Oil rises as Israel-Hamas fight continues

The price of oil rose to $88 a barrel Monday as the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas showed no signs of abating, raising concerns about Middle East crude supplies.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for December delivery was up $1.09 to $88.01 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added $1.05 to finish at $86.92 per barrel on Friday.

Brent crude, used to price many international varieties of oil, rose 77 cents to $109.72.

Analysts highlighted concerns that oil supplies could be disrupted if the Israel-Hamas conflict engulfs countries elsewhere in the Middle East, a huge producer of crude.

"Fears are growing that Arab oil producers could find themselves dragged into the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," said a report from Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "We therefore assume that prices will continue to rise."

The fighting comes just as winter arrives in the U.S. and China, boosting energy demand.

Meanwhile, expectations that President Barack Obama and U.S. congressional leaders will reach a budget deal by the end of the year and avoid the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts also bolstered oil prices.

"It seems that risk appetite is back to the energy board, showing a strong rally in crude oil prices following U.S. fiscal hopes," said analysts at Sucden Financial Research in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Heating oil was up 4.06 cents to $3.0274 per gallon.

— Wholesale gasoline rose 1.19 cents to $2.7220 per gallon.

— Natural gas added 1.3 cents to $3.803 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Lowe's 3Q net income climbs on fewer charges

NEW YORK — Lowe's Cos.' said Monday that its third-quarter net income surged 76 percent, helped by lower costs and higher revenue, as the company's efforts to revamp its merchandise and prices appeared to be gaining traction.

Its adjusted earnings without charges and its revenue both beat Wall Street forecasts. Its shares rose more than 4 percent in premarket trading Monday.

Lowe's has been retooling its pricing strategy, and last summer returned to offering permanent low prices on many items across the store, instead of offering fleeting discounts. But the changes have been slow to catch on, and last quarter Lowe's said it could take until the middle of next year to reap the benefits of the strategy.

"We are keenly focused on improving our core business," said CEO Robert A. Niblock. "Our level of execution is improving and we delivered solid results in the third quarter."

The results are also the latest indication that home-improvement retailers and other housing-market related companies are benefiting from the beginning of a rebound in the housing market, with home prices and home sales growth both improving. Last week rival Home Depot Inc. reported slightly higher third-quarter net income and the company raised its full-year forecast.

Home Depot also benefited from a surge in sales late in the quarter from Superstorm Sandy preparations. Lowe's did not point to any benefit from the storm in its earnings release.

Lowe's earned $396 million, or 35 cents per share, for the three months ended Nov. 2. That compares with $225 million, or 18 cents per share, a year ago.

The current quarter includes charges that lowered earnings by 5 cents per share. In the prior-year period, charges reduced earnings by 18 cents per share.

The adjusted earnings of 40 cents per share beat the 36 cents per share that analysts polled by FactSet predicted.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $12.07 billion from $11.85 billion. That also beat Wall Street's estimate of $11.93 billion.

Shares of Lowe's gained $1.46, or 4.6 percent, to $33.44 in premarket trading an hour before the opening. Its shares peaked for the past year at $33.63 on Nov. 2 and traded as low as $22.39 last November.

Revenue at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer's health, increased 1.8 percent. At its U.S. stores, the metric climbed by the same percentage rate. This figure excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

For fiscal 2012, Lowe's still expected earnings of about $1.64 per share and revenue to be approximately the same as 2011's $50.21 billion. Analysts forecast earnings of $1.66 per share on revenue of $50.1 billion.

Lowe's Cos., which is based in Mooresville, N.C., has 1,750 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

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Total sells Nigeria offshore oil stake for $2.5B

LAGOS, Nigeria — French oil firm Total SA says it has sold a stake in an offshore oil field in Nigeria for $2.5 billion to Chinese state oil company Sinopec Corp.

Total made the announcement Monday in a statement posted to its corporate website. Sinopec officials were not immediately available for comment.

Officials with Total have said they plan to sell off some stakes in oil fields around the world to raise cash for new ventures.

