Business in brief

AUTOMOTIVE

GM to stop producing Topkick, Kodiak trucks

After unsuccessfully trying to find a buyer for four years, General Motors Corp. is giving up on its medium-duty truck business, saying that it will wind down manufacturing by the end of July.

That means GM will stop making the GMC Topkick and Chevrolet Kodiak commercial trucks at its Flint, Mich., Assembly Plant by July 31. The plant employs 2,100 people but also makes Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

The DMAX factory in Moraine, Ohio —- a joint venture between GM and Isuzu —- also will be affected. The plant near Dayton makes engines for the Topkick and Kodiak, as well as for pickups and heavy-duty trucks. GM says the staffing of that plant, which employs 544, is under review.

AVIATION

American Airlines set for fuel efficiency test

American Airlines will test fuel-saving technology and tactics on a Paris-to-Miami flight this week that the carrier and federal officials hope will help make the case for a new navigation system.

The plane on Thursday’s flight will take a direct route guided by global-positioning technology instead of staying within the usual jetliner highways.

American said it will be the first U.S. carrier to test the full range of fuel-saving and emissions-reducing tactics on a trans-Atlantic route. The test is being conducted with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Bob Reding, an executive vice president at American, said the test would demonstrate the benefits of new GPS-based navigation technology that could save fuel, reduce air traffic delays and cut emissions.

The test will be conducted using a Boeing 767-300 aircraft.

BANKING

Citigroup plans offers for stock exchange

Citigroup Inc. expects to do its previously announced swaps of preferred stock into common stock later this week, the bank said in a statement Monday.

Citigroup originally announced in late February that it wanted to offer investors the option of exchanging preferred stock into common stock. The move would give the U.S. government a 34 percent stake in the New York-based bank.

The government has invested a total of $45 billion in Citigroup through its Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. About $25 billion of that $45 billion in TARP funding is expected to be converted into common stock.

Citigroup slipped 4 cents to close Monday at $3.42.

Bank of America board to lose 2 more directors

Two more Bank of America Corp. directors are leaving, the company said.

The resignations of Jackie M. Ward, former chief executive of Computer General Inc., and Patricia E. Mitchell, CEO of the Paley Center for Media, are the latest in a string of changes at the embattled bank’s board.

In late April, CEO Kenneth Lewis was stripped of his chairman title after a shareholder vote. Then, in late May, two directors resigned —- Robert Tillman, former chairman and CEO of home improvement chain Lowe’s Cos., and O. Temple Sloan Jr., who was a director at Bank of America for 13 years.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America said the resignations of Ward and Mitchell were not a result of “any disagreement” with the company or its management. Bank of America said the same about Tillman’s and Sloan’s departures.

ENERGY

Oil prices settle down about $66 as stocks slide

Oil prices fell Monday as a four-month rally that has roughly doubled the price of crude lost some steam alongside the stock markets.

Benchmark crude for July delivery fell 35 cents to settle at $68.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices dropped as low as $66.78.

Crude prices have risen in tandem with stocks as gloom about the global economy eases. Oil briefly broke the $70 threshold Friday after the U.S. Labor Department reported that employers cut 345,000 jobs in May, the fewest since September.

Still, the unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent in May, a 25-year high and few people believe that there is enough demand to justify the soaring price of crude.

Retail gasoline prices have been on a tear, but remain far below last year at this time when a gallon broke the $4 barrier.

FOOD & BEVERAGES

McDonald’s reports rise in same-store sales

McDonald’s Corp. said its same-store sales climbed 5.1 percent in May, boosted by strong international sales but weighed down by slower sales growth in the U.S.

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based company said U.S. same-store sales climbed 2.8 percent, helped by classic menu items and its new McCafe espresso-based coffees. The espresso drinks are now being rolled out to all the company’s U.S. restaurants.

In May last year, the company’s same-store sales rose 4.3 percent in the United States, aided by the launch of the company’s Southern Style Chicken Sandwich and the government stimulus checks that began appearing in consumers’ mailboxes and bank accounts.

