Finance & Business World

Global stocks gave up some of their recent gains Monday amid concerns over Italy’s ability to get a handle on its colossal debt pile, while the yen slid in the wake of another attempt by the Japanese monetary authorities to weaken the currency.

Last week, stocks enjoyed one of their best weeks in months as investors breathed a sigh of relief that eurozone leaders finally presented the broad outlines of a convincing anti-crisis strategy. The three-pronged strategy of boosting the bailout fund, getting private creditors to take a bigger hit on their Greek debt holdings and the banks to raise more capital was largely viewed favorably by the markets, though details need to be ironed out.

Many analysts, however, think that Europe will end up having to do more, especially if bond market investors continue to ask for more in return for buying up Italian debt _ a poorly received auction last Friday has fueled concerns over the country.

Italy is the eurozone’s third largest economy and only Greece has more debt as a percentage of national income. Its debts dwarf the euro1 trillion ($1.4 trillion) Europe’s bailout fund will have at its disposal if last week’s commitments are delivered.

“We remain sceptical that the plan will prove enough to restore financial market stability for long, with some signs of disappointment already starting to creep into the market as Italian 10 year yields continue to march above 6 percent,” said Lee Hardman, an analyst at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Investors more cautious view of last week’s plan weighed on stock markets Monday.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 1.1 percent at 5,641 while Germany’s DAX fell 1.6 percent to 6,260. The CAC-40 in France was 1.1 percent lower at 3,282.

Wall Street was also poised for a lower opening _ Dow futures were down 0.8 percent at 12,070 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell 1 percent to 1,268.

Earlier, the main point of interest in financial markets was the Bank of Japan’s latest intervention to weaken the yen, which had hit a new post World War II high against the dollar.

The strong yen has dented earnings of Japanese corporations such as Nintendo Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. and hurt the economy’s recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Finance Minister Jun Azumi said monetary authorities could continue intervening.

The dollar surged about 5 percent to above 79 yen for a while, before slipping back to 77.81 yen. Japan’s export sector _ whose fortunes are largely tied to the relative strength of the yen _ rose abruptly. Isuzu Motors Corp. jumped 3.7 percent. Canon Inc. rose 1 percent and Nikon Corp. added 1.8 percent. Nintendo Co. gained 1.5 percent.

Those gains helped limit the losses on Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index. It closed 0.7 percent lower at 8,988.39.

Analysts are skeptical over whether the intervention will have a long-lasting impact. Previous efforts this year have provided short-term relief.

The intervention is likely to feature at a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations in Cannes, France, later this week. How to get the global economy moving again is likely to the main topic of debate.

There’s also a lot of U.S. economic data to digest this week, culminating in Friday’s monthly jobs report on Friday.

“This month is going to be another watershed insight into whether we are looking at a low growth environment or something worse,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “To maintain the low growth environment view, the market is going to want to see positive employment growth.”

The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank also meet to decide on their monetary policies this week. Mario Draghi will on Thursday hold his first meeting and press conference as chief of the ECB and successor to Jean-Claude Trichet. Investors will be looking for signs that the bank is considering cutting interest rates and that it will continue its program to buy bonds. The program, used intermittently by the ECB, has helped keep bond yields down so far this year in Italy and Spain.

Elsewhere in Asia, mainland Chinese shares were mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index snapped a five-session winning streak by falling 0.2 percent to 2,468.25, while the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.5 percent to 1,040.93.

In Sydney, shares of Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. jumped 4.3 percent after a court ordered employees of the world’s 10th-largest airlines back to work. The airline had grounded its entire fleet on Saturday following weeks of strikes by its workers, but an arbitration court on Sunday ordered an end to the strikes and canceled the staff lockout.

Oil prices tracked equities lower, with the benchmark rate for December delivery down 49 cents at $92.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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MADISON COUNTY

Politicians hate yielding power. But in recession-hit Greece, more governing Socialists are choosing to do so rather than back Prime Minister George Papandreou’s deeply hated austerity measures.

In growing numbers, Socialist lawmakers are calling for an end to their single-party government, unable to face their angry constituents after two years of punishing tax hikes and slashed pensions, jobs and salaries.

Pressed hard by Papandreou, parliament this week approved some of the harshest cuts since the financial crisis began in order to appease international creditors and keep Greece solvent.

