Business and Finance

Local officials in London say they are suspending legal action to evict anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, after church officials gave the tent city a reprieve

The City of London Corporation says legal action due to start Tuesday is being “paused overnight” so that officials can meet for more talks.

Cathedral authorities said earlier that they had halted legal action against the tent city and wanted to address the issues the protesters had raised.

The two-week standoff over the scores of tents set up outside the iconic cathedral has been an embarrassment for the church, but an attention-getting bonanza for protesters, who are inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) _ London officials say they are suspending legal action to evict anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St low interest rate personal loans. Paul’s Cathedral, after church officials gave the tent city a reprieve

The City of London Corporation says legal action due to start Tuesday is being “paused overnight” so that officials can meet for more talks.

Cathedral authorities said earlier that they had halted legal action against the tent city and wanted to address the issues the protesters had raised.

The two-week standoff over the scores of tents set up outside the iconic cathedral has been an embarrassment for the church, but an attention-getting bonanza for protesters, who are inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement.

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Forecasters say Tropical Storm Rina has formed in the Caribbean Sea off the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua and could become a hurricane by Tuesday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center reports Monday that the storm’s center is located about 190 miles (305 kilometers) southwest of Grand Cayman.

It has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) and is moving northwest near 6 mph (9 kph).

Forecasters expect Rina to gain strength in the next two days and say it could become a hurricane by Tuesday night. The storm is forecast to bring at least an inch of rain along the northeast coast of Honduras and at least 2 inches of rain over the Cayman Islands.

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World stock markets rose Friday, putting aside concerns that European leaders might not come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with the region’s chronic debt crisis in time for a weekend summit.

Oil prices hovered above $86 per barrel and the dollar was higher against the euro but dipped against the yen.

European shares were higher in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5 percent to 5,411.82. Germany’s DAX was 0.6 percent higher at 5,802.16 and France’s CAC-40 added 1 percent to 3,115.71. Wall Street was set to open higher, with Dow Jones industrial futures up 0.1 percent at 11,482 and S&P 500 futures 0.1 percent higher at 1,211.50.

Asian gains were muted after a sluggish start of the trading day.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed little changed at 8,678.89. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2 percent to 18,025.72. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.8 percent to 1,838.38 and benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan also rose.

Thailand’s SET index was up 0.5 percent to 914.08, clawing back some of Thursday’s losses even as the country’s capital Bangkok braced for the possibility that floodwaters will defeat a network of barriers and inundate the city.

Mainland Chinese shares lost ground, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.6 percent to 2,317.28, its lowest close in 31 months. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 1.6 percent to 959.12. Shares in financials led gains while shares in glass and nonferrous metals weakened.

Worries that Europe’s troubles could get worse have kept markets on edge for weeks, and analysts said the volatility could continue for the near future.

“What you see now is one day of gains and one day of losses,” said Tom Kaan of Louis Capital Markets in Hong Kong. “With what has been happening in the world, there is still no confidence and I think this will continue to the end of the year.”

The Greek government is widely expected to go through some kind of default or restructuring of its debt, which could deliver a severe blow to an already weak European economy.

Signs of a modest economic uptick in the U.S. helped boost shares of Japanese exporters that count on American consumers for sales. Yamaha Motor Corp. rose 2.7 percent and Panasonic Corp. was 1.6 percent higher.

Heavy equipment shares also rose. Japan’s Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. gained 1.2 percent and South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. added 2.2 percent.

But shares of Japanese automotive giants Honda Motor Corp. and Toyoto Motor Corp. slipped after severe flooding forced a halt to their assembly lines in Thailand. Honda fell 0.4 percent and Toyota, 0.2 percent.

Samsung Electronics Co. rose 1.4 percent after the company announced it had surpassed Apple Inc. in smartphone sales in the July-September quarter. Yonhap news agency cited Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung’s mobile division, as estimating that the company had shipped more than 20 million smartphones in the third quarter.

Wall Street trading was choppy as talks in Europe appeared to falter because of differences between Germany and France over how to protect European banks from the consequences of a default.

A messy default by Greece could lead to deep losses for European banks that hold Greek debt. If that causes them to pull back on lending to each other, it could cause another freeze in global credit markets like the one in late 2008 after Lehman Brothers collapsed.

Wall Street rose slightly Thursday on news that a second summit meeting would take place next week after it became clear that France and Germany would not be able to bridge their difference in time for Sunday’s meeting.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 0.3 percent to close at 11,541.78. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.5 percent to 1,215.39. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.2 percent to 2,598.62.

But analysts cautioned investors to rein in expectations of a solution to Europe’s debt crisis.

