Ex-Microsoft manager: 2 years for insider trading

SEATTLE — A former senior Microsoft manager who pleaded guilty to feeding inside information to a stock trader was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for insider trading.

The U.S. attorney's office says the two men made $415,000 from three trades.

Brian Jorgenson, 32, was a senior manager in Microsoft Corp.'s Treasury Group when he provided the information to his friend Sean Stokke, 28, of Seattle, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court. They were accused of trading on three corporate developments: two quarterly earnings reports and Microsoft's 2012 investment in Barnes & Noble Inc.

"I cheated," Jorgenson told the court Friday. "I tried to take a shortcut for my own financial gain ... I persuaded myself it was a gray area, when it clearly was black and white."

Jorgenson's codefendant, Stokke, was sentenced last month to 18 months in prison.

"Western Washington abounds in publicly traded companies with thousands of insiders who have daily access to market-moving information," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said. "The sentence in this case should serve as a warning to others who might be tempted to engage in this conduct."

The pair accumulated Barnes & Noble stock options in advance of Microsoft's announcement that it was investing in the company's digital book business, the FBI said. The announcement caused Barnes & Noble's stock to jump by nearly half, and the pair made $184,000.

They are also accused of trading on Microsoft's failure to meet earnings expectations in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 and Microsoft's increased first-quarter profit in fiscal 2014.

Jorgenson, a married father of four from the north Seattle suburb of Lynnwood, joined Microsoft in January 2011.

When Jorgenson was charged last December, Microsoft said in a written statement that the company has no tolerance for insider trading. "We helped the government with its investigation and terminated the employee," the statement said.

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Nevada complaint seeks to require condoms in porn

RENO, Nev. — A Los Angeles-based group that wants porn performers to wear condoms during film shoots has filed its first complaint in Nevada.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed a formal complaint with Nevada's Occupational Safety and Health Administration against a San Francisco production company that made an adult film in Las Vegas in June.

The organization says the film shows performers engaging in activities that are highly likely to spread potentially infectious materials, in violation of federal OSHA rules the group says require the use of condoms in shoots.

"This new complaint in Nevada is based on the simple fact that they cannot hide from federal law there or anywhere in the U.S.," said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Are workers in Nevada any less entitled to protection from harm than those in California?"

The film, "Vegas Road Trip," was made for a website run by Kink.com. Its CEO, Peter Acworth, called the complaint baseless.

"Current federal regulations make no mention of condoms, and use standards that were developed in the 1990s for hospitals, not porn sets," he said in a statement. "We will continue to work with performers, doctors and regulators to develop protocols that keep sets safe, and still respect performers' rights."

Furthermore, even if OSHA rules did apply to porn actors, there was no violation during the Las Vegas shoot because it only involved oral sex, added Michael Stabile, a spokesman for the company.

Nevada OSHA spokeswoman Teri Williams said the agency is reviewing the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's complaint, which was received July 25.

After the review, she said, the agency could choose to initiate an inspection or it could send a letter asking for more information from the company.

"I'm not aware of any (previous) referrals to us related to this particular industry," Williams said.

The filing comes two years after voters in Los Angeles County approved a measure that requires adult film performers to wear condoms while filming there. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is pushing a similar measure that is pending in the California Legislature and would apply statewide.

"From our point of view, this (Nevada filing) is a retaliatory measure for some of the work we're doing to fight their bill in California," Stabile said.

In August 2013, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed a similar complaint with California OSHA against Kink.com, saying performers may have been exposed to HIV after failing to wear condoms during a shoot.

California OSHA officials fined the company more than $78,000 early this year for maintaining dangerous workplace conditions, among them allowing performers to have sex on camera without using condoms.

The company argued that many of its performers prefer not to use condoms and that the fine was the result of a long-running campaign by those who oppose the adult film industry.

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China's inflation stays at 2.3 percent in July

BEIJING — China's consumer price index rose 2.3 percent in July from a year earlier, well below the ruling Communist Party's 3.5 percent target for the year.

The latest inflation rate was unchanged from June, according to data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The rise in the index was driven largely by higher food prices, which increased by 3.6 percent. Prices for fruits and eggs rose the fastest.

Experts expect the inflation to stay stable this year, leaving room for interest rate cuts or other measures to stimulate the economy if necessary.

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Logan employees hold rally for higher wages, union

Mobilizing to form a union in a quest for "livable wages," service workers at Logan International Airport rallied yesterday, flanked by Democratic pols, including gubernatorial candidates Attorney General Martha Coakley and state Treasurer Steve Grossman.

Employees who work for contractors secured by airlines, including cabin cleaners, wheelchair assistants and baggage handlers, make as little as $8 an hour with few, if any, benefits, and are fighting for increased pay and a "livable wage," said Roxana Rivera, district leader for SEIU 32BJ.

"Workers have been playing by the rules," she said. "They have been coming to work every day to keep the airport running, now the only thing we are asking for is decent wages."

Coakley told the crowd that service employees deserve to "make a living wage and get ahead just like everybody."

Grossman said, "Let's talk to Massport. Let's talk to public officials. Every public official who is not standing with us today is standing on the other side."

Massport in a statement said it is "sympathetic to the concerns raised regarding working conditions and take them seriously. This matter is primarily one between private employers — hired by the airlines — and their workforce."

