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A marked deterioration in Royal Dutch Shell’s refining operations contributed to a modest fall in fourth quarter profits at Europe’s biggest oil company.

Over the previous year, Shell said its net profit fell 4.3 percent to $6.50 billion.

Though the company’s production arm was helped by higher oil prices, its refining operations swung to a loss.

Production profits rose 29 percent to $6.57 billion despite a fall in production. Shell’s “downstream” operations, which include its refining arm, lost $244 million, compared to profit of $411 million a year ago free instant credit score.

Chief executive Peter Voser said overall he was “satisfied” with the company’s performance.

Shell will increase its quarterly dividend a cent to $0.43 in 2012.

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The Philippines pledged to speed up a proposed offering of infrastructure projects to investors as President Benigno Aquino seeks investments to shield the economy from a global slowdown.

The government may offer eight to 16 of the so-called public-private partnership projects worth as much as 142 billion pesos ($3.2 billion) this year, Cosette Canilao, executive director of the program, said in an interview in her Manila office yesterday. One contract was awarded last year, against an earlier estimate of as many as 10. San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp. (AC) and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. are among companies that have expressed interest in some of the projects, she said.

Kellwood Co. is planning to drop Adam, the upscale contemporary sportswear line that it acquired last year, according to a news report.

Women’s Wear Daily reported today that the Town and Country-based apparel company has decided to no longer fund Adam and is exploring various options, including selling the business. Adam employees were told of the decision earlier today, according to the report.

Kellwood acquired Adam, the brainchild of designer Adam Lippes, in August 2010. It was one of the company’s first major acquisitions as it embarked upon a brand-buying spree. Lippes stayed on with the brand to oversee it. Terms of the deal were not disclosed at the time.

“Adam is the first one we’ve nailed, ” Michael Kramer, Kellwood’s chief executive at the time, told the Post-Dispatch. “Hopefully this is the first of many to come.”

Kellwood followed that acquisition with others such as Rebecca Taylor and Scotch & Soda. It has also launched some new in-house brands such as Lamb & Flag.

It’s not immediately clear what dropping Adam might mean about Kellwood’s recent focus on buying more luxury, designer brands. But Kramer, who was spearheading that strategy, has recently left Kellwood to become chief operating officer at J.C. Penney.

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Markets were boosted again on Tuesday by hopes that the 17 countries that use the euro will finally come up with a plan to deal with their crushing debt crisis.

As the 17 finance ministers of the countries that use the euro converged on EU headquarters in a desperate bid to save their currency _ and to protect the global economy from a debt-induced financial tsunami _ investors were reminded of the urgency of the task at hand.

Italy’s borrowing rates shot up Tuesday to above 7 percent, an unsustainable level on a par with rates that forced the others to seek bailouts.

The fear is that the crisis _ which already has forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal _ could engulf bigger economies such as Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest. If Italy were to default on its debt of euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion), the fallout could spell ruin for the euro project itself and send shock waves throughout the global economy.

Though no specific details have yet emerged of what will likely result from a Dec. 9 summit of EU leaders, the ministers are thought to be discussing ideas that would have been taboo only recently: countries ceding fiscal sovereignty to a central authority; some kind of elite group of euro nations that would guarantee one another’s loans _ but require strong fiscal discipline from anyone wanting membership.

On Tuesday, finance ministers also were likely to discuss the options _ plus a possible way to boost the region’s rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, at a meeting in Brussels.

“Global equity markets have started the week hopeful that EU policymakers are actually moving closer to resolving the eurozone debt and banking crisis, with hopes pinned on reports that France and Germany are planning a ‘fast-track’ updated Stability Pact to both tighten budget rules and provide fiscal policy oversight,” said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

On Monday, stocks advanced strongly, particularly in Europe, with the CAC-40 in France up a massive 5 percent or so.

As a result, the gains Tuesday were not as marked but did provide some further evidence of the hopes that European leaders will finally get their act together in around 10 days time.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was up 0.2 percent at 5,747, while the CAC-40 rose 0.5 percent at 3,026. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.1 percent higher at 5,320. The euro, meanwhile, was up 0.4 percent at $1.3346.

Wall Street was poised for further gains, too, amid ongoing evidence of a strong start to the U.S. holiday shopping season. Dow futures were up 0.5 percent at 11,555, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures rose 0.6 percent at 1,198.

Earlier, most Asian markets ended higher, with the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo climbing 2.3 percent to close at 8,477.82.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi rose 2.3 percent to 1,856.52 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.2 percent to 18,256.20. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Australia were also higher.

Mainland Chinese shares advanced, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.2 percent to 2,412.39.

Oil prices tracked equities modestly higher _ benchmark crude for January delivery was up 49 cents to $98.70 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Egypt’s benchmark stock index tumbled more than 2 percent on Sunday as clashes between protesters and security forces entered their second day and rattled investor confidence in the country’s already stumbling economy.

