Business news in brief

Thousands of people came to Atlantic City to see Miss America last month, but not enough of them ventured into a casino to boost the gambling halls' monthly revenue. The city's 12 casinos won $240.2 million from gamblers, a decline of 12.9 percent from September 2012. Eleven of the 12 casinos posted monthly declines. Only the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel showed an increase, up nearly 4 percent for the month to $12.3 million. For the first nine months of the year, the casinos won $2.2 billion, down 9.3 percent from a year ago. - AP

Chemical maker Chemtura Corp., of Philadelphia, which is seeking to focus on specialty chemicals, said it sold its consumer products business of household and pool supplies for $315 million in cash. The buyer is KIK Custom Products Inc., of Toronto. The consumer products business sells supplies under the BioLab label in North America, and Bayrol in Europe. Chemtura said it was also exploring the possible sale of its agrochemicals business, Chemtura AgroSolutions, which generated $435 million in revenue in the year ending June 30. The company retained Morgan Stanley & Co. L.L.C. as its financial adviser in the possible divestiture, it said. Chemtura had 2012 sales of $2.6 billion. - Reid Kanaley

Two Brazilian brothers agreed to pay $4.8 million to settle federal civil charges of insider trading ahead of the announcement of a plan to acquire H.J. Heinz Co. by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and a private equity firm. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with Michel and Rodrigo Terpins. It alleged in a lawsuit that they used confidential information about the Heinz deal to buy options on Heinz stock and reap a profit of $1.8 million. The Terpinses agreed to pay $3 million in penalties and return the $1.8 million in alleged illegal profits. The deal to acquire the ketchup maker for $23.3 billion was announced Feb. 14, sending its shares up 20 percent to close at $72.50. - AP

Hershey Co. said it would launch in January its first new U.S. candy brand in 30 years. The new line of caramel soft cremes is called Lancaster, after Milton S. Hershey's original confection company, the Lancaster Caramel Co., the Hershey, Pa.-based company said. The Lancaster brand debuted in China in May. It was "the first time a brand launch originated outside of the United States," the company said. - Reid Kanaley

A Connecticut-based company will pay $30 million - $19 million of it set aside to repay consumers and the rest split among 47 states and the District of Columbia - over allegations that it misled people into signing up for discount club memberships. New Jersey and Pennsylvania are part of the settlement with Affinion Group Inc. and its subsidiaries. Affinion runs discount clubs and membership programs that offer services like credit monitoring, roadside assistance, and discounted travel. The company is accused of duping consumers into paying for them through supposed "free trials." - AP

Used car seller CarMax Inc. said it would hire a total of 140 positions to staff new locations in King of Prussia and Newark, Del. Ninety jobs are earmarked for the Delaware location, and 40 in King of Prussia. Both locations are expected to open in December. Positions include sales, business office, inventory, service advisers, and technicians. CarMax, based in Richmond, Va., has 124 locations. - Reid Kanaley

Several retailers reported modest sales gains for September as shoppers who were worried about a partial government shutdown and the overall economy pulled back their spending from the prior month. Revenue at stores open at least a year - a measure of a retailer's health - rose 2.7 percent in September, according to a preliminary tally of nine retailers by the International Council of Shopping Centers. That was a slower pace than the 3.5 percent increase posted in August. - AP

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it sold all of its exposure to short-term U.S. government debt out of its money-market funds, following a similar move by other money-market mutual fund managers. The news came a day after Fidelity Investments said it no longer holds any U.S. government debt that comes due around the time the nation could hit its borrowing limit. JPMorgan said its money-market funds no longer held any U.S. Treasurys that mature or have payments scheduled between Oct. 16 and Nov. 6. The bank said it had also increased its liquidity position in the funds. JPMorgan Chase said it believes the probability of a U.S. government default is low, but it was taking precautionary measures to protect investors. - AP

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate on the 30-year loan edged up to 4.23 percent from 4.22 percent last week. The average on the 15-year fixed loan rose to 3.31 percent from 3.29 percent. - AP