Professional Business Network

AP Photo Peter Tuchman, a trader with Quattro M Securities, works from a handheld computer during the first day of trading at the New York Stock Market on Tuesday.

AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — The stock market got a big jump on a better year.

Stocks rose sharply Tuesday in the first trading of 2012 after investors returned from the holiday and found encouraging economic reports from the United States and around the world.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 179.82 points, or 1.4 percent, to 12,397.38, its highest close in more than five months.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, a broader gauge of the overall market than the Dow, finished up almost 20 points at 1,277. T

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Libya’s central bank and a subsidiary are expected to have UN sanctions against them lifted on Friday in a move to ease a cash crunch since the country’s civil war ended, diplomats said on Wednesday.

They said the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB), an offshore institution wholly owned by the central bank, would be taken off the Security Council’s sanctions list unless there were objections from council members.

When a rebellion broke out in February against strongman Muammar Gaddafi, the Security Council froze Libyan assets abroad estimated at $150-billion, but the bulk of that sum remains beyond the reach of the oil-rich country’s new rulers.

Gaddafi’s 42-year rule ended when his forces fled Tripoli in August, and the last of the fighting in Libya ended in October when he was captured and killed by rebels.

Yet by late November only about $18-billion in seized assets had been released by special provisions of the Security Council’s Libya sanctions committee, and diplomats said only about $3-billion of that had been made available to Tripoli.

Essential move
Last week, senior figures in Libya’s new leadership wrote the committee asking it to delist the central bank and LFB. Read Full Post…

FORWARD Ladies will celebrate Positive Women’s Day in York this month, with a full day of personal development for professional women.

The event on Tuesday, at the Catalyst Innovation Centre at the University of York campus, will cover topics including social media, blogging for business, sales, marketing, branding, confidence building, and personal presentations.

Etta Cohen, of Forward Ladies said: “We have run Positive Women’s Days in other parts of the region and they have been hugely successful. We recognise that the current economic climate is putting tremendous pressure on small businesses and we wanted to support business and professional women in York to help them gain new skills to make them more competitive in the business market.”

Positive Women’s Days are open to all professional women, whether members of Forward Ladies or not.

Shoppers line up and wait to get into an Abercrombie & Fitch store in New York City.

AP Photos Shoppers gaze through windows at a Teuscher Chocolatier in Rockefeller Center in New York. The crowds, congestion, heavy bags and “Jingle Bells” for the umpteenth time are all unavoidable parts of the holiday experience if you do your shopping in the old-school, brick-and-mortar way.

Shoppers line up and wait to get into an Abercrombie & Fitch store in New York City.

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Rating agency Moody’s downgrading of South Africa’s credit rating outlook was wrong, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Friday. Read Full Post…

HALF-TERM and the fascinating Illuminating York festival have ensured York has been packed with tourists this week.

This year’s show, called Envisions, which aims to tell the story of some of York’s most colourful characters such as Guy Fawkes and Dick Turpin in light and sound, has been lighting up some of the city’s most beautiful attractions.

The main light show is at the Castle Museum, with Clifford’s Tower turning its courtyard into an open-air ballroom, with mirror ball, to set the scene for the views of the illuminated city, and Fairfax House held candlelit performances.

York Minster, which was expecting about 150 visitors on the first night of the festival on Wednesday, said it had 1,700 and other attractions, which have stayed open late to accommodate tourists going on to the festival in the evening, has also reported good figures.

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POTTSTOWN — Motorheads will not have to wait until summer next year to view their favorite vintage during the downtown car shows.

At least not if the Ralph A. Bainbridge has something to say about.

A member of Gospel Riders and a certified motorcycle enthusiast, Bainbridge was before the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority board Thursday to pitch an idea — a Bike Night in downtown Pottstown.

“Bainbridge said like a recent Bike Night in Boyertown, such an event in Pottstown “will bring revenue into town. I g

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