BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

$5.3 billion made by state's casinos

Tribal casinos in California raked in $5.3 billion last year to maintain their dominance of the nation's Indian gambling industry, according to a report released Wednesday.

Connecticut was No. 2 in revenue, with tribes in that state pulling in $2.2 billion, according to the Analysis Group Inc., a national research organization. Arizona was third, with $1.5 billion.

In all, $19 billion was generated by 405 gambling facilities operated by 228 tribes in 30 states, according to the report.

Genentech to buy back more stock

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO - Genentech Inc., the world's most valuable biotechnology company, said Wednesday it has allocated $2 billion to continue a 2-year-old stock repurchase program.

The South San Francisco-based company said it has already spent $1.5 billion buying 29 million of its own shares on the open market and through private transactions. The company's board of directors authorized it on Wednesday to buy a total of 80 million shares. Some 1 billion of the company's shares are publicly traded.

Genentech said the repurchase program was started in December 2003 to offset new shares issued for employee stock plans. The repurchase program is scheduled to last through June 30, 2006.

The company's stock closed down 25 cents to $79.95 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Wall Street makes 3rd straight gain

NEW YORK - Wall Street scratched out its third straight minuscule gain Wednesday as investors fretted over rising oil prices and disappointing inventory data from the Energy Department. Analysts attributed the gain to a calming assessment of the economy by the Federal Reserve.

The surprise decline in domestic crude supplies overshadowed a 0.1 percent drop in the government's consumer price index. It was the first decline in 10 months for the index, which encouraged investors, but analysts said soaring energy costs - which might contribute to inflation in the months ahead - were a drag on stocks.

Jury deliberating in two execs' trial

NEW YORK - Jurors in the grand larceny trial of two former top executives of Tyco International Ltd. finished their ninth day of deliberations Wednesday without issuing verdicts.

They asked to see exhibits related to the defendants' compensation and a series of messages written by a member of the Tyco board of directors who praised former Chief Executive Officer L. Dennis Kozlowski for his leadership of the company.

2 Bristol-Myers ex-execs indicted 

Two former executives of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. were indicted Wednesday in federal court on conspiracy and securities fraud charges related to a wholesale inventory manipulation that artificially inflated company revenues by millions of dollars.

Bristol-Myers, meanwhile, agreed to pay $300 million in penalties but avoided indictment in connection with the scheme.

The accusations, filed in Newark, N.J., charge that Frederick S. Schiff, the company's former finance chief, and Richard J. Lane, who ran its worldwide medicines group, misled investors by concealing the excess inventory held by Bristol-Myers wholesalers, the result of an aggressive program of rebates and discounts offered by the company to meet its sales targets.