NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. job market improved in January for the fifth consecutive month, pointing to possible job growth in the first quarter of this year, a research group said on Monday.

The Conference Board, a private research group, said its Employment Trends Index climbed to 93.2 in January from an upwardly revised 92.3 in December, which was originally reported as 91.8.

It was the highest index level reading since January 2009, when it stood at 93.8.

The index is still down 0.7 percent from one year ago, according to the group.

"The continued rise in the Employment Trends Index makes us more optimistic that job growth will resume in the first quarter of 2010," said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board business cards design.

Government data on Friday showed that U.S. employers shed 20,000 jobs in January, even though the unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent from 10 percent in December. Analysts had forecast jobs growth in January.

(Reporting by Chris Reese; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Job market gauge rises for 5th month: report

LONDON (AFP) – Business Secretary Peter Mandelson attacked the European Union on Sunday for failing to provide stronger international leadership on banking reform following the financial crisis.

"I think that both the European Council and the European Commission have to play a much stronger leadership role," Mandelson, regarded as Prime Minister Gordon Brown&&9;s de facto number two, told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"Heads of government need to set the direction and pace and the commission needs to be a much more active implementing body than perhaps we&&9;ve seen in recent months."

The former EU trade commissioner deplored a "failure in the EU to show stronger leadership" on global banking regulation, adding: "European heads of government need to show more of a strategic lead to the EU as a whole paydayloans."

Mandelson also said there was a "surprising lack of internationalism displayed by the US administration" on banking reform, after President Barack Obama proposed a tough package for banks in the United States last month.

"Above all, governments need to speak in an internationally joined up way," he told the newspaper.

"This is an international banking system we are trying to regulate and if we have different moves made by various governments you are opening up the risk of regulatory arbitrage of competing banking jurisdictions, rather than encouraging competition within financial markets as a whole."

Mandelson attacks EU on banking reform

NEW YORK (AFP) – Wall Street shares plunged Thursday as weak US data combined with heightened fears of debt problems in European Union countries sent shockwaves through the markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 268.37 points (2.61 percent) to end at 10,002.18, after a brief dip below 10,000 for the first time since November.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped a hefty 65.48 points (2.99 points) to 2,125.43 and the broad-market Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 index lost 34.17 points (3.11 percent) to 1,063.11.

"Disappointing economic reports added to jitters created by European debt problems," said Scott Marcouiller at Wells Fargo Advisors.

Market tensions intensified after news that some EU countries in addition to Greece were having problems selling bonds and that the cost of insuring their debt was rising.

The prospect of a debt crisis in EU member states raised concerns about a weaker global economic recovery, said analysts.

"Markets are registering increased concern about the chance of a sovereign debt default in Greece, and skepticism about official plans to shrink bloated budget deficits," said Patrick Armstrong at Moody&&9;s Economy.com.

Although Greece announced a major austerity program to cut its deficit, that ran into opposition Thursday as the country&&9;s largest trade union called a national strike to protest the plan Payday advance.

"Investors are skeptical that the deficit reduction plan announced by Greece&&9;s Prime Minister (George) Papandreou will be fully implemented due to opposition from organized labor in that country," said Armstrong.

Also dampening the mood was a report that new claims for US unemployment benefits rose to 480,000 in the week ending January 30, up 8,000 from the prior week&&9;s upwardly revised 472,000.

The reading was worse than the consensus forecast of 455,000 new claims and dashed some hopes that Friday&&9;s key report on US payrolls would show a gain in new jobs.

"We are disturbed by the run of recent claims numbers," said Ian Shepherdson at High Frequency Economics.

"It is starting to look as though the downward trend in claims, which has been key to the story of payroll gains in the next few months, has stalled."

Economic fears send US stocks tumbling

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks gave up more than 2 percent on Thursday after data showed new applications for jobless insurance rose unexpectedly last week, and basic materials shares sank as a rising U.S. dollar hit commodity prices.

* The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 190.45 points, or 1.85 percent, to 10,080.10. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) lost 23.25 points, or 2.12 percent, to 1,074.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index ( payday loans.IXIC) gave up 44.19 points, or 2.02 percent, at 2,146.72.

