NEW YORK - Wall Street woke up and posted its best performance of the year Tuesday, finding a badly needed glimmer of optimism in the most unlikely of places: Citigroup is managing to turn a profit.

The 379-point gain for the Dow Jones average, a rally of almost 6 percent, was a welcome break from almost constant selling. But just as almost no one expects the banks to snap back to health, almost no one thinks the market has hit bottom.

Banking stocks led the way all day. The Dow ended at 6,926.49, its highest close since late February. All 30 of the Dow industrials gained. The S&P closed at 719.60, still less than half of its value at the market peak in October 2007.

Peanut butter sales still down

MILWAUKEE - The nation's consumers, worried about this winter's widespread salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds and may be linked to nine deaths, continued to shy away from peanut butter in a recent four-week period.

Americans bought 41.8 million pounds of jarred peanut butter in the four-week period ending Feb. 21 - 13.3 percent less than in the same period the previous year, research firm Nielsen reported Tuesday.

The period's sales were the lowest of any in the three years Nielsen has tracked the U.S. food, drug, and mass merchandisers segment .

Fewer overseas flights planned

MINNEAPOLIS - Travelers who used to fly in the expensive seats up front are moving to the back of plane, if they fly at all, forcing airlines to cut back on overseas flights that used to be their crown jewels.

Delta said Tuesday it will cut international flying another 10 percent in September. United is cutting international flying 15 percent in the first quarter alone. Those two are the largest U.S. carriers to Asia.

Delta said its reductions will target its Atlantic and Pacific networks, where revenue has been weakest. It said it still plans to increase Latin America capacity in the fourth quarter.

Distiller misses 3Q estimates

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Liquor company Brown-Forman Corp., the maker of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, offset mixed sales results in its third quarter by squeezing advertising and other expenses and selling two wine brands, but its adjusted results fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

The company lowered its full-year earnings outlook to between $2.70 and $2.90 per share, citing the effect of the stronger U.S. dollar and cuts in inventory of its brands worldwide.

Global case sales for Jack Daniel's fell by a percentage in the high single digits in the third quarter, but were up in the low single digits for the first nine months of the fiscal year.

Newspapers plan more cuts

NEW YORK - Workers at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer awaited news Tuesday about whether their newspaper would survive as a key deadline arrived. Labor leaders representing nearly 500 San Francisco Chronicle employees agreed to important concessions and McClatchy newspapers finalized job cuts.

Hearst Corp.'s deadline to find a buyer for Seattle's oldest newspaper apparently passed Tuesday, meaning within days the newspaper could decide whether to close or continue as an online- only publication with a skeletal staff.

The Chronicle's largest union, meanwhile, reached a tentative agreement on contract concessions as part of Hearst's efforts to slash costs to prevent a sale or closure .

In central California, unionized workers at The Fresno Bee voted Tuesday to approve similar concessions. Its owner, McClatchy Co., said Monday it was cutting 1,600 jobs, or 15 percent of its work force, and Bee newsroom employees decided to accept up to 6 percent pay cuts in exchange for fewer layoffs - 16 full-time jobs instead of 21 in the 89-member Guild unit.

Originally published by From Our Press Services .

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