STATEWIDE

AUTO SERVICE COMPANIES SETTLE WITH SPITZER ALBANY – Settlements have been reached with some of the nation’s largest auto service companies to stop advertising a set price for oil changes while charging additional fees that are not clearly disclosed, according to state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. An investigation by Mr. Spitzer’s office showed the companies routinely added fees to advertised prices that appeared in large bold print, calling the additions environmental, oil filter disposal, or storage and disposal fees.

Settlement agreements were reached with Buffalo Lube Associates L.P., which operates 16 Valvoline Instant Oil Change shops in western New York; Firestone MasterCare & Tire Services, operator of 61 auto shops statewide; Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which operates 50 auto shops in New York, and Monro Muffle Brake Inc., with 143 shops in the state, according to Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Pritchard. The four companies agreed collectively to pay more than $140,000 in civil penalties and costs to the state, Ms. Pritchard said.

– Associated Press

ECONOMY

SECOND-QUARTER GROWTH LIKELY SLOWER THAN EXPECTED The American economy may have grown in the second quarter at a 2.7% annual rate, slower than the government estimated before finding that imports of higher-priced crude oil widened the trade deficit, economists forecast.

The Commerce Department initially reported July 30 that gross domestic product grew at a 3% annual pace from April to June, compared with 4.5% in the first three months of the year. The department subsequently reported a record trade gap of $55.8 billion for June, larger than assumed in the advance calculation of gross domestic product. Crude oil futures rose to a record $49.40 a barrel on Friday amid worries of supply disruptions and a drop in inventories. The more it costs people to drive and companies to run their businesses, the harder it is for consumer spending and profit growth to accelerate.

The economy this time a year ago expanded at a 7.4% pace, the quickest since 1984, fueled in part by tax cuts that President Bush championed.

– Bloomberg News

CURRENCY

DOLLAR MAY FALL ON CONCERN OVER OIL PRICES The dollar may fall against the euro for a third week in four on concern near-record crude oil prices will temper the pace of expansion in the American economy, a survey by Bloomberg News indicates. Sixty-nine percent of the 52 traders, investors, and strategists polled on Friday from Tokyo to New York advised buying or holding the euro against the dollar, up from 67% a week earlier. Seventy-three percent said to buy or hold the yen versus the American currency, up from 44%.

“There is concern about whether the U.S. economy is going through a soft spot or if it’s actually running out of steam,” said the London-based head of currency strategy at the world’s biggest foreign-exchange trader UBS AG, Mansoor Mohi-Uddin. He said clients remain “very cautious” about buying dollars.

Crude oil prices for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.7% last week. The surge in prices is slowing consumer spending and demand for labor, said economists at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which lowered forecasts for economic growth and the dollar. Lehman predicted the dollar will weaken to $1.25 per euro in a month, compared with an earlier call of $1.23.

– Bloomberg News

NATIONAL

MCDONALD’S CEO RECOVERING FROM SURGERY The chief executive officer of McDonald’s Corp., Charlie Bell, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in May, is recovering from surgery to clear a blockage caused by scar tissue from a previous operation to treat the disease.

Mr. Bell, 43, underwent surgery Friday night, McDonald’s Chairman Andrew McKenna wrote in an e-mail to employees yesterday. The operation was successful, and Mr. Bell is “resting comfortably,” Mr. McKenna wrote. Mr. Bell began his career flipping burgers at an Australian McDonald’s at the age of 15. He became CEO in April after the death of 60-year-old James Cantalupo. Mr. Bell had been president and chief operating officer of Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s for 15 months when he took over the top job.

– Bloomberg News