BOSTON — Gas prices in Massachusetts have dipped 2 cents in the last week.
AAA Southern New England reported Monday that the average price of a gallon of self-serve, regular gasoline was $3.48.
That 8 cents less than the national average of $3.56 per gallon, but 11 cents higher than at this time last year.
The prices in the AAA survey released Monday ranged from $3.32 to $3.69 per gallon.
TORONTO — The world's largest gold mining company has announced plans to eliminate 100 jobs at its corporate headquarters in Toronto.
Barrick Gold Corp. said Monday the reduction represents 30 percent of the head office. Barrick spokesman Andy Lloyd cited a challenging business environment. Falling gold prices, rising costs and a sagging stock price weighed down by its Pascua-Lama project have plagued the company. Since late 2011, the gold price has fallen by $600 — over 30 percent.
Last month, Chile's environmental regulator stopped construction and imposed sanctions on Barrick's $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama gold mine, citing "serious violations" of its environmental permit. Barrick has already spent $5 billion on the project, which straddles the Chile-Argentine border at 6,400 feet (5,000 meters) above sea level. Barrick had hoped to begin production in early 2014, and warned shareholders that it might abandon Pascua's Chilean side if construction delays keep the mine from opening this year.
The company announced last week it planned to reduce its work force by 55 positions in Nevada and Utah. The company has some 4,500 employees in Nevada — which comprises the bulk of its North American operations — and 140 employees in Salt Lake City. Barrick has 25,000 employees worldwide.
Lloyd said impacted employees will receive severance packages and access to career placement services. The reduction follows a thorough review of the company's organizational structure that was prompted by the change in business conditions.
Barrick CEO Jamie Sokalsky promised shareholders in April that Barrick was committed to be focus on producing returns for investors. Shares of Barrick and almost every major gold miner have hit new annual lows recently.
Barrick ousted former CEO and President Aaron Regent a year ago, citing its disappointing share price performance. The stuck has plummeted from over $40 to less than $16 since then.
Shares dropped 94 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $15.95 in Monday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
OAK BROOK, Ill. — TreeHouse Foods Inc. said Monday that it will acquire mayonnaise, dressing and sauce maker Cains Foods L.P. for $35 million in cash.
Cains, based in Ayer, Mass., is privately owned and generates annual revenue of $80 million. Its products include private label store brands and the Cains, Naturally Delicious and Olde Cape Cod brands. It sells its products to food service distributors, national food chains and retailers.
TreeHouse said the acquisition will round out its assortment of private label dressings. The company said the deal is expected to have no impact on its 2013 earnings but will add 5 cents per share to its 2014 earnings.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast 2014 earnings per share of $3.40, on average.
The transaction is expected to close within 30 days.
TreeHouse, based in Oak Brook, Ill., makes non-dairy powdered creamers, private label canned soups, salad dressings, pickles and other products.
Shares of the company slipped 14 cents to $65 by midday, still a smaller drop than the broader market. Its stock remains at the upper end of its 52-week trading range of $46.15 to $67.53.
PROVO, Utah — Mormon missionaries will soon spend less time knocking on doors and more time chatting online with potential converts.
Leaders with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say it's critical to adapt to a changing world in which many people prefer to connect over social media.
The strategy shift announced Sunday in a worldwide broadcast from Provo, Utah, will start in a limited number of locations this year and should be in place worldwide next year.
Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles says missionaries will be using Facebook, blogs, email, text messages and the church's website, Mormon.org, in their ministry.
There are more Mormon missionaries than ever due to a lowering of the minimum age eight months ago.
CHICAGO — Grains futures were mixed Monday in early trading on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Wheat for July delivery fell 15 cents to $6.83 a bushel; July corn fell 8.75 cents to $6.53 a bushel; July oats were flat at $3.955 a bushel; while July soybeans rose 9.75 cents to $15.03 a bushel.
Beef prices were mixed, while pork prices rose on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
August live cattle fell 0.20 cent to $1.2140 a pound; August feeder cattle rose 0.63 cent to $1.4755 a pound; July lean hogs added 1.55 cent to $1.0130 a pound.
