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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks slipped into the red Friday morning after uncertainties lingered following Thursday’s European deal to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.

Shortly after 10 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was off 5 points and the NASDAQ fell 11 points.

All eyes are still focused on Europe and the financial crisis that the eurozone faces. Analysts are questioning if the $610 billion rescue fund leaders agreed on Thursday will be enough.

On the U.S. economic front, U.S. personal spending rose 0.6 percent in September in line with estimates, while personal income rose a scant 0.1 percent, short of estimates of 0.3 percent.

Merck reported third quarter profits of 94 cents a share and revenues of $12 billion, topping estimates. Chevron’s quarterly profits topped Wall Street estimates but sales fell well short of forecasts. Whirlpool announced plans to cut roughly 10 percent of its workforce, or 5,000 jobs, after reporting its sales growth was growing much slower than anticipated.

Commodities were also lower. Light sweet crude fell $1.93 to $92.16 a barrel, and gold gave back $8.90, last trading at $1,739 a troy ounce.

Stocks surged 339 points on Thursday after the eurozone agreement. U.S. markets are on track for their best October performance on record.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – From 2000 to 2010, the median income in the United States fell 7 percent after adjusting for inflation, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

The decline marks the worst 10-year performance on record, dating back to 1967. And what’s worse is that according to economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey, income will not catch up before 2021.

Census Bureau data also revealed that a college degree doesn’t hold the clout and earnings power it once had. Only advanced degree holders managed to eck out record earnings increases over the past decade.

High unemployment and sluggish economic growth are both having an impact on American wages. Improvement looks a way off.

According to forecasts, the jobless rate, currently at 9.1 percent is only expected to decline to 8.2 percent by the end of 2013, a decline of less than one percentage point over more than two years.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The U.S. economy is “tipping into a new recession,” the esteemed Economic Cycle Research Institute says.

Moreover, there is absolutely nothing that policy makers can do to stop it.

In a statement on its website, ECRI stated that it warned its clients last week about the looming double-dip recession. The only thing ECRI says it is not certain of is whether the recession is just around the corner or if it has already started.

The ECRI also made a case for why people should heed its forecast.

“ECRI’s recession call isn’t based on just one or two leading indexes, but on dozens of specialized leading indexes, including the U.S. Long Leading Index, which was the first to turn down – before the Arab Spring and Japanese earthquake – to be followed by downturns in the Weekly Leading Index and other shorter-leading indexes. In fact, the most reliable forward-looking indicators are now collectively behaving as they did on the cusp of full-blown recessions, not ‘soft landings,’” the organization said.

In addition, the institute said the Economist, a leading financial publication, had noted the ECRI was the only entity that had correctly called three recessions without any false calls in between.

The ECRI explained what a new recession means for the nation.

“It’s important to understand that recession doesn’t mean a bad economy – we’ve had that for years now. It means an economy that keeps worsening, because it’s locked into a vicious cycle,” ECRI said in a statement. “It means that the jobless rate, already above 9 percent, will go much higher, and the federal budget deficit, already above a trillion dollars, will soar.”

“Here’s what ECRI’s recession call really says: if you think this is a bad economy, you haven’t seen anything yet. And that has profound implications for both Main Street and Wall Street,” the institute added.

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Berlin, Germany (AHN) – The Bundestag, Germany’s Parliament, agreed on Thursday to increase the country’s guarantees on European Union loans to $284 billion (€211 billion) from $167 billion (€124 billion).

The 523 to 85 vote gave the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) power to purchase bonds in secondary markets, enable bank recapitalization and offer precautionary credit lines.

The Bundestag also approved the increase in the EFSF to $599 billion (€440 billion). The measure was approved because of the support of the Christian Democrats, Free Democrats, Social Democrats and Greens.

The approval of the hike represents a victory for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spent weeks campaigning for approval of the July 21 agreement by eurozone leaders. Germany holds the largest amount of Greek government bonds.

However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble and Economics Minister Philipp Roster said any further increase was out of the question.

