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GOLD PRICES RETREAT AS OIL CLOSES WEEK DOWN

Gold prices cooled off Friday, losing $1 after surging to a six-month high the day before.

Gold for December delivery finished the week at $996.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 4 percent over five days.

December silver, which has benefited from gold's recent climb, gave up less than 1 cent to $16.2850 an ounce. Earlier in the day, prices hit a fresh 13-month high of $16.4050. Silver soared 9.9 percent this week.

December copper futures rose less than a penny to $2.8665 a pound.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 6 cents to $68.02 a barrel. Oil prices closed the week down about $5 as the summer driving season ends.

Gasoline futures fell 1.65 cents to $1.7763 a gallon, and heating oil futures fell 1.45 cents to $1.7205 a gallon.

AMAZON TO MAKE UP FOR ERASING BOOKS ON KINDLES

Amazon.com Inc. is offering free books or $30 to Kindle customers whose copies of the George Orwell novels "1984" and "Animal Farm" were deleted from their electronic reading devices in July. When Amazon erased the books, citing a problem with the rights, the company issued refunds. But the episode startled many Kindle customers, who didn't know Amazon could erase content that had been purchased and downloaded. It prompted an apology from Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, who said deleting the books from Kindles to address the rights question was "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."

McCLATCHY MOVES AWAY FROM DELISTING DANGER

The McClatchy Co. said Friday it is no longer threatened with delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. Sacramento-based McClatchy, which owns 31 newspapers across the country, including The Modesto Bee, The Fresno Bee, the Merced Sun-Star and The Sacramento Bee, said its share price meets the exchange's new guidelines. McClatchy was told Feb. 4 it was in danger of being taken off the prestigious New York exchange because its average share price had fallen below $1. With the company's profitability improving, the price has gone above $1 in recent months; it closed Friday at $1.81, up 7 cents.

REGULATORS SHUT DOWN BANKS IN 3 STATES

Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, pushing to 87 the number of banks that have failed this year under the weight of the poor economy and rising loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over First Bank of Kansas City, based in Kansas City, Mo., with $16 million in assets and $15 million in deposits; Oak Forest, Ill.-based InBank, with $212 million in assets and $199 million in deposits; and Sioux City, Iowa-based Vantus Bank with $458 million in assets and $368 million in deposits. Hundreds more are expected to fail in the next few years largely because of souring loans for commercial real estate.

WTO RULING A BIG TRADE WIN FOR BOEING

The World Trade Organization has ruled that the European Union provided illegal subsidies to Airbus, a House Democrat said Friday. Washington state's Norm Dicks, who was briefed by U.S. trade officials of the confidential decision, said the WTO ruling confirms a complaint by the United States in 2004 that shows "all Airbus aircraft have received illegal subsidies and that these have caused material harm to Boeing." The WTO handed its interim ruling to the United States and European Union, but didn't reveal the results partly because of the sensitive company information contained in it. Both Washington and Brussels confirmed they received the ruling. In its lawsuit, the United States claimed government subsidies for Airbus created unfair competition in a market worth $3 trillion over the next two decades.