Business news in brief

As the U.S. economy has continued to deteriorate, so has the outlook of several dozen forecasting economists who participated in a quarterly survey conducted by the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. The 43 economists who answered the February survey said they expected the economy to continue to contract until the third quarter of 2009, and to grow slowly through next year. On average, they projected a Gross Domestic Product decline of 2 percent this year and a growth rate of 2.2 percent for all of

2010. The economists who answered the survey, which the Philadelphia Fed has conducted since 1990, projected U.S. unemployment to average 8.4 percent

for the year - up a full percentage point from the 7.4 percent rate that panelists projected in the November survey -

and to average 8.8 percent for all of

2010, after rising to 9 percent in next year's first quarter. - Jeff Gelles

The chief executive officer of Comcast Corp. will forgo an increase to his base salary for 2009, along with other top executives. In a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CEO Brian Roberts also gave up his right to a base salary and annual cash bonus for up to five years after his death. In addition, he relinquished the right to be reimbursed for insurance premiums and related tax payments. Comcast extended Roberts' employment contract for a year to

June 30, 2010. He received a salary of $2.64 million in 2007, according to the latest regulatory filing. Also giving up a base-salary increase in 2009 were Michael Angelakis, chief financial officer, Stephen Burke, chief operating officer, and David L. Cohen, executive vice president. - AP

ViroPharma Inc., Exton, said it ended

a late-stage study of its experimental

drug maribavir in liver-transplant patients, the drug's second failure this week. The decision to stop the study

was made on the recommendation of an independent monitoring panel that considered the rate of infections in the blood of patients, according to the statement. ViroPharma fell 35 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $6.23. The company said Monday that maribavir was ineffective against the virus in patients receiving bone-marrow transplants, sending shares down 53 percent. - Bloomberg News

One of Philadelphia's largest unions says its pension fund lost $700,000 in Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.

The Pension Fund for Hospital and Health

Care Employees - Philadelphia and

Vicinity, a retirement plan for 10,000 members of Philadelpia's District 1199C hospital workers' union, and union president/fund trustee Henry Nicholas, filed a federal lawsuit in Philadelphia against Austin Capital Management Ltd. of Austin, Texas, alleging the firm invested $700,000 in Madoff-related securities. The $290 million pension

plan invested a total of $10 million

with Austin on the recommendation

of hedge-fund consultant Marco Consulting, Chicago, said Theodore M. Lieverman, a partner with the Philadelphia law firm Spector,

Roseman, Kodroff & Willis P.C., which represents the pension fund. Read the complaint at go.philly.com/madoff. - Inquirer Staff

Bank of America Corp. chief financial officer Joe Price assured employees the company had enough cash to finance operations for more than two years. "Market turmoil has created lingering industrywide concerns that magnify the importance of maintaining an extra

level of capital to support business activities," Price said in a posting on

the company's Intranet site. He added, "We currently have enough cash on

hand to fund our parent company operations for more than two years without having to issue additional debt during that time." - AP

Banks in Florida, Illinois and Nebraska were shut by state regulators, boosting the toll of failed institutions to 12, as a worsening economy and slumping

housing market pushes home

foreclosures to records. Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast in Cape Coral, Fla., Sherman County Bank in Loup City, Neb., and Corn Belt Bank & Trust Co. of Pittsfield, Ill., were closed by state regulators today. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver for all three banks. - Bloomberg News

Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticized work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe. The parent company's new name is pronounced like the letter z. Blackwater Lodge & Training Center - the subsidiary that conducts much of the company's overseas operations and domestic training - has been renamed U.S. Training Center Inc., the company said. The decision comes as part of a rebranding effort that grew more urgent after a September 2007 shooting in Iraq that left at least a dozen civilians dead. - AP

Financially strapped Sirius XM Radio Inc. said it could file for bankruptcy as early as Tuesday if it cannot successfully negotiate with the holders of its debt. Sirius is fighting against attempts for control by Charlie Ergen, the chief executive of Dish Network Corp. and sister company EchoStar Corp. Ergen bought much of a $300 million batch of discounted Sirius bonds that come due next week. Sirius had rejected a previous offer by Ergen for control of the company. - AP

The federal credit-union regulator agreed to increase a debt guarantee by

59 percent, to $7.8 billion, adding

liquidity to help the lenders weather mounting losses related to mortgage-backed securities. The National Credit Union Administration added $2.9 billion to the fund, in addition to $4.9 billion made available Jan. 9, the regulator said in a statement. - Bloomberg News

Sikorsky Aircraft and a Teamsters

local that represents workers at the helicopter manufacturer reached a tentative contract agreement, the two sides said. Rocco Calo, secretary-treasurer of Local 1150 in Stratford, Conn., said the union would not disclose details of the contract until tomorrow, when members will review the agreement and vote to ratify or reject it. - AP