Does Money Make You Stupid?

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has pressed European leaders to take a decision to reinforce the fund within two weeks but eurozone paymaster Germany has resisted being rushed into it.

“Isolated proposals do not make the situation any easier, but rather more complicated,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Deuschlandfunk radio ahead of the ministerial meeting in Brussels.

Europeans are divided over how quickly they need to act and how much added muscle they should give to the financial safety net that was created last year to provide cover to weak countries, following a huge bailout of Greece.

European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, who heads the European Union’s executive arm, urged leaders to take a decision by their next summit on February 4 to appease markets nervous about the fate of Portugal and Spain.

The revised $6.5 billion (4.9 billion euro) agreement was denounced as grossly unfair by Telenor and set up a bitter board battle that promises to rage while the deal clears its final hurdles in the coming six months.

The agreement — which must still be approved by Russian regulators and Vimpelcom shareholders — would set up the world’s sixth-largest mobile phone provider by number of subscribers.

In early morning deals, the euro jumped to $1.3457 — which was the highest level since December 14. It later stood at $1.3368 from $1.3358 in New York late on Thursday.

“The US dollar dropped sharply against the euro on the heels of strong sovereign debt auctions and rhetoric from the European Central Bank,” said analyst David Rodriguez at trading site DailyFX.

This, at least, will be the story Indonesia’s national carrier takes to potential investors this week as it touts its initial public offering (IPO) around Hong Kong, London and New York.

Its scheduled listing on February 11 may raise up to 10.3 trillion rupiah ($1.1 billion) through the sale of 9.32 billion shares, or 36 percent of its capital, at between 750 and 1,100 rupiah each.

But this is not a firm from Silicon Valley or a high-tech Asian economy. It is from Russia, in recent years not a place known for cutting-edge corporate innovation.

While President Dmitry Medvedev ploughs on with his state-sponsored drive to modernise Russia, the privately-owned Mail.ru and its sister holding firm DST have grown with breathtaking speed.

BP chief executive Bob Dudley and Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov flew into London on Friday to sign the agreement, which allows them to jointly exploit the vast untouched oil and gas resources of Russia’s Arctic region.

Dudley hailed the “historic” deal, which has the backing of the Russian and British governments, telling BBC radio: “This is one of the last great unexplored hydrocarbon basins in the world.

“Turkmenistan’s adhesion to the WTO would exert positive influence on economic development in the country and its attraction for investors,” Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said after talks with President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

“The European Union urges Turkmenistan to apply for WTO membership,” he added, while on his first official visit to the country.

According to a final tally of the vote, those supporting the deal obtained 54.05 percent. Turnout was 94.2 percent, with 5,119 of the plant’s 5,431 employees taking part.

Counting went on all night after the polls closed at 1830 GMT Friday.

A debate on increasing the effective lending capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility is expected to dominate the meeting, but concerns about whether officials can reach agreement weighed on market sentiment.

The euro extended falls as European Central Bank policymaker Athanasios Orphanides was quoted saying the market may have overreacted to the ECB’s statement last week. The bank’s warning on inflation had prompted investors to bring forward bets on the timing of a first rise in euro zone interest rates, sending the euro to a one-month high.

Growing realization that a deal on the bailout fund was not imminent helped the euro fall broadly Monday, retreating from a one-month high reached after successful debt auctions by Portugal and Spain last week.

Dealers said further gains in the currency may depend on the outcome of the talks in Brussels, which are aimed at drawing a line under the sovereign debt crisis before more countries need help.

Germany faces mounting pressure from the European Commission and its euro zone partners to strengthen a rescue fund for troubled member states, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

“If the discussion is about a further package of measures, it is above all important that we develop a complete strategy that must absolutely include closer economic coordination,” Merkel told a news conference in Mainz after a meeting with other senior members of her ruling Christian Democrats.

The last time Hu and President Barack Obama met face-to-face was at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Seoul in November, when Washington was on the defensive because of widespread criticism over the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion bond-buying program.

Instead of pressuring China to allow its yuan currency to rise more rapidly, Obama found himself trying to convince allies that the United States was not intentionally devaluing the dollar to gain a trade advantage.

Indeed, in a sign that the future of the U.S. currency continues to concern the most senior levels of the Chinese government, he said the dollar-based international currency system is a “product of the past”.

Overall though, the president, who will visit Washington this week, struck an upbeat tone about ties with the United States in a rare written interview with two U.S. newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Strong results from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Friday bolstered expectations for top U.S. banks, many of which are due to report in the coming week, including Citigroup (C.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N).

Financials have been among market leaders in the recent rally, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 (.SPX) posting its seventh straight week of gains on Friday.

Shares in BP traded up 1.7 percent at 3:04 a.m. EST, outperforming a 0.6 percent rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index (.SXEP).

