AUTOMOTIVE: J.D. Power cuts '08 sales forecast

Detroit —- A leading auto information firm has lowered its 2008 forecast for U.S. new vehicle sales by nearly 5 percent to their lowest levels since 1994. J.D. Power and Associates said Tuesday that declining consumer confidence and spending, along with turbulence in the financial markets, prompted its revised forecast of 14.95 million cars and light trucks sold, down from 15.7 million.

FINANCIAL: UBS chairman's compensation cut

Zurich, Switzerland —- The chairman of UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, is taking a 90 percent pay cut for 2007, the bank said Tuesday in the aftermath of massive write-downs linked to the U.S. mortgage market. Marcel Ospel will receive a salary of $2 million plus benefits and pension credits.

Lehman earnings beat expectations

New York —- Investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said Tuesday that its fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 57 percent because of a steep decline in its capital markets business, but its shares soared as it easily beat forecasts. Net income for the quarter ended Feb. 29 fell to $489 million, or 81 cents per share, compared with earnings of $1.15 billion, or $1.96 per share, during the same quarter last year. Lehman's revenue fell 31 percent to $3.5 billion during the first quarter.

Olive Garden helps Darden's profits

Darden Restaurants Inc., owner of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, said fiscal third-quarter profit rose, helped by sales at Olive Garden. Net income increased to $126 million, or 88 cents a share, from $106.4 million, or 72 cents a share, a year earlier, Orlando-based Darden said Tuesday in a statement.

Earnings rise at Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Inc., the biggest maker of design software, said first-quarter profit climbed 53 percent and predicted earnings for the current period that beat analysts' estimates. Net income rose to $219.4 million, or 38 cents a share, San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe said Tuesday. Excluding costs such as stock-based compensation, profit was 48 cents a share.

LEGAL: Rogue trader released from jail

Paris —- The trader accused of racking up billions in losses at French bank Societe Generale walked out of a Paris prison Tuesday as investigators continued to sort out one of the world's biggest trading scandals. A court ordered Jerome Kerviel freed after six weeks in La Sante prison. Prosecutors wanted to hold Kerviel, 31, to prevent him from speaking with accomplices —- if he had any. Kerviel maintains that he acted alone.

CVS settles Medicaid case

Chicago —- CVS Caremark Corp. agreed to pay almost $37 million to nearly two dozen states and the federal government to settle claims that the nation's largest pharmacy chain billed Medicaid programs for a more expensive formulation of an antacid, authorities said Tuesday. The settlement in the case —- the first of its kind for a retail pharmacy company —- came after a lengthy investigation that began in 2001, when a suburban Chicago pharmacist alerted authorities.

UnitedHealth loses ruling

UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s shareholders will be allowed to sue the largest U.S. health insurance company as a group over claims of improper backdating of stock options, a judge said. U.S. District Judge James M. Rosenbaum in Minneapolis on Tuesday granted the shareholders' motion for class certification without commenting on the merits of the lawsuit filed in 2006.

MANUFACTURING: Boeing: Air Force favored rival bid

Washington —- Boeing Co. said Air Force officials tilted the playing field in a $35 billion contract competition toward Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.. In its formal protest of the air tanker contract award, released publicly Tuesday, Boeing said the Air Force "repeatedly made fundamental but often unstated changes to the bid requirements and evaluation process" to keep the Northrop Grumman/EADS proposal alive. Last week, Boeing filed its formal protest with the Government Accountability Office to overturn the Air Force award.

Lockheed wins order for 2 planes

Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense company, won a $133.2 million contract from the Air Force to provide two KC-130J transport aircraft. Lockheed will build the planes in Marietta, the Defense Department said in a statement Tuesday.

REGULATORY: Reebok to pay $1 million penalty

Washington —- Athletic shoe and apparel maker Reebok has agreed to pay $1 million for distributing charm bracelets that contained toxic levels of lead and resulted in the death of a 4-year-old boy. The civil penalty is the largest ever for a violation of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and follows a 2006 recall of 300,000 of the Chinese-made bracelets.

Airwaves auction yields $19.6 billion

Washington —- A sale of communications airwaves by the federal government to the commercial wireless industry closed Tuesday after 261 rounds of bidding and $19.6 billion in bids. Soon, the Federal Communications Commission will reveal who the winners of the valuable radio spectrum licenses are and where in the country they acquired airwaves.

TECHNOLOGY: Facebook to limit access of 'friends'

Facebook Inc., the social networking startup with a mission to help people share information, is now making it easier to hide information. At an event Tuesday, the Palo Alto, Calif., company said it plans to reorganize its privacy pages to give users greater control over how information is shared with their "friends," people who are linked to them online and can see their personal information.

TELECOM: Qwest offers employee buyouts

Denver —- Up to 700 technicians and other Qwest Communications employees who work on traditional land telephone lines have been offered voluntary buyouts, the company announced Tuesday.

UTILITIES / ENERGY: ExxonMobil loses ruling on assets

Caracas, Venezuela —- A British judge ruled against ExxonMobil Corp. on Tuesday, tossing out an order to freeze $12 billion in assets belonging to Venezuela's state oil company in a case that stemmed from the nationalization of an oil project last year. Judge Paul Walker said he would make public the reasons for his judgment on Thursday. During the case, Walker signaled that he agreed that Petroleos de Venezuela SA has no connection to England —- a key argument in its defense. "Today we have a firm decision 100 percent in our favor," Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told state television. "We've defeated ExxonMobil."

Fla. nuclear plant clears hurdle

Tallahassee —- Florida Power & Light can go forward with plans to build two new nuclear generators at its Turkey Point facility south of Miami, state regulators ruled Tuesday. Florida's largest electric utility already operates two nuclear units, as well as gas-oil and natural gas plants at Turkey Point. The two new generators would come online in 2018 and 2020. The decision by the Public Service Commission, however, is just one step. The company still must get approval from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Florida Power Plant Siting Board, which includes the governor.