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India’s inflation rate remained above 9 percent in November, leaving the central bank with little leeway to reverse interest rate hikes that have choked growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.

The plunging value of the rupee, which hit a fresh record low against the dollar Wednesday, is pushing up the cost of fuel and manufactured products even as big increases in food prices start to wane, government figures showed.

Although November’s 9.1 percent inflation rate was the lowest in a year, it remains far above government targets.

“The concern about inflation cannot be taken away from the monetary authority,” C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, told reporters.

The country’s economic problems have been exacerbated by a deadlocked Parliament and the weakness of the ruling Congress Party. Measures that could encourage investment and growth have been stalled by political bickering. Uncoordinated fiscal and monetary policy hasn’t helped either.

India’s economy grew 6.9 percent in the September quarter, the slowest in over two years and industrial output has contracted for the first time in over two years.

Many economists and business people say India needs to enact difficult but crucial reforms to kickstart the economy and reassure investors. Government officials, in contrast, have emphasized the global factors dragging on the investment cycle, and some seem to hope lower interest rates will offer a quick fix instead.

“There is a slowdown across the world,” said Ajay Shankar, secretary of the government’s National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council fast cash without a hassle. “The interest rate should come down. Then you get a better investment climate.”

Thirteen rate hikes since March 2010 haven’t tamed inflation, which has topped 9 percent in 20 of the last 22 months. The central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady this week.

D.K. Joshi, chief economist at research and ratings agency Crisil, said without the Reserve Bank of India’s aggressive rate hikes, inflation would have likely soared above 10 percent.

The central bank’s anti-inflation stance has been weakened by government spending in the run up to important state elections and fuel price hikes, which have been needed to keep the government’s ballooning fuel subsidy bill in check.

“The demand created through government expenditure has offset some of the moves of RBI, that’s having an impact,” Joshi said. “The fuel inflation has been kept suppressed. Now when you have a fiscal burden you have to pass that on to the consumer.”

The rupee has plunged over 20 percent since July and hit a fresh low of 53.76 on Wednesday. That’s bad news for a country that runs a current account deficit and imports about three quarters of its oil. Rising wages and raw material costs have also hit manufacturers.

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The federal government is on pace to run a deficit below $1 trillion for the first time in four years, modest progress in the face of intense debate in Washington over spending.

The Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit was $137 billion in October. That brings the total for the first two months of the budget year to $236 billion _ $55 billion less than the same two months last year.

Still, part of the reason for the lower deficit is an accounting quirk.

And the government is on pace to end the year $973 billion in the red, according to the Congressional Budget Office. While that’s lower than last year’s $1.3 trillion imbalance, it would still be higher than any previous deficit before fiscal year 2009.

The government ran an all-time record deficit of $1.41 trillion in 2009, and a $1.29 trillion imbalance in 2010.

The CBO estimate does not include an extension of the Social Security tax cut and emergency unemployment benefits. Congress is likely to extend both before they expire at the end of the year. That could push the deficit back above $1 trillion if those programs aren’t offset. The two programs are estimated to cost around $200 billion.

A big reason the first two months are lower than last year is an accounting shift. Roughly $31 billion in benefit payments for October went out in late September. Federal benefits are paid on the first day of the month. But because Oct. 1 fell on a Saturday, the payments went out a day earlier and were accounted for in last year’s deficit.

Through, the first two months of this budget year, government spending totals $551.2 billion. That’s down 5.8 percent from a year ago, by mostly reflects the benefit shift.

Government revenues total $315.5 billion. That’s up 4.7 percent from a year ago.

Net interest payments on the government debt continued to be one of the fastest rising categories of government spending. They totaled $44 billion in October and November, up 19.5 percent from the same period a year ago.

A decade ago, the government was running surpluses and trillion-dollar deficits seemed unimaginable. Now, the nation’s public debt is $15 trillion and rising and polls show growing voter anger with the inability of both parties to reach solutions to the country’s budget problems.

