NEW YORK — The nation's factories, plants and utilities expanded at a faster pace in June, suggesting hardy consumer spending is boosting confidence among manufacturers even as prices for raw materials rise.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its manufacturing index rose to 56.0 in June. The reading marked the fifth consecutive month of growth for the manufacturing sector and the 68th consecutive month of growth for the overall economy.

The reading was above the May reading of 55.0 and higher than the market expectation of 55.4.

A reading above 50 indicates growth while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

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OIL PRICES SETTLE ABOVE $71 A BARREL

NEW YORK — Oil prices rebounded Monday from early declines to settle above $71 for the first time in 10 months as traders focused on a refinery outage in Kansas and new accusations about Iran's role in Lebanon and Iraq.

Early in the day, investors sold to lock in profits from last week's rally, which drove prices above $70 a barrel for the first time since August. But as the day wore on, light, sweet crude for August delivery rose, settling up 41 cents at $71.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and up from a session low of $69.57. On Friday, oil prices rose to close above $70 a barrel for the first time in 10 months.

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DOLLAR FALLS TO 26-YEAR LOW

NEW YORK — The dollar fell to a 26-year low against the British pound Monday ahead of an expected rate hike by the Bank of England later this week.

The pound rose to $2.0173 — its highest level versus the dollar since June 1981 — in New York trading before retreating to $2.0165. The dollar also dropped to within a cent of its all-time low versus the euro, as rising global interest rates made the currency less attractive to investors.

The 13-nation euro rose to $1.3637, shy of its April 27 all-time high of $1.3682, before dipping back to $1.3623.

The Bank of England and European Central Bank meet separately Thursday to discuss interest rates. The BOE is expected to raise its key rate a quarter-point from 5.5 percent, while the ECB is expected tighten monetary policy later this year.

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VIRGIN MEDIA RECEIVES BUYOUT OFFER

NEW YORK — Virgin Media Inc. received a buyout offer worth as much as $11.35 billion, people familiar with the deal said Monday, sending shares in the British telecommunications company to a new one-year high.

But, underscoring the delicate nature of the proposal, Virgin Media would not name its suitor and said the deal would be scrapped if it even disclosed the potential terms.

The offer of between $30 to $35 per share was made by the Carlyle Group, a Washington-based private-equity firm, according to people who spoke only on the condition that they not be identified because they were not authorized to do so publicly on the matter. Virgin also has roughly 6 billion pounds ($12.1 billion) of debt.

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CHARLES SCHWAB PLANS BUYBACK

SAN FRANCISCO — Enriched from the sale of its wealth management subsidiary, Charles Schwab Corp. will distribute $3.5 billion to its stockholders by buying back more than 100 million of its shares and paying a one-time dividend.

Under a plan announced Monday, the San Francisco-based stock brokerage will pay up to $22.50 per share for its own stock — 10 percent above last week's closing price. The price of the buyback will be set through an auction that guarantees selling stockholders at least $19.50 per share.

After buying 84 million shares in the auction, the company will purchase up to 18 million additional shares from founder Charles Schwab to ensure its chief executive's stake in the business remains around its current level of 18 percent. He has agreed not to participate in the auction.

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DOMINION SELLS SOME OPS TO LINN ENERGY

RICHMOND, Va. — Dominion Resources Inc. said Monday it plans to sell oil and natural gas operations located mostly in Oklahoma to Linn Energy LLC for $2.05 billion as it focuses on power generation, transmission and storage.

Shares of both companies rose on news of the deal, with Linn gaining 15 percent in morning trading.

The exploration and production operations being sold contain about 780 billion cubic feet of reserves, Dominion said in a news release. About 93 percent of the reserves are natural gas; the rest are oil.

The sale is expected to close by the end of the third quarter.

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BIDDING FOR BELL CANADA MAY NOT BE OVER

TORONTO — The bidding may not be over for the parent of Bell Canada, which over the weekend agreed to a buyout offer of $35.1 billion from a consortium led by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board in the biggest Canadian takeover ever.

If the deal is completed, it would be the biggest leveraged buyout to date, according to the financial research firm Thomson Financial.

The group led by the pension plan beat out several other bidders including New York-based Cerberus Capital Management LP with billionaire Hong Kong-based Canadian citizen Richard Li's Pacific Century Group, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board with backing from American buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Telus Corp. — Canada's second largest telecom — pulled out of the bidding last Tuesday for Bell Canada parent BCE Inc., Canada's biggest telecom company.

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TRUMP ENTERTAINMENT NOT LIKELY TO SELL

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.— Trump Entertainment Resorts announced Monday it is not likely to be sold, sending shares of the company plunging.

The operator of three Atlantic City casinos said its board determined none of the "indications of interest" received met its expectations.

Trump was in talks with a group led by former Atlantic City casino executive Dennis Gomes and real estate developer Morris Bailey about a possible sale of the casinos.

New York-based fund manager Dune Capital Management LP, which is run by former Goldman Sachs & Co. executives, was also said to be a possible bidder.

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BARCLAYS GETS OK TO DELAY BID

LONDON — Barclays PLC, which is competing with Royal Bank of Scotland PLC to buy ABN Amro Holding NV in the largest takeover fight in the financial industry's history, said Monday it received approval from Dutch regulators to delay its proposed takeover.

Barclays made an offer to buy ABN Amro in April through an all-stock transaction that currently values the business at 59.3 billion euros ($79.9 billion), or 33.57 euros ($45.47) a share. Its bid is dependent on the $21 billion sale of ABN's Chicago-based LaSalle Bank to Bank of America going through.

A group led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC has made a rival bid of $95.5 billion. RBS wants LaSalle and its offer is dependent on that sale being blocked — though it could rebid at a lower level if it loses LaSalle.

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THOMSON TO SELL PROMETRIC TO ETS

STAMFORD, Conn. — As part of its plans to spin off its testing services business, Thomson Corp. announced Monday it had signed an agreement to sell Thomson Prometric to ETS for $435 million.

ETS, a Princeton, N.J.-based educational measurement and research organization which, among other things, administers the SAT college entrance exam, is to pay $310 million in cash and $125 million through a promissory note due in 2014.

Thomson Prometric has been involved worldwide in technology-enabled assessment services including paper-and-pencil, Internet and computer-based testing.