Economy: Factory orders fall again

Orders to U.S. factories dropped for a second-straight month in September. It was another setback for manufacturing, which has seen almost 2 million jobs lost during the last two years and is struggling not to sink even deeper into the quicksand of economic uncertainties.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that factory orders declined by 2.3 percent in September, after a 0.4 percent drop in August. September’s decline marked the third decrease in the past four months.

While September’s performance was better than the 3 percent decline analysts had predicted, more forward-looking data suggest a somber outlook for manufacturing.

Investigation: Report predicts losses to grow at WorldCom

WorldCom Inc. took “extraordinary and illegal steps” to paint a rosy picture of its deteriorating finances, and the extent of the fraud will likely surpass the $7.68 billion previously disclosed, a bankruptcy court-appointed monitor said Monday.

The report from special examiner Richard Thornburgh, a former U.S. attorney general, also criticized WorldCom’s board for letting former chief executive Bernard Ebbers leverage his company stock for more than $1 billion in personal and business loans. That greatly exceeds the $400 million in personal loans Ebbers was already disclosed to have been granted.

Media Company: Vivendi under probe

Vivendi Universal acknowledged Monday that it is under investigation by U.S. authorities, a disclosure that comes one week after prosecutors in France announced they were examining whether the company deliberately misled investors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has opened a preliminary criminal investigation, Vivendi said. The company also said the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Miami office has been carrying out an informal inquiry and is coordinating its activities with the U.S. Attorney.

Vivendi promised to cooperate fully with investigators, but a spokeswoman declined to elaborate about the scope of the inquiries.