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Jewelry seller Tiffany & Co. said Tuesday its fiscal third quarter profit rose 63 percent on strong sales globally, particularly in Asia.

The luxury retailer known for its iconic turquoise box is also raising its full-year forecast on the strong quarter.

Tiffany’s results show the luxury shopper is continuing to spend freely. That segment has rebounded more quickly from the recession than others. High-end jewelry sold better than other categories.

The New York company’s net income rose to $89.7 million or 70 cents per share in the three months ended Oct. 31. That compares with $55.1 million, or 43 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts expected earnings of 60 cents per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose 21 percent to $821.8 million. Analysts expected $801.8 million.

“Increased sales in all regions contributed to the continuation of strong worldwide sales growth in the third quarter,” said CEO Michael J. Kowalski.

In the Americas, sales grew 17 percent to $387.7 million. Revenue in stores open at least one year rose 16 percent.

The measure is considered a key gauge of a retailer’s financial health because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.

Tourists helped push the measure up 30 percent Tiffany’s the New York flagship store.

In Asia-Pacific, revenue rose 44 percent to $183.2 million, helped by strength in the greater China region.

Revenue rose 12 percent in Japan and 19 percent in Europe.

Tiffany now expects net income of $3.70 to $3.89 per share, for prior guidance of $3.65 to $3.75 per share. Analysts expect $3.72 per share.

Tiffany expects revenue to rise in the high-teens percentage for the year.

In the fourth quarter, the company expects net income of $1.48 to $1.58 per share. Analysts expect $1.63 per share.

Tiffany operates 243 stores globally..

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Ryerson University plans to make a major announcement Tuesday about its fundraising efforts for the Maple Leaf Gardens, leading to speculation the school may be about to reveal the title sponsor for the venue.

The school, which is a part-owner of the iconic structure, set a goal of raising $60 million to install badly needed student athletic facilities in part of the former hockey arena.

The $60 million is to be raised in equal portions by a federal government infrastructure grant, a special levy on Ryerson students, and corporate donations from such firm as Gardens

U.S. stocks tumbled in the worst Thanksgiving week loss for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1932 as concern grew that Europe’s debt crisis will spread and as American policymakers failed to reach agreement on reducing the federal budget.

Shares of Bank of America Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Caterpillar Inc. dropped at least 7.6 percent to lead declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Energy stocks fell the most in the S&P 500 as oil declined for a second week and as Chevron Corp. lost 5.7 percent after it was blocked from drilling in Brazil while the government investigates a recent spill. Netflix Inc. slid 18 percent after raising $400 million to bolster cash.

The S&P 500 slid 4.7 percent to 1,158, closing at the lowest level since Oct. 7. The Dow fell 564 points, or 4.8 percent, to 11,231 this week.

“We’ve resumed focus on the European debt issues,” Terry Morris, senior equity manager at National Penn Investors Trust Co., based in Wyomissing, Pa., said in a telephone interview. His firm manages about $2.2 billion.

The situation in Europe doesn’t seem to be improving, which makes the market defensive, he said. Spending cuts taking hold in the U.S. will be a negative, too, because they will be a drag on economic growth.

The S&P 500 has fallen for seven days, the longest streak in four months, and has tumbled 7.6 percent so far this month. U.S. equities erased an early advance in the final session of the week as S&P lowered Belgium’s credit rating and Reuters reported that Greece was demanding that private investors accept larger losses on their debt.

Debt Concerns

The cost of insuring European sovereign bonds against default rose to a record this week as Germany failed to find buyers for 35 percent of the bonds offered at an auction.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said market turbulence sparked by the euro region’s sovereign-debt crisis would last for a few months.

Congress’ special debt reduction committee failed to reach an agreement this week, setting the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts and fueling concern that economic stimulus measures that are set to expire will not be renewed.

Still, S&P reaffirmed it would keep the United States’ credit rating at AA+ after stripping the government of its top AAA grade on Aug. 5.

