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Orders to U.S. factories rose in December, supported by a rebound in business investment in capital goods such as heavy machinery.

The results cap off another strong year for U.S. manufacturing. Combined with strong figures released Thursday on job growth in January, they signal the economic recovery is gathering strength.

Factory orders rose 1.1 percent following a 2.2 percent gain in November, the Commerce Department reported Friday. For the year, total orders were up 12.1 percent following a gain of 12.9 percent in 2010. Orders had plunged 22.1 percent in the 2009, the year the deep recession ended.

For December, orders for so-called core capital goods, which are viewed as a good measure of business investment plans, rose 3.1 percent to an all-time high. That gain was driven in part by a rush by businesses to take advantage of expiring tax breaks.

The advances in 2011 pushed orders for the year up to $5.36 trillion, still slightly below the peak of $5.44 trillion set in 2008.

For December, orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, rose 3 percent, a figure that was unchanged from a preliminary report last week. Orders for nondurable goods slipped 0.4 percent, reflecting declines in petroleum products.

The orders category that signals business investment plans, non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, climbed to an all-time high of $68.9 billion in December.

While some of that surge likely reflected a rush to make orders before investment tax breaks expired at the end of last year, many economists believe the boom in spending on new equipment will continue even with the tax breaks gone because there is a large amount of pent-up demand on the part of businesses to modernize their operations.

Companies are hiring more, factories are making more goods and more people are buying cars. Those positive signs for the economy have to be balanced against the threat that Europe’s prolonged debt crisis is acting as a drag on global growth. That would hurt sales of U.S. exports.

In December, orders for commercial aircraft were up 18.9 percent, orders for autos increased 1.7 percent and demand for heavy machinery rose 6.7 percent, reflecting strong demand for oil field equipment and construction machinery.

Manufacturing has been a bright spot in the recovery, although there was a slowdown in the middle of last year as factories dealt with supply shortages caused by the Japanese natural disasters that occurred in March.

The Institute of Supply Management reported this week that its gauge of manufacturing activity expanded in January at the fastest pace in seven months. The index rose to 54.1, up from 53.1 in December. Readings above 50 indicate expansion and the index has been in expansion territory for 30 straight months.

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Spain’s Banco Santander saw its fourth-quarter profits plunged 98 percent after it took a euro1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) charge to protect its Spanish real estate portfolio, and as it set aside cash to cover bad loans.

Europe’s largest bank by market capitalization said Tuesday it earned euro47 million for the quarter that ended in December, down from euro2.1 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Without the provision, the bank said it would have had profit of euro1.7 billion in the fourth quarter.

Spain’s banks are under heavy pressure from the government to disclose additional losses on overvalued real estate including land and apartment buildings in their holdings.

Spain is mired in an economic morass and has the highest unemployment rate in the whole 17-nation eurozone, largely because of a big construction sector crash.

A more detailed look at the quarterly earnings figures showed that the bank’s revenue rose modestly to euro11 billion from euro10.6 billion a year earlier.

For the whole of 2011, Santander’s profit totaled euro5.4 billion, down from euro8.2 billion in 2010. The bank said profits from Latin America made up the bulk of its profits during the year. It said 51 percent of the total came from its operations there.

The growing importance of Latin America was evident in the bank’s loan book during the year. Total loans during the year were up 4 percent as Banco Santander SA boosted business in Latin America that helped buffer decreasing European operations.

Santander shares rose 1.1 percent to euro6.05 each in Tuesday morning trading after the results were released.

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Twelve former employees of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sued the newspaper today for fraudulent inducement and negligent misrepresentation, alleging the newspaper reneged on a promise to pay for health insurance for life.

The former employees sued the newspaper, publisher and president Kevin Mowbray and Astrid Garcia, vice president of human resources and labor operations, in St. Louis Circuit Court.

The Post-Dispatch denied the allegations.

“The St. Louis Post-Dispatch believes there is no basis for these allegations and that we will be vindicated in court,” spokeswoman Tracy Rouch said in a statement.

The former employees who filed suit are: Rayburn Jordan, Melinda Krummrich, Mary Delach Leonard, Samuel Leone, John Linstead, Linda Lockhart, Odell Mitchell Jr., John Naunheim Jr., Carolyn Olson, Kathleen Richardson, Suzanne Tarrant and Larry Williams.

The former employees allege in the lawsuit that they agreed in 2007 to voluntarily early retirements from the newspaper with benefits including payment for health insurance for life payday loans for bad credit.

However, all of the employees were notified in late 2010 by the newspaper’s parent company, Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch would stop paying for their health insurance effective Jan. 1, 2011.

“Had they known that the Post would renege on their promise for lifetime health insurance benefits, my clients would not have accepted the early retirement offer and buyout,” the former employees’ attorney, Staci Yandle, said in a statement.

The former employees are seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.

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Americans’ confidence in the economy in November bounced back to its highest level since July, the latest sign that they are beginning to feel more cheerful about spending during the holiday shopping season.

The Conference Board, a private research firm, says Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index rose 15 points to 56.0. That’s up from a revised 40.9 in October _ the lowest level since the recession _ and the biggest jump since the 59.2 reading in July. The November number is encouraging, but far below the reading of 90, which indicates an economy on solid footing.

The confidence numbers are widely watched by economists because consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The confidence of U.S. consumers slipped after the summer amid renewed fears about a second recession. But Americans, who have been grappling with high unemployment and a weak housing market, have shown that they are feeling much more comfortable spending. Over the past weekend, for instance, they spent more than they ever have before during Black Friday weekend, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

“Consumers appear to be entering the holiday season in better spirits, though overall readings remain historically weak,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center in a statement low fee cash advance.

Franco noted that consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved after six months of steady declines. Consumers’ anxiety regarding the short-term outlook for business conditions, jobs and income prospects eased considerably.

One barometer of the index, which measures how shoppers feel now, rose to 38.3 from 27.1. The other gauge, which measures how shoppers say they will feel over the next six months, rose to 67.8 from 50.0.

Consumers have several reasons to be more confident as there have been some signs of improvement in the economy. Earlier this month, for instance, the Labor Department reported that the job market improved modestly as unemployment rate nudged down to 9 percent in October from 9.1 percent in September. The month marked the 13th consecutive month of job gains.

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It may be too early to pronounce the downloadable application officially dead, but some tech pundits are already preparing obituaries for this staple of the mobile world.

Protesters expressed fears Thursday that a scheduled cleanup of the private park where they’ve been camped out near Wall Street is merely a ploy to unravel the demonstration.

City officials have informed protesters that they will need to leave Zuccotti Park on Friday so that it can be cleaned, but that they’ll be allowed to return afterward.

As a steady drizzle fell Thursday over the park, owned by Brookfield Properties, confusion was high over when the protesters will be ordered out _ and where they’ll go during the evacuation.

“The cleanup is a pretext to remove us from the camp. And we can return only if we abide by the rules of Brookfield Properties,” said Justin Wedes, 25, a public high school science teacher from Brooklyn who was sweeping the pavement with others. “We’re redoubling our efforts today.”

Brookfield did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the cleanup. City officials remained mum on logistics.

“This is the cleanest protest I’ve ever witnessed,” said Emilio Montilla, 29, a laid-off teacher’s assistant. “We take care of ourselves. We’re self-sufficient.”

A notice handed out to protesters Thursday from Brookfield stated that the cleaning is part of daily upkeep, and that conditions have deteriorated in recent weeks because that upkeep was put on hold by the protesters.

“They’re going to use the cleanup to get us out of here!” Wedes said. “It’s a de facto eviction notice.”

Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said in a statement Wednesday that the protest has “created unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on the park.” He said Brookfield asked for police help to clear the park so it can be cleaned.

Holloway said the cleaning will be done in stages Friday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the protesters Wednesday to offer assurances.

Allison Esso of Human Services Council, a group that supports the protesters, was wary. “I’m hoping that they’re not trying to undermine their ability to protest,” she said.

The protest, known as Occupy Wall Street, has sympathetic groups in other cities which each stage their own local rallies and demonstrations: Occupy Boston, Occupy Cincinnati, Occupy Houston, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Philadelphia, Occupy Providence, Occupy Salt Lake, and Occupy Seattle, among them saving account pay day loan.

The movement has also drawn reaction from world leaders, including President Barack Obama, former Polish President Lech Walesa and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Walesa said Thursday that he supports the New York protest and is planning to either visit or write a letter to the protesters. He said the global economic crisis has made people aware that “we need to change the capitalist system” because we need “more justice, more people’s interests, and less money for money’s sake.”

Khamenei said Wednesday that the wave of protests reflects a serious problem that will ultimately topple capitalism in America. He claimed the United States is in a full-blown crisis because its “corrupt foundation has been exposed to the American people.”

Khamenei’s remarks came a day after U.S. officials said the Obama administration plans to leverage charges that Iran plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador into a new global campaign to isolate the Islamic republic.

Protesters, who have been living, sleeping and eating in the park for the duration, say they are in it for the long haul, despite the onset of cold weather.

On Wednesday, police arrested four people outside JP Morgan Chase offices where Wall Street protesters called in vain for a meeting with Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. Protesters accused the police of rough handling. An Associated Press photographer witnessed police officers heading into the crowd of demonstrators to make the arrests.

Meanwhile, about 700 members of the Service Employees International Union marched through the Financial District; the union, which represents 23,000 office cleaners, is gearing up for contract negotiations with the Realty Advisory Board.

More protests are planned in Toronto and Vancouver this weekend, and European activists also are organizing.

A lawyer for a woman pepper-sprayed during an action last month is demanding that the Manhattan district attorney prosecute an NYPD deputy inspector on an assault charge. Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the matter was being investigated by police internal affairs and the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

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Russia’s finance minister has said he will step down rather than serve under Dmitry Medvedev if the president becomes prime minister next year as planned.

Alexei Kudrin has been finance minister since 2000 and his conservative fiscal policies are widely credited with helping Russia weather the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

He is close to Vladimir Putin, the current prime minister, who Saturday announced his intention to return to the presidency next year. Putin said he would then name Medvedev prime minister.

Kudrin told reporters from Russia’s state news agencies in Washington later Saturday that he would not serve in Medvedev’s government because of disagreements over economic policy.

He specifically cited Medvedev’s plans to increase military spending.

“I do not see myself in the new government, and it is not just that I have not been offered the job,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. “I think that those differences of opinion that I have will not allow me to join the government.”

During Putin’s presidency from 2000 to 2008, Kudrin stashed some of the revenue from Russia’s oil exports in a stabilization fund cash advance loan no fax. In doing so, he had faced strong opposition from other government ministers who wanted the money for expenditures, but when the financial crisis hit and oil prices fell, those savings proved crucial in reducing the blow.

Medvedev’s spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova, said it was too soon to discuss the composition of the next government.

“President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin proceed from the understanding that all federal officials are continuing to perform their duties at their place of work,” she was quoted by state news agencies as saying. “If someone has other ideas, they should be ready to change their place of work.”

Putin’s spokesman said Kudrin has never hidden his disagreements with Putin or Medvedev on economic policies.

“He is a professional economist,” Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying. “He is an economist with a capital letter.”

Kudrin, 50, had been mentioned as a possible prime minister under Putin if he returned to the presidency.

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Canada and the U.S. will continue along a long, slow path of tepid economic growth for the rest of this year and next, economists say.

“Growth will be very near the stall rate and next year won’t see much of a recovery,” said Warren Jestin, chief economist at Scotiabank.

Jestin joined other chief economists from Canada’s big banks as they presented updated forecasts to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto on Thursday.

Their cautious view was echoed by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Thursday.

Speaking to the Economic Club of Minnesota Thursday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said policy makers will discuss the tools they could use to boost the recovery at their next meeting this month and stand ready to use them if necessary.

While Bernanke said that Congress and President Barack Obama must put the federal government’s finances on a “sustainable trajectory” over the long term, he warned that policy makers should not “disregard the fragility of the economic recovery.”

Growth in Canada and the U.S. will come in at about 2 per cent this year, Jestin said.

Look for Canada, with its strong domestic economy, to outpace the U.S., where the housing market and jobless rate, continue to drag down growth.

“The U.S. is like a vehicle with a broken transmission. It doesn’t matter how much gasoline you put in the tank,” said Derek Burleton, deputy chief economist at TD Bank Group.

That’s the Catch-22 facing Obama, who delivered a televised address Thursday outlining a jobs creation payroll.

The U.S. president’s plan included a reduction in payroll taxes for small businesses, payroll tax cuts for employees, aid for the long-term unemployed, funds for infrastructure spending and money for laid-off teachers and veterans.

Next week, Obama is expected to send a plan on how to offset the spending to the special 12-member congressional committee charged with coming up with $1.5 trillion (U.S.) in deficit cuts.

“This is certainly an unprecedented period in U.S. economy history,” BMO chief economist Sherry Cooper said.

In Canada, labour market data for August, to be released Friday by Statistics Canada, is likely to continue to show improvement, economists said.

It’s more evidence that the domestic economy is holding up well, even as exports pull down growth.

Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development slashed its growth forecasts for the U.S. and Japan and said central banks around the world should be ready to ease monetary policy if economies weaken further.

The U.S. will grow 1.1 per cent in the third quarter and 0.4 per cent in the fourth, instead of the 2.9 per cent and 3 per cent predicted in May, the OECD said in its interim economic assessment.

Japan will expand 4.1 per cent in the third quarter before stalling in the fourth, and the three biggest euro economies will grow 1.4 per cent and then shrink 0.4 per cent.

With files from the Star’s wire services

To read about Obama’s job creation plan see A2

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