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U.K. house prices (UKNBAAMM) may decline in 2012 as economic turmoil emanating from the euro area

Standard & Poor’s is threatening to downgrade the credit rating of 15 eurozone countries, saying the worsening debt crisis is affecting the bloc’s strongest economies.

The decision Monday to put 15 eurozone countries, including AAA-rating nations such as Germany and Luxembourg, on watch for a possible downgrade piles pressure on eurozone leaders to find a solution to the currency union’s debt troubles at a summit later this week.

S&P said its decision was “prompted by our belief that systemic stresses in the eurozone have risen in recent weeks to the extent that they now put downward pressure on the credit standing of the eurozone as a whole.”

The only two euro nations not put on credit watch were Cyprus, which was already under review, and Greece, which already holds the world’s worst rating.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BRUSSELS (AP) _ Efforts to stabilize Europe’s financial crisis were thrown into disarray late Monday as the 17 countries that use the euro braced for a possible downgrade of their credit ratings.

The leaders of France and Germany sought to restore confidence in the troubled European currency during the day with a joint call for changes to the European Union treaty so that countries using the euro would face automatic penalities if budget deficits ran too high.

Stock prices rose and borrowing costs for European governments dropped sharply in response to the changes proposed by French President Nikolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They said their proposals would prevent the kind of out-of-control spending and borrowing that led to the debt crisis that is engulfing Europe and threatening the global financial system.

But on Monday night two people familiar with the matter said Standard & Poor’s is examining the credit rating of all 17 eurozone countries for a possible downgrade as the continent’s debt crisis lingers. They said S&P is likely to make an announcement on putting the euro countries on “credit watch” after the closing of markets in the U.S. on Monday.

The people were speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The threat to downgrade all 17 eurozone countries _ including the ones that enjoy the stellar AAA-rating _ comes ahead of a crucial summit of EU leaders later this week. If there is widespread support at the summit, it is assumed that would be an important first step in bringing an end to the crisis, which has dragged on for more than two years.

“Our wish is to go on a forced march toward re-establishing confidence in the eurozone,” Sarkozy said at a news conference in Paris, with Merkel at his side. “We are conscious of the gravity of the situation and of the responsibility that rests on our shoulders.”

EU treaty changes could take months, if not years, to implement and don’t wipe away the mountains of government debt dragging down Europe’s economy. But preliminary buy-in Friday from the 17 countries that use the euro could set the stage for further emergency aid from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund or some combination.

“The onus is still on the ECB to print money to make huge loans or bond purchases and draw a line under the crisis,” said Jennifer McKeown, senior European economist at Capital Economics. “Perhaps if other member states sign up to Merkel’s and Sarkozy’s proposals this week the (ECB) will step in.”

Sarkozy pledged to have a revised EU treaty ready for signing by March. It would then need to be ratified in each country, which could mean lengthy parliamentary debates or national referendums in some cases.

“A lot depends on the specifics and how these are going to be framed by lawyers,” said Piotr Maciej Kaczynski, an expert on EU constitutional issues at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels.

At the very least, it could take at least 18 months to ratify a new treaty once it has been signed by all heads of state, said Kaczynski. “That is a much longer timeline than what markets might want,” he said.

Bond-market analysts said they remain skeptical of Europe’s ability to prevent future profligacy. “If you say it strong enough and often enough maybe people will believe it,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. “But I don’t think the markets believe ‘Merkozy’ at this point.”

EU governments reacted with caution.

No other EU leaders came out against the Franco-German proposals, but no strong statements in favor were immediately forthcoming. The reaction from Austrain Finance Minister Harald Waiglein was fairly typical: “There is nothing here that contradicts our position,” although more details are needed, he said.

The modern EU is based on a set of treaties, dating as far back as the 1950s, when the project of consolidating the continent began payday loan lenders. The treaties detail the rules that countries must follow and outline the mandates of institutions like the ECB. The most recent was the Lisbon Treaty, which was ratified in 2009, giving additional powers to the European Commission and European Parliament.

Sarkozy said he and Merkel would prefer that the treaty changes they’re proposing be agreed to by all 27 members of the EU. But he left the door open to an agreement only among the 17 euro countries and anyone else “who wants to join us.”

