HOUSTON — Arthur Andersen LLP, the Chicago-based firm, plagued with client losses, bolting partners and the possibility of losing its accounting license in Texas, will likely begin presenting its defense in its obstruction of justice trial on Monday.

        Prosecutors expect to rest their case with their last witness, FBI Agent Paula Schanzle, on Monday. Andersen's lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, then expects to start presenting the defense.

        ———

        DENVER — A ski season threatened by an avalanche of bad news and below-average snowfall turned out to be the third-best ever.

        A preliminary survey done for the National Ski Areas Association found that skier and snowboarder visits to resorts totaled 54.2 million, down only 5.5 percent from the record 57.3 million set the season before. The second-best year was the 1993-94 season.

        ———

        INDIANAPOLIS — A yet-to-be-approved impotence drug developed by Eli Lilly and Co. and Icos Corp. appears to be longer-lasting than Viagra, the companies said, citing a study to be released at a medical conference on Monday.

        Patients in the study reported success in achieving erections from 24 hours to as long as 36 hours after taking a 20 milligram pill of Cialis, said Indianapolis-based Lilly and Bothell, Wash.-based Icos on Saturday.

        ———

        CHICAGO — Three new studies are adding to a raging debate over whether the popular arthritis pain reliever Vioxx increases the risk of heart attack.

        The editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, which published the studies in its May 27 edition, says the results offer reassuring evidence that drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex are not bad for the heart.

        But a cardiologist and a co-author of one of the studies said the safety issue is not resolved.

        The new studies involved the older arthritis painkiller naproxen, not the newer class of pain relievers to which Vioxx and Celebrex belong. Vioxx maker Merck & Co. conducted or funded two of the three studies.

        ———

        BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Economic developers from Alabama head for South Korea this week for two days of training sessions with Hyundai Motor Co. suppliers on doing business in the state.

        Officials expect 90 representatives of more than 40 potential suppliers will attend the session that begins Wednesday in Seoul. Hyundai, which will build its first U.S. plant near Montgomery, will hold a similar session in Alabama in July to give U.S. auto suppliers a chance to win contracts from the plant.

        Hyundai has not selected suppliers for its $1 billion Alabama plant, which in 2005 will produce the next-generation Santa Fe sport utility vehicle and Sonata sedan. Representatives from Georgia and Mississippi have traveled to South Korea in recent weeks in attempts to steer suppliers their way.

        ———

        BOSTON — Shares of Biogen surged 23 percent Friday on news a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has recommended approval of the company's psoriasis drug Amevive.

        The announcement was made shortly before the market closed Thursday. Biogen is counting on the drug to supplement revenue from Avonex, a multiple sclerosis drug. Avonex is the company's only other product on the market and faces new competition from a drug approved by the FDA in March.

        ———

        UPPSALA, Sweden — Global supplies of crude oil will peak as early as 2010 and then start to decline, ushering in an era of soaring energy prices and economic upheaval — or so said an international group of petroleum specialists meeting Friday.

        They hope to persuade oil-dependent countries like the United States to stop what they view as the squandering the planet's finite bounty of fossil fuels.

        Americans, as the biggest consumers of energy, could suffer a particularly harsh impact on their lifestyle, warned participants in the two-day conference on oil depletion that began Thursday at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden.

        ———

        WASHINGTON — The economy sprang back from last year's recession with a little less oomph in the first quarter than previously thought, and analysts believe it has lost more steam since then.

        The Commerce Department reported Friday that gross domestic product — which measures the total output of goods and services produced within the United States — grew at an annual rate of 5.6 percent in the January-March quarter.

        Although that represented the strongest performance in the GDP in nearly two years, it was a slightly slower pace than the 5.8 percent growth rate estimated a month ago and was a bit weaker than many analysts were expecting.

        ———

        NEW YORK — Credit Suisse First Boston is following two other major investment banks in adopting policies designed to improve the independence of its stock analysts.

        In a message sent to all employees Friday, CSFB chief executive John J. Mack said the company will embrace reforms outlined in a $100 million settlement this week between Merrill Lynch & Co. and New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer.

        Spitzer had charged that Merrill analysts misled investors — touting stock to help their companies win profitable investment banking business from the same companies. He has expanded his investigation to other firms, including Credit Suisse, and prodded them to match Merrill Lynch in making changes.

        ———

        ARLINGTON, Va. — Tucked away in a $30 billion anti-terrorism bill is a provision that US Airways says could doom its only chance to avoid bankruptcy.

        The legislation, which passed the House of Representatives at 3 a.m. Friday, would delay until October any payments under a loan assistance program Congress passed last year as part of an airline industry bailout.

        US Airways might not be able to wait that long. The airline, which lost $2 billion last year, has said it plans to seek about $1 billion in loan guarantees through the program as part of a restructuring plan. Without such help, US Airways President David Siegel has said the airline could run out of money by October and may have to file for bankruptcy protection.

        ———

        WASHINGTON — Tobacco companies are spending more than ever on advertising and promotion, despite recent court-imposed restrictions, the government said Friday.

        Increasingly, they are using in-store promotions — paying owners for prime shelf space and offering giveaways — to sell their products, a Federal Trade Commission report found.

        The industry spent $9.5 billion on advertising and promotions in 2000, the last year for which such figures were available. The total was 16 percent greater than the previous year.

        ———

        The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 111.82, or 1.1 percent, at 10,104.26, after two days of moderate late-session gains.

        The tech-focused Nasdaq composite index closed down 36.14, or 2.1 percent, at 1,661.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 13.26, or 1.2 percent, to close at 1,083.82.

        Nearby July crude oil futures ended down 27 cents at $25.80 a barrel. The July gasoline futures contract closed down 8 points at 79.03 cents a gallon. June heating oil futures' fell 55 points to settle at 65.95 cents a gallon.

        In London, Brent crude from the North Sea dropped 21 cents to $25.18 per barrel. Natural gas futures trading on Nymex fell 9.1 cents to $3.347 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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