New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Stocks fell Friday morning on reports that several euro-region countries may face credit downgrades by Standard & Poor’s and of JP Morgan’s less than impressive earnings.

Just after 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 107 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 10 points and the NASDAQ dropped 17 points.

Weighing on stocks in the U.S. was an earnings report from bellwether JP Morgan that showed earnings inline with expectations, but revenues that fell short.

Also dragging stocks lower was a release that revealed the U.S. trade deficit widened more than forecast in November as Americans exports declined and companies stepped up imports of crude oil and automobiles.

Downgrades in the credit ratings of a number of European governments as early as Friday could come from Standard & Poor’s. The rumors sent overseas stocks down.

European markets across the board were lower in afternoon trading and Asian stocks ended mixed.

In commodities, oil dropped 72 cents to $98.25 a barrel and gold lost $6 to $1,640.40 a troy ounce.

U.S. stock markets will be closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Day.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – European stocks rose Tuesday from a two-year low while U.S. stocks showed little change in morning trades as investors look for any signs of progress in dealing with the euro-debt crisis.

Stocks were rattled worldwide Monday on reports that the chance of a Greek default has risen to 98 percent. In addition, most market watchers anticipate a European rescission in the next year, according to Bank of America’s survey of institutional investors in the region. Debt woes continues to push the euro lower.

Stocks in the U.S. were modestly higher before noon on Tuesday. Eyes are still focused on development overseas. Shares of Best Buy fell almost 7 percent on a steeper than expected 30 percent slide in fiscal second quarter sales.

Bank and tech shares gained in early trading and consumer staples slipped. Oil rose for the second day and gold was up about $2.

Uncertainty here and abroad has many investors sitting on the sidelines in a wait and see mode.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The battle to fill the top International Monetary Fund post vacated by the resignation of Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has apparently been reduced to a war between Europe and developing nations.

Mexico’s Central Bank Governor, Agustin Carstens, took the struggle to a higher level on Tuesday by seeking the vote of developing countries to counter the solid support enjoyed by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde from European nations.

Even the U.S. is apparently siding with Europe’s choice in a tit-for-tat political arrangement to ensure Washington keeps its grip on the top spot at the World Bank and the number two post in IMF.

Carstens criticized European leaders for imposing Lagarde on the rest of the world. The governor said that if the selection of Strauss-Kahn’s replacement would be treated as “business as usual,” changes would never take place.

Carstens pointed out that although there was no final list of candidates yet for the IMF managing director post, Europe has made up its mind in backing Lagarde. The IMF will close application for the position on Friday.

Lagarde, however, is also courting the vote of developing nations despite being frontrunner of the race. She met with Indian officials as part of her world tour to seek their support for her candidacy. The French minister even promised to represent the needs of emerging economies by partly “becoming an Indian.”

Lagarde will next try to convince Chinese officials to back her up, based on her merit. Carstens is holding his global tour and plans to court the votes of Indian, Chinese and Japanese officials.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he agreed with Lagarde that the next IMF managing director should be picked based on merit and not geography. But he declined to indicate if India would support Lagarde or Carstens.

The IMF is expected to name Strauss-Kahn’s successor by the end of June. Another rival of Carstens and Lagarde for the position is South African former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.

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Rafah Border Crossing, Israel (TML) – Hamas doesn’t object to the reinstatement of European Union observers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, a Hamas official told The Media Line.

“We don’t mind if the Europeans are involved as long as the Egyptian side agrees to this,” Ahmad Yousef, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told The Media Line on Sunday. “The only objection we have is to Israeli involvement. This is an agreement between Palestinians and the Egyptians,” he added.

The position comes amid growing tensions between Israel, the Palestinian and Egypt after Hamas and rival Palestinian faction Fatah reached a surprise agreement to end four years of feuding and form a national unity government. Cairo, which brought the two sides together, said the pact would enable it to re-open it border with Hamas-controlled Gaza, spurring concerns in Israel about security.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi said the crossing, which has remained mostly closed since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, would be permanently opened within a week to 10 days, “to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Menha Bakhoum told Al-Ahram daily on Sunday that Egyptians regarded the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip “disgraceful.”

Opening the border with Egypt would mark the biggest breach in a blockade imposed by Israel and backed by the West since 2007. While Israel has been forced to ease controls and tunnel dug under the border to Egypt allow other supplies to enter, Hamas has struggled to bring in weapons to use against Israel.

Israel has come out strongly against the planned Hamas-Fatah unity government. Fatah favors a negotiated peace with Israel while Hamas is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. The agreement doesn’t address how the unity government will square these postions.

EU supervision, however, might ease Israel’s concerns about what passes through Rafah., which is the only border crossing not controlled by Israel. Following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, responsibility for the Rafah crossing was handed over to the Palestinian Authority.