Sarkozy and Merkel discussed several broad changes for the EU treaty, but failed to provide much detail. The changes they outlined included:

_ Introducing an automatic penalty for any government that allows its deficit to exceed 3 percent of GDP. A majority of nations would need to oppose automatic sanctions for a country to avoid them.

Governments are supposed to abide by the deficit limit under existing rules, but many, including France, have flouted it. Further, punishment only occurs after a majority of euro countries votes to impose them.

_ Requiring countries to enshrine in law a promise to balance their budgets.

A key issue for the proposal’s final approval will be how much flexibility countries can have to run temporary deficits during economic downturns.

_ Pledging that any future bailouts would not require private bond investors to absorb a part of the costs, as was the case for the Greek bailout.

Germany had earlier insisted that Europe’s permanent bailout fund would demand private investors take losses if a country in the future needs rescuing.

_ Promising to not criticize or otherwise comment on the work of the ECB.

This is intended to ensure the bank’s independence and its ability to act without pressure from European leaders.

Sarkozy said more details would be included in a letter sent Wednesday to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

After Sarkozy and Merkel spoke, stocks rose and borrowing rates for governments across Europe plunged, indicating a sharp rise in investor confidence in the continent’s ability to resolve the crisis.

France’s CAC-40 index climbed 1.2 percent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.4 percent and markets outside of Europe also pushed higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.2 percent.

French banks, which have been hit hard this year over fears about their large exposure to the government bonds of financially weak countries like Greece, saw some of the biggest gains.

Societe Generale’s stock price climbed 6.2 percent while BNP Paribas rose 4.9 percent. In Italy, shares of Unicredit rose 5.4 percent while Spain’s Santander rose 3.6 percent.

Worries about the stability of the euro reached a fever pitch in recent weeks as the yields on Italy’s bonds _ in a nutshell, its borrowing costs _ jumped above 7 percent. That is the level that eventually forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to require bailouts. By comparison, bond yields in Germany, Europe’s largest and most stable economy, are roughly 2 percent.

Italian and Spanish bond yields fell sharply on Monday, an indication of growing investor confidence in their financial future. The yield on Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond fell from 6.65 percent to 5.93 percent.

Italy, whose government debt is equivalent to 120 percent of the country’s annual economic output, needs to refinance $270 billion of its $2.6 trillion of outstanding debt by the end of April.

The size of the problems facing Italy and Spain are considered too large for the existing funds available to the European Financial Stability Facility ($590 billion) and the IMF ($389 billion.) To boost the firepower of the IMF, several economists have proposed that the ECB lend to it.

The big threat to the global financial system is that Europe’s debt crisis could spiral out of control.

If governments default on their bonds, banks that own them could take a significant hit. It could become very difficult for these banks to borrow and nervous depositors could flee with their cash. In the worst case, a global financial panic could be triggered, in which banks all over are too skittish to lend to each other. That would cause a credit crunch that deprives businesses of the short-term financing they depend on for day-to-day operations.

With such fears in the air, the United States is ratcheting up its involvement.

Geithner will meet Tuesday in Germany with ECB President Mario Draghi and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble. On Wednesday, he travels to France for talks with Sarkozy and the prime minister-elect of Spain, Mariano Rajoy Brey.

Source

UPDATED at 7:15 a.m. with more stories from early morning shoppers.

HAZELWOOD

Unemployment rates fell in three-quarters of U.S. states last month, a sign that many parts of the country are experiencing modest job gains.

The Labor Department says unemployment rates fell in 36 states in October and rose in only 5. Rates were unchanged in 9 states. That’s the best showing since April, when rates fell in 39 states.

Nationally, the unemployment rate ticked down to 9 percent in October, from 9.1 percent the previous month. Employers added a modest 80,000 net jobs last month and the previous two months were revised to show much stronger gains payday advance lender.

Still, at least 125,000 jobs a month are needed to keep up with population growth, and at least double that amount to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate.

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Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi resigned Saturday after parliament’s lower chamber passed European-demanded reforms, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing the country back from the brink of economic crisis.

A chorus of Handel’s “Alleluia,” performed by a few dozen singers and classical musicians, rang out in front of the president’s palace as thousands of Italians poured into downtown Rome to rejoice at the end of Berlusconi’s scandal-marred reign.

