Business briefs

Gold prices increase 2 percent, near $1,000

NEW YORK --- Gold prices bounded higher Thursday, nearing the $1,000 mark for the first time since February.

Other metals followed gold higher. Energy futures wavered, while grains slipped.

Gold for December delivery jumped $19.20, or 2 percent, to $997.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier hitting a six-month high of $999.50.

Prices have added about $44, or 4.6 percent, over the past three days, breaking free from two months of wayward trading between $930 and $970 an ounce.

Silver prices, which have trailed gold this year, got a boost as well. December silver soared 6 percent, rising 92.5 cents to $16.29 an ounce, after earlier hitting $16.31, its highest point since August 2008. Silver prices have surged more than $2, or 14 percent, in just five days.

Analysts say a number of bullish factors have converged to benefit gold, and are likely to take it past the $1,000 mark in coming days.

Prices for natural gas decline to 7-year lows

NEW YORK --- Natural gas prices tumbled again Thursday, hitting new seven-year lows as the U.S. pares down on energy usage and more unused supply is put into storage.

Natural gas for October delivery gave up 20.7 cents to settle at $2.508 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex. Prices dropped as low as $2.50 per 1,000 cubic feet -- the lowest since March 2002 -- after the government reported that U.S. natural gas supplies grew again last week and are now nearly 18 percent above the five-year average.

Natural gas, a key energy source for power plants, has plummeted to less than a third the price it fetched last summer, and its contract on the Nymex lost nearly 23 percent in the past six trading days.

In other trading, benchmark crude for October delivery fell 9 cents to settle at $67.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude dropped 54 cents to settle at $67.12 on the ICE Futures exchange.

EU regulators slow Oracle-Sun merger

SAN FRANCISCO --- Oracle Corp. figured its $7.4 billion buyout for Sun Microsystems Inc. could skate through antitrust scrutiny, folding Sun into a technology powerhouse when Sun badly needs the lifeline. Both companies will have to wait.

European Union regulators applied the brakes Thursday, launching a formal antitrust probe that shatters Oracle's goal of completing the acquisition this summer. The U.S. Department of Justice has already approved the deal.

The investigation is focused on whether Oracle will gain too much power in the market for database software, which underpins most things people do in business or on the Web.

In particular, EU regulators want to make sure Oracle will properly care for Sun's rival open-source database software -- which is freely given away in hopes of selling other products to the users -- or let it wither in favor of Oracle's proprietary software.

Diebold sells voting machine business

NORTH CANTON, OHIO --- ATM maker Diebold Inc. has sold its much-criticized U.S. voting-machine business to its bigger competitor, Election Systems & Software Inc. of Omaha, Neb.

Diebold said it will get $5 million plus payments representing 70 percent of collections of the unit's accounts receivable as of Aug. 31.

Diebold said it would disclose the additional payments later.

Diebold expects to recognize a pretax loss on the deal in the range of $45 million to $55 million.