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Lithium battery maker A123 Systems may have been forced to file for bankruptcy protection this week, but the company is still attractive enough to spark a bidding war for its assets.

), a major supplier to the U.S. electric car industry and recipient of $249 million in government stimulus funding, announced Tuesday that it had filed for bankruptcy.

The same day, A123 said it had entered into a $125 million deal for the sale of its automotive assets to U.S. parts maker , Fortune 500). As part of the deal, Johnson Controls agreed to provide A123 the funding it needs to operate during bankruptcy reorganization.

But Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang Group went to federal bankruptcy court in Delaware on Thursday, arguing it has a better offer for A123 already on the table, and seeking to be the one to provide bankruptcy financing to A123.

Earlier this year, Wanxiang agreed to pay $465 million for a controlling stake in A123. But the deal ran into government opposition due to the investment in the company by the Energy Department and the company’s contracts with the U.S. Defense Department.

Bankruptcy judge Kevin Carey gave the first round to Johnson Controls on Thursday, allowing A123 access to the first $15 billion of financing from Johnson Controls — once Johnson Controls agreed to cut the interest rate to match the offer from Wanxiang (see correction below).

But a decision on who will get to buy the assets, and at what price, is still pending before the court, which is charged with getting the best deal possible for creditors guaranteed online payday loans.

Michael Lew, analyst with Needham Co., said the bidding war is proof that no matter what financial problems forced A123 into bankruptcy, the industry sees it as a valuable business going forward.

“Electric cars aren’t a good value proposition right now. But over time the market will evolve,” said Lew. “Johnson Controls’ interest validates A123’s business.”

Lew said he believes there could be additional bidders for A123 before the issue is settled, and that it’s difficult to predict who will win. He said while Wanxiang might have the more lucrative offer at the moment, the deal could be rejected if the bankruptcy court determines it won’t win regulatory approval.

“Their offer is bigger, period. But there is a concern about all of the IP [intellectual property] going to China,” he said.

Neither Johnson Controls nor A123 responded Friday to requests for comment on the bidding war, and Wanxiang could not be reached for comment.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the amount of financing available to A123 from Johnson Controls. It is $15 million not $15 billion.

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Indonesian inflation unexpectedly accelerated in June as food costs climbed, exacerbating the impact of a weaker currency on prices.

Consumer prices rose 4.53 percent last month from a year earlier after climbing 4.45 percent in May, the statistics bureau said in Jakarta today. The median forecast of 21 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 4.38 percent increase.

Bank Indonesia has held off from adding to a February rate cut, seeking to support a currency that has fallen more than 3 percent in 2012 as Europe

June 27 (Bloomberg News) — Richard InLove, 60, works 20 hours a week as a receptionist and office assistant in Eugene, Oregon, and wants more. After losing a full-time job in a cereal factory three years ago, he hasn

The Obama administration will go ahead with more drilling in Arctic waters, though at a pace that allows for more research before additional permits are granted.

The administration will hold new lease sales for oil companies to drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas just north of Alaska, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters.

But the new leases won’t be issued until 2016, allowing more time so that nations bordering the Arctic can identify the region’s resources and figure out which areas need to be protected.

"These resources, if developed safely, can be an important component to the all-of-the-above energy strategy," said Salazar.

The plan is apparently designed to please both environmentalists and drilling advocates, though it risks irking everyone.

Of ice and oil in Alaska

Industry types would prefer a much faster timetable to get the drilling going, while many opponents want it halted permanently.

The administration is hoping the move will defray criticism that it’s not moving fast enough to allow more domestic energy production.

But that seems unlikely.

"Only now that excuses are running out are they moving forward as slowly as possible," said a spokeswoman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Obama has attempted to take a middle-of-the-road approach to energy development throughout his presidency.

He’s resumed leasing in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP () disaster, plans to allow drilling in the Arctic, and has done little to restrict hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — in domestic oil and gas fields despite fears that the process is contaminating ground water.

But the number of permits issued and acres available for drilling have generally been lower under Obama’s administration than in George W. Bush’s administration, which preceded it.

On Tuesday, Salazar said it’s "highly likely" the final permits for Royal Dutch Shell’s () Arctic drilling operation, set for this summer, will be issued shortly.

Shell won its Arctic leases during the Bush administration, but its final permits to drill have so far not been granted by Obama. Sources expect the final OK to come this week.  

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BERLIN

Malaysia announced private investment plans worth a total 20.5 billion ringgit ($6.5 billion), seeking to bolster growth as Europe

The International Monetary Fund said Britain requires further monetary easing to boost the economy and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne should consider budget stimulus including temporary tax cuts.

