IN BRIEF

Red Rock Resort on magazine's 'Hot List'

Red Rock Resort has been named to leisure magazine Condé Nast Traveler's "2007 Hot List" for the one of the best new hotels in the world opened in 2006.

The Station Casinos property was one of 138 hotels chosen from 46 countries. It was the only Las Vegas hotel among the 19 picked in the United States.

Judges for annual awards issue, which will be out in May, anonymously stay at the hotels they judge looking at the "look, location, service and value" of the hotel.

The article calls the resort "tastefully subdued, taking aesthetic clues from its desert surroundings," labeling it a "self-contained oasis" 10 miles from the Strip.

The $925 million property opened April 18, 2006.

SAN ANTONIO

AT&T says sales, profits double during quarter

Telecommunications heavyweight AT&T reported Tuesday it doubled its profit and sales in the first three months of the year, primarily because of its completed acquisition of BellSouth.

Profit reached $2.85 billion, helped by the BellSouth acquisition and growth in wireless revenue. The earnings, which included $2.3 billion in acquisition-related charges and a $409 million gain from the sale of some assets, amounted to 45 cents per share for the period ended March 31. That was up from $1.45 billion, or 37 cents per share, earned by AT&T in the first quarter of 2006, when it had not yet acquired BellSouth.

First-quarter revenue rose 84 percent to $28.97 billion, up from a pre-merger tally of $15.76 billion a year ago.

WASHINGTON

Vonage wins relief from court order

Internet phone carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. won relief Tuesday from a potentially crippling court order that would have barred it from signing up new customers as punishment for infringing on patents held by Verizon Communications.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the stay of a trial judge's injunction on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after hearing arguments. A temporary stay had been issued earlier this month, but Tuesday's order will remain in effect throughout the appeal.

Vonage's battered stock price rallied nearly 30 percent after the decision, which allows it to keep signing up new customers while still using the disputed technology.

COLUMBUS, Ohio

Sale speculation lifts Limited Brands sales

Shares of Limited Brands jumped more than 8 percent Tuesday after a published report said the company was planning to sell its underperforming Express and Limited Stores apparel chains and shift to more profitable businesses like fragrances and lingerie.

According to a report in Women's Wear Daily, the leading bidders for the chains are Columbus-based Schottenstein Stores Corp. and the Boston-based Gordon Bros. Group.

The trade paper also said Limited Brands' apparel group president, Jay Margolis, might be interested in acquiring the stores in a management buyout. Sources told the paper the apparel group's price is in the $1 billion range.

Shares of Limited Brands, which also operate such chains as Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, rose $2.23, or 8.37 percent, to $28.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.

SAN JOSE, Calif.

Two ex-Apple officers face charges from SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against two former Apple officers in its stock options backdating case Tuesday but questions remain about whether CEO Steve Jobs will emerge unscathed amid new accusations.

The SEC said it did not plan to pursue any further action against Apple itself, which fully cooperated with the government's probe, but it stopped short of saying its investigation was closed. Commission officials declined to comment on whether possible charges could still be filed against Jobs or other current officers.

NEW YORK

Internet speed records fall in Tokyo tests

A group of researchers led by the University of Tokyo has broken Internet speed records -- twice in two days.

Operators of the high-speed Internet2 network announced Tuesday that the researchers on Dec. 30 sent data at 7.67 gigabits per second, using standard communications protocols. The next day, using modified protocols, the team broke the record again by sending data over the same 20,000-mile path at 9.08 Gbps.

That likely represents the current network's final record because rules require a 10 percent improvement for recognition, a percentage that would bring the next record right at the Internet2's current theoretical limit of 10 Gbps.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

IBM boosts dividend, announces buyback

Looking for another bounce in its stock price, International Business Machines Corp. increased its dividend payout by 33 percent and authorized an aggressive increase of its share buyback program Tuesday.

"Of course, no one is satisfied with where our stock is today," Chairman and CEO Samuel Palmisano said in a speech to about 150 people at IBM's annual shareholder meeting.

"We need to get our stock price up," he added later in response to a shareholder question. "That is quite honestly what we all want to do."

But Palmisano expressed confidence in the technology company's global strategy, its potential in new software and microchip markets, and its overall "reshaping" since divesting its personal-computer business nearly two years ago.

NEW YORK

Housing market report boosts bond prices

A report suggesting that the U.S. housing market is still struggling lifted prices for U.S. Treasury bonds Tuesday.

At 5 p.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was up $1.88 per $1,000 in face value, or 0.19 points, from its level at 5 p.m. Monday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 4.62 percent from 4.65 percent.

The 30-year bond rose 0.25 points. Its yield fell to 4.81 percent from 4.83 percent.