Signaling that manufacturers are leading the economy into a recovery, output from the nation’s factories, mines and utilities posted widespread August gains. In a further dose of good news, inflation remained essentially nonexistent as prices scarcely rose last month. The August gains in industrial production marked the second straight increase after the global recession dried up the appetites of customers worldwide. The Federal Reserve said yesterday that output rose 0.8 percent, beating analysts’ estimates.

Virginia Business Bank, which is under written agreement with regulators to improve management and operations, has a new chief. Terrie G. Spiro, a banking executive with 25 years of experience with mid-Atlantic community and regional banks, is the new president and CEO. She replaces Merlin A. Henkel, who will serve as a consultant to the board of directors at the Richmond-based bank.

The “BUD” ticker is back. Anheuser-Busch InBev said that starting yesterday, the “BUD” ticker symbol is trading again on the New York Stock Exchange. The symbol left the exchange last year after Anheuser-Busch Inc. sold itself to Belgian brewer InBev for $52 billion. The deal created Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, known for brands like Budweiser and Beck’s. The company has a plant and theme park in the Williamsburg area.

Richmond-based Media General Inc. is requiring employees to take more furlough days by the end of the year because of an ongoing slump in advertising revenue. The company, which owns the Richmond Times-Dispatch, said yesterday that its employees must take five furlough days by the end of the year. One day must be taken by Sept. 27, the end of the third quarter.

WASHINGTON—The government has compensated dealers for 70 percent of the cars sold under the popular Cash for Clunkers program and they should be fully paid by the end of September, the transportation secretary said yesterday. Secretary Ray LaHood told the National Automobile Dealers Association that 478,000 of the nearly 700,000 car vouchers have been paid, or about $2.4 billion.

Stocks rise on surge in industrial production NEW YORK Investors barreled into stocks yesterday after an upbeat report on industrial production raised hopes that the economy is strengthening. The Dow Jones industrial average rose to another high for the year as General Electric Co. and International Business Machines Corp. jumped. It was the market’s eighth gain in nine days.

With global talks on climate change looming, the Obama administration sought to gain momentum yesterday by unveiling its plan to require better gas mileage for cars and trucks and toughen rules on vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions. The new standards call for the auto industry’s fleet of new vehicles to average 35.5 mpg by 2016. The proposal will cover vehicle model years 2012 through 2016, allowing auto companies to comply at once with all federal requirements as well as standards pushed by California and about a dozen other states.

DALLAS It was a historian’s nightmare. During the change from the Clinton to the Bush administration, Web sites affiliated with the Clinton White House went dark, and an unknown number of online documents and files were forever lost. Such Internet deaths inspired the Cyber Cemetery at the University of North Texas, which preserves government Web sites in their final form. The Cyber Cemetery archives sites when commissions or panels expire, allowing the online work of defunct government bodies to live on and remain accessible to the public.

A 20-year employee of SunTrust Bank branches in the Charlottesville area and Southwest Virginia exploited a banking loophole to take more than $50,000 from the company, authorities said Monday. Douglas Calvin Powell Jr., 52, of Roanoke pleaded guilty Monday to bank fraud in federal court in Roanoke. Powell, a former assistant vice president and regional bank operations manager for SunTrust, faces up to 30 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine when sentenced.

The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance rose modestly again this year, but researchers predict a return to bigger increases that may eventually produce crippling premiums if left unchecked. Meanwhile, more workers with single coverage are facing high-deductible plans that make them pay $1,000 or more out of pocket before coverage starts, according to a report released yesterday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, a nonprofit research organization affiliated with the American Hospital Association.

Richmond-area advertising and public-relations firms plan to dole out free advice to business owners for five days beginning Oct. 5. The firms are tentatively scheduled to set up shop at the former Richmond Piano store in Carytown and talk to businesses about their marketing strategies and how to better get out their message. Details are still being arranged.

Stocks climb on retail, manufacturing data NEW YORK Better news on retail sales and manufacturing helped send stocks higher yesterday, as did comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the recession was probably over. Surging materials and industrial companies such as Alcoa and Caterpillar pulled the Dow Jones industrial average to a gain of 57 points, its seventh climb in eight days and another high for the year. Manufacturers are expected to be among the early beneficiaries if the economy strengthens and demand picks up.

FRANKFURT Sales have plunged, General Motors Co. has emerged from bankruptcy and Chrysler has been taken over by Italy’s Fiat. The past year’s turbulence will be reflected this week in a smaller U.S. presence at the Frankfurt Auto Show—along with the new electric vehicles many hope will secure the auto industry’s post-recession comeback.

Genworth Financial Inc. said a U.S. mortgage-guaranty business set aside $65 million after reaching a settlement with a lender tied to five transactions. The Henrico County-based insurer resolved arbitration proceedings with the lender last week concerning contracts that originally had about $531 million of risk in force, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Infineon Technologies AG’s former CEO Ulrich Schumacher told a German court he never took or asked for bribes, denying charges he accepted illicit cash payments during his term at the company. Schumacher was testifying on the first day of a trial in Munich on charges he accepted cash from business consultant Udo Schneider from 2000 to 2003 over the sale of sponsorship and service contracts to Europe’s second-largest maker of semiconductors.