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Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

JAKKS inks deal for show games

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. said Monday that it has signed a licensing agreement with Endemol USA Inc., creators of the popular ``Deal or No Deal'' and ``Fear Factor'' shows, to produce Plug It In & Play TV Games products based on the new game show ``1 VS. 100.''

The Malibu-based company's games are plug-it-in-and-play gaming systems that contain multiple games in a single controller.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Treasury bills hit low at auction

WASHINGTON -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction to the lowest levels since early October.

The Treasury Department auctioned $18 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.905 percent, down from 4.940 percent last week. An additional $16 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.935 percent, down from 4.940 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since these bills hit 4.850 percent on Oct. 10. The six-month rate was the lowest since 4.890 percent, also on Oct. 10.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,876.01 while a six-month bill sold for $9,750.51.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, fell to 5.01 percent last week from 5.03 percent the previous week.

Gender pay case at Supreme Court

WASHINGTON -- A former tire plant worker's complaint that she was paid thousands of dollars less than men in the same job made it to the Supreme Court on Monday in a case that could affect pay-discrimination claims nationwide.

The justices engaged in a lively but inconclusive debate over how to apply a 180-day deadline for complaining about discriminatory pay decisions under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., claiming that after 19 years at the company's Gadsden, Ala., plant, she was making $6,000 a year less than the lowest-paid man in the same job.

Transportation firm rejects bid

PHOENIX -- Swift Transportation Co. Inc. said Monday that it has rejected a $2.2 billion takeover offer from its founder and largest shareholder and plans to explore other alternatives to the bid. The company's shares rose nearly 3 percent.

The truckload carrier said the offer by Jerry Moyes, a current member of the company's board and its former chairman and chief executive, to buy the company for $29 per share was inadequate because it didn't reflect Swift Transportation's full value.