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Live large in Danvers 
brick estate

A million dollars buys a lot less house these days, and it's become the going rate for two-bedroom condos in Boston's most desirable neighborhoods.

But with this brick estate at 9 Kenmore Drive in Danvers, you get a lot of house for $1.15 million — six bedrooms, six bathrooms, an attached three-car garage and almost 10,000 square feet of living space in­cluding the finished basement.

The custom Mediterranean-style house, located in a choice neighborhood near St. John's Prep, features five marble fireplaces, oak floors with inlays, tall windows and has a showpiece entry foyer and two double-height great rooms. It's set on more than a half-acre that backs up to town-owned conservation land.

The beautiful back yard features a large slate veranda leading down to a built-in heated swimming pool with a cabana. The front and back yards are landscaped with fig, peach and apple trees and many flowering bushes.

Since it was built in 1992, the home has been in the family that owned the now-closed Despina's Place, a Greek/pizza eatery on Mass. Ave. in the Back Bay.

"This isn't a house that was built to be sold, but for someone to live in for a lifetime," said owner George Tzantyos, whose relative, original owner John Gikas, passed away in 2009.

The house can support a large extended family or someone who wants live-in help, as its finished basement has a full kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, cedar closet and several bedrooms. There are twelve heating zones and central air conditioning.

It's not the easiest house to sell, admits listing agent Gail Tyrrell of Re/Max Advantage in Salem, who recently reduced the price from $1,430,000. Although it was built with high-­quality finishes, the 1990s-era colored bathroom fixtures look outdated.

"Buyers are looking for the latest and greatest finishes," Tyrrell said. "But this large home has everything else a buyer could want, all the high-end bells and whistles. To reconstruct this home today would cost well over $2 million."

But even if the kitchen could use some freshening up, it's spacious — with lots of cabinets, a central island, newer wall ovens and electric cooktop, and a glass-­enclosed breakfast room with views out to the back yard.

The soaring barrel-­vaulted grand foyer has granite floors and a mahogany bridal staircase with a large crystal chandelier.

Corinthian columns on either side of the foyer lead to formal living and dining­ rooms with inlaid hardwood floors, crown molding and floor-to-ceiling windows. The living room has a marble fireplace and the dining room a large crystal chandelier. There's also a mahogany-­lined private library with another marble fireplace.

There's a great room off the foyer with 25-foot vaulted ceilings, a marble fireplace and glass doors out to the veranda and pool and a second vaulted great room off the kitchen that also opens to the veranda.

"It's a house that can hold lots of people," Tzantyos said. "The original owner did a lot of entertaining here."

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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West buy big suburban mansion

We know we're a bit behind the 8-ball on this but a complicated computer snafu tied our digital hands for the last nearly 24 hours. However, in the interest of keeping up the celebrity real estate Joneses and just in case any of the children somehow missed it, celebrity gossip juggernaut TMZ swears that reality television supernova Kim Kardashian has somehow convinced her high-minded rapper husband Kanye West to drop twenty million bucks on a freshly constructed mansion in the same family friendly, equestrian oriented and guard gated Hidden Hills community where her momager Kris Jenner already lives is a large but much smaller mansion.

Don't none of ya'll misunderstand Your Mama as Hidden Hills naysayer, 'cause we're not. Just because it's not our particular cup of suburban real estate tea doesn't mean it's not a much touted, well-groomed and exceedingly affluent enclave long favored by the rich and/or famous. Should they choose, Mister and Missus Kardashian can invite neighbors who Jennifer Lopez, Drake, Leann Rimes and Eddie Cibrian, Nicolette Sheridan, and Jessica Simpson to their housewarming party and it will no doubt be a fine place to bring up their directionally named baby.

• BUYERS:Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
• LOCATION: Hidden Hills, CA
• PRICE: (reportedly) $20,000,000
• SIZE: 15,667 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 8 full and two half bathrooms.

The 3.01-acre spread, originally listed in April 2013 and last listed for $20,995,000, was previously owned by rock 'n' roll royal Lisa Marie Presley but her former mansion was torn down a few years ago to make way for a sprawling compound that includes a stone-faced manor house lovingly described in digital marketing materials as a "French Country masterpiece."

The unquestionably stately abode has 8 bedrooms, 8 full and 2 half bathrooms including a house-sized master suite with private retreat, dual bathrooms, extensive closets and dressing areas, fitness room and a private terrace with spa. Three of the mansion's eight fireplaces are in the formal living room, formal dining room and custom paneled library. Less formal family and entertainment spaces include a three island kitchen, family room, home theater with upholstered walls and a suede-walled game room with wet bar.

The fully landscaped estate has two swimming pools, two spas, two barbeque centers, two vineyards, three fountains, a sport court and rose garden, over an acre of lawn and a gated motor court bigger than a 7-11 parking lot. In addition to the main house there's a 1,050-square-foot entertainment pavilion as well as a secluded pool house/guest house with fireplace and bathroom.

Kanye still owns a minimalist apartment in lower Manhattan and a contemporary art-filled abode in the Hollywood Hills he's had on and off the market for years -- it's not currently listed on the open market -- while Kimmy sold her Bev Hills bachelorette pad in February 2013 for $3.9 million. So the scuttlebutt goes, once the full-scale and no-doubt supremely price renovations are complete, K-K intend to flip the mock-Med manse in the Bel Air Crest community they bought in January 2013 for $9 million.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Market Basket workers keep faith, but feel $$ pinch

After their third consecutive day of booing potential applicants away from Market Basket job fairs, protesters claim they are winning — but acknowledged the prolonged dispute is putting pressure on their families.

