BEIJING (AP) -- Coca-Cola Co. will have to submit its bid to buy a Chinese juice producer for review under China's new anti-monopoly law, state television reported, setting up the first major test of the legislation.

Coca-Cola's $2.5 billion offer last week for China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. already has stirred nationalist opposition. Comments posted on Chinese Web sites criticized the sale as the loss of a leading company to foreign owners.

The anti-monopoly law, which took effect Aug. 1, was welcomed by foreign business groups as a step toward clarifying commercial conditions in China. But Beijing has released no details of what companies must do to comply.

Regulators have yet to receive a request from Coca-Cola for approval to buy Huiyuan, state television said on its Web site in a report dated Sunday.

"This acquisition is a very big one. So when we receive the application, we will inspect it carefully in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law," a ministry spokesman, Yao Shenhong, was quoted as saying.

The Commerce Ministry did not respond Monday to questions by phone and fax about the status of the proposed purchase. A Coca-Cola spokesman in Hong Kong, Kenth Kaerhoeg, said the company will do "whatever it takes to facilitate this process" but declined to say whether it has submitted a formal application or comment on details of the review.

China is the world's leading destination for foreign investment. But the purchase of established companies is still rare and politically sensitive. In July, the U.S. investment fund Carlyle Group ended a three-year

NEW YORK (AP) -- Altria, the U.S. leader in cigarettes, wants to be No. 1 in smokeless products too.

The owner of the nation's biggest cigarette seller said Monday that it will buy UST, the maker of Skoal and Copenhagen, in a $10.4 billion deal that is part of the wider consolidation of the global tobacco industry.

Observers say Lorillard, which was spun off from Loews Corp. in June, could be next on the list of potential targets.

"It's going to put pressure on everybody else to consolidate," said Sachin Shah, an analyst with iCap Equities. Shah said tobacco leaf producer Universal Corp. and Vector Group Ltd. could also be potential targets.

Altria owns the Marlboro brand and the nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA. It has been test marketing Marlboro brand smokeless products, but analysts say the results have been disappointing so far. Its acquisition of UST will give it a strong position in smokeless tobacco, a segment of the U.S. market that is growing as cigarettes decline.

American smokers are buying fewer cigarettes as smoking bans and health concerns dampen demand by 3 percent to 4 percent a year. That has forced tobacco companies to look for sales growth from alternatives such as cigars, chewing tobacco and snus, teabag-like pouches that are popular in parts of

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bank of America Corp. said Friday it is ready to settle federal and state investigations into sales of risky auction-rate securities, joining eight other big investment banks that have agreed to buy back a total of more than $50 billion of the securities.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it has been in negotiations for nearly a month with the Securities and Exchange Commission and authorities in New York and Massachusetts on a possible settlement to buy back the bond-like securities from investors.

"We are ready and willing to enter into an agreement that follows the same basic terms of previously announced settlements," Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said in an e-mailed message. "We understood that we had reached such an agreement in principle nearly two weeks ago."

"We hope that all of the parties will work towards completing a settlement for the benefit of investors who have been affected by unprecedented market disruptions," Norton said.

The SEC, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and a number of other state regulators have been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into banks' marketing of auction-rate securities. The regulators have alleged that the banks misled customers into believing the auction-rate securities were safe, cash-like investments.

Tens of thousands of investors nationwide -- including institutional and individual investors, cities and towns, charities and small businesses -- were left holding damaged, illiquid securities when the $330 billion

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate bolted above the psychologically important 6 percent level last month for the first time in five years -- and it's likely to go even higher in the months ahead, possibly throwing the economy into a tailspin as Americans pick a new president.

A blizzard of pink slips propelled the jobless rate from 5.7 percent in July to 6.1 percent in August, the Labor Department reported Friday. Such a sharp increase is usually a strong recession warning, and it dashed investors' hopes for a late-year recovery.

Worried about the economy and their own business prospects, employers cut payrolls by 84,000 in August, marking the eighth straight month of losses.

So far this year, a staggering 605,000 jobs have vanished -- slightly less than the population of Alaska. The economy needs to generate more than 100,000 new jobs a month for employment to remain stable.

Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research, feared that the jobless rate would cause consumers and businesses to "move from a moderately concerned stage to outright fear" and reduce their spending even more.

A toxic trio of housing, credit and financial problems has badly shaken the economy, and the crisis shows no signs of letting up. It's the public's top worry, and many experts believe the situation will get worse before it gets better.

