Business Briefs

SAN FRANCISCO -- Software maker Oracle Corp. offered little hope Thursday of a quick recovery from the sudden sales slump, meeting analysts' lowered earnings expectations.

For the three months ended Feb. 28, the Redwood Shores-based company reported net income of $582.7 million, or 10 cents per share. In the year-ago period, Oracle earned $763.2 million, or 13 cents per share, including investment gains.

Two weeks ago, officials said a wave of last-minute sales losses would cause its earnings to below Wall Street's consensus estimate of 12 cents per share. It marked the first time since December 1997 that Oracle has fallen shy of Wall Street's earnings expectations.

Oracle's quarterly revenues totaled $2.67 billion, up 9 percent from last year's $2.45 billion.

Compaq to release

7 percent of workforce

HOUSTON -- Compaq Computer Corp. will cut 5,000 jobs, about 7 percent of its work force, and warned Thursday that its first-quarter earnings will fall far short of analysts' estimates.

Compaq, which has 67,000 employees worldwide, reduced its first-quarter earnings outlook to 12 cents to 14 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial were expecting 18 cents per share for the three months ended March 31.

In the year-ago quarter, Compaq earned 16 cents per share, excluding one-time items.

National trade deficit

reaches all-time high

WASHINGTON -- America's trade deficit surged to an all-time high of $435.4 billion last year, nearly one-third larger than the previous record, reflecting a flood of imports ranging from foreign cars to oil and industrial machinery.

Economists expressed concern that such a dramatic worsening in the current account, the broadest measure of trade, could make foreigners less interested in holding U.S. investments, adding to Wall Street's problems.

Britain takes drastic

steps to contain disease

LONDON -- Dramatically escalating its bid to stop the wildfire spread of foot-and-mouth disease, Britain announced plans Thursday to slaughter up to 100,000 animals that may have come in contact with the virus -- in addition to more than 200,000 sheep, cows and pigs already killed or marked for death.

The drastic move, announced by Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, came as reverberations of the nearly month-old outbreak rippled far beyond British shores.

Cell phone maker Nokia

lowers sales forecast

HELSINKI, Finland -- Nokia, the world's biggest cellphone maker, lowered its forecast for this year's handset sales by all manufacturers, but stood by its previous estimates for the Finnish company's first-quarter profit despite slower sales growth.

Markets stabilize, but

investors still cautious

The stock market stabilized Thursday following three days of volatile trading, but tense investors traded cautiously amid continuing uncertainty about the economy in this country and overseas.<