RETAIL

WAL-MART TO UNVEIL AGGRESSIVE HOLIDAY MARKETING CAMPAIGN

Wal-Mart Stores, long known for folksy advertisements featuring its workers, will unveil an aggressive holiday advertising campaign spotlighting Destiny’s Child and Garth Brooks in an effort to avoid last year’s stumbles.

The campaign, called “Home for the Holidays,” premieres on November 1, the company’s chief marketing officer, John Fleming, said on Tuesday at the company’s analyst conference near its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters.

Mr. Fleming called it “the earliest and most aggressive campaign in our history.” Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, struggled last year when it failed to discount prices early and found itself making last-minute reductions on popular items. The company’s other mistake was to focus on promoting only its cheaper goods, Chief Executive H. Lee Scott said at the conference.

“We can’t do what we did last year, when we decided that we were going to focus on a buck at a time,” Mr. Scott said.

– Bloomberg News

HOUSING

CONGRESS APPROVES NEW RULE GOVERNING FANNIE MAE, FREDDIE MAC

The House voted yesterday to direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to channel 3.5% of profits to a fund for expanding affordable housing as part of legislation creating a tougher regulator for the mortgage finance companies.

The 210-205 vote on an amendment required by fiscally-conservative Republicans overrode Democratic opposition to provisions barring politically-active nonprofit groups from using the estimated $350 million fund. The Bush administration said yesterday it opposes the bill because it is too weak.

The amendment is a key part of legislation prompted by more than $15 billion in accounting errors at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored companies that are biggest sources of money for U.S. home loans.

It would create a regulator with authority to alter capital standards, bar new lines of business, and shut down a company in the event of default.

– Bloomberg News

AUTOMOTIVES

TOYOTA SET TO OVERTAKE GM AS WORLD’S BIGGEST CARMAKER

Toyota is set to grab the mantle of the world’s biggest car maker from arch rival General Motors within the next year.

The Japanese group is understood to be close to revealing plans for 2006 that will see it massively ramp up production as it boosts manufacturing in China, Russia, and other rapidly growing car markets.

Toyota itself is expected to produce 8.3 million vehicles next year, while its Daihatsu and Hino Motors subsidiaries are forecast to contribute a further 900,000 units, taking the overall total to around 9.2 million vehicles.

By contrast, GM is unlikely to top its current-year production target of 9.12 million, given its plans to close a number of factories in the face of slumping sales.

– The Daily Telegraph

IN BRIEF

In a bid to woo more paying subscribers, the Wall Street Journal Online is making its site free for six days beginning November 7 … Estee Lauder, maker of Clinique and Bobbi Brown cosmetics, said first-quarter profit fell 38% on the smallest sales gain in three years. The company cut its annual profit forecast … Roche Holding said its Canadian unit halted sales of the Tamiflu influenza drug and most of its regional units are limiting supplies to ensure the medicine is available during the flu season and to meet government contracts … Boeing more than doubled its third-quarter profits as a large tax benefit and stronger operating margins helped to offset the damage of a machinists’ strike that idled its jet-making factories for four weeks … Corning expects Verizon Communications to modestly lift its spending on its fiber-optics project in the fourth quarter, shoring up one of the weaker spots in its third-quarter results.

– Bloomberg News and Dow Jones Newswires