BUSINESS BRIEFING

Adjustable rates rise, fixed ease

Average rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 6.40% this week, down from 6.47% last week and the lowest since the week of July 17, mortgage company Freddie Mac said.

Average rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 5.93% from 6%. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.03%, up slightly from 5.99%. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages edged up to 5.33% from 5.29%.

These rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year mortgages, 15-year mortgages and five-year mortgages averaged 0.6 of a point. One-year mortgages carried an average fee of 0.7 of a point.

REGULATION

New rules for fraud prosecution

The Justice Department issued new guidelines to rein in prosecutors pursuing corporate fraud cases, bowing to pressure from Congress.

The changes bar the government from demanding that companies turn over confidential legal materials to win leniency in plea deals.

The revisions also prevent prosecutors from penalizing companies that pay attorney fees for employees under investigation.

The shift is a victory for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bar Assn. and other groups that have spent more than three years arguing that the Justice Department's tactics violated employees' constitutional rights and gave prosecutors unfair leverage to force settlements with companies.

TECHNOLOGY

Google proceeds with Yahoo deal

Google Inc., facing U.S. Justice Department scrutiny of its advertising partnership with Yahoo Inc., will proceed with the agreement by early October, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said.

"We are going to move forward," Schmidt said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Denver. "We are in the process of talking to the government. They've not indicated one way or the other how they're dealing with us."

Google, the most popular search engine, is trying to pull off the deal amid concerns that it will give the company too much power in the $65-billion online advertising market.

COURTS

McDonald's class action denied

McDonald's Corp. workers in California can't sue as a group over claims that they were denied pay for work they performed during time they were entitled to take as meal and rest breaks.

U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez granted a request by McDonald's to deny class certification to the worker who sued. The worker failed to show that there were enough common factors among the individual cases to merit a class-action lawsuit, the judge said.

Deanna Kimoto, a former hourly crew member at McDonald's, sued in 2006 for compensation for missed meal and rest breaks. She sought to represent about 45,000 McDonald's employees, according to a statement sent by lawyers for the Oak Brook, Ill.-based restaurant company.

McKesson wins dismissal of suit

McKesson Corp. won dismissal of a proposed class-action lawsuit over claims it inflated wholesale prices of prescription medicines in violation of antitrust laws.

The New England Carpenters Health Benefits Fund failed to demonstrate the anticompetitive effects resulting from McKesson's alleged conduct, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris said in Boston.

From Times Wire Services