WASHINGTON — A sharply-divided Supreme Court on Monday made it more difficult for Americans to sue businesses for discrimination and retaliation, leading a justice to call for Congress to overturn the court's actions.
The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a coworker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits, saying victims must prove employers would not have taken action against them but for their intention to retaliate.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote both dissents for the court's liberal wing and in a rare move read one aloud in the courtroom, said the high court had "corralled Title VII," a law designed to stop discrimination in the nation's workplaces.
"Both decisions dilute the strength of Title VII in ways Congress could not have intended," said Ginsburg, who called on Congress to change the law to overturn the court.
In the first case, Maetta Vance, who was a catering specialist at Ball State University, accused a co-worker, Shaundra Davis, of racial harassment and retaliation in 2005. Vance sued the school under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying the university was liable since Davis was her supervisor. But a federal judge threw out her lawsuit, saying that since Davis could not fire Vance, she was only a co-worker, and since the university had taken corrective action, it was not liable for Davis' actions. The 7th Circuit upheld that decision, and Vance appealed to the Supreme Court.
But Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion, said for the university to be liable, Davis must have had the authority to "hire, fire, demote, promote, transfer, or discipline" Vance.
"We hold that an employee is a 'supervisor' for purposed of vicarious liability under Title VII if he or she is empowered by the employer to take tangible employment actions against the victim," Alito said. "Because there is no evidence that BSU empowered Davis to take any tangible employment actions against Vance, the judgment of the Seventh Circuit is affirmed."
Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron said the court made the wrong decision. "Deferring to the powerful at the expense of the powerless, the Supreme Court majority has imposed heavier burden for victims of workplace harassment and discrimination seeking justice in our courts," she said. "This decision makes it far easier for employers to evade responsibility for discrimination and harassment in the workplace."
In the second case, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center wanted a discrimination lawsuit won by Dr. Naiel Nassar thrown out. Nassar left in 2006 after complaining of harassment, but Parkland Hospital withdrew its job offer after one of his former supervisors opposed it. Nassar sued, saying the medical center retaliated against him for his discrimination complaints by encouraging Parkland to take away his job offer. A jury awarded him more than $3 million in damages.
The medical center appealed, saying the judge told the jury it only had to find that retaliation was a motivating factor in the supervisor's actions, called mixed-motive. Instead, it said, the judge should have told the jury it had to find that discriminatory action wouldn't have happened "but-for" the supervisor's desire to retaliate for liability to attach.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the opinion, agreed with the lower court and the university, saying people "must establish that his or her protected activity was a but-for cause of the alleged adverse action by the employer." But he didn't rule completely for the medical center, sending the case back to the lower courts after saying a decision on the resolution of the case "is better suited by courts closer to the facts of this case."
Karen Harned, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business' Small Business Legal Center, cheered the decision.
"If courts were allowed to label employees with little managerial authority as 'supervisors,' that would have substantially increased the number of frivolous lawsuits brought against small businesses and would have done little, if anything, to reduce harassment," she said. "For small businesses, the increased possibility of liability and ensuing costs would have been devastating. We are very pleased with the Supreme Court's decision."
Kennedy, Alito, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas voted together in those cases.
Ginsburg, and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented together both times.
Ginsburg said she hopes Congress intervenes in both cases, just as it did in past Title VII cases. "Today, the ball again lies in Congress' court to correct this court's wayward interpretations of Title VII," she said.
In other actions, the court:
— Sent a Texas case on race-based college admissions back to a lower court for another look. The court's 7-1 decision leaves unsettled many of the basic questions about the continued use of race as a factor in college admissions.
— Announced that it would issue additional opinions on Tuesday as it begins to wrap up its work for the summer. Justices still have not decided major cases involving gay marriage and the Voting Rights Act.
— Decided to reconsider the constitutionality of a 2007 Massachusetts law that bars protests in 35-foot "buffer zones" around abortion clinic entrances, exits and driveways.
— Agreed to review a federal appeals court decision that found President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate last year to appoint three members of the National Labor Relations Board.
— Rejected challenges to Environmental Protection Agency decisions allowing an increase in ethanol content in gasoline.
