Enron's chief's wife gets year in prison

HOUSTON - The wife of former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty Thursday to helping her husband hide some of his ill-gotten gains and was sentenced to the maximum of one year in prison.

The misdemeanor plea came after months of legal wrangling in which the Fastows' lawyers sought to minimize Lea Fastow's time away from their two young children.

Hittner acknowledged he had received more than 50 letters in support of Lea Fastow from her family and friends, but felt a 12-month term was appropriate.

Marshall Field, Mervyn's to go on sale

Target Corp., the No. 2 U.S. discounter, is preparing to accept offers for its Mervyn's and Marshall Field's department-store chains, Women's Wear Daily reported Thursday, citing unidentified people familiar with the bidding process.

The first bids are due on Monday, the paper said, citing the sources.

Target plans to sell the chains, where sales have fallen, to focus on its discount stores. Federated Department Stores Inc., headquartered in Cincinnati; May Department Stores Co. of St. Louis; and Selfridges, a once-dowdy retailer that's now chic, are considered likely bidders for Marshall Field's.

Target spokeswoman Cathy Wright didn't return a call for comment. May spokeswoman Sharon Bateman declined to comment.

Overseer criticizes

Fannie Mae practices

WASHINGTON - Fannie Mae's federal regulator Thursday said the mortgage lender has been violating generally accepted accounting principles in the way it records impairments and recognizes revenue for some investments.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight directed the company Thursday to recalculate past earnings to more accurately reflect losses in its manufactured housing and aircraft lease investments, giving the company by the end of next week to comply.

Fannie Mae officials have consistently stated that they are fully cooperating with the oversight office. Yet the company tried to sway the Securities and Exchange Commission in a letter last month to back them and the accounting methodology in dispute.

Slow auto sales leave makers with surplus

DETROIT - April's sluggish sales have led to the largest buildup of light vehicles in 13 years, with trucks faring the worst, according to a top automotive analyst.

"Higher incentives are an imperative," unless automakers cut production, John Casesa of Merrill Lynch wrote in a report released Thursday, shortly after Detroit's automakers ramped up incentives on their key trucks, especially sport utility vehicles. "This is the third-largest inventory gap since the early 1990s," he wrote.

Dump Safeway chief, two advisory firms say

SAN FRANCISCO - Two influential shareholder advisory firms recommended Thursday that Safeway Inc. chairman Steve Burd be removed from the grocer's board, boosting the efforts of disillusioned investors in a looming showdown.

After analyzing the issues, the rival advisory firms - Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. - concluded that investors should withhold their votes for Burd at Safeway's annual meeting May 20.

The critics - led by public pension funds in New York, Illinois and Connecticut - say Burd has been mismanaging Safeway while a deeply conflicted board watched idly as the missteps wiped out more than $20 billion in shareholder wealth since early 2001.

Safeway has consistently depicted dissident shareholders as isolated voices speaking on behalf of labor unions.

Greenhill & Co. shares rise in trading debut

NEW YORK - A well-known Wall Street name is now the newest Wall Street stock, as shares of investment bank Greenhill & Co. rose in their trading debut Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The merger-advisory boutique has been run by legendary dealmaker Robert Greenhill since he founded the company in 1996.

Shares of Greenhill & Co. closed at $20.50, up 17 percent from the initial public offering price of $17.50 for each of 5 million shares.

The IPO price was well above estimates of $14 to $16 a share.