An ad-hoc European force, the European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah was appointed to oversee Egyptian and Palestinian management of the crossing, with Israel monitoring it from afar through a video surveillance system. But seven months later, in June 2006, Israel ordered the crossing closed for security reasons. The crossing was permanently sealed by the Egyptians the following June.

While the terms of Egypt’s promised re-opening are still unclear, Gazans said on Sunday they were looking forward, saying it would give residents big psyschological boost.

“Gazans always felt under siege. This will give them a sense of freedom,” Samir Zaqout, field work coordinator for the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza, told The Media Line. “Egypt has clearly changed its strategy towards the Gaza Strip, and I believe this new attitude is here to stay.”

Former Egyptian President Housni Mubarak shared Israel’s antipathy to the Hamas regime and kept the border crossing closed, while partially combating the smuggling of goods in underground tunnels between Egypt to Gaza. Egypt’s new military regime has been friendlier to Hamas, brokering a reconciliation agreement between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and Hamas, that is expected to be signed this Thursday.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, declined to comment on the Egyptian decision, but Israeli daily Haaretz reported Sunday that Netanyahu is considering sending his special envoy Isaac Molho to discuss the matter with Egyptian officials. Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry’s diplomatic-security bureau, told Israel Army Radio that “despite the announcement by the Egyptian administration, there will be no opening of the Rafah crossing.”

“Israel maintains the amount of products entering the Strip at a minimum,” Zaqout said. “Every time it decides to close the crossings, a humanitarian crisis follows two or three days later.”

But Mathilde Redmatn, deputy director of the International Committee for the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, said in an interview published on the Israeli army’s website April 20, that “there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

“If you go to the supermarket, there are products. There are restaurants and a nice beach,” she added.

Ali Abu-Shahlah, secretary-general of Gaza’s Business Association, admitted that the main change in the life of Gazans would be in the ability of individuals to enter and leave freely. He predicted that the opening of the Rafah crossing would also ease trade and transfer of money but only on a small scale.

“We are human beings and we need vacations,” Abu-Shahlah told The Media Line. “I personally know people who haven’t left Gaza in 15 years. This will have a psychological effect; people’s mood will change.”

“There is what we call the ‘suitcase merchants’ who will be able to bring in some merchandise,” he said. “Gazans living in the Gulf will be able to visit their relatives in the Strip without fear of getting stuck in Egypt, or in Gaza. They will be able to carry in a few thousand dollars or other gifts in their pockets.”

But Hamdi Shaqura, deputy director for program affairs at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), a Gaza-based organization, was less optimistic about the new arrangement.

“It’s unclear whether the opening will include economic transactions or will only allow individuals to cross,” Shaqura told The Media Line. “This isn’t an alternative to our demand from Israel to lift the blockade imposed on Gaza.”

Shaqura said Gaza needed to be allowed to export goods, not only receive them, and maintain land passage to the West Bank.

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TOKYO: Japan on Tuesday said it was ready to buy bonds to be issued by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to help finance Ireland’s bailout and support the debt-hit eurozone, reports said.

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London, United Kingdom (AHN) – With the NFL’s fourth annual game at Wembley Stadium Sunday, commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the possibility of a London franchise joining the league.

“Each year, the different barometers indicate that our popularity continues to rise,” Goodell told reporters during a Saturday press conference. “I think the next step will be multiple games (in Europe). And if that’s successful then I think the idea of a franchise here is realistic.”

Goodell said two games will eventually be played across the pond, but economic instability kept it to one this season. Though Wembley eventually sold out for this year’s matchup between struggling teams the San Francisco 49ers (1-6) and Denver Broncos (2-5), tickets did not move very quickly.

While Goodell hopes for one team in the near future, NBA Commissioner David Stern is a bit more ambitious. In Miami for the home debut of the newly-minted Heat, Stern suggested an entire European division could be possible within 10 years.

“It’s a wonderful topic, because 10 years ago, I said, ‘Oh, it’s inevitable, it’ll happen in 10 years. And now what I’m saying is, ‘It’s inevitable, it’ll happen in 10 years,’” Stern said at a business leaders’ luncheon the morning after Miami’s 96-70 thrashing of the Magic.

“But in terms of globalization, we’re going to see a desire for franchises in Europe – and in about 10 years, you’ll send me a postcard.”

Stern hopes to follow the NFL’s footsteps by bringing a game to London by 2012, but an actual franchise may be a bit too far-fetched.

Stern said in February the NBA expects to suffer a $400 million loss this season, and the possibility of league contraction could be on the table in upcoming contract talks.

Both leagues have collective bargaining agreements that end following the current season and have not been renewed.

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