Oil spikes fuel profits for ChevronTexaco

ChevronTexaco Corp.’s third-quarter profit improved by 62 percent as the oil giant continued to cash in the oil-price spikes that are squeezing household and business budgets.

The San Ramon, Calif.-based company said Friday that it earned $3.2 billion, or $1.51 per share, during the three months ended in September. That compared with net income of $1.98 billion, or $1.01 per share, at the same time last year.

If not for profits generated by since-discontinued operations, ChevronTexaco said it would have earned $1.38 per share. That was a penny above the mean estimate among analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Pharmaceuticals

Profits off 16 percent at Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s third-quarter profits fell 16 percent as the major drug maker struggles with the loss of patent protection on key products but also increases spending on research and development.

The company said Friday that it was lowering its full-year guidance to between $1.39 a share and $1.44 a share — down from between $1.43 a share and $1.48 a share — on charges it took during the quarter. It reiterated that patent losses would muzzle the company’s growth until 2007.

For the quarter, Bristol-Myers earned $758 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $906 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier.

Agriculture

Wheat rust emerges

The same cool, damp weather that has fed robust corn and soybean corn crops is lingering too long — spawning leaf rust in Kansas wheat, Kansas State University scientists said Friday.

Reports of wheat mosaic creeping into fields have yielded a different diagnosis from university scientists: Leaf rust is moving in, as indicated by the large orange pustules on leaves of the emerging crop.

The rust is extending beyond its typical areas of south-central Kansas, and reaching west into Wichita, Smith, Logan, Comanche and other counties.

“I don’t recall it ever being this widespread before,” said Jim Shroyer, a crop specialist for K-State Research and Extension.

Rust generally doesn’t harm the crop, said Shroyer, who expects cold winter temperatures take care of the problem in time for spring.