* The greenback rose against a basket of currencies (.DXY), as the euro slid to a seven-month low against the dollar on worries over sovereign debt in Greece, Portugal and Spain.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Stocks slide on jobs data, commodities

Davos, Switzerland

Bob Diamond of Barclays Capital said he did not think that &S220;making banks smaller and more narrow is the answer.&S221;

Go to your Portfolio &<87;

The breakthrough did not come until early Saturday morning at a closed-door meeting here in the Swiss Alps.

A group of the world&S217;s top banking chiefs and regulators, some nursing hangovers after a late night of party-hopping, finally started making some progress over financial reform at the World Economic Forum&S217;s annual meeting.

For the previous few days, bankers and regulators had been shouting past one another over the Volcker Rule &<51; President Obama&S217;s surprising proposal to prevent commercial banks from engaging in proprietary trading and limiting their overall size &<51; and what it would mean to the global banking system.

The bankers had gone on the offensive, with Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays Capital, taking the lead.

&S220;You have to step back from the rhetoric,&S221; he said. &S220;I have seen no evidence to suggest that shrinking banks and making banks smaller and more narrow is the answer.&S221; (Not all the chief executives were in agreement on that point, however. Several privately told me, as one said, that &S220;size, by default, increases risk.&S221; That seems a sensible assessment, but none of them contested Mr. Diamond&S217;s point out loud.)

The more contentious discussions were around Mr. Obama&S217;s plan to restrict proprietary trading. One hedge fund manager described the proposed rule by using more four-letter words in one sentence &<51; as nouns and verbs &<51; than I thought possible.

The biggest debate surrounded exactly how proprietary trading was going to be defined.

Mr. Obama had said, &S220;Banks will no longer be allowed to own, invest or sponsor hedge funds, private equity funds or proprietary trading operations for their own profit, unrelated to serving their customers.&S221;

But, as Mr. Diamond made his case to the Davos audience on Wednesday, he said, &S220;It&S217;s very, very difficult to think that we can differentiate between the risk banks take in the normal course of business for their clients and customers, and proprietary trading.&S221;

A senior banker put it to me more bluntly: &S220;I can find a way to say that virtually any trade we make is somehow related to serving one of our clients. They can go ahead and impose the rule on Friday, and I can assure you that by Monday, we&S217;ll find a way around it. Nothing will change unless the definition is ironclad.&S221;

Indeed, in the past week and half, banks have tried to estimate their proprietary trading, with most banks suggesting that it is a minuscule part of their business. JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and others estimated it at less than 2 percent of their business; Goldman Sachs said it was under 10 percent free credit score.

But as the chief executive of a global bank said to me, knocking back a shot of vodka, &S220;The numbers you&S217;ve heard about don&S217;t include all the investments we make that are related to our clients. Nobody&S217;s talking about that. That&S217;s a much bigger number.&S221;

The politicians and regulators in attendance, on the other hand, started the week off with their own fiery bursts, including this from Representative Barney Frank, who didn&S217;t win over many bankers in the audience: &S220;I think almost every American here pays much less in taxes than you ought to,&S221; he said. &S220;I&S217;m going to go back and try to raise the taxes of most of the people who attended here.&S221;

And that was just the starting point. &S220;That those who contribute to destroying jobs and wealth,&S221; Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president told a packed room, &S220;also earn a lot of money is morally indefensible.&S221;

As the week wore on, factions of bankers, politicians and regulators developed with each side blaming the other for making reform even harder to achieve.

Some executives were worried about what side to take. David Rubenstein, a founder of the Carlyle Group, the giant private equity firm, half-joked, &S220;Our position is unsure because we&S217;re afraid if we come out in favor, it won&S217;t pass.&S221;

(By the way, some private equity executives were thrilled about the Volcker Rule because it would mean commercial banks could no longer compete with them. They also seemed happy that the banks were in the cross hairs; they were no longer the focus of the public&S217;s ire.)

And so perhaps it was surprising that by Saturday, after many of the biggest names had already flown back in their private jets (yes, many took private jets, though it is worth noting that Mr. Diamond did not, nor did George Soros nor Eric Schmidt of Google, for those of you keeping score), the beginning of an agreement started coming together.

The credit, according to some in the room, goes to the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner. He suggested that there needn&S217;t be an outright ban on proprietary trading &<51; defined in the widest terms possible, including trades that relate to clients &<51; but that there should be a cap on the percentage of the business that it represented. It appeared to be a fair compromise that many could agree on.

But first, it needed someone&S217;s blessing. A call was placed to Paul Volcker later that day, according to one participant. Now let&S217;s hope they stick to it when the hangovers wear off.

Dealbook Column: Bankers in Davos Seek a United Message on Volcker Rule

Toyota said Monday that its dealers in the United States will begin repairing 2.3 million vehicles later this week that are involved in a recall for accelerator pedals that could potentially stick. Here are some details about the situation.

Go to your Portfolio &<87;

Q. Which cars are involved?

A. The recall involves Toyota division vehicles, including all 2009 to 2010 Matrixs, 2005 to 2010 Avalons, 2007 to 2010 Tundras, 2008 to 2010 Sequoia vehicles. Some 2009-2010 RAV4s and Corollas, 2007 to 2010 Camrys and 2010 Highlanders models are involved.

No Lexus or Scion vehicles are involved, and the Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solaris, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser, Highlander hybrid, and the Camry hybrid are not involved. Also, Camry, RAV4, Corolla and Highlander vehicles with Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) that begin with &S220;J,&S221; meaning that they are built in Japan, are not affected by the accelerator pedal recall.

Q. What is the problem that could happen?

A. The accelerator pedal on the recalled models could become stuck in a partially depressed position, or it could be slow to return to idle.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in its advice to drivers of Toyota vehicles, said that &S220;Owners of these vehicles should pay attention to the operation of their accelerator pedals. If their accelerator pedal is harder to depress than normal or slower to return, it may be a precursor to a stuck pedal. These vehicles should be parked and a dealer immediately notified.&S221;

Q. What should I do if my accelerator sticks?

A. Toyota has step-by-step instructions here.

Briefly, if the accelerator sticks, Toyota says the vehicle can be controlled with a firm and steady application of the brakes. But it says drivers should not pump the brakes, because that could deplete the vacuum assist, meaning it will take more effort to stop the car.

Once the car is slowed, the company is telling drivers to put the transmission into neutral, and steer it off the road. It should be driven to the closest safe place. Then shut off the engine and call a dealer for assistance no teletrack payday loan.

Q. Should I just shut off the engine while I&S217;m driving?

A. In its advice to consumers, Toyota said that should be done only if a driver cannot put the car into Neutral. In that case, the power assistance to the brakes and steering wheel would also be lost, but Toyota says the vehicles could still be steered and stopped.

Q. What kind of repair will Toyota make?

A. Toyota says it will install a stainless steel reinforcement bar, like a shim, into the pedal assembly. It is designed to keep the pedal from sticking and will assure that it returns into place. The company says drivers will not notice any different feel to the accelerator pedals.

Q. How do I know this will work?

A. The company&S217;s engineers tested the remedy on pedals that were known to stick, and says it stopped them from sticking.

Q. Is my car safe to drive if it has been recalled?

A. The company says that it is. James Lentz, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said he was confident in allowing his family members and friends drive the cars.

Q. Which cars take priority, the ones with owners or the ones on showroom lots?

A. Owners take priority. Toyota said dealers would begin receiving the parts this week. In the case of owners whose vehicles were part of an earlier recall involving floor mats, Toyota said both repairs could be performed at once.

Q. What if I&S217;m shopping for a car? Are the Toyotas at dealerships safe?

A. Toyota is not selling the models involved in the recall until they can be repaired. It has not said how long that will take, but it says that dealers will be repairing and releasing vehicles for sale as they are able to do so.

Q. I bought a Toyota right after it announced the recall, but before it announced it was stopping sales. What should I do?

