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ST. LOUIS

Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton offered major concessions Thursday in a bid to end a government shutdown, dropping his pursuit of tax hikes to say he was willing to accept a Republican offer made just before the state closed for business two weeks ago.

Dayton attached significant conditions to his offer. He said Republicans must drop a list of policy changes and a plan to reduce the state workforce by 15 percent. In exchange, he would sign off on a Republican proposal that would raise $1.4 billion, half by delaying state aid checks to school districts and the other half by selling tobacco payment bonds.

“I believe this is the best option for Minnesota,” a weary-sounding Dayton said after announcing his offer in a speech at the University of Minnesota. “I know in my soul that I am doing what I believe.”

Aides said GOP leaders were reviewing Dayton’s offer and had no immediate comment. The governor said he had invited them to meet Thursday afternoon, but no meeting was set.

If the Republicans agree to Dayton’s proposal and the pieces fall into place, the first-term governor said he is prepared to call a special session within three days.

The Minnesota impasse was months in the making, with Dayton insisting on raising income taxes on the highest earners to soften the effect of budget cuts necessary to resolve a $5 billion deficit. More recently, Dayton had offered to consider an array of other ways to raise revenue, including cigarette and alcohol taxes and a broader sales tax.

As the shutdown persisted, the pressure for a resolution has intensified.

The partisan standoff has closed state parks and rest stops, prevented many people from getting licenses they need to launch careers or move ahead with businesses, and cut off funding streams to countless social service programs. It has also cost the state millions in preparation costs and lost revenue.

Dayton has been on the road this week, holding public events around the state, and said he received a clear message from the people he met: End the shutdown.

“They want this resolved and they don’t even care how. I care how,” Dayton told a University of Minnesota audience in Minneapolis.

Dayton said he is reluctant to accept the Republicans’ way out of the budget impasse.

“Despite my serious reservations about your plan, I have concluded that continuing the state government shutdown would be even more destructive for too many Minnesotans,” he said in a letter to GOP leaders that he read aloud. “Therefore, I am willing to agree to something I do not agree with _ your proposal _ in order to spare our citizens and our state from further damage.”

Dayton is also asking lawmakers to approve a construction projects bill totaling at least $500 million.

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ConAgra’s fourth-quarter net income more than doubled thanks to higher food prices and an insurance settlement.

But the company warned Thursday that first-quarter earnings may fall below last year’s numbers in what CEO Gary Rodkin calls a “challenging” market place. ConAgra shares fell 3 percent in premarket trading.

ConAgra and other food producers have had to raise prices as higher ingredient and material costs cut into profits. This quarter, the company’s consumer foods segment saw cost inflation rise 9 percent.

The maker of Slim Jim, Healthy Choice, Chef Boyardee and other food products earned $254.9 million, or 61 cents per share, for the period ended May 29. That’s up from $90.6 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings from continuing operations rose to 47 cents per share from 38 cents per share, the company said Thursday.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected 48 cents per share.

The current quarter’s results included about 16 cents per share from an insurance settlement, approximately 2 cents per share in restructuring charges and other items.

Revenue climbed 5 percent to $3.21 billion from $3.05 billion, just edging out Wall Street expectations.

The consumer foods division, which made up 63 percent of the quarter’s sales, reported a slight sales increase in the quarter with strength in brands such as Hebrew National, Peter Pan, Wesson, Slim Jim and others.

ConAgra said it raised prices for cooking oil-related products, frozen foods and snacks loans for people with bad credit. The company said more prices hikes have been made in early fiscal 2012 and that prices will rise again if needed.

In the commercial foods segment sales rose 15 percent on higher flour milling prices, price increases and better volumes for Lamb Weston specialty potato products. The unit comprises 37 percent of the quarter’s sales.

For the year, ConAgra reported net income of $817 million, or $1.88 per share. That compares with $725.8 million, or $1.62 per share, in the previous year.

Adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $1.75 per share.

Annual revenue improved to $12.3 billion from $12.01 billion.

ConAgra Foods Inc., based in Omaha, Neb., expects fiscal 2012 adjusted earnings per share to climb by a low- to mid-single digit percentage rate from fiscal 2011’s $1.75 per share.

Analysts forecast $1.87 per share for the year.

The company also said it expects its first-quarter earnings to come in below the prior-year period’s 34 cents per share.

Wall Street predicts quarterly earnings of 36 cents per share.

ConAgra’s shares dropped 77 cents to $24.65 before the market opened.

The company maintained its long-term earnings per share forecast for 6 percent to 8 percent growth each year.