The unemployment increase means many companies will feel pressure to reduce their business

NEW YORK (AP) -- The dollar rose to a 2008 high against the euro and a fresh 28-month high against the pound Thursday after the European Central Bank held its interest rate steady and cut growth forecasts for the euro zone.

The 15-nation currency dropped to $1.4331 from $1.4493 late in New York Wednesday after earlier touching a new 2008 low of $1.4319.

The ECB held its interest rate at 4.25 percent, as expected, as it struggles to balance accelerating inflation with slowing economic expansion. But the central bank cut its growth forecasts for 2008 and 2009 as it raised its inflation outlook. It said GDP growth in the euro zone would be from 1.1 percent to 1.7 percent in 2008, and from 0.6 percent to 1.8 percent in 2009, lower than previous estimates.

The British pound dropped to $1.7690 from $1.7759 after glancing off a fresh 28-month low of $1.7625. While the Bank of England also kept its key interest rate steady, at 5 percent, rate cuts are expected amid a housing crisis and economic stagnation in England, wrote Ashraf Laidi, chief currency strategist at CMC Markets US in New York, in a research note.

Higher interest rates can support a currency as investors transfer funds to where they can get better yields, while also helping to tamp down inflation. Cutting rates can weaken a currency while spurring economic growth.

"The euro zone is headed to recession," said Win Thin, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week, the government said Thursday, while companies responded to the slowing economy by producing more with fewer workers.

It was not great news for American workers, who have seen jobs decline and wages erode, but it may signal less inflation worries for the Federal Reserve.

The Labor Department reported that new applications for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 444,000, up 15,000 from the previous week. Economists had expected claims to drop to 420,000.

That news, plus disappointing sales reports from retailers, sent financial markets down as investors lost hope for an end of the year recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 344.65, or 2.99 percent, to 11,188.23, its worst tumble since June 26, when it fell more than 3.03 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.99 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index slid 3.20 percent.

Stocks fell even though the price of oil dropped to its lowest in five months on worries that the slowing global economy would curtail energy demand from businesses and consumers.

Many economists expect unemployment will continue to rise for the rest of the year. A separate report on Thursday indicated that hiring by companies in the service sector has declined.

"Across the board, we're seeing evidence that labor conditions are worsening," said Carl Riccadonna,

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices closed at their lowest level in five months Thursday as a lower-than-expected drop in U.S. gasoline supplies gave traders more reason to believe that a cooling economy is forcing Americans to drive less.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.46 to settle at $107.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the lowest settlement price for a front-month contract since April 4.

Crude prices have fallen for five straight sessions, extending an almost two-month slide as traders shift their attention away from supply-threatening storms and back toward a stronger dollar and evidence of falling demand.

On Wednesday, oil prices settled 36 cents lower at $109.35 a barrel, a day after a dramatic, nearly $6 plunge in response to less damage from Hurricane Gustav than the oil industry feared. That brought crude prices in sight of $100 a barrel, a level not seen since April 1.

A smaller-than-expected drawdown of U.S. gasoline stocks was the primary driver of Thursday's declines.

In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Department's EIA said U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 1 million barrels to 194.4 million barrels for the week ending Aug. 29, less than the 1.8 million-barrel drop analysts surveyed by energy research firm had Platts expected.

Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill., said the inventory numbers may have been skewed by market irregularities caused by Gustav, but he said the

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The country is stuck in a slow-growth rut, the Federal Reserve suggested Wednesday.

Higher prices for energy, food and other things are pinching people and businesses -- reasons enough for the economy to be Americans' top concern heading into the presidential elections.

The Fed's report on business conditions around the nation provided fresh evidence of the toll that housing, credit and financial problems are taking on the economy as a whole.

With problems expected to persist into next year, the next president -- be it John McCain or Barack Obama -- is likely to face many challenges.

Heading into the fall, "economic activity has been slow" in most of the Fed's 12 regions, according to the report. Businesses described the climate as "weak" or "soft" or "subdued."

A growing number of analysts believe the economy could be thrown into a tailspin later this year and early next year as consumers and businesses curtail their spending even more.

"Over the course of this summer it became clear that the economic headwinds have not subsided as hoped," Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a speech Wednesday.

"Most private forecasters are expecting significantly slowed growth in the second half of this year -- as residential investment continues to be a drag on the economy, as consumers tighten up on their spending,