IN BRIEF

Ameristar Casinos sues Resorts International

Ameristar Casinos, the Las Vegas-based gaming company, sued Resorts International Holdings LLC, alleging it failed to mention a "dramatic" property tax assessment increase before it sold the East Chicago Casino.

Ameristar bought the Resorts casino in East Chicago, Ind., on Sept. 18 for $675 million, not realizing the assessment had risen to $367.1 million from $105.3 million, according to a Delaware Chancery Court complaint filed Thursday in Wilmington.

Ameristar bought the casino to enter the third-largest U.S. commercial gambling market, with more than $2.5 billion in gaming revenue in "Chicagoland," an area of about 6.4 million adults, the company said in a Sept. 13 statement.

WASHINGTON

Consolidation loans out at Sallie Mae

Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student lender, said Friday it would no longer offer lower-cost consolidation loans to college graduates, saying the federally backed business had become unprofitable.

In a letter sent to customers, Sallie Mae, formally known as SLM Corp., said it would concentrate instead on making loans to students entering college.

WASHINGTON

Officials back plan to prevent financial crises

Finance officials from the world's top economic powers endorsed a plan Friday aimed at preventing another financial crisis like the credit and mortgage debacles that erupted in the United States and quickly sent tremors around the globe.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hosted the Group of Seven discussions, where officials embraced a plan that would seek to increase the openness, or transparency, of financial markets and to sharpen regulators' response to urgent financial problems.

Besides the United States, the other members of the G7 are Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. Friday's action preceded the weekend meetings of the 185-nation International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

WASHINGTON

Fannie Mae to help struggling homeowners

Fannie Mae will allow more struggling homeowners to sell their homes for less than they owe on their mortgages in a gambit that could hit the mortgage finance company with upfront losses but stave off a massive hemorrhage from foreclosures.

The program by the largest U.S. financier and guarantor of home mortgages addresses homeowners with "upside-down" loans who owe more than their homes are worth. There are now an estimated 9 million U.S. homeowners in that predicament, according to Moody's Economy.com.

Under Fannie Mae's new plan, the firms that collect payments for its mortgages will allow in more cases involving delinquent borrowers so-called "short sales" of homes for less than the amount owed on the loan. Fannie, as the mortgage guarantor, takes a hit on such sales, but can avoid the potentially larger loss from a home going into foreclosure.

Yahoo directors meet to review Microsoft bid

Yahoo directors met Friday to consider Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion bid for the Internet company, a person familiar with the talks said.

A takeover by Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, is the most likely outcome, analysts and shareholders say. The board, which rejected the offer as too low, is weighing its alternatives, said the person, who declined to be named because the meeting is private.

Time is running short for Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang to find a solution. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threatened a proxy fight in about two weeks if the board didn't give in. Yahoo has courted Time Warner's AOL and is testing advertisements from Google to thwart Microsoft's offer.

Auto-parts supplier gives union proposal

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, the Detroit-based auto-parts supplier seeking to cut worker pay by more than half, said it gave the United Auto Workers a proposal to end a 46-day strike.

The offer follows the company's Thursday rejection of a union proposal. Negotiations will continue through the weekend, said spokeswoman Renee Rogers. She wouldn't provide details.

The stalemate extends the shutdowns at General Motors Corp., the supplier's former parent and biggest customer. GM has shut down or partially stopped production at 30 plants because of parts shortages since 3,650 America Axle workers in Michigan and New York walked off their jobs Feb. 26.

NEW YORK

Bear Stearns' assets shrink by 20 percent

Bear Stearns & Co.'s assets under management have shrunk 20 percent since the end of November, and stock and fixed income trading has plummeted to "well less" than half of activity levels in 2007 and the first quarter of this year, the company said in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday.

The investment bank, which is being taken over by JPMorgan Chase & Co., with backing from the Federal Reserve, nearly collapsed last month after bad bets in the mortgage market killed its access to capital and deteriorated its ability to generate earnings.

The SEC filing details rapidly deteriorating conditions that have impaired the New York investment bank's ability to conduct business as it once had. Assets under management fell to $36 billion from $46 billion between the end of its fiscal year on Nov. 30 and March 24.

ATLANTA

Delta pilots meet to consider merger plan

Leaders of Delta Air Lines' pilots union were meeting in special session, the union said Friday as the company kept trying to determine whether to proceed with a combination with Northwest Airlines Corp.

Union spokeswoman Kelly Regus said in a memo to rank-and-file Delta pilots that the Master Executive Council meeting was taking place in Atlanta. She did not say how long the meeting would last or what was being discussed.

Northwest pilot union leaders were scheduled to meet Sunday in Bloomington, Minn., to discuss merger issues.

Delta and Northwest are looking at their route structures and how a combination now would affect them given $110-a-barrel oil and a decision by both carriers to cut domestic capacity, one of the people said.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices higher; traders await reports

Treasury prices rose Friday as investors, anxiously awaiting next week's batch of bank earnings, pulled their money from stocks and put it in safer assets.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.63 points to 100.31 with a yield of 3.46 percent, down from 3.55 percent late Thursday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The 30-year long bond rose 0.94 points to 101.38, with a yield of 4.29 percent, down from 4.36 percent.