Average state gas price falls nearly 4 cents in single week

A price-watching website says the average retail gasoline price in Maine has fallen 3.9 cents per gallon in the past week, to $3.64.

MaineGasPrices.com said Sunday’s average price was still 95.4 cents per gallon higher than it was the same day one year ago, but 3.9 cents lower than a month ago.

Maine’s latest average price compares with the national figure, which has fallen 7.1 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.53.

Price analyst Patrick DeHaan said last week brought an impressive decline in crude oil and gasoline futures, so motorists in most areas of the United States have seen retail gasoline prices decline.

Buffett signals confidence, plans to buy Berkshire stock

Warren Buffett is sending a clear signal that he believes Berkshire Hathaway’s stock is undervalued, by announcing a plan to repurchase stock for the first time since taking over the firm in 1965.

Berkshire said Monday that the company Buffett leads will repurchase its Class A and B shares anytime they are trading at less than 110 percent of book value.

Book value is a measure of a company’s value that Buffett often cites because it is similar to the intrinsic value figure he calculates to determine if an investment is overpriced. At the end of June, Berkshire estimated its assets were worth $98,716 per Class A share after liabilities were deducted.

That estimate doesn’t include Berkshire’s $9 billion acquisition of specialty chemical maker Lubrizol that was completed earlier this month.

With ban over, Stewart is back on company’s board

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia says its namesake and founder has rejoined its board of directors.

Her return coincides with the end of her five-year ban from serving on the board or as an executive of a public company. That was part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over insider-trading charges.

New York-based Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. had said in May that Martha Stewart would rejoin the board in the third quarter.

Stewart was convicted on criminal charges in 2004 for lying to prosecutors about selling ImClone shares a day before the Food and Drug Administration announced it declined to review an ImClone application for a cancer drug. She served five months in prison.

All Nippon Airways gets key to first Boeing 787

Boeing Co. handed over the key for its first 787 wide-body jet to All Nippon Airways on Monday after years of delays, marking a long-awaited milestone in the history of commercial flight.

Thousands of workers gathered for the ceremony at Paine Field, outside the building where the planes are assembled, with many finding shelter from the rain under the wings of two yet-to-be-delivered 787s. The actual first ANA 787 was nearby at the Future of Flight aviation center, where it was being prepared for a reception Monday night and its flight to Japan today.

The plane goes into service in November.