Monday Business Edition

Nuclear plant operator TEPCO dived almost 24 percent on fears of a meltdown at one of its reactors while producers such as Sony and Toyota tumbled as power shortages prompted blackouts and factories remained closed, hurting production.

The Bank of Japan said it would pump a record 15 trillion yen ($184 billion) to help stabilise the short term-money market, making good on its pledge Sunday that it would unleash “massive” funds following the quake.

Economists say it is still too early to assess the full cost of the destruction from the record 8.9-magnitude quake and the 10-metre wall of water that laid waste to the northeastern coast and triggered an atomic emergency.

The official death toll so far is 1,200, but is certain to rise substantially, with one hard-hit prefecture saying as many as 10,000 could be dead.

And then disaster struck Japan.

Such issues have been put on the back burner after the government was confronted by the strongest earthquake on record ever to hit Japan and the subsequent tsunamis it unleashed, now set to claim well in excess of 1,300 lives.

Stocks in European re-insurance companies plunged Friday in the hours after Japan’s quake, which launched a damaging tsunami, left hundreds dead , and sparked fires, shut down factories, and seriously damaged a nuclear power plant.

Re-insurance companies, which back up insurers and are among those hit early by catastrophes, stressed it was too soon to estimate the final cost, but “it will be an expensive event,” said Christian Muschick at the private German bank Silvia Quandt.

The report also highlighted how the world’s major arms supplying countries had in recent years competed for trade in Libya, and in other Arab countries gripped by the recent wave of pro-democracy uprisings.

“India is the world’s largest arms importer,” the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said as it released its latest report on trends in the international arms trade.

Finance ministers from the 17-nation eurozone pick up where prime ministers, presidents and chancellors left off in the early hours of Saturday, meeting in Brussels at 1000 GMT before being joined by their 10 other European Union counterparts at 1400 GMT.

A packed calendar of work has to seal defences against a destabilising debt crisis stalking weaker members in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and even Spain, before a self-imposed deadline of a March 24-25 summit for the full 27 EU leaders to deliver their promised “comprehensive” response.

Analysts say the answer lies in the real value of the banks’ vast property assets, something which still remains unclear.

In recent weeks financial experts have sought to determine how much capital the banks need to clean up their balances sheets in order to respond to tough new government requirements aimed at shoring up confidence in the banks and the country’s battered economy.

Vice President Joe Biden this week lamented on a visit to Moscow that annual trade between the two countries was equivalent to just a few days of commerce with neighbours Canada and Mexico.

But executives at some of North America’s biggest companies are grasping onto a vision of a 24-hour production cycle in which Russian engineers zip their drafts to board room executives in Europe and the United States.

European Council President Herman van Rompuy said the agreements, to be finalised at a full EU summit March 24-25, “should allow us to finally turn the corner” on a crisis that has tested the whole euro project to breaking point.

Van Rompuy spoke after drawn-out talks, which ended shortly before dawn and saw testy exchanges between new Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his colleagues over the terms of Dublin’s debt rescue.

Not any more. The proliferation of low cost airlines across the region, particularly in Southeast Asia, has opened up air travel to the masses.

Malaysia-based AirAsia, which launched in 2001, was one of the first airlines to rip open Asia’s skies to the general public.

The agreement gives India’s Essar Group a 54-percent stake in the mothballed state steel firm Zisco, in a deal worth 12.5 times the total foreign investment recorded in Zimbabwe in 2009.

But the deal contravenes Zimbabwe’s new equity law, which requires locals to hold majority stakes in major companies. Officials have tip-toed around the contradiction, but it’s not the first time the new rule has been waived.

In just a matter of weeks, the country has put the finishing touches on a clutch of joint exploration and share-swap agreements whose negotiation seemed impossible just a few years ago.

But with natural gas production stagnant and new oil wealth resting in hard-to-reach reserves, Russia is swinging the door open to Western companies, their presence now seen as essential to the country’s economic growth.

European Council President Herman van Rompuy said the agreements, to be finalised at a full EU summit March 24-25, “should allow us to finally turn the corner” on a crisis that has tested the whole euro project to breaking point.

Van Rompuy spoke after drawn-out talks, which saw testy exchanges between new Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his colleagues over the terms of Dublin’s debt rescue.

