Finance news. My opinion.

A three-day rally faded on Wall Street Friday after a mixed jobs report and credit-rating cuts for Italy and Spain.

Indexes drifted between gains and losses in the morning, then turned lower after the Fitch agency cut Spain and Italy’s credit ratings, saying they are more likely to default because of the spreading debt crisis in Europe.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 34 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,089 at 12:45 p.m. Eastern time. Financial stocks led the Dow lower.

Broader indexes fell even more. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 10, or 0.9 percent, to 1,155. The Nasdaq composite index fell 32, or 1.3 percent, to 2,474.

U.S. employers added 103,000 jobs last month, about double what economists had expected, the Labor Department said earlier Friday. The government also said more jobs were added in July and August than previously reported. Economists said the report countered short-term fears that the U.S. might be entering another recession. Yet it offered few signs that strong growth will return soon.

Traders bought companies expected to do well even in a slow economy. Utilities, consumer staples and telecommunications rose the most of the S&P’s 10 industry groups.

The gains in hiring weren’t enough to lower the unemployment rate, which remained steady at 9.1 percent for the third straight month. Traders watch the employment report closely because it provides the first significant snapshot of the previous month’s economic performance and clues to the broader outlook for the U.S. economy.

The report led traders to sell ultra-safe investments that earn small returns such as U.S. Treasurys. Minutes after the report came out, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.11 percent from 1.98 percent. It fell back to 2.06 percent after the rating cuts renewed some fears about Europe.

The monthly jobs report is one of the few pieces of data powerful enough to overshadow traders’ fears about Europe’s festering debt crisis Internet Payday loans. Markets gyrated this summer as concerns intensified about a default by Greece. Many analysts now believe a default is unavoidable, and question whether Europe can prevent it from causing financial markets to seize up.

Short-term traders have reacted strongly to minor European developments, rumors and speculation. The Dow has closed up or down more than 100 points for nine straight trading days, the longest such streak since November 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis. The Dow soared 468 points, or 4.4 percent, Tuesday through Thursday.

Makers of high-tech lap equipment skidded after Illumina Inc. withdrew its annual earnings forecast, saying demand from government and academic customers had decreased in the slowing economy. Illumina lost one-third of its value. PerkinElmer Inc. plunged 9 percent; Thermo Fisher Inc. and Agilent Technologies Inc. lost 7 percent.

Sprint Nextel Inc. plunged 8 percent after the company said it needs to borrow money to build out a new high-speed data network. It had risen sharply earlier in the day after the company said its new deal to sell Apple Inc.’s iPhone will add to its revenue in the coming quarters.

Clearwire Corp. plummeted 26 percent after Sprint said it would stop selling phones that work on the company’s network at the end of next year. Sprint is building its own high-speed wireless network.

Bank of America Corp. plunged 5 percent, the most in the Dow, after weeks of sharp movements caused by concerns about legal costs the bank faces over shoddy mortgages that it sold.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. lost 3 percent. Financial stocks have been extremely volatile because of fears that Europe’s problems could spill over in the U.S. banking industry.

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Top financial officials from eurozone countries were grappling with Greece’s worsening debt crisis on Monday after Athens’ admission that its deficit will be higher than promised sent markets tumbling.

Greece’s revelation calls into question whether Athens will receive the next installment of the bailout loan it needs to pay its day-to-day bills. If it doesn’t receive euro8 billion ($10.8 billion) by mid-October, it could go bankrupt and would be unable to pay pensions and salaries.

European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn wouldn’t be drawn out Monday on what Greece’s creditors will do with the new information, saying only that they were still reviewing the data.

“We are currently assessing whether Greece will meet its fiscal targets with the current measures,” Rehn said ahead of Monday’s meeting. “I want to do our job first properly; it seems that Greece is likely to miss the target.”

Although the ministers have already said they won’t decide on the next payment at their meeting Monday in Luxembourg, the issue is sure to be high on the agenda.

Markets have been exceptionally volatile in recent weeks, as they look for any hint that European leaders have a credible way to steer Greece back to health and prevent its debt problems from spreading to other, larger eurozone economies. The Greek announcement confirmed investors’ fears that even the country’s dramatic spending cuts will not be enough.

Greece’s finance ministry said Sunday that the country will run a deficit of 8.5 percent of economic output, or euro18.69 billion ($25.2 billion), this year _ far above the promised euro17.1 billion ($23.1 billion), which would have been 7.8 percent of GDP.