Hecklers shouted “Buffoon, Buffoon!” as Berlusconi’s motorcade entered and exited the presidential palace, where he tendered his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano, the palace said in a statement.

Respected former European commissioner Mario Monti remained the top choice to try to steer the country out of its debt woes as the head of a transitional government, but Berlusconi’s allies remained split over whether to support him.

Their opposition wasn’t expected to scuttle Napolitano’s plans to ask Monti to try to form an interim government as early as Sunday, but it could make Monti’s job more difficult.

Napolitano will hold consultations Sunday morning with all Italy’s political forces. The back-to-back, 10-minute meetings he has scheduled indicated the talks wouldn’t drag on and that Monti would be nominated by the end of the day. Late Saturday, Berlusconi’s party said it would support Monti, albeit with conditions.

Berlusconi’s resignation was set in motion after the Chamber of Deputies, with a vote Saturday of 380-26 with two abstentions, approved economic reforms which include increasing the retirement age starting in 2026 but do nothing to open up Italy’s inflexible labor market.

The Senate approved it a day earlier and Napolitano signed the legislation Saturday afternoon, paving the way for Berlusconi to leave office as he promised to do after losing his parliamentary majority earlier in the week. He chaired his final Cabinet meeting Saturday evening and thanked his ministers.

Berlusconi stood as lawmakers applauded him in the parliament chamber immediately after the vote. But outside his office and in front of government palazzos across town, hundreds of curiosity-seekers massing to witness the final hours of his government heckled him and his ministers.

“Shame!” and “Get Out!” the crowds yelled, many toting “Bye Bye Silvio Party” posters as they marched through downtown Rome in a festive indication that for many Italians, like financial markets, the time had come for Berlusconi to go.

Berlusconi supporters were also out in force, some singing the national anthem, but they were outnumbered.

Earlier in the day, Berlusconi lunched with Monti in a clear sign the political transition was already under way, news reports said.

While the euroskeptic Northern League remained opposed to Monti’s nomination, some lawmakers suggested they could support a Monti-led government for a few months to enact the additional EU-demanded reforms before elections are held in early 2012.

In a statement issued late Saturday, Berlusconi’s Peoples of Liberty party said its members would support Monti, but added that they would also ensure that Monti’s Cabinet, legislative agenda and the timeframe of his government meets their requirements.

Napolitano appealed for lawmakers to put the good of the country ahead of short-term, local interests _ an indirect appeal to members of Berlusconi’s party and the allied Northern League to work with the new government.

“All political forces must act with a sense of responsibility,” he said.

It was an ignoble end for the 75-year-old billionaire media mogul, who came to power for the first time in 1994 using a soccer chant “Let’s Go Italy” as the name of his political party and selling Italians on a dream of prosperity with his own personal story of transformation from cruise-ship crooner to Italy’s richest man pay day loan lenders.

While he became Italy’s longest-serving post-war premier, Berlusconi’s three stints as premier were tainted by corruption trials and accusations that he used his political power to help his business interests.

His last term has been marred by sex scandals, “bunga bunga” parties and criminal charges he paid a 17-year-old girl to have sex _ accusations he denies.

In the end, his downfall came swiftly: Just last week Berlusconi boldly told a G-20 summit in Cannes, France, he was the only one who could steer Italy out of its economic morass. A week of battering on the markets and the defection of several party members later, his fate was sealed.

Italy is under intense pressure to quickly put in place a new and effective government to replace him, one that can push through even more painful reforms and austerity measures to deal with its staggering debts, which stand at euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), or a huge 120 percent of economic output. Italy has to roll over a little more than euro300 billion ($410 billion) of its debts next year alone.

Markets battered Italy this past week amid uncertainty that Berlusconi would really leave and questions over whether Italy’s notoriously paralyzed parliament could rally around a replacement. But Italy’s borrowing rates pulled back after Napolitano made clear he intended to tap the politically neutral economist Monti to try to head an interim government to push the reforms through.

The yield on benchmark Italian 10-year bonds fell to 6.48 percent Friday, safely below the crisis level of 7 percent reached earlier this week.

Greece, Ireland and Portugal all required international bailouts after their own borrowing rates passed 7 percent. The Italian economy would not be so easy to save. It totals $2 trillion, twice as much as the other three countries combined.