A special 12-member committee was unable to reach agreement on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by a November deadline. That means automatic cuts of that amount will begin on Jan. 1, 2013.

Republicans want to modify the timetable for the automatic cuts, largely because it includes steep cuts to the defense budget.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko on Saturday, calling criticism by four other NRC commissioners “a politically motivated witch hunt.”

Reid’s defense of Jaczko, a former Reid aide, went far beyond statements of praise and included a sharp critique of the four NRC commissioners _ including two Democrats.

“It is sad to see those who would place the interests of a single industry over the safety of the American people wage a politically-motivated witch hunt against a man with a proven track record of ensuring that nuclear power is produced as safely and responsibly as possible,” Reid’s office said in a statement Saturday.

The four NRC commissioners said in a letter to the White House that they have “grave concerns” about Jaczko. They said his bullying style is “causing serious damage” to the commission and creating a “chilled work environment at the NRC.”

The letter was written Oct. 13 but was made public late Friday. It stops short of calling for the chairman to resign, but says Jaczko’s actions could adversely affect the agency’s mission to protect health and safety at the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear reactors.

Among other claims, the letter says Jaczko “intimidated and bullied” senior career staff, ordered staff to withhold information and ignored the will of the panel’s majority. The letter was signed by Democrats William Magwood and George Apostolakis, as well as Republicans Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff.

Jaczko, in a detailed response also sent to the White House, said problems at the agency were not his fault but instead stem from “lack of understanding” on the part of the other four commissioners.

Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said Saturday that Jaczko should be fired.

Shimkus, who chairs an Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment and the economy, said President Barack Obama “has a responsibility to correct deficiencies in the executive branch _ and obviously this is a clear deficiency payday loan lenders.” Shimkus led a hearing this spring that centered on Jaczko’s leadership style, and complaints that he is autocratic and ignores his fellow commissioners.

“I would have thought that would have given (Jaczko) an opportunity to kind of turn things around. It seems like things got worse, not better,” Shimkus said.

A spokesman for the White House declined to comment Saturday.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., supported Jaczko, saying Saturday that the NRC needs to move away from a “do nothing” culture.

Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised Jaczko for a “swift and effective response” to Japan’s nuclear crisis and said the NRC commissioners should support Jaczko “as he translates the lessons of Fukushima into an action plan that will make America’s nuclear plants the safest in the world.”

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., also backed Jaczko. Late Friday, Markey made public a 23-page report accusing the four NRC commissioners of trying to impede U.S. nuclear safety reviews after the Japan crisis.

“Instead of doing what they have been sworn to do, these four commissioners have attempted a coup on the chairman and have abdicated their responsibility to the American public to assure the safety of America’s nuclear industry,” said Markey, a longtime nuclear critic.

Jaczko was an aide to Markey before joining Reid’s staff.

The dispute comes after an inspector general’s report released in June exposed long-simmering internal strife under Jaczko. In August, Republican senators asked the inspector general to investigate whether Jaczko had authority to declare the Japan nuclear crisis an emergency _ which grants him additional powers _ since the crisis occurred on foreign soil.

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Wall Street is pointing higher after 23 European nations agreed to tie their economies closer together in hopes of heading off any future debt crisis.

Dow futures rose 0.5 percent to 11,999 before the market opened Friday. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures are up 0.5 percent at 1,236.

The 23 countries, 17 euro zone nations and six prospective members, will try to craft a new treaty that will penalize budgetary offenders that threaten the bloc.

The rising futures are following stock indexes higher in Europe, though they were down from their daily peaks. Germany’s DAX is up 1.5 percent at 5,963 while the CAC-40 in France rose 1.7 percent to 3,148. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares is 1.1 percent lower at 5,484.

The euro is also trading 0.3 percent higher at $1.3384.