Part of the problem is that since Greece’s economy is shrinking, the government is taking in less and less money. That in turn means it has to cut even more to reduce the size of its deficit and make a dent in its debts.

In 2012, Athens’ debts are projected to reach 172.7 percent of gross domestic product, while the deficit will drop to 6.8 percent.

The announcement will also force the eurozone to decide whether they will go ahead with a second euro109 billion rescue package tentatively agreed in July. Germany, among others, has been pushing to reopen that deal.

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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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Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, acknowledged Sunday his sexual encounter with a New York hotel maid was a “moral failing” on his part, but didn’t involve violence, constraint or aggression.

In his first interview since his May 14 arrest over sexual assault accusations, Strauss-Kahn told France’s TF1 television channel what happened between him and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, “was not only an inappropriate relationship, but more than that, it was an error.”

Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist politician who was widely considered a top contender in next year’s presidential race until the case broke, said “it was a failing, a failing vis-a-vis my wife, my children and my friends but also a failing vis-a-vis the French people, who had vested their hopes for change in me.

“I think it was a moral failing and I am not proud of it. I regret it infinitely. I have regretted it everyday for the past four months and I think I’m not done regretting it,” he said at the start of the 20-minute interview. Much of the exchange came off as staged, with Strauss-Kahn appearing calm and unruffled throughout and not surprised by the questions.

Strauss-Kahn’s initial contrition was peppered with anger at his accuser, a Guinean immigrant who maintained he attacked her after she came into his room at New York’s Sofitel hotel to clean.

He said the New York prosecutor concluded “Nafissatou Diallo lied about everything _ not only about her past, that’s of no importance, but also about what happened. The (prosecutor’s) report says, it’s written there, that ’she presented so many different versions of what happened that I can’t believe a word.’”

Strauss-Kahn suggested that financial motives might have been behind Diallo’s accusations.

He also dismissed as “imaginary” separate claims by a French writer that he tried to rape her during a 2003 interview, again insisting “no act of aggression, no violence” had taken place between the two.

The writer, Tristane Banon, has maintained she and Strauss-Kahn tussled on the floor during an interview in an empty apartment, with the politician trying to open her jeans and bra and putting his fingers in her mouth and underwear.

Because a police investigation into the claims is ongoing, Strauss-Kahn said he would not say anything more about the matter. If Paris prosecutors decide to pursue the case, Strauss-Kahn could face a possible trial.

New York prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against him in the Diallo case last month, though Strauss-Kahn is still facing a lawsuit brought by the maid.

Asked whether he had any intention of returning to politics, Strauss-Kahn said he would “take time to reflect” and rest first.

“But all my life was consecrated to being useful to the public good,” he said, adding “we will see.”

The AP does not name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified or come forward publicly, as Diallo and Banon have done.

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Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne on Tuesday said the combined companies still aim to produce 6 million cars a year by 2014 despite the increased uncertainty in global financial markets.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Auto Show, Marchionne expressed frustration at Europe’s spiraling debt crisis, which threatens to engulf Fiat’s key market of Italy. It already is sapping consumer confidence with auto sales in Italy forecast at around 1.8 million this year, the lowest level since 1983.

“People don’t even know how to buy groceries for the weekend right now, and we are worrying about 2014,” Marchionne said with some irony.

“In the absence of a cataclysmic event the answer is yes, that is what we are trying too build,” he said, referring to the companies’ production goals.

Fiat SpA has a 53.5-percent majority stake in U.S. automaker Chrysler Group LLC and is looking to combine the companies to create a global automaker. Marchionne said Chrysler is in a better position because U.S. policymakers have done more to stimulate the economy.

The Italian-Canadian CEO said there need to be serious discussions in Europe about promoting growth, and that governments across the continent need to reduce their costs to confront the crisis credibly.

“Anybody who runs a business knows, the only way to maintain a structure when you are under pressure is to reduce costs. … I am talking about everyone in general. Tighten belts, remove all unnecessary expenditures and try to gear up these places toward growth,” Marchionne told the Associated Press.

Despite the weakening market, Fiat is premiering the third generation of the Panda city car, the best-selling car in the segment in Europe, at the Frankfurt Auto Show cash advance loan. The car is slightly longer, but retains much of the look of the original, which has sold more than 6 million units since its launch in 1980.

It is being challenged by Volkswagen, which is launching the Up, the latest entry in the market for tiny, fuel-efficient city cars.

Marchionne said there was no choice but to go ahead with the launch.

