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Greek party leaders are to resume power-sharing talks Monday as negotiations to create a government drag into a second week, raising the specter of fresh elections that could threaten the crisis-stricken country’s international bailout and its membership of the euro.

President Karolos Papoulias has summoned party leaders back to negotiations at 7:30 p.m. (1630GMT), after talks on Sunday failed to lead to the creation of a coalition government.

The conservatives New Democracy party won May 6 general elections, but the poll failed to produce an outright winner. The second-placed left wing party, Syriza, has refused to join a coalition, demanding that the terms of an international bailout be scrapped or radically renegotiated.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras will not attend Monday’s meeting, party officials said.

“They are looking for an accomplice to continue their catastrophic work _ we will not help them,” Panos Skourletis, a spokesman for the party, told Mega television.

The political turmoil has taken a toll on markets across Europe, with shares on the Athens Stock Exchange 3.5 percent lower at 590.38 in midday trading.

“Voices of support (in Europe) to Greece … are becoming fewer and fewer, while there is a frenetic increase of those that are predicting the country’s exit from the euro,” an editorial in Greece’s top-selling Ta Nea said. “The dramatic drop in state revenues during the election campaign and the serious souring of the atmosphere in Europe toward Greece mean that after almost certain repeat elections there will be a need for even tougher austerity measures.”

Greece’s two traditionally dominant parties, New Democracy and the Socialist PASOK were hammered on May 6, as the bailed-out country suffers through a fifth year of recession, with more than one in five Greeks out of work.

Since the election, Syriza has gained support, and in a survey published Monday led with a projected 20.5 percent of public support, pushing New Democracy to second place with 19.4 percent, while PASOK was third with 11.8 percent. No margin of error was given in the Rass poll of 1,002 people, conducted May 10-11 for the Eleftheros Typos newspaper.

New Democracy and PASOK could form a government without Syriza, but the small Democratic Left party that would provide the required support is insisting that such a coalition would be unworkable.

“The president has invited us to a new meeting and I will attend,” Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis told Antenna television. “I will repeat my position, that without the participation of the second largest party, the government would not have sufficient popular and parliamentary support.

Shut out of main debt markets, Greece is surviving on rescue loans from other euro countries and the International Monetary Fund, who have repeatedly warned that payments will only continue if the country continues its draconian cost-cutting program.

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South Korean producer-price inflation cooled to the slowest pace in 26 months on a decline in meat and fish costs, according to a report released two days before a monetary-policy meeting.

Prices climbed 2.4 percent in April from a year earlier, the smallest gain since February 2010, after a 2.8 percent increase in March, the Bank of Korea said in a statement in Seoul today. Prices fell 0.1 percent from March.

Hundreds of Japanese are marching and waving “No nukes” banners to celebrate the last of this nation’s 50 nuclear reactors switching off.

The crowd at a Tokyo park Saturday said they were not concerned about government warnings of power shortages.

One of three reactors at Tomari nuclear plant in the northern island of Hokkaido is going offline for routine maintenance checks.

After last year’s March 11 quake and tsunami set off meltdowns at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, no reactor stopped for checkups has gone back up personal business card. Japan requires new tests on withstanding quakes and tsunamis, and it needs local residents’ approval to restart reactors.

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For most of its 63 years, Cutco Cutlery has sold its knives and kitchen tools through a network of sales representatives doing in-home visits where they demonstrate, among other things, how the company’s shears can cut through a penny.

But earlier this month, the largest kitchen cutlery manufacturer in North America took a step toward a gradual paradigm shift for the company: It opened a retail store in a shopping strip in Creve Coeur. It is the New York-based company’s fourth physical store — and could be followed by dozens more nationwide.

“It could be 50 — it could be 150,” said Tim McCreadie, a Cutco executive spearheading the store expansion. “We just don’t know at this point. We’re still in the learning stage. We’re new to retail.”

Company officials say they chose the St. Louis region for one of the first stores because it’s the company’s fifth most productive sales unit and has an estimated 130,000 customers in the area who have bought Cutco knives over the years.

The local office, by the way, also has some of the company’s top salespeople, including one man who holds the all-time record of more than $3 million in sales.

So why after so many years doing business the same way has Cutco finally decided to branch out into retail stores?

Well, most of the company’s sales force is made up of college students who sell the products during their summer breaks, McCreadie said. When those students graduate, customers can lose touch with the company.

“We have over 15 million Cutco customers in the U.S.,” he said recently while giving a tour of the store at 11641 Olive Boulevard. “So we had all of these Cutco customers that wanted their products serviced and even wanted to buy more products, but didn’t have a gateway to be able to do that.”

Still, the company has been testing the retail waters slowly, careful to make sure the stores don’t cannibalize sales of its representatives. But so far, McCreadie said, so good.

Sales have been up. And about 95 percent of people who visit the stores are already Cutco customers, he said. They either come in to get their knives sharpened or replaced as part of the company’s “forever” guarantee or stop by to find out about new products.

An added benefit is that the stores are a good way to build more excitement about the brand among sales representatives, some of whom may not be familiar with the company when they first start, he said.

Next on the horizon for Cutco is online sales. Other companies with similar business models such as Avon and Pampered Chef have made the leap. There’s no timetable for Cutco to do so, but McCreadie said the company is gearing up for the transition while also trying to ensure that the company doesn’t lose its reputation for great service.

W. Scott Downey, a Purdue University professor who has incorporated Cutco’s model into his sales classes for years, said the company has stayed true to its mission of making a direct connection with its customers payday loans in one hour. So it has been slow to go online where that personal touch can be lost, he said.

