DIGEST
Tropicana Products announced it would raise the wholesale price of its orange juices an average of 10 percent because of a sharply reduced Florida orange crop blamed on heavy winter rains and a dry summer and spring. That translates to about 30 cents to 40 cents more for consumers buying 64-ounce and 96-ounce containers. The higher prices will probably start showing up in stores in late November. Minute Maid, Tropicana's chief national competitor in the orange juice market, said it expected to announce a price increase "in the near future."</br></br>A new U.S. savings bond plan will allow Americans to have the costs of the bonds automatically deducted from their bank accounts by the government. The new program, called the EasySaver Plan, is intended to complement the existing payroll deduction plan. Savers will be able to choose the dates they want the Treasury Department to charge their accounts -- a minimum of twice a year. The traditional Series EE bonds, which sell for half their face value, will be available in denominations ranging from $50 to $1,000. Series I bonds, which carry a lower interest rate but are adjusted to reflect inflation, also will be sold, at their full face value, in denominations from $50 to $1,000.</br></br>Long-Term Capital Management, the hedge fund taken over by 14 lenders last month, is seeking to refinance soon-to-expire credit lines from banks not involved in the rescue, a person familiar with the fund said. It also fired 18 percent of its staff to cut costs. Credit lines from banks not involved in the takeover financed about 10 percent of Long-Term Capital's $100 billion balance sheet, the source said.</br></br>Durable goods orders rose 0.9 percent in September, pulled higher by demand for automobiles, communications equipment and military goods. The unexpected fourth consecutive increase brought orders to a seasonally adjusted $192.1 billion, the Commerce Department said. Economists had expected about a 1 percent drop, with world financial turmoil diminishing demand for U.S. products.</br></br>The Treasury sold $16.002 billion of two-year notes at a yield of 4.025 percent, the lowest in five years. Demand was considered subdued, judging by the bid/cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing the number of bids to the amount of securities sold. The bid/cover ratio was 1.97, showing that there was less demand than at the Treasury's last monthly sale of two-year notes on Sept. 23 when the ratio was 2.39. The yield on the two-year notes sold yesterday was the lowest since 3.94 percent at the Oct. 26, 1993, auction. At the Sept. 23 auction, the notes yielded 4.615 percent.