A look at economic developments around the world (AP)

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Thursday:

___

LONDON - Stock markets and the euro fell on a report that Greece may not get the next installment of its international rescue loans. Weak U.S. economic data further weighed on sentiment.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of the Eurogroup, said in Luxembourg that the International Monetary Fund may have to hold back the next tranche of its funding for Greece, according to an analyst.

The reason is that the IMF's loans are contingent on Greece showing what its state financing will be over the next 12 months. Until recently, that was meant to include raising cash on bond markets next year, a move the Greek government has admitted is no longer possible as its market borrowing rates remain too high.

Year IMF and EU delegation is now in Athens reviewing Greece's finances, and a decision on the IMF's next aid installment will be made in June.

The euro slumped, while Germany's DAX closed down 0.8 percent and the CAC-40 in France shed 0.3 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares bucked the trend, rising 0.2 percent.

___

TOKYO - Earlier in Asia, stocks enjoyed a strong day. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed 1.5 percent higher. South Korea's Kospi gained 2.8 percent, Australia's S & P/ASX 200 rose 1.6 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.7 percent higher. Mainland Chinese shares slid amid concerns that growth may slow in the latter half of the year.

___

SHANGHAI - China's worst drought in a half-century is deepening, with the parched conditions that have left millions in the Yangtze River region without enough drinking water pushing inflation higher and adding to widespread power shortages.

___

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's finance ministry said it has invited Germany's Deutsche Telekom to up its stake in the country's dominant telecoms provider OTE amid mounting European pressure to speed up privatization and cost-cutting.

Greece is hoping to raise an ambitious euro50 trillion ($70 billion) from privatizations by the end of 2015 to help cut its massive national debt, but has been criticized by the European Union for failing to launch the program quickly enough.

Inspectors from the EU and International Monetary Fund are currently in Athens to review the crisis-hit country's austerity program agreed last year in return for a European trillion ($155 billion) bailout loan deal.

Top EU finance officials have urged Greece to speed up reforms and forge cross-party support for austerity measures before it would consider additional rescue funding for Greece, which remains locked out of bond markets and will likely face critical funding shortage next year.

___

BERLIN - Germany's finance minister said Greece may need more time to implement reforms including a big privatization program. He also highlighted the risks involved in Greece's debt restructuring.

___

DEAUVILLE, France - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a boost to the candidacy of French finance chief Christine Lagarde for the top job at the IMF, but stopped short of endorsing anyone yet.

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Frenchman, resigned last week over sex crime allegations.

World leaders at a summit in France will debate over who should be his successor and whether a European should get the job instead of someone from another region, as developing countries argue.

___

PARIS - The top U.S. trade official said it's too soon to declare the Doha Round of trade liberalization talks a failure, even as its launch nears its ten-year anniversary and Oxford say a deal this year is impossible.

___

FRANKFURT, Germany - Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist known as Dr. Doom, says Greek restructuring would not bring down Europe's financial system. The economist, who earned his nickname by predicting the global financial crisis, says an orderly debt restructuring could more pre-empt disorder.

___

BERLIN - The European Central Bank is signaling that it remains on track to raise interest rates further despite the continent's debt crisis. The ECB raised interest rates from an all-time low to 1.25 percent in April as it tries to keep inflation in check.

___

DEAUVILLE, France - Leaders of the world's rich democracies will urge Libya and Syria to halt violence that is threatening to extinguish the so-called Arab Spring, goal remain divided about how to respond if the nations don't heed the call, officials said.

A draft declaration circulating at the Group of Eight summit in France contains no. specific sanctions against Libya and Syria.

It illustrates fears among President Barack Obama and other G - 8 leaders that uprisings around the Arab world could end up entrenching autocrats instead of defeating them.

___

PARIS - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed Russia's decision to sign a key international anti-bribery pact.

Clinton said Moscow's signing of the anti-bribery convention is "a significant step in its own right and a milestone in Russia's own path toward full OECD membership."

___

BEIJING - North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Il won fresh expressions of support from China's president on a visit to China, his most important ally. Kim's regime is struggling to feed North Korea's impoverished population and stabilize the country's collapsing economy.