A. Toyota said it would work with customers on a case-by-case basis. At the very least, the company will repair the vehicle if it is on the recall list.

Answers to Questions About Toyota’s Repair Plans

SAN FRANCISCO -- Three bank failures in Florida, Georgia and Minnesota have brought the number of bank failures in 2010 to 12, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. late Friday. In Florida, Immokalee's Florida Community Bank will have its $795.5 million in deposits taken over by Miami's Premier American Bank. First National Bank of Georgia in Carrollton will have its $757 no faxing payday loans.9 million in deposits taken over by Carrollton's Community & Southern Bank. Marshall Bank of Hallock, Minn., will have its $54.7 million in deposits taken over by United Valley Bank of Cavalier, N.D.

Three Bank Failures Brings 2010's Tally To 12

Filed at 2:39 a.m. ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd posted a 23 percent fall in quarterly profit as software sales for its DS handheld game player slowed and it cut the price of its Wii console, and the company kept its forecast for a first annual profit decline in four years.

Nintendo has ridden white-hot demand for the DS and the Wii to record profits in recent years, dethroning Sony Corp, which ruled the global game market for a decade from the mid-1990s.

But momentum for the once-mighty DS began to slow as it entered the fifth year of its product life a year ago, and Apple Inc's iPhone and other smartphones emerged as alternative portable game machines.

Nintendo, which competes with Sony and Microsoft Corp, maintained its operating profit forecast of 370 billion yen ($4.1 billion) for the year to March.

That would be a third below its 555.26 billion yen profit a year earlier, but more than a consensus for a 361.1 billion yen profit in a poll of 20 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S business?ards.

Profitability also came under pressure because Nintendo cut the price of the Wii by a fifth in the second half of 2009, responding to similar cuts by Sony and Microsoft, which offer the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, respectively.

Nintendo suffered sluggish Wii sales in April-September, but revived demand with the launch of strong game titles such as "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" and the price cut.

October-December operating profit was 192.3 billion yen, down from 249.1 billion yen a year earlier.

Shares in Nintendo closed up 2.5 percent at 26,320 yen ahead of the announcement, hitting a six-month high and outperforming the Nikkei average, which rose 1.6 percent.

Nintendo shares have lost 17 percent over the past year, while Sony, which saw its PS3 sales grow sharply after it cut the price, gained 68 percent. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Editing by Dean Yates)

Nintendo’s Profit Down 23 Percent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday is expected to hold a final confirming vote on Ben Bernanke&&9;s nomination for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Senate aides said.

The aides said on Wednesday that a vote on confirmation would likely come shortly after senators vote to clear a procedural roadblock to the nomination. Lawmakers could have up to 30 hours to debate the nomination, but are not expected to use all the time.

"We anticipate the confirmation vote tomorrow," a Democratic aide said. "We think the (confirmation) vote will be tomorrow," a Republican aide said separately.

Bernanke is widely expected to win confirmation, but only by a relatively narrow margin.

The surprise election last week of a Republican to a Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat long held by Democrats underscored voter anger about the economy&&9;s woes and undercut support for Bernanke, a chief architect of bailouts for Wall Street banks.

While the nomination appeared on track before then, the Massachusetts result sent shock waves through Washington. A number of senators facing tough reelection battles in November voiced their opposition, raising doubts about whether Bernanke could be confirmed.

A full-court press from President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats, however, appears to have mustered the 60 vote supermajority needed to overcome efforts to block the nomination.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid&&9;s decision on Tuesday to schedule a procedural vote for Thursday to clear any roadblocks signaled a belief the votes were secured.

Even so, Bernanke, whose first four-year term ends on Sunday, is poised to garner the fewest "yes" votes for any nominee to be Fed chairman in the 32 years the Senate has been playing a role in approving the nominations. Previously, Paul Volcker, who triggered back-to-back recession with sky-high interest rates, held that honor in 1983 with 84 "yes" votes.

A Reuters poll showed 50 Senators support Bernanke, while 21 oppose him. The rest of the 100-member chamber is publicly undecided low fee payday advance.

