Sep. 26--Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the nation's largest chicken producer, said Thursday that high animal feed costs will force it to post a "significant loss" in its fiscal fourth quarter and that it's trying to negotiate new lending terms.

Shares of the Pittsburg, Texas-based company, which had already dropped 38 percent a day earlier before trading was halted, slid nearly 40 percent more to levels not seen since 2002.

The company, which holds about a quarter of the U.S. chicken market, said it is so sagged by debt that it may not meet the terms of its loan agreements, which means it could be forced to pay penalties.

Mortgage rate jumps

The nation's benchmark mortgage rate, which had fallen for five weeks, has jumped sharply.

The average 30-year, fixed-rate home loan is going for 6.09 percent, up from 5.78 percent last week, mortgage company Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

Last week's rate was the lowest since February.

The rise was blamed on turbulent markets, reeling from the biggest Wall Street upheavals since the Great Depression.

"Mortgage rates followed Treasury bond yields higher this week amid market

uncertainty over the current state of the economy," said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft.

Gum and candy

Shareholders of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. have approved the company's $23 billion sale to Mars Inc., a move that will end more than a century of family control as the chewing-gum company becomes part of what will now be the world's largest candy maker.

The deal, expected to be closed around Oct. 6, joins the Chicago-based company that makes gums like Juicy Fruit and Big Red with the privately held maker of M&Ms, Snickers and Skittles, bumping Britain's Cadbury PLC from the top candy-making slot.

The deal, announced in April, includes financing from billionaires investor Warren Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

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