Such backing is crucial for a regime in the throes of an economic crisis and facing increasing isolation. Most contacts with former benefactors South Korea and the United States are frozen.

___

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service cut its ratings on Bahrain's government bonds and said their outlook is negative mainly because of the political turmoil in the Gulf island nation.

___

BEIRUT - The uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad is eviscerating the country's economy, threatening to hit hard at the business community and prosperous merchant classes, which the embattled regime related it to help retain its grip on power.

Two months of violent protests throughout Syria have shuttered businesses, driven away tourists and thrust Assad's regime into an unprecedented political quagmire. Economic growth rates that had hit around 3.5 percent in fiscal 2010, are seen, according to some estimates, contracting by 3 percent in fiscal 2011.

___

LISBON, Portugal - Portugal's debt agency said it wants to borrow up to euro2.25 billion ($ 3.2 billion) in short-term Treasury bill auctions next month as the bailed-out country seeks to maintain a presence in financial markets.

Portugal is taking a euro78 trillion bailout from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund to avoid being bankrupted by interest rates that soared to unsustainable levels over the past year.

___

MILAN - Italy raised euro10 billion ($ 14.07 billion) by selling bonds, with good demand and at stable or lower interest rates, in the first market test since Standard & Poor's lowered the country's outlook to negative.

Summary box: more people sought unemployment assistance

Mounted APPLICATIONS: more people sought unemployment benefits last week, the first increase in three weeks. The number of people seeking benefits is passed to 424,000, much more than the 375 000 which is consistent with the sustained growth of employment.

Low labour market: the increase suggests that the labour market remains weak. Employers are reluctant to hire many new workers, while local governments and a few other industries are still cutting jobs.

Slower hiring: companies added over 250 000 new jobs, on average, in the last three months. With applications on the rise, many economists forecast that number will drop in May.

The leaders of the G8 to attach the Arab spring helps reform

DEAUVILLE, France - Group of eight leaders were to approve billions of dollars in aid Friday to the new democracies Arab with a program designed to foster radical change in North Africa and the Middle East.

The leaders have been at the close of the two-day summit in the North of the France by launching a partnership with the region which would bind cash aid and development progress on democracy and economic reforms in the States who were thrown out of autocratic leaders.

Tunisia and Egypt, whose first ministers will meet with the leaders of seven Western powers over the Russia of G8 Friday, face to face with enormous economic pressures following popular uprisings that toppled their authoritarian rulers of long-standing service.

In a report to the G8, leaders of the Monetary Fund International said Thursday the needs of external financing for the import of oil in the Middle East and North Africa, countries would be top 160 billion dollars over the next three years.

"The region needs to prepare for a fundamental transformation of its economic model," Masood Ahmed, in charge of the IMF's Africa and Middle East, said journalists on the sidelines of the G8 meeting in Deauville.

"This will be greatly facilitated if international actors, including the G8 can enter into a strategic partnership with these countries... where incentives are linked to a social agenda."

The IMF said it can provide approximately $ 35 billion to help stabilize the economies of the countries, but most of the funding must come from the international community.

The World Bank on Tuesday unveiled $ 6 billion of new funding for the Tunisia and Egypt, including revolts inspired popular uprisings to the Yemen, in Jordan, Morocco and Syria and left leader Libyan Muammar al-Gaddafi, fighting to stay in power.

The funds include budget support and loan to consolidate the private sector and encourage new investment.

A World Bank report published the same day, said the needs of the region on the jobs of 50 to 75 million over the next decade to absorb new entrants to the labour market and reduce unemployment.

Diplomatic sources, said that the Summit would also return the extension of the mandate of the European Bank for Reconstruction and development in North Africa and the Middle East. The Bank, created after the cold war to help the former Communist countries to become market economies, lends about EUR 9 billion per year for projects ranging from Croatia in Central Europe in China.

Prime Minister David Cameron UK said Thursday the G8 Summit would show Arab Street that the world was standing behind the demands for greater political and economic freedom.