Rating agency Moody’s downgraded 16 Spanish banks on Thursday, the latest sign of distress in Europe.

Among those downgraded were giants Banco Santander and BBVA, the country’s two largest banks. Moody’s cited concerns about the banks’ exposure to Spain’s faltering economy and the "reduced" ability of the Spanish government to support them in a crisis.

"The Spanish economy has fallen back into recession in first-quarter 2012, and Moody’s does not expect conditions to improve during 2012," the agency said.

"Moreover, the real-estate crisis that began in 2008 is ongoing, and unemployment has risen to very high levels, with rising risks to white-collar employment (in addition to extremely-high youth unemployment) affecting the outlook for banks’ household lending."

The downgrades come amid mounting concern about a potential Greek exit from the euro, and the implications this could have for other fiscally troubled nations like Spain and Italy. Greece, currently operating with a caretaker government, could leave the euro should anti-austerity parties triumph in elections next month.

Earlier Thursday, Moody’s downgraded Spanish regional governments in Catalunya, Murcia, Andalucia and Extremadura because they are using massive amounts of debt to fund their operations and are unlikely to meet the financial target set by Spain’s central government.

Overall, Spain has pledged to cut its national deficit to 5.3% of GDP, but last week, the European Commission forecasted that the country would fail to meet that goal, instead hitting 6.4% of GDP. Spain announced roughly $35 billion in budget cuts earlier this year.

Credit downgrades are a worrisome sign to investors and can often cause a country’s borrowing costs to rise. The yield on Spain’s 10-year bond has spiked in the last two weeks, and now sits around 6.3%, its highest level since November.  

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Upbeat U.S. economic indicators helped stock markets rise on Monday, offsetting concerns about Spain, which had seen its borrowing rates jump on fears it will eventually need a bailout.

The Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales rose 0.8 percent in March despite a strong increase in gas prices. Retail sales hit a record high of $411.1 billion, 24 percent higher than the recession low in March 2009.

The figures are important for global markets because U.S. consumer spending is a major driver of growth. Signs that the U.S. economy was recovering had helped markets post strong gains earlier this year, before hitting a soft patch in the past month.

Monday’s strong data also encouraged investors look past the flare-up in the debt crisis in the 17-nation eurozone.

Spain’s 10-year bond yield, the rate the country would pay if it were to tap markets for money, jumped to 6.10 percent on Monday, from about 5.90 percent on Friday, but eased back to 5.96 percent by mid-afternoon.

Yields rose in other financially shaky countries like Italy, but Spain was the focus as investors consider it the next weakest link in Europe.

The country is caught between the needs to lower debt by cutting spending and to boost growth by investing. Above all, if Spain were to need a bailout, Italy would be severely destabilized as well. The eurozone bailout funds, totaling (EURO)800 billion, would be too small to rescue both.

“The fiscal spotlight has refocused on the considerable challenges facing Spain,” analysts at Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients.

The focus will remain this week on Spain, which will hold government bond auctions on Tuesday and Thursday. Any signs that investors are shying away from the country’s bonds would likely increase tensions and push Madrid’s borrowing rates even higher.

At the end of the week, the International Monetary Fund will hold a global conference in Washington, where European government officials are expected to push for an increase in the organization’s lending capacities to reassure investors it can help fight the eurozone crisis bad credit personal loan lenders. So far, major IMF members like the U.S. have been reluctant to infuse the fund with more money.

By mid-afternoon in Europe, Germany’s DAX was up 1.1 percent at 6,654.12 while France’s CAC 40 rose 1.3 percent to 3,231.21. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.8 percent at 5,696.32. The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.3038.

Wall Street gained on the open, with the Dow average up 0.7 percent to 12,944.88 and the S&P 500 rising 0.1 percent to 1,371.82.

Asian markets closed mostly lower, however, as traders focused on data released Friday showing China’s economy slowed to a 8.1 percent growth rate in the January-March quarter, the slowest in almost three years. In the fourth quarter, growth was 8.9 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei slid 1.4 percent to 9,502.95, bruised also by a higher yen. The dollar fell to 80.56 yen from 81.10 yen.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.9 percent at 1,990.84 after the Bank of Korea lowered its 2012 economic growth outlook to 3.5 percent, from a December estimate of 3.7 percent, Yonhap news agency reported.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7 percent to 20,559.03 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent to 4,304.40. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Mumbai and Indonesia also fell.

Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 18 cents to $103.01 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 81 cents to finish at $102.83 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

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It took David Jeffrey more than a year to get back on his feet after losing his job at Sallie Mae. As of February, he is witness to the factory rebound that has boosted confidence among American men.