Economic data

Economy took a break in summer, growing at slower pace

WASHINGTON — The US economy grew at a slightly slower pace over the summer than the government had previously estimated. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that gross domestic product expanded at a 2 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter. That was a bit lower than its previous estimate of 2.1 percent, a result of less restocking by businesses than previously estimated. Last quarter’s expansion was significantly below the 3.9 percent annual GDP growth in the second quarter. The slowdown reflected a cutback in the pace of inventory restocking. Economists think growth in the final quarter will amount to around a 2.2 percent rate, helped by solid consumer spending. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Techonology

Pandora reaches accords with songwriting groups

LOS ANGELES — Pandora Media Inc., the world’s largest online radio service, reached licensing agreements with Ascap and BMI, resolving disagreements over rates and cementing its access to more than 20 million songs for several years. As part of the accord, Pandora will drop its appeal of a US court order in May related to how much it pays BMI, according to a statement Tuesday. Terms of the long-term agreements weren’t disclosed. Ascap, short for the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and BMI, or Broadcast Music Inc., represent songwriters, composers, and music publishers, negotiating rates and distributing fees when music is performed in public. Detente with the two organizations furthers Pandora’s quest to to lock up long-term rights and rates for music, providing greater stability for investors and improving its relationship with the music industry. — BLOOMBEG NEWS

Investing

Bain Capital’s managing director set to retire

Paul Edgerley, a longtime Bain Capital managing director, plans to retire from the Boston-based private equity firm at the end of the year. Edgerley, 60, has been with the firm for 27 years, and is one of its longest-serving partners. In a letter to clients Monday, the firm said he would remain an adviser and mentor to employees, and continue to serve on the boards of several companies where Bain has investments. Edgerley has specialized in industrial deals at Bain. He also was an adviser in the early days of Bain’s Brookside Capital hedge fund launch and helped lead Bain Capital’s expansion into Asia. — BETH HEALY

Consumer industry

Have a penchant for picking flops? You’re a harbinger of failure

Did Diet Crystal Pepsi intrigue you? Did you crave watermelon-flavored Oreos and run out to buy blue ketchup? Were you crushed when these items disappeared from the grocery shelves? There’s a name for you, according to a new study: “harbingers of failure.’’ Certain consumers are more prone to buying products that will flop with the general public, according to the study, coauthored by professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and Hong Kong University. “There are some people who appear to be systemically good at identifying at what other people don’t like,’’ said Catherine Tucker, a marketing professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Tucker said she hopes the research will help companies identify what is likely to fly and what will flounder, based on who is buying them. — DEIRDRE FERNANDES

Beverage industry

Liquor companies settle suit over fireball whiskeys

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Heated competition between producers of cinnamon whiskeys has cooled off in the courtroom, with Sazerac dropping its lawsuit against Jack Daniel’s. Sazerac — whose brands include the long-established Fireball Cinnamon Whisky — had accused its rival of trademark infringement by using the term ‘‘Fireball’’ in online advertising for cinnamon-flavored Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire. The legal fight ended quietly this week when Sazerac filed a motion in federal court in Kentucky to voluntarily drop its claims. Sazerac’s decision came just before Jack Daniel’s — the flagship brand of Brown-Forman Corp. — was required to respond to the lawsuit. Sazerac’s motion did not say why it was dropping the case. Company spokeswoman Amy Preske said both parties reached an agreement, but she declined to comment further. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Auto industry

Ford recalls 313,000 Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis sedans

NEW YORK — Ford Motor is recalling about 313,000 older Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis sedans because the headlights may fail, the automaker said Tuesday. It has been six years since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed an investigation into the same problem, saying that while it had 306 complaints from owners, there were no reports of crashes, injuries or deaths and “a safety-related defect has not been identified at this time.’’ The recall, which includes about 296,000 cars in the United States and covers the 2003 to 2005 model years, was announced about four months after the federal regulators opened a new investigation at the request of the North Carolina Consumers Council, which argued there was an important safety problem. That request noted that there were 604 consumer complaints on the agency’s website, including seven reports of vehicle crashes but no mention of injuries. — NEW YORK TIMES

Energy

Solar customers to lose credits for selling power

SAN FRANCISCO — Nevada regulators decided to cut the credits that rooftop solar customers get when they sell power back to the grid, handing a victory to Warren Buffett’s local utility. The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada voted 3-0 on Tuesday to phase in changes to the state’s so-called net metering payments over four years. The reduced rates would apply to all rooftop customers. The credits have been a strong incentive for individuals and businesses to install their own solar panels in recent years. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

Investing

Claren Road hit by $950m in withdrawal requests

Claren Road Asset Management, the hedge fund manager majority owned by Carlyle Group LP, suffered $950 million in withdrawal requests in the fourth quarter, according to a person familiar with the matter, leaving assets 85 percent below their peak last year. Claren Road will start January with $1.25 billion in assets, down from a high of $8.5 billion in September 2014, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The credit-oriented fund has struggled over the past 15 months with poor performance and an investor exodus. Its main fund tumbled 10.1 percent in 2014, its first annual loss since it started a decade ago, and dropped another 5.2 percent in the first three quarters of this year. After receiving redemption requests of about $2 billion in the third quarter, the firm told clients it would delay paying two-thirds of the money back to minimize damage to continuing investors. Redemption requests submitted in the fourth quarter will probably also face delayed repayment, the person said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS