AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Wednesday, May 9, 2007:

Stocks Head for Flat Open

NEW YORK (AP) _ U.S. stocks headed for a flat open Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates and a day after stocks took a break after a strong advance in stocks. Because investors expect the Fed's Open Market Committe to keep interest rates unchanged as it has done since last summer, they're more concerned about the central bank's economic assessment statement. Wall Street is hoping the Fed will indicate it is inclined to cut rates by the end of the year to make access to capital cheaper and thus give a boost to stocks.

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Fed Expected to Keep Rates Steady

WASHINGTON (AP) _ It's been nearly a year since the Federal Reserve last changed interest rates and there are no expectations the central bank is going to deviate from its stay-the-course policy any time soon. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues were expected to announce at the end of Wednesday's meeting that they decided for the eighth straight time to leave the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25 percent.

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Toyota's Quarterly Profits Up 9 Percent

TOKYO (AP) _ Toyota's first-quarter profit quarter climbed 9 percent as the automaker marked its seventh straight fiscal year of record sales amid robust demand for its Corolla, Camry and Lexus models. Toyota Motor Corp., which beat General Motors in worldwide vehicle production and sales in the first quarter for the first time ever, reported a quarterly group profit of 440.1 billion yen ($3.67 billion) from 404 billion yen the same period the previous year, the manufacturer said Wednesday.

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Cisco Shares Fall Despite 3Q Profit

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Cisco Systems Inc.'s fiscal third-quarter profit surged 34 percent, but investors punished the stock on signs of weakness for the second straight quarter in a core area of the company's business. Cisco's stock price fell more than 5 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday despite financial results for the three months ended April 28 that narrowly beat Wall Street's expectations.

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Disney Earnings Grow 2.1 Percent

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The Walt Disney Co. exceeded second-quarter profit expectations, but its performance for the rest of the year is largely up to a pirate captain named Jack Sparrow and a gourmet animated rat named Remy. The Burbank-based media conglomerate said Tuesday that net profit rose 27 percent in the quarter that ended March 31, boosted by strong results from its film studio, advertising sales at ESPN and international sales of its TV shows, including "Desperate Housewives."

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Grasso Wins Round in NYSE Pay Fight

NEW YORK (AP) _ Former New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso has won a partial victory in his legal fight to hold on to his $187.5 million compensation package. The New York Appellate Division in Manhattan threw out four rulings against Grasso on Tuesday that had been made by a lower court last year.

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Oil Prices Flat in Asian Trading

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices traded in a tight range Wednesday amid expectations an upcoming U.S. inventories report would show a rebound in gasoline stocks for the first time in three months. Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose 6 cents to $62.20 a barrel in midafternoon Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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SEC: Insider Trading on Dow Stock

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday accused two Hong Kong residents of "widespread and unlawful trading activity" when they bought $15 million of Dow Jones & Co. stock ahead of an announcement that News Corp. was seeking to buy the company. The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan named as defendants Kan King Wong and Charlotte Ka On Wong Leung, a married couple. It alleged they made "highly profitable and highly suspicious" stock purchases based on inside information between April 13 and April 30.

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Congress Debates Mortgage Reforms

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Congress is looking at potential reforms to risky home lending practices, although a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday suggests lawmakers are still sorting out the complex workings of the mortgage market and wondering whether reforms will be necessary or helpful. With the number of foreclosures nationally jumping 47 percent in March from a year ago, lawmakers are weighing whether new lending rules are needed or whether the market is already in the process of self-correcting. The task of crafting reforms is made more complicated by the long list of players involved in mortgage transactions.

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Suits Filed After Dow Chemical Firings

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) _ Federal lawsuits were filed Tuesday from both sides following Dow Chemical Co.'s decision last month to fire two top-ranking officials whom it accused of trying to secretly negotiate a leveraged buyout of the company. In U.S. District Court in Bay City, Mich., Dow Chemical sued J. Pedro Reinhard, a senior adviser and 37-year veteran of the company who spent 10 years as its chief financial officer, and Romeo Kreinberg, a divisional executive vice president.

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Gold Prices

LONDON (AP) _ Gold bullion opened Wednesday at a bid price of $685.40 a troy ounce, up from $684.00 late Tuesday

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Japan Markets

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stocks rose in quiet trading Wednesday as some investors held back ahead of Toyota Motor Corp.'s earnings.

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Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar fell against the yen in Asian trading Wednesday as risk-averse players increased their yen holdings ahead of the upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later in the day.

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