THE ECONOMY

* Superior TeleCom Inc., a maker of cable and wire for the telecommunications industry, said it will buy Essex International Inc. for about $1 billion, or $32 a share, to expand into the electrical copper wire business. Superior also would assume $419 million in Essex debt. Superior said the purchase will make it the world’s fourth-largest wire and cable firm and the largest producer of copper cable for telephone networks, with annual revenue of about $2.4 billion.