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Iraqi officials say a car bomb has killed a policeman in the western city of Ramadi.

Security officials say the parked car exploded around 7:30 a.m. Sunday near a police patrol in a main street in the center of the city.

An official in the nearby Ramadi hospital said five other policemen were seriously wounded. Two passers-by were also wounded, he said.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province and used to be a stronghold of al-Qaida. Recently, local militias have managed to bring a measure of calm to the city and province, part of a general drop in violence seen across the country.

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Asian stocks swung between losses and gains Thursday, as investors weighed climbing borrowing rates in Spain and political turmoil in Greece against upbeat results at Japanese carmaker Toyota.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 percent to 9,065.73 after opening lower. South Korea’s Kospi also opened lower before settling flat at 1,950.03. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up less than 0.1 percent at 20,341.49.

But Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4 percent to 4,292.40 and benchmarks in mainland China and Taiwan also rose.

“The Eurozone crisis remains in the spotlight, keeping sentiment under pressure,” strategists at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong wrote in a note to clients.

World markets have been roiled this week by political instability in Europe. Greece has been left without a government since elections on Sunday, adding to growing worries that it will drop out of the euro currency union or be forced out.

The turmoil shook markets in Spain, where the interest rate that the government must pay on benchmark 10-year bonds rose to an uncomfortably high level of 6.06 percent. Rates of above 7 percent are seen as unsustainable, and forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to ask for bailouts.

Toyota Motor Corp. rose 2.1 percent, a day after the carmaker said quarterly profit more than quadrupled and it made an upbeat forecast as it recovers from a sales plunge caused by the tsunami in Japan last year.

On Wall Street on Wednesday, the Dow closed lower for the sixth day in a row, down 0.8 percent at 12,835.06. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.7 percent to 1,354.58 and the Nasdaq composite average Nasdaq dropped 0.4 percent to 2,934.71.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 6 cents at $96.75 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 20 cents to finish at $96.81 per barrel in New York on Wednesday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2952 from $1.2945 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar rose to 79.73 Japanese yen from 79.68 yen.

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Stronger profits from Microsoft, McDonald’s and other major U.S. corporations pushed stocks higher Friday. Optimism from Europe helped brighten the mood.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index had a winning week for the first time this month.

“There’s been a wrestling match all week long between strong earnings and weak economic data,” said Lawrence Creatura, a portfolio manager at Federated Investors, the money-management firm. “At the moment, earnings are winning.”

Before the market opened, McDonald’s posted better quarterly profits, buoyed by warm weather and sales of new menu items like Chicken McBites and oatmeal. Sales picked up even in Europe, McDonald’s’ biggest market, despite economic turmoil and severe weather.

Microsoft beat analysts’ projections with quarterly earnings and revenue, and sales in its Windows division were surprisingly strong. And General Electric posted a profit of more than $3 billion, helped by orders for locomotives, aircraft engines and other equipment.

The Dow rose 65.16 points to close at 13,029.26. The S&P 500 added 1.61 points to 1,378.53.

Corporate earnings results have provided a pleasant surprise, said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. After nine straight quarters of growth, earnings for S&P 500 companies were expected to be nearly flat. But eight of every 10 companies that have reported so far, including Coca-Cola and IBM, have beaten estimates. As a result, first-quarter earnings are now projected to rise 4.4 percent, according to S&P.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 1.2 percent, and stock indexes in France and Spain were higher. A closely watched survey in Germany, the continent’s economic powerhouse, showed business optimism rising for the sixth straight month. Economists had expected a decline.

In other U.S. trading, Apple sank 2.5 percent, helping to tug the Nasdaq composite index down 7.11 points to 3,000.45. Apple, the most valuable company in the world, accounts for 12 percent of the Nasdaq.

The Dow gained 1.4 percent this week, and the S&P 500 index 0.6 percent. But it wasn’t a smooth ride. Better earnings reports and higher retail sales helped drive the stock market up to start the week free credit report and score. The Dow rose 194 points on Tuesday, its best day in more than a month.

