•Companies

Brocade to buy Foundry: Brocade Communications Systems Inc. says it is paying $3 billion in cash and stock to acquire Foundry Networks Inc., a deal designed to challenge industry behemoth Cisco Systems Inc. The melding of Brocade and Foundry would bring together two companies with presence deep in the data center market and signals the growing importance of the equipment used to shuttle data and Internet traffic. San Jose, Calif.-based Brocade makes switches used to connect servers to storage machines. Santa Clara, Calif-based Foundry Networks makes routers and switches. (Associated Press)

•Markets

Dollar retreats: The dollar fell against major currencies yesterday in New York, ending at 106.75 Japanese yen, down from Friday’s close of 106.89 yen. The euro closed at 3:30 p.m. at $1.5893, up from $1.5843.

Metals rise: Gold for current delivery closed at $963.10 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from Friday’s close of $957.00. Silver closed at $18.362 an ounce, up from $18.135.

Fuels mixed: August light, sweet crude oil rose $2.16 to $131.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. August heating oil rose 5.64 cents to $3.7479 a gallon. August gasoline rose 4.62 cents to $3.2171 a gallon. August natural gas fell 6 cents to $10.51 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Treasury securities: The Treasury Department yesterday auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.520 percent, down from 1.610 percent last week. Another $23 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 1.920 percent, down from 1.955 percent last week. The three-month rate was the lowest since these bills averaged 1.420 percent on April 28. The six-month rate was the lowest since these bills averaged 1.885 percent on May 19. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,961.58 while a six-month bill sold for $9,902.93. That would equal an annualized rate of 1.547 percent for the three-month bills and 1.966 percent for the six-month bills. Separately, the Federal Reserve said yesterday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, fell to 2.21 percent last week from 2.25 percent the previous week.

Associated Press