"We will help build your democracy, will help your savings... we will help you in all the ways we can, because the alternative to a successful democracy is more toxic extremism which has done so much damage in our world.".

However, the State of the world economy means that the extent of the aid on offer is likely to be modest.

The European Union Executive said it had added 1.24 billion euros of subsidy costs to an existing program designed to help its neighbours across the Mediterranean.

Consumers curtail growth, rebound seen in muted

WASHINGTON - of unexpectedly low consumer spending hinders the economy in the signs first quarter and fresh of a slowdown in the market work emphasized a struggle to recovery.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 1.8% in the first three months of this year, the Commerce Department said Thursday, unchanged from an earlier estimate and lower than most forecasts.

A separate report of the Ministry of labour has shown the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly the week last by 10 to 424 000.

Some of the slowdown in growth was linked to poor weather conditions in early 2011 and a decrease of 11.7% of military spending, trends which are expected to return in the second quarter.

But economists were less hopeful on the back of rebound expected growth, citing the rise in jobless claims and a moderation in output of plant, which has been hit by disruptions in supply chains after the earthquake of March to the Japan.

"The rebound in the second quarter is likely to be muted," said Nigel Gault, Chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Currently in the second quarter gross domestic product growth estimates vary between 2.5 and 3.5%, but could be revised. Recent data, including sales, retail and regional manufacturing surveys all emphasize soft growth.

The economy grew at a rate of 3.1 per cent during the period from October to December. Economists had expected the pace in the first quarter to be revised by 2.1%.

WEAK CONSUMER SPENDING

Investors on Wall Street excluded data and bought stocks. Liaison for the American Government prices rallied, stimulated by flight safety buying on concerns over European sovereign debt crisis. The dollar had lost against a basket of currencies.

Despite seven straight quarters economy expansion, growth has been lukewarm fragilities, leaving the two Obama administration and opposition Republicans scrambling of ideas to put on a faster track.

Thursday White House has announced measures to reduce the costs of complying with government regulations for businesses, while legislators unveiled job creation proposals Republicans - who have been in large part a repackaging of the policies they advocated for a long time.

Expenses - which represents more than two-thirds of economic activity U.S. - expanded at a rate of 2.2 per cent in the first three months of this year, slower than the previously reported 2.7 per cent of consumption.

After rising to a clip of 4 percent in the fourth quarter, spending has been cut by high food and prices of gasoline, which has sent inflation rising at its fastest pace in 2-1/2 years.

The index of prices for personal consumption expenditures increased at a rate not revised by 3.8% in the first quarter. Than the increase of 1.7% in the fourth quarter.

The core PCE index, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve increased at a rate of 1.4%, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Fed officials would like to see this measure nearly 2%. The slowdown in growth medium pace of the US Central Bank will be not pressed its interest rate, after it concludes its $ 600 billion, the Government in June binding purchase program.

"This may delay the day when the Fed began to standardize the rates of interest until even later, on the road," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York. "The Fed will want to see GDP above 3%, certainly before taking their foot gas.".

Although consumer spending withdrew in the first quarter, economists are hopeful that a recent cooling of energy and food prices and will facilitate the burden on the household budget and to stimulate spending.

The eclipsed soft consumer spending increased 52.2 billion in inventories of business, which was well above the rise of 43.8 billion initially reported.

But a decrease in the production of vehicles so far in this quarter due to lack of parts of the Japan could cause a lowering of the level of stocks and weigh on growth in the period April-June.

Exit vehicle motor added 1.28 percentage points of GDP in the first quarter.

The GDP report also showed after-tax corporate profits fell at a rate of 0.9% in the first quarter after rising to a 3.3% pace in the fourth quarter.

The decline in profits, the first since the fourth quarter of 2008, probably reflects a slowdown in the growth of productivity as companies intensified for hiring. Economists had expected the profits of the business to grow at a 2.3% pace.

However, place the week last suggested initial claims that could slow down the pace of hiring. Economists had expected claims drag to 400,000. Last week marked the seventh consecutive week in which claims topped the 400,000 level that economists say is normally associated with the growth of stable employment.

