Monday Business Edition

Negotiations on the sum and payback conditions in a deal expected to involve tens of billions of euros follow an evaluation mission last week to Lisbon by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The government of Prime Minister Jose Socrates government fell last month when parliament rejected an austerity plan, forcing Lisbon to bow to market pressure and seek an European Union-IMF bailout.

As authorities prepared to discuss Portugal’s financial bailout, fresh worries over indebted eurozone nations helped the price of ‘safe-haven’ gold to reach fresh record highs.

The euro dropped to $1.4332 in London morning trade from $1.4431 late in New York on Friday.

“We are one shock away from a full-blown crisis,” said World Bank president Robert Zoellick Saturday about the surge in basic food prices.

“The financial crisis taught us that prevention is better than cure. We cannot afford to forget that lesson,” he said at the close of the annual spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

After two years of booming sales, the growth in China’s auto market — which in 2009 overtook that of the United States to become the world’s largest — tapered off to eight percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011.

That slowdown — which still meant the sale of 4.98 million units — comes as Beijing winds back stimulus measures put in place to combat the global financial crisis and curbs the number of licence plates issued in the capital.

The negotiations on the sum and payback conditions follow an evaluation mission last week to Lisbon by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Portugal goes to early polls on June 5. The government of Prime Minister Jose Socrates government fell last month when parliament rejected its latest austerity plan, forcing Lisbon to bow to market pressure and seek an EU-IMF bailout.

Selling for as much as $20,000 apiece, Kwanpen bags are made in a spacious, brightly lit workroom where about 50 staff work meticulously to meet the exacting demands of fashionable women the world over.

Kwanpen is a family-owned enterprise operating in one of Singapore’s industrial suburbs, the only luxury leather goods brand from a city-state better known for electronics, petrochemicals and finance.

Medvedev led a business delegation to the Chinese financial hub as he seeks to diversify Russia’s economy beyond oil and gas and entice more foreign capital into what he has called a “very bad” domestic investment climate.

He held talks with Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang and visited the stock exchange, where he said several Russian companies were considering Hong Kong listings.

This week President Barack Obama promised to cut the US deficit by $4 trillion in 12 years. His Republican adversaries have promised marginally bigger cuts over 10 years.

Onlookers might be forgiven for thinking Washington’s noxious partisan politics is not that noxious after all.

“We must act now,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick at the close of the the two organisations’ meetings in Washington.

“Waiting for the situation to stabilize will mean lost opportunities. In revolutionary moments, the status quo is not a winning hand.”

“Restructuring is simply not in the cards,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual spring meetings in Washington.

“There is no such discussion,” he stressed, adding that “the pain and the cost are higher than the benefits.”

A Group of 20 delegation member told AFP the seven “included the G5” — the United States, France, Britain, Japan and Germany — and “two big emerging countries,” suggesting China and India.

The move would boost fraternal scrutiny in the elite G20 club, underscoring the growing worry over how structural problems in one large economy can spill across the world and pull others down — as became apparent in the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters at the weekend the two sides were in preliminary talks.

Buying Synthes would allow healthcare conglomerate J&J to further diversify its business, but a deal at $20 billion would be a premium of less than 9 percent to Synthes’s closing market value on Friday, which some analysts said looked too low.

Philips is moving its loss-making TV business to a 30/70 joint venture with Hong-Kong based monitor maker TPV and has the option to sell out. The Dutch group has struggled to compete with lower-cost Asian rivals Samsung and LG Electronics.

Van Houten, a restructuring expert who took over as CEO this month, said on Monday he is assessing the profitability of Philips’ 400 or so business areas and “taking the blanket off” its laggards, a hint that further divestments could be on the cards.

Portuguese debt premiums rose to new record highs in early trading, also pushed up by talk of Greek debt restructuring, which Athens again denied.

Representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are in Lisbon to set the terms for what would be the euro zone’s third bailout in a year after multi-billion euro deals for Greece and Ireland.

U.S. stock market gains early in the quarter encouraged investors to buy equity funds, which charge relatively high fees compared with bond funds. Events like Japan’s March 11 earthquake and unrest in the Middle East did make some investors more cautious, but markets kept most of their gains.

“When you have good markets, it tends have be a very profitable source of growth,” said KBW analyst Rob Lee.

Vehicle sales are anticipated to rise to 23 million units by 2015, up 27 percent from their level in 2010, a senior Chinese government official said on Monday in Shanghai, just ahead of the official opening of the Shanghai Auto Show.

That figure suggests a slowing growth rate because it is lower than the 32.4 percent rate in 2010, in which China’s sales totaled 18.1 million units. Car sales alone rose a third last year to 13.8 million units.

State-owned CEZ, central Europe’s biggest utility group, plans to build two additional units at its Temelin plant near the Austrian border as well as up to two other units in neighboring Slovakia and another at its Dukovany station in the east of the Czech Republic.

In the running to build the plants are Toshiba Corp unit Westinghouse, an alliance of Russia’s Atomstroyexport and Czech firm Skoda JS, and France’s Areva.