Stocks fell Tuesday as revised Commerce Department figures showed that gross domestic product climbed at a 2 percent annual rate from July through September, less than projected and down from a 2.5 percent prior estimate. U.S. stock exchanges were shut Thursday for Thanksgiving and closed three hours early on Friday payday loan online.

Macro Factors

“The market’s not trying to distinguish between stocks right now; it’s focused almost exclusively on macro factors,” John Linehan, director of U.S. equities and a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., said at a press briefing Tuesday in New York. “There’s a tremendous amount of volatility in the marketplace. The market’s on the gas pedal and the tires are spinning, but we’re really actually not going anywhere.”

Companies most closely tied to the economy fell, sending the Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index down 6.2 percent, the most since the week ending Sept. 23. Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction and mining equipment maker, dropped 7.7 percent to $86.72.

All 10 groups in the S&P 500 fell this week, led by a 6.2 percent slump in energy producers and a 5.8 percent drop in financial shares.

Bank of America declined 11 percent, the most in the Dow, to $5.17, while Citigroup Inc. decreased 10 percent to $23.63. Both are among lenders that may have to temper plans to raise dividends and buy back stock next year as the Federal Reserve toughens capital tests for the biggest U.S. banks.

Netflix sank 18 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $63.86. Technology Crossover Ventures will buy $200 million in zero-coupon senior convertible notes due in 2018 in the video-streaming and DVD subscription service, and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. funds will buy $200 million in stock. The transactions suggest Netflix’s cash squeeze may last longer than it had anticipated, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. The company needs to spend more to make its streaming content stand out against a growing list of competitors, he said.

Commodity producers declined as reports showed that manufacturing contracted in Europe and may shrink by the most in more than two years in China. AK Steel Holding Corp., the third-largest U.S. steelmaker by volume, plunged 16 percent to $7.04. Alpha Natural Resources Inc., the coal producer that bought Massey Energy Co. for $7.1 billion in June, lost 15 percent to $18.81.

Chevron in Brazil

Chevron lost 5.7 percent to $92.29. The U.S. oil producer operating the $3.6 billion Frade oilfield off Brazil was blocked from drilling in the South American country while the government investigates a recent spill.

Hewlett-Packard slipped 9.3 percent to $25.39 after profit forecasts that missed analysts’ estimates. Meg Whitman, who took over as chief executive officer two months ago, used her first earnings conference call to tell investors they needed to lower expectations. The first-quarter profit forecast and full-year earnings outlook missed estimates

The double-double is pulling out of Afghanistan.

Tim Hortons announced today that along with the bulk of Canadian troops, it will be withdrawing from the international military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan next week.

“It’s been an amazing five years,” said Doug Anthony, vice president of new business development at Tim Hortons.

The Tim Hortons outlet in Kandahar, which opened on Canada Day in 2006, served 4 million cups of coffee, three million donuts and half a million iced cappuccinos. For many Canadian troops, it was a welcome taste of home.

“People would come in smiling and say ‘This takes us away from the stress of what we see every day,’’ said Anthony, who twice visited the base in Kandahar.

For some on Twitter, news that the Canadian cultural icon Tim Hortons was leaving was the most credible evidence yet that our troops are actually coming home.

“In case you doubted that Canada would actually leave Afghanistan, we’re definitely finished, Horton’s is pulling out,” tweeted Big Kris, a DJ at Y108 in Hamilton.

“Oh, Canada’s pretty much officially out now,” tweeted Maxim Morin pay day loans.

The Tim Hortons was popular among troops from other countries, including the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. Non-Canadians made up 60 per cent of the location’s business, Anthony said.

While the company had “detailed discussions” with two other unnamed parties about keeping the outlet going after the Canadian troops left, it didn’t end up being feasible.

The location had been staffed by the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services (CFPFSS). Without the CFPFSS around, it would have been hard for anyone else to staff the outlet, Anthony explained.

“The sheer volume that we were doing made it difficult for them to find staff,” said Anthony.

Despite the bustling business done at the Kandahar location, it wasn’t a profit centre for Tim Horton’s, Anthony insisted.