— Ruled generic drug manufacturers can't be sued in state court for a drug's design defects if federal officials approved the brand-name version the generic drug copied.
— Ruled that a convicted military sex offender who completed his sentence can be prosecuted for not updating his whereabouts in a federal sex offender database, even though that law was passed after he finished serving his sentence and was discharged from the military.
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The cases are Vance v. Ball State University, 11-556 and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, 12-484.
Follow Jesse J. Holland at http://www.twitter.com/jessejholland
NEW YORK — Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus plans to raise up to $100 million by returning to the stock market with an initial public offering.
That amount is likely to change, though, as bankers gauge investor interest. The plan to go public, announced in a regulatory filing Monday, comes about eight years after private equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus bought Neiman Marcus for $5.1 billion.
Neiman Marcus has benefited from affluent shoppers who are willing to drop $1,000 for a pair of stilettos. During the recession, Neiman Marcus was not as hurt by the consumer spending pullback as other retailers, because the wealthy suffered less in the poor economy.
Still, the initial public offering comes at a time when the stock market, which influences luxury spending, has become volatile.
Neiman Marcus won't receive any proceeds from the offering. The Dallas company runs its namesake stores, Bergdorf Goodman, Cusp and discount shops under the Last Call brand.
The Wall Street Journal article reported in late May that Neiman Marcus recently rebuffed a proposal that would involve buyout firm KKR & Co. investing in competitor Saks Inc., the operator of Saks Fifth Avenue, and then engineering a combination of Saks and Neiman.
According to the Journal, Neiman Marcus turned down the proposal for several reasons, including the terms and the complexity of the deal. At the time, Neiman's private equity owners were looking to sell the company outright or take it public.
Neiman Marcus, founded in 1907 by Herbert Marcus Sr., his sister Carrie Marcus, and her husband A.L Neiman, has had a series of owners during its rich history.
The company was sold to Broadway-Hale in 1969 and began planning national expansion outside of Texas. Through a series of deals, the retailer came under the ownership of the conglomerate Harcourt General, which also published textbooks and owned movie theaters.
In 1999, Harcourt General spun off Neiman Marcus stores and Bergdorf Goodman as its separate, publicly traded entity, the Neiman Marcus Group. In 2005, the current owners took the company private.
Neiman Marcus has a long-held reputation for coddling its wealthy shoppers with customer service that goes above and beyond the standard. In 1984, it established InCircle, the industry's first customer loyalty program.
Now, like other upscale retailers, Neiman Marcus is trying to reinvent its shopping experience for its customers who are increasingly using their tablets and smartphones to research and buy their designer goods.
In the SEC filing, Neiman Marcus Inc. did not disclose how many shares would be offered, or what the projected price range would be. A regulatory filing by the company also did not disclose what exchange it expects to list the stock on or what ticker symbol it plans to use.
For fiscal 2012, Neiman Marcus had net income of $140.1 million on revenue of $4.35 billion. The retailer had net income of $31.6 million and revenue of $4 billion in fiscal 2011.
Earlier this month the company reported that its fiscal third-quarter net income increased 13 percent on stronger sales, particularly online. Revenue from its online business jumped 15 percent in the period. Revenue from stores open at least a year, considered a key indicator of financial performance because it strips away the effects from recently opened or closed stores, increased 3.6 percent.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Two space station astronauts took care of a little outside maintenance Monday.
Russian flight engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin replaced a main valve on the International Space Station, after emerging from their 250-mile-high home.
"To save the time, I'm embroidering," one of the spacewalkers said in Russian, holding a clump of cord as he worked on the fluid valve. "It's not easy to handle all these ropes." Later, he added, "OK, now we're doing bead work."
Also on the spacewalkers' to-do list: installing clamps and retrieving science experiments. Some of the work will pave the way for the arrival of a new Russian compartment at the end of this year.
The year's third spacewalk was under the direction of Russian Mission Control outside Moscow. The four other space station residents monitored the action from inside.
Yurchikhin arrived at the space station just a few weeks ago. Misurkin has been on board since March.
The crew includes three Russians, two Americans and one Italian. The Italian and one American will conduct a pair of spacewalks for NASA in July.
Begun in 1998, the space station still is one room short.