Then worries about Europe came storming back. Markets reversed course Wednesday, after the Bank of Spain said that the amount of bad loans held by Spanish banks rose to an 18-year high.

If those banks falter, it would put pressure on Spain’s already troubled government to prop them up. Weak reports on jobs, housing and manufacturing in the U.S. added to the selling pressure, and the Dow slumped 151 points in two days.

“It’s been like the weather here in upstate New York _ unpredictable,” Creatura said. “One day is up, the next day is down.”

The encouraging news out of Germany helped drive oil prices up Friday. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 78 cents to finish at $103.05 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, widely used by U.S. refiners to produce gasoline, added 76 cents to $118.76 in London.

Among stocks making big moves in the United States:

_ Oil services giant Schlumberger Ltd. rose 3 percent. The company’s quarterly profits jumped almost 38 percent as strong drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East offset a slowdown in North America’s natural gas fields. Schlumberger said that world oil demand appears to have “stabilized” and that the risk of a double-dip recession has declined.

_ E-Trade Financial Corp. jumped 6 percent, the largest gain in the S&P 500. The online broker reported a 40 percent jump in first-quarter profit after the close of trading Thursday, beating Wall Street estimates with the help of a big tax benefit.

_ SanDisk Corp. plummeted 11 percent, the S&P’s biggest loser. The flash memory maker said late Thursday that weak demand and low prices cut its quarterly profit by nearly half. SanDisk warned that it expects the trend to continue.

_ Tempur-Pedic International Inc., the mattress maker, plunged 20.6 percent after posting a disappointing full-year earnings forecast. It cited concerns about competition and foreign exchange rates.

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Zimbabwe has taken majority ownership of all foreign-owned mining companies, Zimbabwe’s black empowerment minister said Thursday, a move the prime minister told companies to ignore, saying it could create “anarchy in the industry” in the already ruptured economy.

Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said in a statement that all companies that did not meet a late 2011 deadline to submit proposals to cede a controlling stake to blacks have forfeited 51 percent of their shareholdings and are now “deemed to be owned by the state.”

Zimbabwe has large Australian, Canadian and South African mining interests _ including giants Rio Tinto, Canadile and Anglo American _ and with scores of small white-owned gold mines.

The empowerment drive has split the shaky three-year-old coalition government. Critics says it has scared off much-needed investment and is being used as a political ploy ahead of elections President Robert Mugabe wants this year.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, immediately urged the nation to ignore Kasukuwere and said the empowerment laws did not allow him to “unilaterally nationalize private entities.”

“There is no reason to create panic among investors by projecting the image of a voracious government keen to grab compulsorily people’s companies without compensation,” he said. “It is not the policy of this government to nationalize the mining businesses or any other business.”

Tsvangirai said he took a serious view of attempts to incite the public to act unlawfully against mining businesses.

Kasukuwere’s statement “poses a real risk of creating anarchy in the industry” and his party in the power sharing coalition will take “corrective measures,” he said.

In his Thursday announcement, Kasukuwere said profits since Sept. 25 from the government’s new controlling shareholdings were also regarded as “property of the state.” But he said companies that made a loss since then would have to cover losses from their side, and not draw from the “indigenized portion” held by the state to pay debt.

There was no immediate reaction from mining companies on the eve of the Easter holiday. Many Zimbabwean businesses shut down early for the four-day break.

Mining firms depend on foreign investment to maintain and replace aging equipment not financed by revenues from mineral exports already subject to royalties and tax.

Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe needed policies that created jobs for the millions of unemployed in the country.

“They want massive investment in the country and not a political campaign platform that will only benefit the elite at the expense of the majority,” he said.

Economist John Robertson said Kasukuwere’s announcement is likely to be difficult to enforce no checking account payday advance.

“It may be bullying to scare companies into handing over shares,” he said.

He said many firms let the Sept. 25 deadline pass because the government _ reeling under debt after a decade of economic turmoil _ didn’t offer payment for shares as required under the empowerment laws.