But for many, it was a step too far: Two days of rioting outside parliament left one man dead and nearly 200 wounded. Unions staged a 48-hour general strike that shut down schools, shops, offices and transportation around the country and occupied ministry buildings.

“Papandreou now has large sections of society against him,” said Spyros Tritsas, chief editor of the weekly current affairs magazine Epikaira, which has been critical of Papandreou’s handling of the crisis.

The Socialists themselves showed increasing signs of discontent, as popular support for their party continues to fall dramatically.

Greeks are heading into a fourth year of recession with 16.5 percent unemployment and a rapidly expanding class of poor. Now they face yet more emergency tax hikes, pension cuts, and steep levies on their homes.

One prominent government deputy choked back tears before voting for the tough new measures Thursday, and promised it was the last time she would bow to leadership pressure. Others said they had simply had enough.

“At this point, we have reached our limit … No (party) can carry this burden alone. There must be an emergency government that will be in power for as long as is required,” Socialist deputy Nikos Salagiannis said.

Four other Socialists during the debate also openly demanded that Papandreou hold talks with opposition parties on an emergency power-sharing deal.

In the end, lawmakers approved the latest round of cuts late Thursday, but the vote gnawed at Papandreou’s grip on power, midway through his four-year term in office.

A dissenting Socialist vote cut his majority in parliament to just three seats _ raising new doubts that he will be able to see through two more years of unpopular reforms.

The Greek political crisis comes as European leaders grapple over possible solutions to stop the eurozone debt crisis spreading from the three smaller nations that have already received bailouts _ Greece, Ireland and Portugal _ to major economies that are struggling, such as Italy and Spain.

Since May 2010, Greece has been surviving on rescue loans worth euro110 billion ($152 billion) from eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. But it has tried to meet deficit-cutting demands mainly by raising taxes, arguing that structural reforms to ease long-term spending on health care and its bloated public sector will take longer to show results.

Attempts at cross-party support for Greece’s recovery effort have fallen flat.

Opposition parties on the left and right oppose the measures as unfair and doomed to fail, while the government says it must meet its commitments as each rescue loan installment _ paid out roughly every quarter _ is essential to prevent a chaotic default payday loans with no fax.

So far, the austerity has hammered Greece’s once-booming private sector.

Since the debt crisis started in late 2009, more than 275,000 people have lost their jobs and store closures have exceeded 20 percent in some parts of Athens and other cities.

“The government is heading toward a state of collapse … because it is unable to stop the rapid decline in people’s living standards,” Tritsas told The Associated Press. “The middle class is being pulled apart, as the measures are now hurting average people and small businesses who had little financial reliance on the state.”

A poll commissioned by the magazine and published in mid-October found that 81 percent of respondents thought Greece’s financial situation had got “much worse” in the past 12 months, and that 55 percent said they would be unable to pay the new emergency taxes. Nearly nine out of 10 Greeks now disagree with Papandreou’s policies in general.

No margin of error was available for the VPRC poll of 1,000 adults conducted earlier in the month.

The Socialists won the 2009 election by a landslide, with nearly 44 percent of the vote and a 10-seat majority in the 300-member parliament. Rival conservatives were widely discredited for corruption scandals, tipping Greece into recession, and hiding the true extent of the country’s economic troubles.

Two years later, seven of Papandreou’s deputies have become anti-government independents and three others have quit politics due to their opposition to the austerity measures.

“If those three deputies had not given up their seats in parliament, the government would already have fallen,” Tritsas said. “Do I think the Socialists themselves could bring down the government? I think it’s likely. It’s hard to see (early) elections being avoided.”

Tritsas said he did not expect deeply entrenched dominance by the country’s two main parties to disappear, but predicted those parties would be forced to reinvent themselves.

Support for the Socialists has sunk to around 20 percent, according to recent opinion polls which give the conservatives a double-digit lead.

And labor unions, once a pillar of Socialist support, are now openly calling for the government to go.

“This government has ignored the popular uprising by approving this terrible law,” Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary-general of the civil servant union, Adedy, told the AP on Friday after two days of riots shook Athens. “Our answer is: get out as fast as you can, there is no place for you in Greece any longer.”

Meanwhile, the remaining 153 members of Papandreou’s parliamentary group dread weekend visits to their constituencies, where opposition-organized groups of “angry citizens” often greet them with eggs, yogurt, and chants of abuse.

Cell-phone videos of the attacks have been frequently posted on the Internet and shown on television.