An Italian default could tear apart the coalition of 17 countries that use the euro as a common currency and deal a strong blow to the economies of Europe and the United States, both trying to avoid recessions.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said Saturday that Italy’s political transition over the next few days should send a “clear sign of clarification and of credibility” that the country is now on the right path to get its finances back in order.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Lagarde had high praise for Monti, saying she had great esteem for the “quality” economist with whom she had long enjoyed a “extremely warm” and effective relationship.

The IMF has a key role to play over the next few months in overseeing Italy’s efforts to pull itself back from a Greek-style economic disaster, monitoring how it implements reforms to rein in debt and spur growth, which is projected at a scant 0.6 percent this year and 0.3 percent next year.

Amid market turmoil last week, Berlusconi was forced to ask for IMF monitoring of Italy’s finances, a humiliating prospect for the eurozone’s third-largest economy and an embarrassment for the long-defiant Berlusconi.

The premier, however, received a warm sendoff from one of his closest pals, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who called Berlusconi “one of the last Mohicans of European politics” who had brought political stability to Italy.

Source

One of the St. Louis area’s leading medical practices for urologists owes more than $338,000 in delinquent property taxes, interest and penalties, St. Louis County records show.

Five years ago, Metropolitan Urological Specialists announced its plan to invest about $15 million in three outpatient centers, including a sexual medicine clinic, and to take on additional urologists as private physician shareholders. The firm, based in Chesterfield, also planned to invest heavily in laboratory and imaging equipment.

Dunard Morris, the medical firm’s former chief executive, said at the time that Metropolitan’s expansion would help meet the growing needs of the baby boomer generation. A large proportion of the firm’s business involves Medicare patients. Morris recently left the firm for unknown reasons.

But the firm, which still lists 14 physicians on its website, now struggles to pay its taxes. The county has sought to collect the back taxes by filing liens on the firm’s property.

The medical firm’s affiliate, Metropolitan Urological Properties LLC, owes state and local tax authorities $338,223 in delinquent taxes, interest and penalties from 2009 and 2010 on its medical office buildings at 10296 Big Bend Boulevard in Crestwood and at 215 Dunn Road in Florissant, according to the St. Louis County Department of Revenue.

Metropolitan Urological Properties also owes state and local property taxes for 2011 totaling $172,652 on those two parcels and improvements to those sites. That amount is due by Dec. 31, and becomes delinquent if not paid or postmarked before Jan. 1, 2012.

If the firm’s 2009 tax bill remains unpaid on its medical office complex in Crestwood, whose market value has been appraised at $4.9 million, county authorities are prepared to auction the property next August.

It is unclear when exactly Metropolitan started falling behind on its taxes or what specifically may have caused any related financial troubles. As shareholders, Metropolitan’s physicians could be on the hook if the firm defaults on any of its financial obligations.

Metropolitan’s property affiliate was able to pay a $29,481 tax bill on its Dunn Road parcel for 2009, but not a larger tax bill on its Big Bend parcel for that year. It did not pay its 2010 tax bills on either parcel.

Bob Lawson, the medical firm’s newly hired interim chief executive, did not return calls requesting comment. Several doctors affiliated with Metropolitan Urological Specialists also did not return phone calls.

Morris, who left the medical practice this fall, returned phone calls placed to one of his residences by leaving a voicemail message that said he was “out of state,” without saying exactly where.

“I have a lot to tell regarding health care and other things. I won’t talk with you if you run your story,” Morris said in the voicemail message. “I got sick of what I see in health care, and specifically in our group. And it’s a much wider story than me or anyone else.”

Source

The European Central Bank has cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point under new head Mario Draghi to boost weakening growth in a eurozone struggling with a crisis over too much government debt.

The move, which comes earlier than expected by many economists, takes the bank’s benchmark rate to 1.25 percent.

European growth is expected to slow to near or below zero in the last three months of the year.

Uncertainty from Europe’s debt crisis is a factor. Business and consumers are reluctant to spend and investors because they fear more financial turmoil if Greece defaults on its debts.

Now markets are waiting for Draghi’s first news conference to see if he indicates the bank is willing to intervene more forcefully in bond markets to keep Greece’s troubles from spreading to Spain and Italy.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ Mario Draghi holds his first press conference as new head of the European Central Bank under pressure to signal it will continue buying government bonds to keep Europe’s debt crisis from worsening.