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Israeli policemen entered a sensitive Jerusalem holy site Friday and used stun grenades to disperse dozens of Palestinian protesters who were hurling stones at security personnel, police said.

The scene of the clash was the Old City compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

Israeli spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police entered the compound after Palestinians began lobbing stones at security forces stationed outside one of the gates. The clash began immediately after Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Police used stun grenades to disperse the crowd, he said.

Officers made three arrests, no one was injured and order was quickly restored, Rosenfeld said.

The compound, holy to Jews and Muslims and captured by Israel in 1967, is one of the most combustible sites on earth. Clashes there in the past have ignited broader violence.

A Muslim clerical body known as the Waqf runs the compound under Israel’s overall security control easy to get unsecured personal loans.

Also Friday, a Hamas leader said Israel had stepped up a campaign of arrests against members of the Islamic militant group in the West Bank, which Israel controls.

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, said around 100 Hamas members had been arrested by the Israeli military in the last two weeks in the West Bank, including eight of the group’s leaders.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The Western-backed Fatah, which governs Palestinian population centers in the West Bank and has also carried out arrests of Hamas members, recently signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas and has scaled back pressure on the rival group.

The reconciliation followed a four-year split after Hamas’ bloody seizure of Gaza Strip that left Fatah in control only of the Weset Bank.

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Global stocks were steady Wednesday ahead of a raft of U.S. economic figures which will culminate in the key monthly jobs data at the end of the week, while the euro held on to recent gains on hopes Greece will get more help with its debts.

At the start of each month, investors have a slew of U.S. economic indicators to digest, in particular the monthly nonfarm payrolls data, which often set the tone in markets for a week or two after their release.

Before Friday’s payrolls data, traders will on Wednesday focus on the May manufacturing survey from the Institute for Supply Management. The main index is expected to drop to around 57 from the previous month’s 60.4, providing further evidence that the U.S. recovery is slowing down.

Concerns over the U.S. economic recovery and Europe’s debt crisis, particularly whether Greece will get more emergency loans, have dominated market attention over recent weeks.

The May survey from the private payrolls firm ADP could also shed some light on whether Friday’s government data, which also includes the public sector, will come in line with expectations.

Adrian Foster, an analyst at Rabobank International, is expecting the ADP report to show 175,000 jobs added in May, little changed on the previous month’s 179,000.

“Such a result will likely calm nerves as we look to Friday’s payrolls report,” Foster said.

At the moment, the consensus in the markets is that Friday’s government data will show that around 200,000 jobs were added during May, slightly down on April’s 244,000 increase.

Ahead of the U.S. figures later, Wall Street futures and stocks in Europe were trading in narrow ranges.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.1 percent at 5,987 while Germany’s DAX fell an equivalent rate to 7,287. The CAC-40 in France was flat at 4,007.

A similarly steady opening is expected when the U.S. opens for business _ Dow futures were down 0.1 percent at 12,552 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures were unchanged at 1,344.

The ADP data, which are released before the bell, could change expectations for the open though. The ISM survey is released half an hour into the trading session.

“The ADP numbers ahead of the open will attract some interest with some using it as a proxy to second guess Friday’s nonfarm payrolls, but with that event looming over markets, and considering the strong gains made on Tuesday, we may be in for a couple of quiet, range days,” said Yusuf Heusen, a senior sales trader at IG Index.

Currency markets were also subdued, with the euro down 0.1 percent at $1.4413 and the dollar down an equivalent rate to 81.25 yen.

The euro, which suffered in April on fears over Greece’s debt, has recovered strongly over the past days on mounting expectations that Greece will get more help from its partners in the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund to meet financing commitments through to 2013. Alongside a second rescue package following last year’s euro110 billion package of loans, Greece is expected to have to increase its privatization program and make more austerity cuts.

Few analysts, however, think that a second rescue package would necessarily prevent a Greek debt restructuring down the line given weak economic growth forecasts and political infighting.

“We remain sceptical that the modest rebound in risk sentiment over the past week will prove sustainable beyond the near-term especially any renewed optimism regarding Greece where a rehash of previously unsuccessful support steps will likely fail again,” said Lee Hardman, a currency strategist at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.3 percent to close at 9,719.61 after Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said in a speech that supply and electricity disruptions caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami were easing. The economy could stage a moderate recovery starting in the second half of fiscal 2011, he said.

Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 2,141.34 after the government announced the country’s inflation rate eased for a second straight month in May, to 4.1 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index drifted 0.2 percent lower to 23,626.43 while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.3 percent after data showed China’s manufacturing sector easing in April. The state-affiliated China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing reported that its purchasing managers index, or PMI, fell to 52.9 in April, down from 53.4 in March.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 failed to hold onto gains and closed flat at 4,707.30.

