World financial news

Stocks rose Wednesday, capping a wild month in the stock market, after a surge in factory orders reassured investors that the manufacturing industry remains healthy.

Factory orders rose 2.4 percent in July, the biggest increase since March. Demand for automobiles jumped by the largest amount in eight years and orders for commercial airplanes soared. Manufacturing has been one of the strongest parts of the economy since the recession ended about two years ago.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 143 points, or 1.2 percent, to 11,703. The Dow turned positive for the year, and has risen seven of the last eight days. Aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. rose 4.3 percent, the most of the 30 companies that make up the Dow average.

Joy Global rose 5.1 percent after the mining equipment maker said its earnings rose 46 percent because of strong global demand for commodities like copper and coal.

That helped to push up other stocks in the mining and commodities industry. Mining operator Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. rose 3.2 percent and equipment giant Caterpillar Inc. rose 2.4 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 16, or 1.4 percent, to 1,229. The Nasdaq composite index rose 34, or 1.3 percent, to 2,610.

August has been volatile for investors. After S&P downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating, the Dow had four consecutive days of 400-point swings. That’s the first time that happened in its 115-year history.

The S&P 500 hit a low for the year on Aug. 8., immediately after the downgrade Since then, it has risen 9.7 percent.

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Stocks are rising after Tropical Storm Irene wound up being less severe than many analysts had anticipated.

The storm ripped through the East Coast and caused widespread flooding. Millions were still without power. However, a consulting firm predicted that insured damages would range between $2 billion and $3 billion, lower than initially estimated.

The New York Stock Exchange and other major U.S. exchanges opened for trading as usual Monday.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 170 points, or 1.5 percent, at 11,455. The S&P 500 is up 20, or 1.6 percent, at 1,197. The Nasdaq is up 42, or 1.7 percent, at 2,521.

Greek stocks jumped 15 percent after two major banks agreed to merge to better withstand that nation’s debt crisis.

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With the snack aisle already full of household names such as Lay’s, Chex Mix and Planters, Howie Sher knew he needed a catchy name for his new product that would help it stand out in the crowd.

So the former Metro East grocer came up with a zinger: “What-A-Ya-Nuts?!”

“I know there’s that emotional pull from the tried and true brands,” said Sher, 43, who recently launched the Clayton-based company. “So if I’m going to create a new brand, I need to grab their attention.”

So far, he has grabbed the attention of Schnucks and Straub’s as well as number of mom-and-pop shops such as Kohn’s Kosher Market in Creve Coeur that have begun carrying his nut cluster snack. His product had a soft launch last month and is now in about 100 locations, mostly in the St. Louis region. .

This week, he’s kicking off a sponsorship with Fox Sports Midwest to have a “What-A-Ya-Nuts Wednesday headlines” on its website, which will feature quirky sports stories. And he’ll be handing out lots of samples at areas stores in the coming weeks.

So what exactly is What-A-Ya-Nuts?

“We’re making like a nut-ola,” he said payday loans. “It’s almost like a granola of nuts.”

What-A-Ya-Nuts are clusters of almonds, pecans and sunflower seeds, with no added preservatives. The suggested retail price is $4.99 for a 4-ounce package.

They come in four flavors that have their own fun and zany names: “jalapeno hysteria,” “maple cinnamon madness,” ’stark raving chocolate” and “cracked Parmesan pepper.”

“We want people to think we’re a little nutty,” Sher said, “because life is too serious.”

Like with any new product, Sher faces some hurdles in getting consumers to make room in their shopping carts for his nuts.

Haim Mano, chair of the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ marketing department, said it can be difficult to get consumers to try a new product from a company with no record.

“If Pringles came up with a new kind of Pringles, it would be easy for them because people know what Pringles is,” he said.

But for these unknown items, companies have to go out of their way to provide samples and freebies

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Nashville-based wellness program operator Healthways Inc. said Wednesday it will acquire Navvis & Co., a local company that advises health systems on strategy and other issues, for $28.7 million.

The price is made up of $23.7 million in cash and $5 million in Healthways stock. Healthways said it expects to close the deal by Aug. 31. It will have a negligible effect on Healthways’ profit in 2011, the company said.

Navvis, based in Clarkson Valley, will stay in the area instant payday loans. The local company’s CEO Mike Farris also will remain with Navvis.

Navvis advises health systems on organization, strategy, partnerships, physician alignment, and service and facility development.

Shares of Healthways fell 13 cents to $12 on Wednesday.

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TORONTO

In between briefings on Libya, President Barack Obama packed golf, beach time, a stop at a seafood restaurant and a visit to a wealthy friend’s seaside compound into his Martha’s Vineyard vacation Sunday.

Meanwhile, across the globe, rebels stormed into Tripoli as Moammar Gadhafi’s hold on power seemed to crumble.

Asked about the developments as he bought seafood at Nancy’s, a popular restaurant in Oak Bluffs, Obama said: “We’re going to wait until we have full confirmation of what has happened. … I’ll make a statement when we do.”

Then Obama and his family headed to dinner at the house where White House adviser Valerie Jarrett is staying.

Earlier, Obama spent about an hour at the home of Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts after playing golf with some buddies no fax payday loan. The golf foursome included Obama’s Chicago pal Eric Whitaker, UBS America executive Robert Wolf and a White House aide. Obama spent the morning at the beach with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Sasha and Malia.

The president began the day with a briefing on Libya, said the White House, which has been at pains to show Obama’s still fulfilling his duties as president amid international unrest, a shaky economy and high unemployment.

He is scheduled to return to Washington on Saturday.

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Anglo American is exploring a bid for Macarthur Coal that would challenge St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp.’s $4.9 billion offer for the Australian miner, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

Anglo American, part owner of the world’s biggest platinum and diamond producers, is studying Macarthur’s finances, said one of the people, who declined to be identified as the talks are private.

