Finance and Economic

General Mills Inc.’s fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 51 percent on stronger sales but was hampered by higher ingredient costs.

The Minneapolis-based maker of Cheerios, Lucky Charms and other foods also gave a 2012 earnings outlook below analysts’ expectations.

General Mills earned $320.2 million, or 48 cents per share, for the period ended May 29. That’s up from $211.9 million, or 31 cents per share, a year ago.

Adjusted earnings increased to 52 cents per share from 41 cents per share, meeting analysts’ forecasts.

Revenue climbed 3 percent to $3.63 billion from $3.53 billion, but missed Wall Street’s estimate of $3.66 billion.

The company saw its biggest sales gain in its Small Planet Foods organic and natural foods division, with its snacks and Yoplait divisions also reporting increased sales.

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French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is expected to be chosen as early as Tuesday to be the new leader of the International Monetary Fund.

Lagarde would be the first woman to lead the lending organization. She would replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last month after being charged with sexually assaulting a New York City hotel housekeeper. Lagarde was opposed by Agustin Carstens, a Mexican central banker whose candidacy never caught fire, even among developing countries.

Lagarde has broad support in Europe payday loans guaranteed no fax. And a high-ranking Chinese official said Monday that Beijing supports Lagarde, according to several reports.

U.S. officials haven’t publicly backed any candidate. But most analysts expect the Obama administration to support Lagarde. Combined, the United States, Europe and China hold a majority of votes on the IMF’s board.

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U2 and its frontman Bono, known for their global poverty-fighting efforts, were accused of dodging taxes in Ireland by activists who crashed their performance Friday at England’s Glastonbury festival.

The anti-capitalist group Art Uncut inflated a 20-foot (6-meter) balloon emblazoned with the message “U Pay Your Tax 2.” Security guards wrestled them to the ground before deflating the balloon and taking it away. About 30 people were involved in the angry clash.

Bono fan Gary Noble, 45, said he found the security reponse “all a bit shocking.”

“I love U2 but I think everyone should pay their taxes. The campaigners have a right to voice their opinion,” he said.

Art Uncut argues that while Bono campaigns against poverty in the developing world, his group has avoided paying Irish taxes at a time when his austerity-hit country desperately needs money.

Ireland, which has already accepted an international bailout, is suffering through deep spending cuts, tax hikes and rising unemployment as it tries to pull the debt-burdened economy back from brink of bankruptcy.

“Tax(es) nestling in the band’s bank account should be helping to keep open the hospitals, schools and libraries that are closing all over Ireland,” Art Uncut member Charlie Dewar said ahead of the protest.

U2, the country’s most successful band, was heavily criticized in 2006 for moving its corporate base from Ireland to the Netherlands, where royalties on music incur virtually no tax payday loans.

Bono, guitarist The Edge and U2’s other members _ bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen _ are among the country’s wealthiest residents. Forbes magazine has estimated the band earned $195 million last year, mostly through its hugely profitable “360 Degrees” world tour.

It’s not known how much personal income tax the band members pay in Ireland.

During the years when Ireland was a booming “Celtic Tiger” economy, the members of U2 invested in a wide range of Dublin properties, including a luxury riverside hotel and a planned Norman Foster-designed skyscraper on the River Liffey. Plans for the “U2 Tower” were shelved when property prices collapsed in 2008.

U2 is headlining the first night of the three-day Glastonbury festival, its first appearance at Britain’s most prestigious summer music event. The band was due to perform last year but had to pull out after Bono injured his back.

Some 170,000 people have descended on a farm in southwest England for the extravaganza, which includes sets by Morrissey, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay, Beyonce and scores of other acts.

Rubber boots are the fashion item of choice after heavy rain turned the 900-acre (364-hectare) site into a mudbath. More rain is forecast for later Friday.

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Ladue-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. topped out a new 134-bed, 359,000-square-foot replacement hospital and broke ground on a 141,000-square-foot medical office building for Good Samaritan Regional Health Center in Mount Vernon, Ill.

The $140 million hospital project doubles the size of the existing facility and is about 30 percent complete. It also includes eight observation beds, and all rooms are private. The medical office building is connected to the hospital and includes a surgery center and outpatient diagnostic services instant credit report. Both buildings are scheduled to be ready for use late next year.