"If they end up hiring all of the two dozen people who made it inside today they can put one of them at every third store and see how well that works out for them," said Steve Paulenka, a recently fired 40-year supervisor who has been on the front lines of the dispute. "I was here both Monday and Tuesday, and I don't think that there were 20 people who went in over those two days."

Angel Rivera, 32, a personal care attendant from Lawrence, made the trip to yesterday's fair at an Andover Market Basket warehouse with his girlfriend but left after he spotted the charged-up mob of people picketing.

"All of this mess here, it's not worth it. I just wanted extra work," he said.

But Jeandri Lizardo, a 17-year-old Lawrence High senior, braved the boos to fill out her application.

"My mom dropped me off and since I saw the angry mob over there, I snuck my way in to go into the office," she said. "I do need the job, and it was their decision to be angry."

The embattled company remained mum yesterday on whether the search for replacements is paying off. Repeated calls to Market Basket management spokespeople were not returned yesterday. The company had advertised an email address for applicants who were unwilling to face the protesters.

Market Basket warehouse workers and drivers are feeling the pinch since they left their jobs July 18.

"They are the ones who have made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us," said Tom Trainor, a fired grocery supervisor.

Gary Hendrigan, 56, a warehouse driver, said he walked off the job out of loyalty to deposed CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, but he's concerned for the financial wellbeing of the younger warehouse workers, some of whom have babies and small children.

"Right now I have enough faith that this is going to work," Hendrigan said. "I have a good savings account. My father taught me well. I can hang in there for a while. Some of the younger guys can't."

Michael Perez, 27, a fired five-year poultry selector at the Andover warehouse, said he and the rest of the "chicken room" workers were lining up to support the protesters because "they're like my family" while lamenting the budget crunch the dispute has caused at home.

"I've got two kids and my girlfriend's pregnant. ... It's tough because I'm not well off, but I'm gonna stick it out because I know Artie will take care of me when I go back," Perez said. "You've got this one-percenter who seems to think that just because his pockets are big he can just take over and bully all of us because we're little guys. We want our boss back. We want our CEO back. He's the guy who helps me take care of my two kids."

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Partners posts $34M loss

Partners HealthCare yesterday tied a $34 million quarterly loss to the state's disastrous implementation of Obamacare, and an industry group warned that other health plans are struggling to survive as the state tries to fix the failed website.

"It's been fairly severe," Partners Chief Financial Officer Peter Markell told the Herald. "We're talking with the state and hoping we can get these problems fixed. It's a major league issue."

Partners is losing approximately $1.5 million a month as the state scrambles to relaunch an Obamacare website in time for fall open enrollment. The original site crashed and burned shortly after it went live last October, and some 251,280 Bay Staters are now on free transitional Medicaid insurance at a cost to taxpayers of $173 million.

Partners operates Neighborhood Health Plan, which insures 325,700 patients.

The Massachusetts Association of Health Plans yesterday warned Partners is hardly alone in suffering losses related to the state's failed implementation of Obamacare. Health plans' losses had already been accelerating because of unexpectedly high medical and pharmaceutical costs, said president Lora Pellegrini.

"Compounding this is the failure of the state's website, the creation of temporary coverage and the unbudgeted costs the (managed care organizations) have incurred to support the IT and operational requirements needed to ensure that residents have access to coverage during open enrollment this coming November."

Pellegrini added the costs "go beyond any reasonably budgeted losses" the health plans could absorb.

"They are increasingly being asked to do much more with much more limited resources," she said. "They cannot continue to sustain year-over-year losses of this magnitude."

Partners, meanwhile, also blamed its quarterly loss on an influx of 61,000 additional MassHealth patients to Neighborhood Health who generated "substantially higher" medical claims, leading to a cost increase of $28 million.

Partners attributed $10 million in costs to a "breakthrough" Hepatitis C drug that the state has not yet agreed to cover.

Markell called on state officials to increase rates.

"There's no way we're getting actuarially sound rates," Markell said.

Secretary of Administration & Finance Glen Shor told the Herald the state couldn't corroborate the claim that the MassHealth influx has led to higher than expected costs.

"We're working with them to better understand what is driving their financial performance," he said.

"Once again it highlights the turmoil that's being caused by the changes due to the ACA in Massachusetts as people switch plans, as people sign up who didn't have coverage before," said Joshua Archambault of the Pioneer Institute. "It only exacerbates the costs of the implementation because of state officials' errors."

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Obama indicates opposition to Internet 'fast lanes'

When President Obama spoke at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum on Tuesday, he was asked about his position on net neutrality, the rules of the road for the Internet that are pending before the FCC.

At the center of the debate is whether the FCC will pass rules that will allow Internet providers to strike deals allowing content companies to gain speedier and better access to the consumer, known as paid prioritization or "fast lanes."

Asked about the topic, Obama said, "One of the issues around net neutrality is whether you are creating different rates or charges for different content providers. That's the big controversy here. You have big, wealthy media companies who might be willing to pay more but then also charge more for more spectrum, more bandwidth on the Internet so they can stream movies faster or what have you.

