Mineral-rights case

Mineral-rights case

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Pennsylvania’s high court will take a case that’s raising questions about whether leases to countless properties signed by the booming natural-gas industry should be interpreted to include the methane locked in the vast Marcellus Shale formation.

The state Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will hear a Susquehanna County dispute over the definition of “mineral rights.”

A decision that says mineral rights don’t include the shale gas could upend many of the leases between property owners and the Marcellus Shale industry.

The case stems from a dispute between John and Mary Josephine Butler and a man named Charles Powers and his heirs.

The Butlers’ appeal asks the Supreme Court to rule that 130-year-old case law applies to the Marcellus Shale. A lower-court panel last year said it couldn’t be certain.

Dow falls 125 points

NEW YORK

European debt flared again as a worry for Wall Street and drove stocks Wednesday to their worst loss in a month. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 125 points, and the price of gold plunged to its lowest level since January.

It was only the second time this year the Dow has recorded a triple-digit decline. The average gained 8 percent from January through March, its best first quarter since 1998, but has lost 1 percent already in April.

The Dow was down as much as 179 points earlier in the day. It recovered to close down 124.80 at 13,074.75. Only four of the 30 stocks that make up the average rose for the day.

A disappointing auction of government debt in Spain signaled that investor confidence in that country’s finances is weakening. Spain announced tax increases and budget cuts last week, which could hurt its economy further.

Service companies expand hiring

WASHINGTON

U.S. service companies expanded at a healthy pace last month and stepped up hiring, more evidence that the economy is growing and adding jobs.

The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday that its index of non-manufacturing activity dropped to 56 in March. That’s down from February’s 57.3, which was a 12-month high. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Economists said the slight decline wasn’t troubling because the reading was still at a healthy level that points to growth. And a measure of employment rose to near a six-year high reached in January.

The trade group of purchasing managers surveys roughly 90 percent of U.S. companies in all sectors outside of manufacturing. That includes retail, construction, financial services, health care and hotels.

Separately, payroll processor ADP said the economy added 209,000 private-sector jobs in March. The job gains in January and February also were revised up. The ADP survey does not include government jobs.

Vindicator wire services