BP agreed on Friday to form a joint venture with Rosneft to develop three of Rosneft’s offshore exploration blocks in northern Russia, which the companies said could hold as much oil and gas as the UK North Sea, implying a 60 billion barrel prize.

BP, recovering from its Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, will swap 5 percent of its shares, valued at $7.8 billion, for 9.5 percent of Rosneft in an agreement that immediately raised concerns about U.S. economic security from at least two American lawmakers and criticism from environmentalists.

The deal covers huge areas of the South Kara Sea in the Arctic that BP said could contain billions of barrels of oil and gas and had been previously off limits to foreign companies.

A last-minute surge pushed Airbus past its U.S. rival for a third year as it held onto a net order market share of 52 percent in the face of a resurgent Boeing, which was hit by cancellations in 2009 due to delays to its 787 Dreamliner.

EADS (EAD.PA) subsidiary Airbus said it had sold 644 planes worth over $84 billion at list prices in 2010, beating Boeing’s (BA.N) total of 625 after a flood of 200 orders in December and demonstrating what it called a robust recovery in emerging markets and the low-fare sector.

Bankers were buzzing on Friday about how soon that might happen, with at least one saying he would not be surprised if the government picked the deal’s managers next week and others saying the fee on the deal was already under pressure.

AIG Chief Executive Bob Benmosche, in an interview, said the company was hoping to pick the deal’s managers as soon as was practical, although he gave no timeframe. Benmosche was in Washington for lunch with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Retail sales climbed 0.6 percent last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. The sixth straight monthly increase showed consumers doing their part to support recovery, even though the data was a bit weaker than forecast by economists.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed U.S. industrial output rose 0.8 percent in December, the biggest gain since July, as a cold weather snap pushed utility production sharply higher.

For the third consecutive quarter, shares of the chipmaker are moving in the opposite direction of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index a day after it reported earnings.

By contrast, for several years Intel’s stock was virtually a lock to move in the same direction as the market.

At the center of talks Monday and Tuesday in Brussels is the region’s euro750 billion ($1 trillion) bailout fund, set up last spring to convince financial markets anxious over some countries’ mounting debt levels that the euro currency was safe.

The European Union’s executive Commission – supported by the head of the European Central Bank and some finance ministers – has said the fund needs to be given more money and powers to quell any concerns that it could be overwhelmed if a big economy like Spain runs into trouble.

A year after Obama’s visit to China, the envisioned partnership has largely evaporated. The U.S. has filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against China’s policies favoring its producers of wind and solar equipment. Cooperation in climate change talks has been rare.

On the eve of Hu’s U.S. visit, the conflict is emblematic of a range of areas, from climate to technology to reducing strains in the the global economy, where Beijing sees its interests as very different from Washington even as they pledge cooperation.

The euro slipped to $1.3281 ahead of a key European finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels. All eyes are on Germany, to see if Europe’s largest economy and financier will resist boosting the size of the EU bailout fund.

“Indecision on the matter of the size of the fund will continue to dominate sentiment over the coming days,” said Michael Hewson of CMS Markets.

The shaky trust between the United States and China has been eroding recently because of an array of issues – currency policies and trade barriers, nuclear proliferation and North Korea – and both sides seem to recognize the need to recalibrate relations.

The U.S. is one of China’s biggest markets, with $380 billion in annual trade largely in Beijing’s favor. Washington increasingly needs Beijing’s help in managing world troubles, from piracy off Africa to Iran’s nuclear program and reinvigorating the world economy.

Rising food prices mean grocery store chains must absorb extra costs on items like meat, seafood, and produce, or they try to pass them along to customers. But many of those consumers are unemployed or have less money to spend, even on essentials. For now, the big chains are mostly choosing to absorb. As a result, profits are falling, and so are their stocks, making them one of the few dim lights in the market in 2011.

On Tuesday, Supervalu was the first of the grocers to report quarterly results, and the numbers for its fiscal third quarter were ominous: A loss of $202 million, or 95 cents a share, compared with a profit of $109 million, or 51 cents, in the same period a year earlier. The company, which operates Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Acme and other chains, also cut its forecast for the year.

About $13 million has gone to more than 2,400 farmers in 43 states to help pay for the low-tech tunnels that look like a cross between Quonset huts and conventional greenhouses. The structures, also known as hoop houses, have been particularly beneficial in the north, where they allow farmers to plant as much as four weeks early and keep growing later in the fall.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture touts the tunnels as environmentally friendly and a way to help meet the demand for local and sustainable produce. Experts say high tunnels employ efficient drip irrigation systems and reduce pest problems, diseases and fertilizer costs.

Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said he had “reluctantly concluded” that Cowen would have to be forced from office since he refused to go voluntarily. The two face a showdown Tuesday when lawmakers of the long-ruling Fianna Fail party gather to vote whether to keep Cowen or promote Martin.

