HONG KONG -- Taiwan stocks rose Tuesday, with chip makers leading a broad advance among the island's technology companies against a backdrop of weakness among most regional markets, helped by Monday's data that showed exports surged 75% in January from a year earlier. The Taiex was up 1.7% at 7,335.13. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing shares were up 2.8%, while smart phone maker HTC Corp. gained 4% saving account pay day loan. Taiwan's exports surged to $21.75 billion in January compared to $12.37 billion a year earlier, outpacing consensus expectations among analysts by nearly $2 billion. The export surge was reportedly the fastest pace of growth in 33 years.

Taiwan Stocks Higher After Data Shows Export Surge

Wall Street indexes swung wildly on Friday but ended the day higher as investors tried to look beyond fears that Europe&S217;s debt crisis would choke off global growth.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the closing bell Friday, when stocks ended the day slightly higher.

After a seesaw week in which stocks retreated to November levels, investors found hope in signs that unemployment was easing in the United States. Traders used the recent downturn in the market as an opportunity to snap up shares cheaply, fueling a late rally that in the final minutes pushed stocks into positive territory.

It was an unexpectedly cheery end to a tumultuous week for Wall Street. The trouble began on Thursday, when worries about large deficits in Greece, Portugal and Spain ricocheted across global markets, spurring talk that economic recovery could falter.

On Friday, the anxiety re-emerged &<51; first in Asia, where Hong Kong&S217;s index fell more than 3 percent. European markets followed suit, with indexes in Paris, Frankfurt and London tumbling more than 1.5 percent apiece.

Stocks on Wall Street were initially caught in the downward momentum, sinking nearly 2 percent in the afternoon. But by the closing bell, the Dow Jones industrial average had eked out a gain &<51; 10.05 points, or 0.1 percent &<51; ending at 10,012.23. The wider Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index was 3.08 points higher, or 0.29 percent, at 1,066.19. The technology-dominated Nasdaq was the day&S217;s best performer, rising 15.69 points, or 0.74 percent, to 2,141.12.

The focus on Friday was on countries like Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, which have struggled to rein in swelling deficits after spending billions on stimulus programs and after years of poor fiscal management.

&S220;The fear is, &S216;What happens if the recovery in Europe rolls over into a double-dip recession,&S217;&<60;&S221; said Hank B. Smith, chief investment officer for Haverford Investments. &S220;It creates uncertainty as we wait to see how this relatively young experiment, the European Union, deals with this crisis.&S221;

Some of the anxiety was offset by the Labor Department&S217;s monthly snapshot of the jobs market. In January, the unemployment rate declined to 9.7 percent, from 10 percent in December, the government said, and job losses totaled 20,000. The data were mixed, but investors were content with even faint indications of progress. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to remain at 10 percent, and they predicted the economy had added 15,000 jobs in January.

&S220;We are starting to get some stabilization in the jobless picture,&S221; said Joseph V. Battipaglia, a market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus paperless payday loans. &S220;But we still need to get this back on a growth trajectory.&S221;

A report showing that consumer borrowing in the United States had fallen less than expected in December also buoyed hopes on Wall Street. Still, borrowing fell for the 11th consecutive month, dropping $1.7 billion, suggesting spending would remain tepid.

Even before Europe&S217;s debt woes surfaced on Thursday, the United States stock market had shown signs of foundering. A steep sell-off in late January, prompted by concerns over a clampdown on banks and a slowdown in Chinese lending, stirred talk of a decline of 10 percent or more. Since Jan. 19, the Dow has fallen nearly 7 percent.

The focus in the near term remains on Europe, as investors try to evaluate the severity of the budget problems and the effect on financial institutions. Unable to embark on the kind of fiscal and monetary stimulus seen in the United States and Britain, Greece appears to have few options other than a bailout by more stable European countries.

Economists said the fiscal and budgetary demands of euro-zone membership were limiting the options for Greece and other euro-using countries. Countries that use the euro cannot devalue their currencies to regain competitiveness, or cut interest rates.

That has led investors to sell the bonds of those countries in recent weeks. Yields on the benchmark 10-year bonds of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain moved higher Friday, while those of Germany and France eased, suggesting funds were still flowing from the peripheral members of the euro zone into the core countries.

