Harold Maass of The Week The Best of Today's Business

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Apple's shocking news

Apple Computer (AAPL) shares fell sharply after the company said an internal investigation had uncovered more suspicious stock-option grants. Apple -- one of the most prominent companies touched by an options scandal rattling tech companies -- has been looking into the backdating of options granted from 1997 to 2001. The maker of Macintosh computers and iPod media players said it would probably have to restate earnings. "We know it's significant," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. "We just don't know how significant." (Bloomberg)

Toyota sales surge

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) said its profits jumped by 39 percent in the latest quarter -- a little more than analysts expected. Toyota's overseas sales grew as North American drivers facing rising gas prices snapped up its most fuel-efficient cars. (MarketWatch.com) The No. 1 Japanese automaker also got some help from a weaker yen, which boosted the value of its foreign sales. The results sharpened the contrast between Toyota and its American rivals General Motors and Ford. "Toyota's making money on each car," said analyst Ashvin Chotai of Global Insight, "while GM is just moving metal." (Bloomberg)

Payroll growth stays slow

Job growth remained tepid in July, with employers adding 113,000 jobs. The number was lower than expected. Also, the unemployment rate ticked up unexpectedly as the economy slowed. The numbers strengthened the case for the Federal Reserve to pause its campaign to raise interest rates when it meets next week. (Bloomberg)

Calming waters

Oil prices fell as Tropical Storm Chris weakened for the second straight day, easing fears that it would knock out energy facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. Prices rose earlier in the week as forecasters said Chris could strengthen into the year's first major hurricane, and crash into the Gulf. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

Taking on Goliath

The tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda is fighting the U.S. over Internet gambling, and it's winning. Antigua filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization after U.S. authorities in 2002 imprisoned a young American -- Jay Cohen -- for operating an online betting site from Antigua, where gambling is legal. The U.S. says it has a right to defend "public morals and public order," but Antigua says it has the right to defend its own jobs and laws. The WTO has told the U.S. to ban all forms of online gambling -- including horseracing -- or Antigua wins. (The Washington Post, free registration required)

BEST COLUMNS OF THE DAY

Boomers won't sink stocks

Don't listen to the doomsayers, says Robert Powell in MarketWatch.com. The stock market won't crash as 77 million baby boomers retire over the next few decades and sell off their holdings. Pessimists say everyone will sell en masse, creating "an insidious bear market" and sending us all into "soup lines." But a recent report by the Government Accountability Office says most boomers "don't have any assets to sell." And those who do are more likely to "spend down their money slowly," as retirees do now.

The coming vacation bonanza

Pack your bags, says Chris Taylor in Business 2.0. Americans take far less time off than their counterparts around the world, but that is about to change. Businesses increasingly recognize that overworked employees are unproductive and accident-prone. If that doesn't spur them to offer more vacation time, globalization will. U.S. firms will have to match the five weeks workers get in Japan -- if not the two months they get in France -- or risk losing the global "competition for talent." And as baby boomers retire, employers will have to offer more days off to attract their share of a dwindling work force.

GOOD DAY FOR: Playing it safe, as MotherRock -- a hedge-fund firm run by former Nymex president Robert Collins -- told clients it was shutting down after posting a "terrible performance" this year. MotherRock bet heavily that natural gas futures would fall this summer, and was wiped out when prices rose as a heat wave sent electricity demand soaring. (New York Post)

BAD DAY FOR: Getting something for nothing, as AOL, a unit of Time Warner (TWX), announced it would slash 5,000 jobs -- a quarter of its work force -- within six months as it makes many of its services free. The company is trying to boost Web traffic and advertising income as its dial-up Internet access business declines. (CNNMoney.com)

NOTED: American back-to-school spending will reach $17.6 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation. The typical family will shell out $527.08 -- up 18 percent from last year. College freshman spend the most -- about $1,200 -- according to a 2005 NRF survey. (USA Today)