GOVERNMENT

Tobacco marketing closer to FDA control

A key Senate vote put Congress in sight of fulfilling a decade-old quest to put the content and marketing of tobacco products under the control of the federal government.

The legislation would for the first time give the Food and Drug Administration legal authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products. The 61-30 Senate vote to move forward on the bill sets up possible passage of the measure this week. Sixty votes were needed to keep the bill on track.

The House has already passed a similar bill and resolution of minor differences would send it to President Barack Obama, who supports it.

LEGAL

Man pleads guilty in Ponzi scheme

An 82-year-old western New York businessman who targeted Catholics and retirees for a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme pleaded guilty Monday to charges that will leave him penniless and likely in prison for life.

Richard Piccoli’s hearing in U.S. District Court in Buffalo had to be moved to a larger courtroom to accommodate 150 victims on hand to hear the plea, among them priests and nuns and other investors who considered Piccoli a friend.

Investigators determined Piccoli took in more than $31 million between 2002 and early this year from a clientele gleaned largely through ads in Catholic newspapers and his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization. In a Ponzi scheme, early investors are paid bogus returns with money collected from later victims.

MANUFACTURING

P&G is expected to replace Lafley as CEO

The Procter & Gamble Co. is reportedly ready to name 29-year company veteran Robert A. McDonald to succeed A.G. Lafley as CEO of the world’s largest consumer products maker.

A Wall Street Journal report Monday said unidentified people familiar with the matter revealed the plan for Lafley to step aside as chief executive officer in favor of McDonald while staying on as chairman. P&G spokesman Paul Fox said the maker of such brands as Tide detergent, Gillette shavers and Pampers diapers wouldn’t comment on “rumor and speculation.”

P&G’s board of directors, which would have to approve the move, meets today in Cincinnati.

McDonald, P&G’s chief operating officer, had been considered the heir apparent to Lafley, who became CEO nine years ago this month and turns 62 on June 13.

P&G shares closed Monday at $53.14, down 4 cents. Over the past 52 weeks, they have traded between $43.93 and $73.57.

P&G has seen nearly a decade of double-digit growth and the acquisition in 2005 of Gillette Co. in a blockbuster $57 billion deal that added Gillette’s shavers, Duracell batteries and Oral-B tooth care to P&G’s household portfolio.

SHIPPING

FedEx targets UPS in effort against union bill

FedEx Corp. is set to launch a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign today against chief rival UPS Inc., arguing the world’s largest shipping carrier is the driving force behind a bill that would make it easier for FedEx workers to unionize.

The bill currently before Congress would switch FedEx to the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act from the National Railway Labor Act.

The Railway Labor Act allows workers to organize, if all workers vote on a union at the same time. That has been a roadblock to unions that could not afford nationwide organizing campaigns.

FedEx’s nearly 5,000 pilots are the company’s only employees that currently have a union. The company has a total work force of 290,000.

UPS has about 425,000 workers; more than half are union members. Most of UPS’ unionized workers are members of the Teamsters.

FedEx says that UPS will benefit from the legislation because it could potentially drive up costs for its closest competitor. FedEx also argues that more unions would mean a greater chance of work slowdowns or strikes.

UPS didn’t immediately comment on the FedEx campaign.

FedEx also warns that shipping rates for consumers will “skyrocket” if the change is made.

TECHNOLOGY

Texas Instruments boosts outlook

Chip maker Texas Instruments Inc. raised expectations for its second-quarter profit and revenue, sending its shares higher in after-hours trading and signaling that demand may be improving for the battered semiconductor industry.

Dallas-based Texas Instruments now expects a profit in a range of 14 cents to 22 cents per share for the current quarter that runs to the end of June. Revenue is expected to be between $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion.

Analysts, on average, are expecting a profit of 10 cents per share on sales of $2.21 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.