Short Reports

Hewlett-Packard Co. is telling employees their raises will be delayed for three months as part of an expense-cutting plan at the high-tech giant, the San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday. HP spokesman Dave Berman would not discuss details of the report, but said that overall, the company had “instituted a number of different measures” to do “what any company would do in this situation - try to bring costs more in line with anticipated revenues.”

Already shaken by the recent stock market turmoil, leading online broker Charles Schwab Corp. is bracing for a rocky start in the new year by slashing the salaries of its management team by up to 50 percent. In a company memo this week, Schwab said it will temporarily reduce management salaries because the San Francisco-based company needs “to aggressively control expenses during this bear market.”

Mortgage rates declined this week with rates for 30-year and 15-year mortgages dropping to their lowest levels in 19 months. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 7.17 percent, down from 7.42 percent last week, according to a survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the mortgage company.

Safeco Corp. announced Thursday that a member of the insurance and investment company’s board of directors will serve as chairman and chief executive until a new one is chosen. William G. Reed Jr., 61, will take the job Jan. 1, replacing Roger Eigsti, 58, who announced in August he would retire at the end of the year.

Bolstered by new brand names like Chef Boyardee pastas and Pam cooking spray, ConAgra Foods Inc. on Thursday reported $302 million in net income for its second quarter, a 61 percent increase over the same period last year.

Wendy’s International Inc. reached an agreement Thursday with a shareholder group to ban smoking at all company-owned restaurants in the United States by March 31. About 1,000 of the 5,000 Wendy’s in the U.S. are company-owned.