In the oil markets, the price of crude continued to hover around the $100 a barrel mark. Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 10 cents to $102.58 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a $2 plus gain on Tuesday.

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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Housings starts in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in April as flooding and tornadoes in the South shut down construction sites and homebuilders continued to struggle almost two years into an economic recovery.

Work began on 523,000 houses at an annual pace, down 11 percent from the prior month and less than the 569,000 median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Building permits, a sign of future construction, also decreased.

Falling home values and the prospect of more foreclosures entering the market mean home construction will be slow to gain traction. Unemployment at 9 percent and stagnant wages indicate any recovery in housing may take years to unfold.

“Job growth is essential to household formation and to keep home prices from falling further,” said Eric Green, chief market economist at TD Securities Inc. in New York, who forecast permits at 550,000. “I don’t see home sales doing much of anything” for the foreseeable future.

Another report today showed industrial production unexpectedly stalled in April, reflecting a temporary drop in auto making after supplies of parts were disrupted by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, according to data from the Federal Reserve. Output was unchanged after a 0.7 percent gain in March, figures from the Federal Reserve showed. Manufacturing fell 0.4 percent, the report showed.

Treasuries Rise

Treasury securities rose after the reports as the slowdown in construction and manufacturing gives Federal Reserve policy makers reason to keep interest rates low. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to prices, fell to 3.12 percent at 10:09 a.m. in New York from 3.15 percent late yesterday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.4 percent to 1,324.51.

Housing starts estimates ranged from 500,000 to 600,000 in the Bloomberg survey of 74 economists.

The Commerce Department revised March’s total to a 585,000 pace, up from a previously estimated 549,000. Starts reached a record low 477,000 pace in April 2009.

Building permits fell 4 percent to a 551,000 annual pace in April. They were projected to rise 0.9 percent to a 590,000 level, according to the survey median.

Construction of single-family houses decreased 5.1 percent to a 394,000 rate in April from the prior month. Work on multifamily homes, such as townhouses and apartments, fell 24 percent to an annual rate of 129,000, the weakest so far this year.

Plunge in South

Starts dropped in two of four regions, led by a 23 percent decrease in the South, the largest area. They fell 4.8 percent in the Northeast and climbed 16 percent in the Midwest and 3.7 percent in the West.

All of the weakness in starts was due to the plunge in the South, reflecting flooding on the Mississippi River that continued into May, Morgan Stanley economists David Greenlaw and Ted Wieseman wrote in a note to clients today. They forecast starts to show “little increase” this year.

Last month was the 10th wettest April since record-keeping began in 1895, with 875 preliminary reports of tornados, a record for any month, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Most wind damage occurred from the southern and central plains to the Atlantic coast.

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders was little changed in May, restrained by a drop in the sales outlook, a report from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo showed yesterday. The group’s sentiment index held at 16 for a second month. Figures less than 50 mean more respondents view conditions as poor.

Existing-Home Sales

Sales of existing homes, which make up more than 90 percent of the market, rose 2 percent to a 5.2 million annual pace in April, economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the National Association of Realtors may report on May 19. Purchases of previously owned houses have been increasing on demand for lower-priced distressed homes.

CoreLogic Inc. in March estimated about 1.8 million homes were delinquent or in foreclosure, a so-called “shadow inventory” set to add to the 3.5 million existing homes already on the market.

Toll Brothers Inc. Chief Executive Officer Douglas Yearley Jr. last week said the April through June home selling season, typically the busiest of the year, has been “disappointing” and that “people are still scared.”

Demand for new houses will remain weak into 2012, said Bill Wheat, chief financial officer of D.R. Horton Inc., who last week also projected a housing recovery will take time to develop.

Jeffrey Mezger, chief executive officer of Los Angeles- based KB Home (KBH), said he expects sales to “bump along for the next 18 months.”

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In early April, the Canadian Online Insurance Marketplace Kanetix reported that car insurance rates in Ontario increased by 6.7 per cent over the last year. The multi-million dollar business of auto insurance fraud is a key factor driving up premiums in this province. 

A recent Ontario investigation called Project 92 teamed insurance company investigators with law enforcement officers and two dedicated crown prosecutors. More than 50 staged collisions were investigated, with 300 charges laid, 22 individuals convicted and two people jailed.

Rick Dubin, the Insurance Bureau of Canada

South African retail sales growth unexpectedly slowed in February as rising prices curtailed consumer spending.

Sales growth dropped to 5.6 percent from a revised 6.3 percent in January, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said on its website today. The median estimate of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 7.1 percent.