Germany and France, the two biggest economies in the eurozone, had hoped to persuade all 27 members of the European Union to back a change to the EU treaty that would impose tight fiscal rules on its members. However, Britain and three others refused to join in.

Many think that a solution to the debt crisis can only come if the European Central Bank takes a more active role, possibly by buying up more government debt in the markets. It currently buys bonds in the markets, but only reluctantly, and in small quantities.

On Thursday the European Central Bank’s president Mario Draghi suggested he had no intention of increasing bond purchases after the bank delivered on market expectations to reduce its main interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1 percent fast cash loans.

Draghi said he was surprised by some interpretations of his comments last week that “additional steps” would be taken if the 17 countries that use the euro agreed to closer budget controls. Germany and France have proposed a plan on closer fiscal unity that will dominate debate at the EU summit of leaders, which starts later Thursday.

Earlier in Asia, stocks were weighed down by an cautious response to the deal.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.5 percent to close at 8,536.46 while South Korea’s Kospi sank 2 percent to close at 1,874.75. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 2.7 percent to end at 18,586.23.

Mainland Chinese shares fell less than other Asian markets after inflation data for November dropped to a less-than-expected 4.2 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.6 percent to close at 2,315.27, while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.9 percent to finish at 961.81.

Oil prices were fairly subdued _ benchmark oil for January delivery rose 16 cents to $98.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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New polymer banknotes demand that all money-handling machines in the country be upgraded at a cost of $75-100 million, the Bank of Canada estimates.

That compares to $20-30 million for the last conversion in 2004-2006, bank spokesperson Julie Girard said Tuesday.

“This transition is going to be a little more involved,” she said in a phone interview.

The new $100 bill came into circulation last month, made of a smooth, film-like polymer material and incorporating such high-tech security features as the world’s first transparent windows with embedded metallic pictures.

The $50 bill goes into circulation in March, the $20 bill late next year, the $10 and $5 in 2013.

Although the currency size remains unchanged, the texture, security enhancements and relative lightness of the new bills necessitate machinery upgrades.

“In Canada, we have 500,000 machines that accept, dispense or sort bank notes,” Girard said. “They include ATMs, parking machines, and sorting machines that banks and financial institutions use — the full gamut.”

Automated Teller Machines, or ATMs, number 75,000 alone, she said.

They don’t usually dispense $100 bills. Nor do automated parking wickets, TTC token dispensers or change-making machines.

So far, the mechanisms affected mainly include institutional ones that count and sort $100 notes. But in the coming months, other money-machine owners will have to adjust, modify, convert or replace their equipment.

“We’ve been working (on this) for more than two years,” Girard said. “People from our regional offices go out every single day to retailers, financial institutions, law-enforcement officers.

“They do presentations at public libraries,” she said. “They talk to the blind and the visually impaired. You can insert these bills in a banknote reader and it will read out what the denomination is.”

While upgrade costs might appear steep, the polymer bills generate savings in other areas, Girard said.

Staying with the familiar cotton-paper blend to execute the high-security features would have cost $200 million more than by using polymer, the bank estimates.

Being more durable, the new bills are expected to last two-and-a-half times longer than existing ones — at least seven years.

That means savings on production costs as well as on costs to transport replacement bills across the country, especially as the new bills are 10 per cent lighter than the old ones, Girard said.

Thwarting counterfeiters also implies savings for police and courts, the bank says.

The showcase security feature — a world first — is the large see-through window running vertically toward the right on the face side, next to the portrait of former prime minister Sir Robert Borden on the $100 bill.

A smaller, metallic portrait of Sir Robert and a metallic picture of the Parliament buildings embedded in the window can be seen equally from the face and reverse sides of the bill.

The metallic Sir Robert reflects rainbow colours when tipped in the light. The metallic Parliament, created using different technology, does not reflect light in the same way.

About 30 other countries issue polymer currency, Girard said. Some also have a window, but not as large a window as the Canadian one and the metallic pictures count as a world first.

