Financial bonanza

Another set of successful bond auctions in Europe and a decline in applications for unemployment benefits are pushing U.S. stock futures higher Thursday.

Dow futures are up 38 points to at 12,542. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures rose 5 points to 1,307. The Nasdaq composite is up 10 points to 2,431.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008. The decline added to recent evidence that the job market is strengthening one hour payday loan.

Solid earnings from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley bolstered the prevailing optimism. Bank of America returned to profit in the final three months of the year while Morgan Stanley narrowed its losses.

The gains in U.S. futures follow increases in European and Asian markets.

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European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said investors largely priced in the euro-area sovereign downgrades from Standard & Poor

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A newly formed investigative panel on Japan’s nuclear disaster will use its subpeona powers wisely and cut deeper into the accident than the government’s probe, the leader of the independent commission said Monday.

The panel appointed by parliament last month has gained attention here because its 10 members include outspoken critics of Japan’s nuclear policy who long ago questioned the seismic risks to the country’s 54 nuclear reactors.

It is expected to examine the extent to which the 9.0-magnitude earthquake contributed to the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, as well as the ensuing tsunami and radiation alert system. Interim reports by the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. focused on the tsunami and deny the quake itself caused damage that led to fires, reactor meltdowns and radiation leaks from the plant.

“We will get to the bottom of the case and compile a proposal for the future as we strive to live up to the people’s expectations,” panel Chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa told a news conference after the commission had its first full open meeting. “We will seek how we can be different from the government panel.”

The panel is the first bipartisan investigative panel appointed by parliament in its modern political history, said Kurokawa, an expert of internal medicine and a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

It is also the first that can request parliament subpoena witnesses and documents, although the lack of a penalty for objectors raises questions on its effectiveness low interest rate personal loans. The panel will submit its findings to parliament around June for action to be taken.

The panel includes legal, nuclear and medical experts. Seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi has long warned of tsunami risks in the earthquake-prone country where all 54 nuclear reactors are built on the coastline. Engineer Mitsuhiko Tanaka designed nuclear reactors at Babcock-Hitachi K.K. and has suggested the March quake damaged the Fukushima reactors before the tsunami.

The separate government-appointed panel released preliminary findings last month and found plenty to criticize. It said management of the crisis was marred by erroneous assumptions about equipment, delayed disclosure of radiation leaks and other problems.

The government panel had no subpoena power and the more than 400 witnesses it interviewed were allowed to stay anonymous. Kurokawa said he might seek those transcripts to avoid overlaps.

He said the panel has not decided whether to try to question former Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other top officials responsible for the initial crisis response in public. Kan resigned in August amid widespread criticism of his handling of the nuclear and tsunami disasters and recovery efforts.

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Confidence among U.S. consumers increased more than forecast in January, reaching its highest level in eight months on signs the labor market is improving.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment climbed to 74 from 69.9 at the end of December. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for 71.5. The measure has increased 9.9 points in the last two months, the biggest such gain since April-May 2009.

The lowest jobless rate in almost three years and cheaper gasoline prices since mid-2011 are giving Americans reason to be more upbeat. While the pickup in optimism will probably help sustain household purchases, limited wage gains and falling real estate values may temper the consumer spending that accelerated in the fourth quarter.

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Spain and Italy gave financial markets a boost Thursday as they successfully raised nearly euro22 billion ($27.98 billion) in two keenly watched debt auctions that showed renewed investor confidence in the countries’ attempts to get a grip on their debt problems.

Spain sold nearly euro10 billion ($12.7 billion) in auctions of bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016, with demand strong and the amount sold double the maximum sought. Italy saw its borrowing costs drop sharply as it sold euro12 billion ($15 billion) in what was also its first test of market sentiment this year.

Both debt-laden countries have been the focus of worries that they might be dragged further into the crisis threatening the 17 countries that use the euro as their currency that has already forced Greece, Ireland and Italy to seek billions in bailout money.

