AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Wednesday, March 21, 2007:

Wall Street Heads for Lower Open

NEW YORK (AP) _ U.S. stocks headed for a moderately lower opening Wednesday as investors await the Federal Reserve's latest take on the economy and any hint of the central bank's plans for short-term interest rates. With the Fed set to end a two-day meeting, investors will be awaiting to see whether its midafternoon statement will address a recent perception of a further slowdown in the economy. The Fed left interest rates unchanged at its last five meetings after a string of 17 straight increases that began in 2004. While the Fed isn't expected to move on rates Wednesday, investors will be anxious for any sign of where the Fed might go next.

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Prosecutors: Former Qwest CEO a Cheater

DENVER (AP) _ Former Qwest Communications CEO Joe Nacchio, a firm believer in the telephone company's future, was reluctant to sell shares in early 2001 and asked the board for an extension but was turned down, his attorney says. Nacchio "believed passionately, firmly and honestly in the public financial targets of his company," defense attorney Herbert Stern told jurors Tuesday during a two-hour opening statement. "We're going to demonstrate and show and prove to you that the accusations in this case are false."

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Fed Expected to Keep Rates Unchanged

WASHINGTON (AP) _ As the Federal Reserve tries to guide the economy in for a soft landing, it is being battered by turbulent financial markets, a slumping housing industry and stubborn inflation pressures. None of that is expected to alter the course Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have established of keeping interest rates steady at current levels until there is firm evidence that inflation pressures have begun to recede.

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Probe of BP Plant Blast Cites Oversight

TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) _ Overly lax federal oversight and cost-cutting by BP were factors in a 2005 explosion at the oil giant's Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured 170, the worst U.S. industrial accident since 1990, a government report found. Though companies have plenty of safeguards for individual workers' safety, there is a potentially deadly lack of sound procedures to measure process safety, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which released the report Tuesday.

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Adobe Execs Raise Profit Guidance

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Adobe Systems Inc. executives are raising profit guidance after the company easily exceeded Wall Street expectations with a 37 percent surge in first-quarter profit. But on the cusp of the biggest product launch in the company's history, some analysts sounded notes of caution, saying the pace of change in the volatile software industry makes it hard to predict Adobe's long-term fortune.

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Oracle's Fiscal 3Q Earnings Up 35 Pct.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Business software maker Oracle Corp. has a tough act to follow as it tackles the biggest quarter of its fiscal year. In the latest sign that an expensive expansion is paying off, Oracle's profit and new software sales both outstripped analyst expectations during its fiscal third quarter that ended in February.

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General Motors' OnStar to Work With CDC

WASHINGTON (AP) _ General Motors Corp.'s OnStar service is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help emergency responders more effectively treat crash victims. On Wednesday, the automaker was scheduled to announce a partnership with federal health officials to create guidelines, expected in 2008, for the use of real-time crash data to help emergency services provide a more targeted response to those injured in a car accident.

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Japan Court to Rule on 4 Livedoor Execs

TOKYO (AP) _ A week after the former chief executive at scandal-tainted dot-com company Livedoor received an unusually harsh prison term, a Japanese court is set to rule Thursday in the trials of four other executives facing similar charges of inflating earnings. The trials of Takafumi Horie, the founder of Livedoor, and the other former executives are viewed by many Japanese as a clear signal that authorities are intent about cracking down on dubious startups and policing new areas of potential securities laws violations.

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Oil Prices Rise in Asian Trading

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices climbed in Asian trading Wednesday amid expectations that the weekly U.S. oil inventory snapshot will show a drop in domestic supplies of gasoline and distillates such as heating oil. Gasoline prices have risen lately as traders anticipated an increase in gasoline demand in the approaching U.S. summer driving season, coupled with low stocks amid refinery outages in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer.

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Blockbuster CEO to Leave by End of Year

SAN ANTONIO (AP) _ The chairman and chief executive of struggling movie-rental company Blockbuster Inc. got the company's board to give him a slightly bigger bonus for 2006, but not without agreeing to give up his job. John Antioco, who has been the CEO for nearly a decade, will leave the company by the end of the year, Blockbuster announced Tuesday. Shares closed down 25 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $6.86 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, then lost another 6 cents in after-hours trading.

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Gold Prices

HONG KONG (AP) _ Gold closed at $660.60 an ounce on Wednesday in Hong Kong, up $6.50 an ounce from Tuesday's close of $654.10.

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Japan Markets

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stock, currency and other financial markets were closed Wednesday for Vernal Equinox Day, a national holiday. ___

Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar climbed versus the yen in Asia Tuesday on the back of steady gains in Japanese stocks, but the greenback's gains were limited as players looked ahead to a U.S. monetary policy meeting.

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