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Part of a Michigan auto parts factory that was shut down by a fire last week is back in operation.

The blaze at the Magna International Inc. factory had forced General Motors and Mazda to cut production due to parts shortages.

But a Magna spokeswoman says crews were able to reopen about half of the factory and start producing parts during the weekend.

The plant makes ceilings, consoles and other plastic interior parts for at least five automakers.

GM closed its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant on Friday and Monday. But the company now says production is expected to resume on Tuesday. Work will restart at an adjoining parts plant on Monday night.

The Magna Plant in Howell Township, Michigan, northwest of Detroit also makes parts for Nissan, Chrysler and Ford.

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European Central Bank council member Yves Mersch said officials may toughen their language on inflation next week, indicating a readiness to raise interest rates in coming months.

“I would not be surprised at most colleagues concluding that we have upside risks to price stability,” Mersch said in an interview in Luxembourg yesterday. With the economy strengthening and inflation in breach of the ECB’s 2 percent limit, policy makers will “inevitably” have to “rebalance our monetary policy stance,” Mersch said, without giving a timeframe.

The ECB, which has kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 1 percent for almost two years, is growing more concerned that soaring energy and food prices will drive up wages and entrench faster inflation. At the same time, raising borrowing costs too soon could exacerbate Europe’s sovereign debt crisis by increasing pressure on stressed banking systems in countries such as Greece and Ireland.

The euro rose more than a cent against the dollar to as high as $1.3695 after Mersch’s comments were published. Euribor futures extended a decline, with the implied yield on the contract expiring in December gaining eight basis points to 1.98 percent, as traders added to bets on higher ECB rates. German two-year government notes fell, sending the yield up seven basis points to 1.45 percent.

August Increase?

So far, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet has said risks to the inflation outlook are “broadly balanced,” though they “could move to the upside.”

Investors today brought forward expectations for the ECB’s first quarter-point rate increase in three years to August from September, Eonia forward contracts show.

“There is a risk now that the ECB may raise before September,” said Nick Kounis, chief European economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam. “While Mersch is a traditional inflation fighter, even the normally dovish members are sounding hawkish.”

ECB council member Athanasios Orphanides told Dow Jones in an interview published yesterday that the bank “must be ready to act as appropriate to safeguard price stability.” Nout Wellink of the Netherlands said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published today that the ECB’s key rate may “distort the economic and financial process” if left at 1 percent too long.

Inflation Projections

Executive Board member Juergen Stark said last night that the ECB is “prepared to act decisively and immediately if needed” to maintain price stability, and fellow board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said the bank may need to reassess its policy stance.

At the next policy meeting on March 3, the ECB will publish its latest economic projections. Mersch said he expects ECB economists to lift their 2011 inflation forecast to more than 2 percent from 1.8 percent predicted in December. Inflation accelerated to 2.4 percent last month.

“Now the question is what about 2012, will this be a temporary hump or will this translate into a plateau?” Mersch said. “This very much depends on second-round effects.”

Crude oil prices have surged 27 percent over the past six months, pushing up import prices and adding to pressure on labor unions to secure bigger pay increases for workers.

Economic Outlook

Faster growth in countries like Germany, Europe’s largest economy, may also fan inflation. German business confidence surged to a record high this month and expansion in the euro region’s service and manufacturing industries accelerated to the fastest pace in more than four years.

Mersch said policy makers may next week change their view that risks to the economic outlook are “slightly tilted to the downside.”

Mersch, 61, has been touted by some economists as a possible successor to Trichet when his eight-year term ends on Oct. 31. Asked if he’s interested in the job, the Luxembourg central banker declined to comment, saying it’s a question for “the leaders who will make this decision.”

Wellink today declared his interest in the position, telling an audience at the University of Amsterdam that if asked, he would “think about it seriously.” Other possible candidates include Italy’s Mario Draghi and Finland’s Erkki Liikanen.

Before the Fed

Mersch said the ECB is not concerned that raising borrowing costs before the Federal Reserve could drive up the euro’s exchange rate. “We’ll raise rates when we find the situation warrants it, not on the time axis that belongs to market analysts,” he said. “We have no exchange-rate objective.”

The ECB is “fully aware that excessively low interest rates create distortions in the economy,” Mersch said.

Still, he warned against “moving into a posture of over- confidence by trying to make forward commitments in a period where uncertainty is still quite high.”

The ECB has twice been forced to abandon its exit from emergency measures designed to help banks through the financial and debt crises.

