Yukon SLT claims high-end territory

Slide into the leather captain's seats, grasp the contrast stitched leather steering wheel, flip on the premium sound system and enjoy the quiet comfortable ride. But make no mistake about it, the fully redesigned 2015 GMC Yukon SLT is still a truck.

So don't be afraid to pack a six-man crew into the three rows of seats, hook on the trailer and get everyone to the job site and — as with many full-sized premium SUVs — you'll still be able to hit the car wash on the way home and take your favorite person to dinner. MSRP of the SLT is $57,735, but add on some niceties and you get the $64,520 test model we drove.

GMC uses the 5.3 Liter 
355 hp V-8 Ecotec3 engine, with its active fuel management system that shuts down four cylinders under certain driving conditions, to average around 18 mpg. I glided up Interstate 95 and got 22-plus on the highway while traveling in effortless comfort. Based on a rear-wheel drive platform the SLT has on-demand all-wheel drive controlled from a switch knob on the dash. I ran into heavy rain during my test and switched to four-wheel drive on the fly and marveled at how secure the truck was in the storm.

The nicely appointed Yukon succeeds in delivering on many fronts, and although its curb appeal may not swivel some heads, the full-sized vehicle is a must shop in the premium workhorse field. Our tester was fitted out with the $3,255 Sun and Entertainment package that added on the sunroof, and upgraded the navigation and sound and rear entertainment systems. The 8-inch touchscreen LCD worked easily, and the smartphone integration was a snap.

I really like the big simple analog gauges on the dash. Forgoing some of the electronic wizardry in other cars, the GMC presents a six-gauge array wrapped around the electronic display that is easy to read.

The safety features engage all the senses. Lighted blind spot alerts, a driver's seat that vibrates when you drift off lane, and audible tones when you get too close keep you on your toes when driving. The front and back parking cameras and electronic assist steering make maneuvering this nearly 6,000-lb truck quite easy. Parallel parking the 17-foot-long truck still takes some skill, but you'll be surprised how manageable the powered rack and pinion steering makes it. Cup holders, a huge center-mounted storage bin and multiple USB connections hint at the workman heritage of these trucks.

An additional $2,000 kicks on the 20-inch aluminum wheels and more importantly the max trailer package — a 4-ton tow capacity. An upgraded rear axle, dash-mounted trailer brake controller, a two-speed transfer case and heavier duty air suspension turning this into a powerful construction workhorse or the king of weekend camping.

The power operated 60/40 split third-row seats fold flat and are a tight fit for adult passengers. Other GMC SUVs, such as the Acadia we tested last fall, are better suited for extra passengers but these will work for short trips or kids. The second-row captain's chairs are sharp-looking and comfortable, though. Lower trim levels use rear bench seats, so this may be a better option if people are the priority.

Available in three trim levels, some of the vehicles the Yukon competes with for your SUV dollars include the Land Rover LR4, Ford Expedition and Toyota Sequoia.

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The Ticker

FDA approves antibiotic from Lexington's Cubist

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved a new antibiotic from Lexington-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals to treat common skin infections often acquired in the hospital.

Regulators cleared the company's Sivextro as a pill and as an intravenous solution for adults with skin infections caused by bacteria that are often resistant to older antibiotics.

The FDA gave Sivextro an expedited review under a 2012 law designed to encourage drug makers to invest in researching and development of new antibiotics. Under the measure, Cubist will receive an additional five years of exclusive marketing rights to the drug.

Casino hopefuls present traffic plans

Mohegan Sun and Wynn Resorts laid out plans yesterday to help alleviate Boston-area traffic created by their proposed casinos.

The casino giants are vying for the lucrative eastern region gambling license, which is expected to be awarded in late August or early September.

Mohegan Sun officials, at a meeting before state gambling regulators at the Hynes Convention Center, said the casino's planned $1.2 billion resort on the Revere side of the Suffolk Downs horse racing track would include an estimated $45 million in transit-related improvements.

Wynn Resorts officials said their proposed $1.6 billion casino on a former chemical plant site in Everett would include about $50 million in such investments.

Both casino operators put forward a range of traffic-mitigating plans, including improvements to some of the area's most congested traffic circles. The casinos also said they would be limiting employee parking onsite and encouraging mass transit use while also staggering work shifts so that employees are not on the road during rush hour drive times.

Dow, S&P reach record highs

U.S. stocks rose yesterday, driving the Dow and the S&P 500 to close at record highs as the shares of 330 companies hit 52-week highs on the New York Stock Exchange.

The S&P 500 scored its third record closing high in a row while the Dow surpassed its previous record close on June 10. The blue-chip index hit an all-time intraday high at 16,978.02, coming close to the 17,000 mark.

For the week, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose 1 percent as investors brushed off geopolitical concerns about Iraq and focused on the Federal Reserve's comments indicating that it will keep interest rates low for a long period of time.

Sperry Van Ness International Corp., a commercial real estate franchisor based in Boston, announced that Diane Danielson, previously the company's chief platform officer, was promoted to chief operating officer. Danielson is responsible for the day-to-day operations that support the more than 180 Sperry Van Ness franchises nationwide. She previously worked as a new media and marketing technology consultant for several industries.

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High-end Southie condos going fast

In a testament to just how hot the South Boston condo market is, four high-end condos just went on sale at 45 A St. and two are already sold.

This four-unit building on a short spur of A Street just past West Broadway has direct elevator access to each condo, contemporary custom cabinetry, red oak floors and even garage parking spaces. Two 1,580-square-foot units are still available on the second and third floors, listing for $899,000 and $949,000.

The white Hardiplank building with a brick first floor is styled to suggest a Southie rowhouse and it has front balconies that overlook the gentrified area around the Broadway Red Line T station.

The interiors have a contemporary European look as seen in the staged model unit. The large open kitchen/dining/living areas has eight windows on two sides bringing in lots of light.

The recessed-lit kitchens have custom two-tone Leicht oak cabinetry, stylish white quartz counters and waterfall-style island, glass-mosaic backsplashes and Thermador appliances, including a refrigerator and dishwasher behind cabinets, a gas stovetop and double wall ovens — plus a wine cooler and lots of drawer space.

The living area features a 60-inch Heat-n-Glo gas fireplace with a large honed black granite surround, and a glass door from the recessed-lit dining room opens onto a Trex-decked front-facing balcony.

The master bedroom suite, which also has access to the balcony, features a large walk-in closet and en-suite master bathroom with heated porcelain tile floor, a large glass-doored walk-in shower with multiple Hans Grohe shower heads, and a floating white quartz-topped vanity also with Grohe fixtures.

