IN BRIEF

Energy bill heads to Senate committee

A Senate bill that provides for renewable energy demonstration projects and for quarterly adjustments in electric power rates was sent to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 437 also provides for tax rebates for houses built to satisfy environmental and renewable energy design standards.

The bill would reduce state and local revenues, most of them local revenues, by $1.3 million yearly.

If the finance panel votes for the energy bill, it will go to the Senate floor for further consideration.

Sierra Health Services posts quarterly loss

Health care services provider Sierra Health Services on Tuesday said posted a first-quarter loss reversing year-earlier income, weighed down by a hefty one-time charge.

The loss totaled $1.2 million, or 2 cents per share, compared with a profit of $32.7 million, or 51 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

Excluding a reserve for higher-than-expected costs in a Medicare prescription-drug program, net income was 52 cents per share. That 52-cent figure includes a 3-cent charge related to its pending takeover by UnitedHealth Group.

Revenue grew 12.9 percent to $494.6 million from $438.2 million.

Alcoa says it may sell units; shares surge

Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum company by sales, may sell the units that make Reynolds Wrap and electrical components to focus on more profitable metal production. The shares rose to an 11-month high.

The units had $4.8 billion of sales last year, or 16 percent of the company's total, New York-based Alcoa said. The company said it hired investment bankers and will complete a review of "strategic alternatives" by year's end.

Profit at the packaging business, with $3.2 billion in sales and 10,000 employees worldwide, has been limited by higher raw-material costs. The electronics unit is "marginally profitable."

Alcoa shares rose $1.81, or 5.33 percent, to close at $35.76 on the New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest gain since Feb. 13.

Google sites top Yahoo's for visits

Google passed Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo to become the owner of the world's most-visited group of Web sites for the first time, a research firm said.

Google's sites had 528 million visitors worldwide in March, a 13 percent gain from the same month a year ago, ComScore said Wednesday. Microsoft had 527 million, while Yahoo had 476.3 million, the researcher said.

The popularity of searching the Web and new sites such as YouTube helped Google grow faster than both its biggest rivals. Products such as the Gmail e-mail service, an online calendar and an online payments system are drawing users even though they aren't nearly as popular as Google's search engine.

LONDON

GlaxoSmithKline says quarterly profits flat

GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Wednesday that its first-quarter profit was flat as the pharmaceutical company faced greater competition from generic versions of its drugs in the United States.

Glaxo said earnings, which were slightly better than the market consensus, were also dented by the weakness of the U.S. dollar.

Net income in the three months through March 31 came to 1.51 billion pounds ($3.01 billion), compared with 1.50 billion pounds in the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Sales rose 3 percent to 4.8 billion pounds ($9.59 billion).

NEW YORK

Bond prices decline amid mixed reports

Treasury bond prices suffered moderate losses Wednesday despite mixed economic data, with traders blaming stock market increases and profit-taking after recent gains.

At 5 p.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was down $2.50 per $1,000 in face value, or 0.25 points, from its level at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 4.65 percent from 4.62 percent.

The 30-year bond fell 0.41 points. Its yield rose to 4.84 percent from 4.81 percent.