McCarthy and Jefferson County-based partner Shores Builders and Lipps Construction broke ground on the hospital project in April 2010. McCarthy broke ground on the medical office building March 15.

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In a rare move, the proposed back-to-work legislation to end the postal dispute sets out a wage settlement that is actually lower than Canada Post’s last offer.

“We’re really disappointed in the Conservative government’s position,” said Gayle Bossenberry, first national vice-president for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. “The legislation is very restrictive.”

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt introduced the legislation on Tuesday, which outlines a wage settlement of 1.75 per cent in the first year, 1.5 per cent in the second year, and 2 per cent each in the final two years.

At the bargaining table, Canada Post has offered 1.9 per cent in each of the first three years, followed by 2 per cent in the final year.

The union, which represents 48,000 members, estimates the difference works out to about $875 for a full-time employee over the course of the four-year agreement.

While it may be rare to impose a wage deal, it’s not unheard of. In 1997, when the Liberal government ordered postal workers back to work after a two-week strike, it imposed a settlement that was less than Canada Post’s last offer, 5.15 per cent over three years instead of 5.25 per cent.

During question period, NDP Leader Jack Layton questioned the decision to impose wages, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the move.

“The wage rates laid out in the legislation are the rates that this government agreed to with its other public service workers, and that is a fair settlement for Canada Post workers as well,” Harper said.

While the NDP has vowed to delay the legislation, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan told reporters that he expects the legislation will pass on Thursday or Friday, and then would go to the Senate. Mail service likely won’t resume until next week.

The government had threatened back to work legislation in the case of striking Air Canada workers, who reached a tentative deal with the airline last week.

In addition to the unusual step of setting wages, Bossenberry said it also uses the final offer selection process, where each side presents its final offer, and the arbitrator, who is appointed by Raitt, chooses a winner and a loser.

Unlike mediation-arbitration, there is no back and forth or attempt to find a middle ground.

The legislation also sets out penalties if the union or Canada Post defies the legislation, including up to $50,000 a day for union or company official, and up to $100,000 a day for the company or union. Individuals would face up to $1,000 a day.

“I think workers right across the country should be aware if this is the respect that the working class gets in Canada, I’m concerned,” Bossenberry said.

Even though both sides insist they want to hammer out their own agreement, they seem entrenched in their own positions. Talks are continuing, but there is little progress.

When mail volumes began to plummet, Canada Post announced plans to move to home delivery only three days a week. It then locked the workers out last week.

Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan said introducing back-to-work legislation is one thing, but “to start to prescribe what wage settlements should be is Draconian.

“It’s usually left to an arbitrator to decide. It’s unheard of,” said Ryan, noting that even in Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker has been taking on public sector workers, he did not set out wage settlements.

Carla Lipsig-Mummé, a York University professor who specializes in work and labour relations, called it highly unusual to put in a wage settlement as well as bring in back-to-work legislation in a lockout situation.

She believes this legislation could be subject to a court challenge on the grounds of contravenes charter protections, including the right to collective bargaining.

The legislation also states the arbitrator should be guided by the terms and conditions of what workers in other comparable postal industries face as well as flexibility to ensure the short-term and long-term viability of Canada Post.

It also says “the solvency ratio of the pension plan must not decline as a direct result of the new collective agreement.”

For organized labour, the Harper government’s swift action to bring in back-to-work legislation, in the Canada Post and Air Canada disputes sends a strong message.

“They have placed the labour movement on notice that the right to strike doesn’t really exist in Canada, even in the private sector,” said Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan. “(Harper) has thrown down the gauntlet, and said your move is next.

“We’ve got to respond,” said Ryan, adding there were no specific plans in the works though he mused about the one-day general strike launched in the 1970s in opposition to wage and price controls.

“We stand on the shoulders of labour leaders who came before us and fought for these rights. We have an obligation to fight for them.”

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Stocks climbed for a third straight day on Monday, the longest stretch of gains the market has had in nearly a month.

Major indexes opened mixed but moved higher in midday trading, putting the market further away from its longest weekly losing streak since 2002. Last week stocks eked out tiny gains, giving the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index their first rises after a six-week slump.

The downturn, which began in early May, brought the S&P 500 close to its average level over the prior 200 days. So long as the index doesn’t sink far below that level, many technical traders see it as a sign to start buying stocks again. The S&P is now 6 percent below the 2011 high it reached on April 29.