"And I personally -- the position of my administration, as well as I think a lot of companies here is you don't want to start getting a differentiation in how accessible the Internet is to various users. You want to leave it open so that the next Google or the next Facebook can succeed."

Groups like Move On and Credo cited the remarks as meaning that Obama favors banning paid prioritization altogether. "This is significant progress in the fight to restore and protect net neutrality," MoveOn said in a letter to supporters. "If we seize this moment, it could be a turning point."

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal would prohibit commercially unreasonable practices by Internet providers, a standard that critics say would be too weak to prevent paid prioritization deals. So Wheeler also is asking for public comment on whether the FCC should ban paid prioritization outright, or even reclassify the Internet as a telecommunications service. The latter would give the FCC greater regulatory oversight.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Everett cleanup report on hold

A report that would detail how a contaminated site in Everett would be cleaned for a $1.3 billion Wynn casino will not be available to the state Gaming Commission before it makes its Boston-area license decision, after the state Department of Environmental Protection granted a request to extend a deadline for a year.

The "Phase IV" report was due June 15, but The DeNunzio Group — which has an option agreement to sell the Mystic River land to Wynn for $35 million — petitioned DEP to extend the deadline to June of next year, saying cleanup plans "could vary" if the site is picked for a casino. DEP approved the delay June 9.

The report will detail how Wynn's $30 million cleanup plan will be implemented, including how dirty soil would be excavated, how dust will be monitored, and how contaminated material would be managed. Wynn Resorts said its environmental impact report filings address many of those questions.

"There's no mystery as to what would have been in their Phase IV," Wynn project manager Chris Gordon said of the site's owners, who could not be reached for comment. "I don't think that the commission is missing anything."

The commission votes Sept. 12 to award the license to Wynn or Mohegan Sun, which is eyeing a casino at Suffolk Downs in Revere.

Commission spokesman Hank Shafran said the panel is satisfied with the cleanup details filed to date and that "the entire process will be carried out under the watchful eye of a licensed site professional."

"The commission is confident that he or she, acting under extensive and comprehensive regulations — and with DEP's oversight — will assure that the cleanup is done carefully and properly," Shafran said. "The commission does not need to see the Phase IV plan to have that assurance."

But Cindy Brooks, an environmental cleanup expert and founder of Greenfield Environmental Trust Group, said the detail contained in a Phase IV report is important when weighing the feasibility of a development on tainted land.

"That is essentially a full cleanup plan," Brooks said. "If you're going to move ahead with a land-use development scenario, in a perfect world, you would have all of that information. From a public policy standpoint, I think it's best to know what you're signing up for, and what a quasi-public entity is authorizing."

DEP spokesman Joe Ferson said the agency granted the request because the site's owner "is in the midst of a real estate transaction which, to the best of our knowledge, could not be finalized until the deadline."

Wynn's site on the Mystic River contains arsenic and lead in soil and groundwater from its decades as a Monsanto chemical site.

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Asia stocks fall on Russia-Ukraine concerns

MUMBAI, India — Worries over Russian troops amassing near the Ukraine border sent most Asian stock markets lower Wednesday.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1 percent to 15,154.65 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.6 percent to 24,498.32. The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.4 percent to 2,058.73 and China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.5 percent to 2,313.78. Markets in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia and India also lost ground.

UKRAINE JITTERS: Asian traders were following the lead of Wall Street, which dropped after news reports of a buildup of Russian troops on the Ukraine border and comments from a Polish politician who said Russia is poised to invade or militarily pressure Ukraine's eastern border. The developments come after the most recent round of sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and Europe. Russia has reportedly called for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

ANALYST TAKE: Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia said if Russia increases its presence in eastern Ukraine, then "buyers of all things risk will disappear fast as this is an undefinable event with an undefinable outcome for markets." Energy stocks in particular have been hard hit and this will be the industry to "watch over the next few days as more information flows out of Europe around Russian military positioning."

EYES ON OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery was up 20 cents to $97.50 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With winter a few months away, Europe's recovering economy remains dependent on Russian natural gas for heat and electricity. Germany imports nearly all its natural gas from Russia, and France also gets a significant amount of its energy needs from Russia. "Europe's economy is far more exposed to Russia than the U.S.," said Randy Frederick, a managing director at Charles Schwab.

WALL STREET: The Dow lost 139.81 points, or 0.8 percent, to 16,429.47, the lowest level for the index since mid-May. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 18.78 points, or 1 percent, to 1,920.21 and the Nasdaq composite fell 31.05 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,352.84.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 102.54 Japanese yen from 102.61 late Tuesday. The euro dipped to $1.3368 from $1.3371.

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German factory orders decrease in June

BERLIN — German factory orders were down in June compared to the previous month due to a decrease of large orders.

The Federal Statistics Office said Wednesday that industrial orders were 3.2 percent lower than in May, when they also fell by 1.6 percent.

Orders from inside Germany dropped 1.9 percent and those from countries outside the euro zone fell by 4.1 percent.

New orders from other countries in the 18-nation Eurozone fell by 10.4 percent.

The Federal Statistics Office said that geopolitical developments and risks were a likely cause for the decrease in new orders and that they expected only moderate development in the coming months.