Interest rates in the United States were slightly lower. The Treasury&S217;s benchmark 10-year note rose 11/32, to 98 14/32, and the yield fell to 3.57 percent from 3.61 percent late Thursday.

Amid the jitters, the euro sagged against the dollar, moving to $1.3634, its lowest level since May. That trend will probably be quietly welcomed by European politicians like President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who have been calling for a weaker currency to help exports.

&S220;All the problems that the boom had hidden are coming to the fore,&S221; said George Magnus, senior economic adviser at UBS in London.

Mr. Battipaglia said the instability in Europe had caused investors to worry that the bill for global stimulus spending had gotten too large.

&S220;Other nations &<51; the U.K. and United States included &<51; will be called into question,&S221; Mr. Battipaglia said. &S220;The concern is whether they have too much debt and if they can sustain the level of spending to stimulate the economy.&S221;

Matthew Saltmarsh and Bettina Wassener contributed reporting.

Stocks & Bonds: Wall Street Takes a Dip and Then Comes Back

Seeking a new weapon in the fight against obesity, the Food and Drug Administration wants to encourage manufacturers to post vital nutritional information, including calorie counts, on the front of food packages.

The calorie and nutritional information on many foods may be revised if portion sizes are increased to reflect a heavier population.

Go to your Portfolio &<87;

The goal is to give people a jolt of reality before they reach for another handful of chips. But the urgency of the message could be muted by a longstanding problem: official serving sizes for many packaged foods are just too small. And that means the calorie counts that go with them are often misleading.

So to get ready for front-of-package nutrition labeling, the F.D.A. is now looking at bringing serving sizes for foods like chips, cookies, breakfast cereals and ice cream into line with how Americans really eat. Combined with more prominent labeling, the result could be a greater sense of public caution about unhealthy foods.

&S220;If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people,&S221; said Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina. &S220;They would see, &S216;I&S217;m going to get 300 calories from that, or 500 calories.&S217;&<60;&S221;

The problem is important because the standard serving size shown on a package determines all the other nutritional values on the label, including calorie counts. If the serving size is smaller than what people really eat, unless they study the label carefully they may think they are getting fewer calories or other nutrients than they are.

And if manufacturers increasingly push key nutrition facts to the front of packages &<51; as many have begun doing &<51; the confusion could be magnified. Rather than helping fight obesity, it may simply add to the perplexity over what makes a healthful diet.

&S220;If people don&S217;t understand the serving, whatever number they get for fat or calories is misleading,&S221; said William K. Hubbard, a former F.D.A. official who consulted with the agency last year.

Consider the humble chip: most potato or corn chip bags today show a one-ounce serving size, containing a tolerable 150 calories, or thereabouts. But only the most disciplined snacker will stop at an ounce. For some brands, like Tostitos Hint of Lime, that can be just six chips.

In the real world, many people might eat two or three times that, or more. Munch half a bag of Tostitos while watching the Super Bowl and you could take in about half the 2,000 calories an average person needs in a day.

&S220;We are actively looking at serving size and evaluating what steps we need to take,&S221; said Barbara O free credit report online. Schneeman, director of the F.D.A. office that oversees nutrition labels. &S220;Ultimately, the purpose of nutrition labeling is to help consumers make healthier choices, make improvements in their diet, and we want to make sure we achieve that goal.&S221;

The push to re-evaluate serving size comes as the F.D.A. is considering ways to better convey nutrition facts to hurried consumers, in particular by posting key information on the front of packages. Officials say such labeling will be voluntary, but the agency may set rules to prevent companies from highlighting the good things about their products, like a lack of trans fats, while ignoring the bad, like a surfeit of unhealthy saturated fats.

On today&S217;s food packages, many of the serving sizes puzzle even the experts.

For ice cream, the serving size is half a cup. For packaged muffins, it is often half a muffin. For cookies it is generally one ounce, equal to two Double Stuf Oreos. For most children&S217;s breakfast cereals, a serving is three-quarters of a cup.

It is difficult to say exactly how much people eat, said Lisa R. Young, an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University, but she said that research showed that the portions Americans serve themselves had been growing in recent years.

When it comes to cereal, she said, many children probably eat two cups or more.

