Finance news. My opinion.

U.S. stocks ended mixed Thursday afternoon as investors welcomed a slight dip in jobless claims but remained cautious amid ongoing uncertainty in Greece and the rest of Europe.

"The situation in Europe remains fluid, and we’re not likely to get much clarity for awhile, so today is one of those days when a lack of really bad news is good news," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group.

The Dow Jones industrial average () rose 20 points, or 0.2%, snapping a six-day losing streak, and the S&P 500 () added 3 points, or 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq () lost 1 point.

Cisco (, Fortune 500) was the biggest laggard on all three indexes, with shares tumbling more than 10%. Late Wednesday, the networking giant released a disappointing sales outlook for the current quarter.

Europe remains in the spotlight Thursday as Greek politicians continue to struggle to form a coalition government and Spanish bond yields keep rising.

After the Greek radical left party failed to gain consensus, Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos was given the mandate to form a coalition government by the Greek president on Thursday.

Greece will muddle through

Meanwhile, the Bank of Spain moved to take over Bankia — one of Spain’s largest and most troubled banks — late Wednesday.

U.S. stocks bounced back somewhat from a sharp sell-off Wednesday, but all three major indexes closed in the red as investors continued to fret about Greece and Spain.

World markets: European stocks closed with slim gains. Britain’s FTSE 100 () ticked up 0.3%, DAX () in Germany gained 0.7%, while France’s CAC 40 () rose 0.4%.

The Bank of England held its key interest rate steady and did not increase its asset-buying program at the conclusion of its two-day meeting Thursday, despite a recent report that showed the U.K. has fallen into a new recession.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite () closed 0.1% higher, while the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong slid 0.5% and Japan’s Nikkei () edged lower 0.4%.

China reported import and export growth that was slower than expected, according to forecasts from economists at HSBC. The report could stir new concerns from investors around the globe about a so-called hard landing for China’s economy, but HSBC said it is also likely to prompt further monetary policy easing by the People’s Bank of China.

Economy: The number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell 1,000 to 367,000 in the latest week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected the report to show 365,000 claims.

The U.S. trade deficit widened to $51.8 billion in March from $45.5 billion in February, according to the Commerce Department. The deficit was narrower than the $53 billion economists had expected.

The Treasury Department on Thursday recorded a $59 billion surplus for the month of May, marking the first time in more than three years that Washington took in more money than it paid out. Tax receipts were higher and spending lower than they were last April.

Companies: Beauty products company Avon (, Fortune 500) said that perfume-maker Coty raised its unsolicited bid for the company to $24.75 a share from its earlier offer of $23.25. Avon’s board said it will consider the offer. Shares of Avon declined.

Avon: Coty’s back with a higher bid

Department store chain Kohl’s (, Fortune 500) reported earnings per share of 63 cents, down from 69 cents a year earlier but still better than the forecast of 61 cents from analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. But the company gave earnings guidance for the current quarter that was below current forecasts, sending shares lower.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro and the British pound, but gained against the Japanese yen.

Oil for June delivery gained 27 cents to settle at $97.08 a barrel.

Gold futures for June delivery rose $1.30 to settle at $1,595.50 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 1.88% from 1.84% late Wednesday. 

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A U.K. house-price index rose to a 21-month high in March as first-time buyers sought to take advantage of an expiring property-tax exemption, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said.

The gauge rose 3 points from February to minus 10, the highest reading since June 2010, according to a report today e- mailed by London-based RICS, which conducts a monthly survey of property surveyors nationwide. Still, a reading below zero shows more surveyors saw price drops than gains last month.

The figures reflect Britons taking advantage of a two-year stamp-duty exemption for first-time buyers purchasing a home costing less than 250,000 pounds ($400,000) before it ended on March 24. A continuation of this year

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Crocuses sprouting in front yards are just one indicator that spring has arrived early. Another, less welcome sign is rising prices at the pump, and the political rancor that accompanies an angry electorate in an election year.