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S&P: Wealth gap is slowing US economic growth

WASHINGTON — Economists have long argued that a rising wealth gap has complicated the U.S. rebound from the Great Recession.

Now, an analysis by the rating agency Standard & Poor's lends its weight to the argument: The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has made the economy more prone to boom-bust cycles and slowed the 5-year-old recovery from the recession.

Economic disparities appear to be reaching extremes that "need to be watched because they're damaging to growth," said Beth Ann Bovino, chief U.S. economist at S&P.

The rising concentration of income among the top 1 percent of earners has contributed to S&P's cutting its growth estimates for the economy. In part because of the disparity, it estimates that the economy will grow at a 2.5 percent annual pace in the next decade, down from a forecast five years ago of a 2.8 percent rate.

The S&P report advises against using the tax code to try to narrow the gap. Instead, it suggests that greater access to education would help ease wealth disparities.

Part of the problem is that educational achievement has stalled in recent decades. More schooling usually translates into higher wages. S&P estimates that the U.S. economy would grow annually by an additional half a percentage point —or $105 billion — over the next five years, if the average the American worker had completed just one more year of school.

By contrast, S&P concludes, heavy taxes that would be meant to reduce inequality could remove incentives for people to work and cause businesses to hire fewer employees because of the costs involved.

The report builds on data from the Congressional Budget Office, the International Monetary Fund and academic economists to explain how income disparities can hurt growth. Many consumers tend to become more dependent on debt to continue spending, thereby worsening the boom-bust cycle. Or they curb their spending, and growth improves only modestly, as it has during the current recovery.

Tax data tracked as part of the World Top Incomes Database project reveal just how much the economic chasm has expanded.

An American in the top 1 percent of earners had an average income of $1.3 million in 2012, the most recent year for which data are available. Average income jumps to $30.8 million for the top 0.01 percent.

Adjusted for inflation, the top 0.01 percent's average earnings have jumped by a factor of seven since 1913. For the bottom 90 percent of Americans, average incomes after inflation have grown by a factor of just three since 1917 and have declined for the past 13 years.

Yet not all economists agree on how much, or even whether, the wealth gap slows growth.

Harvard University economist Greg Mankiw wrote in a 2013 paper that "the evidence is that most of the very wealthy get that way by making substantial economic contributions, not by gaming the system."

But S&P challenges the notion that a rising tide automatically will lift all boats:

"A lifeboat carrying a few, surrounded by many treading water, risks capsizing," it argues.

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Asia stocks dip on China worry

SEOUL, South Korea — Asian stock markets mostly retreated on Tuesday despite gains on Wall Street overnight, as investor sentiment was dampened by a downbeat reading of China's services industries.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent to 15,439.98 and South Korea's Kospi was down 0.5 percent to 2,071.15. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.1 percent to 24,572.63 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3 percent to 5,523.8. China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.4 percent to 2,213.61.

WEAK CHINESE SERVICE: China's service industries grew at the slowest rate last month since November 2005. The HSBC index of China service businesses activity based on a survey of 400 companies fell to 50.0 in July from 53.1 in the previous month, the bank said. The weak figure shows the impact of a slowdown in China's property market, said HSBC chief China economist Qu Hongbin.

ANALYST TAKE: "The positive momentum from U.S. trade has not translated into gains for Asia, with the major bourses struggling on the back of an alarming China HSBC services PMI reading," said Stan Shamu, an analyst at IG. "With recent manufacturing reports showing activity was expanding, it is disappointing to see services decline sharply. "

PORTUGAL WORRIES: Worries over the collapse of a major Portuguese financial institution have eased after Portugal's central bank said on Sunday it will rescue the ailing Banco Espirito Santo. The share price of the Banco Espirito Santo was wiped out by 75 percent last week and it was a main reason that the European shares sank last week.

WALL STREET: U.S. stock markets gained solidly on Monday after Berkshire Hathaway released a decent earnings report and the announcement of a rescue plan for Banco Espirito Santo eased jitters. But investors remained cautious after last week's sell-off. The Dow rose 75.91 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,569.28. It's the first time the blue chip index has posted a gain since July 28. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 13.84 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,938.99 and the Nasdaq composite added 31.25 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,383.89.

CURRENCIES, OIL: The dollar fell to 102.50 yen from the previous session's 102.55 yen. The euro was flat at $1.3422. Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery was up 9 cents at $98.38 a barrel.

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Toyota profit up nearly 5 percent on sales growth

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 5 percent jump in quarterly profit Tuesday, outpacing expectations as vehicle sales grew in North America and Europe, offsetting a drop in Japan.

The Japanese maker of the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan and Lexus luxury model said April-June profit totaled a record 587.77 billion yen ($5.7 billion). Quarterly sales rose 2 percent to 6.39 trillion yen ($62.3 billion).

Both were better than projections by analysts surveyed by FactSet, who had expected a 1 percent increase in quarterly sales and a 12 percent drop in profit compared with a year earlier.

Toyota Managing Officer Takuo Sasaki credited cost reduction efforts and a weak yen, which helps Japanese exporters such as Toyota, for the positive results.

But Toyota lowered its vehicle sales forecast for 2014, saying it now expects to sell 110,000 fewer vehicles worldwide than the plan announced in January. Even then, it will still reach the 10 million vehicle industry milestone at 10.22 million vehicles, up 2 percent from 2013.

