Chicago beef futures take another pounding

Beef futures fell the maximum amount allowed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Monday for the third straight trading session since the emergence of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease.

Meanwhile, major hamburger chains maintained Monday that their sales hadn’t been noticeably hurt. The report last Tuesday that a cow in Washington state was tentatively diagnosed with mad cow disease already had prompted the Chicago Merc to increase the limit on daily trading movement to 3 cents per contract, up from the usual 1.5 cents, last Friday and to 5 cents on Monday.

Pharmaceuticals

Eli Lilly wins approval for new bipolar drug

Eli Lilly and Co. on Monday said it had won regulatory approval to sell its new drug Symbyax to treat the depressive phase of bipolar disorder.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug, which is a combination of the active ingredients in two other drugs — the anti-depressant Prozac and the anti-psychotic Zyprexa, which is used for treating manic stages of bipolar disorder.

Symbyax treats the depression stages of the illness without triggering mania, said Marni Lemons, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis-based drug company.

Retail

May to buy tuxedo chain

May Department Stores Co. will purchase 125 company-owned formalwear stores from the Gingiss Group, the companies said Monday.

The stores include Gingiss Formalwear and Gary’s Tux Shop, along with two Gingiss Group service centers in Addison, Ill., and Van Nuys, Calif. May will operate the stores as part of its Bridal Group.

Aviation

Boeing wins Navy deal

The U.S. Navy on Monday said it had ordered 210 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet attack jets worth $8.5 billion from Boeing Co. and would pay Boeing $979 million to develop and demonstrate a new variant, the EA-18G, with upgraded weapons.

The Navy had previously ordered 222 Super Hornets under a five-year deal that expires in 2004 and had been expected to buy a total of at least 548 by 2010, according to Boeing’s Web site.

Deliveries under the latest contract will run from 2007 through 2011 at an average rate of 42 a year from Boeing’s assembly line in St. Louis.