Addressing one of their biggest challenges, the 187 IMF nations on Saturday recognized the alarm among developing countries about huge inflows of speculative cash that are stoking their growth but also their inflation rates.

“When inflation goes up in emerging markets, it’s not just an emerging market problem, it’s a global inflation and possibly interest rate problem,” said Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who chairs the IMF’s steering committee.

Life as a top trader at Glencore, the world’s leading commodities marketing group, means grueling long hours and intense pressure to strike killer deals, salved by handsome financial rewards and a family-like camaraderie.

Its shrewd traders are arguably the most valuable asset at the secretive Swiss company, which announced on Thursday it was going public.

Disappointments from Alcoa (AA.N), Google (GOOG.O) and others in the first week of earnings have dampened some of the enthusiasm about results, ensuring that eyes will be glued to reports in the coming days.

On tap this week are top technology and financial company results, including Yahoo (YHOO.O), Intel (INTC.O), IBM (IBM.N), Texas Instruments (TXN.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Citigroup (C.N). This blitz of numbers will come during a holiday-shortened week. U.S. financial markets will be closed on April 22 in observance of Good Friday.

At the start of 2011, growth looked solid. The U.S. unemployment rate was finally dropping, consumers were in a spending mood, and economists were busily upgrading first-quarter growth projections to the range of 4 percent.

Those forecasts are falling fast. Many economists now think the U.S. economy grew at a sluggish 1.5 percent to 2 percent pace over the first three months of the year, and one forecaster even raised the possibility of a negative reading.

The reserve rate rise, which followed an increase in benchmark bank interest rates on April 5, was the seventh since China stepped up efforts against inflation in October and underscored the government’s determination to keep the economy on an even keel.

The move was not a surprise — investors predicted more tightening after last week’s data showed an acceleration in inflation, and more worryingly, sustained capital inflows that threaten to keep inflationary pressure high.

The world’s largest biotechnology company is expected to detail its experimental products in development, including drugs for pancreatic cancer and a bone-building antibody in its first such meeting since 2008.

Investors will also learn if initial sales are going well for Amgen’s latest bone drug — its most important near-term driver of profits — when the company reports first-quarter earnings the day before the meeting.

Finance ministers in Washington for semi-annual talks took sharper aim than in previous years at the United States’ $14 trillion debt.

While most of the criticism came from emerging market economies, some advanced nations joined the chorus.

Papaconstantinou denied a media report circulating earlier that the IMF believed Greece’s debt burden was unsustainable and had told European government and central bank officials that Athens should restructure next year.

“Restructuring is simply not on the cards,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of an IMF meeting in Washington. “I think that the situation will improve and we will be able to go back to the markets in 2012.”

“Of course there will have to be changes,” Timo Soini, told reporters a day after the party more than quadrupled its share of the vote to turn Finland’s traditionally pro-EU politics on their head.

True Finns came third in Sunday’s election with 19 percent of the vote, taking its number of seats in the 200-strong parliament to 39 from 5 in the 2007 election. [nLDE73H0J6]

The largest U.S. bank lost more than $2.39 billion in its home loan business as revenue fell and expenses rose. The foreclosure mess that began in the fourth quarter of 2010, with borrowers accusing major banks of repossessing homes without having the right paperwork in place, was a key source of higher costs in the quarter.

BofA also named Chief Risk Officer Bruce Thompson as its new chief financial officer, becoming the sixth new CFO in seven years. The current CFO, Charles “Chuck” Noski, is stepping aside after less than a year in the post due to a serious family illness.

Oil prices fell below $109 a barrel as gasoline prices jumped to $4 a gallon in six U.S. states, raising fears higher fuel costs will undermine crude demand.

European shares were down in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.4 percent lower to 5,969.91. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.7 percent to 7,127.41, and France’s CAC-40 was down 0.9 percent to 3,938.55.

The company introduced an edgy new design Monday for its signature model, giving it a flatter roof, a less bulbous shape, narrowed windows and a sharp crease along the side. Gone is the built-in flower vase on the dashboard.

It’s the first overhaul since 1998, when Volkswagen came up with the New Beetle. VW, which wants to triple its U.S. sales of cars and trucks over the next decade, says the changes will appeal to more buyers, especially men.

All that was done with an average annual household income equivalent to $38,000, according to documents released by William Browder, an American-born investor barred from Russia.

Browder has been campaigning against Russian corruption since 2009 when his lawyer died a year after being sent to prison. Authorities have not explained why Browder was himself expelled as a security risk in 2005 in the first place.

The Egyptian Exchange’s benchmark EGX30 closed 3.17 percent lower at 4,956 points, deepening the previous day’s 3.43 percent decline.

The drop pushed the index’s year to date losses to over 30 percent – a clear reflection of the crisis of investor confidence confronting the Arab world’s most populous nation in the wake of the uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.

Nevertheless, officials remained hopeful they can stick to their freshly minted “roadmap” for cleaning up the radiation leak and stabilizing the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant by year’s end so they can begin returning tens of thousands of evacuees to their homes.

“Even I had expected high radioactivity in those areas. I’m sure (plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.) and other experts have factored in those figures when they compiled the roadmap,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

Customers were clamoring. The backlog of orders swelled.