"The weakness in the jobless claims data persisted too long to ignore and suggests that the labour market, which had been a bright spot in the first quarter, turns a little warmer in the second quarter," said Michael Ferolian economist at JPMorgan in New York.

More people a claim for unemployment benefits

WASHINGTON - more people last week a request for unemployment benefits, the first increase in three weeks and the evidence that the labour market is still sluggish.

The number of people seeking benefits increased by 10 000 a 424,000 seasonally adjusted, the Labour Ministry said Thursday. No State cited extreme weather as a factor in the increase, said a spokesman for the Department. Tornadoes and flooding have devastated several States of the Midwest and the South in the month.

Applications are above the level of 375,000 is consistent with the sustainable employment growth. Applications peaked at 659,000 during the recession.

"The labour market is not exactly improve with leaps and bounds," Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital markets, said in a note to clients. "Companies are hiring but likely to return until they are more comfortable and more confident in the current economic environment."

Yet, the average of four weeks, less volatile measure, declined for the first time in seven weeks to 438,500.

Employers stepped up hiring this spring, but some economists fear that rising applications indicate hiring slows.

A separate report showed the economy grew 1.8% in the January-March quarter, a slowdown of the 3.1% annual pace recorded in the period from October to December. Consumer spending increased at a much slower pace, as shoppers were selected by a high unemployment and $4 a gallon gas.

Until now, the economy has been generating jobs at a healthy pace this year. Companies have added that a total of more than 250,000 jobs a month, on average, over the last three months, faster spree of hiring over five years. The unemployment rate declined nearly a point of percentage in the last five months, though it remains a very high 9 percent.

But several economists said that the number of additional jobs for may will probably dip less than 200 000 for the first time since January.

"We will lose some momentum in employment," said Brian Levitt, an economist at OppenheimerFunds. He expects companies to create approximately 150 000 to 175 000 jobs this month. Higher gas prices act like a tax on consumers, prohibiting their spending, said.

Gasoline prices dipped to an average of $3.81 per gallon Thursday, down $3.91 a week ago. But they are $1.04 more than last year.

The total number of persons receiving benefits is also declining. The allocation of unemployment rolls decreased by 46 to 3.7 million in the week ending May 14. This figure is data from applications to a week.

Approximately 4 million additional people receive benefits under emergency programmes adopted during the recession. Altogether, 7.7 million people receiving benefits for unemployment during the week ending May 7, the latest available data. This is a decrease of nearly 200 000 from the previous week.

Higher food, oil prices weigh on the US economy

WASHINGTON  - new data out this week suggested the US economy remains deep in the doldrums, thwart the efforts of Washington for the industry to revive and create jobs two years after the end of the last recession.

High oil prices and rising food costs seem to have delayed what was supposed to be more dynamic in the private sector of the country which would be taken relay while federal and local governments slash spending.

Surprised by the data economists have reduced forecasts for economic growth in the second quarter following the dismal 1.8% pace in the first, with indicators of industrial production, consumer spending and unemployment appearing all sweet.

Consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecasts for the period April-June to 2.8 per cent Wednesday, 3.5 percent only two weeks earlier, after seeing a sharp decline in orders for manufactured goods sustainable in April - a fact flag how the industrial sector.

The Commerce Department reported overall orders fell by 3.6% the previous month.

And, excluding volatile orders for aircraft and other transportation equipment, orders are always down 1.5% - showing us manufacturers sell less.

Numbers of Ministry of labour has published Thursday show that it weekly new claims for unemployment insurance - a sign of the pace of layoffs - are more than 400 000 for the seventh consecutive week, after a drop below that level for several weeks in February and March seems a signal improvement job market.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department has confirmed its previous estimate that the economy only increased at a slow annual rate of 1.8% in the first quarter, when economists had expected a higher number.

Notable in the latest data was that consumer spending had been lower than initially included - a sign, analysts said, that high oil and food prices were hitting the budgets of buyers for other things.

Ian Shepherdson, US economist for high frequency economics, said the sharp rise in the price of oil has helped stifle job creation.