Regular gasoline averaged $3.45 a gallon in St. Louis and surrounding Missouri suburbs early Thursday. That’s up 20 cents over the past month and 40 cents from the same time last year, according to the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. In the Metro East, where taxes are higher, the average was $3.65.

Patrick DeHaan, a Chicago-based analyst for GasBuddy.com, a website that tracks gasoline prices, said retail prices had risen another nickel a gallon during the day on Thursday and could go as much as 15 cents higher by the end of the weekend.

DeHaan said wholesale prices in the Great Lakes region have soared by 61 cents in the past week, and the increase has yet to be fully reflected in retail prices.

While local prices are still far short of the records seen here last May, gasoline is the most expensive it’s ever been at this time of year. And prices typically rise in spring as people drive more and oil refiners drain inventories and switch to producing cleaner-burning summer gasoline.

The overwhelming reason for the recent jump is higher oil prices paid by refiners.

Oil futures rose $1.55 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $107.23 — the highest level since early May. Prices are up about $10 in just the past two weeks, mostly on fears of instability in Iran and the possibility it could affect oil shipments from the Middle East.

“The market has to discount the worst case outcome (in Iran) and the probability of that worst case outcome,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in Webster Groves.

By itself, a $10 increase in oil prices equates to a 25 cent a gallon jump in gasoline prices.

Refinery outages and closures on the coasts are also affecting Midwest gasoline prices, though to a lesser extent, analysts said.

The largest refinery in the state of Washington, with capacity to process 230,000 barrels of oil a day, remains idled following a fire on Friday. On the East Coast, two refineries near Philadelphia have shut down in recent months.

The loss of refining capacity on the coasts “does not affect out market directly, but it causes tighter markets in other parts of the country,” O’Grady said. And if the difference between gasoline prices in different regions of the country is great enough, it justifies the cost of transporting fuel and selling to those markets.

In past years, gasoline price increases were frequently blamed on rising fuel consumption and dwindling domestic oil production. But the opposite is true today.

The U.S. is pumping more oil than it has at anytime since 1994 and gasoline demand is at an 11-year low.

Nonetheless, motorists remain vulnerable to geopolitics and a volatile global energy markets that push up the price of crude oil.

Just a few years ago, the price of oil used to account for a little more than half of the cost of gasoline, with refining, distribution and marketing and taxes making up the rest. Today, oil represents 75 percent of the retail price, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Government forecasters predict nationwide gasoline prices will average $3.55 a gallon in 2012, or 2 cents a gallon more than last year. The current nationwide average is $3.61 a gallon.

The run-up in crude oil and gasoline prices has generated plenty of consumer angst and given rise to criticism of President Barack Obama and his administration’s energy policy — including the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada’s tar sands.

Thursday, Obama took on those critics, including Republican presidential candidates, during a speech in Miami, where he stopped to raise cash for his re-election bid.

“Only in politics do people greet bad news so enthusiastically. You pay more, and they’re licking their chops?” Obama asked rhetorically. “And you can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas.”

Among the most vocal critics is Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who last week introduced an amendment to give federal regulators more leeway to waive requirements for anti-pollution “boutique fuels.” The measure would also direct the government to study the effect such fuels have on gasoline markets.

Meanwhile, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., urged the president to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to provide relief for consumers. U.S. presidents have ordered releases from the strategic reserve three times since 1991 and in each case lowered fuel prices, she said.

McClatchy News contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON • The economy grew late last year at a pace that in normal times would suggest it’s healthy.

But the 2.8 percent annualized growth rate in the October-December quarter — the fastest pace since the spring of 2010 — isn’t being cheered by most economists or investors. That’s because growth would need to be much stronger to sharply reduce unemployment. And signs in the data point to slower growth ahead.