Sooner or later, counterfeiters are expected to catch up to the bank’s technologists. The new series is given a lifespan of eight years, when machine upgrades must begin again.

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Stock indexes gave back some of their gains Monday and the euro turned lower against the dollar following a report that Germany and five other major European nations could risk having their credit ratings downgraded.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped as much as 167 points Monday but gave up more than half of that gain in the afternoon. The Financial Times reported that Standard & Poor’s might put the six nations on “creditwatch negative,” which means there is a 50-50 chance that one might be downgraded in the coming months.

The Dow and S&P 500 rose in early trading on hopeful signs that Europe was making progress toward preventing a breakup of its 17-nation currency union. Yields on Italian government bonds receded sharply after the new government of Mario Monti introduced sweeping austerity measures over the weekend.

Also, the leaders of France and Germany called for a new European treaty to prevent nations from running up big debts like the ones that pushed Greece and other weak countries to the brink of default.

“There’s pent-up demand, and people will use any excuse to get back in, thinking there’s been too much pessimism,” Gendreau said. Despite strong signals about the U.S. economy, the market has been weighed down by negative headlines about the U.S. budget impasse, credit-rating downgrades of the U.S. and other nations, and Europe’s spreading crisis, Gendreau said.

The Dow was up 70 points, or 0.6 percent, at 12,089 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 12, or 1 percent, to 1,256. The Nasdaq composite index rose 28, or 1.1 percent, to 2,655.

The gains were broad. All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose. Financials stocks were among the biggest winners. Investors have feared that U.S. banks might be dragged down by their close connections to the unstable European financial system.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. jumped 3.5 percent, the most in the Dow. Bank of America was the second-biggest gainer of the Dow 30, rising 3.2 percent. Citigroup Inc. rose 5.7 percent, Morgan Stanley 6.1 percent.

Investors are hoping that a summit of European leaders on Thursday and Friday will produce concrete measures to prevent a messy breakup of the euro currency, which is shared by 17 nations. Markets have been jittery because of fears that the euro might disintegrate, causing a sharp recession in Europe that would spread through the world economy.

While the statements from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were far from a long-term solution, investors are eager to buy on any hint of good news because they have been earning meager returns from relatively low-risk investments such as Treasurys and CDs, said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist with Cetera Financial Group instant payday loans.

Italian bond yields dropped to their lowest level in a month, a day after the nation’s new government introduced austerity measures. That suggests traders believe that Italy is far less likely to default. The main Italian stock index jumped 2.9 percent.

Italy’s borrowing costs pulled back from a level that might have forced the nation to default. Analysts say bailing out Italy would be too costly and would hurt the credit standing of German and France, which have the strongest economies in the euro group.

The yield on the 10-year Italian bond plunged half a percentage point to 5.93 percent. It rose above 7 percent last month, a level at which other nations were forced to take bailouts. By comparison, bond yields in Germany, Europe’s largest and most stable economy, are roughly 2 percent.

Monday’s strong gains follow the best week in more than two years for U.S. stock indexes. The S&P 500 rose 7.4 percent last week, the most since March 2009. The Dow jumped 7 percent, the most since July 2009.

Markets are hopeful that, given the gravity of the situation afflicting the euro zone, the German and French leaders will come up with a common proposal for tighter integration on budget matters. Analysts say that such a plan could lead to further emergency aid from the European Central Bank, possibly through the International Monetary Fund.

In corporate news:

_ Gannett Co. leapt 11.4 percent after the media company was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” by analysts at Lazard Capital Markets.

_ Incyte Corp. fell 2.7 percent after a Citigroup analyst downgraded the drug maker to “neutral” from “buy,” saying its new blood-disease drug Jakafi might not work as a long-term treatment.

_ SuccessFactors Inc. soared more than 50 percent after the company agreed to be sold to German software company SAP for $3.4 billion. SuccessFactors makes software specializing in human resources tasks. The deal is part of SAP’s plan to compete with software rival Oracle Corp.