Buyers also took euro8.5 billion in 12-month Italian bonds at a yield of 2.735 percent, sharply down from last month’s rate of 5.95 percent. They also bought euro3.5 billion ($4.45 billion) in bonds maturing in May at 1.644 percent interest, down from 3.251 percent last time.

Market reaction in both countries was good. In the secondary market, where issued bonds are then traded openly, the yield for Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond dropped to 6.6 percent from around 7 percent, a perilous level that forced other eurozone nations to seek bailouts.

The rate for the Spanish 10-year bond also dropped back to 5.15 percent after opening at 5.32 percent.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank maintained its lending rate at 1 percent Thursday with President Mario Draghi saying there were “tentative signs of stabilization of activity at low levels” in the troubled eurozone.

Boosting liquidity has been the institution’s principal tool against the crisis as it aims to encourage banks to continue lending to companies so they can operate and grow.

Europe’s other leading central bank, the Bank of England, also kept its lending rate at a record low of 0.5 percent.

Nicholas Spiro of London-based consultancy Spiro Strategy said the Italian auction showed that ECB efforts to pump liquidity into the sector were working.

“Few would have predicted as recently as last month that Italy would be paying as little as 2.7 percent for 1-year paper,” he wrote. “This is on a par with Italy’s borrowing costs before it got sucked into the eurozone crisis in July.”

He noted that Spain’s auction also went well but said Italy’s funding challenges are of a “different order of magnitude.”

Chiara Cremonesi of UniCredit Research called the auction “extremely positive” and a good omen for a sale of longer-term debt on Friday.

Noting that while demand for shorter maturities has been strong in recent weeks, she said the auction Thursday “was even better than our expectations personal loans for bad credit.”

Italy’s euro1.9 trillion ($2.42 trillion) in government debt and heavy borrowing needs this year have made it a focal point of the European debt crisis.

Italy has passed austerity measures and is on a structural reform course that Premier Mario Monti claims should bring down Italy’s high bond yields, which he says are no longer warranted.

Monti took over in November after Premier Silvio Berlusconi stepped down under market and political pressure.

The former EU commissioner said Thursday that Europe needs to focus not only on fiscal discipline, which is to be enshrined in a fiscal compact still being negotiated, but also coordinate measures to promote growth.

Monti said the EU goal of reducing total debt to 60 percent of GDP in 20 years was “severe, but doable.”

Italy’s debt currently stands at 120 percent of GDP. Spain’s is at 66 percent.

Spain’s auction was the first since the conservative Popular Party took office last month after its landslide election win Nov. 20. It came a day after Parliament approved the government’s first austerity measures, a euro15 billion ($19.1 billion) package aimed at reining in the swollen deficit.

Spain has a 21.5 percent unemployment rate and its economy is expected to fall back into recession.

The Treasury sold euro4.27 billion in three-year paper with an average interest rate of 3.38 percent. A Dec. 15 three-year bond sale had a 4.02 percent rate. Yields were also down on two other bond types sold.

Marc Ostwald, strategist for Monument Securities described the demand as “very impressive” and said the sale indicated a warm welcome for the government’s efforts to quickly bring the deficit under control.

Spain’s borrowing costs shot up last year but have eased in auctions since the election.

The country has pledged to slash its deficit from 11.2 percent of GDP in 2009 to within the European Union limit of 3 percent by 2013.

Meanwhile, crucial Greek talks continued between the government and its private investors to reach a deal on a bond swap that would reduce the country’s debt load and is an integral part of its second bailout package.

Finance chief Evangelos Venizelos said Wednesday the negotiations had “advanced and are now at a very good point.”.

____

Barry reported from Milan. Daniel Woolls in Madrid contributed to this report.

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Thick black smoke and flames rose Tuesday from the burning roadblock that cut off a highway linking Nigeria’s mainland to the islands where the oil-rich nation’s wealthy live. The bare-chested young men who live under the bridge said they had had enough.