Parents who glance at a box of Frosted Flakes and see that it contains 110 calories per serving may not realize that their children may be getting several times that amount each morning at breakfast.

&S220;To consumers, the serving size appears to be inconsistent and unintuitive,&S221; said Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, senior director of health and wellness at the International Food Information Council Foundation. &S220;They have trouble trusting it.&S221;

They may also have trouble seeing it, where it usually appears in small type in the Nutrition Facts panel on food packages. In surveys conducted by the foundation, many more people say they look at the calorie number than at the serving size on which it is based.

Standard serving sizes were created by the F.D.A. in the early 1990s, partly to make it easier to compare the nutritional values of different products. Congress required that the serving sizes match what people actually ate. To determine that, the F.D.A. evaluated data from surveys of Americans&S217; eating habits taken in the 1970s and 1980s.

Some nutritionists say those surveys may be suspect, since people typically underestimate how much they eat. And there is general agreement that they are out of date.

One Bowl = 2 Servings. Puzzled?

WASHINGTON &<51; Senate Democratic leaders unveiled a new &S220;jobs agenda&S221; on Thursday morning, and said they hoped to hold a first vote on the legislation early next week. But they offered no details, and presented only a scant outline of proposals they might pursue, some of which echo initiatives they failed to include in last year&S217;s stimulus bill.

The latest on President Obama, his administration and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion.

The core of the proposal is likely to be a payroll tax break for employers who hire workers who have been without jobs for at least 60 days. Democrats are trying to enlist Republican support for that idea, which was proposed most recently by Senators Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah.

But a senior aide to the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, quickly issued a statement questioning the Democrats&S217; lack of specifics. &S220;They don&S217;t know what&S217;s in the bill or how many jobs they expect it to &S216;save or create&S217; or when anyone beyond the Beltway will see it or how much it will cost,&S221; the aide, Don Stewart, said.

At a news conference on Thursday morning, the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, and other top Democrats distributed a two and a half page document listing some of their ideas for spurring job creation, including the tax cut for new hires, an extension of unemployment benefits and spending on highways and other infrastructure.

The list also included grants for school building renovations nationwide, a proposal that Democrats fought hard to include in last year&S217;s $787 billion economic stimulus package, but that was opposed by Republicans who supplied the key votes needed to pass the measure, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine.

Mr. Reid, asked after the news conference if the Democrats&S217; jobs agenda was an acknowledgement that the stimulus measure was not big enough, snapped: &S220;&S220;Don&S217;t talk to me. Talk to the Republicans about how big it was, ok? Don&S217;t talk to me.&S221;

An aide to Mr. Reid, Jim Manley, said that Senate Democrats would like to put forward a &S220;robust&S221; jobs package, similar to a bill approved in December by the House, which would spend $174 billion, including $75 billion taken from the financial bailout program, and use it for job creation efforts including highway construction, school renovation and hiring of new teachers, police officers and firefighters payday loan online.

But Mr. Manley said that Democrats were virtually powerless to advance such legislation because Republicans would block it. He said that more details about the Democrats&S217; package might be available on Thursday afternoon.

Senator-elect Scott Brown, Republican of Massachusetts, is expected to be sworn in on Thursday afternoon. He will become the 41st Republican in the Senate, giving the minority party a sufficient number of votes to successfully filibuster most legislation.

Economists generally urge that government stimulus efforts be &S220;timely, targeted and temporary&S221; a buzz phrase that Democrats repeated frequently last year. But with an economic recovery already underway, the Democrats said that Americans were still demanding that they focus on job creation.

&S220;If we are going to get our economy back on track,&S221; Mr. Reid said, &S220;people have to go back to work.&S221;

But Mr. Reid did not say how much the Democrats&S217; jobs legislation would cost, how lawmakers planned to pay for it, or even how many jobs he hoped to create. &S220;We&S217;re going to create as many as we can,&S221; Mr. Reid said.

Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, said that party leaders had been working for two months to develop job proposals. &S220;There were a lot of very good ideas that came forward,&S221; he said.

Mr. Durbin urged Republicans to come forward with their own proposals.

&S220;This is a good faith offering on the Democratic side,&S221; he said. &S220;We&S217;re inviting our friends on the Republican side to join us, bring your best ideas forward. Let&S217;s put these on the floor and move on them with a sense of urgency. We need to have a jobs agenda that will pass through the Senate, that will create jobs across America as quickly as possible.&S221;

Democrats Sketch Outline of Jobs Plan

BRUSSELS – The European Union executive says it backs Greece's plan to cut its budget deficit sharply over next four years.

EU Economy Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the Greek government's targets were "achievable" but "not easy."

He said EU officials will carefully monitor the Greek government's efforts to curb public spending and make wide economic reforms — and would demand extra action if Greece isn't on track to meet the deficit goals payday loans with no fax.

EU backs Greek plan to cut debt

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission Monday said it was studying an offer made by the oneworld airline alliance to end the commission's antitrust probe into their cooperation. British Airways , American Airlines and Iberia have offered some commitments relating to "passenger transport on certain long-haul routes," the commission said high quality business cards. Before deciding whether the offer is strong enough to appease the commission's concerns, it is sending the airlines proposal to a number of key market players for feedback, the commission said.

E.C. Studying Oneworld Airline Plan

DAVOS, Switzerland &<51; As a fresh snowfall melted slowly outside the Davos Congress Center, officials and bankers made plans to try to thaw their relationship.

Regulators, central bankers and government leaders want to persuade bankers at several meetings that conclude Saturday that they should accept more stringent regulation, or face more draconian curbs from politicians responding to an angry public.

Banking executives met among themselves on Thursday, and many acknowledged the need to take a more active role in the public debate about financial regulation.

One head of a central bank who asked for anonymity said that he would consider the meetings a success if there was widespread agreement among bankers to cooperate more fully in creating regulations intended to avert another financial crisis.

There has been wide discussion at the World Economic Forum, which began Wednesday, about the role banks played in the financial crisis. Several participants have said they hope the gatherings in Davos can help set the stage for more formal talks at forums like the Group of 20 nations, as well as at the national level.

Similar meetings between bankers and government officials have taken place at Davos in the past, but the outrage over the large bonuses being paid by banks after benefiting from government bailouts has given this year&S217;s sessions a sense of purpose.

Several bankers at Davos said that they had accepted the inevitability of more regulation and agreed that they should cooperate to create standards. &S220;None of us should kid ourselves it&S217;s going to be back to the way it was,&S221; Peter Sands, the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank, based in London, said in a panel discussion.

Mr. Sands called for a &S220;constructive dialogue&S221; on issues like how to deal with banks that cannot be allowed to fail for fear of endangering the financial system. Banks&S217; resistance to change has only lowered the public&S217;s esteem of them, Mr. Sands said. &S220;We have been simultaneously tone-deaf and shooting ourselves in the foot.&S221;

Since the beginning of the year, Britain, France and the United States have made a string of policy proposals that would be added to higher capital requirements and other rules agreed on by the Group of 20.

Brian T. Moynihan, the chief executive of Bank of America, said that banks &S220;have to be part of the solution.&S221; Paul Calello, head of Credit Suisse&S217;s investment banking business, acknowledged that the industry needed to deal with its reputation problem no teletrek payday advance. &S220;We want to be seen as responsible players in the market,&S221; Mr. Calello said.

&S220;The group is a bit embattled, and what you&S217;re trying to do is change the dialogue,&S221; said Duncan L. Niederauer, the chief executive of NYSE Euronext. &S220;So you sit down with politicians and say that, &S216;If you stop blaming us, we can come to a good solution.&S217;&<60;&S221;

Among bankers there is also resentment that they are being blamed for the recession. Josef Ackermann, the chief of Deutsche Bank, said he supported measures like requiring banks to keep more capital in reserve. But he complained that banks like Deutsche Bank, which did not need a bailout, were suffering for the sins of others.

&S220;Only a few banks have failed the test of this crisis,&S221; Mr. Ackermann said. &S220;We should single out those who have made major mistakes.&S221;

Blame also lies with inefficient markets and poor policy making, he said.

In a measure of the political momentum behind the changes, David Cameron, leader of Britain&S217;s Conservative Party, said that he supported President Obama&S217;s proposals to restrict risk-taking by banks and to impose a tax on bank liabilities, with the money used to insure against future losses. &S220;The relationship between society and banks has to change quite fundamentally,&S221; Mr. Cameron said.

