LONDON (AFX) - Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corporation said it has sent a letter to DaimlerChryslerAG offering to buy the troubled Chrysler Group for 4.5 bln usd in cash.

Tracinda said it would build and strengthen Chrysler as an independent entity by partnering with the United Auto Workers and senior management of Chrysler, and would offer the UAW and Chrysler management the opportunity to participate as equity partners in the transaction.

WASHINGTON (AFX) - The number of people filing new claims for unemployment insurance rose in the latest week to the highest level in a month, the Labor Department said today.

First time claims rose 11,000 to 321,000 in the week ended March 31, slightly more than economists had expected. First time claims are at their highest level in four weeks.

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it will raise the commercial bank reserve requirement by 0.5 percentage points on April 16, the sixth such move since the middle of last year.

The move, which analysts said will remove the equivalent of 170 bln yuan in liquidity from the banking system, raises the reserve requirement for most financial institutions to 10.5 pct.

NEW YORK (AP) - A major shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services, is urging investors to withhold their votes for four directors at The New York Times Co. as a way to push for corporate governance changes.

The ISS report published Wednesday comes amid a campaign from a longtime shareholder, a Morgan Stanley investment fund, to roll back the dual-class share structure which allows the Sulzberger family to maintain control.

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Germany's government will raise this month its forecast for this year's and next year's GDP growth to more than 2 pct, Der Spiegel reported, without saying where it got the information.

The Office for National Statistics reported that manufacturing output, which accounts for 14.7 pct of the UK economy, fell by 0.6 pct in February from the previous month, in contrast to analysts expectations for a 0.3 pct rise. February's performance was the worst since October 2005, when output fell a monthly 0.7 pct.

FAIRPORT, N.Y. (AP) - Constellation Brands Inc., the world's biggest wine maker, said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit grew 26 percent, as strong wine sales helped offset heightened competition in Britain and a drop in sales of imported beer.

Earnings beat Wall Street expectations and the stock rose 73 cents, or 3.51 percent, to $21.55 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

LONDON (AFX) - UK supermarket chain J Sainsbury PLC has declined to comment on a Times Online report that the group has received a 9.5 bln stg indicative offer from a private equity consortium led by CVC Capital Partners.

MEXICO CITY (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department filed a proposed consent decree requiring Mexican cement maker Cemex SAB de CV to divest more than three dozen facilities in Arizona and Florida if its hostile takeover bid for Australia's Rinker Group Ltd. succeeds.

The decree was filed Wednesday along with a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block the $12 billion takeover due to competitive concerns. If approved, the decree would resolve the lawsuit.

NEW DELHI (AFX) - India has lifted a freeze on land clearances for scores of economic zones imposed following deadly protests, but promised there would be no forcible acquisition of land for the enclaves, according to the Commerce ministry.

The government suspended clearances for special economic zones (SEZs) last month following clashes between protesting farmers and the police who were sent to clear land for a petrochemical hub in the eastern West Bengal state.

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