NEW YORK — A U.S. appeals court conditionally approved Chrysler's sale of most of its assets to Italy's Fiat yesterday, but is keeping the deal on hold until Monday to allow an appeal to the nation's highest court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said it will continue to delay the sale until 4 p.m. EDT Monday, unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes. The three-judge appeals court was expected to release a written ruling later yesterday.

Thomas Lauria, an attorney representing the trio of Indiana state pension and construction funds that appealed the sale, said his clients will keep pressing their objections.

WAL-MART VOWS TO PUSH IMPROVEMENTS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s new President and CEO Mike Duke pledged to shareholders yesterday that the world's largest retailer will speed efforts to improve its operations as it aims to hold onto customers when the economy improves.

Wal-Mart has taken customers from competitors and been a bright light in a bleak recession that has made shoppers focus on necessities like groceries and pull back on discretionary items like clothing.

OIL RISES ABOVE $70 BEFORE FALLING BACK

NEW YORK — Oil prices broke through the $70 per-barrel barrier yesterday and more forecasters are broadening expectations for an upward swing in crude.

Benchmark crude for July delivery lost 37 cents to settle at $68.44 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, finishing the week with a gain of nearly $2 a barrel. Earlier in the day, oil jumped as high as $70.32 per barrel, the highest since October.

MATTEL TO PAY $2.3M PENALTY FOR TOY LEAD

WASHINGTON — Toy maker Mattel Inc. and its Fisher-Price subsidiary have agreed to pay a $2.3 million civil penalty for importing and selling toys with excessive levels of lead.

The penalty is part of a settlement the companies reached with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced yesterday that the toymaker had knowingly violated a 30-year-old federal ban on lead paint in toys.

The companies deny having willfully violated the ban.

The penalty stems from a series of recalls by Mattel and Fisher-Price in 2007, when the companies recalled nearly 2 million popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and other toys because of excessive levels of lead found in the paint on the toys.

OUTSIDERS NAMED TO TROUBLED BOFA BOARD

BOSTON — Bank of America Corp. yesterday named four outsiders to its embattled and newly expanded board of directors, after two others resigned from the board over the past week.

The largest U.S. bank announced the appointments of Susan S. Bies, a former Federal Reserve System governor and former chief financial officer of First Tennessee National Corp.; William P. Boardman, retired executive of Bank One Corp. and Visa International Inc.; D. Paul Jones, former chairman and CEO of Compass Bancshares Inc.; and Donald E. Powell, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and former president and CEO of First National Bank of Amarillo.