The Socialists, government lawmaker Andreas Triantafilopoulos told parliament, have been handed an unendurable task.

“We have been insulted, mocked, heckled, and assaulted,” he said. “That’s because we’ve had to shoulder the weight of these reforms alone.”

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TORONTO

Dear Jeanne & Leonard:

My sister is stiffing our elderly father. Six years ago, “Madeline” and her husband borrowed $50,000 from Dad for a down payment on a house, the deal being that they’d pay him back when they sold it. Well, they did sell the house a few years later. But instead of repaying our father, they bought a larger one. Long story short, when the housing market collapsed, they decided to stop making payments, and the bank foreclosed on them. So Madeline and her husband moved out, and they’re making no attempt to repay Dad, though they both have jobs. Dad’s asked me to help him get his money back, and I’d like to know where to start. - Jill M.

Dear Jill:

The first thing your father needs to do is change his will so that it takes into account the amount of money Madeline owes him. That’s at the very least. In our book, Madeline’s dishonorable behavior puts disinheriting her on the table.

Next, you and your father should talk to a lawyer and find out what legal options exist for collecting from your sister and her husband. Given the way they’ve treated him, your father shouldn’t hesitate to be as tough as the law allows.

Finally, if you haven’t already done so, it’s time for you to get tough with your sister—very tough. By this we mean letting her know that if she doesn’t start repaying the loan, you’re prepared to cut her off from the family and are prepared to tell everyone—your extended family, your family’s friends, her friends and anyone else she knows—that she’s blown off a large debt to her elderly father. Then cross your fingers and hope it sinks in: That walking away from her obligation will not be cost-free.

* * *

Dear Jeanne & Leonard:

When a guy starts bragging about money, what can you do? Last weekend our neighbors had my wife and me over for dinner to meet the husband’s brother and sister-in-law, “Eric” and “Allison.” At one point during the evening, Eric began telling me about a wonderful meal he and Allison had had on a recent vacation guaranteed payday loans. When Eric said the dinner cost $900, my jaw must have dropped, because he quickly added “But there was real value there, especially in the wine.” I was dumbstruck. I’m sure our neighbors can’t afford dinners that cost one-third that much, and, as Eric could surely tell, neither can we. What’s the appropriate response in a situation like that? - Flabbergasted

Dear Flabbergasted:

So, what do you think? Were you caught in the crossfire of some insane sibling rivalry, or is this guy always this boorish?

Not that it matters. There’s nothing you can say to people like Eric, and there’s no point in trying. All you can do is laugh about him later, while enjoying a much less expensive meal with much more civilized friends.

* * *

Dear Jeanne & Leonard:

I’m wondering if I need to give some money back to my insurance company. Here’s the story: A leaking pipe under my house caused extensive mold damage—damage that the company’s claims adjuster estimated would cost $5,500 to repair. But once I filed a claim, the insurance company decided the damage wasn’t covered by my policy. So I had to file a complaint with the Insurance Commission, which ultimately forced the insurance company to pay me the $5,500. This took a long time, though, and meanwhile I found someone who fixed the damage for $2,000. Now I’m wondering, is it wrong for me to keep the $3,500 difference between what I paid for the repair and what the insurance company paid me? - W.G.

Dear W.G.:

We don’t know what your policy states, but in the moral arena, you’re entitled to the entire $5,500 - $2,000 to pay for the repair and $3,500 for the trouble the insurance company made you go to collect what it owed you.

Please e-mail your questions about money and relationships to Questions@MoneyManners.net. © 2011 by Jeanne Fleming and Leonard Schwarz

Distributed by King Features Syndicate

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A faster iPhone with better software and an improved camera went on sale in seven countries on Friday as hundreds of buyers camped out for hours to be among the first to get one.

About 200 people were at Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan as the iPhone 4S went on sale at 8 a.m. Steve Wozniak, who created Apple with Steve Jobs in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was first in line at a store in Los Gatos, Calif.

Many said the event resembled a remembrance to Jobs, who died last week, a day after Apple Inc. announced the new phone.

Emily Smith, a 27-year-old user experience designer in New York, checked in to the line on the location-centric social network Foursquare. She got a virtual Steve Jobs badge that read: “Here’s to the crazy ones. ThankYouSteve.”

Others joked that the 4S model stood “for Steve.”

Many people came out despite the fact that they could have ordered phones online and had them shipped to their homes or offices.

