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More jobs open …

Job openings jumped in April to a 16-month high, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That’s a sign that private employers could boost hiring. The government put the number of jobs advertised at the end of April at 3.1 million, up from 2.8 million in March. What’s more, private employers accounted for the entire net gain in job openings. The government’s advertising for jobs decreased, despite the hiring of hundreds of thousands of census workers in May.

… But more angst

The Consumer Reports Index, from monthly polling by the magazine’s National Research Center, showed some dispiriting results this month. Missed mortgage payments were up sharply, from 2.5 percent to 3.9 percent, the highest since the index began in April 2009. More people, 16.4 percent versus 13.7 percent in May, had trouble paying medical bills. And the consumer sentiment index was flat at 45.0. Anything under 50 indicates more people feeling worse off than a year ago.

Sale a reality

Printer and copier maker Lexmark International has closed its $280 million cash acquisition of business software company Perceptive Software of Shawnee. Perceptive’s content management software is used in higher education and health care and by government agencies. Lexmark said the deal would provide additional revenue streams in software maintenance and professional services that were not paper-dependent like its traditional business. The purchase was announced last month.

Dividend blowout

BP PLC will pay shareholders $2.63 billion in dividends on June 21, as the company had announced just a week after its well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. As the resulting spill has continued, lawmakers have urged the company to postpone its dividend. BP hasn’t announced dividend plans yet for future quarters. The company paid more than $10 billion to shareholders in 2008 and 2009. Analysts expected it to pay out $10.5 billion this year.

No tax-evasion deal

Switzerland’s effort to end a tax-evasion dispute with Washington hit a setback Tuesday when Swiss lawmakers blocked a treaty under which the largest Swiss bank would give U.S. authorities files on thousands of American clients. The Swiss government and Washington had painstakingly worked out the treaty last August to resolve a long-standing dispute over UBS AG’s alleged role in aiding tax evasion, but 104 nationalist and left-wing lawmakers in Switzerland’s lower house, the National Council, voted against the deal, compared with 76 in favor.

Cheap eats

McDonald’s extended its winning streak in May as customers bought more of the fast-food chain’s value items and took to its new iced-coffee line, the world’s largest burger chain said Tuesday. But McDonald’s also said it would take a hit to its full-year profit because of the weak euro, which accounts for 25 percent of its operating income.

Sales in locations open at least a year rose 4.8 percent around the globe last month. The measure rose 3.4 percent in the U.S. to extend a streak of gains recorded since February.

Circling the wagons

Casey’s General Stores Inc. of Iowa is telling its shareholders to reject a hostile

$1.9 billion buyout offer from the owner of Circle K convenience stores. Casey’s board says the $36-a-share bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is too low and isn’t in Casey’s best interest.

Couche-Tard has 3,500 stores across the U.S. while Casey’s has about 1,500 convenience stores, mostly in the Midwest. Couche-Tard took its bid directly to shareholders in a tender offer.

Novartis MS pill

Federal health regulators said Tuesday a highly anticipated Novartis drug for multiple sclerosis appears effective. But serious side effects occurred in at least 8.5 percent of patients taking the drug Gilenia, compared with 5.8 percent of patients taking older multiple sclerosis drugs.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis has asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve Gilenia to treat patients with relapsed multiple sclerosis, which causes tremors and movement problems. The drug is a daily pill and would offer an alternative to older injectable drugs.

Microsoft bonds

Microsoft is planning to raise $1.15 billion by selling convertible debt to institutional investors. The proceeds will be used to repay debt. The senior notes due 2013 can be converted into cash, stock or a combination of both. Microsoft also is offering an additional $100 million in senior notes if there’s excess demand.

| Staff and wire reports

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