Business news in brief

Cigna Corp.'s

outlook was downgraded to negative from stable by Standard & Poor's Corp. The downgrade also applies to the Philadelphia health insurer's subsidiary,

Connecticut General Life Insurance Co.

"The negative outlook reflects Cigna's weaker earnings and increased liabilities resulting from its relative high exposure" to the stock market, S&P said. "These pressures are in addition to the near-term economic challenges that the entire managed health-care sector is facing." But S&P reaffirmed its credit ratings on Cigna and Connecticut General.

- Paul Schweizer

Royal Bank of Scotland Group P.L.C

. said it could suffer its first annual loss this year after it announced more write-downs on bad assets in the third quarter. RBS is the owner of

Citizens Bank

, which has the second-largest bank-branch network in Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs, after Wachovia Corp.

- AP

Lincoln National Corp.

, the Radnor life insurer, may be downgraded by Standard & Poor's after third-quarter profit dropped more than half. "The equity and credit markets will pressure prospective sales, earnings and capital growth," S&P said in a statement. S&P maintained at "AA" its financial-strength ratings on the firm's main insurance subsidiaries. Lincoln shares advanced $3.07, or 15.55 percent, to close at $22.81.

- Bloomberg News

AstraZeneca P.L.C.

, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant with operations near Wilmington, said John Patterson, its head of drug development, would retire in March. Patterson joined AstraZeneca predecessor ICI Pharmaceuticals in 1975 and became executive director for development in 2004. Taking Patterson's place will be Anders Ekblom, who is now in charge of global clinical development.

- Harold Brubaker

The

Vanguard Group Inc.

said it planned to merge the $3.2 billion Vanguard Insured Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund into the $2.8 billion Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund next month because bond insurance has lost most of its value in the market. "The municipal bond market has changed to a point where insured bonds provide little, if any, additional benefit over high-quality uninsured credits," said Gus Sauter, Vanguard's chief investment officer.

- Harold Brubaker

PPL Corp.

, Allentown, said its third-quarter net income fell 37 percent, largely because of a big drop in prices and a lack of liquidity in the market for wholesale electricity. PPL also reduced its 2008 earnings estimate from continuing operations to $2 to $2.05 a share from $2.17 to $2.27 a share. The firm said it expected to earn even less next year, forecasting earnings per share of $1.60 to $1.90 because of cost pressures and higher financing costs. Third-quarter earnings were $203 million, or 54 cents a share, down from $322 million, or 84 cents a share, in the comparable period a year earlier. PPL's shares closed down 7.58 percent, or $2.46, at $30.00.

- Harold Brubaker

Valero Energy Corp.

said a gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracker is shut for repairs at its Paulsboro refinery. The unit, which can process 55,000 barrels a day, was shut after a leak of slurry oil Oct. 30, said company spokesman Bill Day. The Paulsboro plant can process 166,000 barrels of oil a day, U.S. Energy Department data show.

- Bloomberg News

Met-Pro Corp.

raised its quarterly dividend a half a cent, or 9.1 percent,

to 6 cents a share. The new dividend is payable Dec. 10 to shareholders of record on Nov. 26. The Harleysville company said its financial results enabled it to boost the payout. In its latest quarter, the company earned $2.7 million, a 40 percent increase from the year-earlier period. Met-Pro makes industrial products, including pollution control and air- and liquid-purification products.

- Paul Schweizer

The company that publishes Men's Health and Runner's World magazines is laying off 10 percent of its workforce.

Rodale Inc.

said Monday that the economic downturn was forcing it to cut costs by shedding 111 positions.

- AP

The

National Disease Research Interchange

, Philadelphia, said it was awarded a $7.6 million federal grant to expand its collection, processing and distribution of donated human tissue to research facilities nationwide for five years. The grant comes from the National Institutes of Health. Since 1980, the nonprofit NDRI has provided human biomaterials used in research on such diseases as diabetes, cancer and AIDS.

- Paul Schweizer

AT&T Inc.

, the country's largest Internet service provider, is testing the idea of limiting the amount of data that subscribers can use each month. AT&T will initially apply the limits in Reno, Nev. Internet providers are placing such limits on the amount of data users can upload and download each month to curb a small number of "bandwidth hogs" who use a lot of the network capacity. AT&T will limit downloads to 20 gigabytes per month for users of their slowest DSL service, at 768 kilobits per second. The limit increases with the speed of the plan, up to 150 gigabytes per month at the 10 megabits-per-second level.

- AP

The former chief risk officer at investment bank

Bear Stearns Cos. Inc.

, which nearly collapsed in March, is now a senior official of the Federal Reserve division that supervises U.S. banks.

Michael Alix

, who worked at Bear Stearns for 12 years and was its senior risk manager since 2006, was named a senior vice president in the bank supervision group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to an announcement by the Fed. The appointment is apt to raise questions because of the key role Alix played at Bear Stearns and given the Federal Reserve's role in Bear Stearns' sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co. after its breathtaking slide. In his new job, Alix will help oversee the financial safety and soundness of banks, which are inspected by Federal Reserve examiners.

- AP