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The U.N. nuclear agency is including two senior weapons experts on its next mission to Tehran in an unusually clear statement on the team’s prime focus _ wresting information from Iranian officials about suspicions the country has secretly worked on atomic arms.

Iran has flatly refused to discuss such allegations for more than three years, saying they were based on phony intelligence from the U.S. and others seeking to harm the Islamic Republic.

But diplomats on Friday told The Associated Press that the weapons experts were part of the U.N team and that Iran had accepted their inclusion after some initial resistance. That suggested that the Islamic Republic was being more conciliatory on the issue of secret weapons work than usual as the International Atomic Energy Agency mission prepares to fly from Vienna to Tehran Saturday.

All six diplomats interviewed said Tehran had not committed to discussing the issue. But three of them added that Iranian officials indicated openness to talking about all topics during the IAEA mission that ends early next week _ a departure from standard reluctance by Tehran to exclude give-and-take on the arms allegations.

None of the diplomats expressed confidence of a breakthrough. But the Iranian stance at least allows the mission to have some home of making a dent into Iran’s wall of silence about its alleged clandestine nuclear weapons work.

Any progress on the issue would be significant.

Tehran has blocked IAEA attempts for more than three years to follow up on U.S. and other intelligence alleging covert Iranian work on nuclear arms, dismissing the charges as baseless and insisting all its nuclear activities were peaceful and under IAEA purview.

Faced with Iranian stonewalling, the IAEA summarized its body of information in November, in a 13-page document drawing on 1,000 pages of intelligence. It stated then for the first time that some of the alleged experiments can have no other purpose than developing nuclear weapons.

Iran continues to deny the charges and no change in its position is expected during the Tehran talks with IAEA officials. But even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from outright refusal to talk about them.

The diplomats said that the IAEA team was looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of weapons work, inspect documents relating to such suspected work and get commitments for future visits to sites linked to such allegations.

As most often the case, the IAEA team is headed by Herman Nackaerts, the chief agency official in charge of the Iran file _ but the makeup of the rest of the team reflects the importance attached by the agency to the trip.

Two diplomats said Friday that nuclear weapons experts Jack Baute of France and Neville Whiting of Britain would accompany Nackaerts.

While both fulfill IAEA functions not directly related to nuclear arms research, they were connected to their nation’s weapons programs before they came to the agency.

One of the diplomats _ who is familiar with the thinking that went into setting up the mission _ said their inclusion was meant to send a clear signal to the Iranians. He, like the five other diplomats, asked for anonymity in exchange for discussing privileged information,

Also on the team is Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano’s right hand _ another indication of the importance the agency has attached to the trip.

The three-day visit comes as anxiety grows daily about Iran’s nuclear capacities _ and what it plans to do with them.

Since the discovery in 2002 that Iran was secretly working on uranium enrichment, the nation has expanded that operation to the point where it has thousands of centrifuges churning out enriched material _ the potential source of both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material.

Iran says it is enriching only to generate energy. But it has also started producing uranium at a higher level than its main stockpile _ a move that would jump start the creation of highly enriched, weapons grade uranium, should it chose to go that route. And it is moving its higher-enriched operation into an underground bunker that it says is safe from attack.

Israel in particular is concerned by Iran’s expanding enrichment capacities _ and increasing evidence of secret nuclear weapons work.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a “surgical” military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran’s nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran’s oil and banks so that “we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program.”

The United Nations has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran, but veto-wielding Russia and China say they see no need for additional punitive measures. That has left the U.S. and the European Union to try to pressure other countries to follow their lead and impose even tougher sanctions.

“We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear,” Barak told reporters during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

“It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them,” he said, alluding to increased Iranian efforts to move their enrichment work deep underground.

Separately at Davos, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged a resumption of dialogue between Western powers and Iran on the nuclear issue. He said Friday that Tehran must comply with Security Council resolutions and prove conclusively that its nuclear program is not directed at making arms.

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George Jahn can be reached at http://twitter.com/georgejahn

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China’s premier has pledged to tighten risk controls on its banks and see that they do more to help entrepreneurs to sustain economic growth in the face of a possible global slowdown.

Premier Wen Jiabao said at a weekend financial planning conference Saturday that China’s financial industries are sound but still face risks. He vows to press ahead with reforms aimed at giving market forces more influence over lending, but no details have been announced no checking account payday advance.

China’s state-owned banks avoided the financial turmoil that battered Western institutions, but a slump in global demand and exports is fueling concern its relatively robust economic growth might slow dangerously.

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Two executives at MF Global are seeking to distance themselves from an estimated $1.2 billion in customer funds that has gone missing, according to their prepared testimony for a Senate hearing.

Bradley Abelow, the president and chief operating officer, and Henri Steenkamp, the chief financial officer, both say they don’t know where the money is or why it is missing.

Abelow says he cannot explain what happened to the money without access to MF Global documents, which a trustee now controls.

Steenkamp says he had no direct involvement with transfer of funds.

Former Sen. Jon Corzine, who led MF Global as CEO until last month, told a congressional panel last week he doesn’t know what happened to the money. All three will testify Tuesday before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

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Stocks edged between small gains and losses Friday afternoon as traders scrutinized a plan to contain Europe’s debt crisis that sent the market soaring a day earlier.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up nearly 23 points at 12,231. The Dow surged 339 points the day before, its biggest gain since Aug. 11. The Dow is headed for its biggest monthly gain since 1987.

“It’s a kind of sobering-up after a day of partying,” said Jerry Webman, chief economist with Oppenheimer Funds in New York.

European leaders unveiled a plan early Thursday to expand their regional bailout fund and force banks to keep bigger cash buffers. Banks agreed to forgive half of Greece’s debt. The Dow and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index both gained more than 3 percent.

Optimism ebbed on Friday as analysts raised questions about the plan, which lacks many key details. It is not yet clear how the rescue fund will work, for example. European markets mostly fell, and the euro declined against the dollar.

“We got back to what’s more of a square position, closer to where we want to be, and now we’re going to take a couple of deep breaths and reassess what this really means,” Webman said short term personal loan. He said there are still plenty of obstacles to overcome before the crisis is resolved.

One troubling sign: Borrowing costs for Italy and Spain increased, signaling that traders remain worried about their finances.

The S&P 500 index was up less than a point at 1,285. The Nasdaq composite index slipped a little over a point to 2,737.

The Dow is up 11.9 percent this month, the S&P 13.4 percent. Both indexes are on pace to have their best month since January 1987.

In less than four weeks, the Dow has risen 14.5 percent from its 2011 low, reached on Oct. 3. The S&P has gained 16.6 percent in that time. However, the Dow remains 4.8 percent below this year’s high, reached on April 29. The S&P is 6.1 percent below its high.

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Forget style, quality and customer service. This holiday season, all that matters is price.

A week before Halloween and two full months before Christmas, stores are desperately trying to outdo each other in hopes of drawing in customers worn down by the economy.

Wal-Mart, the biggest store in the nation, joined the price wars Monday by announcing that it would give gift cards to shoppers if they buy something there and find it somewhere else cheaper.

Staples and Bed Bath & Beyond have already said they will match the lowest prices of Amazon.com and other big Internet retailers. Sears is going a step further, offering to beat a competitor’s best price by 10 percent.

“The days of marketing the stuff in your store because it was a hot brand are over,” says Dave Ratner, owner of Dave’s Soda & Pet City, a Massachusetts pet food and supplies chain.

For the holidays, Ratner plans to offer 20 percent off pet accessories if customers buy a bag of dog food. Customers, he says, just want a deal.

Almost four years after the onset of the Great Recession, they’ve learned to expect one too. In better times, retailers could afford to keep prices higher and use promises of higher quality and better service to lure people into stores.

Those days are over. In a recent poll of 1,000 shoppers by America’s Research Group, 78 percent said they were more driven by sales than they were a year ago. During the financial meltdown in 2008, that figure was only 68 percent.

Wal-Mart last year went back to its “everyday low prices” roots, a bedrock philosophy of founder Sam Walton, rather than slashing prices only on certain items to draw in customers. Now everyday low prices might not be low enough.

So it’s trying something it is calling the Christmas Price Guarantee. It works this way: If you buy something at Wal-Mart from Nov. 1 to Dec. 25 and find the identical product elsewhere for less, you get a gift card in the amount of the difference.

The deal excludes online prices and some categories of merchandise _ groceries, live plants, tobacco, prescription drugs and wireless devices that require a service agreement. But it is good even if weeks pass between your purchase and spotting the better deal. And it applies even to big items like TVs, for which prices can drop steeply as Christmas approaches.

Duncan MacNaughton, chief merchandising officer for Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores, told reporters Monday that he has noticed “much more promotional intensity and gimmicks” among competitors.

“This gives customers peace of mind that we are an advocate for them,” he said.

Toys R Us’ big book of holiday offers will be packed this year with $8,000 of savings, compared with $5,600 last year, said Bob Friedland, a company spokesman. And it has added an incentive this year: If customers who sign up for its loyalty program spend $200 or more during the holiday season, they will get coupons on toys every month next year.

Retailers are responding to a customer base that is better informed, and more comfortable shopping online, than ever.

Jenna Wahl, a cardiac nurse from Bloomington, Ind., said she expects to spend about as much on holiday gifts this year as last _ roughly $500 _ but will try to get more for her money.

She’ll be asking stores to do more price-matching and plans to use her iPhone to check prices and download coupons.

“I will take things back in order to get the better deal,” she said.

Wal-Mart left online prices out of its Christmas offer, but other stores have decided they may not have that luxury. Staples, for example, is leaving it to the discretion of its store managers to decide whether to match online prices.

Sears’ offer of beating a competitor by 10 percent will not apply to retailers that only do business online, such as Amazon, but will apply to prices that its brick-and-mortar competitors offer on their websites.

The holiday price wars mark an acceleration of a trend that has already swept the retail industry. Lowe’s, the nation’s No. 2 home improvement store, said in August it was starting to focus on everyday low prices for items that customers can easily comparison-shop at rivals like Home Depot and Sears.

And J.C. Penney, the department store chain, said earlier this month that it plans to overhaul its pricing strategy starting in February. So far, it has kept the details a secret.

Wal-Mart stepped up its price matching in April by directing store employees to comb through competitors’ advertisements so price matches at the register would be easier. Wal-Mart’s price match has been around for several years, but it is using it more as a competitive weapon to compete with rivals. It’s launched ads playing up its price matching and has training sales associates to better police prices of local competitors. Customers will still have to ask for the price match.

“Customers have learned to wait on the next big deal because they know that if they wait long enough they can get a lower price than the everyday low price,” Bob Gfeller, Lowe’s executive vice president of merchandising, said to investors in August. “However, we must be vigilant to ensure that our customers perceive us to be priced competitively every day, even against online retailers and smaller category killers.”

Indeed, 64 percent of shoppers polled said that it would take discounts between 30 percent to 50 percent to get them to spend, up from 54 percent last year, according to a recent Citi Investment Research & Analysis survey of a little more than 1,000 customers. Customers looking for 60 percent off as a big motivator to spend increased to 10 percent from 8 percent last year, the survey showed.

Bill Martin, co-founder Shoppertrak, which monitors customer traffic at 25,000 stores nationwide, says retailers are seeing that customers appear in droves when they have big sales for holiday weekends like Black Friday, Memorial Day or Father’s Day. This creates peaks and valleys throughout the year, a trend that hasn’t abated since the recession began in late 2007.

“The reality is consumers are targeted. They’re well informed, and they’ve searched the Internet for price information,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, which expects foot traffic to drop 2.2 percent during the holiday season compared with a year ago.

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Libyan revolutionary forces bulldozed the green walls surrounding Moammar Gadhafi’s main Tripoli compound on Sunday, saying it was time “to tear down this symbol of tyranny.”

The sprawling, fortress-like compound known as Bab al-Aziziya has long been hated by Libyans who feared to even walk nearby during Gadhafi’s more than four decades in power and its capture was seen as a turning point in the civil war as revolutionaries overran the capital in late August.

Ahmad Ghargory, commander of a revolutionary brigade, said the area will be turned into a public park accessible to all Libyans.

“It’s the revolutionary decision to tear down this symbol of tyranny,” Ghargory said. “We were busy with the war, but now we have the space to do this.”

Already, the courtyard in front of Gadhafi’s former house, which he used for many fiery speeches trying to rally supporters during the uprising, has been turned into a weekly pet market. Tripoli residents roam the premises as if at a museum, with vendors selling revolutionary flags and other souvenirs.

Libyans are eager to move on after decades of repression, even though fighting persists on two fronts and tensions between supporters of the former regime and revolutionary forces remain high _ even in Tripoli. The continued instability has delayed efforts by the transitional leadership to move forward with efforts to hold elections and establish democracy.

The Bab al-Aziziya compound, surrounded by high walls lined with barbed wire, had been a mystery to most Libyans though it is one of the city’s largest landmarks. Many Tripoli residents said they wouldn’t go near it, fearing security guards on the compound’s high green walls would get suspicious and arrest or shoot them.

“I cannot explain these feelings,” Farouk Alzeni, 25, said, standing against a backdrop of piles of rubble. “I have never touched this wall because of this place’s heavy security.”

The compound was a main target for NATO airstrikes during the months leading to Gadhafi’s ouster in late August.

Fighters forced their way into the area on Aug. 23 during the battle for the capital, jubilantly rampaging through the remnants of barracks, personal living quarters and offices seen as the most defining symbol of Gadhafi’s nearly 42-year rule.

Gadhafi’s residence, now gutted and covered with graffiti, was also targeted in a U.S. bombing raid in April 1986, after Washington held Libya responsible for a blast at a Berlin disco that killed two U.S. servicemen. A sculpture of a clenched fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet that had been erected after the strike has been removed.

Gadhafi entertained guests in a Bedouin-style tent pitched near two tennis courts about 200 yards (meters) from the family home.

“All the bad things that happened, happened inside these walls credit reports free. And he kept his mercenaries and tortured people inside these walls,” said Tarek Saleh, a 25-year-old revolutionary. “Before we were never able to enter this site, and we’re tearing these walls down so we don’t have to remember those dark days.”

Revolutionary forces have squeezed Gadhafi loyalists into one main district in his hometown of Sirte after weeks of fighting, but some said fears of friendly fire as well as a lack of coordination and communications were slowing their advance. Fighters from the eastern city of Benghazi and Misrata to the west were trying to reorganize themselves to solve that problem.

“We have them cornered in a 900 by 700 meter area, but the fighting is difficult because we are worried about firing on our own forces, they are mixed together,” Benghazi field commander Khaled al-Magrabi said Sunday.

Commanders said they have agreed to divide the remaining loyalist area between them to prevent confusion.

Libyan fighters also faced discord over the looting of buildings, including the airport and houses in Sirte, on the coast 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. Trucks were seen carting off tractors, industrial generators and heavy machinery on the road from Sirte to nearby Misrata, which was under siege by Gadhafi forces for months and saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

Associated Press reporters also saw trucks carrying equipment from Sirte’s airport, including red-carpeted mobile staircases, baggage carts, airplane towing vehicles and security screening equipment, all apparently meant for Misrata’s badly damaged airport.

Smaller pickups were loaded with rugs, freezers, refrigerators, furniture and other household goods, apparently taken by civilians and fighters to be used in their homes or resold.

The looting was an indication that reconciliation and unity may be difficult to achieve in post-Gadhafi Libya.

Commanders tried to rein in looting by ordering fighters to refrain from entering private homes and to detain anybody not authorized to be in the area. Benghazi fighters arrested three men for looting on Saturday.

Revolutionary forces also distributed fliers at checkpoints leading into the city that read, “Dear Muslims, avoid God’s wrath. Do not steal from people’s homes, their cars, or take their personal possessions.”

Fighting also raged in the desert enclave of Bani Walid, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

An official with revolutionary forces there, Abdullah Kenshil, said they captured the airport in Bani Walid on Sunday, but further advance was stalled by heavy shelling from Gadhafi’s forces elsewhere.

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Swiss bank UBS AG said Thursday it has discovered that unauthorized trading by one of its staff has caused an estimated loss of $2 billion, and warned it could result in a loss for the entire third quarter.

The announcement caused UBS shares to plummet 6.3 percent to 10.24 Swiss francs ($11.68) in early trading on the Zurich exchange.

The Zurich-based bank provided little information on the incident, saying it was still under investigation. But it said no customer money was affected.

“UBS has discovered a loss due to unauthorized trading by a trader in its investment bank,” it said.

“UBS’s current estimate of the loss on the trades is in the range of $2 billion,” the bank said. “It is possible that this could lead UBS to report a loss for the third quarter of 2011.”

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An Alberta couple who entrusted Canada Post to deliver important legal documents to sell their home in Ontario won’t do that again.

That’s because their package, guaranteed to be delivered within two days, got lost for more than a week and put the sale of the house, five months on the market, in jeopardy.

This case comes on the heels of news in July that sensitive cancer documents, also sent via Xpresspost, are missing, putting the personal information of thousands of patients at risk.

Richard and Tania Vander Ploeg, along with their four children, moved from Owen Sound to Ponoka, Alberta, where Richard had found a better job at dairy farm.

But due to a soft housing market in the Grey-Bruce region, they didn’t manage to sell their house before they left in May.

As the family juggled costs associated with maintaining two homes, they prayed for a buyer and in August, they finally got an offer.

Their lawyer in Owen Sound emailed documents, which the Vander Ploegs printed out and signed along with getting the necessary officials to witness their signatures.

Richard took their documents to the local post office on Aug. 22, and was told with Xpresspost service, it was guaranteed to be delivered Aug. 24 — two days before the deal was scheduled to close.

But when the documents hadn’t arrived on schedule, they started to worry. Frantic calls to Canada Post offered little information, other than to say the tracking showed it was somewhere between Edmonton and Toronto.

“We stressed how important this was to us, that we might lose the sale of our house,” said Tania Vander Ploeg. “We were on pins and needles.”

The documents finally turned up on Tuesday via Kitchener, eight days after they were mailed.

Canada Post spokeswoman Anick Losier said this incident should be considered an unfortunate exception.

“This is not the type of service we want to offer our customers,” she said. “In fact, we work constantly to improve our performance. The experience by our customers in Alberta should not be a reflection of the postal service today and really be considered an unfortunate exception.”

Losier said Canada Post is continuing to investigate to what happened. .

In Cancer Care Ontario’s case, the agency told 6,500 patients that their personal information may have been compromised because it could not account for 15 colorectal screening reports sent to doctors’ offices across the GTA by Xpresspost courier in February and March.

The agency was also looking for 11 other missing reports, containing the data of another 5,440 individuals, and has since tracked down nine of them. Two remain missing.

The cancer agency used the Canada Post service to deliver 6,951 packages to doctors’ offices in three batches. An investigation by Cancer Care Ontario showed 185 packages were delivered without getting the required signatures.

The sale of the Vander Ploegs home was salvaged. More calls between lawyers, real estate agents and the Vander Ploegs resulted in a plan to allow the sale with copies via fax because the original documents were lost in the mail.

They asked Canada Post for $100, the amount insurance covers for lost items, but were told they could only get a refund for the postage, a little more than $14, because the item was eventually delivered.

But after the Star contacted Canada Post, a customer service manager called them Friday afternoon, apologized, offered the $100 and promised to get to the bottom of the situation.

“I really appreciate her sincere apology,” Tania Vander Ploeg said. “I told her the $100 won’t make us or break us. We just want consumers to be aware.”

Though FedEx or Purolator Courier services are not available in their town, in the future, they’ll drive to Red Deer, about 45 minutes away, for important documents.

“It would be worth the drive, even considering fuel costs,” said Richard Vander Ploeg.

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Stocks are moving between small gains and losses Friday, giving up an early rally after the government reported that hiring picked up in July.

European leaders are calling emergency meetings and seeking to reassure markets that a large nation such as Italy or Spain won’t become the latest country in the region to need a financial backstop.

A U.S. government report that hiring improved in July sent stocks sharply higher just after the market opened. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped as many as 171 points but gave up those losses by midmorning. An hour after the opening bell, the Dow was down 7 points.

The economy added 117,000 new jobs in July, and hiring in May and June were not as bad as reported previously, the Labor Department reported. The unemployment rate inched down to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent, partly because some unemployed workers stopped looking for work. Health care providers and manufacturers added jobs.

About twice as many jobs as that must be created every month in order to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate. That rate has topped 9 percent in every month except two since the recession officially ended in June 2009. Many economists still fear that the economy might dip back into recession.

The solid report failed to lift the spirits of traders a day after the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 513 points. It was the worst day for the Dow since 2008.

An hour after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 7 points, or 0.1 percent, at 11,376. The S&P 500 was down 1 point, or 0.1 percent, at 1,198. The Nasdaq composite was down 9 or 0.3 percent, at 2,547.

Overseas markets also fell. Tokyo, Hong Kong and China all closed down 4 percent. Taiwan lost 6 percent. In Europe, shares recovered some of their losses after plunging to their lowest levels in more than a year. Germany’s DAX fell 1.4 percent. Other indexes showed smaller losses.

Thursday’s sell-off was the Dow’s ninth-worst day on record in terms of points lost. It wiped out the Dow’s remaining gains for 2011. U.S. markets have entered a correction, falling 10 percentage points from their highs this spring.

Traders have focused on a torrent of bad economic news since the U.S. government struck a deal last weekend to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, averting a debt default. Manufacturing and the service sector are barely growing. The economy expanded in the first half of the year at its slowest pace since the recession ended in June 2009.

Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimate there is a 35 percent chance of another recession within the next year. Only three of the three S&P 500’s ten industry groups are up for the year: Health care, utilities and consumer staples. Traders consider those companies to be relatively recession-proof.

The market’s decline continues two weeks of almost uninterrupted selling on Wall Street. If the Dow closes lower, it will have fallen all but one of the past 11 trading days. By one broad measure kept by Dow Jones Indexes, part of CME Group Inc., almost $1.9 trillion in market value has disappeared.

The Vix, one measure of investor fear, has doubled since July 1.

Economic fears pushed benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery down by 64 cents on Friday to $85.98 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, crude tumbled $5.30 to $86.63.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury note fell to 0.29 percent, after brushing a record low of 0.26 percent earlier Friday. Frightened investors are buying bonds, sending their prices higher and yields lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.48 percent after hitting a low since last year of 2.34 percent.

Shares of consumer product maker Procter & Gamble rose after the company said that its fourth-quarter revenue and income jumped on strong sales in emerging markets.

Media company Viacom Inc. said its income and revenue increased more than analysts expected in the second quarter because of strong advertising sales and fees from cable companies.

Shares of Charles Schwab Corp. lost 11 percent in premarket trading, the most in the S&P 500, amid fears that a flight by investors might hurt the financial advisor’s revenue.

Shares of Priceline.com Inc. surged 12 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P, after the company reported that it earned far more than expected in the second quarter as travel bookings on the website increased.

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The European Investment Bank on Monday approved Saab’s plan to improve its ailing finances with a $40 million deal to sell and lease back property.

If the deal is also approved by Sweden’s government and the national debt office, which is expected, Saab will have cleared a key hurdle in its attempts to resolve a cash shortage that has left it struggling to pay suppliers and staff.

EIB spokesman Par Isaksson said the bank, from which Saab has borrowed money, approved the agreement to sell a 50.1 percent in Saab’s property, including its production plant in Trollhattan to Swedish real estate company Hemfosa. Saab’s owner, Swedish Automobile, intends to sign a 15-year lease agreement so that it can continue to use the property.

Saab’s production has been at a standstill for months. Last week, the company said it aims to resume production within two weeks, but workers remained idle Monday and will go on two weeks scheduled vacation July 25.

Earlier Monday, Saab said it aims to set up a joint venture with China’s Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. to design a small Saab model called 9-1, and two larger designs called 9-6 and 9-7.

Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs said those plans are at an early stage and it remains unclear when the cars could reach the market.

Youngman will provide financing for the joint venture while Saab will be responsible for developing the models.

“We will now be able to develop a small entry level Saab, a car that has long been on the top of our wish list,” the CEO of Saab-owner Swedish Automobile, Victor Muller said in a statement.

Swedish Automobile NV, previously known as Spyker Cars, also said it has completed a previously announced euro245 million ($356 million) deal to make Youngman and another Chinese firm, Pang Da Automobile Trade Co, part-owners in Swedish Automobile. The deal still requires regulatory approval.

It said the agreement also allows for Russian investor Vladimir Antonov to become part-owner of Swedish Automobile, if he obtains the necessary regulatory approvals.

Antonov has said he wants to inject between $50 million and $150 million into Saab, but is still waiting for an approval from the European Investment Bank.

The Russian was forced out of Spyker amid reports of money laundering when Spyker bought Saab from General Motors in 2010. He has denied those allegations and has never been charged.

EIB’s spokesman, Isaksson declined to comment on that process Monday.

Shares in Swedish Automobile rose by 17.3 percent to euro2.94 ($4.27) on the Amsterdam stock exchange.

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