FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Shares of Ralcorp Holdings Inc. closed up more than 2 percent in heavier-than-normal trading Monday after reports that the St. Louis-based company was in talks to buy Post cereals from Kraft Foods Inc.

The Wall Street…

Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) this morning reported a 54 percent increase in its fourth-quarter profit, but felt the sting from missing expectations.

The Town and Country-based seller of Energizer batteries and Schick razors reported net earnings of $60.3 million,…

Reuters News Service reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is suspending the planting of genetically modified crops until he receives the results of an appraisal of the issue later this year or early in 2008.

Unveiling the country’s new environment…

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Truck maker Navistar International Corp. says it is in talks to buy General Motors Corp.’s medium-duty truck business.

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson says it is company policy not to talk about potential transactions.

The talks with…

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation’s biggest brewer, today reported big jumps in third-quarter sales and earnings.

Earnings rose 10.9  percent to $707 million in the quarter ending Sept. 30. Net sales increased 7.9 percent to $4.62 billion. Diluted earnings per share…

Sigma-Aldrich Corp. said a customer-centric sales approach, currency exchange benefits and an acquisition drove strong third-quarter results.

The St. Louis-based maker of fine chemicals and tools for scientific research also boosted projected fiscal 2007 earnings by a nickel, to a range…

Monsanto Co. is the first agriculture company to rank among the top 10 biotech industry employers in an annual survey commissioned by Science magazine.

The company, based in Creve Coeur, came in at No. 8 on a list dominated by…

Clayton-based Olin Corp. announced this afternoon the $400 million sale of its metals business to an affiliate of New York-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners LP.  

The sale  will include metals facilities in East Alton and Cuba, Mo.…

The merger of Molson Coors’ and SABMiller’s U.S. operations will cut it into the dominant position held by Anheuser-Busch Cos. in its key market, analysts say. What’s not clear is what the St. Louis-based brewer — still the country’s largest…

United Auto Workers union members in Wentzville rejected a new national labor contract with General Motors Corp., according to a worker there and a former UAW regional director.

However, officials for the chapter, UAW local 2250, would not comment today…