For all of last year, the economy grew just 1.7 percent. That was barely more than half the growth in 2010. The outlook for all 2012 is slightly better. The Federal Reserve estimates growth of roughly 2.5 percent for the year.

Though the economy has picked up and is far stronger than during the Great Recession, unemployment is still a high 8.5 percent. Many people remain reluctant to spend more or buy homes. Many employers are still hesitant to hire.

For the final three months of 2011, Americans spent more on vehicles, and companies restocked their shelves at a robust pace. But overall growth last quarter — and for all of last year — was held back by the sharpest cuts in annual government spending in four decades, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Several factors are expected to exert more of an economic drag this year: Cuts in military and other federal spending. A slower pace of company restocking. Weak or flat pay increases. Sluggish growth in consumer spending.

“Overall, the pickup in growth doesn’t look half as good when you realize that most of it was due to inventory accumulation,” said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, who expects growth to slow to below 2 percent in the first three months of this year.

In the final three months of last year, consumer spending grew at a 2 percent annual rate. That’s up modestly from the third quarter. Consumer spending is important because it makes up 70 percent of economic activity.

Much of the growth was powered by a 14.8 percent surge in sales of autos and other long-lasting manufactured goods.

Incomes, which have been weak all year because of high unemployment, grew at a modest 0.8 percent annual rate. That followed two straight quarters of declining incomes. But unless pay increases pick up, consumers who have dipped into savings in recent months may pull back.

Business restocking, which can vary widely from quarter to quarter, was the greatest contributor to growth in the October-December period. It added nearly 2 percentage points to the gross domestic product, or GDP.

Government spending at all levels fell at an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter and 2.1 percent for the year — the biggest decline since 1971. Sweeping federal defense cuts at the beginning and end of 2011 were a major factor.

The economy is measured by GDP, which covers everything from haircuts to hotel bookings to jet fighters. Friday’s estimate was the first of three for the fourth quarter.

Other data show that in some ways, the economy ended 2011 on a strong note. Companies invested more in equipment and machinery in December. The unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent last month — the lowest level in nearly three years — after the sixth straight month of solid hiring.

People are buying more cars, and consumer confidence is rising. Even the depressed housing market has shown enough improvement to make some economists predict a turnaround has begun.

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Greek debt talks are said to be progressing but officials have yet to announce a deal to scale back the nation’s overwhelming debt load.

Negotiations between the government and experts representing the private banks and investors that hold Greek debt — the Institute of International Finance — have been ongoing since last Wednesday.

But the outcome still remains uncertain ahead of a key two-day meeting of eurozone finance officials that starts Monday.

The lead negotiators from the IIF, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre, left Athens Saturday to attend "long-standing personal appointments" in Paris, according to a statement.

In a statement, Dallara stressed that progress has been made over the last few days and that the "elements" of a deal "are coming into place."

"Now is the time to act decisively and seize the opportunity to finalize this historic deal and contribute to the economic stability of Greece, the euro area and the world economy," said Dallara.

The IIF also said Dallara and Lemierre are available to Greek officials by phone "should this be necessary."

The lure to leave the euro may prove irresistible

At issue is an agreement to reduce Greece’s debt load by writing down the value of Greek bonds owned by the private sector by 50%.

In addition to the writedown, the deal is expected to include a debt exchange, in which investors would swap Greek bonds for new 30-year securities with an interest rate, or coupon, of about 4%.

The exchange could result in "real" losses of up to 70% for the private sector.

But it could also ease the burden on the Greek government as it struggles under a massive €350 billion pile of debt and a deepening recession.

The talks have been hindered by disagreements over the terms of the debt exchange and signs the participation rate may fall short of expectations.

The stipulation that investors voluntarily accept the writedowns has also been a stumbling block.

A non-voluntary writedown could trigger credit default swaps, a form of insurance that investors use as protection against a default.

Eurozone officials have insisted that the agreement be voluntary, arguing that credit default swaps could spread chaos in the financial system. But investors who have purchased credit protection might have an interest in holding out for a default.