“This is oligarchy, this is not a democracy!” shouted Danjuma Mohammed, clutching a rock in each hand. “We are no longer afraid of you! We are ready for war!”

A paralyzing strike called by labor unions to protest spiraling gasoline prices drew tens of thousands into the streets Tuesday to denounce government corruption in Nigeria, a multiethnic nation often violently divided by those who have and those who have not.

The anger also fueled violence that pitted Christians against Muslims in Nigeria’s southwest, where five people were killed in attacks on a mosque and Quranic school.

At least six people were wounded in the attacks in Benin City, Nigerian Red Cross spokesman Nwakpa O. Nwakpa said. On Monday, a mob tried and failed to set a mosque ablaze.

The sectarian violence is among worrying signs of possible countrywide unrest in this nation divided into a mostly Christian south and Muslim north. A radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram has begun killing Christians in the nation’s northeast, leading to a call by a prominent Christian leader for worshippers to defend themselves.

The Benin City attack appeared to be a response to those killings.

“It looks like a reprisal from attacks in the north,” Nwakpa said. “They took advantage of protests.”

The nationwide strike, which began Monday, came after President Goodluck Jonathan removed subsidies on Jan. 1 that had kept gasoline prices low. Overnight, prices at the pump more than doubled, from $1.70 per gallon (45 cents per liter) to at least $3.50 per gallon (94 cents per liter). The costs of food and transportation also doubled in a nation where most live on less than $2 a day.

Jonathan insists the move was necessary to save the country an estimated $8 billion a year, which he promises will go toward badly needed road and public projects. However, protesters _ who joined the strike under the slogan of “Occupy Nigeria” _ say the time has come to end government corruption in a nation where military rulers and politicians have stolen billions.

More than 10,000 people gathered Tuesday at a park in Lagos, where protests were mostly peaceful. However, crowds were tense elsewhere in the city of 15 million.

Dr electronic check payday advance. Tayo Konolafe, a gynecologist, led a group of young protesters, shouting that he would be ready to abandon his career and “hold a gun” to bring change in the country.

“Everybody is angry. A hungry man is an angry man,” Konolafe declared. “What we are passing through in Nigeria is not poverty _ it is penury.”

Whether the government can hold back nationwide unrest remains unclear. Soldiers are deployed now in the country’s restive central region over fears of ethnic and religious violence, in its northeast to fight Boko Haram and in its oil-rich southern delta to stop militancy. Those operations have had mixed success, while critics say the country’s police force is more focused on collecting bribes from civilians than protecting them.

“I will not say it is easy, but we are trying to contain it,” said Moses Onireti, a police spokesman in Oyo state, where a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed to try to control violence. “These protesters are everywhere, everywhere.”

Unrest could affect oil production in Nigeria, which produces about 2.4 million barrels of oil a day and is a top crude supplier to the U.S. However, most fields remain unmanned and offshore oil fields provide much of its capacity. Unions representing some oil workers have promised to strike, but it is unclear what effect on production that has had.

The strike has closed Lagos’ busy Apapa Port, cutting off cargo shipments. Businesses remain shuttered, while air carriers canceled more international flights. Organizers say the strike will continue until the government restores the subsidies.

Meanwhile, anger in the street continues unabated. At the Ikoyi Island roadblock, a convoy of police escorting a member of the country’s elite arrived, with officers loudly loading their Kalashnikov rifles in an attempt to drive the protesters away. Officers put out part of the flaming blockade with an extinguisher, then drove off, leaving the protesters behind.

Another convoy of unarmed officers arrived. They pleaded for calm but the protesters instead threw stones as the officers struggled to put out the flames.

“They will kill us and we will kill them!” the protesters shouted.

___

Associated Press writer Yinka Ibukun contributed to this report.

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If the new Dodge Dart sells anything like the original, Chrysler will have the small-car hit it needs.

