NATIONAL

Aegis Mortgage files for Chapter 11, blames declines in market

Aegis Mortgage Corp., which last week stopped making new loans and laid off a large portion of its staff, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Houston-based company made the filing Monday in Delaware.

It said the action was necessary "to address financial challenges resulting from the recent extraordinary decline in conditions in the secondary mortgage market and national real estate market."

WAL-MART WOES Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cut its profit outlook for the year, saying during its second-quarter earnings announcement Tuesday that consumer spending has slowed in the U.S. and abroad. Analysts said Wal- Mart still has not overcome merchandising difficulties and thus is less poised than its discount competitors to build sales among penny-pinching consumers.

MAGAZINES HOLD STEADY Magazine circulation continues to hold steady this year, with big increases among celebrity-oriented magazines, according to figures released Monday. Sales of most large-circulation magazines changed little from the first half of 2006 to the first six months of 2007, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

STARBUCKS NUGGETS Starbucks Corp. will start selling packages of premium "drinking chocolate" nuggets in U.S. grocery stores and other retail outlets this fall after an exorbitantly rich chocolate drink failed in stores two years ago. Starbucks, which has teamed up with Hershey Co., also plans to roll out a line of chocolate candies next spring.

LOCAL

Riviera agrees to hear private buyout group

Casino operator Riviera Holdings Inc. said Monday it would agree to talk with a group seeking to take the company private.

Investor group Riv Acquisition Holdings Inc. has offered $34 a share, or $424 million, to buy out the operator of the 52-year-old Riviera hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip and the Riviera casino in Black Hawk.

DIA JOB FAIR Denver International Airport businesses have partnered with the Denver Office of Economic Development to host a career fair from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday in the airport pressroom, on the sixth floor of the main terminal.

The fair is open to those seeking full- and part-time employment. For more information, go to milehigh.com or call 303-342- 2580.

ECONOMY

Exports, imports set records

The U.S. trade deficit dropped to a four-month low in June as record exports of farm goods and autos offset a jump in crude oil prices, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Imports from China hit an all-time high despite a string of recalls of tainted Chinese products.

The trade deficit dropped to $58.1 billion in June, a 1.7 percent decrease from May and the lowest imbalance since February.

The decline caught analysts by surprise. They had been looking for a small increase reflecting rising global oil prices.

U.S. exports and imports set records in June. Exports of goods and services rose by 1.5 percent to $134.5 billion, reflecting big increases in the sale of farm products such as corn and meat and in semiconductor chips and autos. Imports also set a record, rising by 0.5 percent to $192.7 billion.

• The Labor Department said that inflation at the wholesale level shot up 0.6 percent in July, reflecting a big jump in gasoline and other energy costs. Outside of energy, wholesale prices remained contained.

The rise of wholesale prices was far above the 0.1 percent increase analysts had been expecting.

THIS JUST IN...

• Gates Corp., based in Denver, has made management changes, effective Sept. 1. John Bohenick becomes president of the company; Marco Moran, president of Gates Worldwide Fluid Power Division; Brian Harris, president of Gates Worldwide Power Transmission Division; Lou Braga, president of Gates Unitta Asia; Giorgio Brusco, president of Gates Europe Power Transmission Division; Jonathon Levine, chief financial officer, appointed to chief financial officer for the Tomkins Industrial and Automotive Division; and Michael Wedge, chief information officer, appointed to chief information officer for the Tomkins Industrial and Automotive Division.

• Katina Banks, a senior associate with Dorsey & Whitney LLP, was appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

• The University of Colorado named Manuel Laguna, a professor of operations management, as associate dean of the Leeds School of Business.

• Online publisher Associated Content, known as People's Media Co., named Andrew Snyder as vice president of revenue.

• Colorado-based Weitz Co. added Bruce Cousins as senior manager of virtual design and construction.

• Parker Adventist Hospital named Seleem Choudhury as emergency department director and Lynnette Shannon as quality director.

• Littleton-based Jungle Quest, a children's adventure center, hired Kristopher Nieb as director of franchise development and Roger Sutton as director of information technology.

• Jessica Kendall, associate director of meetings and special events at Denver's Ritz-Carlton, was inducted into the National Association of Professional and Executive Women for her professional achievements and success in the hospitality industry.

• Metropolitan State College's Center for Improving Early Learning/Tools of the Mind program received a $100,000 grant from the Daniels Fund and will create a Web-based training system for its college faculty to train teachers nationwide in Tools of the Mind techniques.

• Bonfils Blood Center named Kevin J. Land as chief scientific and medical officer.

Rocky staff and wire reports

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