The slightly smaller second bedroom faces the rear, and there's a second full bath across the hall with heated tile floors, a floating vanity with Grohe fixtures and deep soaking tub/shower.

At the end of the hall is a bit awkward leftover space styled as an office alcove, adjacent to the direct access elevator. There's three closets along a sconce-lit hallway, one holding a stacked white Electrolux washer and dryer, a second with a Navien tankless water heater system and a third with a gas-fired heating and central air system.

Each unit comes with a deeded garage parking space on the first floor of the building. But 45 A St. sits on a small lot and there isn't any common yard space.

Home Showcase

• Address: 45 A St., South Boston, Units 1 and 2
• Bedrooms: Two
• Bathrooms: Two full
• List price: $899,000-$ 949,000
• Square feet: 1,580
• Price per square foot: $569-$601
• Annual taxes: To be determined
• Monthly condo fee: $350 (estimated)
• Location: Near the corner of A Street and West Broadway a half-block from retail and restaurants along Broadway as well as Broadway Red Line T station.
• Built in: 2014
• Broker: Dom Lange and Lindsay Smith of Broadway Village Real Estate at 617-482-9200

Pros:

• High-end kitchen with Leicht cabinetry, Thermador appliances
• Living room has 60-inch granite-surrounded gas fireplace
• Private front balcony with access from dining area and master bedroom
• Lots of windows and red oak floors
• Deeded parking garage space on first floor

Cons:

• Home office alcove an awkward use of leftover space
• No common yard space

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City wants projects more 
accessible to the disabled

The city wants to change the mindset of real estate developers "hard-wired" to comply with only "bare-minimum" federal and state accessibility mandates for people with disabilities.

New development review guidelines adopted by the Boston Redevelopment Authority on Thursday are intended to instead convince developers to incorporate "ideal" accessibility and "visitability" accommodations into their building projects.

Developers will be required to complete an accessibility checklist at the start of the project review process. The city's Commission for Persons with Disabilities also will play a greater role in the process, starting with "pre-filing" meetings between the BRA and developers so issues can be considered during initial project design.

"Our expectation is … it will yield projects that do more than mere compliance with minimum standards," said acting BRA executive director Brian Golden, referring to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and state Architectural Access Board requirements.

"This is not a coercive device, because we don't have the authority to coerce in this regard," Golden said. "We think that if developers are shown options and discuss options early, they can incorporate them at minimal costs and maybe at no cost."

But while the BRA technically can't force developers to include "ideal" accessibility features in projects, it can use the permitting process as leverage, said David Begelfer, CEO of NAIOP Massachusetts, a commercial real estate development trade group.

Begelfer, who had yet to see the new BRA guidelines, said he's "cautiously concerned," citing already strict federal mandates and state requirements that exceed them, and possible added costs. "To go beyond the state and federal (requirements) … seems to be asking a lot," he said.

But, getting all city departments involved early in the project review process would be a good thing, Begelfer said. "There are a lot of other departments that don't get involved until much later ... and that gets to be a problem," he said.

The Commission on Persons with Disabilities previously got involved in the BRA development reviews about halfway through the process, when many design decisions already had been made, commissioner Kristen McCosh said.

"The goal is really to map out the accessibility features of a project at the beginning … rather than having them try to fit them in at the end," she said.

More than 77,000 Bostonians identify themselves as disabled. The city wants to develop not only accessible buildings, but accessible routes to accommodate them, McCosh said.

"We ask the developers to look at things like accessible transit stations in proximity to the development, sidewalk conditions ... accessible pathways … and visitability," she said. "Developers don't have that lens when they look at their projects.

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Presbyterians to divest as protest against Israel

DETROIT — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Friday became the most prominent religious group in the United States to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians, voting to sell church stock in three companies whose products Israel uses in the occupied territories.

The General Assembly voted by a razor-thin margin — 310-303 — to sell stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. Two years ago, the General Assembly rejected a similar divestment proposal by two votes.

The American Jewish Committee, a policy and advocacy group based in New York, said the vote was "driven by hatred of Israel." But Heath Rada, moderator for the church meeting, said immediately after the vote that "in no way is this a reflection of our lack of love for our Jewish brothers and sisters."

The decision is expected to reverberate beyond the 1.8 million-member church. It comes amid discouragement over failed peace talks that have left activists desperate for some way to affect change and as the broader movement known as BDS — or boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel — has gained some momentum in the U.S., Israel's closest and most important ally.

Presbyterians who advocated for divestment insisted their action was not part of the broader boycott movement. Israeli officials, along with many American Jewish groups, denounced the campaign as an attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state. Separately, the assembly also voted to re-examine its support for a two-state solution.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Israeli Embassy in Washington denounced the resolution as "shameful."

"Voting for symbolic measures marginalizes and removes its ability to be a constructive partner to promote peace in the Middle East," the statement said.

Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the BDS movement, praised the vote as a "sweet victory for human rights."

He said Presbyterian supporters of Palestinian rights have introduced divestment into the U.S. mainstream and have given Palestinians "real hope in the face of the relentless and intensifying cruelty of Israel's regime of occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid."

The top Presbyterian legislative body has been considering divestment for a decade. Representatives of the Presbyterian socially responsible investment arm told the national meeting in Detroit that their efforts to lobby the three companies for change had failed. Carol Hylkema of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network, a Presbyterian group that advocates for Palestinians and spearheaded the drive for divestment, said their action was modeled on the divestment movement to end apartheid in South Africa. The 2012 assembly had endorsed a boycott of Israeli products made in the Palestinian territories.

"Because we are a historical peacemaking church, what we have done is, we have stood up for nonviolent means of resistance to oppression and we have sent a clear message to a struggling society that we support their efforts to resist in a nonviolent way the oppression being thrust upon them," said the Rev. Jeffrey DeYoe, of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network.

The vote was the subject of intense lobbying both from within and outside the church. Rabbis and other members of Jewish Voice for Peace, which advocates for Palestinians, lined the halls of the meeting and prayed in vigils outside the convention center wearing T-shirts that read, "Another Jew Supporting Divestment." Other rabbis and their Presbyterian supporters held panel discussions and sent letters to delegates urging them to vote no.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, which is the largest branch of American Judaism, addressed the delegates twice, urging them to reject divestment. After the vote, Jacobs said the denomination as a whole is no longer "a partner for joint work on Israel-Palestine peace issues."

In leading an effort to strike down the proposal, Frank Allen of the Central Florida Presbytery told delegates, "Divestment will create dissension. Dialogue and relationship building will lay the groundwork for true peace."

Bill Ward of the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest, based in Spokane, Washington, argued the proposal was not an attack on Israel. The measure adopted Friday reaffirms Israel's right to exist. "It is motivated by stewardship integrity, not partisan political advocacy," Ward said.

