BUSINESS NOTES MAY JOBLESS RATE GOES UNCHANGED.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Los Angeles County's and California's unemployment rates remained unchanged in May, matching a revised April rate of 4.9 percent, officials said Friday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the county remained at 5.1 percent in May, but was well below the year-ago estimate of 5.4 percent. Total nonfarm employment in the county has grown by 52,000 jobs between May 2000 and May 2001, according to the state's Employment Development Department.

The state rate in May 2000 was 5 percent, according to the EDD.

A separate survey of households found that the number of people with jobs in California dropped by 30,000 to 16.5 million in May, said Suzanne Schroeder, spokeswoman for the EDD.

There were 843,000 people who were unemployed and looking for work, a decline of 1,000 over the month and down 18,000 from the previous May.

Golf firm's shares down over driver

CARLSBAD - Shares of Callaway Golf Co. fell nearly 19 percent Friday after the golf equipment maker warned that second-quarter earnings would be much lower than expected.

The Carlsbad-based company blamed unusually bad weather, a slowing world economy and negative comments by the U.S. Golf Association about one of its drivers.

Sales for the company's $500 titanium ERC II have dramatically slowed in the United States because of USGA statements to country clubs that the driver gives players an unfair advantage, said Larry Dorman, spokesman for Callaway.

The USGA has ruled the ERC illegal because of its springlike effect, which adds speed to the ball.

P&G settlement to cost $49 million

CINCINNATI - The Procter & Gamble Co. said Friday that it has agreed to pay $49 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders who said the company withheld unfavorable earnings estimates last year.

The proposed settlement is subject to court approval.

Shareholders alleged that Cincinnati-based P&G failed to promptly alert investors when management first learned that earnings would not meet projections. P&G's stock price plunged from $93 to $63 per share in March 2000 after the company announced the expected profit shortfall.

< Bies nominated to be on Fed board

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will nominate Susan Bies, a top official with a Tennessee bank, as a member of the Federal Reserve Board, the White House announced Friday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Bies, 54, would be the only woman on the seven-member board of governors and the only Fed member with direct experience in commercial banking.

Since 1980, Bies has worked for Memphis-headquartered First Tennessee National Corp., a large regional bank holding company with 200 branches in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. She currently serves the bank as executive vice president in charge of risk management.

Quaker Oats buy hits delay in FTC 

NEW YORK - PepsiCo Inc.'s planned $14 billion purchase of Quaker Oats Co. has been delayed because of ongoing discussions with federal regulators about the deal, the company said Friday.

PepsiCo, the nation's No. 2 soft drink company, had predicted that the stock deal would be approved by the Federal Trade Commission by the end of June.

Company spokesman Tod MacKenzie declined comment on what issues prompted the delay, but said PepsiCo anticipates that talks with FTC officials will continue into the third quarter that ends in September. He said the company is issuing no new prediction on when approval might be granted.

The deal, announced in December, would give Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo the maker of Gatorade and Cap'n Crunch cereal.