The Russian Space Agency plans to launch a research lab to replace the Pirs air lock that has been in place since 2001. An unmanned Proton rocket will hoist the lab, which also will serve as an air lock for spacewalk preparations and a docking port for visiting craft. As for Pirs — Russian for pier — it will be cut loose before the launch of its replacement and burn up upon re-entry as junk.
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Online:
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
LONDON — Global stock markets reeled Monday amid concerns that credit conditions will tighten in the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies.
Shanghai's stock index endured its biggest loss in four years after the country's central bank allowed commercial rates to spike higher. Analysts say the move was part of an effort to curb the high level of off-balance-sheet lending in China that could threaten the country's financial stability.
But the higher lending rates could also hurt economic growth. The impact for stock markets would be all the greater if the U.S. Federal Reserve tightens its own ultra-loose monetary policy over the coming months, as it has signaled it would do so long as the U.S. economy improves according to its forecasts.
Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index plummeted 5 percent to 1,968.51 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index plunged 6.1 percent to 881.87.
In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.42 percent Monday to close at 6,029.10 and France's CAC-40 slid 1.7 percent to 3,595.63. Germany's DAX was down 1.24 percent to 7,692.45 even though a key business sentiment index rose slightly, suggesting the recovery in Europe's largest economy continues, though at a slow pace.
Wall Street opened lower, with the Dow Jones industrial down 1.3 percent to 14,605.19 and the S&P 500 down 1.7 percent to 1,556.00.
Government bond yields rose in the U.S. and other big economies on expectations that borrowing rates would not remain at their current lows for much longer. The U.S. 10-year rate traded above 2.6 percent for the first time since August 2011.
Bond yields also rose in Europe's financially shaky countries, suggesting investors are relatively more cautious about lending them money despite the good returns they provide. Spain's 10-year bond yield was above 5 percent for the first time in three months.
Analysts at Moody's Investors Service said they saw the Chinese central bank's action to allow lending rates to rise as "a conscious decision" to curb credit growth.
Moody's added that a prolonged credit crunch could threaten Chinese companies, "especially those in the private sector with weak credit quality, because it heightens the risk that banks will scale back lending to those companies." Moody's says that China's central government finances remain strong, but that rapid credit growth and liabilities at the local level pose a threat to growth.
Andrew Sullivan of Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong said China's new leaders want credit to be available to keep the economy moving but not so much as to promote asset bubbles.
"After six months in power, the new leadership is putting its policies in place. It's signaling that credit is going to remain tight," Sullivan said. "All that is in line with moving China from being an export driven economy to being a domestic consumption economy."
The concerns over China's credit market were magnified by existing worries that access to money will tighten in the world's largest economy, the U.S.
Investors are concerned what will happen as the U.S. Federal Reserve slows down its monetary stimulus program, which has been pumping $85 billion into the financial system every month and helped many stock indexes reach multiyear or record highs. Markets tumbled last week when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the program would likely slow down this year and end in 2014.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.2 percent to 19,813.98. Japan's Nikkei 225 index, the regional heavyweight, fell 1.3 percent to 13,062.78. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.3 percent to 1,799.01. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.5 percent at 4,666.50.
In energy markets, benchmark oil contract for August delivery was down 2 cents to $93.67 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.71 to close at $93.69 on Friday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3097 from $1.3139 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose slightly to 97.80 yen from 97.76 yen.
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Sampson reported from Bangkok. Joe McDonald in Beijing and Fu Ting in Shanghai also contributed to this report.
DETROIT — The only two McDonald's restaurants in the United States that serve food prepared according to Islamic law have stopped doing so.
The fast food giant and a Michigan franchise owner agreed to a $700,000 legal settlement in April after a customer sued.
The fast-food giant said in a statement Monday that the locations in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, which has a large Muslim population, no longer offer a halal McChicken sandwich or Chicken McNuggets "to focus on our national core menu."
The corporation says it takes into account "local and dietary preferences." Neither the statement nor a spokeswoman said whether the decision was related to the lawsuit.
The settlement is being shared by the customer, a Muslim-run Detroit health clinic, Dearborn's Arab American National Museum and lawyers.
