Business and Finance

SAN FRANCISCO

DEARBORN, MICH.

U.S. stock futures are sinking as economic jitters and uncertainty about Europe’s finances fuel another day of selling around the world.

European banking shares fell near two-and-a-half-year lows, dragged down by rumors about the companies’ potential losses on bonds issued by heavily-indebted governments. Earlier, Asian shares took a beating, with major indexes in China and Japan losing more than 2.5 percent.

U.S. markets plunged Thursday in a return to the volatile trading that dizzied traders last week. Bad economic news has forecasters warning that another recession is possible.

Well before the market opens, Dow Jones industrial average futures are down 150, or 1.4 percent, at 10,867. S&P 500 futures are down 15, or 1.3 percent, at 1,128. Nasdaq 100 futures are down 22, or 1 percent, at 2,060.

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Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is calling on the so-called

British lawmakers on Friday demanded James Murdoch clarify why testimony he gave to a parliamentary committee probing the phone hacking scandal conflicted with a statement from two former executives.

Murdoch, News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer, and his father, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, testified about the widening allegations of phone tapping and bribery at the Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee said Friday it now wanted more information from the younger Murdoch because his testimony was disputed by Colin Myler, former News of the World editor and Tom Crone, and former lawyer of the tabloid’s holding company, News International.

The two men released a statement contradicting Murdoch’s claim that he was not aware of an email containing information about hacked voicemails, saying they did inform him of the document.

John Whittingdale, the parliamentary committee’s chair, said he was writing Murdoch, Myler and Crone for clarification.

“We are going to write to ask for further details from various areas where evidence is disputed,” Whittingdale said.

He said the committee decided not to take the additional step of recalling Murdoch to another hearing, saying they wanted to consider his written answers first.

“We want to hear exactly how they dispute that. I suspect it very likely that we will want to hear oral evidence. If they do come back with statements that are quite plainly different from those given by James Murdoch, we will want to hear James Murdoch’s response to that,” he said.

James Murdoch had said he stood by his testimony but would provide a written response to follow-up questions.

His father said during last Tuesday’s hearing that he accepted no responsibility for wrongdoing amid widening claims that News of the World illegally accessed cell phone messages and bribed police to get information on celebrities, politicians and crime victims.

Earlier Friday, a British man who interrupted the hearing when he threw a shaving-cream pie at the tycoon was convicted of assault and causing harassment.

Jonathan May-Bowles hurled a paper plate with a pile of shaving cream at Murdoch on July 19 as he was giving evidence to a committee. The activist, who admitted the crime during an appearance at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, was due to be sentenced on Aug. 2.

Also Friday, the head of Britain’s press watchdog stepped down amid heavy criticism about the organization’s handling of the scandal.

Peta Jane Buscombe said she will not continue as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission after her term ends next year.

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A new generation of solar panels could let you wallpaper your house with solar cells, wear them on your T-shirt or stick them on your iPad.

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a new process that allows photovoltaic cells, which convert light into electricity, to be printed in ultrathin layers on ordinary paper or plastic.

Wells Fargo & Co. is paying $85 million to settle civil charges that it falsified loan documents and pushed borrowers toward subprime mortgages with higher interest rates.

The Federal Reserve says the fine is the largest it has ever imposed in a consumer-enforcement case.

Wells Fargo neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The bank agreed to compensate borrowers who were steered into higher-priced loans or whose income was exaggerated.

The Fed alleges Wells Fargo inflated borrowers’ incomes on loan documents to qualify for mortgages they otherwise couldn’t afford from 2004 until 2008. The central banks says Wells Fargo sales personnel also pushed borrowers toward higher-interest, subprime loans, even though they were eligible for lower-interest mortgages.

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The Vatican is seeking to make its new financial watchdog agency fully independent by relieving its president of his other job in the Holy See’s administration.

There had been questions about possible conflicts of interests when Cardinal Attilio Nicora was named president of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority earlier this year.

The watchdog agency was created to ensure all Vatican financial transactions comply with EU and international anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing laws.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Ciro Benedettini said Thursday that “common sense” dictated that as chief watchdog, Nicora couldn’t be responsible for checking compliance of his other office, which administers Vatican personnel and other assets.

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Shares of Italian fashion house Prada SpA rose slightly in their debut Friday on the Hong Kong stock exchange, as it became the latest foreign company to go public in the southern Chinese financial hub.

Prada shares were changing hands at $39.55 in morning trading, five cents higher than the offer price. They gained as much as 50 cents, or 1.2 percent, to HK$40 in the first hour of trading.

The stock’s performance defied predictions that it would tank on its debut because of slumping global markets and worries from Hong Kong investors that they would have to pay Italian taxes. Prada’s debut came on a day that the Hong Kong market rebounded, with the Hang Seng Index rising 1.3 percent.

Milan-based Prada sold 423.3 million shares, or a 16.5 percent stake, to raise HK$16.7 billion ($2.1 billion), in its initial public offering. The stock was priced at the low end of the offer range.

Prada, which also owns the Miu-Miu, Church’s and Car Shoes brands, sold 95 percent of shares to big global investors loans for people with bad credit. Hong Kong individual investors got the remaining 5 percent of shares, about half the usual proportion. Investors were likely turned off by warnings in Prada’s prospectus that shareholders could be hit with Italian capital gains tax of 12.5 percent on any profits from selling their shares as well as up to 27 percent withholding tax on dividends. Hong Kong does not tax capital gains or dividends.

Prada is the latest in a string of foreign companies to go public recently in Hong Kong in hopes of cashing in on China’s booming economy. It’s also aiming to raise awareness of its brand among China’s growing number of wealthy consumers.

Swiss commodities trader Glencore International and luggage maker Samsonite International S.A. have also listed in Hong Kong this year, while luxury handbag maker Coach is planning a secondary listing.

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Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said “dark forces” are waging a “war of attrition” against efforts to strengthen regulation of the financial system.

“You’re seeing some people run a war of attrition against the reform act,” Geithner said at an event today in Washington, without identifying the people. “They’re trying to starve the agencies of funding so they can’t enforce protections for investors.”

Geithner also said opponents of the Obama administration are trying to block presidential appointments to regulatory agencies “as a way to get leverage over the outcome, and they’re trying to slow down so that they can weaken over time the thrust” of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law payday advance. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

Republican lawmakers are opposing the nomination of Peter Diamond to the Federal Reserve Board. The White House renominated Diamond in January, marking a third try at confirmation after the Senate adjourned in December without approving him. Diamond’s initial candidacy was returned to the White House in August under a procedural objection.

Asked by a moderator at the breakfast held by Politico to identify the “mysterious forces” working against the administration, Geithner said, “dark forces, I would say.”

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