Gabelli Asset Management Inc

The largest U.S. staffing firm, one of the oldest online players and a famous mutual fund business will test investors' interest in new stock issues today, as a flurry of deals begin trading on Wall Street. Amid slumping prices for most stocks in recent weeks, the reception the new shares receive could be a barometer of the securities market's overall trend--in particular for the fading Internet sector.

Chemical giant DuPont Co. said Wednesday that third-quarter operating earnings fell 14% because of surging raw material costs and the weak euro. It said those same problems could hurt it over the remainder of the year. DuPont said operating earnings declined to $537 million, or 51 cents a share, from $625 million, or 59 cents, a year earlier. Consolidated revenue was flat at $6.4 billion.

Chemical giant DuPont Co. said Wednesday that third-quarter operating earnings fell 14% because of surging raw material costs and the weak euro. It said those same problems could hurt it over the remainder of the year. DuPont said operating earnings declined to $537 million, or 51 cents a share, from $625 million, or 59 cents, a year earlier. Consolidated revenue was flat at $6.4 billion.

The largest U.S. staffing firm, one of the oldest online players and a famous mutual fund business will test investors' interest in new stock issues today, as a flurry of deals begin trading on Wall Street. Amid slumping prices for most stocks in recent weeks, the reception the new shares receive could be a barometer of the securities market's overall trend--in particular for the fading Internet sector.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates plans to invest $100 million in Mario Gabelli's $26-billion mutual fund management business, helping finance the firm's push into Europe. Gates' personal investment company, Cascade Investment, agreed to buy a 10-year convertible note in Gabelli Asset Management Inc. (ticker symbol: GBL), Gabelli said. If the note is converted into stock, Cascade will own 6% of the money management firm, whose stock rose $1.35 on Monday to $45.13. . . .

U.S. corporate profits grew at the fastest pace in more than two years this quarter, as consumers spent more on cars and household goods and companies reduced expenses by firing workers. Earnings for companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose an average of 13% in the fourth quarter, according to a report Friday by Thomson First Call, which compiles analysts' earnings forecasts. Profits had not risen that much since the third quarter of 2000.

Could digital music sales be the recording industry's salvation? Not yet, not by a longshot. But legal downloads are way up, according to domestic and international numbers released Monday. Over the last six months, sales of music over the Internet and via mobile phone downloads have tripled internationally and grown by 169% in the United States compared with the same period a year earlier, the Recording Industry Assn.

After years of suffering from illegal downloads and competition from other forms of entertainment, the music industry is singing a new song: A rebound may finally be near. On Tuesday, London-based EMI Group became the latest major record company to post significantly higher profit, as well as its first annual sales increase in five years. That follows recent upbeat releases by rivals Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.

Compaq Computer Corp. said Tuesday its profit was little changed in the third quarter as it wrestled with slowing demand and lost market share to competitors. The personal computer maker posted operating profit of $117 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with $115 million, or 7 cents, in the year-earlier period. Sales grew 5% to $9.21 billion. The Houston-based company sold fewer PCs in the U.S. than Dell Computer Corp.

The robust appetite for new Internet stocks continued Thursday, but non-Net initial public offerings struggled in the increasingly stratified IPO market. Shares of profitable Los Angeles-based Korn/Ferry International, the world's largest executive search firm, fell during their first trading day even as stocks of several unprofitable Internet firms soared in their debuts.

Billionaire Warren E. Buffett placed his biggest wager yet on the utility industry Tuesday when his MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. agreed to buy Western electric-power supplier PacifiCorp for $5.1 billion in cash. The proposed purchase would be the famed investor's largest acquisition since 1998, when his investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., bought reinsurer General Re Corp. for $22 billion. MidAmerican Energy is 80% owned by Omaha-based Berkshire.

The folks at Warner Music Group Corp. are doing more than cutting records these days. They're also cutting jobs. In the year since Warner Music Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. and his fellow investors bought the once-venerated company, they have eliminated 1,600 positions, pared wages, slashed investments in new artists, shut offices and quadrupled employees' health insurance premiums. The reason: They've been getting the company ready for Wall Street.