The Egyptian Exchange’s EGX30 index was down 2.45 percent, or at 4,023 points, by 12:15 p.m. on the first day of the work week in the country. The slide built on a week of declines that have helped push the index’s year-to-date losses to almost 44 percent. The index had tumbled almost 3 percent earlier in the day, but recouped some of the losses.

Brokers attributed the drop to the clashes between rock-throwing protesters and security forces in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

The fighting had entered its second day, with the protesters demanding the country’s military rulers quickly announce a date when they plan to hand over power to a civilian government. The unrest comes days before the Nov. 28 parliamentary elections _ the first national vote in roughly 30 years that doesn’t include candidates from the former ruling National Democratic Party.

“These are bad times,” said Khaled Naga, a senior broker with Mega Investments, adding that even after a thousands-strong demonstration on Friday went relatively peacefully, there were expectations that the market would decline.

“All things considered, this is a reasonable decline,” said Naga. “We were expecting worse _ maybe 5 percent.”

Shares of Commercial International Bank were down almost 2.2 percent to 23.22 Egyptian pounds while Orascom Construction Industries’ shares were off 3.24 percent to 220.2 Egyptian pounds.

The Jan. 25 revolution that toppled Mubarak and ended nearly three decades of authoritarian rule has battered the country’s economy.

Foreign investment and tourism, which are two of the country’s economic pillars, are reeling from the unrest, while frequent labor strikes and other mass protests have disrupted daily life and forced the government to adopt populist policies that have widened the deficit and added to expenses.

Already, Egypt has run through almost 40 percent of its net international reserves since December.

Brokers said continued unrest in the capital would likely only add to the drop and expected that the market’s support point _ where it could bounce back _ could be around 3,800 points. But hitting that level would involve a number of days of heavy losses and so far the Egyptian market has shown a surprising ability to bounce back despite the continuing unrest and tension in the nation.

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TORONTO

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday tried to reassure U.S. soldiers, a group hit hard by high unemployment, that the Fed is working to strengthen the economy.

In a speech at a military base in El Paso, Texas, Bernanke told a group of soldiers and their families that the Fed is trying to lower unemployment. He talked about the Fed’s policies of keeping short-term rates near zero and buying securities to try and lower longer-term rates, such as mortgages.

Many veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are returning home to find few jobs and limited prospects. The unemployment rate for veterans of those wars was 12.1 percent in October. That’s up from 10.6 percent a year ago and well above the national average of 9 percent.

“I’m here because the men and women in military service, like all Americans, are profoundly affected by the economic challenges our nation has faced these past several years,” Bernanke said during the speech at Fort Bliss, the country’s largest Army base.

The town hall meeting was the latest in a series of public outreach efforts Bernanke has made to underscore the efforts the central bank is pursuing to help ordinary Americans cope with the Great Recession. Over the past 2 1/2 years, Bernanke has attended half a dozen informal gatherings in Kansas City, Atlanta, Cleveland and other cities payday advances.

Thursday’s town hall meeting was his first in Texas. Fed officials say Bernanke chose the location because he wanted to highlight the base’s successful financial literacy program.

Last week, the Fed downgraded its economic outlook for the next two years and said that it does not expect the unemployment rate to fall significantly through the end of next year.

President Barack Obama is pushing for tax credits of up to $5,600 to businesses that hire a veteran who has been unemployed for six months or more. Another tax credit would provide $9,600 for companies that hire an injured vet who has been unemployed that long.

The Senate is expected to take up the tax credits as part of broader legislation. The tax incentives cleared the House last month and are not expected to be paid for through Obama’s proposed tax on millionaires, raising hopes that could win Republican support.

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Ladue-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. was awarded a $7.5 million contract to renovate one level of the two-story, 32,069-square-foot Inpatient Rehabilitation Center at Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, Neb. Preliminary phasing work has started, and main work on the renovations will start in January. Completion is scheduled for October 2012.

McCarthy will serve as construction manager and general contractor on the project. Renovations to the rehab center will include the addition of 36 private rehab inpatient rooms, a gym, dining and living space and support spaces. McCarthy will work with Omaha-based Altus Architectural Studio and Omaha-based Farris Engineering on the remodeling.

The Federal Reserve is holding off on any new actions to help the economy because stronger growth is giving it time to gauge the impact of steps it’s already taken.

Fed policymakers made the announcement after a two-day meeting.

In a statement released Wednesday, the officials said the economy has strengthened and consumers have stepped up spending. But they said the economy continues to face significant downside risks, including strain in global financial markets _ a reference to the crisis in Europe.

The Fed left open the possibility of taking further steps later to try to boost the sluggish economy. But it gave no hint as to what those moves might be.

The vote was 9-1. Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, dissented. The statement said he wanted to take stronger action.

After their September meeting, the policymakers said they would shuffle the Fed’s investment portfolio to try to further reduce long-term interest rates. And in their previous meeting in August, they had said they plan to keep short-term rates near zero until at least mid-2013, unless the economy improved.

The Fed repeated the mid-2013 target in its statement Wednesday, and also said it was continuing its program to rebalance its portfolio to try to lower long-term rates.

The Fed has kept its key short-term interest rate at a record low since December 2008. This is the rate that banks charge on overnight loans. It serves as the benchmark for millions of business and consumer loans.

Later today, the Fed will also release its economic forecasts and Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a news conference.

The debt crisis in Europe could force the Fed to lower its economic projections. The Greek prime minister’s surprise move to call a referendum on the country’s latest rescue plan sparked fears that the debt deal could unravel, that Greece could default on its debt and that the crisis could infect the global financial system.

Even if Europe dodges a financial catastrophe, many economists think it’s headed for a recession that would affect the U.S. and global economies. The Fed expressed such concerns after its August meeting.

Still, the Fed remains deeply divided over what, if any, action to take next.

The actions taken in August and September were adopted on 7-3 votes, the most dissents in nearly 20 years.

Three regional bank presidents _ Richard Fisher of Dallas, Charles Plosser of Philadelphia and Narayana Kocherlakota of Minneapolis _ all voted no. They have expressed concerns that the Fed’s policies could lead to high inflation later.

On the other hand, Vice Chair Janet Yellen, Governor Daniel Tarullo, Evans and New York Fed President William Dudley have said the economy is at risk and might need more support.

Two officials pushed for bolder action at the September meeting, according to minutes. The members discussed more bond-buying. Some said it should remain an option.

A brighter outlook for the economy has given the Fed more room to wait. The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September period _ the best quarterly performance in a year. That was largely because consumers increased their spending at triple the rate from the previous quarter.

The growth is strong enough to show that the economy isn’t about to slide into recession. Still, growth would have to be nearly twice as high _ consistently _ to make a major dent in the unemployment rate, which has been stuck at 9.1 percent for three straight months.

Most economists had predicted that the Fed would hold off on new action until its December meeting or early next year. The next step could be further clarity on its interest-rate policy.

Evans has proposed that the Fed set benchmarks for raising rates. For example, it could agree not to raise short-term rates until unemployment fell below 7 percent or the outlook for inflation exceeded 3 percent. The unemployment rate has hovered around 9 percent for more than two years, and the Fed’s inflation outlook is under 2 percent.

Yellen, who heads a Fed panel that is examining ways to improve the central bank’s communications, has cautioned that such benchmarks could confuse investors. She has suggested that the Fed could add further guidance when it provides its economic forecasts four times a year.

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he’ll not be deterred from seeking U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine, despite what he said was “tremendous pressure” to drop the request and instead seek to resume peace talks with Israel.

Abbas spoke to reporters en route to the United Nations, where he is to seek U.N. membership for “Palestine” in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

The U.S. and Israel oppose Abbas’ bid, saying a state can only be established through negotiations. Abbas has said that negotiations remain his preference, but that they must be based on the pre-1967 war frontiers and a halt of all Israeli settlement construction on occupied land.

Abbas said Monday that even if Israel were to agree to those two demands, “we will go to the U.N. because there is no contradiction between negotiations and going to the U.N.”

Officials from the Quartet of Mideast mediators _ the U.S., European Union, Russia and the United Nations _ have been holding talks in recent days in hopes of persuading the Palestinians to drop the U.N. bid and instead resume peace talks with Israel.

The Palestinian leader said he came under “tremendous pressure” in recent days, but that the proposals for a new framework for talks were unacceptable.

Full U.N. membership can only be bestowed by the U.N. Security Council, where the recognition bid could be derailed if fewer than nine of the 15 members vote in favor or if the U.S. uses its veto, as it said it would.

Abbas said his plan, for now, is to go to the Security Council, but suggested that he might change tactics at the last minute and go for the lesser option of General Assembly approval of Palestine as a nonmember observer state. Chances for success are much higher in the General Assembly, which Abbas is to address Friday.

“From now until delivering the speech at the General Assembly, we have no thought except going to the Security Council,” he said. “Then, whatever the decision is, we will sit with the leadership and decide.”

Asked whether he was threatened by U.S. officials trying to stop him from seeking U.N. recognition, Abbas said: “It’s not a matter of threats, but they (the Americans) said that things will be very difficult after September. … We don’t know to what extent. We will know later.”

He said he has not been told officially that U.S. aid to the Palestinians would be cut. For months, congressional Republicans and Democrats have threatened to cut off some $500 million in economic and security assistance if the Palestinians move forward with the U.N. bid.

Abbas said he’s not scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

Concerning the possibility of mass protests in the Palestinian territories, Abbas said the only violence might come from Israeli settlers. In recent months, there has been an upswing in attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, some of it as retaliation for attempts by Israeli troops to remove unauthorized settler outposts.

“We will never return to an intifada (uprising). We will never return to violence,” Abbas said. “All our people will do is demonstrate peacefully inside the (Palestinian) cities.”

Abbas, however, holds no sway over the Gaza Strip or its rulers from the violently anti-Israel group Hamas, which drove out forces loyal to Abbas during a power struggle in 2007.

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