For the first half of the year, Toyota remained the world's top-selling automaker, although Volkswagen AG of Germany beat U.S. manufacturer General Motors Co. to become No. 2 in global vehicle sales.

Toyota's results outshone General Motors, which last month reported a $190 million profit for the April-June quarter after incurring $1.5 billion in recall expenses. The U.S. automaker is grappling with the cost of repairing nearly 30 million cars and setting aside compensation for crash victims.

For the latest quarter, Toyota's vehicle sales dipped in Japan, where sales got artificially inflated ahead of an April 1 tax hike as buyers sought to avoid the higher tax.

Vehicles sales also dropped in the rest of Asia, but it gained in North America, Europe, the Middle East, South America and Africa.

Demand was strong in the key U.S. market for the RAV4 sport-utility vehicle and the Corolla subcompact. The Corolla was also a hit in Europe, according to Toyota.

Toyota notched up a 30 billion yen ($293 million) operating income gain from a favorable foreign exchange rate, and added another 40 billion yen ($390 million) from cost cuts.

Despite the relatively pessimistic projections, Scott Kuensell, portfolio manager at U.S. investment company Brandywine Global, was excited about Toyota, calling its stock "ridiculously cheap."

Kuensell said Toyota has plenty of cash and boasts a green reputation with a stake in electric carmaker Tesla Motors.

Toyota shares finished flat on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at 6,042 yen ($59), shortly before earnings were announced.

Toyota stuck to its financial forecasts for the fiscal year through March 2015 at a profit of 1.78 trillion yen ($17.4 billion), down 2 percent year-on-year, on 25.7 trillion yen ($251 billion) sales, unchanged from the previous year.

The weak yen was a perk for other Japanese automakers as well, including Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., which have both reported solid results.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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Ousted Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas restates bid to return to work

With Market Basket's embattled management and its protesting employees facing a critical deadline today, ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas insisted last night he can get the beleaguered supermarket chain up and running immediately if they will agree to let him buy them out — while the board issued a statement encouraging its rival to "continue providing constructive proposals."

The co-CEOs hired by the Arthur S. Demoulas faction to replace Arthur T. have set today as the last day protesters can go back to work without penalty. They also have ordered managers to reorder and restock today, to draw customers back into the largely empty stores. The clash of wills is likely to be heightened today as supporters of ousted Arthur T. attempted last-ditch efforts to force his reinstatement by protesting at job fairs.

Arthur T. issued a statement at 7:28 p.m. yesterday, saying he was ready to return and bring back workers loyal to him as soon as midnight last night, if the board accepted his buyout offer.

"Arthur T. Demoulas and his side of the family have been working around the clock to pursue their offer to buy the 50.5 percent of shares in (Demoulas Super Markets) they do not own for a full and fair price," said the statement, issued through a spokeswoman. "As part of his proposal, Arthur T. has also offered to move immediately to return to work in advance of the completion of the stock purchase and work to bring back his full team to stabilize and begin to restore the business. He offered to do so starting as soon as midnight ...

"These steps are critical at this point and are in the best interests of associates, customers, vendors and shareholders," the statement continued. "Time is of the essence. Arthur T. is hopeful, but resolution depends on the response of the other shareholders in order for an agreement to be reached."

Market Basket's board said in its own statement issued just before 11 p.m. last night: "Demoulas Market Basket is considering strategic alternatives directly with parties in private conversations. We encourage the B shareholders, including Arthur T. Demoulas, to continue providing constructive proposals. Following the Board's evaluation of all of offers, it will convey its recommendations to the Company's shareholders who have the final decision as to which strategic alternative, if any, to accept. The Board fully supports the current management team in their efforts to ensure that Market Basket's normal business operations resume immediately for the benefit of its customers, associates, vendors and communities."

A job fair in Andover today seeks current employees for promotion to store manager and assistant store manager. In recent emails, co-CEO Felicia Thornton ordered managers to stock shelves today and order perishables "to our Market Basket standards."

Many protesters said they are prepared for the worst if Arthur T.'s offer is rejected. Deli clerk Gerard Hamner said, "They could do it right of out of spite, just take what they got and let the place fold. That could happen."

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Wal-Mart's website to personalize shopping

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart, in its latest bid to compete with nemesis Amazon.com, is making changes to its website to personalize the online shopping experience of each customer.

Wal-Mart is rolling out a feature that will enable its website to show shoppers more products that they may like, based on their previous purchases. It also will customize Wal-Mart's home page for each shopper based on where that customer lives, showing local weather and events, as well as the customer's search and purchase histories.

So if a new mom just bought a stroller or crib on Walmart.com, the revamped website might recommend diapers and car seats, too. And if someone who lives in Dallas searches the website for sports jerseys, Walmart.com could suggest Rangers or Dallas Cowboy gear.

The personalization feature is part of a push by Wal-Mart to improve the online shopping experience of its customers, leading up to a complete re-launch of the site in early 2015. The retailer is looking to boost its business online at a time when its U.S. discount division has seen disappointing sales.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s e-commerce sales increased by 30 percent to over $10 billion in its fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. By comparison, Wal-Mart's U.S. discount division has had five straight quarters of sales declines at stores opened at least a year. Wal-Mart sees big growth opportunity in the online business: Online sales still are only a fraction of the $473 billion Wal-Mart generated in overall annual revenue, dwarfed by Amazon's $60.9 billion in annual sales.