The charged political atmosphere makes some bankers skeptical that agreement is possible. &S220;Everybody is asking for the heads of the bankers,&S221; said Jorge Londo&>41;o Saldarriaga, president of Bancolombia in Medellin.

Some central bankers and regulators were equally skeptical and played down the offer of closer cooperation as an attempt to repair the banking industry&S217;s reputation.

One central banker, who declined to be identified because he did not want to offend banking executives, said banks had the chance &S220;to regulate themselves and set aside larger capital cushions for a year during which they earned record profits but decided not to.&S221;

&S220;If they don&S217;t get their house together, we will do it for them,&S221; the banker said.

Davos 2010: In Davos, Bankers Look for Closer Bond With Policy Makers

WASHINGTON – The government's report Friday showed the economy has grown for two straight quarters — and accelerated at the end of last year. It was the most compelling evidence to date that the recession ended last year.

Going back to 1947, only one recession — in 1969-1970 — has included two straight quarters of economic growth.

Yet the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Cambridge, Mass.-based group that determines the start and end of recessions, has yet to declare this one has ended.

That's typical. The NBER normally takes its time in declaring a recession has started or begun.

The NBER announced, for example, in December 2008 that the recession had actually started one year earlier — in December 2007.

Similarly, it declared in July 2003 that the 2001 recession was over. When did it actually end? Twenty months earlier — in November 2001.

Besides reviewing the figures that make up the nation's gross domestic product, the NBER reviews incomes, employment and industrial activity payday loans guaranteed no fax.

Its determination is of interest to economic historians — and political leaders. Recessions that occur on their watch pose political risks.

In President George W. Bush's eight years in office, the United States fell into two recessions. The first started in March 2001 and ended that November. The second started in December 2007; its end date is pending the NBER's determination.

The timing of the NBER's decision likely means little to ordinary Americans now in the grip of a sluggish recovery and tight job market.

Many will continue to struggle. Unemployment usually keeps rising well after a recession ends. After the 2001 recession, for instance, unemployment didn't peak until June 2003 — 19 months later.

If the economy is growing, has recession ended?

HELSINKI (AFP) – Nokia, the world&&9;s top mobile phone maker, surprised investors Thursday with a much better-than-expected 2009 performance after it resolved product problems, sending its share price soaring.

Nokia said its smartphones contributed to its first rise in quarterly earnings in nearly two years while operating profit in the last quarter more than doubled from a year earlier.

The share price hit a session high of 10.43 euros in the day, buoyed by very favourable analyst comment on the results. It closed 9.87 percent higher at 9.91 euros on a positive Helsinki stock exchange.

For the three months to December, Nokia posted a net profit of 948 million euros (1.33 billion dollars), up 64 percent from a year earlier and compared with analyst forecasts compiled by Dow Jones Newswires for 620 million euros.

"Our performance in smartphones, combined with continuing success in the emerging markets, helped us increase sales in our Devices and Services unit, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year," Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement.

The Finnish company reported a full-year net profit of 900 million euros (1.26 billion dollars) for 2009, down 78 percent from 2008, while sales dropped 19.2 percent to 41 billion euros as the global slump savaged consumer demand.

However, analysts said the company had done very well, holding up strongly through the year to maintain price levels and win market share.

"This was a very, very strong report overall," said Evli analyst Mikael Andersson. "The average selling price (of mobile phones) continued to stabilize and was actually up on the quarter ... and also, their market share is up."

Nokia said it sold 126.9 million phones in the quarter and estimated that its slice of the global mobile market rose to 39 percent from an estimated 37 percent a year earlier and 38 percent in the third quarter of 2009.

"This means Nokia has got rid of its component problems," said Andersson.

Kallasvuo told a conference call that the company had "worked through some constraints" relating to component availability "early in the quarter no fax payday loans.

"I clearly feel we have a good portfolio at this point in time ... and we need to have a great portfolio going forward," Kallasvuo said, adding Nokia aimed for its mobile phone market share in terms of volume to remain flat this year compared to 2009 and to rise slightly in value.

The company, which posted its first loss in a decade in the third quarter, has suffered from rising competition in the smartphone market and from the global economic downturn, which has dented demand for consumer electronics.

