AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, April 12, 2007:

Nestle to Buy Gerber for $5.5 Billion

VEVEY, Switzerland (Dow Jones/AP) _ Nestle SA announced Thursday that it will buy baby-food maker Gerber Products Co. from pharmaceutical giant Novartis for $5.5 billion, pushing it to No. 1 in the world's baby food market. The deal is expected to be completed during the second half of 2007, subject to approval by regulatory authorities, said Nestle, the world's biggest food and drink company.

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WTO: China Overtakes U.S. in Exports

GENEVA (AP) _ China surpassed the United States as the world's second-largest exporter in the middle of last year, according to figures released Thursday by the World Trade Organization, and the Asian country is pulling further and further ahead. Export growth from China boomed 27 percent last year, outpacing all other major trading nations, the WTO said in releasing its first batch of global trade statistics for 2006.

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Forbes: Slim Is World's 2nd Richest Man

MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim has quietly overtaken investor Warren Buffett as the world's second-richest man and is close to wresting the top spot from Bill Gates, Forbes magazine reported Wednesday. In the two months since Forbes calculated its 2007 wealth rankings, the 67-year-old Slim's fortune rose $4 billion to $53.1 billion, while Buffett's holdings slipped to $52.4 billion as of March 29.

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China's Foreign Reserves Rise Past $1.2T

BEIJING (AP) _ China's foreign reserves, already the world's largest, have risen past $1.2 trillion, a state news agency said Thursday, amid surging trade and plans to create a multibillion-dollar government agency to invest some of the stockpile. The figure, as of the end of March, represented a 37.4 percent rise over the same period last year, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing the central bank.

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Oil Prices Steady in Asian Trading

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices were steady in Asian trading Thursday, after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected decline in domestic gasoline stockpiles. Total U.S. motor gasoline stockpiles sank by 5.5 million barrels last week to 199.7 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Analysts had been expecting just a 1.3 million barrel decline, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires.

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Sugar Mill Closes; Trade Pacts Blamed

PAHOKEE, Fla. (AP) _ The old sugar mill rises like a rusty tin mirage from endless green fields of freshly cut cane and swaths of rich, black soil. A sweet, musty smell hangs heavy in the air as white steam pours from its smokestacks for the last time. The Bryant Sugar House has ground more than 90 billion tons of cane into about 20 million pounds of raw sugar since it opened in 1962. On Wednesday, the plant wrapped up its 45th harvest season and prepared to close forever following the industry trend _ falling prices and better technology that means fewer jobs as more mills turn to automation and computers.

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Jury to Begin Quest Case Deliberations

DENVER (AP) _ In the past three weeks, jurors in Joe Nacchio's trading trial have heard a dizzying array of details about corporate finance: stock options, growth shares, federal regulations, internal and external budgets. Now it's their turn.

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Japanese Stocks Decline 0.73 Percent

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stocks fell Thursday, led by technology, auto and banking shares, following Wall Street's overnight decline. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 129.65 points, or 0.73 percent, to finish at 17,540.42 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. On Wednesday, the index rose 0.03 percent.

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Citigroup to Eliminate 17,000 Jobs

NEW YORK (AP) _ Under pressure from investors to contain burgeoning costs, Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest financial institution, announced that it will eliminate about 17,000 jobs, shift 9,500 positions to "lower cost locations" and consolidate some corporate operations. The steps _ which are expected to shave more than $2 billion from the bank's operating costs this year alone _ also should result in faster service for consumers and businesses, Citi's chief operating officer, Robert Druskin, said Wednesday.

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Survey: Academic Salaries on the Rise

Salaries of full-time college faculty rose 3.8 percent this year, the biggest increase in five years. Academic salaries vary significantly, depending on rank and institution, but the overall increases narrowly beat inflation and were the highest since 2002, according to an annual survey to be released Thursday by the American Association of University Professors. Salaries of full professors rose 4.2 percent, slightly better than the increases for lower ranks.

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Gold Prices

LONDON (AP) _ Gold bullion opened Thursday at a bid price of $678.50 a troy ounce, up from $675.60 late Wednesday.

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Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar rose against the yen in Asian trading Thursday as the euro rose to a record high against the Japanese currency.

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