The reinvented compact, which debuts at the Detroit auto show Monday, is nothing like its predecessor from the 1960s and `70s. But Chrysler is counting on the Dart, and its zippy name, to help it sell more small cars and continue its recent revival.

Instead of the somewhat boxy lines of the original, the new Dart has the sleek stance of a modern muscle-car, with a short hood, long roof and slightly flared fenders. And it’s based on the frame and suspension of a crisp-handling Alfa Romeo hatchback brought over by Chrysler’s Italian owner, Fiat SpA.

The Dart also is a crucial test of the Chrysler-Fiat alliance, one aimed at saving millions of dollars by reusing Fiat frames, engines and technology, yet giving them an American style with more space for people and gear. The Dart is the first Chrysler designed jointly by the companies.

Chrysler, which ran out of cash and had to be bailed out by the government in 2009, saw sales jump 26 percent last year, and it’s poised to turn its first annual profit since 1997.

Now the automaker needs a breakthrough in the growing small-car market, where it hasn’t had success since the bug-eyed Dodge Neon in the mid-1990s. After nearly failing, Chrysler also realizes it must end its dependence on inefficient SUVs and pickups.

Since the Neon, few have considered Chrysler compacts, keeping the company out of a market that has grown to about 15 percent of U.S. auto sales.

Forty years ago, it was a different story. Back then, Dodge Darts were everywhere. Middle-class Americans bought nearly 3.3 million between 1960 and 1976, when Chrysler offered versions for every lifestyle: the stripped-down commuter car, convertibles, the family station wagon, and street racers like the Dart Swinger, which came with a racing stripe, hood scoops and a 340-cubic-inch V-8 engine. Sales peaked in 1974 at more than 340,000 when gasoline was a little over 50 cents per gallon and President Richard Nixon resigned during the Watergate scandal.

Chrysler would kill for those sales today. Its current small-car offering, the Caliber, sold only 35,000 last year, a fraction of the class-leading Toyota Corolla at 240,000. The Caliber is noisy, slow and its looks can’t compete with rivals like the Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and Chevrolet Cruze.

That’s bad for long-term growth. Compacts are the cars that young, first-time buyers go for, and many stick with a brand as they age.

“Let’s face it, the Caliber is not really able to go … toe-to-toe with … competitive compact cars,” says Reid Bigland, CEO of the Dodge brand and Chrysler Group LLC’s sales chief. “That’s about to change.”

In building the new Dart, Chrysler added room to the Giulietta, a sleek, five-door hatchback sold in Europe by Fiat-owned Alfa Romeo payday loan companies. Engineers widened it 3 inches and stretched the distance between the front and back wheels by 4 inches. Chrysler claims that the Dart has the most shoulder and hip room in its class, and that it has more rear-seat legroom than the midsize Hyundai Sonata.

The company knew it had to overcome an image of chintzy, hard plastic interiors from its leaner years. As a result, it paid close attention to the inside, says Bigland. Chrysler gave the Dart a soft-looking dashboard and doors, and developed switches that open and close vents like in a luxury car.

Dart buyers also can get touch-screen controls and can pick their own interior accent colors. There’s a choice of three engines, including a Fiat-designed 1.4-liter turbo reserved for the muscle car edition.

Also setting the car apart is the tail lights. The Dart borrowed the trademark horizontal LED lighting from the tough-looking Dodge Charger.

Bigland says the Dart will match or beat the competition on gas mileage, ride and handling, and quality. The Dart is expected to get close to 40 miles per gallon. Bigland won’t reveal the price, but says it would be competitive with rivals, most of which start around $17,000.

Chrysler may have to charge less for the Dart because it’s a little smaller than the Focus or Cruze, says Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Automotive. But the Dart likely will take sales from its Detroit rivals, the Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus. Those analysts who have seen the Dart say it will be a strong choice for buyers.

“In terms of style, in terms of amenities, in terms of design and quality, it looked to be really top-notch stuff, says Bragman.

