Prudential Financial Inc., the second-largest U.S. life insurer, on Wednesday forecast 2006 per-share profit would increase as much as 15 percent to $5.40 to $5.60, in line with analysts' estimates.

The forecast excluded investment gains and losses and the results of policies the company sold before it went public in 2001, the Newark-based company said. The company expects to earn between $4.85 and $4.95 a share this year.

Shares of Prudential (PRU) fell 26 cents, to $75.52, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has risen 48 percent in the past year compared with a 28 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 Life and Health Insurance Index.

PITTSBURGH: Pittsburgh Brewing Co., the maker of Iron City Beer, filed for protection from creditors under federal bankruptcy regulations Wednesday after failing to pay $2.5 million in water and sewage bills.

Pittsburgh Brewing, which employs about 250 people, will continue to operate while under Chapter 11 protection, said company attorney Robert O. Lampl.

The company had defaulted on sewage treatment payments dating back to 1996 and had failed to pay current water and sewage bills — charges totaling about $2.5 million, said Holly Parada, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority.

Four of five employers that pay for retirees' drug costs will take government subsidies next year to continue the coverage, a percentage that will likely drop as the new Medicare drug plan takes hold over time, a survey finds.

About 80 percent of companies taking the subsidy next year said they are very or somewhat likely to collect it in 2007, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates found in a survey released today. By 2010, the percentage is 50 percent, with 22 percent unlikely to do so and 28 percent unsure.

The results indicate the subsidy program, created by Congress to maintain private retiree plans as Medicare expands coverage, may not slow the decline in retiree benefits for long, said Frank McArdle, manager of the Washington research office of Hewitt, a human resources consulting firm.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.: A day after Sears Holdings Corp. Chairman Edward Lampert committed to putting more Sears products in Kmart stores, the retail company said Wednesday it is introducing DieHard batteries in nearly 1,400 Kmarts nationwide.

Besides DieHard, Sears said it has expanded its offerings of Kenmore and other home appliances into 90 Kmart stores after first adding them at Kmart in May.

Kmart acquired Sears, Roebuck and Co. in March for $12.3 billion and renamed the enlarged retailer Sears Holdings. The company has since converted about 50 of the approximately 1,500 U.S. Kmarts to the new Sears Essentials format. It said Tuesday that plans for a total of 400 Sears Essentials by the end of 2007 are on hold after mixed sales results to date.

The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that the decline was the biggest amount ever in dollar terms, and included a record drop of $5.6 billion rate of decline in the category that includes car loans.

"This is a payback for the aggressive discounts consumers were offered to buy cars during the summer," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

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