Business news in brief

Standard & Poor's has put Southwest Airlines Co. on credit watch with negative implications, after the carrier reported a first-quarter loss Thursday larger than expected. S&P said it placed Southwest's "BBB+" long-term corporate credit rating on watch because the airline reported a first-quarter loss of $91 million, largely due to fuel hedge charges. Southwest, which is Philadelphia's second-busiest airline, also gave a weak revenue outlook for the second quarter. The rating agency said Southwest had added a "significant amount of debt," more than $700 million, since late 2008, adding to its interest expense. The result is that earnings and cash flow in 2009 will likely be below S&P's expectations, and that the debt will be higher, credit analyst Betsy Snyder said. Southwest shares closed up 10 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $7.20 yesterday. - Linda Loyd

AstraZeneca P.L.C. said a federal court granted the company's request for a temporary restraining order barring Apotex Inc. from launching a generic version of its Pulmicort respules, which treat asthma. London-based AstraZeneca's U.S. headquarters are in Wilmington. - Miriam Hill

CSL Behring said it agreed to donate two million units of a coagulation factor valued at $2 million to the World Federation of Hemophilia in each of the next three years. The King of Prussia firm also said it would give an additional $1 million in combined financial contributions over the next three years. - Miriam Hill

Regulators shut down American Sterling Bank in Missouri, marking the 24th failure this year of a federally insured bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the bank, based in Sugar Creek. It had $181 million in assets and $171.9 million in deposits as of March 20. Metcalf Bank, based in Lee's Summit, Mo., was chosen to assume American Sterling's deposits and buy about $173.6 million of its assets. The FDIC will retain the rest of the assets to sell later. The Missouri offices of American Sterling will reopen today. Those in California and Arizona will open Monday as branches of Metcalf Bank. - AP

General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson said that a bankruptcy filing was "probable" because of the restructuring goals GM must meet to get more government loans, but that isn't the company's preferred option. Henderson also said GM would need more government aid sometime in the second quarter, although the timing has yet to be decided. - AP

Chrysler LLC said it needed to overcome a labor-cost gap in talks with the Canadian Auto Workers that threatens to scuttle the company's survival plan leading up an April 30 U.S. deadline. Failure to meet a Canadian government mandate to trim labor expenses by C$19 ($16) an hour from C$76 now "jeopardizes the future of Chrysler and our operations in Canada," Robert Nardelli, the company's chief executive officer, told workers in a letter. "We do not accept Chrysler's claim that the work of CAW members costs $76 per hour," Ken Lewenza, president of the union, said in an e-mailed statement. "And we do not remotely accept the claim that there is cost gap of up to $19 per hour between our facilities and nonunion auto assembly plants in Canada." Separately, the Associated Press reported, if Chrysler and Fiat Group SpA can work out an alliance in the next two weeks or so, Chrysler would be run by a board appointed by the U.S. government and Fiat, Nardelli said in a message to employees. - Bloomberg News

Bank of America Corp. shareholders should withhold votes for chief executive officer Kenneth Lewis, lead director Temple Sloan Jr. and four other board members, according to RiskMetrics Group Inc., citing the delayed disclosure about losses at Merrill Lynch & Co. The recommendations were contained in a report issued yesterday by the proxy advisory firm. Lewis has been opposed by two of three proxy firms that made recommendations this week. Glass Lewis & Co. LLC recommended the CEO should be removed from the board, CNBC reported, while Proxy Governance Inc. recommended shareholders withhold votes for Sloan and one other board member, while supporting Lewis. Bank of America disagrees with the "substance and viewpoint" of RiskMetrics' report, spokesman Scott Silvestri said. "We believe we have acted legally and appropriately in our disclosures around the Merrill Lynch acquisition and that the acquisition will ultimately create value for Bank of America shareholders." - Bloomberg News

The White House has announced that Fannie Mae president and CEO Herbert Allison Jr. has been chosen to head the federal government's $700 billion bank-rescue effort. He would replace Neel Kashkari, a holdover from the Bush administration. Allison must be confirmed by the Senate. He would be in charge of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the fund that has injected billions of dollars into banks to provide them with capital in hopes of easing the credit crunch. - AP

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that financial innovation was good for the economy but must be accompanied by proper regulation. New financial products, such as subprime mortgages and structured investment vehicles, have become symbols of the economic crisis. The challenge for the government is to come up with regu-

lations that protect consumers without stifling innovation, he said. - AP

Actavis Totowa L.L.C. said it had started making two strengths of Oxycodone at one of its three North Jersey facilities that was closed last year because of production problems. The Morristown, N.J., company said the Oxycodone

15 mg and 30 mg tablets were the first product to be made at Actavis' Little

Falls facility after an inspection by the Food and Drug Administration. In December, Actavis said it had agreed to stop distributing products from the Totowa facilities until they complied

with the FDA's good manufacturing practices. Actavis said the FDA had agreed that it could start distributing Oxycodone again. - Miriam Hill