -- a full $2.60 above the previous high from a day earlier.

Oil first traded above $100 a barrel in January. It hit the previous trading high of $143.67 Monday.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said crude oil supplies fell by 2 million barrels last week, or about 800,000 barrels more than analysts surveyed by the energy research firm Platts predicted.

However, the report offered a mixed picture of energy use by the world's thirstiest oil consumer. Gasoline supplies unexpectedly grew by a considerable amount, and demand continued to slide -- suggesting that record fuel prices are prompting a real shift in Americans' driving habits.

Even so, gas prices continue to rise along with the soaring cost of oil. Prices at the pump jumped half a penny to a new national record of $4.092 a gallon on average, according to AAA, the Oil Price

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- UnitedHealth Group Inc. cleared its decks of bad news on Wednesday, announcing a lower profit outlook, a restructuring that will trim 4,000 jobs and a $900 million payout to settle a class-action lawsuit over options backdating.

UnitedHealth said its restructuring would change operations on every level to focus more on regional coverage. The new UnitedHealth will be "simpler, leaner and faster," Chief Executive Stephen J. Hemsley said.

Analysts saw the announcements as perhaps the end of a long rough patch for UnitedHealth, the nation's second-largest health insurer. Shares in UnitedHealth Group fell 51 cents, or 2 percent, to close at $25.12 Wednesday after sliding to $25.04 earlier in the session, a level not reached since 2003.

The company has been wrestling since 2006 with the backdating scandal, which led to the forced departure of CEO Bill McGuire, who helped build UnitedHealth into a managed-care powerhouse.

UnitedHealth took a big step toward making those problems go away by agreeing to pay $895 million to settle a class-action lawsuit led by the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and Alaska Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry Pension Trust. The plaintiffs had argued that options backdating cost shareholders money.

UnitedHealth will pay $17 million to resolve another suit related to the Employee Retirement Income

The unsteady economy is altering people's attitudes toward retirement savings.

Some are trimming back their 401(k) contributions as prices for daily staples like food and energy creep higher. Others are boosting savings to better prepare for what could be a costlier retirement.

Not all retirement-savings plans have seen the strategy shift. But a number of retirement-plan providers have noticed the change, which follows an uptick in the past year in the amount of money being borrowed against 401(k)s.

"You get both sides of the equation," says David Wray, president of the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America, a not-for-profit association of companies that sponsor plans.

Wray says many families are struggling financially, but "when people look at this kind of economic environment, some say the right thing to do is to save more, protect themselves more."

A survey of baby boomers released in May by AARP, an advocacy group for older Americans, found that 33% have "stopped putting money in a 401(k), IRA or other retirement account."

The report found that older boomers -- those 55 to 64 years old -- are trying to compensate for the recent hit they took on investments by saving more and changing the types of investments. The report says the economic downturn, however, appears "to have caused greater concern and forced greater

Once just a supplement to the pension system, defined-contribution plans such as 401(k)s are growing and changing fast as they evolve into a linchpin of Americans' retirement savings and offer increasingly innovative investment options, a new study indicates.

Boosted by a widespread shift to automatic enrollment and other factors, the defined-contribution market is estimated by McKinsey & Co. to double in size by 2015 to $7.5 trillion to $8.5 trillion in assets under management.

That will make it three times larger than the once-dominant market for defined-benefit pensions, the consulting firm found in the study released Thursday.

The changes and expanding market should be good news for beleaguered consumers, forced to increasingly fund their own retirements in an era of vanishing pensions and shrinking Social Security funds. McKinsey says the increased options bring not only a wider range of choices but more opportunities to obtain investment-related advice and invest in lower-fee funds.

"The confluence of changes we are seeing in the market is signaling huge progress toward increasing the retirement readiness of the broader U.S. population," said Onur Erzan, one of the report's authors. "Defined-contribution plans are playing a much more critical and increasingly bigger role in that."

The findings also defy the notion that the defined-contribution market will decline when baby boomers retire. The analysis, based on interviews with dozens of experts and McKinsey's modeling, concludes that

SEATTLE (AP) -- Starbucks Corp. said Tuesday it will close 600 company-operated stores in the next year, up dramatically from its previous plan for 100 closures, a sign the coffee shop operator continues to struggle with the faltering U.S. economy and its own rapid expansion.

Seventy percent of the stores slated for closure had opened after the start of 2006, the company said in a statement.

To put it another way, Starbucks is closing 19 percent of all U.S. company-operated stores that opened in the last two years, Chief Financial Officer Pete Bocian said during a conference call.

About 12,000 workers, or 7 percent of Starbucks' global work force, will be affected by the closings, which are expected to take place between late July and the middle of 2009, spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said.

O'Neil said most employees will be moved to nearby stores, but she did not know exactly how many jobs will be lost. Starbucks estimated $8 million in severance costs.

In total, the company forecast up to $348 million in charges related to the closures, $200 million to be booked in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30. Starbucks reports third-quarter results at the end of July.

The 500 additional stores set to be closed had been on an internal watch list for some time. They were not profitable, not expected to be profitable in the foreseeable future, and the "vast majority" had been