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Premier Mario Monti has called a Cabinet meeting in Rome on Sunday to approve emergency austerity and growth measures aimed at saving the euro currency from collapse, his office said in a statement.

The premier, an economist who once was an EU commissioner, is under extreme pressure to come up with speedy and credible measures that will persuade markets to stop betting against the common currency.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Monday, when Monti is also expected to outline the measures to both houses of Parliament on Monday.

The premier has been briefing political parties, unions, business groups and consumer lobbies on his plans over the weekend.

Monti hasn’t disclosed details of his rescue plan, but has said it includes both austerity cuts and measures to boost growth in Italy’s anemic economy. He has promised it would be socially equitable, and that it would go after those who hadn’t paid their share of taxes before

Italian borrowing costs have spiked, which could spell disaster if Italy is unable to keep up on payments to service its enormous debt of euro1.9 trillion ($2.57 trillion), or 120 percent of its GDP.

Unlike Greece, Portugal and Ireland, which got bailouts after their borrowing rates skyrocketed, the eurozone’s third-largest economy is considered to be too big to bail out. An Italian default would be disastrous for the 17-member eurozone and reverberate throughout the global economy.

The head of Italy’s industrial lobby said Sunday that the survival of the common euro currency depends on Italy’s coming up with very strong austerity and growth measures _ followed by a concerted effort at the European level so that Italian sacrifices are not in vain.

The various parties briefed have said the package likely includes reinstating an unpopular home property tax abolished by Berlusconi, raising the sales tax and the income tax at the highest brackets by a few percentage points, and requiring Italians to work more than the 40 years now needed to receive a pension.

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An early rally fizzled on the stock market Friday but still left the Standard & Poor’s 500 index up 7.4 percent for the week, its biggest gain since March 2009.

A surprise drop in the U.S. unemployment rate sent stocks higher in early trading, but the gains faded during the afternoon.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.61 of a point to close at 12,019.42. The Dow ended the week up 7 percent, the largest weekly gain since July 2009.

Bank stocks rose sharply, continuing a weeklong rally. JPMorgan Chase & Co. jumped 6.1 percent, the most among the 30 stocks in the Dow average. Morgan Stanley leapt 6.9 percent, the second-biggest gain of any stock in the S&P 500 index.

European stock indexes and the euro rose after German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a speech pushing for tighter rules on government spending. Merkel said the 17 countries that use the euro must quickly restore market confidence by making financial controls stricter.

Bond yields for Spain and Italy fell, a sign that investors are becoming more confident in the ability of those countries to pay their debt. France’s CAC-40 and Britain’s FT-SE each rose 1.1 percent.

Markets could be in for more volatility next week as European leaders prepare for a summit to propose new measures for containing the crisis.

The Labor Department reported before the market opened that the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, the lowest level in 2 1/2 years. Economists had expected the rate to stay at 9 percent. But a key reason the unemployment rate fell so much was that more than 300,000 people gave up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

The Nasdaq composite index inched up 0.73 to 2,626.93. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.31 of a point to 1,244.28. The S&P surged 7.4 percent over the week, the most since March 2009.

Decisive steps by world leaders to right Europe’s teetering economy sent stocks soaring on Wednesday. The Dow jumped 490 points, its biggest gain since March 2009 and its seventh-largest one-day point gain in history. The weekly point gain of 787 in the Dow was the second-biggest in its history, following a 946-point gain in October 2008.

“This market has been gripped with fear for a long time,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. “And I think some of these fear factors are beginning to dissipate.”

This week’s strong stock performance is partially a reflection of the market’s increased volatility since August, when concerns that Europe’s debt was spinning out of control made dramatic stock price swings the norm. On Monday the S&P 500 broke a 7-day slide that had taken the index down 7.9 percent.

