COMMODITIES

GOLD RISES TO 25-YEAR HIGH

Gold rose more than $9 an ounce in New York to the highest closing price in almost 25 years on demand by investors, speculators, and hedge funds. Prices had dropped as much as 0.9% earlier in the session.

“You have very strong investor buying,” the director of hedge fund marketing and commodity strategy for Paris-based Societe Generale SA, Michael Guido, said. “You don’t have anything in terms of resistance until $600, and that’s what people are looking at now.”

Concerns about the spread of avian influenza and Iran’s resumption of research on nuclear fuel also boosted gold’s appeal as a haven, Mr. Guido said. Gold climbed 18% last year as hedge funds bought bullion to diversify from stocks, bonds, and currencies. The price has climbed 6.1% this year, outpacing a 3.4% rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

– Bloomberg News

NEWSPAPERS

NEWSDAY EMPLOYEES APPROVE LUMP PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF RAISES

MELVILLE – The six bargaining units that represent many employees at Newsday have ratified a contract that includes lump-sum payments instead of a salary increase this year. The contract, approved on Sunday, gives employees payments ranging from around $10,000 to $25,000, but keeps the base salary at the same level. In 2007 and 2008, employees will receive 2% increases, along with 0.5% bonuses. There will also be a 2% salary increase in 2009. The contract also halts company contributions to pensions in favor of 401(k) plans, increases employee health care contributions starting in 2007, and cuts 65 jobs in the pressroom and transportation units.

– Associated Press

TECHNOL OGY

GOOGLE MARKET VALUE SURPASSES BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY

The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, named billionaire investor Warren Buffett their role model when they took the Internet search company public in 2004. Now Google has surpassed the market value of Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Google shares, up more than fivefold since the company’s August 2004 initial public offering, rose $5.55, or 1.2%, to $471.21 at 12:15 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company was valued at $139.3 billion, compared with Berkshire’s $137.8 billion. Analysts say the stock may exceed $500 in a year.

Mr. Page, 33, and Mr. Brin, 32, said they want to emulate the insurance and investment firm that Mr. Buffett, 75, has led for the past four decades. They have avoided stock splits and earnings forecasts and aim to create “stability over longtime horizons,” according to an April 2004 letter to prospective investors. By almost any financial yardstick, Google’s stock is at least 4.8 times more expensive than shares of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire.

– Bloomberg News

IN THE COURTS

DRESDNER BANK IS SUED; CHARGES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Securities and the investment bank’s parent, Dresdner Bank AG, were sued for $1.4 billion by women who claim they’ve hit a “glass ceiling” at a firm that treats men better.

The discrimination suit, which was filed today in New York federal court, seeks class action status on behalf of women employees who cite a “pervasive pattern and practice” of discriminatory treatment. “The ‘glass ceiling’ is alive and well at this German investment bank where women are treated as second class citizens,” the complaint says. “Woman cannot advance to senior levels.” Dresdner Kleinwort is an investment-banking unit of Allianz AG. The suit is the latest to allege sex discrimination at a global investment bank. Morgan Stanley, the world’s no. 2 securities firm by market value, agreed in 2004 to pay $54 million to settle a bias suit brought by a former bond saleswoman, Allison Schieffelin, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A New York jury last year ordered UBS AG, Europe’s largest bank, to pay $29 million in a sex discrimination case. The case was subsequently settled.

– Bloomberg News

IN BRIEF

Texas Instruments, seeking to focus on mobile phone chips, reached a $3 billion agreement with Bain Capital LLC to sell a unit that makes sensors used in cars, air conditioners, and industrial equipment … Tyco International’s shares rose as much as 4.3% on optimism the board will vote to split into three companies, unraveling the conglomerate built by Dennis Kozlowski … The chief executive of Saks Inc., Brad Martin, stepped down after selling about half of the company’s stores, abandoning plans to bring together a luxury retailer with mid-price department store chains.

– Bloomberg News