“We didn’t make a dime from this. All the proceeds went to support our troops and their families, and any of the supplies, we sold them at cost,” said Anthony.

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Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to sign a U.S.-backed power transfer deal mediated by Gulf Arab states to resolve the impoverished country’s crisis, Yemen’s state television reported.

Saleh has repeatedly promised to sign the Gulf-brokered agreement, only to change his mind every time. Under the deal, Saleh would step down and transfer power to the vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

The TV said Saleh arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday morning but did not say when the deal would be signed. It said that along with Gulf Arab representatives who sponsored the agreement, European and American envoys would also attend the signing.

Saleh has clung to power despite an 8-month-old uprising, mass protests calling for his ouster and a June assassination attempt that left him badly wounded and forced him to travel to Saudi Arabia for more than three months of hospital treatment.

But things appeared to be shifting on Tuesday, when the U.N. secretary-general’s envoy to Yemen, Jamal bin Omar, said all parties had agreed on a plan that would have Saleh step down.

“All parties agreed today on the Gulf initiative and the implementation of its mechanism,” bin Omar said after meetings with Yemen’s vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, in Sanaa.

Security in Yemen has unraveled amid the uprising against Saleh’s 30-year reign. The situation is particularly bad in the south, where al-Qaida militants _ from what is perhaps the world’s most active branch of the terror network _ have taken control of entire towns, using the turmoil to strengthen their position.

The unarmed protesters have held their ground with remarkable resilience, flocking to the streets of Sanaa and other Yemeni cities and towns to demand reforms from the autocratic government and braving a violent crackdown by government forces that has killed hundreds.

But their uprising, inspired by other Arab revolts in the region that saw longtime rulers of Egypt and Tunisa go, has at times been hijacked by Yemen’s two traditional powers _ the tribes and the military _ further deepening the country’s turmoil.

Breakaway military units and tribal fighters have been battling in Sanaa with troops loyal to Saleh, in fighting that has escalated in recent months.

An impoverished nation of some 25 million people, Yemen is of strategic value to the United States and its Gulf Arab allies, particularly Saudi Arabia. It sits close to the major Gulf oilfields and overlooks key shipping lanes in the Red and Arabian seas.

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Throw a dart at a map of Europe now and it takes expert aim to hit a country run by a left-of-center government, especially after Spain’s Socialists were emphatically drubbed out of power over the weekend.

Although the shift to the right began years ago in such heavyweights as France and Germany, it is now all but complete three years into the continent’s grinding debt and economic crisis. Why? When times get tough _ when “the cows get thin” as the Spanish say _ political experts say edgy voters seek comfort with conservatives.

“The center-right is the natural preference in times of crisis,” said Piotr Kaczynski of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. “If you look at societies and how they make their preferences, they all tend to vote more conservative in times of crisis and more center-left in times of economic progress.”

Granted, on the European Union map there are scattered spots of leftist liberalism. A new Social Democratic government runs Denmark, there is a center left government in Norway and there is a broad Social Democratic-led coalition in Austria. And the Socialists might beat conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in France’s presidential election next year.

But Kaczynski said there is no doubt the European left faces an uphill battle in re-establishing itself with an appealing message and the means to enact it, despite widespread disillusionment with go-go capitalism as seen in the Occupy Wall Street protests and Europe’s widespread anti-austerity marches.

In Spain, voters enduring a 21.5 jobless rate ejected the Socialists and install the center-right Popular Party by a crushing margin in Sunday’s election.

Voters dumped the Socialists in Portugal earlier this year and the Labour Party in Britain last year, in both cases shifting to conservative parties. A technocrat government has taken over in the last month from Greece’s Socialist prime minister.

Kaczynski said is not an ironclad rule that a government will be dumped from power during an economic crisis. He cited the cases of troubled governments being re-elected in Latvia, Estonia _ a member of the eurozone _ and Poland, and said as long as the public concludes the government is capable and taking the right approach to a financial crisis, it might get a second chance.

That was not the case for Spain’s Socialists, due to the poor record of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in fighting unemployment and in resurrecting an economy that overcome nearly two years of recession in 2010 only to stall again last quarter.