A surprise interest rate cut has also not been ruled out as Draghi takes over. He faces an array of problems: weakening growth, excessive inflation and uncertainty over whether a bailout for heavily indebted Greece will go through or be derailed by a proposed referendum.

Markets are waiting to see if Draghi will be more aggressive in supporting troubled governments than predecessor Jean-Claude Trichet, whose eight-year term expired.

The bank’s program to buy government bonds drives down the borrowing costs that Italy and Spain face in bond markets. High interest rates on borrowing drove Greece, Ireland and Portugal to take bailout loans from other eurozone governments.

Under Trichet’s leadership, both he and Draghi, a former World Bank director and top Italian official, stressed that the program was temporary and that the new eurozone bailout fund needs to be ready to step up and take the purchases over. The fund won’t finish arrangements to leverage its limited financial resources until next month at the earliest, however.

That has left the ECB as the last line of defense in the bond market _ a position it has been uncomfortable holding. Trichet limited his comments on the program, and markets want to see if Draghi will open the door to more aggressive purchase.

“Draghi’s attitude to the ECB’s program of buying distressed government debt will be of prime importance,” said Jane Foley at Rabobank. “Today’s press conference will be no doubt used as an opportunity to test his resolve on this issue.”

Those expecting a more aggressive stance on bond purchases and a signal for a rate cut may be disappointed as Draghi may choose to stress continuity at the bank, wrote Unicredit economist Marco Valli. “We think Draghi will be very much in agreement with Trichet” and will signal that the bond purchases are a temporary measure, he wrote.

The bank’s key rate stands at 1.5 percent after increases in April and July aimed at warding off inflation. Since then the economic outlook has worsened significantly for the 17 countries that use the euro, leading many analysts to think the bank will cut rates in December or early next year. A rate cut Thursday has not been ruled out.

Inflation at 3.0 percent _ well above the bank’s goal of just under 2 percent _ gives a reason to hold off. Rate cuts spur growth but can worsen inflation.

Draghi will also face questions about Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s proposal to hold a referendum on Greece’s bailout, part of a broader plan to halt the crisis agreed upon at a summit last week but already in danger of unraveling.

Greece is to get euro100 million ($138 million) in more bailout financing to avoid a disorderly default on its bonds that could damage Europe’s banks and choke credit to the wider economy. But it comes with painful conditions and Papandreou says he wants the people to decide despite being told that no more bailout money will be forthcoming from other eurozone governments until the result is clear.

Papandreou faces a confidence vote Friday and it’s not clear the referendum will take place.

Critics of bond purchases argue that they take pressure off politicians to get their budget deficits down.

The issue is pressing, with Italian bond yields at an elevated 6.3 percent. Earlier, the ECB purchase program had driven them under 5 percent. But fears of more turmoil in Greece, and a perception that Italy is not acting quickly to cut spending and improve growth have put more pressure on its bonds.

But some economists have argued that only the ECB can act quickly and forcefully enough to backstop troubled governments and contain the crisis. Europe’s bailout fund is considered too small, at euro440 billion, despite proposals agreed last week by eurozone leaders to increase its financial firepower to euro1 trillion by letting it insure part of the value of government bond issues.

Key details of how the bailout fund would do that have not been filled in, and the initial burst of market relief over the idea has faded. Eurozone officials also worked out plans to cut Greece’s debt burden by 50 percent and to push banks to increase the size of their financial cushions against any losses or further market plunges that might result from that.

The ECB has potentially unlimited firepower, backed by its ability to create new money _ an ability the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of England have used. The ECB has been unwilling to do that. When it buys government bonds to stabilize their market price, it withdraws an equivalent amount of money from circulation to avoid creating inflation.

Source

It was a passengers’ nightmare at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn., this weekend.

Passengers on three JetBlue planes and one American Airline plane say they were stranded on the tarmac for seven hours or more after being diverted from New York-area airports.

The ordeal continued after they were let off and had to spend the night on cots and chairs in the terminal.

A passenger on one of the diverted JetBlue planes says the crew ran out of snacks and bottled water for the last few hours of the delay.

