IN BRIEF

SAN FRANCISCO

Intel profits fall but match Street forecasts

Intel Corp.'s first-quarter profit matched Wall Street's subdued expectations, a sign the company's core microprocessor business remained healthy amid fears of a broader slowdown in technology spending.

Santa Clara-based Intel said Tuesday that its net profit for the three months ended March 29 was $1.44 billion, or 25 cents per share. That represents a 12 percent decline from the year-ago period, when Intel earned $1.64 billion or 28 cents per share. But it was in line with the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Sales rose 0.4 percent to $9.67 billion from $9.63 billion.

WASHINGTON

Bankruptcy filings up 37.6 percent in 2007

Bankruptcy filings jumped 37.6 percent last year compared with 2006, as many consumers struggled with higher mortgage payments and other debt loads, a nonprofit group said Tuesday.

The increase follows a significant drop in bankruptcy filings in 2006, after a new law made it more difficult for consumers to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors.

Total bankruptcy filings rose to 850,912 in 2007, from 617,660 the previous year, the American Bankruptcy Institute said, citing data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Consumer bankruptcy filings rose to 822,590, up 37.6 percent from 597,965 in 2006. Business bankruptcies, meanwhile, increased 44 percent to 28,322 last year from a record low of 19,695 in 2006, the ABI said.

TRENTON, N.J.

Earnings up 40 percent for Johnson & Johnson

Health products maker Johnson & Johnson reported a 40 percent jump Tuesday in first-quarter profit, mainly due to the weak dollar boosting foreign revenues and a charge that depressed results a year ago.

The New Brunswick, N.J.-based maker of contraceptives, medical devices, baby care items and prescription drugs reported net income of $3.6 billion, or $1.26 per share, for the first three months of the year, up from $2.57 billion, or 88 cents a share, a year ago. The year-ago quarter included a charge of $807 million for research and development related to the acquisition of Conor Medsystems, a developer of stents.

Revenues rose 7.6 percent to $16.19 billion from $15.04 billion.

NEW YORK

Oil prices hit record, pass $114 per barrel

Energy traders rewrote the record books again Tuesday, pushing oil futures past $114 a barrel as gasoline and diesel prices struck new highs of their own at the pump.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery jumped as high as $114.08 a barrel shortly after regular trading ended on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That is nearly $2 above an intraday high set last week.

Concerns about insufficient global supply, stoked by a high-profile report by the International Energy Agency that said Russian oil production dropped this year for the first time in a decade, was largely responsible for the surge. Oil prices rose as high as $113.99 a barrel during the regular session before settling at $113.79, up $2.03 from Monday's record close of $111.76 a barrel.

Prices at the pump also charged ahead. Retail gasoline prices rose to an average national record of $3.386, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

Diesel prices at the pump jumped to $4.119 a gallon, also a record, setting the stage for even higher prices on food and other goods transported by truck, ship and rail.

WASHINGTON

Plan would alter rules for hedge-fund leaders

Hedge-fund managers would have to improve transparency and risk management of the giant pools of capital under new proposals offered Tuesday.

Two advisory groups assembled by the Bush administration proposed new "best practices" for the hedge fund industry, but a leading critic attacked the effort as falling far short of the mandatory government regulations that are needed.

Hedge fund managers prepared one set of the recommendations; fund investors prepared the other.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the recommendations would send "a strong message that heightened vigilance is necessary and appropriate and that all stakeholders have an important role to play."

However, Richard Blumenthal, attorney general of Connecticut, the home for many hedge funds, said the voluntary guidelines were a "virtual farce" that would do little to halt abuses in an industry that has grown explosively. Hedge fund assets are now close to $2 trillion in an estimated 8,000 funds.

Wells Fargo buying Citibank branches

Wells Fargo Bank late Tuesday said it agreed to acquire six Northern Nevada and two California branches from Citibank for an undisclosed sum. The branches have $500 million in deposits and $60 million in loans.

The branches are in Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Elko, Winnemucca, Yerington and the California cities of Auburn and Grass Valley.

The banks expect to complete the transaction by September, subject to regulatory approval.

NEW YORK

Lehman Bros. exec says worst of crisis over

Lehman Bros. Holdings Chief Executive Richard Fuld joined a growing chorus of investment bank executives in saying on Tuesday that the worst of the credit crisis is behind Wall Street.

Fuld, speaking at the investment bank's annual shareholder meeting, said that credit markets have begun to ease but still believes the environment "will remain challenging."

NEW YORK

Treasury prices decline on manufacturing news

Long-term bond prices plunged Tuesday following a jump in wholesale prices and a better-than-expected report on regional manufacturing.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.63 points to 99.28 and yielded 3.59 percent, up from 3.51 late Monday, according to BGCantor Market Data.