“Whether this Sunday’s EU Summit can live up to investor expectations remains to be seen … the precedent set by previous summits already bodes ill for detailing of any new policy initiatives,” Credit Agricole CIB wrote in a research note.

Sunday’s summit was supposed to deliver a comprehensive plan to finally get a grip on the currency union’s debt troubles. But French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday they needed more time after it became clear that the two countries disagreed on some key points of the plan.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 16 cents at $86.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 22 cents to settle at $86.07 in New York on Thursday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3721 from $1.3777 late Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 76.70 yen from 76.85 yen.

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The U.S. Treasury has named Richard “Chan” Peterson to the board of directors of Centrue Financial Corp. and its subsidiary, Centrue Bank, after the bank repeatedly failed to repay dividends owed through the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

In 2009, the Treasury bought $32 million of Clayton-based Centrue’s preferred stock through TARP, the federal government’s bank bailout program. Until the investment is repaid, participating banks make quarterly dividend or interest payments to the Treasury. They also have the option of deferring those payments.

Centrue Bank owes the Treasury more than $3.6 million in unpaid dividends and has deferred making payments nine times. The Treasury has the right to elect up to two board members after six dividend deferrals. 

Peterson is the managing principal and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Partners, a private equity venture that acquires and re-capitalizes troubled community banks in the Chicago area.

It’s the second time this year that the Treasury has named board members at local banks. In July, the Treasury appointed two directors to the board of Clayton-based First Banks, the holding company for First Bank. First Banks owes the Treasury more than $32 million in unpaid dividends on a $295 million investment the Treasury made in the bank in 2008.

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The sell-off in Asian markets continued Monday, as Europe’s prolonged debt crisis and the possibility of a global recession caused investors to flee riskier assets like stocks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.6 percent to 8,421.53. South Korea’s Kospi index was 1.4 percent lower at 1,673.47. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.2 percent to 17,633.21. Bucking the trend was Australia’s S&P ASX index, up 0.5 percent to 3,921.60.

On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose slightly _ but closed the week down 6.4 percent, its worst showing since the depths of the financial crisis three years ago.

Fears about Europe’s debt increased early Friday on news that Moody’s Investors Service had downgraded its ratings of eight Greek banks by two notches. Investors have been waiting in vain for news that Greece will receive the next installment of a bailout package in time to avoid defaulting on its debt next month.

If it defaults, banks throughout Europe are likely to lose the money they invested in Greek bonds _ and investors fear that could ultimately lead to a recession in Europe and the U.S.

Finance ministers from 20 large countries pledged Friday to take “all necessary actions to preserve the stability of the banking systems and financial markets.” But they offered nothing specific.

Europe’s problems helped feed the heavy selling in stocks this week. But the chief worry was that the U.S. is headed for another recession and that the Federal Reserve is running out of ways to fight it.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that he’s surprised by how cautious consumers remain more than two years since the recession officially ended. But he offered no hints of further steps the Fed might take to try to boost the weak economy.

Bernanke noted that several factors have kept consumers from spending more: from high unemployment and falling home values to still-heavy debt loads and higher gasoline prices.

“Even taking into account the many financial pressures they face, households seem exceptionally cautious,” Bernanke said in a speech in Minneapolis to the Economic Club of Minnesota.

Bernanke said that higher prices for gas, cars and other consumer goods were due, in part, to temporary factors, such as supply disruptions stemming from Japan’s earthquake and nuclear crisis. As those factors continue to ease, the Fed chief said he expects inflation to moderate in the coming months.

He reiterated that the Fed will consider a range of options at its next policy meeting Sept. 20-21. Some economists have said the Fed must take further steps to drive down long-term interest rates and help the economy avoid another recession.

Bernanke’s remarks Thursday were similar to those he made last month in a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo. As he did in that speech, Bernanke said he supported Congress’ push to reduce budget deficits over the long run. But he cautioned against cutting spending excessively while the economy remains so weak.

Congress, he said, “should not … disregard the fragility of the economic recovery.”

The economy barely grew in the first half of the year: It expanded at an annual rate of just 0.7 percent. And the government said last week that employers added zero net jobs in August.

Investors seemed disappointed that Bernanke didn’t outline further help the Fed might provide to the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down about 20 points when Bernanke began speaking, was off 93 points once he finished.

Some economists suggested that Bernanke might be hesitant to elaborate on the Fed’s policy options because of the opposition he faces on its interest-rate setting panel. Three members of the panel dissented at the August meeting, when the Fed said it planned to keep short-term rates at record lows at least until mid-2013 as long as the economy remains weak. It was the first time since 1992 that as many as three panel members had dissented from a policy decision.