“The money isn’t here to pay or to develop the mines if they are nationalized in the same way commercial farms were deemed state land. Only foreigners have the money and they won’t bring it to have half of it taken from them,” he said.

The agriculture-based economy went into meltdown after Mugabe ordered seizures of thousands of white-owned farms in 2000. Many seizures turned violent.

Robertson described the empowerment drive in its present form as “dishonest” and said it will likely lead to mines being left to stagnate, with worsening poverty for all but an elite minority gaining foreign assets.

“Tens of thousands of our young people will be disempowered by being denied skills training and jobs,” he said.

Last month, Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum producer said it had reached an “acceptable” agreement with the government to yield 51 percent ownership to blacks.

South Africa’s Implats, owner of 87 percent of the Zimbabwe producer Zimplats, said a joint technical team of experts from both sides was working out methods of transferring a majority stake worth at least $500 million.

But Implats chief executive David Brown has said the transfer won’t take place if Zimbabwe doesn’t pay up, adding international legal steps could be taken if Zimplats is forcibly nationalized without payment.

Zimbabwe and South Africa are the world’s largest suppliers of platinum, a corrosion-resistant metal with a wide range of industrial uses that is priced in the same range as gold.

Zimplats employs 8,000 workers in Zimbabwe.

Foreign cash inflows have dwindled in recent months amid uncertainty over the security of possible investments.

Tourism, now the second-biggest hard currency earner after mining since agricultural exports collapsed, has been affected by political and economic uncertainty and security concerns ahead of the elections proposed by Mugabe. Tensions and intimidation have heightened this year, rights groups say.

Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said Wednesday that Westerners were being discouraged by their governments from visiting Zimbabwe.

“We all know what happens when a tourism destination is plagued by insecurity,” he said.

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Stock futures are rising with little economic data or major corporate earnings on tap, but Wall Street is tuned in to an address from the Fed Chairman.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the National Association for Business Economics that the U.S. job market remains weak despite three months of strong gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 40 points to 13,072 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 3.6 points to 1,3097 cash advance payday loan.70. The Nasdaq composite index is up 12.5 points to 2,741.25.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is among the stock standouts. The studio’s “The Hunger Games” had a huge opening weekend, with a windfall of $155 million. Lions Gate shares are up 5 percent at $15.25.

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Sales at U.S. retailers rose less than forecast in January, reflecting an unexpected drop in purchases of automobiles.

The 0.4 percent gain reported by the Commerce Department today in Washington was half the 0.8 percent rise median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Sales excluding cars climbed 0.7 percent, more than projected and the biggest gain since March.

Chains like Target Corp. (TGT) and Limited Brands Inc. topped analysts

Greek political leaders were meeting Wednesday to hammer out an agreement on austerity reforms as the nation scrambles to avoid a default.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the leaders of Greece’s governing coalition are debating a draft of reforms aimed at cutting public spending, including layoffs, minimum wage reductions and pension reforms.

Greece needs to finalize the austerity program soon to pave the way for a second bailout of €130 billion from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank. Without these funds, Greece could miss a €14.5 billion bond redemption in March.

If the leaders can agree to the austerity measures, Papademos is expected to call a cabinet meeting, followed by a largely symbolic vote in the Greek parliament. The whole process could take several days to finalize.

The negotiations were postponed twice this week amid political wrangling and protests by Greek labor unions. But the pressure to reach a deal was on after finance ministers from the 17 nations that use the euro announced plans to hold an impromptu meeting Thursday.

The finance ministers will discuss the situation in Greece, according to a spokesman for Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker.

"The president has decided it is the right time," for the ministers to meet, the spokesman said. "Discussion is needed now."

What’s next for Europe?

Greece, which owes some €330 billion, has come close to default before.

The nation has struggled to follow through on austerity measures and economic reforms that were a condition of its 2010 bailout package. But the Greek economy has been in recession for years and many analysts warn that additional austerity could make the situation worse.

Papademos announced Sunday that party leaders had agreed on the "main elements" of the program, including a plan to reduce public spending by 1 no fax cash loans.5% of gross domestic output this year.

On Monday, Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos met with officials from the EU, IMF and ECB, collectively known as the troika.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Venizelos said the Greek people face a "dramatic and acute dilemma."

The austerity reforms under discussion will have "very high social costs," he said. But if negotiations fail, that would bankrupt the country and lead to "even greater sacrifices," he warned.

"The finalization of the new loan agreement and receipt of money is vital for the salvation of Greece," said Venizeols.

Meanwhile, Greece appears close to a deal with its creditors in the private sector to write down a portion of the nation’s debt.

My Big Fat Greek speculative rally

The agreement, which would result in significant losses for bondholders, is intended to help reduce Greece’s debts to 120% of GDP by 2020, from about 160% currently.

The worsening Greek economy has raised calls for the nation’s creditors in the "official sector" to provide some relief.

The European Central Bank, which holds an estimated €30 billion to €45 billion of Greek debt, is under pressure to forego profits on those bonds, as are individual euro area central banks.

The ECB is reportedly considering a plan to swap its Greek bonds, which the bank bought at a discount, for securities issued by the European Financial Stability Facility. The ECB would reportedly not suffer a loss on the transaction, but the move could help save Greece €11 billion.

– CNN’s Elinda Labropoulou contributed reporting from Athens.  

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Unionized workers at the Caterpillar Inc. manufacturing plant in London, Ont. have been locked out after negotiations failed between the company and the Canadian Auto Workers.

The CAW said Sunday it had not called a strike, despite earlier threatening one if Caterpillar’s Electro-Motive Canada unit implemented the terms of its latest offer, which included unilaterally implementing lower wage and benefit terms for about 450 workers. The hourly wage, $35, would be cut in half.

The company

The owner of the recently renamed Fontainebleau Apartments for Seniors in University City are trying to take it back to the future. Brentmoor Retirement Communities restored the complex’s original name this month, and it is renovating its older apartments and offering residents more economical rental plans.

“You’ll pay only for what you want,” said Denise Niemann, Fontainebleau’s executive director. “We came up with this concept in response to our seniors’ financial woes.”

Until this year, residents of the apartments at 1001 North Mc-Knight Road, known as Brentmoor Place before the switch, were required to buy a full independent living package that included some meals and activities fees. Monthly rental fees were at least $2,000.

Options still include transportation, housekeeping and parking, for those residents who drive. But the recession has had several residents worried that they wouldn’t be able to make their payments and might have to move, Niemann said.

The new a la carte pricing allows residents to skip the meals and other extras if they desire. Apartments at Fontainebleau now are available for as low as $1,390 a month.

When the Fontainebleau complex was built nearly 50 years ago, it was marketed as an upscale apartment building for everyone. But by the mid-1990s, nearly 90 percent of its residents were over age 70, and it was being advertised as a senior living complex for independent older people.

The property, acquired in 1996 by Brentmoor Retirement Communities, was renamed Brentmoor Place and converted to a seniors-only, limited-service retirement community business card.

By 2007, Brentmoor Place had become an all-inclusive, full-service community, providing meals, transportation and housekeeping for its residents.

Now, the a la carte pricing allows options while maintaining a social environment for residents, who are required to be at least 62 years old.

Niemann said Fontainebleau’s age gives it one distinctive advantage over many newer buildings. “This is a concrete building, so you hear almost no noise from other apartments,” she said. “It’s built like Fort Knox.”

She said that the apartment complex had been known over the years for its social programs and activities and that those would continue. “It’s brain-stimulating; it’s computer classes and trivia events, for example,” she said.

A group of men who live there organized the MOB group, short for Men of Brentmoor, several years ago. “They get out at least once a month and go to places like Crown Candy Kitchen and other St. Louis landmarks,” Niemann said.

A longtime MOB member, Mark Margolies, is a resident coordinator for group activities and helps other residents resolve any concerns. “It gives me something to do,” said Margolies, 75.

He said he has enjoyed living there. “I have no complaints,” he said. “I like the convenience of the apartments, the location and the staff.”

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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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