“In the short term, stocks have been oversold, and you’re going to get some sort of bounce, whether justified or not, just for technical reasons,” said Paul Simon, chief investment officer for Tactical Allocation Group, which has $1.5 billion in assets under advisement.

The S&P 500 index is up 7 points, 0.6 percent, at 1,278. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 71 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,076. The Nasdaq is up 16, or 0.6 percent, to 2,632.

European leaders failed over the weekend to agree on releasing more financial aid to Greece, saying the country must first agree to more budget cuts. Greece’s recent efforts to slash spending have led to street protests and political turmoil in Athens. The Greek government faces a confidence vote on Tuesday.

Prime Minister George Papandreou’s newly-reshuffled government is expected to prevail in the vote, and officials say they expect Greece to get its next installment of emergency loans in July. If Greece were to default, it could trigger losses for the banks that hold Greek bonds and more turmoil in financial markets personal loans for people with bad credit.

Investors are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, which begins Tuesday, and the next round of corporate earnings reports that begin in July, said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services.

“There’s a little fatigue about hearing about the same problems, and there’s no shock factor anymore,” he said. “So now you’re going to start looking ahead. Earnings season is going to start in three weeks or so.”

Analysts expect operating earnings per share for companies in the S&P 500 index rose 14 percent in the second quarter. They also expect the Fed to keep interest rates at nearly zero, a record low.

Fertilizer producer Agrium Inc. raised its forecast for second-quarter earnings after record crop prices pushed up demand for its products. Its stock rose 2.8 percent.

Nabors Industries Ltd., a driller for oil and gas, warned that its pressure pumping and international businesses have been weaker than it expected. The stock lost 2.2 percent.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. fell 1.9 percent after saying it would buy the U.S. retail operations of Royal Bank of Canada for $3.45 billion. The deal will make PNC the fifth biggest U.S. bank with 2,870 branches. The deal follows Capital One Financial Corp.’s $9 billion purchase last week of ING’s U.S. online bank.

Greece has been at the center of Europe’s debt worries, but other countries are also facing troubles. Moody’s warned that it may cut Italy’s credit rating because of its mounting debt and sluggish growth prospects.

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Days before Canadian superstar Georges St-Pierre won his bout at UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre last April, a unanimous decision was already in among Toronto business owners like Carlos Gavilanes about the true victor of the bloody cage match: the cash register.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship went the distance for Toronto tourism and for local businesses, which took in an estimated $40 million from the most successful fight night in UFC history.

ATHENS, GREECE

The ash cloud from a Chilean volcano that has been erupting for nearly two weeks has circled the globe and come home again.

The returning cloud _ which has disrupted flights in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand on its around-the-world trip _ on Friday forced Chilean officials to cancel domestic flights for the first time since the Cordon Caulle volcano began erupting June 4.

LAN airlines suspended flights to the cities of Puerto Montt, Coyhaique and Punta Arenas in the far south of the South American country. While ash from Cordon Caulle has wreaked havoc with air travel abroad, it had left Chile’s internal flights largely untouched until Friday.

“The tip of the cloud that has traveled around the world is more or less in front of Coyhaique,” said Civil Aviation Office chief Pablo Ortega. Coyhaique is 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of the volcano.

Chilean authorities evacuated 3,500 people living near the volcano after it began erupting but some have since returned.

The governor of Ranco province, Eduardo Holck, said the volcano is emitting a fine ash that is scattering over the Nilahue river valley.

The government, however, maintained a red alert for communities near Cordon Caulle. Chile’s National Geology and Mines Service warned that volcanic activity could begin again “with episodes similar or greater in intensity that was has occurred.”

On Thursday, the government of the Argentine province of Neuquen declared an economic emergency to aid towns where falling ash from Chile’s volcano is endangering livestock and keeping tourists away.

The decree by Gov. Jorge Sapag will mean that those affected can receive tax benefits, among other measures.

The ash has blanketed towns across the border in Argentina.

In the area of Villa La Angostura up to one foot (30 centimeters) of ash has accumulated on the ground. The eruption came just as resorts in the mountain towns were preparing for ski season.

Argentina’s regional airports in Patagonia have also been shut down for more than a week due to the cloud of fine grit, which can damage airplane engines.

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OTTAWA