Two smaller U.S. religious groups have divested in protest of Israeli policies: the Friends Fiduciary Corp., which manages assets for U.S. Quakers, and the Mennonite Central Committee. Last week, the pension board of the United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant group in the U.S., revealed plans to sell holdings worth about $110,000 in G4S, which provides security equipment and has contracts with Israel's prison system. However, the United Methodist Church had rejected church-wide divestment.

Motorola Solutions said in a statement that the company follows the law and its own policies that address human rights. Hewlett-Packard said its checkpoints for Palestinians were developed to expedite passage "in a secure environment, enabling people to get to their place of work or to carry out their business in a faster and safer way." Caterpillar has said it does not sell equipment to Israel, just to the U.S. government.

A church spokeswoman estimated the value of Presbyterian holdings in the companies at $21 million.

____

Zoll reported from New York.

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Massachusetts jobless rate drops, jobs up in May

BOSTON — State officials say the Massachusetts unemployment rate dropped four-tenths of a point last month to stand at 5.6 percent, while initial estimates showed a gain of more than 9,000 jobs.

The office of Labor and Workforce Development also reported Thursday that the state has added more than 50,000 private sector jobs over the past 12 months while the jobless rate has fallen from 7 percent.

Preliminary estimates from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showed an increase of 8,800 private sector jobs in May, and a net gain of 9,100 jobs for the month.

But the bureau also revised its April estimates to show a net loss of 2,000 jobs in that month, down from the earlier estimate of 1,600 jobs lost.

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Fewer Americans applying for jobless aid

WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, as the number of people collecting jobless aid fell to its lowest level in more than six years.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 312,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, declined to 311,750.

There are 2.56 million people receiving benefits. That's the lowest total since October 2007, about two months before the recession began.

Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the report in a "blinding glimpse of the obvious "_is clearly "good news."

Applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the relatively low number of people seeking benefits shows that employers are letting go of fewer workers. When businesses are confident enough to keep staff, they may also hire more workers. Job gains should feed stronger economic growth.

Earlier this month, the Labor Department said employers added a solid 217,000 jobs in May.

Monthly job gains have averaged 234,000 for the past three months, up sharply from 150,000 in the previous three. The unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate survey, remained at 6.3 percent in May. That's the lowest rate in more than five years.

The data in Thursday's unemployment benefits report overlaps with the survey for the June jobs report. The low level of applications would suggest similarly strong hiring this month, Lee said.

The steady gains after the economy shrank during the first three months of the year because of the winter weather— point to faster growth ahead.

Gross domestic product fell 1 percent in the first three months of 2013. Many economists expect that number could be further revised downward, while growth returns as warmer weather has generated more hiring and consumer spending.

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BlackBerry results top expectations

TORONTO — BlackBerry surprised Wall Street by posting financial results that beat analysts' expectations.

Shares rose almost 12 percent in morning trading as CEO John Chen cut expenses quicker than expected.

The embattled smartphone company reported net income of $23 million, or 4 cents per share, for the three months ended May 31. It had reported a loss of $84 million, or 16 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding unusual items, its adjusted loss was 11 cents per share in the latest period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a loss of 35 cents per share.

Revenue fell to $966 million from $3.07 billion a year ago. Analysts expected revenue of $961.7 million.

Shares rose 96 cents, or 11.6 percent, to $9.25 in morning trading.

"We are getting very close to making money or at least break even on hardware. Not quite there yet, but close," Chen said on a conference call with analysts.

It is the third quarterly results under Chen, who is deemphasizing the hardware business after last year's launch of the BlackBerry 10 failed to spark a turnaround. The BlackBerry has been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well an Android-based rival.

"He's doing exactly what John Chen should be doing. He's right sizing the business to fit demand. He is focused in the areas where he is still relevant. He's cut partnerships to shore up weaknesses," said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners. "If they can get this business where they are selling a million phones a month they'll be a nice little niche. It will be a nice little profitable business."

BlackBerry sold 2.6 million phones in the quarter and reported cash and investments of $3.1 billion. Chen said 80 percent of BlackBerry's 50 million subscribers are business users.

"People stay with BlackBerry because they're enterprise users, there's high productivity and security. I would say 80 percent of that 50 million is this perfect base for us," Chen said.

Chen said the company will launch a new keyboard smartphone model called the BlackBerry Passport in London in September followed by the previously announced Classic in November.

Chen, who is credited with turning around Sybase, a data company that was sold to SAP in 2010, has been putting more emphasis on BlackBerry's mobile device management business, a collection of software that allows IT departments to manage different devices connected to their corporate networks. He has also emphasized BlackBerry's popular BlackBerry Messenger application that is now also available on Apple and Android devices. And he's tried to highlight Blackberry's embedded QNX software systems, which are used in-vehicle infotainment systems and industrial machines.

BlackBerry announced Wednesday that it is adding the Amazon Appstore to its phones. That will give users of the newest BlackBerry operating system easy access to thousands more of the most popular Android apps and games. The struggling smartphone maker has been criticized for the lack of applications available for its devices.

BlackBerry announced last December that it entered into a five-year partnership with Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles products in vast factories in China. Foxconn, known for its manufacturing contract work on Apple's iPhones and iPads, jointly designs and manufactures most BlackBerry devices and manages inventory of the devices in an agreement that offloads much of BlackBerry's manufacturing costs. Chen has said for months that he'll be happy to break even or make a small profit on the device business.

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Lego to introduce mixed digital-physical blocks

NEW YORK — On the heels of success with "The Lego Movie," the Danish toy company is giving kids a chance to put their own blocks on the screen, with a new product line that copies their creations into phone and tablet games.

The Lego Fusion line will launch in August. Each $35 box will contain some 200 bricks and a special plate to build on. Creations on the plate can be photographed with Apple or Android phones or tablets and imported into free, downloadable games.

There are several Lego-themed games already, but this is the first time it's blending real and virtual this way. Many toy companies are going down that route, trying to capture some of the attention — and money — that's being diverted from physical products to iPhone and Android games.

In "Lego Fusion Town Master," kids build house facades on the plates and import them into a game that simulates a small town, inhabited by Lego figures. In "Battle Towers," they build sections of a medieval-style tower and defend it against flying monsters. In "Create & Race," they build cars and race them on a virtual track. Different designs yield cars that differ in speed, durability and handling.

In September, Lego is following up with "Resort Designer," in the style of its girl-oriented "Friends" line.

The games are designed to force the kids to return to the physical blocks and rebuild their structures, said Ditte Bruun Pedersen, senior design manager at Lego's Future Lab. But the lab's research also shows that kids want to bring their physical creations to life, she said.