Industry observers have said the outdated Symbian operation system, which drives Nokia smartphones, is one of the reasons many consumers prefer Apple&&9;s iPhone or Research in Motion&&9;s (RIM) BlackBerry, which are easier to use.

But Nokia said on Thursday that it had won ground in the global market for smartphones, with its share in the fourth quarter up at an estimated 40 percent from around 35 percent in the previous quarter, helped by new products, including touch phones.

"Apple continues to be a great competitor but we have our assets as well," Kallasvuo told the conference call.

Nokia said it sold around 20.8 million smartphones and mobile computers in the quarter.

"The biggest surprise was that they managed to hike their market share in smartphones, which have been seen as Nokia&&9;s weakness," Nordea analyst Martti Larjo said.

In the last three months of 2009, Nokia&&9;s net sales slipped five percent year-on-year to 12 billion euros but beat market expectations as the average selling price rose by one euro from the previous quarter to 63 euros.

The Nokia Siemens Networks joint-venture the Finnish company owns with Germany&&9;s Siemens reported an improvement in its operating margin in the fourth quarter versus a year ago, and Nokia said it expected the business to continue to grow faster than the market in 2010.

Nokia, which employed 123,553 people at year-end, proposed a dividend of 0.40 euros to be paid to shareholders for 2009.

Nokia tops earnings forecasts

LONDON – Britain's worst recession since World War II is officially over — but a less than convincing return to growth leaves British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party on shaky ground ahead of a general election.

Britain is already the last major economy to return to growth after the global credit squeeze, and economists warned of a bumpy road ahead after the Office for National Statistics reported Tuesday that gross domestic product rose a feeble 0.1 percent in the final quarter of 2009.

That first estimate on fourth-quarter growth was enough to officially end a grinding 18-month recession during which 1.3 million people lost their jobs, but fell short of expectations of a stronger 0.3 to 0.4 percent rise.

Over 2009 as a whole, the economy shrank by 4.8 percent, the worst yearly performance since records began in 1949.

The statistics office also acknowledged the possibility that the data could be revised downward in a planned second estimate and third final figure — although an upward change is more likely — which could negate the recession exit.

Even without that, Tuesday's announcement is unlikely to convince voters that Brown's Labour Party has a strong grip on the economy. An election must be held by the start of June.

The British pound dropped and gilt futures rose, factoring in the likelihood that the Bank of England will keep interest rates at record lows for some months and possibly extend its 200 billion pound ($325 billion) asset purchasing program to boost the money supply.

Treasury chief Alistair Darling has been saying for weeks that the British economy had started growing by the end of 2009 and, while he's been proved right, it was only by the skin of his teeth.

"Far from the quick recovery the chancellor has been praying for, the economy is only just staggering back into growth," said Vince Cable, the economy spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrat party. "The British economy has had the economic equivalent of a heart attack and is still very weak."

Economists now expect Britain to struggle to reach 1 percent growth this year, a sharp contrast to new forecasts from the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday of world economic growth of 4 percent and U.S. growth of 2.7 percent.

Darling said "there is still a lot of uncertainty round the world" and more work to be done in Britain to aid recovery.

"Of course there will be further bumps along the road. Be in no doubt about that," Darling said after the release of the data, which was so keenly anticipated that the usually media-shy statistics office held a rare televised press conference to announce the figure.

"But I am confident that as long as we stick to the path that we have set ... that we are going to see recovery through that back into growth," he added.

Darling also seized the moment to bolster the government's position that it's too early to trim spending to get the country's ballooning budget deficit back under control cash advance today. That's a key area of disagreement with the main opposition Conservative Party, which, currently well ahead in opinion polls, wants to curb spending much quicker to get a handle on the deficit.

But his cautious optimism wasn't shared by many voters at the sharp end of the downturn.

"I don't think we are out of a recession," said Kim Jamilly, 53, a London shop owner. "Look at the queues for social benefits, the rate of poverty, people in need of food and clothing."

Britain was hit particularly hard by the global credit crunch because of its huge banking and financial-services sector centered in London, which had to be propped up by the government's multibillion-pound bailout of major banks, and higher levels of personal debt among consumers. Like the U.S., it also faced a collapsed real estate bubble.