At stake is the course of Ireland’s fightback from a European-record deficit amid a euro67.5 billion ($90 billion) international bailout. The leadership tussle within Fianna Fail – “Soldiers of Destiny” in Gaelic – raised new doubt over whether lawmakers would be able to pass a deficit-slashing bill without a national election first.

Deep layoffs of city workers go into effect on Tuesday – cutting up to 383 jobs, or one-fourth of the city’s employees.

The exact number depends on whether public workers’ unions make last-minute concessions. In any case, the cuts are likely to be deep – and could be a blow to the quality of life in a city where more than half the 80,000 residents, mostly black and Hispanic, live in poverty.

His doctor told him it was nothing, but when he finally had it removed, he learned he had melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

He beat the disease, but he never got over the sense of frustration he felt as he clawed his way through the maze of treatment options, clinical trials and research in search of a way to survive.

Yet that is no guarantee that the ex-cop, or many others like him, will qualify for a substantial share of the $2.78 billion Congress has set to compensate people who fell ill after being exposed to ground zero toxins.

Like thousands of other rescue and recovery workers, Volpe suffers from an ailment that is not expressly covered by the law. Only a few diseases were singled out by name in the act, including asthma, certain types of lung disease and a handful of other respiratory ailments. They were included because research has suggested there is a link between those illnesses and the tons of caustic dust that blanketed lower Manhattan after the twin towers collapsed.

The coming years included days at sea, cold calls to New England industry insiders and conversations with people from every corner of the trade – from fisheries scientists to fishing wives. He even sat through the excruciatingly dull meetings of regional fishing regulators.

A decade later, his fictional feature film, “Whaling City,” is nearly finished.

That means Congress soon will have to lift the legal debt limit to give the nearly maxed-out government an even higher credit limit or dramatically cut spending to stay within the current cap. Either way, a fight is ahead on Capitol Hill, inflamed by the passions of tea party activists and deficit hawks.

Already, both sides are blaming each other for an approaching economic train wreck as Washington wrestles over how to keep the government in business and avoid default on global financial obligations.

Thousands of people from around the world filed from exhibit to exhibit inside the sprawling Cobo Center in Detroit. They perused the newest models from General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler, as well as top competition from Europe and Asia.

“The last two years, people would come and look. But now, they are sitting in the vehicles and asking questions,” said 43-year-old Sherry Fedewa, a manager in an auto parts company. “People can actually afford to buy something.”

Officials of the FIOM metalworkers union, which campaigned heavily against the contract, credited votes by white-collar workers at the Mirafiori factory as key to approval of a workers’ referendum. The deal was approved by a vote of 54 percent to 46 percent.

More than 94 percent of the plant’s nearly 5,500 workers voted during their shifts Thursday and Friday.

States that already have raided their reserve funds, relied on borrowing or accounting gimmicks, and imposed deep cuts on schools, parks and public transit systems no longer can protect key services in the face of another round of multibillion dollar deficits.

As governors roll out their budget proposals and legislatures convene this month, they do so amid a sputtering economic recovery and predictions of slow growth for years to come. State and local governments face lackluster revenue projections, worries from Wall Street over looming debt and the end of federal stimulus spending.

Police arrested dozens of people, including the top presidential security chief, as tensions appeared to mount between Tunisians buoyant over Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s departure and loyalists in danger of losing major perks.

There were cheers and smiles in much of Tunis, the capital, as residents tore down the massive portraits of Ben Ali, some of them several stories high, that hung from lampposts and billboards and were omnipresent during his 23-year reign.

American International Group Inc. paid its $21 billion outstanding balance to the New York branch of the Federal Reserve on Friday and converted preferred stock owned by the Treasury Department into more than 1.6 billion shares of common stock that can be sold on the open market.

The common stock gives the government a 92 percent ownership stake. The Treasury Department is expected to start selling its shares in March.

The case pits community newspapers against the association that oversees high school sports in Wisconsin. Fans in many states rely on community newspapers for news about high school teams, and the newspapers say they need easy, unencumbered access to sporting events to provide that coverage. But the association says it can’t survive if it can’t raise money by signing exclusive contracts with a single video-production company for streaming its tournaments.

The newspapers argued Friday before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of press should enable them to put such publicly funded events online as they see fit, free of charge.

The $462 billion in holiday spending reported by a trade group on Friday handily tops the $453 billion peak reached in 2007, before the economy took a nosedive. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll find these figures don’t tell the whole story.

Just because Americans spent more this holiday season doesn’t mean they bought more. That button-down shirt you bought your father in 2010 probably cost more than it would have three years ago. But the government figures on which the National Retail Federation bases its holiday sum do not take into account rising prices. Although inflation has been tame over the past few years, holiday spending would have had to clear $478 billion to signify spending was back to pre-recession levels.