Apple and phone companies in seven countries started taking orders for the iPhone 4S last Friday. Apple said Monday that more than 1 million orders came in, breaking the record set by last year’s model, which was available in fewer countries and on fewer carriers.

The death of Jobs could be affecting sales. Marketing experts say products designed by widely admired figures such as Jobs usually see an upsurge in sales after their death.

Una Chen, a 24-year-old banker, said she was just happy to swap out her BlackBerry Bold for the new iPhone, particularly after a BlackBerry outage affected her phone this week.

“It’s not good to have a phone and not be able to use it,” Chen said.

Wozniak got in line at the California store even though he already had two new phones on the way. He told television station NBC11 on Thursday that while he waited for the store’s opening Friday morning, he planned on getting caught up on his email and chatting with fans.

In the U.S., sales were beginning at 8 a.m. in each time zone. They were available at Apple stores, along with those of the three partner carriers, AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless. Some Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores and authorized resellers also carried the phones.

The base model of the iPhone 4S costs $199 in the U.S. with a two-year contract. It comes with 16 gigabytes of storage. Customers can get 32 gigabytes for $299 and 64 gigabytes for $399. Customers have a choice of white or black.

The phones also debuted Friday in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain. They are coming to 22 more countries by the end of the month.

The phone _ Apple’s fifth _ has a faster processor and an improved camera compared with last year’s model. It has a new operating system that allows you to sync content without needing a computer. It also includes a futuristic, voice-activated service that responds to spoken commands and questions such as “Do I need an umbrella today?”

However, some customers and investors were disappointed that Apple didn’t launch a more radical new model _ an iPhone 5. It’s been more than a year since Apple’s previous model was released.

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Air Canada has filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the union representing flight attendants who are now barred from walking off the job pending a labour board hearing.

The bad-faith bargaining complaint against the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 6,800 flight attendants, comes after Labour Minister Lisa Raitt intervened in the dispute on Wednesday, asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to rule on two matters.

Asking whether a deal between Air Canada and unionized employees is even possible and citing health and safety concerns for the nation because the airline offers essential services, Raitt asked the board for a ruling, thereby making a strike illegal.

Airline officials have repeatedly noted that two tentative agreements, both recommended by top union executives, were soundly rejected by the rank-and-file.

The complaint argues that

Asian stocks opened lower Wednesday after Slovakia blocked a measure to expand Europe’s financial rescue program for heavily indebted countries.

The move sent markets south as worries intensified that a failure by Europe to contain its debt crisis could lead to a massive debt default by the Greek government.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.7 percent to 8,716.13. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.3 percent to 1,790.30, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4 percent to 17,894.31. Benchmarks in Australia, Taiwan, Singapore and mainland China were also lower.

Slovakia’s parliament rejected a bill Tuesday that would have strengthened the powers of a regional rescue fund to help bail out strapped economies in the eurozone.

The 16 other countries that use the euro have already signed off on the bill, but the measure requires unanimous support.

There are ways around Slovakia’s opposition, but the move temporarily sets back efforts to address Europe’s debt jam, which has been the most important issue for financial markets for months.

Greece has been on the brink of defaulting on its debt for months. If that happens, it would hurt European and U.S. banks by decimating the value of Greek government bonds they own. Those banks would then be less likely to lend to each other and to businesses. That could plug up an already weak global economy, with implications for everything from bank stocks to international trade.

The decision came after U.S. stock markets closed. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 17 points after moving between small gains and losses throughout the day.

The Dow lost 0.1 percent to close at 11,416.3. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.1 percent to 1,195.54, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7 percent to 2,583.03.

Many market watchers think the volatility will continue until heavily indebted countries like Greece, Spain and Italy have established a clear path out of their current debt mess.

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Dow Chemical Co. and the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. say they’ve signed an agreement that advances their plan to build one of the world’s biggest chemical plants in Saudi Arabia. The $20 billion complex is expected to begin production in 2015.

The companies announced Saturday that they signed a joint venture agreement for Sadara Chemical Co., which will own the plant being built in the desert kingdom. It will generate an estimated $10 billion in revenue annually.

Dow and Saudi Aramco together are investing about $12 billion, and a portion of Sadara will be sold to shareholders in a public offering in 2013 or 2014. The complex, with 26 manufacturing units, will be the largest integrated chemical facility ever built in one go, the companies say.

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Kevin O