The Clorox Co. said Wednesday it will sell $300 million in senior notes due 2015 in a public offering.

Kraft Foods said it would not overpay for British chocolatier Cadbury on Tuesday after disappointing investors by posting weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue and cutting its
full-year sales forecast.

By Brad Dorfman

Household products maker The Clorox Co. said Monday it is changing how it makes its namesake bleach so it can stop transporting chlorine to U.S. factories by rail amid growing safety concerns and regulatory scrutiny.

A late rally helped propel the Dow to a positive finish Monday as financial stocks rebounded.

Stocks erased all of their gains Monday after an early surge due to a better-than-expected manufacturing report. Financials led the decline.

The Dow shot up more than 100 points Monday after a report showed manufacturing expanded more than expected last month.

Higher prices and germ-wary shoppers who rushed to stock up on disinfectants helped The Clorox Co. earn 23 percent more in the first quarter this year than last, the company said Monday.

Stock futures pointed to a modest rebound ahead of the open Monday after the Dow and the S&P 500 experienced their biggest one-day percentage drops Friday since July 2.

What follows is a roundup of corporate earnings reports for Monday, Nov.2.

Stocks rallied to their highest closes since November Monday following encouraging economic reports from the U.S. and abroad and following news that auto sales got a boost from the "Cash for Clunkers" program.

Stocks rallied Monday after a pair of encouraging reports on the manufacturing sector, plus strong bank earnings out of Europe and expectations for strong auto sales. The S&P briefly topped 1,000, a level it hasn't seen since November.

Stocks got a quick pop at the open Monday after some strong bank earnings out of Europe and expectations that auto sales will show a boost from the "Cash for Clunkers" program. But the rally quickly fizzled.

Stock index futures indicated a strong opening for Wall Street Monday, helped by European markets that hit a broader-index high for the year on better-than-expected bank earnings.

Unemployment hit 8.9 percent in April and some predict that number could climb to over 10 percent in 2009 as major companies streamline operations to combat the recession.  But how far can this streamlining really go? For many companies, revenues hinge on worker productivity, and for most operations, per-worker profits and revenues are many multiples of average employee salaries. The measure of revenue per employee also helps shed light on a firm's money-making efficiency and likelihood it will retain jobs. The best companies require  the least number of workers to make the most money.