Mersch said officials are looking at resuming a “gradual” exit. One step may be to charge banks more when they borrow excessively from the ECB in an effort to wean them off the funds. Some banks have become too reliant on ECB cash after the central bank made unlimited amounts available at its benchmark rate to ease a liquidity squeeze.

“I cannot confirm that the solution that will be announced is a solution that is only a solution where price is affected,” Mersch said. “There can also be solutions where you act on the quantity. I can tell you that we are very far in our decision- making process.”

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Home sales probably fell in January, while orders for long-lasting goods climbed, a reminder that housing lags behind manufacturing as the U.S. recovery strengthens, economists said before reports this week.

Combined purchases of new and existing homes fell 2 percent to a 5.5 million annual pace, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Durable-goods bookings increased 3 percent last month, the survey showed.

Unemployment hovering near 9 percent means foreclosures may keep rising, adding to a glut of inventory that is depressing property values, hurting builders and homeowners. Growing exports, combined with increasing profits and tax incentives signed into law by President Barack Obama in December, will probably keep orders flowing to companies like Caterpillar Inc.

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At least eight people were killed and 72 missing after the latest downpour to hit Australia’s flood-wracked Queensland state sent raging torrents rushing through several towns, washing away cars and houses, officials said Tuesday.

Emergency services officers plucked more than 40 people from houses isolated by the torrent that hit the Lockyer Valley with little warning on Monday, but thunderstorms and more driving rain were keeping helicopters from reaching an unknown number of other people still in danger on Tuesday morning.

Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said there were “grave concerns” for at least 11 of the missing.

“Right now we have every possible available resource deployed into this region to search for those people that we know are missing,” Bligh told Australia’s Nine Network. “This is going to be I think a very grim day.”

Queensland has been in the grip of its worst flooding for more than two weeks, after tropical downpours across a vast area of the state covered an area the size of France and Germany combined. Entire towns have been swamped, more than 200,000 people affected, and coal and farming industries virtually shut down. Monday’s deaths took the death toll since late November to at least 18.

Until Monday, the flood crisis had been unfolding slowly as swollen rivers burst their banks and inundated towns as they moved downstream toward the ocean.

But Monday’s flash flooding struck without warning in Toowoomba, a city of some 90,000 people nestled in mountains 2,300 feet (700 meters) above sea level. Bligh said an intense deluge fell over a concentrated area, sending a 26-foot (eight meter), fast-moving torrent crashing through Toowoomba and smaller towns further down the valley.

“We had just begun to believe that we might be in a stabilizing situation when mother nature has delivered something totally shocking to us in the last 24 hours,” Bligh told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “This is an intense and grim situation and it is far from over.”

Rescue workers were battling more bad weather Tuesday. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were forecast for the region for most of the day, which could lead to more flash flooding, the Bureau of Meteorology warned.

Officials urged residents of towns downstream from Toowoomba to immediately move to higher ground. Residents in low-lying regions of the state capital of Brisbane _ Australia’s third-largest city _ were urged to sandbag their homes.

Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said rescue efforts were concentrated on towns downstream of Toowoomba, including hardest-hit Murphy’s Creek and Grantham, where about 30 people sought shelter in a school isolated by the floodwaters.

News video from late Monday showed houses submerged to the roof line in raging muddy waters, with people clambering on top. A man, woman and child sat on the roof of their car as waters churned around them with just inches (centimeters) to spare.

Among the dead were a mother and her two children, Bligh said.

In Toowoomba, the waters disappeared almost as fast as they arrived, leaving debris strewn throughout downtown and cars piled atop one another.

The flooding in recent weeks has cut roads and rail lines have been cut across Queensland, and the state’s coal industry has been virtually shut down, and cattle ranching and farming across a large part of the state are at a standstill.

Queensland officials have said the price of rebuilding homes, businesses and infrastructure, coupled with economic losses, could be as high as $5 billion.

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India’s economy is likely to surpass the government’s 8.5 percent growth target for the fiscal year, forcing the central bank to resume interest-rate increases as domestic demand offsets [bn:WBTKR=INQGGDPY:IND] risks from abroad.

Gross domestic product [] climbed 8.9 percent for a second straight quarter in July to September, a government report showed yesterday, with the gains propelled by the manufacturing and services industries. Kaushik Basu, chief economic adviser to the finance ministry, said after the data release that India could achieve a 9 percent growth rate sooner than expected.