The private sector owns over €200 billion worth of Greek debt, so the 50% writedown would translate to €100 billion.

That would help shrink Greek government debt to 120% of gross domestic product by 2020, according to eurozone officials. Currently, Greece’s debts are equal to about 160% of GDP.

Both sides are under pressure to reach agreement before Monday’s meeting of euro area finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup.

The restructuring of Greece’s private sector debt is a key condition for the nation to receive additional bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Greece is facing a €14.5 billion bond payment in March that it may not make without another injection of emergency financing.

Europe: Still a huge pain in the neck for investors

Officials from the EU, IMF and European Central Bank arrived in Athens last week to begin reviewing the government’s finances.

The troika, as three institutions are known, is beginning the process of negotiating a second bailout for Greece, valued at €130 billion.

Greece has struggled in the past to implement the austerity measures and structural reforms that are a condition of its existing bailout loans.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, a former ECB vice president, was appointed last year to impose more budget cuts and revive Greece’s moribund economy.

The big concern is that Greece could default in a disorderly way, a development that could force the nation out of the euro currency union.

That would likely cause the Greek banking system to collapse and plunge the nation’s economy deeper into recession. It could also drive up borrowing costs for other vulnerable euro area economies, such as Italy and Spain.

The spread of a debt contagion in the eurozone is seen by most economists as the single biggest threat facing the global economy. 

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Sales (ETSLTOTL) of previously owned U.S. homes probably rose in December to the highest level in more than a year, a sign the housing market ended 2011 with momentum, economists said before a report today.

Purchases increased 5.2 percent last month to a 4.65 million annual rate, the most since May 2010, according to the median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Historically low mortgage rates and a pickup in employment may be giving Americans the confidence to purchase homes that have fallen in value. At the same time, another wave of foreclosures may inhibit a faster recovery in real estate as more distressed properties are put on the market.

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President Barack Obama is wrapping up a three-day tour through crucial political states, searching for votes and money and unveiling executive steps to prime the economy even as his jobs bill struggles in Congress.

Obama held six fundraisers, including star-studded events in Los Angeles. He gathered backers in Denver and Las Vegas, urging them to find energy for the 2012 campaign. And he coined a new slogan _ “We can’t wait” _ to draw distinctions with congressional Republicans who oppose his $447 billion economic plan.

On Wednesday, at the University of Colorado’s Denver campus, he will highlight a new initiative to make it easier for graduates to repay their student loans. He earlier announced a mortgage refinancing program and on Tuesday the White House announced new steps to help veterans.

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Hurricane Ophelia has intensified to a Category 4 storm as it passes east of Bermuda and heads north toward Newfoundland, where the entire Avalon Peninsula is under a tropical storm watch.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Saturday evening that Ophelia had maximum sustained winds near 135 mph (217 kph), up from 120 mph (193 kph) late Saturday afternoon.

It was moving north at 26 mph (42 kph) and was 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of Bermuda. It was expected to weaken rapidly late Sunday, though tropical-storm-force winds are possible on the Avalon Peninsula early Monday payday loans.

Ophelia is the season’s fourth hurricane. Earlier, Ophelia caused flooding and cut off communities on Dominica.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Philippe was stronger but it remained far from land in the Atlantic.

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President Barack Obama says the U.S. Postal Service should be allowed to reduce mail delivery to five-days-a-week to cut its massive losses.

The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion last year. It’s facing even more red ink this year as the Internet siphons off large amounts of first-class mail and the weak economy reduces advertising mail.

While the post office has cut more than 100,000 workers in the last few years it needs to cut more, close offices and find other ways to reduce costs to keep operating.

In his economic growth and debt reduction plan unveiled Monday, Obama endorsed the idea of dropping one day of mail delivery _ it is expected to be Saturday _ and urged other changes in postal operations

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