Chrysler, the smallest of Detroit’s three automakers, for years was a scrappy underdog known for smart designs, innovation and quick thinking. But in 1998 it was bought by Germany’s Daimler-Benz, which neglected the company and eventually sold it to an investment firm that starved it of capital. When Fiat got control in 2009, Chrysler’s cars and trucks needed redesign.

In 2010, Engineers spruced up the model lineup, rolling out 16 new or revamped cars and trucks. Last year, Chrysler ran a hit Super Bowl ad, used clever marketing and saw sales rise to 1.37 million vehicles, up almost 50 percent from 2009, the year it almost died. At the same time, it passed Honda to become the No. 4 U.S. automaker.

The company, whose brands include Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and Dodge, is hoping the Dart continues that momentum. Chrysler won’t give sales targets for the Dart. But any rise in its small-car sales could help it continue an improbable comeback.

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European markets were steady Monday ahead of a meeting between the leaders of France and Germany on how to restore confidence in the euro, while Chinese shares surged after the country’s monetary authorities pledged to increase bank lending to entrepreneurs.

Investors will likely focus this week on Europe’s efforts to deal with its debt market turmoil. The meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is their first of the year and investors will want to see how the “fiscal compact” agreed in December is being fleshed out.

All EU countries but Britain agreed at the time to consider a new treaty to enforce tougher budget controls by March this year.

“This is set to be the first of a number of meetings between the two leaders over the coming days and weeks, and markets will be hoping that the one eyed insistence on budget discipline by Angela Merkel also gives way to looking at practical measures to stimulate growth in Europe,” said Michael Hewson, markets analyst at CMC Markets.

Mounting evidence that the eurozone is heading for a recession has weighed on European markets over the past days. On Monday, the latest data showed German industrial production fell in November, suggesting even the richer countries are feeling the pinch.

Fears of default have already pushed Greece, Ireland and Portugal to need bailouts are now threatening much-bigger Spain and Italy. The yield on Italy’s benchmark ten-year bonds on Monday continued to hover around the 7 percent mark, widely considered to be unsustainable in the long-run.

After a perky start to the year, market sentiment has deteriorated again due to concerns about Europe’s ability to solve its debt problems.

On Monday, Germany’s DAX was down 0.2 percent at 6,044 while the CAC-40 in France rose 0.2 percent to 3,142. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was flat at 5,649.

The euro, which last week took a battering on fears over both the debt crisis and the likelihood that the eurozone economy is heading toward recession, recovered some ground, trading 0.8 percent higher at $1.2780. Earlier, during Asian trading hours, it had fallen to a 16-month low of $1.2676.

Wall Street was poised for a subdued opening after a lackluster response to strong U.S. jobs numbers last Friday. Dow futures were up 0.1 percent at 12,319 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures were flat at 1,274.

Earlier in Asia, Chinese shares in Hong Kong and the mainland jumped sharply following a weekend government planning conference during which Premier Wen Jiabao promised to channel lending to entrepreneurs who have been battered by weak global demand.

China tightened lending and investment curbs last year to cool its overheated economy but has reversed course in recent months following a slump in global demand that has hurt exporters and led to job losses.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.5 percent at 18,865.72. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.9 percent to 2,225.89, while the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 3.7 percent. Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9 percent to 1,826.49. In Japan, financial markets were closed for a public holiday.

Trading in the oil markets was fairly subdued, with benchmark crude for February delivery down 36 cents at $101.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

____

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Canadian consumer confidence rose in the fourth quarter from a two-year low on optimism about real estate prices and the global economy according to a Nanos Research poll.

The Nanos Economic Mood Index rose to 107.4 in the fourth quarter from 105.1 the prior three months, according to a report by Nik Nanos, president of the Ottawa-based polling company. About 19 percent of those surveyed said the economy will be stronger in the next six months, up from 16 percent, while the share who said it will be weaker declined to 31 percent from 39 percent.

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