The move to personalize websites for shoppers has become a top priority for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart as they play catch up with Amazon.com, the online king that pioneered customizing content for shoppers. Retailers increasingly are trying to use their reams of customer data they get from mobile devices and computers to personalize their websites and ultimately, boost sales.

Other retailers, including home-improvement chain Home Depot and office-supplies retailer Staples, have been ahead of Wal-Mart in the race to personalize the online shopping experience. In fact, a quarter of customers who visit Home Depot's home page see product recommendations that are based on recent purchase or browser history, according to the company.

Retailers have seen benefits in personalizing their websites for customers, as well as other efforts to improve the online shopping experience. Overall, Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said that changes in customization can help lift a retailer's online sales in the mid-single digits.

Wal-Mart said that customers have responded well to improvements it has made to its website in the past two years, including quadrupling the assortment of items it offers online to 8 million. For example, when Wal-Mart updated its search tool, it saw a 20 percent increase in shoppers completing a purchase after searching for a product using the new search engine.

Wal-Mart has other changes in store for customers. Among them: Over the next couple of months, customers will see a quicker online checkout process: They'll view one page instead of six before clicking on the "buy" button. And the company will be able to update web pages quicker with new products.

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Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at — http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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Stocks tempered by Argentina default, Portugal

BEIJING — World stock markets were mostly higher Monday after a sixth month of healthy employment growth in the U.S., but gains were tempered by jitters over Argentina's debt default and a Portuguese bank bailout.

KEEPING SCORE: In morning trading, France's CAC-40 rose 0.3 percent to 4,216.11 while Germany's DAX declined 0.1 percent to 9,201.09. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent to 6,688.28. Futures suggested a Wall Street rebound from last week's declines. The futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average were both up 0.2 percent.

ASIA'S DAY: China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.7 percent to 2,223.33 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3 percent to 24,600.08. Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.7 percent to 9,330.19 while South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent to 2,080.42. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended down 0.3 percent at 15,474.50 and Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 percent to 5,540.90. Southeast Asian markets were mostly higher.

US JOBS: July employment data on Friday showed the United States added more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth straight month. That was slightly below expectations but added to signs an economic recovery is gaining traction. At the same time, most economists don't think the pace of job growth is enough to cause the Federal Reserve to speed up its timetable for raising interest rates. Most still think the Fed will start raising rates to ward off inflation around mid-2015.

ARGENTINA'S DEFAULT: The International Swaps and Derivatives Association ruled on Friday that Argentina had defaulted on its bonds for the second time in 13 years. The ruling came in the midst of a high-profile court dispute with a handful of creditors that has complicated Argentina's repayment plan. The default triggers payments to holders of credit insurance.

ANALYST TAKE: As a result of Argentina's default, "we get skittish investors preferring to stay out of the market," said analyst Desmond Chua of CMC Markets in a report.

PORTUGESE BANK BAILOUT: Portugal's central bank announced late Sunday it will provide 4.9 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in an emergency rescue to prevent the collapse of ailing bank Banco Espirito Santo, one of the country's biggest financial institutions. Banco Espirito Santo's share price plunged by 75 percent last week after the bank reported a half-year loss of 3.6 billion euros following an audit that revealed previously undisclosed debts.

CURRENCIES, OIL: The dollar inched down to 102.57 yen from the previous session's 102.59 yen. The euro declined to $1.3426 from $1.3428. Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery was up 22 cents at $98.10 per barrel.

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Massachusetts big on farm-fresh goods

Massachusetts has the sixth-largest number of farmers markets in the nation, as farmers turn to new venues to supplement their incomes and consumers seek out ways to buy fresh, local food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's newly updated National Farmers Market Directory.

Over the past year alone, the number of farmers markets in the state has risen 5.9 percent to 306, just behind California, New York, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois, Anne Alonzo, administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, said as she kicked off National Farmers Market Week.

"The growth of farmers markets and the buy-local movement is a reflection of citizens wanting to know where their food comes from, who grew it and how, combined with a genuine interest in supporting local agriculture," said Greg Watson, state Department of Agricultural Resources commissioner.

Since 2006, federal Farmers Market Promotion Program grants totaling more than $1 million have funded 15 Massachusetts projects, Alonzo said.

And now, it's easier than ever to find them. The National Farmers Market Directory (farmersmarkets.usda.gov) lists 8,268 markets, a 76 percent increase since 2008, and allows people to search by zip code and product mix, as well as providing directions and operating times.

Farmers markets "bring urban and rural communities together while creating economic growth and increasing access to fresh, healthy foods," Alonzo said.

Bob Marshall of Marshall's Farm in Gloucester said about 30 percent of his income comes from farmers markets, where he has been selling produce and honey for the past five years.

"It's a great way to sell what you grow because not everybody can drive to a farm," Marshall said. "This way, I can bring fresh produce to the city, and I can help a person eat better and get healthy."

One of his regulars at the Allston Village Farmers Market is Lisa Drayton, who has lost 50 pounds in the year since she started going.

"I went from being the takeout queen to making everything myself," said Drayton, 47, of Brighton. "I love being able to ask the farmers questions, like do they use pesticides or GMOs. I also like knowing I'm supporting the local economy. I'm helping these little guys. And they're helping me."