India’s expansion bucked a growth slowdown in Asian neighbors from Thailand to Malaysia, where currency appreciation and risks to exports from Europe’s debt crisis and U.S. unemployment have clouded the outlook. Without higher borrowing costs, India risks reigniting inflation stoked by rising commodity prices, expanding credit and strengthening consumer demand for products such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.’s cars.

“There will be a strain on the infrastructure, which in turn will create more pressure on inflation,” said Sajjid Chinoy, a Mumbai-based economist with JPMorgan Chase & Co. He predicted that central bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao will raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point in January.

Chinoy, who previously worked at the International Monetary Fund, said that India’s challenge will be to boost private investment and expand the nation’s capacity in industries such as power generation.

Irregular Roads

The finance ministry estimates that India produces about 10 percent less electricity than it needs, and roads, used to transport about 65 percent of the nation’s cargo, are plagued by single lanes and irregular surfaces.

The $1.3 trillion economy is likely to expand 8.5 percent in the fiscal year through March, the most in three years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Nov. 20. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said yesterday the pace may exceed that target, and Basu said growth in the second half of the financial year that ends March 31, 2011 will be better than the first half.

Rising car sales and expanding bank credit provide evidence of growing consumer demand in Asia’s third-biggest economy.

Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest carmaker, Tata Motors Ltd. and others sold a record 182,992 cars in October, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Loans given by lenders such as State Bank of India Ltd. and rivals rose 22 percent in the fortnight to Nov. 5 from a year earlier, the fastest pace since January 2009.

Stocks Rise

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 0.6 percent yesterday in Mumbai trading.

India’s GDP gain last quarter compares with an expansion of 1 quick payday loans.9 percent in the 16-nation Euro area and 2.5 percent in the U.S. In China, where growth cooled to 9.6 percent in the same period, the central bank has raised interest rates and bank reserve requirements in the past two months to slow inflation.

China’s yuan has gained 2.3 percent against the dollar this year, more than the Indian rupee’s 1.4 percent, which is also less than the Thai baht’s 10.2 percent increase and the Malaysian ringgit’s 8 percent jump. The smaller gain in India’s currency may have prevented a bigger moderation in the country’s inflation via lower import costs, compared with Thailand, where consumer-price gains slowed to 2.8 percent in October.

India’s wholesale-price inflation rate was 8.58 percent in October, compared with the “ideal” level of 4 percent to 5 percent, according to Finance Minister Mukherjee. Consumer prices are rising at a pace near 10 percent, the fastest in the Group of 20 nations after Argentina.

Rate Forecasts

The Reserve Bank of India may need to resume raising interest rates in the coming months after lifting borrowing costs six times this year. Ten of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News yesterday expect the central bank to raise borrowing costs by the end of March, while the rest predict no change for the period.

“The pressure on inflation is still significantly high,” said Sailesh Jha, chief Asia strategist at Jefferies Singapore Ltd., who expects rate increases in December and January. “India’s trajectory of growth is likely to be in the range of 9 percent to 9.5 percent over the next several years, which means that the pressure on infrastructure will accelerate.”

Central bank Governor Subbarao on Nov. 2 raised the benchmark repurchase rate and the reverse repurchase rate by a quarter-point each to 6.25 percent and 5.25 percent, saying inflation continues to hold above the “comfort zone.”

Luring Capital

Economists including Anubhuti Sahay of Standard Chartered Bank said faster growth and a higher interest-rate differential may attract capital inflows that contribute to inflation.

The Reserve Bank of India’s benchmark repurchase rate is 6.25 percent. By comparison, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s target for overnight interbank loans is zero to 0.25 percent, where it has been since December 2008.

The rate differential between India and advanced countries spurred an unprecedented $10 billion inflow into rupee debt this year. Overseas funds also invested a record $28.5 billion in Indian stocks on prospects of faster economic expansion in the South Asian nation.

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Count World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. among those wanting to draw a crowd to the new KFC Yum! Center.

Stamford, Conn.-based WWE (NYSE: WWE) announced Tuesday it will bring its nationally televised Monday Night Raw program to the 22,000-seat arena on Monday, Dec. 6.

Monday Night Raw is broadcast live each week on the USA Network.

A ticket presale will be held for Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 10 a.m., for Kentucky Future Club Events members, according to an e-mail announcement from the Kentucky State Fair Board no fax payday loans. They will go on sale to the general public Saturday, Oct. 2, at 10 a.m.