But he added that online is a natural progression for Cutco. After all, customers have been able to buy products over the phone through Cutco for some time now.

“They’ve been very careful, which I think is a tribute to them,” Downey said. “They’re a pretty conservative company. That personal connection is really important to them.”

Amy Robinson, spokeswoman for the trade group Direct Selling Association, said a number of direct selling companies have some sort of online component. But online sales haven’t replaced those companies’ reliance on sales representatives, she said.

“When the Internet was first becoming popular, a lot of people said, ‘Gosh, who needs direct sellers now?’” she said. “But that’s a wholly different sales model. The sales force is the backbone of these companies.”

And a lot of these products do better by demonstration — such as the Tupperware’s famous burping technique — which doesn’t resonate the same way when someone just sees it on a shelf, she said.

Over the years, Cutco and its sales division, Vector Marketing, have occasionally come under fire from college students who have complained about everything from recruiting tactics on college campuses to the $150 deposit sales reps had to put down to get a starter kit to use for demonstrations. (Cutco sets sell for between $399 and $1,999 with individual knives starting at $50.)

But a couple years ago, Cutco did away with the deposit fee. McCreadie said the company did so to remove a possible barrier of entry for college students.

As a result, the company has also stepped up its screening process to make sure recruits are serious about selling the products since they’re now giving the kits on loan for free, said Justin Donald, a Cutco division manager.

With jobs hard to come by these days, Donald said he is getting more inquiries than ever. The local office has between 30 and 50 active sales reps throughout the year. But that sales force swells to more than 100 during the summer when college students join the ranks, Donald said.

Of course, selling is not everyone, which some students quickly find out. That’s one of the reasons Purdue’s Downey has students sell Cutco products as part of his class to show them what it’s really like to work in sales.

“In many ways, it’s an emotional business,” he said. “It’s difficult for customers to tell you no, so we want students to have that experience.”

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Asian stock markets rebounded Wednesday after a slew of solid earnings boosted the outlook for U.S. companies and a successful Spanish bond auction eased worries over Europe’s debt crisis.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.7 percent to 9,622.39. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.9 percent to 2,003.03 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2 percent to 4,339.40.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.9 percent to 20,750.55. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia also rose.

On Tuesday, European stocks had their best day in four months after Spain attracted strong investor interest at an auction of two-year debt.

The government sold more than (EURO)3.2 billion ($4.2 billion) in short-term debt, more than had been expected, and the yield on Spain’s 10-year government bond fell, a sign of improving confidence in the country’s finances.

“This saw investors less pessimistic about Europe and lifted risk assets all round,” said Stan Shamu, analyst with IG Markets in Melbourne.

In the U.S., first-quarter results gave markets a lift. Coca-Cola’s profit was better than Wall Street analysts had forecast. Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson also posted strong results.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1 bad credit payday advance.5 percent to 13,115.54, its best day in a month. The S&P 500 closed up 1.6 percent to 1,390.78. The Nasdaq composite index soared 1.8 percent to 3,042.82, its biggest point rise in three weeks.

Positive news also came from the International Monetary Fund, which raised its outlook for the global economy because of faster U.S. growth and a coordinated effort in Europe to address its debt crisis.

The global lending organization said Tuesday the U.S. economy should expand 2.1 percent this year. Europe will likely shrink 0.3 percent and the world economy should grow 3.5 percent. All three estimates are slightly better than the IMF’s January forecasts.

Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 3 cents to $104.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.27 to settle at $104.20 in New York on Tuesday.

In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3111 from $1.3139 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar rose to 81.37 yen from 80.80 yen.

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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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Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. is raising its quarterly dividend by 7 percent to 56.2 cents.

The Cincinnati company had been paying a quarterly dividend of 52.5 cents. It pays dividends on common shares certain preferred shares. Its next dividend is payable May 15 to shareholders of record as of April 27.

Procter & Gamble makes Tide laundry detergent, Crest toothpaste, Pampers diapers, and other products.

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J.C. Penney Co.’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Dastugue will leave the company Friday in the wake of a broader shakeup of the department store operator’s business.

The company said Wednesday that Chief Operating Officer Michael Kramer will serve as interim CFO while it looks for a permanent replacement.

Kramer joined J.C. Penney in December, after serving for three years and president and CEO of Kellwood Co. He was also executive vice president and CFO at Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and served as CFO of Apple’s retail division.

The announcement comes less than a week after J.C. Penney said it laid off 600 workers, or 13 percent of the staff at its headquarters in Plano, Texas, as the company looks to streamline its operations. It will also eliminate 300 more jobs at its customer call center in Pittsburgh when it closes the center July 1.

The company’s new CEO, former Apple Inc. executive Ron Johnson, is transforming every aspect of Penney’s business, from pulling back on constant promotions to rethinking the brands it carries. Johnson became CEO on Nov. 1.

In recent years Penney has suffered because its core middle-income customers have been among those hardest hit by the weak economy. It’s also lagged behind rivals like Macy’s Inc. making its stores fun places to shop. In its latest fiscal year ended Jan. 28, Penney reported a loss of $152 million on revenue of $17.26 billion. That compares with a profit of $389 million on revenue of $17.76 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue at stores open at least a year, considered a key indicator of a retailer’s health, rose a slim 0.2 percent for the latest fiscal year. Rival Macy’s Inc. enjoyed a 5.3 percent increase.

J.C. Penney has 1,100 stores. Its stock added $1.03, or 3.1 percent, to $34.24 in midday trading. Over the past year, the shares have traded between $23.44 and $43.18.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke called for new steps to curb