His punishment: the conservative Popular Party won 186 seats in the 350-seat lower chamber of Parliament, up from 154, while the Socialists plummeted from 169 seats to 110, their worst performance ever.

“Clearly, Spain is the biggest loss for the European Socialists. That is absolutely the case,” Kaczynski said.

In his first public comments, Zapatero _ who did not seek a third term _ said Monday that the austerity measures he took _ and which caused supporters to flee in a stampede _ “put the national interests ahead of party interests.”

Spanish stock and bond markets shrugged off the Popular Party win because it was so widely expected and because leader Mariano Rajoy has yet to spell out how he will attack Spain’s unemployment debacle, deficit and growth woes.

However, some experts say Europe is not going right ideologically but rather seeking something _ anything _ new to get out of its quagmire.

“I wouldn’t say Europe is turning to the right. It’s basically the crisis is crushing the incumbents,” said Eurasia Group’s analyst for Europe, Antonio Barroso. “People are disappointed in the bad economic data, high unemployment and basically they are voting for the other alternative.”

He noted that in Italy, conservative premier Silvio Berlusconi was forced to resign this month as the eurozone crisis centered on his debt-laden country _ but that was to a technocratic administration, not to leftist politicians.

Barroso also mentioned the 2012 French presidential race and Sarkozy’s record low approval rating. The feisty French conservative is trailing the Socialist Francois Hollande badly in the polls, although he has recovered a bit in recent weeks.

Socialists are strong in local and regional politics in France: They head 24 of France’s 26 regional governments and run major cities including Paris, Lyon, and Lille. Most recently, in September, the Socialists wrested control of the Senate, Parliament’s upper house, for the first time in more than a half-century _ seen by many as a rebuff to Sarkozy.

In Germany, conservative Angela Merkel beat the center-left’s Gerhard Schroeder in 2005 after he pushed through labor market reforms and welfare state cuts. The moves angered his leftist supporters but they are credited with bolstering Germany’s strength in the current financial crisis.

However, Stephen Lewis of Monument Securities in London agreed it is perhaps natural for people to turn to the right in times of extreme financial hardship. He noted it happened in the 1930s during the Depression.

“It is not surprising that we are seeing all these right-wing governments appear as a result of elections or imposed from Brussels,” Lewis said.

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A top U.S. tech analyst is predicting Amazon is likely to launch its own under-$200 smartphone by next year.

And Amazon could sell the device for $170 U.S. or less, said Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney.

It would be the second head-on Amazon assault on Apple, right after the launch of the iPad tablet competitor Kindle Fire in the United States.

Mahaney based his prediction

Pope Benedict XVI has had his first meeting with Italy’s new leader on the tarmac of Rome’s airport just before taking off for a trip to Africa.

Premier Mario Monti greeted the pope Friday morning as Benedict descended from the helicopter that brought him from the Vatican to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport. They chatted as they walked slowly across the tarmac to the pope’s waiting plane.

Monti later Friday faces the second of two confidence votes for his government in parliament cash advance flexible payments. The Senate on Thursday easily approved his government, formed of bankers, professors and CEOS aimed at saving Italy from its debt crisis.

Benedict then took off for the west African nation of Benin for a three-day visit where he will speak of the role of the church in Africa.

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Chrysler is counting on a new Jeep sport utility vehicle and its strong brand name to help withstand uncertainty in the European auto market and expand into new markets in China and Russia, the automaker’s chief executive said Wednesday.

The company announced plans to spend $500 million at its Ohio assembly complex that will make the new model and add 1,100 jobs by late 2013. The expansion is part of a $1.7 billion investment to build the new Jeep.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Jeep is becoming the star of its European market and that sales have been doubling.

“It’s the best brand Chrysler owns by a long margin,” he said. “It’s got a glorious history.”

Italian automaker Fiat SpA, which now controls Chrysler, has been hit hard this year by slumping overall sales in Europe. It has been turning more toward business in the United States and Brazil, said Marchionne, who is CEO of both companies.