"Kids want to be this mini-figure and they want to be in this world they create," Pedersen said.

The Fusion boxes are launching in the U.S. only and will be exclusive to Toys R Us and Lego's own stores, Lego said.

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Crime data show iPhone 'kill switch' cuts thefts

ALBANY, N.Y. — New crime data show Apple's addition of a "kill switch" to its iPhones last September has sharply reduced robberies and thefts, authorities said Thursday.

Their report from a year-old initiative called "Secure Our Smartphones" said Google and Microsoft will incorporate a kill switch into the next version of their operating systems on smartphones. The three systems — Android, iOS, and Windows Phone — are used in 97 percent of smartphones in the U.S.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, part of the initiative, said the data show crimes meanwhile surged against people carrying phones without switches intended to make them useless to thieves.

"The statistics released today illustrate the stunning effectiveness of kill switches, and the commitments of Google and Microsoft are giant steps toward consumer safety," he said.

In New York City, robberies of Apple products fell 19 percent while grand larcenies dropped 29 percent in the first five months of 2014 compared with a year earlier, according to the report. Robberies and grand larcenies involving a Samsung smartphone, which didn't have a kill switch during much of that time, rose more than 40 percent. Samsung introduced a kill switch in April.

Crime data from police in San Francisco and London, comparing the six months before Apple's switch to the six months following, showed similar trends, according to the report.

In San Francisco, iPhone robberies declined 38 percent, while robberies of Samsung devices increased 12 percent.

In London, Apple thefts declined 24 percent, while Samsung thefts increased 3 percent.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, also part of the initiative, said that the statistics prove that a technological solution to prevent theft was possible. He called for legislation "at all levels" to make anti-theft solutions mandatory.

"Compared to all of the cool things smartphones can do these days, this is not that advanced," Gascon said. "I believe ending the victimization of millions of Americans is the coolest thing a smartphone can do."

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CEO: iHeartRadio revenue 'hundreds of millions'

LOS ANGELES — Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman says online streaming service iHeartRadio makes "hundreds of millions" of dollars in annual revenue, putting it in the range of Internet radio leader Pandora.

Pittman revealed the figure in an interview about the service reaching a milestone of 50 million registered users and 97 million visitors in May. Clear Channel Communications Inc., iHeartRadio's parent company, was taken private in 2008. It reports its financial results because of public debt, but has never broken out the financial health of its digital streams.

According to its year-end regulatory filing in February, iHeartRadio averaged 143 million hours of listening per month last year, up 29 percent from a year earlier. Pandora Media Inc., which posted $638 million in revenue last year, had 1.73 billion listener hours in May.

"We're in the hundreds of millions, not billions," Pittman said. "IHeartRadio would be a very valuable company on its own. In the grand scheme of things, it's an extension of the other businesses we're in."

Its usage growth is frequently cited in filings as contributing to Clear Channel's revenue, helping offset a decline in political ad revenue. Last year, Clear Channel's revenue was unchanged at $6.24 billion.

IHeartRadio provides digital feeds of some of Clear Channel's 835 radio stations across the U.S. to computers, Internet-connected cars and mobile devices. It also allows users to create randomly generated playlists on their own based on an artist, song or mood. Streams are free with ads.

Clear Channel has also put on concerts and awards shows with music's biggest acts under the iHeart brand.

In September, Clear Channel reached a deal with major recording label Warner Music Group Corp. to share ad revenue from traditional radio stations for the first time with artists in order to secure lower royalties on the digital side. As part of the deal, Clear Channel also promised to promote those artists more regularly. It was the largest of several deals following similar agreements with artists and independent labels such as Taylor Swift's Big Machine Label Group in 2012.

Pittman said there's no pressure to cut more such deals and noted that they currently create more expenses than benefits.

"We're investing a lot of money because we believe it's the right way to build the future," he said. "I think we'll get a payoff on it one day and we'll build a digital marketplace in which everybody wins."

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World stocks mixed after US economic data

LONDON — World stock markets struggled to rise Tuesday after mixed U.S. economic data and as investors became cautious ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

Figures showing a drop in the rate of home construction in the U.S. and a rise in consumer price inflation left stocks without much momentum. Traders are now mainly focused on the Fed meeting and its implications for the economy.

The Fed's Open Market Committee is expected to trim its growth projections following its meeting, which concludes Wednesday, after recent data showed that economy shrank in the first quarter because of a severe winter. The central bank, however, is expected to indicate it is not ready to hike interest rates for another year.

By midafternoon in Europe, Germany's DAX was up 0.3 percent to 9,914.70 while France's CAC 40 climbed 0.6 percent to 4,530.80. The FTSE 100 index of leading British companies advanced 0.1 percent to 6,759.42.

U.S. stocks fared worse, with the Dow falling 0.1 percent to 16,767.65 and the broader S&P 500 down by the same rate at 1,936.36.

Earlier, in Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.3 percent to close at 14,975.97, rebounding from a sharp 1.1 percent drop the day before as the dollar strengthened 0.3 percent to 102.17 Japanese yen.

South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent to end at 2,001.55 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4 percent to 23,203.59. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.8 percent to 2,066.70. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 5,400.70.

In energy trading, benchmark crude oil for July delivery fell 18 cents to $106.72 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 1 cent to $106.90 on Monday.

The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.3539.

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Major retailers agree to list unit prices online

NEW YORK — It's about to get easier to compare prices at some big online stores.

New York's attorney general says Costco, CVS, FreshDirect, Wal-Mart and Walgreen have agreed to list unit prices on their websites and mobile apps soon.

A unit price tells consumers how much a product costs by each unit of weight. It divides the full price of the item by the size of its packaging. For example, a 16 ounce bottle of shampoo costing $5.99 would have a unit price of 37 cents per ounce. Because the same product can be sold in several different sizes, a unit price is a better way to compare whether a giant box of cereal is really a good deal compared to a smaller one.

Unit prices are already listed in physical stores.

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Tear gas, clashes: France fed up with train strike

PARIS — Even France may be getting fed up with strikes.

A week into a nationwide train strike that has tangled traffic and stranded tourists, police fired tear gas Tuesday at protesting rail workers. Two polls suggest passengers have little sympathy for the train workers' lament. Even the labor-friendly Socialist government is breaking a long-held French taboo and is openly criticizing the striking unions.

The strike has caused some of the worst disruption to the country's rail network in years — and heated up as the reform bill went to the lower house of Parliament for debate Tuesday. The bill would unite the SNCF train operator with the RFF railway network, which would pave the way to opening up railways to competition.