Total said the deal, done for cash, must be approved by Nigerian authorities.

The state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. is the concession holder on the field. Other partners include Chevron Corp, Esso E&P Nigeria Ltd. and Nexen Petroleum Nigeria Ltd.

China has been interested in expanding its oil holdings in Nigeria for some time.

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Intel CEO Paul Otellini to retire in May

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intel says its CEO, Paul Otellini, plans to retire in May after nearly 40 years with the company.

Intel Corp. said Monday that its board will look at company executives as well as external candidates to replace Otellini. He has been head of the world's largest chip-maker for eight years.

Intel says it has also promoted three executives to executive vice president: Renee James, head of Intel's software business; Brian Krzanich, chief operating officer and head of worldwide manufacturing; and Stacy Smith, chief financial officer and director of corporate strategy.

The Santa Clara, Calif., company's shares are up 16 cents at $20.35 in premarket trading Monday.

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US stocks open higher

NEW YORK — The stock market is starting the holiday week with a big gain.

Just after the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 102 points at 12,690. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 12 at 1,372. And the Nasdaq composite index is up 32 to 2,885.

European markets are sharply higher. Financial analysts say it's because of optimism that leaders in the United States will reach a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, a package of tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1.

U.S. investors are also encouraged by corporate earnings reports. Lowe's says its third-quarter profit surged 76 percent. That's after a strong report from Home Depot last week. Tyson Foods also beat Wall Street expectations.

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SAS avoids bankruptcy after unions approve plan

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish and Norwegian media are reporting that all eight unions have now approved a savings plan that will help the troubled SAS carrier stay afloat.

Denmark's TV2 and Norway's NTB news agency are reporting that the Danish CAU cabin crew union finally signed on to a saving plan Monday afternoon in Copenhagen, a week after talks began.

The deal means that the carrier's board can now proceed with the implementation of a series of austerity measures that that SAS's creditors and owners insisted on.

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BCE resubmits Astral bid to broadcast regulator

TORONTO — Canada's largest telecommunications company, BCE Inc., resubmitted a bid to the country's broadcast regulator to buy Astral Media Inc. for $3.38 billion, the companies said Monday.

The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission blocked a deal last month, saying it would have resulted in an unprecedented level of consolidation in the country's media landscape.

Astral is Canada's largest pay and specialty TV broadcaster. It owns 25 TV stations, including HBO Canada. It also owns 84 radio stations in 50 Canadian markets and is the third-largest outdoor advertising company.

BCE, also known as Bell, wants to deliver more content to televisions, tablets and mobile devices.

BCE said Monday they've found ways to address the CRTC's concerns over the level of ownership concentration in some markets but said details on the amended proposal will be made available by the CRTC when it launches its public consultation period.

"We heard Canadians and the CRTC loud and clear — they want assurance that Astral joining with Bell Media will directly benefit consumers and creators. We're ready to deliver more choice for listeners and viewers, more opportunity for content creators, and more competition for the broadcasting industry," George Cope, Bell's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Many had expected the regulator would approve the deal with conditions, but Jean-Pierre Blais, who took over as charmain of the CRTC five months ago, said the combined company would have controlled 107 radio stations, two national English language television stations and 49 pay and specialty television channels.

Blais dismissed the notion that they could have set conditions on the deal. He said last month that BCE is already Canada's largest Internet service provider, the second largest wireless service provider and third largest television distributor in Canada.

Most of BCE's competitors said the deal would have placed significant market power in the hands of one vertically integrated company.

BCE had argued it needed to do the deal to compete with international rivals like video subscription service Netflix, and they pledged tangible benefits by adding $240 million in funding for programs.

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Cisco Systems to buy Meraki for $1.2 billion

NEW YORK — Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of computer networking gear, said Sunday it is buying Meraki for $1.2 billion to expand its ability to let customers compute in the cloud.

Cloud computing refers to the increasingly popular practice of storing software applications in remote data centers that are accessed over the Internet instead of installing programs on individual machines.