Apple began selling the iPad 2, which was unveiled by chief executive Steve Jobs last week, online overnight and in its 236 US stores starting at 5:00 pm (2200 GMT).

The queues did not appear to be as long as those for the iPhone 4 released in June but thousands of people lined up outside Apple stores in San Francisco, New York, Washington and other cities to get their hands on the device, which is one-third thinner, 15 percent lighter and faster than the previous model.

Markets swooned at the shock of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that may have killed more than 10,000 and has left millions of people without power, water or homes. The Nikkei average closed 6.18 percent lower on Monday.

At the same time, engineers were battling to prevent a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi complex owned by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), where three reactors threatened to overheat in the worst atomic power accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Engineers in Japan are scrambling to prevent a meltdown at three reactors after Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami forced an automatic shutdown of the units.

GE built the first reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) (9501.T), and with Toshiba Corp (6502.T) it manufactured the second.

The 8.9 magnitude quake and ensuing tsunami destroyed infrastructure and knocked out factories supplying everything from high-tech components to steel, forcing firms such as Toyota Corp (7203.T) and Sony Corp (6758.T) to suspend production.

Plant closures and production outages among Japan’s high-tech companies were among the biggest threats to the global supply chain as an estimated fifth of all global technology products are made in Japan, analysts said.

The disaster brought on a flurry of short bets against Japanese stocks on Friday, and that trend could well accelerate on news of deteriorating conditions in Japan over the weekend.

The massive earthquake and tsunami are now estimated to have killed 10,000 people and left officials scrambling to avoid meltdowns at three nuclear reactors.

The tremor and tsunami may have killed more than 10,000, while knocking out transport and communication links in parts of northern Japan, where millions are still without water and electricity.

Auto and electronics makers were among the worst hit when trading resumed on Monday, with the sustained strength of the yen helping to push down exporters’ shares.

The Bank of Japan said its action was a pre-emptive step after markets swooned at the shock of Friday’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that may have killed more than 10,000 and has left millions without power, water or homes.

The central bank said it was still sticking to its view that the world’s third largest economy would resume its moderate recovery, though it warned about a likely drop in economic output and vowed to do whatever necessary to limit the economic fallout.

Positioning for this could send the dollar plummeting versus the yen on Monday and lead to a sharp slide in Treasuries since U.S. government bonds are a favorite asset of Japanese investors, market analysts said.

Stocks also are likely to come under pressure.

S&P cut its rating of Japan to ‘AA-” in January and Moody’s changed its outlook on its Aa2 sovereign rating to negative last month, warning that a downgrade was likely if the government failed to bring its ballooning public debt under control.

Japan is already saddled with debts twice the size of its $5 trillion economy and one initial estimate has put the economic cost of the still unfolding disaster at between 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion).

The TOPIX tumbled 7.5 percent on record trading volume as investors bailed out of big blue-chip companies seen taking a hit from the need for rolling electricity blackouts on top of the disruptions to supply chains following the massive quake.

With Monday’s selloff, the market capitalization of shares on the Tokyo stock exchange’s first section fell by roughly $286 billion — greater than the size of Finland’s economy.

In emerging markets, construction and refinery shares rose thanks to expectations for large-scale reconstruction efforts in the economy hit by a triple blow of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency — Japan’s biggest crisis since World War Two.

The yen briefly fell after the Bank of Japan offered to pump a record 15 trillion yen in fund injections into the banking system to keep money markets stable. The currency later erased its losses.

Japan, the world’s third largest consumer of commodities, is battling to avert a nuclear catastrophe in its worst crisis since World War Two after Friday’s earthquake, which is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.

The northeast coast ports of Hachinohe, Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were so severely damaged that they were not expected to return to operation for months. But power outages and fires resulting from the earthquake present an immediate risk.

At worst, forecasts from some economists suggest the world’s third largest economy is in danger of slipping back into recession.

The hit to growth from Japan’s worst crisis since World War 2 is likely to exceed that of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, when industrial output fell but overall output remained strong, analysts said — a downgrade from their first estimates after Japan was hit on Friday by its largest earthquake on record.

That figure is nearly as much as the entire worldwide catastrophe loss for the global insurance industry in 2010, and could be the triggering event that forces higher prices in the insurance market after years of declines.

