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WAL-MART CLIPS MASTERCARD: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will stop accepting signature debit cards issued by MasterCard starting in February, the first major retailer to take such action since a lawsuit settlement freed merchants to pick which credit and debit card services they use. Wal-Mart said MasterCard's fees for the signature debit cards are too high. It will continue to accept Visa's signature debit cards. MasterCard said Wal-Mart's move takes the choice of how to pay for goods and services away from consumers.

PHONE USERS TRY ALTERNATIVES: Alternative local phone service carriers' share of the Florida market climbed to 16 percent as of June 30, up from 13 percent a year earlier, according to the Florida Public Service Commission's annual report on competition. Carriers other than dominant phone companies held 29 percent of the business market, up from 26 percent a year earlier, and had 9 percent of the residential market, up from 7 percent. They carriers held 14 percent of the residential market in BellSouth's service territories, 1 percent in Verizon territories and 2 percent in Sprint territories.

WALTER SELLS OLD HEADQUARTERS: Walter Industries Inc. officials said Wednesday they have completed the long-awaited sale of their former headquarters on N Dale Mabry Highway for $13.3-million. When the Tampa company first announced the sale in January 2001, it said the price would be $16-million and the deal would close by the end of the year. According to the company, buyer Morin Development Group of Tampa plans to build a retail center on the site.

COVANTA SELLS DIVISIONS: Danielson Holding Corp., which is chaired by Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, has agreed to pay $30-million to acquire the energy and water units of Covanta Energy Corp. It's part of a plan to provide Covanta with the financing to emerge from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding in New York City. The acquisition does not include Covanta's construction unit that built a $110-million desalination plant in Apollo Beach for Tampa Bay Water. Covanta has not passed tests, and Tampa Bay Water has tried to fire it.

MICROSOFT PLANS LICENSING: Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it will open its portfolio of patented technology for use by academic researchers and make it easier for companies - including competitors - to license its intellectual property. The company said the changes are designed to respond to other companies that have wanted Microsoft to license its technology. Other companies including IBM have long made their intellectual property available.

BUSH TO END STEEL TARIFFS TODAY: President Bush will announce today that he'll end U.S. tariffs on steel imports, yielding to threatened retaliation from Europe and Asia after 20 months of protection for companies such as U.S. Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp., White House officials told Bloomberg News. Bush will try to mollify steelworkers by promising to impose targeted tariffs should steel imports surge from any nation, the aides said. Bush may also seek federal help to cover pension and health costs for companies hurt by the removal of tariffs, they said.

ENRON SELLS HEADQUARTERS: An investors' group will buy Enron Corp.'s 50-story headquarters in downtown Houston for $55.5-million, two years after the energy giant went bankrupt. Dr. Antonio Pacifico, a cardiologist who heads the group, bid on the oval glass tower at a private auction Tuesday. A New York bankruptcy judge must approve the sale.

PIPER JAFFRAY INVESTIGATED: Piper Jaffray Cos., which is expected to be spun off from U.S. Bancorp in December, said the Securities and Exchange Commission and National Association of Securities Dealers have requested information from it over late trading and market timing of mutual fund shares. According to a registration statement released by the SEC Wednesday, the requests are in connection with the industrywide investigation by securities regulators into the two types of practices. The company's own investigation into its practices made it aware of three situations in which customers appear to have been engaged in a market timing investment strategy, the filing said.

FEES NEXT, SPITZER SAYS: New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday he is broadening the focus of his investigation into the mutual fund industry to include excessive fees managers charge regular investors. "Fees, fees, fees" are the next issue, said Spitzer during a speech in Manhattan before attorneys and investment bankers hosted by the Japan Society. "Exorbitant fees have swamped, by many multiples, the harm imposed by late trading and market timing."

NORTHWEST WON'T TRY DISCOUNT: In a rebuttal of his closest rivals, Northwest Airlines CEO Richard H. Anderson warned that major airlines would cannibalize their existing businesses if they fly discount carriers on similar routes. Though they may pick up customers at cheaper fares, it will be at the peril of business on the mainline air carrier, he said. Anderson said he would focus instead on lowering the price of tickets at Northwest, the nation's fourth-largest airline, by cutting labor and infrastructure costs.

XEROX TO CUT 800 MORE: Xerox Corp. is eliminating about 800 jobs in the United States, including 200 in Rochester, N.Y., as part of a long-term effort to streamline operations. The Stamford, Conn., office equipment company said Wednesday the cuts in the engineering, administrative, clerical and other nonunion ranks will be carried out through the end of next week. Over the last two years, Xerox has slashed its worldwide payroll by about a third to 62,800.

U.S. DEFICITS LIFT EURO: The euro rose to another record high against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, spiking to $1.2127 as it resumed a surge driven by worries about the U.S. trade and budget deficits. The 12-nation currency's latest high came in European trading just hours after it broke above $1.21 for the first time in its nearly five-year history in Asian trading. The euro has set a string of records since Friday. In late New York trading, the euro was quoted at $1.2104, up from $1.2082 late Tuesday.

HOLLINGER WIDENS INVESTIGATION: Hollinger International Inc. is looking into an investment the company made to a venture capital fund with links to defense adviser Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger, both directors of the company. The investigation is part of a wider probe at the company which has already resulted in the resignation of several senior executives, including Conrad Black as Hollinger International's CEO. However, Black remains chairman and controlling shareholder of the company, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph in London and The Jerusalem Post.

KERKORIAN WON'T SETTLE: Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian said he will not "entertain settlement talks" with DaimlerChrysler AG over his lawsuit that claims he was deceived by Daimler-Benz AG's 1998 combination with Chrysler Corp. "We're going to trial, win it or lose it," Kerkorian said following testimony Wednesday in federal court in Wilmington, Del.