ENERGY

OIL FALLS AS U.S. SUPPLIES JUMP TO THE HIGHEST SINCE JULY 2002

Crude oil fell more than $2 a barrel in New York as the Energy Department reported that American inventories rose to the highest since July 2002.

Stockpiles gained 4.1 million barrels to 309.3 million in the week ended March 18, the report showed. Prices are down about $3 from last week’s record amid signs that higher American interest rates will slow economic growth and fuel use.

“There is no reason to worry about crude oil stocks at this time,” said Marshall Steeves, an analyst with Refco Group in New York. “The crude oil rise was a function of the decline in refinery utilization and a good-sized increase in imports.”

Crude oil for May delivery fell $2.13, or 3.8%, to $53.90 a barrel at 1:56 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The record price for a contract closest to expiration was $57.60 a barrel reached on March 17. Oil is 44% higher than a year ago.

– Bloomberg News

IN THE COURTS

EX-UBS SALES ASSISTANT TESTIFIES PROMOTION WAS LINKED TO SEX

A former UBS AG sales assistant, testifying in a sex-bias case against the bank, told jurors that she complained in an exit interview that a woman needed to “sleep with the boss” to be promoted.

The woman, Peggy Yeh, was called to testify by lawyers for former UBS saleswoman Laura Zubulake, whose sex-bias suit against UBS, Europe’s largest bank, is being heard in federal court in New York.

Ms. Yeh, an ex-sales assistant on the bank’s Asian stocks desk, said that she overheard Ms. Zubulake’s boss calling her “old” and “ugly.” Ms. Yeh said the boss, who was also her superior, talked at work about women’s underwear and breasts.

Ms. Zubulake’s suit is unusual, one of the few discrimination claims against a Wall Street bank to go before a jury. The trial will determine whether Zurich based UBS must pay her millions of dollars in damages. Most bias suits against banks either settle, are dismissed, or are resolved through private arbitration.

Ms. Zubulake, 44, sued UBS, Europe’s biggest bank, claiming she was belittled by Chapin in front of co-workers and denied lucrative accounts. She said she was fired after complaining to employment regulators in 2001. Ms. Zubulake, who specialized in Asian equities, first took the witness stand yesterday.

– Bloomberg News

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

MCI DISCUSSING $8.45 BILLION QWEST OFFER

MCI, the no. 2 American long-distance telephone company, will keep weighing an $8.45 billion takeover bid from Qwest Communications International against an agreement to be sold to Verizon Communications.

“MCI’s board has determined to continue its discussions with Qwest,” Ashburn, Va.-based MCI said in a statement distributed by e-mail. MCI is considering Qwest’s $26-a-share proposal alongside an agreement announced February 14 to be bought by New York-based Verizon for $6.75 billion, or $20.75 a share.

Siding with Qwest would force Verizon, the no. 1 American local-phone company, to sweeten its bid or scrap the takeover effort. Spurred on by MCI investors who said Verizon underpaid, Qwest’s chief executive, Richard Notebaert, twice revised his proposal to win control of MCI’s $2 billion in cash flow and corporate contracts that generated $20.7 billion in 2004.

– Bloomberg News

AIRLINES

DELTA AIR NEEDS COST CUTS, CASH FOR FUEL EXPENSE

Delta Air Lines, the third-largest American carrier, must further reduce costs and generate additional cash to counter the rising price of fuel, the chief executive, Gerald Grinstein, said. “Our basic plan is that in ’05 and ’06, we were going to be constantly bumping up against liquidity issues, but we should be able handle them,” Mr. Grinstein said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in New York. “One wild card, obviously, is fuel price.”

American carriers have boosted fares three times in the past month in reaction to a 32% jump this year in the price of jet fuel, the second-biggest expense for the industry behind labor. Since the fare increases will only cover about 25% of Delta’s $1 billion in added fuel costs this year, the company is seeking additional cost cuts, Mr. Grinstein said.

– Bloomberg News

ADVERTISING

NIELSEN TO TWEAK TACTICS TO COUNT MORE MINORITIES

Nielsen Media Research, the largest tracker of American television audiences, said it will recommend clients accept changes to its measurement techniques to ensure the service accurately measures minority audiences.

Nielsen, whose ratings are used to set advertising rates for TV shows, said the recommendations are based on the results of an independent task force set up last year in response to criticism that the ratings company underreported minorities. Some of the recommendations must be approved by New York-based Nielsen’s clients, mostly TV networks and advertising agencies, a spokesman, Jack Loftus, said. Those include a proposal to “overweight” people from minority groups, who are less likely to regularly participate with Nielsen TV-tracking technology such as “people meters,” Loftus said.

“It’s a good step,” Mr. Loftus said. “It’s something that was needed.”

News Corporation, the owner of the Fox broadcast network, and Univision Communications, the largest American Spanish-language broadcaster, last year argued against the geographic expansion of Nielsen’s people meters because they said the meters undercounted minority viewers.

The people meters, which are electronic boxes that automatically track what people are watching, are replacing Nielsen’s older system of asking viewers to write down their television viewing in paper diaries.

– Bloomberg News