“Bernanke probably didn’t want to antagonize the hawks who voted against the decision at August’s meeting,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, referring to members who fear that rates kept too low for too long can ignite inflation.

But Ashworth said he still expected the Fed to act further at the September meeting to provide support for the economy.

When Bernanke was questioned after Thursday’s speech about the high number of dissents at the August meeting, he said that disagreement within the Fed isn’t surprising in light of the historic economic challenges it’s confronting.

“My attitude has always been if two people always agree, one of them is redundant,” Bernanke said. “I have always tried to encourage … debate and discussion.”

Consumers and businesses are feeling less confident after a tumultuous summer. Lawmakers fought to the last hours over raising the federal borrowing limit, Standard & Poor’s downgraded long-term U.S. debt and stocks gyrated wildly after plunging in late-July and early August.

Minutes from the Fed’s Aug. 9 meeting showed that some officials pushed for more aggressive steps to try to help the economy.

One possibility is for the Fed to increase the percentage of long-term Treasury securities in the mix of securities it holds. That approach would have the advantage of exerting further downward pressure on long-term rates without swelling the Fed’s already record-level of securities holdings.

The worsening jobs outlook has escalated the pressure on President Barack Obama. He was expected Thursday night to introduce a $300 billion jobs package before a joint session of Congress. The plan will likely include extensions of the Social Security tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits, tax incentives for businesses that hire and money for public works projects.

But that effort faces opposition from congressional Republicans, who argue that Obama’s previous stimulus program was a failure. They want deeper spending cuts to fight the government’s soaring budget deficits.

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U.S. stock futures rose Monday, following Wall Street’s wildest week since the 2008 financial crisis. Asian and European markets were also higher after Japan said its economy shrank at just a 1.3 percent annual rate last quarter. Economists expected the country’s earthquake in March to lead to a drop of more than double that.

There was also a major acquisition in the technology sector and a deal in the energy sector as well.

Google Inc. is buying wireless phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion in cash. It is by far the technology company’s biggest acquisition. That sent shares of Motorola up 60 percent, but there was a sell-off in Google shares, which fell nearly 3 percent.

In the energy sector, offshore driller Transocean Ltd. said it would buy Aker Drilling of Norway for $1.43 billion in cash.

Companies across the United States are sitting on a record amount of cash that they have built up since the recession ended. Analysts have been waiting for them to use some of that cash on acquisitions, dividend increases and stock buybacks.

The growing cash hoard has been the result of stronger profits for companies cheap payday advance. They have kept costs low by being slow to hire. Revenue is growing, particularly to overseas customers. For the 460 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported second-quarter results so far, total earnings are up 12 percent from a year ago.

Lowe’s Cos., the second-largest home improvement retailer, said its net income was roughly flat last quarter on a 1 percent rise in revenue.

About 90 minutes ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 50 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,300. S&P 500 futures rose 6.50, or 0.6 percent, to 1,183.30. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.50, or 0.3 percent, to 2,184. Futures don’t always accurately predict how markets will open.

Last week, the Dow rose or fell by at least 400 points for four days straight. It was the first time that had ever happened. The S&P 500 index also rose or fell by 4 percent for four straight days. It’s the first time that happened since November 2008, at the depths of the financial crisis.

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Financial ministers from the Group of Seven economies plan urgent talks on world market stability as Middle Eastern markets tumbled Sunday in the first sign of investor fallout from a historic U.S. credit downgrade.

Deputy finance ministers agreed Sunday on a conference call among the higher-level ministers likely to be held before Asian markets open Monday morning, Kyodo News agency reported.

The countries are concerned Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating late Friday would significantly rattle consumer and business confidence and financial markets.

The leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S. and Japan are also expected to discuss the eurozone sovereign debt concerns.

Japan’s Senior Vice Finance Minister Fumihiko Igarashi hinted Sunday that Tokyo would intervene in the currency market if excessive fluctuations continue.

It already intervened Thursday to weaken the yen, which Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said was to protect the country’s economic recovery from an earthquake and tsunami in March.

“It’s not over yet. We will act again i we see speculative moves,” Igarashi said on a talk show Sunday on public broadcaster NHK, referring to a possibility for more rounds of yen-selling intervention.

Many economists see the world’s big central banks as the last line of defense at this moment in the crisis, after policymakers in Europe and the U.S. have failed to agree on the kind of shock-and-awe moves that many investors demand.

In the eurozone, the summer recess of national parliaments is delaying the implementation of crucial changes to the currency union’s bailout fund that could help save Italy and Spain from expensive bailouts.

Many investors have also been calling on the U payday advance.S. Federal Reserve to start pumping money into the American economy again to help underpin the slowing economic recovery.

Both Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn on Friday called for coordination between G-7 countries, saying the crisis has to be tackled on a global level.

In the United States, credit rating agency S&P said it would strip the U.S. of its sterling AAA credit rating for the first time and move it down one notch, to AA+.

“Our initial sense is that the S&P decision will do nothing to calm jangled nerves at the beginning of the week,” Russell Jones, of Australia’s Westpac Institutional Bank, wrote in a report Sunday. “Treasury yields are initially likely to move higher, perhaps sharply so, and risk assets will also suffer further losses.”

Still, he added that Treasury weakness was unlikely to last long for various factors, including that the U.S. still retains its top credit rating with Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

Some economists say the real danger won’t be higher interest rates but that the downgrade will reinforce doubts in the American economy and its leaders.

Middle East markets, open Sunday through Thursday, were the first to react to the downgrade. Dubai’s main market index was down more than 4 percent at midday, and other Gulf markets also opened sharply lower.

China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, on Saturday demanded that the United States tighten its belt and overcome its “addiction to debt.”

Japan’s Nikkei index lost ground in the past week due to debt crisis developments.

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Furniture Brands International Inc. swung to a loss in the second quarter as higher advertising spending offset gains made from increased sales.

The Clayton-based maker of residential furniture reported a loss of $6.6 million, or 12 cents a share, compared to a profit of $4 no credit check payday loans.2 million, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 2.3 percent to $296 million.

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Expectations Japan will intervene in currency markets grew Tuesday as the yen’s rise to a near record high threatened to stall economic recovery in the aftermath of the March earthquake.

The dollar, weakened by the dimming U.S. economic outlook, fell as low as 76.29 yen Monday. It hit a record post-World War II low of 76.25 yen in the days following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Although the dollar climbed back above the 77-yen level Tuesday, officials intensified their rhetoric and analysts predicted action by the central bank and finance ministry as early as this week.

Meanwhile, the latest earnings reports from Japanese companies have revealed how the strong yen is eroding corporate profits and weighing on an economy trying to recover from disaster.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda declined to comment on currency intervention but expressed sharpened concern about the yen’s strength. He acknowledged that Japanese companies “will suffer” if the yen isn’t tamed.

“The yen is strongly overvalued and continues to show one-sided moves,” he told reporters Tuesday.

The yen’s surge after the March disasters prompted the Group of Seven major industrialized nations to work together to weaken the Japanese currency. Officials feared that the fast rising yen would exacerbate the economic impact of the disaster.

The coordinated intervention in international currency markets marked the first by the G-7 countries since the fall of 2000, when the G-7 intervened to bolster the euro.

A strong yen is painful for Japan’s export-driven economy because it reduces the value of foreign earnings for companies like Toyota Motor Corp. and Nintendo Co. It also makes their goods more expensive in overseas markets.

Honda Motor Co. said Monday that the exchange rate erased 22.5 billion yen ($288 million) from its operating profit in the latest quarter. At Mazda, the yen sapped 3.1 billion yen ($40 million) from its bottom line last quarter.

Any currency intervention will likely be coupled with monetary policy easing by the Bank of Japan, which meets for a two-day policy board meeting on Thursday, analysts said.

Masaaki Kanno, chief economist at JPMorgan Securities Japan, believes the central bank is “ready to ease,” probably when it meets this week.

With interest rates at virtually zero, Japan’s central bank must turn to other tools to loosen its already super-easy policy. One option would be to expand an asset purchasing program to buy more corporate and Japanese government bonds.

Such a decision, Kanno said, would represent a pre-emptive move by the central bank to “prevent the erosion” of the economic recovery. It would also signal Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa’s concerns about the fate of Japanese manufacturers in the face of increasing competition from Asian rivals, along with the yen’s rally.

“It has become more difficult for Japanese exporters to compete with those Asian makers, if they raise prices in overseas markets,” he said in a research note Tuesday.

Japan, the world’s No. 3 economy, likely contracted in the April-June quarter but is projected to return to growth in the second half of the year. The yen’s persistent strength, however, and an increasingly murky outlook for the global economy could dampen or reverse a recovery.

A report from UBS notes that despite increasingly urgent pleas from the business world, the Japanese government has taken its time to formulate a response.

“There remains a risk of the (finance ministry) leaving it far too late, because the longer the wait, the more punishing on the Japanese economy it would be,” UBS said.

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