“The toilets were backed up. When you flushed, nothing would happen,” said Andrew Carter, a reporter for the Sun Sentinel of Florida, who was traveling to cover the Miami Dolphins game against the New York Giants. His plane took off from Fort Lauderdale for Newark Liberty International Airport at around 9 a.m. After being diverted to Hartford, the plane sat on the tarmac between around 1:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., he said.

A representative for Bradley International was not available to comment on the scope of the tarmac delays at the airport.

A JetBlue spokeswoman, Victoria Lucia, confirmed in an emailed statement that six of its planes, carrying a total of about 700 passengers, were diverted to Hartford as a result of a “confluence of events” including equipment failures at Newark and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport that prevented planes from landing in low visibility.

She declined to specify how long the planes sat on the tarmac at Bradley, but noted that 17 other flights with different carriers were also diverted to airport.

Once the planes landed at Bradley, Lucia said that intermittent power outages at the airport made refueling and deplaning difficult.

Kate Hanni, executive editor for FlyersRights.org, said she got calls and emails from passengers and worried family members regarding at least four flights that were stranded on the tarmac for up to 10 hours.

Brent Stanley and his wife were on one of those planes, an American Airlines flight that had originally been headed to JFK after taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

After being diverted and landing in Hartford at 2:30 p.m., Stanley said passengers were given various reasons for being held on the tarmac, including the need to refuel and de-ice and the airport’s limited capacity for handling international flights. He and his wife were eager to get back home to their two young sons in Lake Zurich, Ill. But they realized they didn’t have it as bad as the parents who had infants on the plane.

“There was a lady in front of us with an 18-month-old daughter,” Stanley said. “Another woman came by to borrow diapers because we couldn’t get to our luggage.”

After spending the night at the airport, Stanley was lucky to find two seats Sunday on an afternoon flight home to Chicago. But the headache isn’t over yet; his luggage was headed to JFK because the Hartford airport crew wasn’t able to handle international luggage, he said.

An American Airlines spokesman, Ed Martelle, said the passengers weren’t allowed off the plane by customs at the airport. Martelle did not know the exact number of American planes that were diverted to Bradley or how long they sat on the tarmac personal business card.

Matt Shellenberger, who was on a JetBlue flight from Boston to JFK, said his plane was diverted to Bradley International and sat on the tarmac for seven hours.

The crew picked up trash regularly and handed out water and snacks and “everyone held their cool,” he said. But his frustrations grew with each status update; the reasons for the delay kept changing as the hours passed.

Early on, passengers were told that the plane was just being refueled and would fly out soon, Shellenberger said. Then they were told it was being de-iced. Then there was an emergency on another plane.

“We were told we were the third plane in line to get to the gate when we landed,” he said. “Then we stayed on the plane for seven hours.”

Carter of the Sun Sentinel, who was on another JetBlue flight, reported a similar sequence of updates.

The saga continued long after passengers were let off the plane.

The power outages from storms throughout Connecticut made booking hotel rooms difficult. As a result, many passengers just slept at the airport, Carter and Shellenberger said in separate interviews.

When they awoke, hundreds of passengers had to wait in line for hours just to figure out which flight they’d be on.

“That was most disappointing part,” Carter said. “It seemed like there was no plan when we got off the plane.”

In the morning, Carter said he and several other passengers rented a van to drive to New Jersey rather than wait for the afternoon flight JetBlue had scheduled to Newark.

It’s not the first time JetBlue has had problems with tarmac delays. The New York-based airline also made headlines in 2007 when snow and ice storms stranded its planes for nearly 11 hours at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Such high-profile delays helped prompt a regulation last year that fines airlines for holding domestic flights on the tarmac for more than three hours. This year, the rule was extended to apply to international flights that are held on the tarmac for more than four hours.

The Department of Transportation often doesn’t enforce the fines to their full extent unless delays are extreme, however. Passengers also do not get a cut of the fines.

Low-cost carriers are more prone to tarmac delays because letting passengers off planes can cost an airline a lot of money, said Hanni of FlyersRights.org.

If a plane is diverted because of a reason within the airline’s control, such as a mechanical failure, ticket contracts usually state that passengers will be reimbursed for hotels, food and transportation. That means airlines do everything in their power to keep passengers on board in hope that the plane will be able to take off again.

JetBlue said that passengers who were diverted to Bradley International would be reimbursed for their fares and hotel expenses.