Tickets for the show are $63, $48, $37, $27 and 16. They will be available at all Ticketmaster outlets, at the Kentucky Exposition Center and Kentucky International Convention Center box offices, and online at www.ticketmaster.com.

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EndoGastric Solutions has completed a $30 million round of financing led by Canaan Partners and Radius Ventures.

Existing investors Advanced Technology Ventures, MPM Capital, Foundation Medical Partners, Chicago Growth Partners, and De Novo Ventures joined in the round.

EndoGastric is developing procedures for the treatment of upper gastrointestinal diseases business cards.

Brent Ahrens, general partner of Canaan Partners, and Kathleen Regan, venture partner of Radius Ventures, joined EndoGastric 's board of directors as part of the transaction.

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Now that Goldman Sachs has likely put its troubles with the Securities and Exchange Commission behind it, can the company finally breathe a sigh of relief?

Not just yet.

On Tuesday, Wall Street’s most-gilded firm will report its second-quarter results. Analysts however, have been dramatically cutting forecasts for Goldman Sachs in recent weeks amid concerns that the combination of market volatility and economic tremors will hurt profits.

Current expectations are for the company to earn just under $1.3 billion, or $2 a share, according to Thomson Reuters. That’s down 64% from the $3.4 billion it earned a year ago.

Less-than-impressive numbers from some of Goldman’s closest rivals is shaking investor confidence even further.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), for example, reported a double-digit decline in trading revenues when it delivered its results on Thursday.

Both Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) reported similar declines.

That prompted FBR Capital Markets analyst Steve Stelmach to cut his estimates for Goldman Friday.

And while Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) has taken part in several key initial public offerings recently, including that of electric car maker Tesla Motors (TSLA) and exchange operator CBOE Holdings (CBOE), investment banking activity remains sluggish.

Revenue from stock and debt activity worldwide fell 24% to $7.9 billion during the second quarter from $10.4 billion in the previous quarter, according to research firm Dealogic.

But the troubles for Goldman don’t appear to end there. With a significant presence in the United Kingdom, the company is also likely to take a charge worth several hundred million dollars as a result of the British government’s decision earlier this year to tax bankers’ bonuses.

At any other time, Goldman might have been able to pretty up its results by lowering the amount of money it sets aside for employee pay this quarter. The only problem, however is that the firm dramatically lowered the amount it added to its compensation pool last quarter.

In order to pay its famously large bonuses at year end, experts suggest the company won’t have that option this time around.

"They made the decision in the first quarter to start out at much lower levels than they ever had before," said William Blair analyst Mark Lane. "I don’t think they can do much there."

What could weigh on Goldman’s results even further is Goldman’s proposed $550 million settlement with the SEC. Analysts expect the company to take a charge this quarter for the full amount. That would be about 92 cents a share, according to FBR’s Stelmach.

Executives from the company are also likely to face tough questions Tuesday about the impact of the forthcoming financial regulatory bill.

Some analysts have suggested that Goldman could be among the hardest hit by changes to derivatives trading and the so-called "Volcker rule", which would limit how much banks can invest in private equity and hedge funds.

But with the bill expected to be signed into law by President Obama next week and official rules still several months away, Goldman will be able to breathe easier knowing it doesn’t have to answer those tough questions just yet.

"There is no way they will quantify anything," said Lane. 

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Most major automakers reported U.S. sales strongly up from a year ago, but weaker than both May’s sales levels and industry forecasts.

The weaker-than-expected sales and the slower sales pace could be a sign that the weakening economic and jobs outlook is cutting into demand for cars.

Overall sales were up 14% from a year ago, according to sales tracker Autodata, but that left sales down 11% from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted annual sales rate came in just under 11.1 million vehicles, the weakest reading since February.

Experts said rising worries about the economy are clearly cutting into dealer showroom traffic. A survey released Tuesday from the Conference Board found consumer confidence falling sharply and the percentage of Americans planning to buy a new car in the next six months falling to a record low of 1.2%, from 2.7% in May.

That’s a concern heading into the summer, which is typically a big sales season for automakers.

"It’s really a scary thing," said Jessica Caldwell, senior industry analyst at Edmunds.com. "The past week has been a barrage of bad economic news, and that’s not helping. I think it’s going to take a pick-up in the economy, more than new models or incentives to get sales going again."

The one thing going for most automakers are lower than normal inventories of new cars on dealer lots heading into the summer, despite the slowing sales. Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.com said automakers have all learned to limit production more than they did in the past. That will be bad news for consumers, though, since it means cash-back offers and other deals typical during the summer sales season will be tougher to find this year.

"When you have low demand and an abundance of supply, that generally triggers an incentive war. That’s not what we’re seeing this year," he said.

GM, the nation’s leading automaker, reported sales up 11% from a year ago, as the four brands it continues to actively sell — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC — posted a 36% rise. There was a 98% drop in sales for Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac and Saab, the four brands GM shed as part of the bankruptcy process. Those brands now make up only 0.3% of its sales as GM disposes of its remaining inventory.

But GM sales slipped 12.5% from May. Forecasts had been for a decline of between 8% and 10% compared to May.

Steve Carlisle, GM’s vice president of global product planning, said most of the decline from June was due to a 30% drop in fleet sales to businesses customers, such as rental car companies. The decline was planned due to the front-loading of those sales early in the year, he said low fee cash advance. Retail sales to customers declined only slightly from May.

"It’s not so far off expectations," Carlisle said. He added that GM is expecting retail sales to remain flat the rest of the summer.

George Pipas, Ford’s director of sales analysis, said the industry has been seeing modest improvement each quarter from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the second quarter, which closed out in June. He’s hopeful there will be further modest improvement in consumer demand going into the summer.

"I think modest is the operative word," he said.

Ford (F, Fortune 500) reported that sales at its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands were up 15% from a year ago, but down 13% from May. Forecasts had been for a 17% rise from a year ago.

Sales fell 29% from a year ago at its Volvo brand, which it is in the process of selling to Chinese automaker Geely.

Ford sales were enough to keep it ahead of Toyota Motor (TM) in competition for the nation’s No. 2 sales position. Toyota sales were up only 7% from a year ago, but that left it down almost 14% from May sales levels. Forecasts had been for a drop of 12% to 13% from May.

Jim Lentz, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., said his company was pleased with its June sales results, but he acknowledged that "the entire automotive industry struggled in June as weakening consumer confidence weighed on sales."

Chrysler Group reported that its sales soared 35% from a year ago, but that was still down 12% from May levels. Chrysler, at least, was able to edge past forecasts, which had called for a year-over-year gain of 33%. Caldwell said Chrysler leaned heavily on fleet sales to support its sales total during the month. Chrysler does not break down the difference between fleet and consumer sales though.

Honda Motor reported only a 6% rise in sales compared to a year ago, which resulted in a 9% drop from May’s sales total. But that was better than Japanese rival Nissan, where June sales were up 11% from a year ago, but down 23% from May. Both fell short of forecasts.

Hyundai Motor Group, which includes both the Hyundai and Kia brands, was able to buck trends by posting a modest 3% gain from its May sales levels, and a 28% increase from a year ago. That topped the forecast of a 13% gain from 2009 levels. 

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Employees on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded April 20 all had the ability to stop the drilling process at any time but ignored red flags, BP and Transocean executives told lawmakers Thursday.

"Any employee, anywhere at any level, if they have any concern about safety, has the ability and, in fact, the responsibility to raise their hand and try to get the operations stopped, whether that’s our operations or a contractor’s operations," Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America, told the House Natural Resources Committee.

Transocean president and CEO Steve Newman said his company - which owned the oil rig - gives all its employees "stop work authority" to call a "time out for safety." He said the company even takes pictures of employees and distributes them across the entire organization, to recognize those who have called so-called time-outs.

But why then did no one say "stop?"

Lamar acknowledged that hours before an explosion sunk the rig, killing 11 workers and sending oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, there were warning signs that went ignored.

"I do think there is a significant period of time where there were signals and there was a cumulative effect of those signals that were not recognized," he said.

Lawmakers questioned both McKay and Newman about an alleged argument that took place between BP’s site manager and the Transocean team over a procedure hours before the blast payday advance lender.

But both McKay and Newman said they didn’t know anything about the argument, other than what was reported in the press Wednesday.

The hearing was one of several oil-related sessions on Capitol Hill this week as Congress investigates the cause of the Gulf Coast spill.

At a news conference Thursday, President Obama said the government will extend a moratorium on permits to drill any new deepwater wells for at least six months. Offshore drilling permits have been suspended since April, after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

Newman said he would support a moratorium for six months, calling it a "prudent" pause while investigators still search for the cause of the explosion, but he still believes in the long-term importance of offshore drilling.

The hearing comes a day after BP started a so-called "top kill" procedure aimed at plugging the leak. McKay said at Thursday’s hearing that he does not know whether the procedure is working, but the company will continue to report on its progress. 

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