Briefs: Fed approves LaSalle purchase

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bank of America said Friday it has received approval from the Federal Reserve to complete its $21 billion purchase of Chicago's LaSalle Bank. The decision is the final regulatory approval needed for the transaction, which is expected to close in early October, Bank of America said. Adding LaSalle would give Bank of America more than 6,100 branches and close to 10 percent of deposits nationwide, the maximum allowed by federal law.

Oil finishes lower but still sets record

NEW YORK -- Oil futures fell for the first time in 10 sessions Friday after a rally that has driven prices to new highs. Futures were buffeted all day as some traders sold to lock in profits and others bought on worries about a tropical storm. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 99 cents to settle at $79.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising earlier to $80.36, a new intraday record.

China once again ups interest rates

BEIJING -- China raised interest rates on Friday for the fifth time this year, quickening the pace of monetary tightening days after inflation jumped to the highest level in nearly 11 years. Economists said the increase, the second in just over three weeks, betrayed growing anxiety within China's ruling Communist party about inflation, which spurted to 6.5 percent in the year to August, the fastest pace since December 1996. Inflation has fueled discontent in China down the ages, most recently in the run-up to the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Oracle chief pay valued $61 million

SAN FRANCISCO -- Already one of the world's richest men, Redwood Shores-based Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison padded his fortune with a fiscal 2007 pay package valued at $61.2 million and stock option gains of nearly $182 million, according to documents filed Friday. Most of the compensation awarded in the year ending May 31 consisted of 7 million stock options worth about $50.1 million.