Workers fear the reform will mean job losses and hurt the quality of France's extensive and often-vaunted train network. The government says the reform is needed to better streamline the railway's administration, as France and other European countries gear up for full-scale railway liberalization in coming years.

With sentiment piling up against them, unions aren't backing down.

Several hundred workers staged a protest Tuesday near the National Assembly on Paris' Left Bank, waving red union flags and demanding that the bill be delayed or changed. In northern Lille, protesters briefly occupied City Hall.

The protesters blocked cars and tried to push past police to approach the parliament building, firing flares and throwing bottles. Officers responded with tear gas and batons and wrestled a few protesters to the ground. Then protesters marched onto train tracks and set off flares on the tracks at Paris' busy Montparnasse station, which links travelers with cities across western and southwestern France.

Even in a country where the right to strike is almost sacred, the Socialist leadership and their conservative opponents are losing patience.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls called the violence "unacceptable" and defended the reform bill in Parliament on Tuesday. A day earlier, in very unusual public criticism, Valls said "this strike is useless and irresponsible given the situation in the country."

Last week, French President François Hollande called on rail unions to bring an end to the strike, even if he has no power to stop it. The right to strike is guaranteed by the French constitution, with minor restrictions for transport workers, who must give 48-hours' notice of their intention to strike.

The strike began last Wednesday, and while only a minority of workers is taking part, it has disrupted travel on trains and commuter lines across France. About a third of trains were canceled nationwide Tuesday. The strike has not affected international lines such as the Eurostar train from Paris to London, but it has caused problems for international travelers using the commuter rail to and from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The strike further angered the public in Week Two as it ran into the start of high school baccalaureate exams Monday. The SNCF had to reorganize its service to make sure students get priority places on packed trains and buses.

Two polls this week showed that most respondents oppose the strike and support reform of the rail system.

Matthieu Chapuis, a 27-year-old railway worker at the Montparnasse protest, sought to dispel the image of train workers as privileged public servants clinging to generous benefits.

"I work three Sundays out of four," he told The Associated Press. "I am paid 1,600 euros a month to toil around-the-clock in three shifts. I don't know if people realize that, I shunt trains, and on top of that, if I make a mistake, I am criminally responsible."

"If there are dead people, I go to jail."

The government's stance is familiar to the opposition conservatives. Former Prime Minister Francois Fillon of the UMP party said in a statement that "SNCF customers are hostages of a minority of strikers who don't care about the public interest."

SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy estimated Monday that the strike had cost the company between 80 million and 100 million euros.

___

Michel Euler and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

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House GOP measure blocks IRS on political groups

WASHINGTON — A GOP-controlled House committee has unveiled legislation to block the Internal Revenue Service from issuing new rules intended to rein in the use of tax-exempt groups for political campaigning.

The provision was added to a spending bill funding the IRS budget. It would stop the agency from placing restrictions on loosely regulated big-money political outfits such as GOP political guru Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and the pro-Obama Priorities USA. The House Appropriations Committee unveiled the legislation on Tuesday.

The IRS had already signaled it would delay issuance of the rules after a preliminary outline released in November sparked 150,000 comments. Many of those were from angry conservatives and tea party groups who said they were harassed by the IRS after seeking tax exempt status.

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Massachusetts gas prices hold steady

BOSTON — Massachusetts gas prices are holding steady.

AAA Southern New England reports Monday that a gallon of self-serve, regular is selling for $3.64, the same as last week.

The current price is 2 cents below the national average for the same grade, and a penny lower than a month ago. It is, however, 14 cents higher than at the same time last year.

AAA found self-serve, regular selling for as low as $3.49 per gallon to as high as $3.89.

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Egypt: Verdict in Al-Jazeera trial June 23

CAIRO — The trial in Egypt of three Al-Jazeera English journalists and 17 others was adjourned Monday until next week, when the judge will deliver the verdict five months after the trial opened, Egypt's state news agency said.

The case is the first prosecution of journalists on terrorism-related charges in Egypt. Authorities have accused them of providing a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has declared a terrorist organization. The trial has sparked an outcry among journalists and rights groups, who say the reporters were only doing their job.

Canadian-Egyptian Mohammed Fahmy, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohammed have been in detention since Dec. 29. Six journalists, including three foreigners, were tried in absentia. Prosecutors have shown footage of pro-Brotherhood protests and videos of life in Egypt as evidence.

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Russia cuts gas supply to Ukraine as tensions soar

MOSCOW — Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine on Monday after negotiators failed to reach a deal on Ukraine's unpaid gas bills and future gas prices amid deep tensions between the two neighbors over eastern Ukraine.

The decision provoked strong words from both sides but does not immediately affect the crucial flow of Russian gas to Europe. Ukraine itself has enough reserves to last until December, according to the chief of Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz.

Still, the Russian move could disrupt Europe's long-term energy supplies if the issue is not resolved, analysts said. Previous gas disputes left Ukraine and some Balkan nations shivering for nearly two weeks in the dead of winter.

The gas conflict is part of a wider dispute over whether Ukraine aligns itself with Russia or with the 28-nation European Union. It comes in the midst of a crisis in relations following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March. Ukraine accuses Russia of supporting an armed separatist insurgency in its eastern regions, which Russia denies.

Ukraine, one of the most energy inefficient countries in Europe, has been chronically behind on payments for the Russian natural gas needed to heat its homes and fuel its industries. In addition, Russia had been giving its neighbor cut-rate sweetheart deals on gas for various political reasons, a practice that came to a halt April 1.

Russia had demanded a payment of $1.95 billion by Monday for past-due bills. At talks over the weekend in Kiev, Ukraine was ready to accept a compromise of paying $1 billion now and more later, but Russia didn't accept the offer, the European Commission said.

Sergei Kupriyanov, spokesman for the Russian gas giant Gazprom, said since Ukraine missed the deadline, from now on it had to pay in advance. Yet that's a nearly impossible demand for the cash-strapped nation, which is fighting an insurgency and investigating possibly billions lost to corruption under its former pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych.

Europe gets about 30 percent of its gas from Russia, and about half of that goes through the pipelines across Ukraine. In 2013, Ukraine imported nearly 26 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia, just over half of its annual consumption.

Kupriyanov said Russian gas supplies for Europe will continue as planned and warned Ukraine to make sure they reach European customers.

Analyst Tim Ash at Standard Bank PLC said Ukraine could in theory simply take what it wants, since gas in the pipeline is intermingled. That would result in a shortage in gas to Europe that could hinder the buildup of stored gas ahead of the critical winter heating season.

"This is unlikely to bring a short-term hit to gas supply in Europe, but it will build up problems for the winter unless a deal is reached quickly," he said in an email.

Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary get 80 percent or more of their gas from Russia, while Poland, Austria and Slovenia get around 60 percent.

At a news conference in Moscow, Alexei Miller, the CEO of Gazprom, berated the Ukrainian government, saying it scoffed at compromise and was deliberately turning commercial negotiations into a political discourse.

"Ukraine will get as much gas as it pays for," Miller said Monday. "The risks to the (gas) transit are there and they're significant."

He said in order to prevent serious disruptions to supplies in winter, Ukraine needs to pump in gas to its underground storages before mid-October. The current amount of gas in storage is not enough for Europe to last through the winter, he said.

In Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk angrily rejected the Russian position, putting Gazprom's move on par with the annexation of Crimea and the pro-Russia insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

"We won't subsidize Gazprom," he said. "Ukrainians will not take $5 billion per year (out of their pockets) to let Russia spend this money on weapons, tanks and planes to bomb Ukrainian territory."

Gazprom had tolerated the late payments but now says Ukraine owes a total of $4.458 billion for gas from last year and this year.

In December, Russia offered Yanukovych a discounted price of $268.50 per thousand cubic meters after he backed out of an economic and political agreement with the EU. But Russia annulled all price discounts after Yanukovych was chased from power in February following months of protests, raising the gas price to $485 per thousand cubic meters starting April 1.

Russia has offered a future price of $385, the price that Ukraine was paying until December, but Kiev has insisted on a lower price. Miller scoffed at that demand, saying it was significantly below European market prices.

In Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, at a meeting with the Gazprom chief and other officials, called the Ukrainian position "absurd" and said it amounted to blackmail over the pipelines.

Ukraine's energy minister, Yuriy Prodan, said Ukraine was prepared for the Russian cutoff.

"We are providing reliable transit of gas and supplies to domestic consumers," he said, adding that Ukraine could do that because of lower seasonal demand and previously stored gas.

In a related case, Gazprom announced Monday that it is suing Ukraine's Naftogaz in an international court for the $4.5 billion. Naftogaz said it has also filed a suit against Gazprom, seeking a "fair and market-based price" for gas, as well as a $6 billion repayment for what it said were overpayments for gas from 2010.

EU spokeswoman Sabine Berger said EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger remained committed to helping broker a deal between Kiev and Moscow.

One reason for EU involvement is the current state of Ukrainian gas reserves. Berger said they now stand at around 13.5 billion cubic meters but need to be at 18-20 billion cubic meters at the end of the summer for Europe to have enough gas this winter.

Berger said the EU was working toward a deal that could allow shipments of gas to Ukraine via Slovakia.

Ukrainian consumers, however, will be facing higher prices no matter what Russia does. Previous governments had sold gas to consumers at about a fifth of what Naftogaz pays for it — leaving little incentive to conserve and saddling the government with huge deficits.

Ukraine's new government is in the process of raising domestic gas prices, a condition of its $17 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund.

__

McHugh reported from Kiev, Ukraine. Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels contributed to this report.

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World stock market subdued as investors await Fed

HONG KONG — World stock markets were subdued on Monday as the turmoil in Iraq dampened sentiment and investors held back ahead of the Federal Reserve's monthly policy meeting later in the week.

Oil prices hovered at a nine-month high as fears grew that the violence in Iraq could escalate into a broader regional conflict, unsettling global financial markets.

Iraq's prime minister vowed on Sunday to "liberate every inch" of territory captured by the Islamic militants who posted photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers.

"Reports that Iraq has entered a full blown sectarian conflict is ensuring a thread of anxiety is running through markets," analysts at Rabobank wrote in a research note.

Adding to uncertainty was Russia's decision to halt gas supplies to Ukraine after the sides were unable to agree on a new price for deliveries. Though the move does not affect supplies to the rest of Europe and Ukraine has reserves to last months, it raises the stakes in the countries' standoff.

In Europe, France's CAC 40 was down 0.3 percent to 4,531.20 while Germany's DAX edged up 0.1 percent to 9,923.47. The FTSE 100 index of leading British companies slipped almost 0.1 percent to 6,777.44.

Wall Street fared better, with the Dow up 0.1 percent to 16,787.59 and the S&P 500 up 0.2 percent to 1,939.45.

Investors were also preparing for the regular meeting of the Federal Reserve Board's policy setting Open Market Committee, scheduled for midweek. While policymakers are widely expected to announce that the Fed will cut its bond-purchase program by another $10 billion, investors will be examining their comments on the outlook for raising interest rates, economic growth and inflation.

"The FOMC statement in the early hours of Thursday morning is undoubtedly the primary focus for all global markets this week," said Niall King, a sales trader at CMC Markets in Sydney.

In Asia, most benchmarks were lackluster but stocks in the region's two biggest economies moved strongly — in opposite directions.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 sank 1.1 percent to close at 14,933.29 as the yen strengthened 0.1 percent to 101.93 against the dollar. A stronger yen means the cars and electronics produced by Japan's export giants are more costly when sold overseas.

In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7 percent to end at 2,085.98 after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, writing in The Times newspaper ahead of a visit to Britain, said that he expects the world's No. 2 economy to grow "around 7.5 percent this year," in line with the government's target.

Hinting that the government is prepared to roll out more mini-stimulus measures, Li said, "Despite considerable downward pressure, China's economy is moving on a steady course. We will continue to make anticipatory and moderate adjustments when necessary."

South Korea's Kospi edged 0.1 percent higher while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped less than 0.1 percent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1 percent.

In energy trading, benchmark crude oil for July delivery rose 12 cents to $107.03 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 38 cents on Friday.

The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.3568.

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IMF lowers estimate of US economic growth in 2014

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund foresees the U.S. economy growing a modest 2 percent this year, below its previous estimate of 2.7 percent.

That would be nearly identical to the economy's 1.9 percent growth in 2013.

A brutal winter and a slowing housing recovery caused the economy to shrink during the first three months of 2014, the IMF noted in a report released Monday.

"Extreme weather occurrences have a serious effect on the economy," Christine Lagarde, the IMF's managing director, said at a news conference.

Lagarde added:

"Extreme weather occurrences have repeated much more frequently in the past 20 years than the previous century. That's a reason to wonder about climate change and how to deal with it."

Recent figures suggest that a "meaningful rebound" will propel U.S. economic growth for the rest of 2014, the IMF said. Still, that will only partly offset what many analysts think was a contraction of up to 2 percent last quarter.

The unemployment rate has tumbled to 6.3 percent from 7.5 percent in 12 months. But the IMF warns that U.S. wages remain stagnant and the rate of long-term unemployment high. As a result, it urged lawmakers to lift the minimum wage and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit for those with low wages.

