Business & Finance

The financial loss to New York from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was estimated at between $33 billion and $36 billion by the city's Federal Reserve Bank. A report in the November issue of the bank's Economic Policy Review calculates:

• the pay that would have been earned by the 2,795 people who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers had they been able to keep working until retirement,

• lost business by private-sector companies,

• lost pay because of job cuts,

• the cost of clearing the site of debris and then "essentially duplicating what existed before the attack."

The planned $4.2 billion merger between steelmakers CSN of Brazil and Corus, the British-Dutch giant, was called off by the latter because of "uncertainties in the global business environment." The all-stock deal, announced in July, would have given Corus 62 percent of the combined company as well as access to vast quantities of cheap Brazilian iron ore. But senior executives said their focus would be redirected to making Corus's carbon steel operations profitable again.

Troubled telecommunications giant Cable & Wireless PLC posted a $7.2 billion loss for the first half of its business year and said it will cut 3,500 jobs, most of them in its US operations. Senior executives said the company will stop servicing smaller US customers and focus instead on major multinational clients, even though investors and analysts had hoped for an announcement that it would cease operations there entirely. The new layoffs come on top of 8,000 that have been announced since December 2000.

In other layoff developments:

• WorldCom, the bankrupt telecommunications giant, announced it will lay off as many as 390 employees in "refocusing" its Asian operations.

• Midwest Express Airlines said it will cut up to 250 jobs, or 9 percent of its workforce. The regional carrier serves 51 cities with a fleet of 35 planes.