“The prospects of higher food, petrol and electricity prices, along with rising rates and taxes, could constrain” retail spending, Kgotso Radira, an economist at Investec Ltd. in Johannesburg, said in a note to clients before today’s data.

Inflation accelerated to a nine-month high of 4.1 percent in March as food and fuel prices climbed, the statistics agency said earlier today. The Reserve Bank cut its benchmark interest rate three times to 5.5 percent last year to help support the economy’s recovery. The bank left the rate unchanged on March 24, as price pressures increased and growth picked up pace.

Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. (PIK), South Africa’s second-biggest grocer, said April 18 that sales rose 5.9 percent to 51.9 billion rand in the year through February. Foschini Ltd., a clothing retailer, said on the same day that its per-share earnings for the year through March were expected to be from 19 percent to 22 percent higher than the previous year. Both companies are based in Cape Town.

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The head of a Senate panel investigating the financial crisis is questioning the accuracy of testimony Goldman Sachs executives gave to Congress last year about whether the firm steered investors toward mortgage securities it knew would likely fail.

Goldman Sachs and Co. agreed in July to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges over similar accusations.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said Wednesday the subcommittee has found new evidence that shows Goldman’s misleading of investors went beyond that one case. He raised doubts about the testimony given last year by a half-dozen Goldman executives. Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein was among those who testified.

Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally said the testimony given by the executives was “truthful and accurate” and that the subcommittee’s report confirms that.

The report released Wednesday notes that Goldman marketed four sets of complex mortgage securities to banks and other investors. But it says the firm failed to tell them that the securities were very risky, secretly bet against the investors’ positions and deceived the investors about its own positions to shift risk from its balance sheet to theirs.

At the hearing last year by the Senate panel, Goldman executives were questioned about the deals. Company e-mails showed Goldman employees deriding the securities as “junk” and “crap.”

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the company didn’t bet against its clients, and couldn’t survive without their trust. The company lost $1.2 billion in the mortgage meltdown in 2007 and 2008 that touched off the financial crisis and the worst recession since the 1930s, Blankfein testified. He also insisted that Goldman wasn’t making an aggressive negative bet _ or short _ on the mortgage market’s slide.

The company’s short positions were mostly offset by long holdings of the securities, the executives said at the hearing.

The new subcommittee report cites internal Goldman documents that it says contradict that assertion.

“I believe they misled the Congress,” Levin told reporters. Goldman “gained at the expense of their clients and they used abusive practices to do it,” he said.

DuVally, the Goldman spokesman, said that while the company disagrees with many of the report’s conclusions, “We take seriously the issues explored by the subcommittee online payday loan lenders. We recently issued the results of a comprehensive examination of our business standards and practices, and committed to making significant changes.”

Goldman agreed last summer to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission of misleading buyers of mortgage-related securities. The agreement applied to one of the four deals cited by the Senate subcommittee.

The report culminates a two-year investigation by the panel, which examined millions of documents and interviewed scores of executives, traders and salespeople.

It portrays “a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest and wrongdoing,” Levin said.

The panel cited four key areas of causes of the financial crisis:

_Risky mortgage lending as exemplified by Washington Mutual, which became the biggest U.S. bank ever to fail in September 2008.

_The failure of regulators to clamp down on lending abuses and risky conduct at banks in the years leading up to the housing bust and financial crisis.

_The AAA ratings given by the big credit rating agencies to high-risk subprime mortgages that later went bad and helped cause the housing bust.

_The role of investment banks like Goldman Sachs and the finance deals they put together, which flooded the markets with risky securities.

The report also urges federal regulators to make several changes, such as a strong ban on conflicts of interest for investment banks and other financial players. It says the financial overhaul law enacted last year in response to the crisis could help prevent future abuses.

“At the heart of the financial crisis were unresolved, and often undisclosed, conflicts of interest,” Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the panel’s top Republican. “Blame for this mess lies everywhere from federal regulators who cast a blind eye, Wall Street bankers who let greed run wild, and members of Congress who failed to provide oversight.”

Levin said the panel planned to convey findings to the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible further investigation.

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From the time he was a child, Steven Bolduc knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur.

More than being his own boss, he also wanted to create something that could help his own community.

Originally from the Fort William First Nation near Thunder Bay, Bolduc grew up both on and off reserve, and ended up spending his teenage years in Hamilton.

Armed with two degrees from Brock University and University of Windsor, he worked as a procurement officer for Fortune 500 companies. He squirreled away his money before buying a Print Three franchise in RBC Plaza in 2008, launching the Aboriginal Printing Corp.

Bolduc, 40, who loves graphic design, decided the printing was the way to go.