The zinc and aluminum widgets made by his company, Horio Seisakusho Co., appear insignificant at first glance. But the tiny metal components represent a vital fraction of the thousands of parts used in a single car.

The concession sought by sports and entertainment company AEG would allow the company to expand its robust presence in a rapidly developing area considered a cornerstone of the city’s downtown revival.

The company’s initial printed pitch, which a City Council committee will begin considering Monday, envisions a deal that would grant it the ability to build on a 2.4-acre parcel within its LA Live hotel and restaurant complex that the city planned to use to expand its aging convention center.

The answer likely hinges on what happens after the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion effort to boost the economy expires. Some investors warn that the end of the program, known as QE2, will upend the stock market and push other markets in unexpected directions.

Under QE2, the Fed buys Treasurys from investors who can then put the money in stocks and other investments. Economists call it quantitative easing, and it is the second time the Fed has used the tactic.

The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.

Over the same period, the average federal income tax rate for all taxpayers declined to 9.3 percent from 9.9 percent.

Welcome to The Social Network, presidential campaign edition.

The candidates and contenders have embraced the Internet to far greater degrees than previous White House campaigns, communicating directly with voters on platforms where they work and play. If Obama’s online army helped define the last campaign and Howard Dean’s Internet fundraising revolutionized the Democratic primary in 2004, next year’s race will be the first to reflect the broad cultural migration to the digital world.

The United Arab Emirates’ telecommunications regulator has outlined plans to limit access to the Blackberry Enterprise Server system, which provides the most secure form of communication on the handheld devices. It is used by many international companies and government agencies to keep emails and other data safe.

Only organizations with 20 or more BlackBerry accounts would be allowed to use the service under the UAE’s proposed new rules. Others would need to rely on a less-secure system that analysts say is easier for authorities to monitor and could cause accessibility problems for corporate users.

The shells from Maine’s signature seafood are being used to manufacture decorative tiles, trivets and drinking-glass coasters. Work is under way to utilize them in countertops and tabletops. And at the University of Maine, a professor has developed prototypes of biodegradable golf balls and plant pots made out of ground-up lobster shells.

“Instead of dumping the shells at landfills, the idea is to add value to the product, which hopefully will funnel back into the industry,” said David Neivandt, a professor of chemical and biological engineering who created a biodegradable golf ball with a core made of lobster shells.

But they’re on opposite sides of a Supreme Court case over the ability of states and groups such as the Audubon Society that want to sue large electric utilities and force power plants in 20 states to cut their emissions.

The administration is siding with American Electric Power Co. and three other companies in urging the high court to throw out the lawsuit on grounds the Environmental Protection Agency, not a federal court, is the proper authority to make rules about climate change. The justices will hear arguments in the case Tuesday.

The show has become one of the industry’s most important as automakers look to booming China to drive profits. China overtook the United States in 2009 as the biggest auto market and growth stayed strong through the global crisis.

General Motors, Toyota, BMW and others, including China’s own small but fast-growing brands, are working hard to woo China’s newly prosperous buyers. World premieres are planned for a new Chevy Malibu, a BMW luxury coupe and other models, putting Shanghai on a par with auto shows in Detroit, Tokyo and Frankfurt as a global platform for new products.

Braving snow showers and a frigid wind outside the state Capitol building, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate told tea partyers she’s glad to stand with Gov. Scott Walker. Hundreds of labor supporters surrounded the rally, trying to drown Palin out with chants of “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Scott Walker has got to go!” and “Recall Walker!”

“Hey, folks! He’s trying to save your jobs and your pensions!” Palin yelled into the microphone. “Your governor did the right thing and you won! Your beautiful state won! And people still have their jobs!”

They wrapped up three days of talks with pledges of closer cooperation and better surveillance of the global economy. However, it was uncertain just how far countries would be willing to go in reforming their domestic policies in response to international pressures.

The United States, which is facing plenty of criticism for its soaring federal budget deficits, campaigned to get the International Monetary Fund more heavily involved in monitoring currency rates.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the banks, the largest by far being Superior Bank, based in Birmingham, Ala., with $3 billion in assets and about 70 branches in Alabama and Florida.

A newly chartered bank subsidiary of Houston-based Community Bancorp LLC was set up to take over Superior Bank’s assets and deposits. The new subsidiary is called Superior Bank NA.

The nonbinding plan lays out a fiscal vision cutting $6.2 trillion from yearly federal deficits over the coming decade and calls for transforming Medicare from a program in which the government directly pays medical bills into a voucher-like system that subsidizes purchases of private insurance plans

The GOP budget passed 235-193 with every Democrat voting “no.” Obama said in an Associated Press interview that it would “make Medicare into a voucher program. That’s something that we strongly object to.”

Higher fees from battling lawsuits and costs related to its mortgage business led to a 39 percent decline in BofA’s first-quarter earnings, the bank announced Friday. It wasn’t what investors wanted to hear, since just three months ago the bank announced several big charges and settlements that seemed to resolve many of its mortgage problems.

“It seems like some of the mortgage-related issues that they said were behind them are actually not behind them yet,” said Paul Miller, a bank analyst at FBR Capital Markets.