It remains unclear who will take the biggest hit, though insurers like Chaucer (CHU.L) and AIG (AIG.N) and reinsurers like Munich Re (MUVGn.DE) and Swiss Re (RUKN.VX) are expected to be exposed to some degree.

The crisis over Libya will also be a key issue, with the international community seeking to agree on how to stop a violent crackdown in the North African state by leader Muammar Gaddafi’s government forces.

Japan was trying on Sunday to avert a disastrous meltdown at two nuclear reactors, crippled by a major earthquake on Friday that caused a tsunami estimated to have killed more than 10,000 people.

The expanding list of global economic troublespots will give the U.S. Federal Reserve even more reason to stay in wait-and-see mode at its policy-setting meeting on Tuesday.

Figuring out how these assorted risks might affect the U.S. economy is tricky. Take rising oil prices, for example. They pose both an inflationary threat and a risk to consumption and economic growth — problems that pull the Fed in opposite policy directions.

The ministers will mainly be putting the finishing touches to a comprehensive package of measures already outlined on March 11, aimed at ending the year-old sovereign debt crisis and preventing a new one from happening.

The measures agreed by the leaders still need formal approval at the next EU summit on March 24-25 but seem to address most of the market’s concerns.

Banks have been eager to reduce massive capital cushions they built up as they recover from the 2007-2009 financial crisis, but regulators have been nervous about letting them chip away at these reserves.

The Federal Reserve’s most recent stress tests, which apply to the 19 largest U.S. bank holding companies, are wrapping up as European regulators are doing their own fresh battery of tests. Last year’s European stress tests were widely criticized for a lack of transparency and credibility.

AIG said on Thursday it made the offer to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for the residential mortgage-backed securities it gave up at the height of the financial crisis. The Fed on Friday confirmed it received AIG’s (AIG.N) offer for the bonds, held in Maiden Lane II, an entity formed in late 2008 as part of AIG’s bailout.

For more than a year, the insurer has been preparing the offer on the bonds, whose values have soared despite rising foreclosures on the underlying loans. An index of top-rated subprime securities has rallied more than 50 percent since the depths of that market in April 2009, according to Amherst Securities Group.

Oil and equity prices rise and fall more or less in tandem when demand and economic growth expectations dictate prices. But the short-term relationship has been turned on its head in recent weeks with investors worried that political unrest in oil exporting countries could hit oil supplies and hurt the U.S. economic recovery.

Brent crude, the European benchmark, and the U.S. S&P 500 stock index (.SPX) have not moved against each other in such a way since mid-2008, when oil spiked dramatically, the economy entered its worst recession since the 1930s, and stocks went into a tailspin. Once again in early 2011, oil prices are rising, and stocks have taken a hit.

The very popular taxable bonds paid issuers federal rebates equal to 35 percent of interest costs.

“The Build America Bonds, in the year and a half we had them in the Recovery Act, were wildly successful,” said Wyden at a meeting of the President’s Export Council on infrastructure.

The morning explosion in Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was felt 25 miles (40 kilometers away), but the plant’s operator said the radiation levels at the affected reactor were still within legal limits. Hours later, officials reported that the fuel rods at another reactor, Unit 2, were fully exposed, at least temporarily.

Authorities began pouring sea water into that unit to re-cover the rods – as they are at the plant’s two other troubled reactors after cooling system failures in the wake of Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami, which killed at least 10,000 people. The latest explosion triggered an order for hundreds of people to stay indoors, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Developments elsewhere were more muted – an indication that investors think the costs facing Japan may not spill over significantly. In Europe, sentiment was partly supported by the weekend agreement of a broad package of measures to ease the government debt crisis that has already forced Greece and Ireland into seeking bailouts.

However, most attention was centered on Japan, and how the world’s third-largest economy is dealing with the catastrophic events of last Friday. Financially, the situation is made even more difficult by the fact that Japan’s debt stands at around 200 percent of its national income and its economic recovery came to a grinding halt in the last three months of 2010.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average slid 6.2 percent in its first day of trading since the 8.9-magnitude quake centered on northeastern Japan struck Friday, triggering enormous waves that swamped towns and killed thousands.

