Average Maine gas prices rise 4.5 cents in week, reach $3.55

Average retail gasoline prices in Maine have risen 4.5 cents in the past week, to $3.55 per gallon, a price-monitoring website says.

MaineGasPrices.com says the rise in Maine is consistent with the national figure, which also showed a 4.5 cents-per-gallon increase in the last week. But the national average price is lower, at $3.39 per gallon.

On Sunday, Maine prices were 36.5 cents per gallon higher than one year ago and 21.6 cents per gallon higher than a month ago.

Petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan said how Iran responds to European Union sanctions could send crude oil prices higher quickly.

December income growth is the highest in nine months

Americans’ income rose in December by 0.5 percent, the most in nine months, a hopeful sign for the economy after a year of weak wage gains. But consumers didn’t spend any more last month than they had in November – they saved their additional income.

Economists noted that income rose last month largely because of strong hiring. The economy added 200,000 jobs in December. More jobs mean more income available to spend.

The best hope for the economy is further job gains. On Friday, the government is expected to report another solid month of hiring for January.

For all of 2011, income barely rose.

WTO: China unfairly limits exports of raw materials

The World Trade Organization ruled Monday that China unfairly limited exports of nine raw materials to protect domestic manufacturers.

A WTO appeals body rejected China’s appeal of an earlier ruling in July that concluded the Asian economic powerhouse had violated international trade rules. The appeals body largely sided with the U.S., European Union and Mexico, which had taken issue with Chinese restrictions on its exports of nine materials used widely in the steel, aluminum and chemical industries.

The ruling affects China’s exports of certain forms of bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorous and zinc. The WTO appeals body says China must now “bring its export duty and export quota measures into conformity with its WTO obligations.”

Starbucks, Tata plan to open 50 stores this year in India

Starbucks aims to open 50 outlets in India by year’s end through a 50-50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages, the companies said Monday.

Tata Starbucks Ltd., as their venture is known, hopes to capitalize on the rising aspirations – and fattening wallets – of many Indians, who are eager to partake of the global latte life. The first outlet will open in Mumbai or New Delhi by September.

Tech companies teaming up to combat ‘phishing’ scams

Google, Facebook and other big tech companies are jointly designing a system for combating email scams known as phishing.

Such scams try to trick people into giving away passwords and other personal information by sending emails that look as if they come from a legitimate bank, retailer or other business.

When Bank of America customers see emails that appear to come from the bank, they might click on a link that takes them to a fake site mimicking the real Bank of America’s. There they might enter personal details, which scam artists can capture and use for fraud.

To combat that, 15 major technology and financial companies have formed an organization to design a system for authenticating emails from legitimate senders and weeding out fakes. The new system is called DMARC – short for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance.

Wendy’s CEO: Changes will heal ‘self-inflicted’ wounds

Wendy’s new CEO on Monday called the dour results of the past few years “self-inflicted wounds” and vowed to do better, laying out plans that included hiring top-tier workers and reclaiming market share from higher-end competitors like Five Guys and Smashburger.

Emil Brolick, the CEO since September, told investors that he was intent on winning back customers jaded by a stale menu and inconsistent service, as well as investors, who have grown weary of “a little bit of overpromising and under-delivering.”

And rather than blaming the struggling economy for the revenue declines and quarterly losses of the past few years, Brolick said that the company’s problems were its own fault. It has begun revamping its menu and remodeling stores, and it’s now intent on hiring “five-star” employees in line with those at the fast-casual chains, he said.