IN BRIEF

RENO

State gasoline prices rise to record highs

Gasoline prices in Nevada, like the rest of the nation, continued to soar to new record highs Tuesday, jumping 43 cents from last month to an average price of $4.15 a gallon, AAA said.

The automobile and travelers association said new records have been set nearly every day since March, and prices are likely to continue their upward climb into June.

At $4.15 a gallon, Nevada has the fourth-highest average price in the lower 48 states, according to AAA's latest monthly price survey. The average is 91 cents, or 28.1 percent, higher than a year ago.

In Las Vegas, prices rose 46 cents since May to an average $4.12, AAA said. Prices in Reno averaged the same, increasing 32 cents.

The highest gasoline in Nevada is in Elko, where the price rose 38 cents to $4.27.

Nationally, the average rose to $4.04, up 31 cents since May.

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Compromise measure on smoking ban OK'd

The state Senate has broken a yearlong stalemate on a statewide smoking ban, approving a compromise bill Tuesday that would make Pennsylvania the 33rd state to outlaw smoking in many workplaces and public spaces.

The Senate voted 41-9, sending the bill to Gov. Ed Rendell to be signed into law.

The bill would take effect 90 days after being signed into law, banning cigarette, cigar and pipe smoking in restaurants, office buildings, schools, sports arenas, theaters, and bus and train stations.

Exemptions, though, will ensure that smoking can continue at numerous bars and taverns, portions of casino floors, private clubs and elsewhere. Philadelphia's year-and-a-half-old ban goes farther in some places, banning smoking in the two casinos that are planned on its waterfront.

NEW YORK

Sands' shares tumble to two-year low point

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. fell to its lowest point in two years Tuesday after two analysts raised concerns about the health of the casino operators' key markets, Las Vegas and Macau.

Las Vegas Sands' shares dropped $3.36, or 5.6 percent, to $56.55, after hitting a low of $56.14 earlier in the session. The stock previously traded between $58.57 and $148.76 during the past 52 weeks.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey Logsdon said increased competition for VIP customers and tighter restrictions on travel from China are increasing uncertainty in the Macau market.

Shuffle Master shares rise after profit news

Shuffle Master, the maker of casino roulette-chip sorters and card shufflers, gained 7.4 percent in Nasdaq trading after second-quarter sales and profit topped analysts' estimates.

Sales for the quarter ended April 30 increased 9.8 percent to $49 million, Shuffle Master said in a statement sent Monday after U.S. markets closed. Higher expenses sent net income down 11 percent to $3.05 million, or 9 cents per share, from $3.44 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.

Six analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated sales of $45.5 million, on average, while eight predicted adjusted profit of 7 cents a share.

Shuffle Master shares rose 46 cents, or 7.37 percent, to $6.70 on the Nasdaq National Market.

WASHINGTON

Kerkorian bid for stock attracts Ford investors

Ford investors flocked to Kirk Kerkorian's offer to buy 20 million additional shares of the company, a move that will help the billionaire investor increase his stake in the automaker to about 5.5 percent.

Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. said Tuesday that its tender offer of $8.50 a share drew overtures of more than 1 billion of the company's shares, or nearly half of Ford's outstanding stock. Tracinda will buy 20 million shares for about $170 million.

Analysts said the enthusiastic response was not surprising given the trajectory of Ford's stock price in recent weeks. When Tracinda launched the cash tender offer on May 9 for the additional shares, it offered a slight premium to the stock's May 8 closing price of $8.20.

Ford shares closed down 24 cents, or 3.77 percent, to $6.12 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Kerkorian is the majority stakeholder in Las Vegas casino company MGM Mirage.

ABERDEEN, Scotland

Trump defends plans for Scotland golf course

Property magnate and showman Donald Trump brought brash corporate hard-sell to Scotland on Tuesday as he defended plans the build a $2 billion (1 billion pound) golf resort on an environmentally sensitive stretch of coastline.

"The Donald," as he is sometimes called, told the inquiry that his development would be "the world's greatest golf course" -- better than the Royal & Ancient at St. Andrews; better than Turnberry, Carnoustie and Troon, all in Scotland; and better than Pine Valley in New Jersey, which he called the best course in the world.

"People won't play a course if it is environmentally harmful," Trump said. "They don't like it, they don't feel good about it and they won't play it."

NEW YORK

Traders parse official's words; Treasurys slide

Treasury prices extended their slide Tuesday as many investors interpreted remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as implying the central bank is leaning toward an eventual interest rate increase.

The benchmark 10-year note fell 0.75 points to 98.09 and yielded 4.11 percent, up from 3.99 percent late Monday.

The 30-year long bond fell 1 point to 94.72 and yielded 4.70 percent, up from 4.63 late Monday.