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Explorer’s odd symptoms point to torque converter

My 2000 Ford Explorer 4-liter Control-Trac 4WD has 120,000 miles on it. At 84,000 miles the O/D (overdrive) light began flashing randomly. The shop identified fault code P0741, indicating a potential issue with the transmission. I chose to keep driving the vehicle and the transmission has not failed yet, but I've noticed something peculiar. The light will begin flashing at specific locations on the routes I commonly take, and always where there is a power line overhead. It is also directional. The light will flash, for example, if I'm headed north but not if I'm headed south on the same road. Is there a sensor that could be sensitive to temperature and magnetic flux? Is the transmission failing?

Magnetic flux? Interesting thought, but highly unlikely. (I did have an early computerized fuel-injected vehicle — a beautiful '77 Cadillac Seville — that could be turned off by keying the microphone on a nearby handheld walkie-talkie. Took a while to figure what was shutting down the car as I drove out to a corner of the racetrack to observe my Skip Barber students! Apparently, the RF signal from the radio was interfering with the PCM and shutting down the engine.)

But as much as I'd like to believe that "magnetic flux" could be the culprit, the fact that the event only seems to trigger the O/D warning light rather than affecting any or all of the other computerized systems in your vehicle points to some more earthbound cause.

The P0174 code is triggered when the PCM detects excessive torque converter clutch (TCC) slippage under normal driving. Have you noticed whether the light comes on as you are driving slightly uphill? The extra load on the drivetrain may generate excess slippage in this location, but of course driving in the opposite direction on the same piece of road would be downhill, far less likely to generate TCC slippage.

TCC slippage does not mean impending transmission failure, but it does mean the TCC is worn, the transmission fluid is significantly contaminated and/or hydraulic pressure is somewhat low.

At the current mileage my suggestion is to add half a can of SeaFoam Trans-Tune to the transmission fluid and hope this reduces the symptoms, and continue to drive the vehicle until something catastrophic happens — then decide whether to repair or replace the vehicle.

I recently purchased and am restoring a 1971 Volvo 1800E. This car is fuel-injected. Do you believe it is necessary to use a lead alternative additive until the day I need a valve job and can add hardened valve seats? Should I try to purchase non-oxygenated gasoline?

This is an older question I "rediscovered" recently, but since it's the heart of the summertime collector-car driving season, I thought it worth answering — sorry for the delay.

To my knowledge, most carmakers were installing hardened valve seats by about 1970, so I don't think you need to be particularly concerned about excess wear unless you are really "leaning" on the engine — full throttle, high RPM — regularly.

Most so-called lead substitutes are not actually tetra-ethyl lead, which is no longer permitted in highway-use motor fuels, they are similar "metallics" that hopefully perform the same cooling and lubricating functions to prevent valve seat overheating, sinking and erosion.

I do, on the other hand, believe you should seek out, purchase and use non-oxy fuel for your older vehicle to protect fuel system components from contamination and corrosion. These parts, including the fuel tank and fuel lines, were not designed for oxygenated fuels.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car 
driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or 
via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. We cannot provide personal replies.

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Cool idea for saving produce

A MassChallenge finalist is developing mobile refrigeration units that run on sun and water and are capable of saving the nearly one-half of developing-world produce that spoils before it ever reaches the consumer.

Evaptainers was the brainchild of Quang 
Truong, who was taking a class at MIT called "Development Ventures" last year, when his professor posed a challenge to the class: Think of a major problem in the developing world, and then come up with a solution.

"I've been to many developing countries over the years, and the one thing I've always noticed was how much produce spoiled," said Truong, a 27-year-old graduate of the Tufts Fletcher School, where he studied agriculture. "It's a huge problem a lot of agencies and governments are trying to deal with."

In his travels, he also had come across a "cool" invention, developed by a Nigerian, called the Pot-in-Pot Preservation Cooling System, essentially a small earthenware pot within a larger one, separated by a layer of wet sand.

The inner pot is filled with produce and covered with a wet cloth. And as the water in the sand and cloth evaporates, the temperature of the inner pot drops by as much as 40 degrees.

For farmers trying to get their produce to market, however, it had one important drawback, Truong said: The pots break easily, making them impractical to transport.

"I thought, hey, there's this really simple invention," he said. "Can I just make it mobile?"

Truong teamed up with a friend, Spencer Taylor, and founded Evaptainers, combining the time-tested evaporative cooling technique of the pot-in-pot system with modern design and materials.

In place of earthenware pots, Evaptainers are made of a breathable crate with wheels on one end and a storage container nestled inside. Between the crate and the container is an evaporative medium such as jute, sawdust or ceramic beads, supplied with water from a tank in the lid. When water evaporates from the medium into ambient air, latent heat is carried by evaporation into the surrounding environment, reducing the temperature inside the container to keep the produce cold.

Currently, Truong and Taylor are building their initial field test unit, which they hope to use in a three-month pilot in Morocco either late this year or early next year. If the pilot is successful, the two would sell Evaptainers for $80 to $120 to agricultural cooperatives there, allowing farmers to nearly double the amount of produce they could sell, with no more work, said Taylor, 32.

In the future, the co-founders said, Evaptainers also could be sold in the U.S. for use in farmers markets, farm shares and campsites.

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