With the European Commission expecting the larger EFSF in place by mid-October, zone leaders are now focusing on how to prevent the region’s debt crisis from spreading further. One of the measures they are eyeing is the establishment of a permanent rescue fund that would provide more capital and tools to manage defaults.

However, the chairman of a private-equity firm said the newly approved bailout package would not be enough to solve the eurozone’s debt problems. He suggested that the amount should be in the trillion-euro level, not just billion.

Austria is expected to ratify the expanded rescue fund on Friday, while four other countries have yet to vote on it.

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Dallas, TX, United States (AHN) – Texas has endured one of its hottest summer this year in its history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So when rain began to fall Thursday, it was welcomed like a long lost friend.

In addition, Texas has also experienced one of its driest. Wildfires have been raging though Texas near Austin. Thousands of homes have been destroyed and businesses ruined. Nearly all of the Lone Star State is currently classified as being in an extreme or exceptional drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Farmers and ranchers in the Texas Panhandle have suffered. Fields are burnt and barren and cattle has been sold off as there has been no grass to feed them.

This year’s drought is being called worse than the 1930 Dust Bowl that swept large and widespread walls of dust through the Great Plain. During the Dust Bowl, the annual rainfall ranged between 12 to 20 inches.

This year to date, Amarillo has received a scant 3.89 inches of rain. In 2010, the area got 27 inches.

While the rain is welcome, and does little more than dampen the surface of the amount needed in Texas, the extended outlook is not so bright. NOAA said drought conditions will persist or intensify from now through December.

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Manama, Bahrain David Rosenberg (The Medi – King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa has chalked up some successes in the past weeks in his drive to steady his island country after the shocks of mass unrest and a violent crackdown, but analysts say business stands no chance of getting back to usual without deep political reforms.

The kingdom reported on Sunday that its economy grew by 1 percent quarter-on-quarter in April-June after shrinking in the previous three months during the peak of the turmoil. Two days earlier, Bahrain was awarded a slot in the global Formula One schedule in 2012, a boost for the country’s key tourism industry and a vote of confidence after this year’s race was canceled because of the unrest.

But for every advance, Bahrain has had to contend with a setback. In the space of two days in mid-August, one French lender, Credit Agricole, was reported to be moving its regional headquarters out of Bahrain while another, BNP Paribas, was said to be dispersing some of its back-office operations around the Gulf — twin blows to a country that prides itself as the region’s first financial center.

“The situation will never stabilize itself ’til there is a political solution. We don’t even have the makings of that at this time,” Salman Shaikh, director of the Brooking Doha Center on Qatar, told The Media Line. “The problem with this situation is that the longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be to control the protest movement.”

In an event that pointed up the fragility of Bahrain’s political situation nearly six months after Saudi and United Arab Emirates (UAE) forces put down protests at King Hamad’s request, the kingdom was briefly shaken by street fighting between demonstrators and police after the alleged killing of a 14-year-old boy last week.

Bahrain has been the only Gulf country to be swept up in the Arab Spring turmoil. It is a tiny, oil-poor country, but is of key concern to its neighbors and to the U.S., which bases the Navy’s Fifth Fleet there, because it is located in the waters between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Its mixed population of Sunnis and Shiites makes it a flashpoint in the sectarian cold war between the two Muslim sects.

Since he imposed martial law and brought Saudi and UAE forces into the country, King Hamad has made some gestures of political reform, creating a National Dialogue Commission to discuss change with the country’s majority but marginalized Shiites. Also, at the end of August, he announced pardons for many political protesters while urging workers who had been sacked from their jobs for joining demonstrations to be reinstated.

But the severity of the crackdown – which left about 30 dead and led to the arrest of some 1,400 people, many of them still in prison – has left many Bahrainis feeling alienated and disillusioned. Small-scale clashes between police and mostly Shiite demonstrators have become nightly events since King Hamad lifted emergency rule in June.

Last Tuesday a group of Bahraini doctors on trial on charges of terrorism began a hunger strike to protest their treatment, including claims of torture. A day later, 14-year-old Ali Jawad died after he was shot in the head, opposition activists said, setting off 24 hours of street fighting.

