UPI NewsTrack Business

Asian markets head up Thursday

TOKYO, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Asian markets headed up Thursday on the heels of a four-session rally in U.S. markets.

Markets in India were closed Thursday, but the Nikkei average in Japan rose 2 percent to 8,373.39 on a gain of 160.17 points.

China's Hang Seng index rose 1.37 percent, up 182.61 to 13,552.06. The Singapore Straits Times index fell 0.04 percent to 1,710.52, down 0.61 points, while the S&P/ASX index in Australia rose 1.36 percent, up 48 points to 3,588.00.

In Korea, the Kospi composite index rose 3.3 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The sustained uplift in U.S. markets may tail off, one Australian observer said. "Not many of us expect it to be up again on Friday. Our market is just waiting for the night when all of a sudden it's down 500 points," Chris Blair in Sydney told the Journal, referring to the DJIA.

In currency trading Thursday, the dollar fell against the yen to 95.35 yen from Wednesday's 95.61 yen. The dollar gained against the euro at $1.2887 compared with Wednesday's $1.2906.

Woolworths stores may find a buyer

LONDON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Court appointed administrators said Thursday that several buyers had shown interest in purchasing struggling British retailer Woolworths.

Woolworths, with a staff or 30,000 and 840 stores in operation, filed for court protection from its debtors Thursday, The Times of London reported.

The retailer also operates EUK, a CD and DVD wholesale distribution business.

In spite of a slumping economy, however, "in the last 24 hours we have received expressions of interest from a number of parties for both the retail and wholesale businesses," said Dan Butters, a partner at Deloitte, the accounting firm appointed to find a buyer for the company.

Neville Kahn of Deloitte, said the retailer's employees would be paid their November wages in full, the Times reported.

Woolworths' retirees, however, may be in jeopardy, The Times said.

The retailer's pension fund was running a $154 million deficit, although the company agreed to pay $77 million to pension fund trustees as part of a sale of its publishing business 2Entertain to the British Broadcasting Corp., The Times said.

Union, Labor admit to secret funding deal

LONDON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Britain's largest union, Unite, said it promised the country's Labor party it would keep the party financially afloat in a secret deal made last summer.

Details deal were not disclosed, but the Labor party and the union admitted a deal was struck in June, The Times of London reported Thursday.

The party's mounting debts forced it to approach various lenders for "reassurance" on future financial backing, The Times said.

Britain's Electoral Commission has said details do not need to be disclosed, as they describe future transactions.

"Political parties do not have to tell the commission about any future funding arrangements," the commission said. But, the commission suggested this summer that funding guarantees should be disclosed.

"If a political party can only keep going with guarantees from outside backers those guarantees should be fully and publicly disclosed as loans or donations," said Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Mathew Oakeshott.

"Even if they are operating a millimeter within the law, Labor are clearly breaching the spirit of the law," he said.

Unite has donated $20.7 million to the Labor party since Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office, the Times said.

Consumer spending likely to fall

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Consumer spending, a major force in the U.S. economy, may fall further as the recession wears on, a leading economist said Thursday.

"We're in a deep slide. This is what a bad recession looks like," University of Maryland professor Peter Morici, a former International Trade Commission economist, told the Washington Post.

Consumer expenditures dropped 1 percent in October, the Commerce Department said, the largest monthly fall in 17 years, the Post reported Thursday.

Even with home prices falling 16.6 percent in the third quarter compared with the same quarter in 2007, tighter credit and rising unemployment will continue to curdle spending.

"We definitely expect home prices to decline further not just because of foreclosures but because there is still a lot of imbalance in the market ... because of excess supply," said Orawin Velz, an economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Commodity prices have dropped, but "what consumers are not spending on gas, they are not taking to the mall," Morici said.

"They are not spending it on a car or home improvement, but to rebuild their savings," he said.