Business news in brief

LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The index remains near its highest level since May of 2006, and we expect homebuilding to continue on a modest rising trajectory this year.”David Crowe, chief economist, National Association of Home

Builders, on the builder sentiment index Article, 1D

Polish leader: Time not right for euro

Poland is striving to adopt the euro as soon as possible and will make the switch only when it’s “100 percent sure” it’s safe, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday.

The 17-nation euro area needs to resolve internal problems, and Poland, a country of 38 million, must be fully prepared before it scraps the zloty in favor of Europe’s single currency, Tusk said in speech to Parliament in Warsaw.

“Our road to the euro area should be clear-cut and the decision must be 100 percent safe for Poland,” Tusk said.

“The decision to join should come when the euro area is ready, in terms of its condition and its readiness for the kind of massive expansion that Poland’s entry would involve. But above all, when Poland is 100 percent ready.”

After Europe’s sovereign debt crisis started more than three years ago, threatening to rip apart the currency region, Poland scrapped plans to adopt the euro in 2012.

While Tusk has revived the membership debate amid signs the crisis is waning, Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski said in a Friday interview that Poland won’t set a deadline to adopt the euro because it first must further revamp the economy.

Ready for civil trial in spill, BP says

LONDON - BP acknowledged Tuesday that it had failed to reach a settlement in advance of next week’s civil trial on the Deepwater Horizon accident and is ready to defend itself against allegations of gross negligence in the U.S.’s biggest environmental disaster.

Rupert Bondy, the group’s general counsel, said in a statement that settlement demands were “not based on reality or the merits of the case.” The company said it was confident and ready to move to a trial scheduled to start Monday.

“Gross negligence is a very high bar that BP believes cannot be met in this case,” Bondy said. “This was a tragic accident, resulting from multiple causes and involving multiple parties. We firmly believe we were not grossly negligent.”

Billions are at stake in the trial in New Orleans to determine BP’s civil liability. BP already agreed to a $4.5 billion settlement of federal criminal charges and has set aside billions more to pay fines and damages resulting from the spill.

The trial is designed to identify the causes of BP’s well blowout in the accident that killed 11 workers. The first part of the trial also will proportion blame among BP and its partners in the project.

U.S. government investigations blamed the 2010 spill on cost-cutting and time-saving decisions made by BP and its partners. Some 200 million gallons of oil spilled, much of it ending up in the Gulf of Mexico and the shoreline of several states.

Rates for short-term T-bills rise

WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Tuesday’s auction with rates on threemonth bills rising to the highest level since October.

The Treasury Department auctioned $35 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.115 percent, up from 0.085 percent last week. Another $30 billion in sixmonth bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.130 percent, up from 0.120 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since threemonth bills averaged 0.125 percent on Oct. 29. The sixmonth rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.135 percent on Dec. 10.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,997.09 while a six-month bill sold for $9,993.43.

That would equal an annualized rate of 0.117 percent for the three-month bills and 0.132 percent for the six-month bills.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, was unchanged at 0.15 percent last week, the same as the previous week.

The Treasury’s normal Monday auction for Treasury bills was held on Tuesday this week because of the observance of George Washington’s birthday.

• The Associated PressCopper slumps on housing outlook

Copper futures in New York fell the most in four months as a drop in U.S. homebuilder confidence and speculation that China will move to cool property purchases damped demand prospects for the metal used in pipes and wiring.

“Any sign that China may be limiting its real-estate market is certainly concerning from a demand perspective,” said David Meger, the director of metal trading at Vision Financial Markets in Chicago. “The builder-confidence report is one more slight negative for the market.”

Copper futures for May delivery dropped 2.3 percent to settle at $3.6665 a pound on the New York Commodities Exchange, the biggest decline for a most-active contract since Oct. 19. China is the world’s top consumer of industrial metals, followed by the U.S.

The Copper Development Association says construction generates 40 percent of demand for the metal.

• Bloomberg News2 Martha Stewart suitors go to court

Macy’s Inc., the second-largest U.S. department-store chain, will go to court in New York today to try to persuade a judge to permanently block Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.’s pact with J.C. Penney Co.

Macy’s sued Martha Stewart Living in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in January 2012 to stop it from proceeding with an agreement announced with J.C.

Penney the previous month. Macy’s claims it has an exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart-branded products in categories such as bedding and cookware.

Opening statements in a nonjury trial that was set to start Tuesday will begin today before state Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey K. Oing, after arguments Tuesday on pretrial motions concerning possible witnesses and confidential documents.

J.C. Penney Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson and Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren will both probably testify next week, as will Martha Stewart, her company’s non-executive chairman, Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski said.

• Bloomberg News