“It is never the right moment when the market is weak,” he said. But if the company had to follow volatile markets “then we close up shop and go home.”

Production of the Panda will begin in November at the Pomigliano plant near Naples. But Marchionne has put other investments on hold _ including plans to build Alfa Romeo and Jeep SUVs at a plant in Turin _ while the crisis sorts itself out.

“Everything is on the table now because this uncertainty makes everyone concerned about what the future looks like,” he said.

Marchionne has pledged to invest euro20 billion ($27 billion) in Italy to double production by 2014.

The Fiat CEO also confirmed talks with Suzuki on supplying engines, but indicated the deal was not yet finalized.

“I think there is a potential deal with Suzuki on engine supply. We are going to continue working with the company. … anything that works for them and for us, we will do,” Marchionne said.

Suzuki Motor Corp. on Monday said it will end its alliance with Volkswagen AG following a nearly two-year marriage, after Volkswagen accused Suzuki of violating the terms of its partnership by deciding to buy diesel engines from rival Fiat SpA.

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For so many Americans, these are desperate, fearful and contradictory times.

More than 20 million are out of a job, have given up looking or settled for part-time work. Those with jobs fear they’ll be laid off, and people trying to move for a job are stymied by houses they can’t sell.

“How are consumers feeling this month? … Pretty depressed,” said analyst Ed Yardeni, after perusing consumer confidence numbers in late August.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 3 in 10 workers are worried about being laid off

WASHINGTON

Twenty-five of the 100 largest U.S. corporations paid their chief executives more last year than they paid in federal income taxes, according to a report released Wednesday.

The nonprofit Institute for Policy Studies says the 25 CEOs averaged $16.7 million in salary and other 2010 compensation.

Most of the companies they ran, meanwhile, came out ahead at tax time. They collected tax refunds that averaged $304 million, based on a review of public filings. The think tank says the 25 firms that paid out more in CEO compensation than U.S. taxes reported average global profits of $1.9 billion.

The institute, based in Washington, describes itself as a community of public scholars that works with social movements to promote democracy and challenge corporate influence and military power.

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China plans to inspect all of its showcase bullet train lines following a crash last month that killed 40 people, as authorities work to determine who is ultimately responsible for the disaster.

The State Administration of Work Safety will present a report on the July 23 crash to China’s top leaders in September, the agency’s spokesman Huang Yi said in comments Tuesday on its website.

“Of course, a period of analysis is required to determine both the direct and indirect factors behind the crash and to work out who is responsible,” Huang said.

The monthlong inspections of 49 projects and 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) of railway lines will run through the middle of next month, and train operations and construction will be suspended if safety problems are found, officials say.

In the crash last month near the city of Wenzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, a lightning strike caused one bullet train to stall and a sensor failure that allowed a second train to keep moving on the same track and slam into it.

Huang said it was clear that there were deficiencies in the safety management of the system.

“This was an accident that was both avoidable and preventable,” he said.

The collision killed 40 people and injured 177, including a toddler orphaned by the crash who was rescued nearly a day later.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday that the two-year-old girl, Xiang Weiyi, has been moved to Shanghai to help her recover from severe injuries to one of her legs, after relatives appealed for better help for the girl.

The girl will need a “pretty long time to recover,” it quoted pediatric orthopedist Dr. Zhao Li as saying.

China has 13 high-speed railways in operation, with 26 under construction and 23 more planned, although approvals of new projects were frozen following the Wenzhou crash. Delays on a new Beijing-Shanghai line blamed on equipment and power failures have fanned public anger over the cost and potential risks of the program.

The government has ordered reduced speeds and cut ticket prices for the lines.

Earlier plans called for expanding the network to 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) of track by 2020.

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The “grocery store” takes on many forms these days for shoppers like Melisa Dukes.

On a recent night, her grocery was the Target in Bridgeton where she filled her cart with frozen pizzas, grapes, milk, Pop-Tarts, Bud Select and vitamin water.

Other days, her grocery is Schnucks, where she goes for specialty items such as fresh meats cut to order.

And sometimes, it can be a CVS or Walgreens if she see sees a good deal on lunch meat payday loans.

Indeed, these days shoppers can buy soy milk from Dollar Tree, rice at Walgreens and premade salads at the local convenience store. From drug stores to gas stations, all kinds of stores have been expanding food offerings in an effort to drive more foot traffic and sales.

After testing the waters with a handful of stores, Target is now converting the rest of its local stores to the retailer’s “PFresh” format