The government has hired the Washington public relations firm Qorvis Communications, which counts Saudi Arabia among its clients, to upgrade its image abroad. But Shaikh said not enough was being done to create an inclusive domestic political structure.

“We see an increasingly radicalized youth. Young Shiite radicalized youth in Bahrain is not a movie you want to play over and over again,” said Shaikh. “Even if the opposition is somewhat disunited, there has been some ingenuity in keeping the protest alive. You’re seeing hunger strikes and flash protests taking place in the villages.”

Industry and Commerce Minister Hassan Fakhro told Bloomberg News on Aug. 22 that consumer and business confidence is almost back to normal. He said the number of new companies registering with the ministry in May-July was 30 percent higher than the same time last year, while the number of shoppers at City Center, Bahrain’s biggest shopping center, was up 8.5 percent in July from a year ago.

But the moves by Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas could set off a run of banks, undermining Bahrain’s status as a regional banking and finance center. Some $10 billion in mutual funds are managed in the kingdom and its banks hold assets of about $211 billion.

Meanwhile, the economic news reported earlier in the week wasn’t all positive. While quarter-on-quarter growth resumed, gross domestic product marked its sixth quarterly year-on-year slowdown in a row even as higher oil prices lifted Bahrain’s key energy sector.

“The main drivers seem to be manufacturing and oil. Financial services were flat, which is better than people expected because there was a lot of talk about services going to Dubai,” Said Hirsh, Middle East economist at London-based Capital Economics, told The Media Line. “But the entire services sector is still at risk.”

Hirsh said he expected government spending would compensate for tepid growth in the private sector. Saudi Arabia has committed to giving Bahrain $1 billion annually over the next decade, equivalent to 5 percent of GDP. In July, Central Bank Governor Rasheed Al-Maraj forecast the economy to expand by 3 percent this year.

Analysts said Bahrain’s stability will be tested by two political events in the coming weeks – Sept. 24 elections for seats in parliament to replace lawmakers from the Al-Wefaq party, who resigned last February, and the final report of the Bahrain commission of inquiry due out Oct. 30.

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Sao Palo, Brazil (AHN) – Brazil’s central bank cited a “substantial deterioration” in its outlook for the economy and unexpectedly announced a cut in its key interest to 12 percent from 12.5 percent.

Rising prices have been a problem in Brazil, and the central bank had raised its key interest rate five times this year in an effort to contain inflation.

However, inflation is still running at a six-year high of 7.1 percent.

The continued high inflation rate couple with the unexpected cut coming a few days after several politicians had called for a rate cut. Observers say it calls into question the central bank’s independence.

Brazil, which is the biggest economy in South America, grew at the rate of 7 percent last year. This year Brazil’s economy is expected to grow at the rate of 5 percent.

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London, United Kingdom (AHN) – Retail sales, excluding gasoline, grew weakly in the United Kingdom during July rising only 0.2 percent compared to the 0.8 percent growth rate in June, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A drop in the sales of clothing and household goods offset the increase in food sales.

Sales of clothing, shoes and household goods dropped by 0.3 percent each, which offsets the 0.7 percent growth in food store sales.

Economists blame the decline in retail sales on inflation in prices coupled with job losses and stagnant wages for those with jobs.

Sales were also down by 0.2 percent in July compared to the same month a year earlier.

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Seattle, WA, United States (AHN Sports) – PBA Hall of Famers Mike Aulby and Parker Bohn III, along with PBA Tour champions Danny Wiseman and Doug Kent, participated in the 10th annual “Jeff Gordon Bowling Ball” in Indianapolis on July 28, an event that raised more than $300,000 in support of Jeff Gordon’s Children’s Foundation and Riley Hospital for Children.

The annual bowling fundraiser has generated more than $1.58 million to Riley Hospital for Children since its inception. In addition, Gordon made a pledge of $1.5 million to Riley Children’s Foundation in 2010, establishing the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation Pediatric Cancer Research Fund.

Funds from the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation are creating a $1 million endowment for research conducted in partnership between Riley Hospital and the Wells Center for Pediatric Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine. The remaining $500,000 is addressing immediate research needs at Riley Hospital.