FED SEEN WEAKENED

If Bernanke wins a second term, as expected, he will be leading an institution reshaped by the financial crisis and deep recession, and the shifting politics that ensued.

His unexpectedly rocky confirmation battle and the mauling Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received during a congressional hearing on Wednesday over the taxpayer-funded bailout of insurer American International Group Inc in 2008 vividly illustrated the depth of outrage over the recession and expensive bank bailouts.

"The politically neutral and independent Fed has really been politicized this week, probably to its detriment," said Chris Krueger of Concept Capital, a private firm that tracks Washington for institutional investors.

The hunger for a scapegoat could translate into congressional action to strip the Fed of direct supervisory power over banks or its responsibility for consumer protections, as proposed by some lawmakers.

Congress is also likely to mandate much more extensive supervision of the Fed&&9;s activities, including emergency lending, and possibly even monetary policy decisions.

In considering Bernanke&&9;s nomination, some lawmakers pressed him to do more for the economy, highlighting the unusually high degree of political pressure now on the Fed.

"I made it clear that to merit confirmation, Chairman Bernanke must redouble his efforts to ensure families can access the credit they need to buy or keep their home, send their children to college or start a small business," Reid said on Friday. "He has assured me he will soon outline plans for making that happen, and I eagerly await them."

The Fed guards its independence jealously and is more likely to respond to the political mood by pushing forward on consumer-friendly regulatory initiatives than by steering monetary policy in a direction palatable to lawmakers.

Senate could OK Bernanke nomination on Thursday

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Consumer confidence in January hit its highest level since September 2008 in data published on Tuesday, but another report showed house prices beginning to slip again after stabilizing last year.

A decline in job losses in recent months and a resurgent stock market have helped improve consumers&&9; mood after the protracted U.S. recession that ended last year.

Yet concerns remain about the sustainability of the recovery after the most severe housing market downturn and highest unemployment in more than a quarter century.

U.S. consumer confidence rose for the third straight month in January, driven mostly by an improvement in present-day conditions, according to a private report released on Tuesday. The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 55.9 in January from an upwardly revised 53.6 in December.

The median forecast from analysts polled by Reuters was for a January reading of 53.5.

The data on Tuesday also showed consumers&&9; expectations are at their highest in more than two years.

However, U.S. home prices slipped unexpectedly in November in the latest sign that a rebound in the U.S. housing market is tenuous, according to Standard & Poor&&9;s/Case-Shiller indexes on Tuesday.

The S&P composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas slipped 0 payday loans in one hour.2 percent in November after a revised 0.1 percent October dip, for a 5.3 percent annual drop.

A Reuters survey had forecast a 0.1 percent November rise. Prices were originally reported as unchanged in October.

Housing has been recovering from a three-year slump, driven by a tax credit for first-time buyers and low mortgage rates. A tax credit, which had been scheduled to end in November, was expanded and extended until June. Analysts remain concerned about how able housing will be able to withstand the eventual removal of that prop.

In other news, China&&9;s clampdown on bank lending was raising some concerns in financial markets about global economic growth prospects and spurred a flight from riskier assets into the U.S. dollar and Treasury debt which investors typically view as a safe haven asset.

However, the IMF on Tuesday sharply raised its forecast for global growth to 3.9 percent from an October estimate of 3.1 percent.

(Reporting by Lynn Adler and Chris Reese in New York and Lucia Mutikani in Washington; writing by John Parry)

Consumer confidence gains but housing tenuous

NEW YORK – Halliburton says its fourth-quarter profit tumbled 48 percent to end a volatile year and oilfield service company says it expects 2010 to be a transitional year for the industry.

Oil prices have been falling recently though the amount of rigs in the U.S. are on the rise, which means potential business for companies like Halliburton.

The Houston company on Monday reported net income of $243, or 27 cents per share, for the fourth quarter payday loan lenders. That compares with income of $468 million, or 52 cents per share, for the final three months of 2008.

Revenue fell 25 percent, to $3.69 billion.

