IN BRIEF

Gasoline prices surge in valley, across U.S.

The average U.S. pump price for regular gasoline rose 6.3 cents to a record $3.225 a gallon in the week ended today, the government said.

The price was 66.6 cents a gallon higher than a year ago, the U.S. Energy Department said in a weekly report, a 42.7 percent jump. Diesel fuel rose 16.1 cents to $3.819 a gallon, according to the report, based on a survey of about 800 filling stations. The previous record was $3.218 a gallon set on May 21.

Oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg on Sunday reported a record price of $3.20 a gallon in her survey of 7,000 filling stations nationwide.

In Las Vegas, a gallon of self-serve unleaded averaged $3.227 a gallon on Monday, a new high, up from $3.219 on Sunday, AAA said in its Daily Fuel Gauge report. Local prices have risen 8.8 percent from a month ago, when they were $2.95, and 23 percent from a year ago, when they averaged $2.630, AAA data show.

Gasoline rose the most in the Midwest, where it increased 11.1 cents to $3.191 a gallon, the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said.

California had the highest average price at $3.537. The lowest average price, $3.109 a gallon, was in the Rocky Mountain region, where prices rose 2.1 cents from last week.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Harrah's pulls out of Bahamas hotel plan

U.S. casino operator Harrah's Entertainment has announced that it has pulled out of a six-hotel resort proposal in the Bahamas worth more than $2 billion because it has taken too long to organize.

Harrah's had agreed to team with developer Baha Mar Resorts Ltd. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to create the megaresort along Nassau's famed Cable Beach. But the U.S. casino company said Monday that plans for the complex have stalled.

The mixed-use resort, planned for a 1,000-acre beachfront site that included an investment of more than $2 billion in its initial phase, was expected to have a work force of 10,000 people upon its completion in 2011.

Baha Mar Resorts asserted that Harrah's withdrawal from the deal was a breach of faith. The development company said it was committed to proceeding with the resort project and challenged Harrah's ability to "unilaterally terminate the arrangements."

CHICAGO

Coffee, breakfast food lift sales at McDonald's

McDonald's Corp.'s big push on coffee and new breakfast items in its U.S. restaurants contributed to a double-digit jump in same-store sales last month, accompanying even stronger growth in Europe, the company said Monday.

The world's biggest fast-food chain reported that sales from its outlets open at least 13 months climbed 11.7 percent over a year earlier -- evidence that the economic slowdown hasn't dealt it the blow that some investors had earlier feared.

Although its new specialty coffees won't be available in all its U.S. restaurants until next year, analysts said they have heard positive opinions on how the products are faring in the 1,000-plus McDonald's where they are served. In the meantime, the company said the premium roast coffee it rolled out two years ago helped fuel U.S. same-store sales growth of 8.3 percent in February.

DALLAS

Texas Instruments lowers profit outlook

Texas Instruments, which makes chips used in about half the world's cell phones, lowered its range of expected profits and sales in the first quarter, citing a key customer's decision to cut orders.

Company officials on Monday declined to identify the customer, other than to signal it is a maker of wireless phones.

Texas Instruments said it expected to earn between 41 cents and 45 cents per share in the quarter ending March 31, 3 cents lower than the midpoint of a January forecast.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 46 cents per share.

Texas Instruments also said sales would total between $3.21 billion and $3.35 billion, or about $130 million below the midpoint of the January estimate. Analysts had forecast $3.4 billion.

WASHINGTON

Interest rates decline in Treasury auction

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction to their lowest levels since 2004.

The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.42 percent, down from 1.790 percent last week; and $22 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 1.45 percent, down from 1.81 percent last week.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices rally as oil prices rise again

Long-term Treasury prices rallied Monday as stocks came under pressure from yet another record-smashing oil price high and continued nervousness in the credit markets.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.78 points to 100.56 with a yield of 3.43 percent, down from 3.54 percent late last week, according to BGCantor Market data. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The 30-year long bond gained 1.34 to 98.84 with a yield of 4.45 percent, down from 4.56 percent.