Also

* Electric utility Cinergy Corp. said it will start expensing staff stock options in 2003, following the lead of several other companies after a string of accounting scandals prompted demands for more transparency.

* Abbott Laboratories Inc. said it received regulatory approval for its thyroid drug Synthroid, allowing it to keep the most widely used thyroid drug in the U.S. on the market. The 47-year-old drug had never been approved because it was on the market before the formal regulatory review process was in place.

* Carnival Corp.’s hostile $6.5-billion bid for P&O; Princess Cruises won European antitrust approval after regulators said Carnival is unlikely to dominate the cruise market. The deal still faces U.S. regulatory scrutiny.

* Kmart Corp.’s chief restructuring executive, Ron Hutchison, said the company expects to announce an unspecified number of layoffs in the next two months.