A representative for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which oversees Newark and JFK airports, could not immediately say how many total flights were diverted to other airports because of equipment failures.

Source

KPMG LLP promoted Joel Perkins to managing director in the federal tax practice in its St. Louis office. He transferred from a management job in the firm’s Kansas City office.

Perkins specializes in providing clients with tax provisions, federal and state compliance and tax-related consulting matters. He joined KPMG in 1995 and has more than 16 years of management advisory and business experience, serving clients in industries including telecommunications, energy and manufacturing need a personal loan with bad credit.

He is a licensed certified public accountant and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Missouri and Kansas Society of CPAs and the Louisiana Society of CPAs. He has a bachelor of business administration in accounting degree from the University of Louisiana in Monroe.

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Stocks gained steadily Monday on a round of corporate takeovers and reports that Europe’s bailout fund will be larger than anticipated. The Dow Jones industrial average was up nearly 130 points in the late afternoon. The Nasdaq composite index turned positive for the year.

Mattel and J.M. Smucker were among companies that rose after announcing acquisitions.

Investors are still waiting for a resolution to Europe’s debt problems. European leaders said they made progress at a weekend summit and plan to unveil concrete plans for containing the crisis by Wednesday. The Dow was up about 40 points in the first hour of trading but moved steadily higher through midday following reports that Europe’s takeover fund will be greatly expanded.

“The market is expecting that there will be some kind of deal worked out Wednesday,” when European financial ministers are scheduled to meet, said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners. “If there’s not a deal by then, the market is going down significantly.”

Even with concerns about Europe, U.S. companies are still reporting bigger profits. “Although there is a good deal of economic and political uncertainty in the world, we are not seeing it much in our business at this point,” Caterpillar Chief Executive Doug Oberhelman said.

The maker of construction equipment reported a 44 percent surge in income, more than Wall Street analysts were expecting, thanks to strong growth in exports. The company said it expected the global economy to continue recovering, albeit slowly.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 126, or 1 percent, to 11,934 at 3:10 Eastern. Caterpillar jumped 5 percent, the most of the 30 companies in the Dow.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 17 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,256. The Nasdaq composite rose 64, or 2.4 percent, to 2,701. The gains turned the Nasdaq positive for the year. The S&P 500 is the only major market index that remains lower than where it started the year.

The Russell 2000 index of small companies rose 3 percent as investors moved money into higher-risk assets.

Strong earnings reports from McDonald’s Corp. and other big U.S. companies last week drove the Dow Jones industrial average to its third straight weekly gain. The S&P 500 finished the week at its highest level since Aug. 3, just before Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating.

Other major U.S. companies due to report earnings this week include UPS Inc., Ford Motor Co. and Procter & Gamble.

Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to report earnings growth of 14 percent for the third quarter, according to data provider FactSet. They expect a 10 percent gain in revenue.

Expenses are also expected to climb. Higher costs for raw materials helped drag down income 8 percent at Kimberly-Clark Corp., which reported results Monday. The stock fell 5 percent. The company is a major consumer products maker whose brands include Huggies and Kleenex.

Higher costs also hurt cigarette maker Lorillard, which reported a 3 percent drop in income. Lorillard’s stock fell 0.8 percent.

A series of corporate deals helped lift the market, said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors. “This is telling us that companies think stocks are cheap, and they’re willing to spend some of the cash that’s sitting around on their balance sheets,” he said.

Deals announced included:

_ HealthSpring Inc. jumped 33 percent after Cigna Corp. said it will buy the health insurer for about $3.8 billion in cash. Cigna fell 0.4 percent.

_ RightNow Technologies Inc. gained 19 percent after Oracle Corp. said it will buy the tech service company for about $1.5 billion. Oracle rose 0.8 percent.

_ Mattel Inc. rose 2 percent after it agreed to buy Hit Entertainment, the owner of the Thomas & Friends and Barney brands, for $680 million in cash.

_ The J.M. Smucker Co. added 1 percent after it bought most of Sara Lee Corp.’s North American foodservice coffee operations for about $350 million.

Asian and European markets rose earlier Monday after Japan said its exports grew for a second straight month in September and a report showed China’s industrial production returned to growth in October. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.9 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 4.1 percent and South Korea’s Kospi index rose 3.3 percent.

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