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MONTREAL - Before every race at the FINA World Championships, held this year at Parc Jean-Drapeau, the competitors are introduced one at a time to the crowded stadium in both French and English. Many of the swimmers choose to smile, and most wave to the crowd or to the camera, but Michael Phelps did neither before last night's 200-meter freestyle final. He simply stared straight ahead, his jaw clenched, his emotions hidden. Focused and determined, Phelps swam the fastest 200 freestyle of his career, finishing in 1 minute, 45.20 seconds, easily holding off Australia's Grant Hackett by nearly a second to earn his second individual gold medal of these championships.

HOLLYWOOD -- Call it: The Clash of theHollywood Titans as 20th Century Fox heads into court against Sony Pictures Entertainment. At stake? Whose superhero movie will rule the month of May next year, which is traditionally one of the biggest months at the box office. It all began when Fox announced plans to release X3, the third installment in its blockbuster comic-book-superheroes action series X-Men, on May 26, 2006. Sony decided to put Zoom, its own comic-book-superheroes movie, in theaters May 12. Now, Fox and Marvel Enterprises, the creator of the X-Men comic books, have filed a federal lawsuit claiming Zoom infringes on the copyrights of X-Men, a franchise that has grossed $700 million worldwide.

The home-remodeling industry continues to enjoy more business than it can handle across Maryland and the nation but there are signs that the record-setting pace may be peaking as mortgage interest rates begin to rise. Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies said homeowners are still spending remodeling dollars at the highest rates in history. But the group found that the level of growth nationwide is slowing as mortgage rates move above 6 percent and fewer homeowners are finding it appealing to refinance their existing housing loans.

Investment bankers fresh out of school are getting signing bonuses of $45,000, more than twice as much as last year. Third-year bankers may get 25 percent raises to $325,000. Managing directors are back up to $1 million a year. Pay for bankers on Wall Street, the City of London and Tokyo's Marunouchi district is soaring as demand for securities sales and merger advice leads to record profits for companies such as Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS AG. Fees for investment banking worldwide this year may rise 19 percent to $47.3 billion, according to Mercer Oliver Wyman, a New York-based consultancy.

OAK BROOK, Ill. - McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant chain, said U.S. sales rose 20 percent in February, as salads and healthier choices such as white-meat Chicken McNuggets helped drive the biggest increase in purchases since the 1970s. Global sales rose 14 percent at restaurants open at least 13 months, McDonald's said yesterday. An extra day in February because of leap year helped lift sales for the 11th straight month, the company said. Chief executive James R. Cantalupo is increasing sales by adding higher-price foods, such as salads with Paul Newman dressings, and Happy Meals with fruits and vegetables for health-conscious customers.

NEW YORK -- The New York City region has been likened to a quilt -- a stitched-together patchwork of neighborhoods and communities so different in their economic and ethnic profiles that location can sometimes seem like the only thing they have in common. Now, for the first time, scientists are beginning to look at the future climate in the same way. Their key insight is that just like everything else in and around New York -- from school quality to crime rates and taxes, global warming and the change in climate over the coming century -- will affect people and their health differently, depending on where they live.

A rebounding stock market helped lift Legg Mason Inc.'s income by 47 percent, setting a record as the Baltimore brokerage and money management company raked in more from fees in its fiscal second quarter. Net income in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 was $66.6 million, up from $45.4 million in last year's quarter. The company also reported record diluted earnings per share, which rose 93 cents, up 41 percent, from 66 cents in the fiscal second quarter last year. The company's assets have soared this year, and it is among several brokerages that have reported double-digit percentage increases in quarterly earnings as the market has surged.

Shares in Owings Mills-based Medifast Inc. haven't been the most amazing stock investment of the young 21st century, but they're probably close. On Jan. 4, 2002, Medifast shares could be had for 23 cents each. Since then, they have risen as high as $17 before closing yesterday at $15.35, making a rich man out of the ex-Marine who took control of the company a few years ago and prompting hope for further growth for an operation founded by a Towson doctor in 1980. "It has worked out really well," said Bradley T. MacDonald, 56, chairman and chief executive of the weight-loss products company.

The Dow Jones industrial average soared more than 235 points yesterday, capping its best week in more than two decades and pushing the index of 30 blue-chip companies back into positive territory for the year. "This is probably a rally without precedent in recent memory," said Angel Mata, senior vice president for listed equity trading at Legg Mason Inc. in Baltimore. The Dow gained 235.02 points, or 2.84 percent, to close at 8,521.97, rising 8.4 percent for the week, its best showing since the five-day stretch that ended Oct. 8, 1982.

It's only February, and Xavier Reed has already racked up $8,000 in unpaid heating bills. Except, the debt isn't his. It's his customers'. As winter temperatures keep dropping and fuel prices continue rising, the owner of Can-Do Fuel Oil Co. in West Baltimore sees no choice. Either give his longtime customers a temporary pass on paying for the heating oil they need to warm their homes this season, or leave hundreds of them in the cold. He's willing to take the risk. "Most of my customers are on the low-income side," said Reed, the second-generation owner of the family-run business on Baker Street.