The improvements in the U.S. job market are “another illustration that the US economy is, for now at least, shrugging off the global economic downturn and fears about the collapse of the euro-zone,” Capital Economics Chief U.S. Economist Paul Ashworth said in a note to clients.

Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet Monday to discuss changes to European Union treaties. The talks will culminate in a Dec. 9 summit of EU leaders, where the proposals are expected to be debated and detailed. Analysts say stricter controls on spending could encourage the European Central Bank to offer more short-term help for governments struggling with their debts.

If the European Central Bank takes a larger role in buying government debt, “it will certainly be a relief to markets,” Cardillo said, “and maybe even mean Europe avoids falling into a deep recession. Not that it’s going to cure all the problems of Europe.”

In corporate news:

_ Western Digital Corp. soared 7.5 percent, the most in the S&P. The data storage provider raised its revenue estimate for the current quarter and said that recovery efforts at its facility in Thailand following massive flooding there were proceeding faster than had been expected.

_ Big Lots Inc. slumped 8.7 percent, after the retailer reported a 76 percent plunge in income because of lower margins and a loss related to a newly acquired Canadian business. The company buys overstocked items including food and housewares and sells them at a discount.

_ H&R Block Inc. fell 6.4 percent. The country’s largest tax-preparation company reported a wider quarterly loss late Thursday. H&R Block also said there was a jump in claims tied to bad loans made by its former subprime mortgage unit.

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A U.S. trade envoy has accused China’s government of increasing its role in the economy in violation of its free-trade pledges and he appealed to Beijing to reconsider its embrace of “state capitalism.”

The comments reflect a harder U.S. tone toward Beijing amid disputes over market access for banking and other services and complaints China is supporting its producers of solar power and other technology despite promising to allow free competition.

In a speech this week, the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization cited a “troubling trend” of increased Chinese government intervention in the economy over the past five years despite its WTO commitments to open its markets.

The ambassador, Michael Punke, made the comments Wednesday in Geneva, according to a transcript on the website of the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. He was speaking at a WTO meeting for the tenth and final annual review of China’s compliance with its WTO obligations since it joined the body in 2001.

“China seems to be embracing state capitalism more strongly each year, rather than continuing to move toward the economic reform goals that originally drove its pursuit of WTO membership,” he said. “This is a troubling development, and the United States urges the Chinese government to reconsider the path it is on.”

During a trip through Asia last month, President Barack Obama called on Beijing to show more maturity in its economic relations with other nations.

“Increasingly, trade frictions with China can be traced to China’s pursuit of industrial policies that rely on trade-distorting government actions to promote or protect China’s state-owned enterprises and domestic industries,” Punke said.

China’s trade and economy have grown rapidly since 2001, propelling it past Japan as the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States and financing a military buildup that has alarmed its neighbors.

On Wednesday, China’s Defense Ministry criticized Washington’s strengthened military pact with Australia as a throwback to “Cold War thinking.”

Beijing has alarmed foreign companies by unveiling initiatives to build up state-owned corporate champions in an array of fields from telecommunications to wind energy.

Business groups complain Beijing appears to be trying to squeeze foreign companies out of its clean energy and other promising industries. They have questioned whether the communist government wants to live up to pledges to allow foreign companies to compete on an equal footing with Chinese rivals.

Punke said that in its first five years of WTO membership, Beijing took “impressive steps” to reduce tariffs, eliminate trade barriers and improve protection for intellectual property rights.

But he noted complaints that Beijing tries to intimidate foreign companies, threatening to retaliate if they speak up about problematic policies or cooperate with their governments in challenging them.

Punke complained that Beijing appears to resort to trade actions in response to legitimate steps by the United States and other trading partners under their trade laws.

Last month, China launched a probe of U.S. government support for its solar, wind and other renewable energy industries after American authorities agreed to investigate a complaint by a group of companies that Beijing improperly subsidizes exports of solar panels and hurts foreign competitors.

“This type of conduct is at odds with fundamental principles of the WTO’s rules-based system,” Punke said.

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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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