The Mississippi Gaming Commission allowed casinos to reopen at 10:15 Wednesday morning. Casinos in Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis closed Sunday as Gustav approached. In the end, other than some minor flooding caused by the storm surge, the hurricane caused little damage.

The Biloxi Sun Herald reported there was a line of customers waiting for MGM Mirage's Beau Rivage to reopen. Beau Rivage, which was closed for a year following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, is the state's largest casino.

In addition to the Beau Rivage, Boomtown Biloxi, Harrah's Entertainment's Grand Biloxi, the Hard Rock Casino Biloxi, Imperial Palace Biloxi, Isle of Capri Biloxi, the Island View in Gulfport and Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi, all reopened Wednesday.

Standard & Poor's cuts MGM Mirage outlook

Standard & Poor's Rating Services on Wednesday lowered its outlook on MGM Mirage, including the casino company's BB corporate credit rating, to "negative" from "stable."

The move reflected concern over the challenges MGM Mirage is facing in Las Vegas over the next several quarters. The ratings service focused on the $9.2 billion CityCenter development on the trip, which is scheduled to open late next year.

Standard & Poor's credit analyst Ben Bubeck said MGM Mirage maintains a satisfactory business risk profile.

"The 'BB' rating reflects MGM Mirage's somewhat limited geographic diversity, as the company relies on the Las Vegas Strip for a majority of its cash flow, and high debt leverage," Bubeck said.

Coca-Cola will buy Chinese drink company

Coca-Cola Co. agreed to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. for HK$17.9 billion ($2.3 billion), its biggest overseas acquisition, as the sodamaker tries to build its share of noncarbonated drink sales.

The world's biggest soft-drink maker will pay HK$12.20 a share in cash, almost triple its price of HK$4.14 last week, the companies said in statements Wednesday. Huiyuan shares closed Wednesday at HK$10.94 in Hong Kong.

Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent's second acquisition since taking over in July will give Coca-Cola about 20 percent of China's fruit-juice market, helping it compete with PepsiCo Inc. as U.S. soda sales slow.

NEW YORK

Ex-Wall Street brokers indicted for fraud

Two former Wall Street brokers fraudulently sold more than $1 billion of mortgage-backed securities in recent years by hiding their subprime connection, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The ex-brokers, Julian T. Tzolov and Eric S. Butler, both of New York, were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday in Brooklyn on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud.

The men's former employer, brokerage Credit Suisse, had been hired by large companies to invest their cash reserves in auction-rate debt backed by federally insured student loans, according to the indictment.

But the brokers instead often placed clients in auction-rate issues backed by subprime home loans and other mortgage-related securities known as collateralized debt obligations, because those issues paid them higher commissions, the government said.

NEW YORK

As demand for crude slows, oil prices dip

Oil prices inched lower Wednesday as a stronger dollar and slowing demand for crude overshadowed an almost total shutdown of energy output in the Gulf of Mexico after the passage of Hurricane Gustav.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 36 cents to settle at $109.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dipping as low as $107.22.

At the pump, a gallon of regular gasoline fell to a new national average of $3.681. That's less than half a penny lower than Tuesday's average and more than 10 percent off the all-time record of $4.114 set July 17.

Paper out, plastic in for spenders on Southwest

Southwest Airlines, the carrier with the largest presence in Las Vegas, will join other airlines that let customers use credit cards to make in-flight purchases.

Southwest announced this week it would install devices that accept payments by credit card in all of its aircraft by Tuesday.

The devices will accept payment from all major credit and debit cards and can be used to buy cocktails, beer, wine and energy drinks.

Flight attendants will no longer accept cash.

ELKO

Newmont will cover checks of laid-off staff

Newmont Mining Corp. says it will cover the bounced paychecks of workers who were laid off in August from the Jerritt Canyon Mine by another mining outfit.

"We understand the financial impact of not being able to cash the checks," said Mary Korpi, spokeswoman for Denver-based Newmont. "It's just the right thing to do."

Korpi said the gesture will cost Newmont about $400,000.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices rise as investor angst mounts

Treasury prices mostly rose Wednesday as fears about the well-being of the economy dogged investors.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.25 points to 102.44. Its yield fell to 3.70 percent from 3.74 percent late Tuesday, according to BGCantor Market Data.