BARNES TO APPEAR ON NBC’S TODAY SHOW ON FRIDAY, AUG. 19

PBA Triple Crown winner Chris Barnes will make an appearance on NBC’s The Today Show on Friday, Aug. 19, offering bowling tips to co-hosts Kathi Lee Gifford and Hoda Katb along with their mothers. Barnes also will do a few bowling stunts.

The segment will be taped at Bowlmor Lanes in Manhattan. Barnes and The Today Show ladies will be joined by three local youth bowlers who will also show off their skills. The Gifford-Hatb segment airs in the fourth hour of The Today Show.

PBA SENIOR TOUR, REGIONAL COVERAGE RETURNS TO XTRA FRAME

PBA.com’s exclusive online coverage of the PBA Senior Tour and Regional action continues with Xtra Frame airing the final rounds of the concluding events on the 2011 PBA Senior Tour schedule. And while the Xtra Frame staff is in the neighborhood, pba.com’s subscription-based video streaming service will also include

coverage of the finals of two PBA Regional events.

The upcoming Xtra Frame schedule includes:

Sunday, Aug. 14 – PBA Central Region Elite Motors/Backhaul Direct Open, Crest Lanes, Marion, Ind.

Monday-Tuesday, Aug. 15-16 – PBA Senior Decatur Open, Spare Time Lanes, Decatur, Ill.

Sunday, Aug. 21 – PBA Central Region Lefeld Implement Classic, Pla-Mor Lanes, Coldwater, Ohio.

Wednesday-Thursday, Aug. 24-25 – PBA Senior Jackson Open, Airport Lanes, Jackson, Mich.

Monday-Tuesday, Aug. 29-30 – PBA Senior Dayton Classic, Capri Lanes, Kettering, Ohio.

To subscribe to Xtra Frame, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.

PBA Regional Roundup:

INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS GOMEZ, WILLIAMS AMONG PBA REGIONAL WINNERS

Colombian native Andres Gomez of Sunrise, Fla., defeated Jesse Rodriguez of Davie, Fla., 235-174, to win his first PBA title in the PBA South Region’s Jimmy Keeth Memorial Open at Jupiter Lanes on Sunday. Along with his title, Gomez earned $2,500.

Also on Sunday, another international player won his first PBA title. In the West Region, Stuart Williams of England posted a 4-4 match play record and a 16-game total of 3,844 pins to win the PBA West Region Virgin River Lanes Championship.

Williams, who earned $1,300, defeated Andre Eubanks of Los Angeles, Calif., by 158 pins for his first PBA Regional title. With his win, Williams became eligible to enter the 2012 PBA Tournament of Champions which will be held in April at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. Eubanks had a 5-3 match play record and 3,686 pins for 16 games including match play bonus pins.

In the companion Virgin River Senior Open, Tony Rodriquez Jr. of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., went 5-3 and knocked down 3,948 total pins for 16 games to top Marv Sargent of Temecula, Calif., for his first Senior Regional title and $1,200. Rodriguez also became eligible to enter the Tournament of Champions as a PBA title winner. Sargent had 3,909 pins, 39 behind Rodriquez.

Bill O’Neill of Southampton, Pa., defeated Travis Celmer of Wernersville, Pa., 240-192, to win the PBA East Region Storm Products/Bowlers Supply Open at Colony Park Lanes North Sunday for a $2,800 prize and his seventh career PBA Regional title.

In Arlington Heights, Ill., Harry Sullins of Chesterfield Township, Mich., closed with a string of five strikes, overcoming a 29-pin seventh-frame deficit to upset top qualifier Kerry Painter of Henderson, Nev., 213-210, in the title game of the PBA Midwest/Central Senior Beverly Lanes Open presented by Allstate Insurance on

Sunday. It was Sullins’ third PBA Senior Regional title of the season and the 18th overall regional title of his career.