For the full year, Halliburton Co. posted net income of $1.15 billion, or $1.27 per share, compared with $2.22 billion, or $2.45 per share for 2008.

Halliburton 4Q profit drops 48 pct

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama phoned Senate allies Saturday as two key senators predicted that embattled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be confirmed for a second term.

Obama made calls from the White House to members of the Senate leadership and others and was assured Bernanke would win confirmation, a senior White House official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private phone calls.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Bernanke confirmation by the end of this coming week, said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said in a statement Saturday that Bernanke is the right person to help guide the economy back from the worst recession since the 1930s.

Bernanke's term expires Jan. 31.

Already four Senate Democrats have said they would vote against the Fed chairman.

Bernanke has become the focus of increased criticism since Republican Scott Brown won a Senate seat in an upset election in Massachusetts this past week.

Dodd and Gregg — neither seeking re-election in November — said that "based on our discussions with our colleagues, we are very confident" that Bernanke will win confirmation by the Senate for another term .

"Bernanke has done an excellent job responding to one of the most significant financial crises our country has ever encountered," the two senators said. "We support his nomination because he is the right leader to guide the Federal Reserve in this recovering economy."

The Fed chief's supporters need 60 votes to prevent opponents from blocking confirmation. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent liberal from Vermont, and Republican senators Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Jim DeMint of South Carolina and David Vitter of Louisiana are spearheading a campaign to block Bernanke's confirmation.

Bernanke is widely credited with helping to prevent the Great Recession from turning into a second Great Depression. But his support of Wall Street bailouts has angered Americans who are struggling with double-digit unemployment and soaring home foreclosures.

On Friday, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel phoned senators urging support of Bernanke. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also made calls to lawmakers, officials said.

__

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

Senators assure Obama Bernanke to win 2nd term

NEW YORK -- Treasury prices were under slight pressure early Friday, nudging yields up and giving back some of the gains notched on Thursday when losses in stocks renewed interest in U.S. debt. No economic reports are scheduled for the day. Bonds are on track for a weekly gain, fueled by concerns that bank regulation would slow the economy's recovery, but traders may be hesitant to extend the rally before the government sells $118 billion in notes next week payday loan. Ten-year notes yields inched up 2 basis points to 3.61%, still down from 3.68% a week ago. Two-year notes yields were little changed at 0.84%, though heading lower from 0.88% last Friday.

Treasurys Give Back Some Of Thursday's Gains

Kraft Foods has reached a tentative deal for a friendly takeover of Cadbury of Britain, agreeing in principle to pay about $19 billion in cash and stock for the confectioner, people briefed on the matter said on Monday.

Irene Rosenfeld, the chief executive of Kraft.

Go to your Portfolio &<87;

Barring any last-minute complications &<51; these people cautioned that the talks could still fall apart &<51; the deal would create a global food giant that would unite Kraft and its Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers with Cadbury and its Trident gum and Dairy Milk chocolates. Together, the two companies would have more than $50 billion in revenue and a big presence in markets globally.

Over the last decade, food companies have sought to gain scale by combining with each other, most recently with Mars buying the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 2008 for $23 billion.

The tentative deal for Cadbury would end a four-month battle for control of the British candy maker, one in which Cadbury executives accused Kraft of showing &S220;contempt&S221; with an undervalued offer.

Under the terms of the proposal, Kraft will pay 840 pence ($13.70) for each Cadbury share, while Cadbury will pay out a special dividend of 10 pence a share. The offer is about a 5 percent premium over Cadbury&S217;s closing share price of 807.5 pence on Monday. The majority of the increase was in the cash component, which was raised to &<63;5 a Cadbury share, from &<63;3, a person briefed on the matter said.

The agreement is expected to be announced as soon as Tuesday, this person said, which is the last day Kraft can raise its offer under British takeover rules.

Spokesmen for Cadbury and Kraft declined to comment on Monday.

The deal will draw to a close an often acrimonious takeover battle between the two food companies, one that began with Kraft making public an unsolicited $16.7 billion bid for Cadbury in early September. The Cadbury management quickly derided the offer as too low and dismissed the prospect of being absorbed into what it called a slow-growing food conglomerate.