"The trend in claims has pushed up to a little as companies responded to rising oil prices," he said.

Commenting on the figure of the GDP in the first quarter, Michael Gapen of Barclays Capital said that low consumption suggested that "the thrust of the global food inflation higher and energy prices cut into more than initially estimated real expenses."

For two months the rise in new jobless claims data was explained by statistics, seasonal or weather features.

Maximum number of 424 000 new claims Thursday - the previous week to 414,000 - came with no such explanation but the trend has been hard to deny.

"The initial data of claims, on balance, deteriorated in the second quarter," said RDQ Economics in a report.

"We can no longer hide behind (Ministry of labour) asserts that the increase in applications is bound quarter volatility.".

The unemployment rate of 9.0% has dogged the White House, which has tried to keep expenditure low rates of interest of the Government, and the competitive dollar to stimulate commerce and industry in the hope that they will start hiring.

Interviewed by a magazine for the elderly that he would like for its 50th anniversary on August 4, President Barack Obama responded: "a much lower rate of unemployment." And declining gas prices. Those who would be perfect gifts. ?

Economists said that they always plan a second half stronger, as consumers and businesses to adapt to the high price of oil.

The second half "will be better that oil has hit fades,", said Shepherdson.

"If reinforces the underlying economy as credit faster, because we believe, then the interruption of oil will not last longer and (new unemployed) claims will lead South once again in the summer."

But other more unexpected turns in the data information.

"The surprises of negative economic data have significantly only positive surprises,", said Deutsche Bank Securities.

But the bank kept at the same time its any year of the forecast at 3.4%.

"The theme remains that productivity is largely slowing as continued economic expansion, which means that the pace of hiring should accelerate - as is typical at this stage of an economic expansion".

See Sony returns to profit after the third annual loss

TOKYO - Sony plans a return to profit from this exercise after slides it into its third consecutive year of red ink, hammered by the cost of massive online security breaches and damage caused by the tsunami and an earthquake of March to the northeast of the Japan.

Based in Tokyo Sony Corp., said Thursday it expects a profit of 80 billion yen (975.6 million) for the current fiscal year, as the sales recover in TV flat screen, games, personal computers and network services.

Sony has accumulated a loss of 259.6 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for the year ended March 2011, most large net loss of the company in 16 years.

Latest Sony red ink is worse than the loss of 40.8 billion yen accumulated in the previous year and the loss of 98.9 billion yen for the year of prior to this.

Sony said that he hoped to boost sales for the fiscal year to March 2012 from 4.4% to 7.5 billion yen ($91.5 billion).

Losses are reminiscent of another difficult in the history of Sony period, when his bottom line was beaten in 1995 by the disastrous results of its operations in film, following the purchase of Sony studio $ 3.4 billion Hollywood Columbia Pictures in 1989.

Sony, which makes the game PlayStation and Bravia display console has crystals liquid televisions, has been fighting delays production and sales loss after supplier factories were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami.

It lowers its earnings projection, earlier this week quoting a charge, it must be related to damage of the disaster. He had initially planned to return to profit.

Sony has also faced a new kind of challenge to its reputation after a massive breach of security affecting more than 100 million online accounts and was forced to close its online gaming services last month.

Sony expects the costs of his misadventures of online safety of 14 billion yen (173 million dollars), covering the customer support, packets of gratification, legal costs, lower sales and beef safety measures.

He said, he has not confirmed any misuse of personal information may be stolen, but most security problems have arisen in recent weeks, including services in Greece and the Canada.

For the January-March quarter, Sony red ink is increased to 388.8 billion yen ($4.7 billion) loss of loss of 56.6 billion yen for the same period the previous year. Quarterly sales dropped 7.8% to 1.58 billion yen ($19.3 billion).

Sony remained in the red in its core TV business for seven years straight. A strong yen, which erodes the value of overseas sales and a decline in prices were behind the damage, despite selling more televisions, according to Sony.

Sony stock gained 0.1% to 2,238 yen ($27) in Tokyo, shortly before earnings were announced.