The fallout cost the country 100 billion pounds ($160 billion) in lost output as GDP shrank 5.9 percent from peak to trough. Some 1.3 million people were laid off, unemployment rose as high as 7.9 percent and around 50,000 families had their homes repossessed.

The statistics office's chief economist, Joe Grice, said that the fourth quarter showed a uniform picture of small increases across the distribution, hotels and restaurants and government sectors.

Output of manufacturing and other production industries, which have had the deepest slump, rose by 0.1 percent, as did the services sector, which represents around 70 percent of the economy.

But economists had expected GDP to be supported by strong pre-Christmas sales as shoppers tried to beat an increase in the sales tax on Jan. 1, a government-sponsored vehicle scrappage program and the revival of exports.

Grice said that the first estimate, which is based on 40 percent of the data used to reach the final figure, could easily be revised up or down by around 0.1-0.2 percent.

"We don't know on the evidence we have," he told reporters, noting his job was to analyze data as it became available, rather than make forecasts.

Hetal Mehta, senior economic advisor to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, said that the preliminary estimate appeared to be at odds with more upbeat survey data, including the expected positive impact of a yearlong reduction in sales tax on retail sales.

"There is a strong possibility that the Q4 figures will be revised up," Mehta said.

Capital Economics economist Jonathan Loynes agreed that an upward revision was possible. But he said it wouldn't change the big picture of an economy operating far below pre-recession levels and major budget deficits looming.

"With household incomes under pressure, credit in short supply and a major fiscal squeeze looming, the path to a full recovery is going to be a long and bumpy one," he added.

__

Associated Press Writer Chelsea Arnold contributed to this story.

Recession over, barely: UK grows 0.1 pct in Q4

European stock markets traded in a narrow range Monday as expectations of a rebound on Wall Street helped limit ongoing fallout from President Obama&S217;s plan to curb bank risk-taking.

The DAX in Frankfurt was down 22.18 points, or 0.39 percent, while both the FTSE 100 index in London and the CAC-40 in Paris were both flat.

Earlier in Asia, Japan&S217;s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 77.86 points, or 0.7 percent, to 10,512.69, and Hong Kong&S217;s Hang Seng fell 127.63 points, or 0.6 percent, to 20,598.55. China&S217;s Shanghai index lost 1.1 percent.

Wall Street was poised to recoup some of the losses from last week, when shares dropped more than 4 percent. Stocks have been in retreat since Wednesday, when Mr. Obama announced his intention to limit the size of American banks and imposing restrictions on their more risky trading activities.

In essence, his proposals may mean the break-up of some of the American banks but the details need to be ironed out between the White House and lawmakers in Congress &<51; at a time when the recovery is far from assured and Democrats face a rejuvenated Republican Party in midterm elections later in the year.

&S220;The uncertainty surrounding the detail of the reforms is making the markets extremely nervous,&S221; said Robert Pike, a trader at Spreadex.

There&S217;s now growing talk in the markets that the president&S217;s plan may have brought an end to the 10-month bull run in equities, which has seen most of the world&S217;s main indexes recover all their losses since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

In addition to Mr. Obama&S217;s plan for the banks, a simmering battle over the reappointment of the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, could also sway trading this week. Mr. Bernanke&S217;s term ends Sunday and a growing chorus of senators have been pinning the struggling economy on the Fed chairman instant payday loan.

The discussion about Mr. Bernanke&S217;s reappointment comes as the Fed will be holding a regular interest-rate setting meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Though the Fed is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range between zero and 0.25 percent, investors will be particularly interested to see the accompanying statement and especially if there is continued support for keeping borrowing costs &S220;exceptionally low&S221; and for &S220;an extended period,&S221; to use the Fed&S217;s terms.

Neil Mackinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital, thinks that in the absence of any deterioration in inflation expectations, &S220;there is no need for the Fed to signal an early policy change to the markets, especially when markets are currently unsettled.&S221;

In Asia, investors already on edge about China&S217;s economy and Beijing&S217;s moves to prevent its overheating were further unnerved after Bank of China said it would seek to raise billions of dollars by issuing new equity and bonds. The move, intended to help the country&S217;s third-biggest lender to replenish its capital and meet government standards, added to concerns about banks after a flood of lending to prop up the economy.

