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U.S. markets lose early gains

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. markets lost ground after early gains Friday, a day with no major economic reports scheduled for release.

Investors will be listening to remarks by Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher at a lunch-hour speech in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 68.95 points, or 0.56 percent, to 12,215.35 in late-morning trading.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.16 points to 1,333.37, off 0.68 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index decline 21.78 points to 2,278.02, a 0.95 percent gain.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained 2/32, yielding 3.779 percent.

The euro traded at $1.4843 Friday, compared with $1.4818 Thursday, while the dollar traded at 107.09 yen, compared with 107.31 yen Thursday.

In Japan, the Nikkei average lost 187.82 points Friday to finish at 13,500.46, a 1.3 percent decline.

Polk predicts Russian car market will rise

ESSEN, Germany, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Automotive industry researcher R. L. Polk said Friday that Russia will become Europe's largest market for new cars by 2010.

The forecast is based on an upswing in new automobile registrations in Russia and stagnating sales in other European countries, the report said.

Exceeding 2 million for the first time, new car registrations in Russia reached 2.35 million in 2007 with new car sales topping 1 million in each of the past 5 years, the researcher said.

Polk estimated new car registrations to hit 3.7 million by 2010, a 60 percent increase.

"For Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Kia and Chevrolet, Russia represents the strongest European market in terms of sales," said industry analyst Ulrich Winzen.

While demand for cars is on the upswing in Russia, AvtoVAZ, maker of the best-selling Russian car Lada, has seen its share of the market declining in recent years, falling from 70 percent of the market in 2002 to 27 percent of the market in 2007, the report said.

Falling prices puts homeowners in a bind

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Falling home equity has trapped 8.8 million U.S. homeowners in mortgages worth more than their homes' probable selling price, The New York Times reported.

The declining value of homes has 10.3 percent of U.S. homeowners in a bind, the Times said Friday. Caught between falling prices and the desire to move, some have had to take checks to the closing to pay off mortgages when they sell. Some chose default and face foreclosure.

"People can't believe this is happening to them," Robert Moulton, president of the Americana Mortgage Group, told the Times.

Lawmakers in Washington are struggling to find a solution. A bailout of swamped homeowners is an idea that makes politicians nervous but policy makers are considering ways to refinance billions worth of troubled mortgages, the paper said.

The highly exposed Bank of America is pushing for the creation of a new federal agency to buy delinquent mortgages. The idea has not found much support, although the crisis could lead to "an unprecedented number" of foreclosures, the bank warned.

States consider work options for boomers

SACRAMENTO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Several U.S. states have decided that one option for dealing with the record number of retiring workers is to ask them, perhaps, not to retire.

In California, where the state is facing a shortage of teachers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Picture Sherry Lansing have begun the EnCorps Teaching Program to help retirees start a second career in teaching.

The state will need 33,000 new science and math teachers by 2017 and faces a doubling of their over-60 population by 2020, USA Today reported Friday.

Maryland, New York, Massachusetts and Arizona have begun initiatives to keep baby boomers busy during their retirement years and eight other states are working with the National Governors Association to brainstorm other work options for the aging population.

"Not everybody has three pensions and an IRA plan," Melanie Starns, who advises the Arizona governor's office on the aging population, told the newspaper.

The numbers of retiring U.S. workers will increase dramatically in the next few decades. The oldest U.S. baby boomers, totaling 79 million, turn 62 this year, USA Today said.