He said next year will be even worse in Europe. “The majority of the growth and expectations around Fiat are unfortunately outside the European context,” he said

Marchionne said that he’s confident the leaders forming the Italy’s new government can help it avoid financial disaster, but he added that instability there could influence where it locates its new headquarters when Fiat combines with Chrysler.

He is working toward bringing the two automakers together and faces the thorny political issue of where to base the company. The instability in Italy can’t be overlooked, he said Wednesday.

“I would be lying to you if I told you it didn’t,” he said. “It’s one of the things we’ll look at. That’s not to say the current situation would force us to move away from Italy. We’re committed to the industrial back bone of the country.”

Premier Mario Monti formed a new Italian government on Wednesday puts bankers, diplomats and business executives in charge instead of politicians. The former European Union competition commissioner said economic growth is a top priority and will put out an emergency plan Thursday

“Monti has all of the qualities to get this done,” Marchionne said. “It’s in the interest of every Italian to get behind him.”

Whether the country can recover soon depends on its political forces, he said. “If they do, it can be done relatively quickly,” he said. “The execution may take longer, but the plan can be put in place.” `

Sales of the stylish Fiat 500 mini car have been far below expectations in the United States since its debut in March, Marchionne said. It’s Fiat’s first vehicle in the U.S. since it pulled out of the market in 1983.

He blamed the low sales on a lack of dealerships selling the Fiat and said more are coming on line.

While Fiat is struggling, Chrysler is moving toward its first annual profit since 2005 behind strong third quarter sales of its new or revamped Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram cars and trucks.

Marchionne thinks the Jeep brand can continue to grow worldwide behind its unique history. Originally made for the military, workers in Toledo have been producing Jeeps since 1941.

“The horrible thing about Jeep is it hasn’t been exploited internationally,” he said. “It’s off-road capabilities are unique in the marketplace and we need to preserve that going forward.”

No decision has been made on what the new model will be called. Marchionne said it will be more technologically advanced than the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The assembly plant in Ohio that now has 1,800 workers makes the Jeep Wrangler and Liberty along with the Dodge Nitro and will be central to the company’s future and its SUV exports, Marchionne said.

It’s likely the plant will build more vehicles in the coming years, he said. He also didn’t rule out expanding Wrangler production at the plant if sales take off outside the U.S.

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Carol Behr thinks she knows why many students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are buying their books online, and it’s not just the convenience.

It’s the sales tax savings, says Behr, a vice president of Kennedy Book Store, which owns Southern Illinois Book & Supply in Carbondale. The company also has a store in Lexington, Ky., and of the two, she says the Carbondale store has lost more business to competitors such as Amazon.com.

The difference? Kentucky doesn’t charge sales tax on textbooks, but Illinois does.

To Behr, the slipping Illinois sales figures highlight an unfair competitive situation. “A business is a business,” she says. “Why do I have to charge sales tax and they don’t, if we’re in the same business?”

Ten senators, including Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin and Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, introduced a bill Wednesday that would remove Amazon’s competitive advantage over bookstores such as the one in Carbondale. And, surprisingly, Amazon has endorsed the bill.

The proposed Marketplace Fairness Act would require retailers to collect taxes on remote sales, including those made online or through mail order. It would apply only to businesses with at least $500,000 of remote sales, and only in states that adopt a simplified sales tax structure.

Large sums of money are at stake. William Fox, a professor of economics at the University of Tennessee, estimates that state and local governments lose $11.4 billion a year in revenue from online retail sales, and a total of $23.6 billion from untaxed online, catalog and business-to-business sales.

In the past, Amazon has fought hard to avoid collecting its share of that money. In Illinois, North Carolina and Rhode Island, it canceled relationships with local affiliates to get around so-called “Amazon tax” laws. In Texas, it threatened to close a warehouse rather than pay $269 million in sales taxes.

Now, though, Amazon says it ’strongly supports enactment” of the Marketplace Fairness Act. Not all companies agree: eBay, for example, says the bill “fails to protect small business retailers using the Internet.”

Past congressional efforts to address the sales tax issue