Clive McDonnell, head of Asia strategy at BNP Paribas Securities, said the markets could trade lower for now unless Chinese policy makers expressed new confidence in the country&S217;s growth or the United States clarified its banking proposal. Still, he expected markets to bounce back.

&S221;In our view,&S221; he said &S220;the markets are going to remain strong in 2010.&S221;

European Shares Fall; Wall Street Looks to Rebound

NEW YORK -- The Fastenal Co. said Tuesday that fourth-quarter earnings fell to $44.5 million, or 30 cents a share, compared to $62.5 million, or 42 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales fell 12.5% to $477 million from $555 million last year. Analysts polled by FactSet Research estimated, on average, earnings per share of 31 cents.

Fastenal Earnings Fall In Fourth Quarter

SAN FRANCISCO -- Regulators closed two banks in Illinois and Minnesota Friday, bringing the tally of U.S. bank failures in 2010 to three. Antioch, Ill.-based Town Community Bank and Trust was closed. As of Sept. 30, Town Community Bank and Trust had $69.6 million in assets and $67.4 million in deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. St. Stephen, Minn.-based St. Stephen State Bank was also closed. St. Stephen State Bank had $24.7 million in assets and $23.4 million in deposits as of Sept. 30.

Two Banks Fail, Bringing Year's Tally To Three

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – An American judge has frozen a government account that Argentina's central bank holds with the U.S. Federal Reserve, a top Argentina official said Tuesday.

Argentine Economy Minister Amado Boudou made the announcement amid a fight over whether the government of President Cristina Fernandez can tap central bank reserves to pay off national debt.

An Argentine judge is deciding that question after Fernandez was blocked from firing the central bank president for refusing her access to the bank's multibillion-dollar reserves.

Boudou said that U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in New York froze $1.7 million in the account but that the amount frozen could reach $15 million.

He speculated the decision came at the request of creditors demanding payment on $20 billion-plus in interest, following Argentina's 2001 default on about $95 billion in bonds.

Boudou said Argentines should not worry about the impact of the judge's decision on Argentina's delicate economy because the amount frozen was relatively small.

Last week, an Argentine federal judge overturned Fernandez's attempt to remove the central bank president, Martin Redrado, in their fight over using the bank's reserves.

On Monday, federal judge Maria Jose Sarmiento said she could take all the time needed to resolve the legality of the president's suspended emergency decrees. Congress will likely consider the matter in March after its recess.

The extended delay is a setback for Fernandez, who has questioned the validity of the judge's rulings and said it was important for Argentina to emerge from default.

Argentina has Latin America's third largest economy, after Brazil and Mexico.

American judge freezes Argentina account in US

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday that he wants to resurrect a back-to-school sales tax holiday, saying it would stimulate Florida's stagnant economy.

Joined by two legislative leaders and retailers, the Republican governor rejected a suggestion that some might see the proposal as a political move in an election year.

"What we all agree on here today is that we need to reduce the tax burden on the backs of Florida families," said Crist, who is bypassing re-election as governor to seek an open U.S. Senate seat.

"We've had a two-year hiatus, and it's time to get back to basics and do the right thing," Crist said.

Florida lawmakers last approved a sales tax holiday in 2007, when they signed off on a 10-day break in early August of that year from state and local sales taxes. Similar efforts the past two legislative sessions have been defeated as lawmakers scrambled to find money for programs they regarded as more valuable.

Florida Retail Federation President Rick McAllister estimated that a $44 million tax break for an 11-day sales tax holiday for parents getting their kids ready to get back to school would increase overall tax revenues by $118 million.

"The sales tax holiday doesn't just concentrate spending that would have taken place anyway," McAllister said. "It sparks additional spending that boosts the state's critical retail sector, and that in turn increases demand, creates jobs and grows tax revenues."

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who is sponsoring the proposal (SB 514) in the upper chamber said he is confident he has the votes to get the proposal through while Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, was equally confident about a companion measure (HB 483) in the House.

"The economy will be well served," Rivera said.

Florida lawmakers have approved a back-to-school tax holiday eight times since 1998.

Fla. gov, lawmakers pushing for sales tax holiday