Buying Brisbane-based Macarthur would give Anglo steelmaking-coal mines in Australia as prices trade near a record. Peabody and its bidding partner, ArcelorMittal, took their offer directly to Macarthur shareholders after talks with the board collapsed.

“Acquisition of metallurgical coal fits with Anglo’s strategy,” Peter Davey, London-based head of metals and mining research at Standard Bank Group Ltd., said by telephone. “They have the firepower because they were a bit stingy on dividends.

Maybe they kept the money for this instance potentially.”

Anglo American doesn’t comment on speculation, said Emily Blyth, a London-based spokeswoman. She also said the company “does examine growth opportunities in our core commodity groups across geographies.”

Macarthur rose 48 cents, or 3 no faxing payday loans.1 percent, to $16.15 in U.S. over-the-counter trading.

Peabody and ArcelorMittal are bidding $16.02 a share. Macarthur directors had snubbed that offer earlier, demanding $18.61.

ArcelorMittal, based in Luxembourg, is Macarthur’s second- biggest shareholder, with about 16 percent. Brokers including RBS Morgans Ltd. have said a rival bid may include Macarthur’s largest investor, Citic Group. Citic is receiving advice from Macquarie Group Ltd., said one person familiar with the matter.

If successful, the Peabody group’s bid for Macarthur would be the second-largest coal takeover this year, second only to Alpha Natural Resources Inc.’s $7.1 billion purchase of Massey Energy Co. in June. This year has yielded almost 50 coal transactions globally, with a combined value of more than $20 billion.

“We will see more of these kind of deals because large-cap companies like BHP Billiton, Anglo have a lot of cash,” Davey said. “The recent shake-out in the market is bringing a lot of opportunities for housekeeping in terms of buying out minorities.”

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British police made their 13th arrest Thursday in the country’s tabloid phone hacking scandal, and a private investigator at the center of the crisis sued Rupert Murdoch’s media empire for breach of contract.

Britain’s phone hacking scandal _ where journalists broke into the voice mails of royals, movie stars, top athletes, politicians and even teenage murder victims _ has shaken Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and forced the resignations of top people in Britain’s government, police and media. It also prompted Murdoch to shut down the 168-year-old U.K. tabloid, News of the World.

Police confirmed a 38-year-old man, who they declined to name, was arrested at a London police station after arriving voluntarily Thursday. He was later released on bail.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported the suspect was James Desborough, formerly the Los Angeles-based U.S. editor for the News of the World and the 2009 winner of the British Press Award for show business reporter of the year. The newspaper claimed his arrest was related to activities that took place before he moved to the United States in 2009.

Both London police and News International, the British division of Murdoch’s News Corp. empire that owned the tabloid, declined to confirm that Desborough was the suspect being questioned.

“We are fully cooperating with the police investigation and we are unable to comment further on matters due to ongoing police investigations,” News International said.

However, News International confirmed it has been sued by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 along with a reporter at the News of the World for hacking into the voicemail messages of royal staff.

Last month, News Corp. stopped making legal payments to Mulcaire, a day after Murdoch told lawmakers in a special parliamentary hearing that he would try to find a way to stop the payments.

News International spokeswoman Daisy Dunlop confirmed the Mulcaire lawsuit on Thursday but declined to comment further. A person familiar with the case said it alleged a breach of contract in respect to Mulcaire’s legal costs.

In a separate development, lawyers for British television actress Leslie Ash and former soccer player Lee Chapman confirmed they had resolved their legal action against the News of The World.

The tabloid’s parent company had “agreed to pay our family an appropriate sum by way of compensation and costs and it has apologized for the harm and distress it has caused us,” the couple said in a statement.

But they indicated they now plan to sue other British newspapers over allegations that their phone messages _ and those of their children _ may have been illegally accessed.

“We remain concerned that the practices complained of against NGN (News Group Newspapers) are likely to have been prevalent within a number of other media publishers, and we will be instructing our lawyer … to take action against other newspapers,” they said.

Ash and Chapman had been the subject of frequent tabloid stories after the actress suffered health problems and won a then-record 5 million pounds ($8.25 million) compensation payment from a London hospital after contracting an infection during treatment there.

The couple believe their messages were intercepted in 2004 while Ash was recovering in the hospital.

News International said it would not comment on the settlement.

The disclosure this week of new documents in the phone hacking case has piled the pressure on Murdoch’s media empire.

Correspondence published Tuesday by British lawmakers investigating the scandal suggested that one of his closest executives was warned more than four years ago that phone hacking was endemic at the News of the World. The company had previously insisted the practice was not widespread.

The charges were made in a 2007 letter written by Clive Goodman, a former journalist with the now-defunct tabloid whose jailing in 2007 on phone hacking charges first brought the practice into the spotlight.

Then-News International Ltd. Executive Chairman Les Hinton had fired Goodman as a result of his conviction. In his response, Goodman insisted that his activities had been carried out with the support of other members of staff and alleged that phone hacking had been routinely discussed at the paper.

However, in a 2007 appearance before the House of Commons media committee, Hinton assured parliamentarians that no one else at the paper had been engaged in phone hacking.

Hinton, who worked for Murdoch for more than five decades, announced his resignation July 15 as publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He is News Corp.’s first U.S. executive to lose his job in the phone hacking scandal.

Hinton was appointed earlier this year to The Associated Press board of directors. AP spokesman Paul Colford says Hinton has not attended any AP board meetings but has not offered his resignation.

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For 35 years, Toronto singer-songwriter Dan Hill tolerated that other people owned the master recordings and song copyrights for many of his greatest hits.

Now he can claim them back.

Under an obscure clause in U.S. copyright law, he has a shot at regaining ownership from record labels and publishing companies