Most of Cadbury&S217;s major shareholders resisted Kraft&S217;s original offer, with just 1.5 percent having accepted by an earlier January deadline. Many are likely to be swayed by a recommendation from Cadbury&S217;s board now that Kraft has addressed a common complaint by raising the cash portion of its bid.

A takeover of the 186-year-old Cadbury, especially by an American giant like Kraft, will most likely send shudders throughout Britain. Politicians and unions have pointed to both a loss of jobs &<51; the Unite labor union has estimated that as many as 30,000 jobs could be lost &<51; and of national pride.

Cadbury has argued repeatedly that it would prefer to remain independent, pointing to faster-than-expected success in its turnaround program. But its executives have acknowledged that Kraft&S217;s bid put the company in play and they would consider any offer made at the right price.

From the beginning, speculation mounted among investors that another bidder could step in, forcing Kraft to raise its original offer. Representatives for Cadbury have held talks with Hershey, the American company that Cadbury had viewed as a preferable merger partner, according to people briefed on the matter.

For Hershey, buying Cadbury would prevent it from being relegated to a mostly domestic company. Hershey moved closer to making a bid in recent days, lining up more than $10 billion in financing, these people said.

Hershey had been waiting for Kraft to unveil its final offer on Tuesday before it made its final decision on a bid, but analysts have said that Hershey would most likely be unable to top the much larger Kraft in a bidding war. Other potential suitors, including Nestl&>33; of Switzerland and Ferrero of Italy, dropped out.

Despite Kraft&S217;s strong desire to gain control of Cadbury, its chief executive, Irene Rosenfeld, vowed to keep the company disciplined in its bidding and to maintain its investment-grade credit rating. Still, Kraft began raising its original offer earlier this month, increasing the cash portion of its bid after selling its North American frozen pizza business to Nestl&>33; for $3.7 billion. Ms. Rosenfeld met with Cadbury shareholders in London last week to solicit their opinions.

Others have sounded notes of caution. Warren E. Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway is Kraft&S217;s largest shareholder, delivered an unusually public admonishment, warning Kraft to avoid overdiluting its shareholders by issuing too many new shares.

William A. Ackman, who runs the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management and has been amassing a big position in Kraft, echoed concerns about shareholder dilution, though he said he supported the company&S217;s takeover effort.

Andrew Ross Sorkin contributed reporting.

Kraft Said to Reach Deal for Cadbury

BOSTON (AP) &<51; Federal prosecutors in Boston said Friday that the health care giant Johnson &&8; Johnson paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks so nursing homes would put more patients on its blockbuster schizophrenia drug.

In a complaint filed Friday in Boston, prosecutors said Johnson &&8; Johnson paid the kickbacks, in the form of special rebates and other payments, to Omnicare, the country&S217;s biggest dispenser of prescription drugs in nursing homes. Prosecutors say Omnicare pharmacists then recommended that nursing home patients with signs of Alzheimer&S217;s disease be put on the powerful schizophrenia drug Risperdal.

The accusation comes in a complaint just filed by the United States Attorney in Boston in a whistle-blower case originally brought by a former Omnicare pharmacist in Chicago, Bernard Lisitza.

&S220;Kickbacks in the nursing home pharmacy context are particularly nefarious because they can result in excessive prescribing of strong drugs to patients who have little or no control over the medical care they are receiving,&S221; United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement. &S220;Nursing home doctors should be able to rely on the integrity of the recommendations they receive from pharmacists, and those recommendations should not be a product of money that a drug company is paying to the pharmacy.&S221;

Prosecutors are seeking triple damages, restitution and other penalties under the federal False Claims Act and other laws.

Its complaint claims the scheme went on from 1999 through 2004, and during that period Johnson &&8; Johnson&S217;s sales of drugs through Omnicare jumped from about $100 million to more than $280 million. More than one-third of that was sales of Risperdal.

A Johnson &&8; Johnson official said the company would have a comment later.

Johnson & Johnson Accused of Drug Kickbacks