The IMF also highlighted the challenge for the Federal Reserve to properly time the unwinding of its policies to spur borrowing, investment and spending. Investors appear to be acting with a sense of certainty about Fed policies, even though central banks must respond to uncertainties about the economy, Lagarde said.

Lagarde also suggested that Fed Chair Janet Yellen should increase the number of news conferences she holds to up to six a year from the current four. Yellen is scheduled to hold one of her quarterly news conferences on Wednesday.

The Fed has kept short-term interest rates near zero to bolster the economy. It has also bought U.S. Treasury and mortgage bonds to keep longer-term rates low, a program the Fed has been unwinding since the start of the year.

The IMF projects that the United States won't reach a level of employment that would meaningfully lift wages until 2017 and that inflation pressures will stay muted until then. It thinks the Fed might consider keeping rates near historic lows longer than some market analysts expect.

Raising rates too fast could "constrict the recovery momentum that we have observed," Lagarde said. She added that that would have spillover effects around the world and hurt growth in emerging economies.

Lagarde declined to take a stance on the dispute over payments for natural gas that Ukraine owes Russia. The two countries, embroiled in a broader territorial struggle, missed a Monday deadline to reach an agreement on payments. As a result, the Russian company Gazprom has cut off gas supplies to Ukraine.

"We don't intervene in commercial transactions," Lagarde said. "We certainly hope for the stability of that part of the world and for the stability of the supply of gas that the situation can be addressed promptly and satisfactorily."

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Should new Mustang tires go on the front or back?

I have a 2011 Mustang GT 5.0-liter with 36,000 miles. It has the Brembo brake package and Goodyear F1 tires on it. I'm ready to replace the worn rear tires again with the new OE Goodyears. Last time I replaced the rear tires, I placed the new tires on the front and moved the older front tires to the rear. Now people are telling me that I should place the new tires on the rear drive-axle to reduce the chance of oversteer that might be induced by having too much fun in a curve. With an everyday car I believe that understeer would be the greatest concern, but with 412 horsepower and almost 400 pound-feet of torque, maybe the new tires should be on the back. Which end of the car should the two new tires be placed on my Mustang and is a nitrogen fill worthwhile?

On the back. Like you, my first thought was that new tires should be mounted on the front and the older, worn front tires moved to the rear. Because the front tires do a far higher percentage of braking and, of course, steer the vehicle, my instincts said put the best tires on the front.

However, since loss of traction from the front tires — the "understeer" you mention — is easier to correct than "oversteer" — loss of traction from the rear tires — the recommendation for replacing just two tires is to mount the new ones on the rear.

In short, correcting understeer involves "breathing" back the throttle or modulating brake pressure to help the front tires regain traction. Oversteer, on the other hand, requires an instantaneous steering correction in the direction the back end is trying to go in order to keep the front tires pointed where the vehicle is headed, while at the same time neutralizing the throttle — not accelerating and not decelerating — to stop any wheelspin. If and when the rear end regains traction and wants to snap back — so-called "overcorrecting," a complete misnomer — the steering must be straightened in time with the rear end snapping back to keep the front wheels pointed where the vehicle is traveling.

In the racing schools I teach, we label the correction for oversteer as a three-step process: correct/pause/recover, CPR for short, an easy acronym to remember.

Nitrogen contains no moisture and is less prone to pressure changes with temperature changes, so filling tires with nitrogen makes some sense, but only if you continue to use nitrogen to top up tire pressures.

I own a 2001 Dodge Dakota and would like to clean the engine. Is it OK to take it to a self-service car wash and power-wash it?

It must be. Ever seen a used car on a dealer lot with a dirty engine? It's OK to clean the engine and engine compartment as long as you cover any sensitive wiring and electronics and don't aim the high-pressure spray directly at these components. Remember, engines and drivetrains get wet when vehicles are driven in the rain. The wiring harnesses and connectors used on modern automobiles are designed to be relatively weatherproof.

Motoring Note: Regarding white smoke from the 2003 Honda, reader Paul Harvey offered a good suggestion. "I had a similar problem involving my 2002 Toyota Sienna. One mechanic told me it was caused by a sludge problem and would require an engine replacement. I had thought it was a head gasket problem and took the van to another mechanic, who diagnosed a bad PCV valve. After he replaced it, the problem was solved."

A stuck or clogged PCV valve typically forces oil into the combustion chamber, where it is burned, creating a bluish smoke. So checking the PCV system for proper function is a simple step to possibly explain the sudden appearance of smoke from the tailpipe. Thanks for the suggestion, Paul.

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.

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The Ticker

New Hub flagship for Liberty Travel

Liberty Travel's new Boston flagship location will open this week.

Called the Boston Travel Center, the three-floor, 10,000-plus square-foot space on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing is anchored by Liberty Travel and includes its sister brands specializing in business/corporate travel, Corporate Traveler and FCM.

TOMORROW

• Federal Reserve releases industrial production for May.
• National Association of Home Builders releases housing market index for June.

TUESDAY

• Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for May.
• Commerce Department releases housing starts for May.
• Federal Reserve policy makers begin a two-day meeting to set interest rates.

WEDNESDAY

• Commerce Department releases current account trade deficit for the first quarter.

THURSDAY

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Freddie Mac releases weekly mortgage rates.
• Conference Board releases leading indicators for May.

Florence Savings Bank, a mutually owned savings bank serving the Pioneer Valley through 9 branch locations, announced that Susan M. Seaver has joined the bank as vice president/mortgage originator.

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With prices rising, home equity makes a comeback

WASHINGTON — If you're like most homeowners, it's your biggest asset. You can't track it online or check monthly statements sent to you by a bank, but it's crucially important for your personal financial well-being and your retirement planning.

It's your home equity — the difference between the market value of your house and whatever debt you've got on it. Equity for most of us is a big deal and, based on data released last week by the Federal Reserve, Americans' home-equity holdings are booming.

That's great news for most owners — though not all — and for the economy as a whole. The more equity we have, the more likely we are to spend money on goods and services that create more jobs — the so-called "wealth effect."

Now consider these brain-bending big numbers: Thanks to rising prices and substantial continuing pay-downs of mortgage debt, owners' combined 
equity holdings increased by 
$795 billion during the three months between the end of last December and March 31 of this year. Homeowners' equity holdings at the end of the first quarter totaled $10.8 trillion, the highest amount since late 2007 — but still well below the bubble-era record of $13.4 trillion reached in early 2006.

The ongoing boom is also pulling thousands of owners across the country out of real estate purgatory — they've been stuck in negative equity positions, but are now transitioning to positive. According to new estimates from mortgage and housing analytics firm CoreLogic, the owners of 312,000 houses moved out of negative territory during the first three months of 2014.

Now for the sobering side of the home-equity story: Despite the boom in housing wealth underway, many owners are still not able to join the party. About 6.3 million of them remain underwater on their loans. The average amount of negative equity they're carrying is often significant — they owe an average 33 percent more than their house could command in a sale today. That gives you an idea of the widespread pain still being felt in the wake of the bust and recession.

The impact is especially severe for owners who bought with little or nothing down and then loaded on additional debt with second mortgages. The average negative equity balance for owners with two mortgages is about $75,000, according to CoreLogic. For households with one mortgage, the average negative equity is around $52,000.

Also on the sobering side, millions of owners continue to have less equity than they'll need if they want to sell or even refinance. At the end of March, 10 million owners had less than 20 percent equity in their properties and 1.6 million of them had less than 5 percent. Given real estate transaction costs, most people with less than 5 percent equity would have to bring money to the table to pay off the debt on their house when they sell.

Equity holdings are closely linked to market segments — higher-cost houses are less likely to be in negative equity positions than lower-cost homes — and geography. According to CoreLogic, only about 3 percent of homes costing more than $500,000 have negative equity. By contrast, 17 percent of homes costing less than $200,000 are in negative positions.

Not surprisingly, areas of the country that performed worst during the bust — where easy-money financing was most common during the boom — continue to have high rates of negative equity, even well into the housing rebound. But there's one dazzling exception: California. In some inland counties during the recession, toxic financing contributed to home value losses of
50 percent and higher. Yet today, thanks to the most vigorous marketplace rebound of any state, just above 11 percent of California homes are in negative equity. Compare that with 29 percent in Nevada, 27 percent in Florida, 20 percent in Arizona.

Where are average equity levels highest? Texas, where home prices remained modest and affordable during the boom, is at the top. Just 
3.3 percent of Texas homes have debt exceeding their resale values. Rounding out the top five, Montana, Alaska, North Dakota and Hawaii all have less than 5 percent negative equity on average. The District of Columbia, a high-cost market that has seen significant home-price appreciation in the past several years, ranks sixth best in the country with a 5.1 percent negative equity rate.

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Boston connects to Beijing

New direct air service between Boston and China starts Friday, the latest in a string of nonstop international flights landed by Logan International Airport and perhaps the biggest coup to date.

"Of all the international flights, this is probably the biggest milestone," Massport CEO Thomas Glynn said. "In the global economy, China is the biggest player. Many nonprofit and for-profit businesses in Boston have activity in China."

Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines will start Boston-Beijing service four times per week — on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It will switch to daily flights from July 21 through August — peak China travel season amid strong demand, according to Joel Chusid, Hainan's U.S. executive director.

Hainan already has sold well more than half of the seats for its July and August flights on the 213-passenger Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

"Our bookings are coming in steady," Chusid said, noting Hainan started reservations "pretty early" and has an interline agreement for connections with JetBlue Airways. "It's met our expectations.."

Hainan has set up a Boston office with a general manager and sales, finance and customer support staff.

At Hainan's request, Massport is planning a June 23 meeting for airline officials with local business leaders on Massport's Asia task force that worked toward landing the China service and the nonstop Toyko flights that started in 2012. It will be followed by a luncheon with Gov. Deval Patrick.

"Lasting growth in the 21st-century global economy will come from our competitiveness in global markets," Patrick said in a statement. "Hainan's new flight will better serve our international passengers and build upon our growth strategy to open up Massachusetts to new markets to ensure that we remain competitive for many years to come."

Massport has rebated $540,000 in landing fees and will provide $350,000 in marketing support over two years to Hainan as incentives for starting the Boston service.

"This gives them a little cushion if it takes a while for them to build up their load factor," Glynn said.

Hainan's 36 business-class seats have 74-inch pitches — the space between a point on one seat and the same point on the seat in front of it. The lie-flat seats turn into beds with turn-down service, mattress pad, duvet, sheets, pillows, pajamas and slippers provided.

Menus rotate monthly and include Western and Chinese choices. Recent Chinese dinner selections for the a la carte business-class service from Beijing to Seattle included fried pork stuffed with water chestnut in sweet and sour lychee sauce, pan-fried shrimp mousse with tofu, and sauteed bitter gourd with pickle.

"It's not Panda Express," Chusid said.

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Supreme Court has 17 cases to decide by June's end

WASHINGTON — It's crunch time at the Supreme Court, where the justices are racing to issue opinions in 17 cases over the next two weeks.

The religious rights of corporations, the speech rights of abortion protesters and the privacy rights of people under arrest are among the significant issues that are so far unresolved.

Summer travel, European teaching gigs and relaxation beckon, but only after the court hands down decisions in all the cases it has heard since October.

In rare instances, the justices will put off decisions and order a case to be argued again in the next term.

This is also the time of the year when a justice could announce a retirement. But the oldest of the justices, 81-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has signaled she will serve at least one more year, and maybe longer.

The justices will meet Monday and again on Thursday to issue opinions, and could wind up their work by the end of the month.

A look at some of the cases that remain:

— Contraceptive coverage: Corporations are claiming the right to exercise religious objections to covering women's contraceptives under their employee health insurance plans, despite the new health law's requirement that birth control be among a range of no-cost preventive services included in health plans.

— Abortion clinic buffer zones: Abortion opponents are challenging as a violation of their speech rights a Massachusetts law mandating a 35-foot protest-free zone on public sidewalks outside abortion clinics.

— Cellphone searches: Two cases weigh the power of police to search the cellphones of people they place under arrest without first obtaining a warrant from a judge.

— Recess presidential appointments: A federal appeals court said President Barack Obama misused the Constitution's recess power when he temporarily filled positions on the National Labor Relations Board in 2012.

— TV on the Internet: Broadcasters are fighting Internet startup Aereo's practice of taking television their programming for free and providing it to subscribers who can then watch on smartphones and other portable devices.

— Greenhouse gases: Industry groups assert that environmental regulators overstepped their bounds by trying to apply a provision of the Clean Air Act to control emissions of greenhouse gases from power plants and factories. This case is unlikely to affect the recent proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency to slash carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by nearly one-third by 2030; that plan involves a different part of the same law.

— Union fees: Home health care workers in Illinois want the court to rule that public sector unions cannot collect fees from workers who object to being affiliated with a union.

—Securities fraud: Investors could find it harder to bring class-action lawsuits over securities fraud at publicly traded companies in a case involving Halliburton Co., a provider of energy services.

— "False" campaign claims: An anti-abortion group says state laws that try to police false statements during political campaigns runs afoul of the First Amendment.

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