Meraki Inc. is based in San Francisco and also has offices in New York, London and Mexico. The privately held company was founded in 2006 by members of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science. Meraki technology offers customers Wi-Fi, switching, security and mobile device management centrally managed from the cloud.

Meraki will form Cisco's new Cloud Networking group, led by Meraki CEO Sanjit Biswas. The company said on its website it had originally planned to remain independent and go public, but joining Cisco will help it achieve its goal of hitting $1 billion in revenue a year.

Rob Soderbery, senior vice president, Cisco Enterprise Networking Group, said in a statement, "Meraki's solution was built from the ground up optimized for cloud, with tremendous scale, and is already in use by thousands of customers to manage hundreds of thousands of devices."

Cisco, based in San Jose, Calif., expects the acquisition to close in its second fiscal quarter ending in January. The $1.2 billion purchase price includes cash and retention-based incentives.

The purchase follows its $125 million purchase last week of Cloupia, which develops software that helps data center operators manage their resources.

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US budget hopes shore up markets

LONDON — Optimism over the progress of crucial U.S. budget talks combined with hopes that Greece will get its next bailout payment to send markets sharply higher on Monday.

The advance followed a rebound late Friday amid signs that President Barack Obama and leaders of Congress were making headway in their efforts to agree a budget deal by the end of the year. Without a settlement, the U.S. faces the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts — a scenario that some analysts say could knock around 5 percentage points off the U.S. economy, seriously derailing the global recovery.

"Investors were encouraged by what appeared to be a constructive first meeting between the President and congressional leaders as they strive to reach a long-term deal to address the U.S. budget deficit," said Nick Bennenbroek, an analyst at Wells Fargo Bank.

As a result, a sense of relief pervaded markets at the start of a week that will likely be dominated by developments in Europe and the Middle East. The exodus for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday will build through the week and most traders won't be returning to their desks until next week.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 1.9 percent at 5,710 while Germany's DAX rose 2.3 percent to 7,110. The CAC-40 in France was also 2.3 percent higher, at 3,418.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.2 percent at 12,743 while the broader S&P 500 index rose 1.5 percent to 1,380.

Solid existing home sales figures, showing an unexpected 2.1 percent increase in October, provided further support to early trading on Wall Street.

"Hurricane Sandy hasn't knocked the U.S. housing recovery off track," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Investors will also be monitoring the latest developments in Greece's bailout saga, amid hopes that the country's euro partners and the International Monetary Fund will finally sign off on the release of €31.5 billion, money the country needs to avoid bankruptcy.

Ministers from the eurogroup meet Tuesday, ahead of a summit of their leaders later in the week that will discuss the European Union's longer-term budget.

Despite uncertainty over whether a budget deal in Europe will be agreed, the euro has prospered in the more optimistic market mood. It was trading 0.4 percent higher at $1.2790.

Earlier, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.5 percent to 21,262.06 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.9 percent to 1,878.10. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.1 percent to 2,016.98. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index rose marginally to 800.84.

The yen's recent weakness helped boost Japan's Nikkei 225 and its heavy orientation toward exporting companies — a weak yen reduces the cost of Japanese products overseas, and that helps companies whose survival depends on sales beyond their home turf.

The index in Tokyo jumped 1.4 percent to close at 9,153.20, its highest close since Sept. 19, while the dollar continued to trade above 81 yen.

Investors across all financial markets were also monitoring developments in the Middle East as the conflict between Israel and Hamas showed few signs of abating.

As well as tracking equities higher, concerns over crude supplies supported oil prices, with the benchmark New York rate up $2.15 at $89.07 a barrel.

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Mass. gas prices drop 3 cents per gallon

BOSTON -- The cost of a gallon of gasoline in Massachusetts has dropped another three cents, but remains more expensive than the national average.

AAA Southern New England reports Monday that the average price of a gallon of self-serve, regular is now $3.58.

The current price is 18 cents lower than a month ago, but a quarter higher than at the same time a year ago. The price in Massachusetts is 17 cents higher than the national average of $3.41.

AAA found self-serve, regular as low as $3.45 per gallon and as high as $3.85.

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