Business in Brief

War concerns dominate, Dow falls in light trading\nNEW YORK -- Escalating concerns about a war with Iraq dominated Wall Street Monday, sending stocks sliding Monday in light Veterans Day trading. \nAnalysts said the declines weren't surprising given the market's strong October rally; with the better-than-expected earnings season past, there is still profit taking under way. Investors also are shying away from commitments to stocks as they focus on the possibility of U.S. troops fighting with Iraq. \n"If you look at investor sentiment, we've switched to more complacency. Also you now have Iraq taking center stage," said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co. "That uncertainty is causing hesitation for investors."\n"I think we'll have a very choppy environment in the near term," he said. \nThe Dow Jones industrial average fell 178.18, or 2.1 percent, to close at 8,358.95. The drop gave the blue chips their first three-day decline in five weeks, with a loss of 412 points.\nExec salaries increased despite slow business\nNEW YORK -- Salaries and other pay perks for chief executives rose last year in most industries, according to a research group's study released Monday, even as the economy slipped and the stock market fell. \nThe private, New York-based Conference Board said the biggest increases in 2001 were for executives in energy and construction businesses. It was last November that Enron Corp. began its collapse in an accounting scandal and sent a shock through the energy trading industry. \nAs Enron declared bankruptcy and accounting troubles arose at other companies, including WorldCom and Adelphia, lavish pay arrangements for top executives began to receive criticism. New rules are being drawn for corporate accounting of some sources of executive enrichment, such as stock options. \nCharles Peck, a compensation specialist at the Conference Board, said the study "doesn't really offer any commentary on what's going on today, though. The impact of today's government regulation will be best seen in next year's numbers."\nGrand jury subpoenas four power companies\nSAN FRANCISCO -- Four power sellers confirmed they have received subpoenas from a federal grand jury investigating the energy crisis last year in California. \nThe grand jury, based in San Francisco, is probing accusations that several power companies schemed to drive up prices. \nAtlanta-based Mirant Corp. and Houston-based Reliant Resources Inc. on Monday confirmed they had received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco requesting information regarding California's energy markets. \nNorth Carolina-based Duke Energy and Oklahoma-based Williams Cos. said Friday they received subpoenas from federal prosecutors in San Francisco. \nAll four said they would cooperate.\nMexico destroys coffee to stop falling prices\nACAPULCO, Mexico -- Mexican coffee growers ground 8.4 million pounds of low-quality beans into fertilizer as part of an international effort to halt plunging coffee prices. \nThe 63,000 sacks of coffee destroyed Sunday came from across the country, but much of it was from the southern state of Guerrero, one of Mexico's major coffee-growing regions. Mexico exports about 1 million sacks of coffee each year. \n"This action complies with the commitment Mexico made along with Central and South American countries and is a firm message to the world that we do what we say we will do," said Roberto Giesseman, president of the Mexican Coffee Board, as coffee producers and a public notary stood by to record the event in this Pacific Coast resort city. \nMexico pledged to reduce its coffee exports by 5 percent each year as part of an agreement reached earlier with the International Coffee Organization, an intergovernmental body of 45 exporting countries and 18 importing countries. \nThe international relief agency Oxfam reported in September that 25 million coffee farmers around the world face ruin because of collapsing prices and a glut of low-quality beans. \n"This low-quality coffee is the trigger behind the drop in prices," said Nestor Osorio, director of the London-based group's executive committee, who attended the event in Acapulco. "But now we are cutting back on shipments"