Escalating concerns about the financial and economic fallout – plus the risk of meltdown at damaged nuclear power reactors – triggered a plunge that hit all sectors of the stock market. The broader Topix index lost 7.5 percent.

On the weekend, eurozone leaders increased the size of the bailout fund and lowered the interest rates on the loans bailed-out Greece has taken out. They also revealed that the bailout fund can buy bonds directly from governments in exceptional circumstances but only if those countries agree to further austerity measures.

Greece was the big winner in the markets on Monday, with its bond and stock prices surging. Portugal and Spain – other ‘peripheral’ countries with heavy debts – also saw gains on hopes the deal will give the EU the firepower and tools to deal with their crises. Ireland enjoyed no such rallies, however, as its government failed to clinch easier bailout terms.

Agriculture committees in the Iowa House and Senate have approved a bill that would prohibit such recordings and punish people who take agriculture jobs only to gain access to animals to record their treatment. Proposed penalties include fines of up to $7,500 and up to five years in prison. Votes by the full House and Senate have not yet been set.

Doug Farquhar, program director for environmental health at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said Iowa would be the first state to approve such restrictions but Florida is considering similar legislation. The Iowa measure was introduced after a number of group released videos showing cows being shocked, pigs beaten and chicks ground up alive.

The two-term Republican governor also is holding up his record as proof that he could do better on two pillars: economic growth and job creation.

“We still have more to do in Mississippi. But we have made great progress and are laying a foundation for the future,” Barbour says in remarks prepared for delivery later Monday to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

A Swedish think tank that monitors global arms sales said Monday that India’s weapons imports had overtaken China’s, as the South Asian nation pushes ahead with plans to modernize its military, counter Beijing’s influence and gain international clout.

“India has ambitions to become first a continental and (then) a regional power,” said Rahul Bedi, a South Asia analyst with London-based Jane’s Defense Weekly. “To become a big boy, you need to project your power.”

Gadhafi’s troops have been emboldened by a string of victories in the struggle for Libya’s main coastal highway but their supply lines are stretched and their dependence on artillery, airstrikes and naval attacks makes it hard for them to swiftly consolidate control of territory, particularly at night.

The insurgents claimed they moved back into the strategic town of Brega after dusk in a fast-moving battle with a constantly shifting front line, destroying armored vehicles and capturing dozens of fighters from Gadhafi’s elite Khamis Brigade.

Demonstrators also clashed with security forces and government supporters on the campus of the main university in the Gulf country, the home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

The clashes fueled fears that Bahrain’s political crisis could be stumbling toward open sectarian conflict between the ruling minority Sunnis and Shiites, who account for 70 percent of the nation’s 525,000 people.

Some 30,000 people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, crammed into Lisbon’s main downtown avenue, called onto the streets by a social media campaign that harnessed a broad sense of disaffection. Local media reported thousands more attended simultaneous protests at 10 other cities nationwide.

A banner at the front of the Lisbon march said, “Our country is in dire straits.” Another said, “We are the future.” The Lisbon march was festive and raucous, featuring brass bands, drum combos and small children with balloons. Middle-aged parents also turned out.

Request rebuffed, they asked for Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

So far, however, the White House has stayed away from any trips to Madison, the state capital, or other states in the throes of union battles. The Obama administration is treading carefully on the contentious political issue that has led to a national debate over the power that public sector unions wield in negotiating wages and benefits.

Protests have rocked the Capitol almost every day since Gov. Scott Walker proposed taking nearly all collective bargaining rights away from public workers, but the largest came a day after the governor signed the measure into law. Madison Police estimated the crowd at 85,000 to 100,000 people – along with 50 tractors and one donkey – by late afternoon. No one was arrested.

Speakers delivered angry diatribes while the crowd carried signs comparing Walker to dictators and yelled thunderous chants of “this is what democracy looks like.”

Residents of Sidi Bouzid can now express their anger more freely. But they’re still clamoring for jobs and rail against the official chicanery that drove a local fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, to set himself on fire on Dec. 17.

The desperate act by the high-school dropout set off mass protests that brought down President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in less than a month. The revolt inspired others who toppled autocratic Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, launched an armed rebellion against Libyan despot Moammar Gadhafi, and rattled governments in Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere.