Business Briefs

Stocks mixed after day of deal-making

NEW YORK -- Stocks ended mixed after a new round of mergers and acquisitions raised some hope for the economy.

Financial shares rose after insurer American International Group cut a deal to sell one of its major foreign units to MetLife for $15.5 billion. The Alico deal is the second major sale AIG has made this month as part of its plans to trim operations, shed assets and repay more than $100 billion in government bailout money it has received.

Also, Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina offered to buy Australia's Arrow Energy for $3 billion. Meanwhile, health care stocks fell after President Obama called for passage of health care legislation.

Northrop: We can't win tanker job

WASHINGTON -- Northrop Grumman said Monday it won't compete against Boeing Co. for a $35 billion contract to build refueling tankers for the Air Force because Northrop doesn't think it can win.

The decision puts the Pentagon on a path to doing something President Obama said shouldn't happen any more: paying large sums to contractors without any competition. Northrop chief executive Wes Bush said the Pentagon's guidelines for the program "clearly favors Boeing's smaller refueling tanker" but that the company wouldn't file a protest.

U.S. exports being targeted by Brazil

BRASILIA -- Brazil will raise tariffs on 102 U.S. exports, including wheat, cars, boats and chewing gum, and break patents worth $238 million in a bid to force the U.S. to end subsidies to cotton producers.

Acting on a World Trade Organization ruling, Brazil will impose levies of 14 percent to 100 percent. The sanctions, which take effect in 30 days, represent $591 million in trade. The WTO in August ruled that Brazil can impose sanctions on U.S. imports because the cotton subsidies violate trade regulations.

More firms eligible for Fed buybacks

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve said Monday it's making more financial institutions eligible for a program to drain some of the unprecedented liquidity it added to markets during the credit crisis. The move is intended to make the program, under which the Federal Reserve Bank of New York temporarily sells some of its securities, more effective.

The New York Fed said Monday that domestic money-market mutual funds with net assets of $20 billion are eligible for the transactions, known as "reverse repurchase agreements." That's when the Fed sells securities from its portfolio with an agreement to buy them back later.

Newsprint maker, union nearing deal

TORONTO -- AbitibiBowater, says it has reached a tentative labor deal with the majority of its unionized Canadian workers, which could help the insolvent newsprint giant emerge from bankruptcy protection later this year.

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada said Monday that the deal requires about 4,000 Canadian workers to accept wage concessions to enable AbitibiBowater to continue as a viable company. AbitibiBowater has been operating under bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canada since April 2009. Union members are expected to vote by the end of March.