In Lubbock, Texas, West Texas A&M collegiate player Taylor Coggins of Burleson, Texas, won nine of his 12 matches to pull away from the rest of the finalists and win the inaugural PBA Southwest Region Lubbock Open at South Plains Lanes Sunday. Coggins earned $2,200, topping Dino Castillo of Carrollton, Texas, by 229 pins for the win. But he doesn’t get credit for a PBA title because he’s a non-member.

Next weekend’s round of PBA Regional events includes: the PBA East Region Iroquois Lanes Senior Open in Canajorharie, N.Y.; the Central Region Elite Motors/Backhaul Direct Open at Crest Lanes in Marion, Ind.; the Midwest Region St. Charles Lanes Non-Champions Challenge in St. Charles, Mo.; the Southwest Region Plano Super Bowl Open in Plano, Texas, and the PBA Northwest/West Region Ten Down Lanes Open

presented by West Bank at Roseburg, Ore.

Also in the Central Region, the Modern Woodmen of America Senior Championship at Al-Mar Lanes in Bowling Green, Ohio, will be held Tuesday-Friday, Aug. 16-19, sandwiched between the PBA Senior Decatur (Ill.) Open and the PBA Senior Jackson (Mich.) Open.

For complete Regional tournament schedules and entry information, visit pba.com and click on “Regional Tour” under the “Schedules” drop-down tab.

QUICK NOTES:

Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour star Tommy Jones and partner Shannon Pluhowsky won their fourth title in the 12th annual Luci Bonneau Striking Against Breast Cancer Memorial Mixed Doubles Tournament in Houston, Texas, on July 24. Jones and Pluhowsky posted a combined 16-game total of 3,490 pins to top Andres Gomez and Clara Guerrero by 59 pins. Emily Maier and two-time PBA Tour titlist Mike Fagan finished third in a sold-out field of 84 teams that featured more than a dozen Lumber Liquidators PBA

Tour title winners.

Journeyman PBA Senior Tour competitor Ron Garr of Ridgedale, Mo., may be done bowling for the season. The 64-year-old right-hander made it to Round 8 in the losers’ bracket in the USBC Senior Masters before being eliminated and tying for fifth place, but he was experiencing some hip pain. He decided to work it out by

riding a bike, but reportedly hit a rut and took a nasty spill, resulting in a fractured left collarbone in addition to assorted abrasions.

PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli won a pair of gold medals for Venezuela in the men’s singles and men’s all-events categories in the 44th Lee Evans Tournament of the Americas at Sawgrass Lanes in Tamarac, Fla. Monacelli won the singles crown with a 12-game total of 2,657 pins and led in all-events with a 36-game total of 7,879 pins, a 218.86 average. The event, which drew competitors from 15 American Zone countries, ended on Aug. 6.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The national unemployment rate for the month of July remained little unchanged at 9.1 while total nonfarm payroll employment rose by a modest 117,000, according to the monthly report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Although the 117,000 jobs created during July was slightly better than anticipated, it was still not enough to keep up with growth in the number of working-age Americans, let alone make a dent in the unemployment figures. Economists say the nation must create from 120,000 to 200,000 jobs monthly to keep up with people entering the labor market for the first time.

In addition, the percentage of working-age Americans who held either a part- or full-time job continued its slide in July, falling to 63.9 percent from 64.2 percent in June. Moreover, about 8.4 million people were involuntarily employed part-time for economic reasons in July, including people whose hours have been cut back or who have been unable to find full-time work, or about the same numbers as in June.

The gain of 117,000 jobs came from openings in health care, retail trade, manufacturing and mining while federal, state and local governments continue to shed jobs.

Unemployment rates among major groups stood at:

• Adult men 9.0 percent
• Adult women 7.9 percent
• Teenagers 25.0 percent
• Whites 8.1 percent
• Blacks 15.9 percent
• Hispanics 11.3 percent

In addition, the number of people who were unemployed for less than 5 weeks dropped by 387,000 in July while the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and longer) remained little changed at 6.2 million. Some 44.4 percent of the unemployed are long-term.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised some figures from earlier months. It revised the total nonfarm payroll employment for May from +25,000 to +53,000 and for June revised employment from +18,000 to +46,000.

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