Industry

NEW YORK - Sales volume at U.S. chain stores grew in the second retail week of July, thanks largely to healthy food and pharmacy sales at discount stores, Reuters reported this morning.

American food companies will be able to showcase their products in communist Cuba during a Sept. 26-30 trade fair as the island makes new deals to buy products directly from the United States, The Associated Press reports.

CHICAGO - Home improvement retail chain Home Depot Inc. pushed aside Kroger Co. to become the second-largest U.S. retailer behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to the 2002 tally of sales by Stores magazine.

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats on Wednesday rejected President Bush's call for permanent repeal of the estate tax, while Republicans signaled plans to turn the vote to their advantage in the fall campaign for control of Congress, The Associated Press reports.

PARIS - France's Carrefour SA today said that it will open eight hypermarkets in China this year as it seeks to double its hypermarket presence in the country by 2004, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

LONDON/JOHANNESBURG - South African Breweries Plc (SAB) today agreed to buy U.S. beer giant Miller Brewing for $5.6 billion. The move makes SAB the number two brewer in the world behind Anheuser-Busch.

SALT LAKE CITY - Ready-to-eat shrimp may contain antibiotic-resistant bacteria, so people with weak immune systems should stay away from such prepared food, a researcher said Wednesday at the American Society for Microbiology's annual meeting, Reuters reports.

MINNEAPOLIS and NATICK, Mass. - Quarterly profits were released today from both Target Corp. and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc.