Business briefs

Two more GOP Senate votes for financial regulatory plan

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown pushed sweeping financial legislation to the edge of passage Monday, both announcing they intend to support the regulatory overhaul despite initial misgivings.

Snowe of Maine and Brown of Massachusetts join Susan Collins of Maine as three crucial Republican votes for the legislation. In breaking with the rest of the Republican Party, the lawmakers appeared to give Democratic leaders the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles facing the legislation.

Major indexes mixed as traders await second-quarter earnings

Stocks closed mixed Monday as investors grew more cautious while they waited for the start of second-quarter earnings reports. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 18.24 points, or 0.2 percent, to 10,216.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.79, or 0.1 percent, to 1,078.75, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.91, or 0.1 percent, to 2,198.36.

Anti-clot medicine Coumadin subject to drugmaker's recall

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Monday it is recalling eight production lots of its anti-clotting drug Coumadin because the amount of the active ingredient in it could change. The Manhattan-based company said the amount of isopropanol in the tablets could change over time. Isopropanol, or isopropyl alcohol, is used to keep the drug's active ingredient in a crystalline state. Coumadin, also known as warfarin, is a blood thinner used to treat or prevent blood clots. The company said the recall is a precaution, and no side effects have been reported. Bristol-Myers Squibb is recalling a total of 144,672 single-milligram tablets of Coumadin, all of which were distributed in the United States. The tablets have expiration dates between June 2011 and November 2012.

Insurance giant Aon Corp. to buy Hewitt for $4.9 billion

Insurance conglomerate Aon Corp. said Monday it has agreed to buy human resources specialist Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion in a cash-and-stock deal that would nearly triple the size of its consulting business. Aon is the world's largest insurance broker but trails rival Marsh & McLennan Co., whose subsidiaries include Mercer and Oliver Wyman Group, in the size of its consulting business. Illinois-based Hewitt is one of the world's biggest human resources consulting and outsourcing companies with more than $3 billion in annual revenue and 23,000 employees in 32 countries. The deal is expected to close in November.

From wire reports