The hearing will be held in Las Vegas before the entire seven-member court.

Daniel Baldonado and Joseph Cesarz saw the lawsuit against their employer tossed in December 2006 by District Judge Douglas Herndon.

The pair appealed the ruling.

In September 2006, Wynn Las Vegas executives added more employees to the dealers' tip pooling, which reduced dealers take-home pay. Eight months after the program was implemented, dealers at Wynn Las Vegas overwhelmingly voted to approve representation by the Transportation Workers Union of America.

Before the union vote, Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman Steve Wynn apologized to dealers, saying the tip pooling program had been a mistake. But he didn't eliminate the program.

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Sprint Nextel posts big loss for fourth quarter

Sprint Nextel Corp. showed more signs Thursday that its recovery will be long and painful as it recorded a massive fourth-quarter loss, predicted continued customer weakness and pulled the plug on paying dividends.

Sprint Nextel, based in Overland Park, Kan., said it lost $29.5 billion, or $10.36 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, reversing earnings of $261 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 5.8 percent to $9.8 billion from $10.4 billion.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices rally on economic news

Treasury prices rallied sharply Thursday after new reports showed the economy barely moved forward at the end of last year and that jobless claims increased last week.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.97 points to 98.22 with a yield of 3.72 percent, down from 3.85 percent late Wednesday.

The 30-year long bond rallied 1.75 to 97.06 with a 4.56 percent yield, down from 4.66 percent the day before.