Auburn Hills, Mich. —- Faced with persistent speculation that it was planning to file for bankruptcy protection, Chrysler LLC on Thursday issued a statement denying the rumor and saying it has plenty of cash. The denial came on the same day the company welcomed ex-Chairman Lee Iacocca back into its fold. The 83-year-old Iacocca said the automaker would survive its current woes, just as it did when he helped save it from bankruptcy in the early 1980s. Thursday's speculation apparently originated in Europe.

DEALS

Anheuser-Busch rejects offer

St. Louis —- Anheuser-Busch Cos. rejected an unsolicited $46 billion purchase offer from InBev on Thursday, just hours after the Belgian brewer appeared to set the stage for a hostile takeover bid. Anheuser-Busch Chief Executive August Busch IV sent a letter to InBev CEO Carlos Brito, saying the $65-a-share offer greatly undervalued the largest U.S. brewer. "From your standpoint, we see that now could be opportunistic timing for you to make this acquisition, given the weak U.S. dollar and sluggish U.S. stock market," Busch said in the letter. "From the standpoint of the Anheuser-Busch shareholder, however, a transaction with InBev at this time would mean forgoing the greater value obtainable from Anheuser-Busch's strategic growth plan." Earlier in the day, InBev filed a suit in Delaware, where Anheuser-Busch is incorporated, seeking to officially declare that shareholders can remove all 13 members of Anheuser-Busch's board.

FINANCIAL

Report: SunTrust a merger target

SunTrust Banks is at the top of JPMorgan Chase's wish list for potential merger targets, the New York Post reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. The newspaper said Washington Mutual, a large thrift wounded by fallout from the steep downturn in the housing market, is also at the top of the New York banking giant's list. SunTrust spokesman Barry Koling declined to comment. "We haven't commented on a rumor for years, and we're not about to start today," he said. Atlanta-based SunTrust, the largest banking firm headquartered in Georgia, has frequently been the focus of merger speculation.

Visa lowers fees for gas retailers

Washington —- Visa Inc. on Thursday said it will reduce the transaction fees it charges gasoline retailers, who have complained that their profits are being eroded by them. The fees are a fixed percentage of every transaction, usually just under 2 percent. So each time gasoline prices go up, so does the dollar amount of the fees, eating away at per-gallon profit margins. The credit card company said its move will lower fees by 14 percent on a $60 fill-up, and by 43 percent on a $120 gasoline sale. Visa also said it would cap its fee for debit card purchases at 95 cents. MasterCard last year capped interchange fees for gas purchases of $50 or more.

FOOD / BEVERAGE

A-B to reformulate caffeinated drinks

St. Louis —- Anheuser-Busch Cos. will quit selling caffeinated alcoholic drinks as part of a legal settlement, attorneys general for several states said Thursday. Anheuser-Busch was marketing its caffeinated drinks to minors and misrepresenting the drinks' health benefits, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said. Anheuser-Busch said it will reformulate its popular "Tilt" and "Bud Extra" brands to remove the stimulants. The company has long been dogged by accusations that its marketing for the caffeinated alcoholic drinks targets those under the legal drinking age. The company has denied that.

Grain prices slam poultry producer

Wayne Farms LLC, a Hall County-based poultry producer, said it will cut production by another 6 percent because of the rising cost of grain. Wayne Farms cut production 2 percent in April. Higher grain prices have affected poultry producers because grain is used to make chicken feed, a major expense for raising chickens. Wayne Farms, which has more than 9,200 employees, did not announce job cuts.

HEALTH CARE

Flu vaccine maker offers a deal

Washington —- Fears of bird flu are receding, and sales of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu have slumped. Now its maker is offering a deal to U.S. employers: Pay an annual fee and reserve enough to protect every worker if a new super-flu strikes. The plan announced Thursday comes as the federal government also begins a new effort to encourage many businesses to stockpile anti-flu drugs in case of a pandemic. Those private stockpiles would supplement a national stockpile that contains enough doses to treat only a fraction of the population.

MEDIA

Liberty Media to buy online firm

Liberty Media Corp. agreed to buy Celebrate Express Inc. for $31 million and merge the birthday party supplies company with its BuySeasons.com unit, which specializes in Halloween costumes. Investors in Celebrate, which sells online and through catalogs, will receive $3.90 a share, the companies said in a statement Thursday. The price is 70 percent higher than Celebrate's $2.30 close on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The purchase furthers Liberty Media Chairman John C. Malone's strategy of buying smaller online retailers so the Englewood, Colo.-based company depends less on home shopping retailer QVC Inc., its largest division.

FCC may regulate 'embedded' ads

Washington —- A stealthy form of advertising in which products are featured on television shows as props and even woven into story lines has drawn the government's attention. The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it will consider new rules to make it clear to viewers when brand-name products appear in shows in exchange for money. Spending on "embedded advertising" has grown as advertisers look for new ways to reach viewers who flip channels during commercials or use digital video recorders like TiVo to fast-forward past them.

REAL ESTATE

Mortgage rates at 9-month high

Washington —- Rates on 30-year mortgages rose again this week, climbing to the highest level in more than nine months, reflecting more concerns about how the Federal Reserve will respond to higher inflation pressures. Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.45 percent this week. That was up from 6.42 percent last week. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 6.04 percent, up from 6.02 percent last week. The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 5.99 percent, up from 5.89 percent. The rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 5.27 percent, compared with 5.19 percent last week.

B of A to trim mortgage unit jobs

Charlotte —- Bank of America said Thursday that it will cut about 7,500 jobs after it closes its acquisition of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. The job cuts amount to about 12.5 percent of the combined companies' mortgage, home equity and insurance businesses. The bank said the cuts will take place over the next two years in locations across the country "in instances where the two companies have significant overlap."

REGULATORY

UBS faces charges in Massachusetts

Boston —- Massachusetts regulators filed civil fraud charges Thursday against UBS Financial Services for allegedly selling investments it knew were extremely risky but portrayed as safe. The complaint by the Massachusetts Securities Division alleges that the financial services arm of the Swiss bank UBS AG knowingly let brokers present its auction-rate securities as virtually risk-free so it could reduce its own stake in the failing program.

TECHNOLOGY

Yahoo reorganizes product groups

Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang, facing defections by top executives after he rejected a $47.5 billion buyout from Microsoft Corp., will reorganize the Internet company's product groups. The company is creating three teams that report to President Susan Decker. The moves centralize consumer product development, create an insights strategy team and improve coordination between product and engineering teams, Yahoo said Thursday in a statement. At least nine officials may have decided to leave in recent weeks, jeopardizing Yang's plan to revive earnings and stem losses to larger rival Google.

TRANSPORTATION

American to cut about 8% of jobs

Dallas —- American Airlines officials have told employees that the carrier expects to cut about 8 percent of management and support jobs as the nation's biggest airline copes with high jet fuel prices. The cuts will apply to "all levels of management" and probably will be based on how critical the person's job is, Faye Wright, the managing director of flight services, told employees in an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press. In a letter this week to employees, Jeffrey Brundage, the airline's senior vice president of human resources, said reductions would vary by department but hew to the 8 percent range. He said the job cuts would be completed in September.

AAA predicts less holiday travel

The number of travelers over the Fourth of July holiday will decline for the first time this decade, AAA predicted Thursday. The auto club said 40.5 million people will travel over the Independence Day weekend, a 1.3 percent decrease from a year earlier. "Gas prices are continuing to take a toll on the traveler's budget," AAA Chief Executive Robert Darbelnet said in a statement. "The travel industry is responding, as they have in the past, with discounts, promotions and other incentives to get people traveling this holiday."

Continental eases ticket change rules

Houston —- Continental Airlines Inc. said Thursday that it will give more options to customers making last-minute flight changes on restricted tickets, but for a fee. The airline said customers changing flights within 24 hours of their scheduled departure would be able to pick another flight within 12 hours of making their change request. Before, changes were limited to a three-hour window. Customers must pay $50 for the change or $25 if they are elite members of Continental's frequent-flier program.

U.S., Brazil will expand air service

The United States and Brazil have agreed to expand passenger flights between the two countries by nearly 50 percent and loosen other restrictions, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday. The increase in flights will be phased in between July 2008 and October 2010. The agreement will eliminate restrictions on the number of airlines that can fly between the United States and Brazil and allow more air cargo flights. Delta Air Lines is one of the four carriers that flies between the United States and Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The agreement will allow U.S. carriers to also serve Fortaleza, Curitiba and three other cities to be selected by the United States. Delta spokesman Kent Landers said the company is pleased, but "more importantly Delta is hopeful that negotiations will resume in the near future to open up additional access to Brazil's major business centers —- Sao Paulo and Rio —- where access is highly restricted."