That stock News

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

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BRUSSELS — The European Central Bank said it would almost double the size of its capital coffers, gaining more firepower in its struggle to stabilize the euro, while European leaders disagreed over how to fight the continent's crippling debt crisis.

The ECB's gesture sends a strong political signal to the European Union's 27 leaders that they need to do more to salvage their joint currency and their unity, amid street protests and bitterness in richer countries about having to bail out poorer neighbors.

European leaders are meeting in Brussels through Friday. The two-day summit is expected to yield no new major solutions to the debt crisis but is likely focus on a resolution mechanism to be adopted from 2013, when the current $1 trillion bailout fund expires.

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WASHINGTON — Americans' stronger appetite for imported goods helped to lift the broadest measure of the U.S. trade deficit in the July-September quarter to its highest point since late 2008.

The current account trade deficit grew to $127.2 billion in the third quarter, a 3.3 percent increase from the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported.

Some economists consider the quarterly increase — the fifth in a row — a sign that the U.S. economy is healing because Americans are regaining their appetite to spend on foreign goods.

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LONDON — European stock markets mostly ticked higher, even though EU leaders disagreed over how to tackle Europe's debt crisis. Reports from the U.S. suggested that the world's largest economy is enjoying a strong end to the year. Britain's FTSE 100 closed nearly unchanged, Germany's DAX gained 0.1 percent and France's CAC-40 rose 0.2 percent.

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TOKYO — Earlier in Asia, trading was mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average edged up less than 0.1 percent, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent and Taiwan's benchmark also rose.

The Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.5 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.3 percent, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.4 percent and benchmarks in Singapore and India also fell.

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ATHENS, Greece — Moody's ratings agency warned of a possible multi-notch downgrade of Greek bonds, in a new setback for the Socialist government already plagued by escalating strikes and violent protests.

The warning was the second this month, following a similar caution from Standard & Poor's in early December. The warnings hurt Greece's hopes of returning to the international bond markets some time next year.

The country only avoided bankruptcy in May due to a 110 billion euros ($145 billion) rescue loan package, conditional on a painful austerity package that includes salary and pension cuts, tax hikes and an increase in retirement ages.

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MADRID — Spain had to pay sharply higher interest rates to borrow 2.4 billion euros ($3.21 billion) from bond markets.

Investors snapped up Spain's debt but demanded higher rates amid fears of a possible debt downgrade by Moody's credit ratings agency.

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TOKYO — Japan's Cabinet approved cutting the corporate tax by 5 percentage points in a bid to spur the country's sluggish economy.

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NEW DELHI — The leaders of India and China called for a stronger partnership, a huge increase in trade and even the creation of an emergency hotline as they stressed a spirit of cooperation — not competition — between Asia's two rising powers.

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DUBLIN — Prime Minister Brian Cowen declared that he doesn't care about a new poll indicating that he, his party and government have all hit record levels of unpopularity following Ireland's international bailout.

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PRAGUE — The Czech Parliament approved a plan to slash the salaries of leading politicians by five percent until 2014 as part of government austerity measures.

The cuts are part of austerity measures the government says are necessary to reduce the budget deficit.

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