IN BRIEF

Golden Palm bids opened; decision waits

Sealed bids on the closed Golden Palm were opened on Thursday in Chicago but a final decision on which offer will be accepted will take another few weeks.

Parent company Golden Rush President Marvin Lipschultz said the 3-acre site received interest from 188 companies but would not disclose how many bids were received by the Thursday deadline.

Thirty prospective buyers attended a March 16 bid seminar at Wynn Las Vegas.

Lipschultz said offers were still coming in and that they would take additional weeks to review.

The site on the southeast corner of Tropicana Avenue and Dean Martin Drive was appraised at $46.6 million in November.

Riviera Holdings chief defends bid rejection

Riviera Holdings Corp., Chairman William Westerman sent an open letter to stockholders Thursday defending the board of director's position in rejecting the latest offer from an investment group.

Westerman said in Thursday's letter an agreement between two stockholders and Riv Acquisition Holdings would give the latter control of 27.6 percent of company stock.

Allowing the agreement would have a "chilling effect" on the stockholders' ability to get competing offers, Westerman wrote.

A buyout of the company requires approval from 60 percent of the stockholders.

New Century Financial disposes of loans

New Century Financial Corp., the largest subprime lender in bankruptcy, said it has disposed of all the loans it was processing that were still to be funded.

Under pressure from state regulators and with their help, New Century has unloaded its entire inventory of loans, as of April 3, the Irvine, Calif.-based New Century said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It didn't say who the buyers were.

WASHINGTON

Consumer borrowing rises in February

Consumers increased their borrowing in February at the slowest pace in four months.

The Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer borrowing rose at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent in February. That was down from a 3.3 percent growth rate in January and marked the smallest increase since October.

The moderation was led by consumers borrowing less freely to finance cars, vacations, education and other nonrevolving credit. Demand for such credit rose at a 0.4 percent pace, down from a 4.2 percent growth rate in January.

Computerless may get to Google by phone

Google, owner of the most-popular Internet search engine, is testing a service that lets consumers find information on local businesses over the phone.

The new service, Google Voice Local Search, is free and can connect callers directly to the business they're trying to reach, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said on its Web site. The phone number is (800) 4664-411.

NEW YORK

Bond prices decline in shortened trading

Treasury bond prices closed sharply lower and the yield curve flattened in Friday's shortened trading session.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was down $5.63 per $1,000 in face value, or 0.56 points, from its level at 5 p.m. Thursday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 4.75 percent from 4.68 percent.

The 30-year bond fell 0.75 points. Its yield rose to 4.92 percent from 4.87 percent.

U.S. stock markets were closed Friday for Good Friday.