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The Federal Reserve’s announcement that it is unlikely to raise its benchmark interest rate until late 2014 is simply its “best guess,” Ben Bernanke said Wednesday.

The Fed chairman made clear during a news conference Wednesday that the decision to leave interest rates unchanged for three more years was not ironclad.

The central bank’s ability to forecast that far out is limited, Bernanke says, and the Fed could adjust the time frame for when it will raise rates if economic conditions change.

Still, he said the U.S. economy remains weak and that all signs suggest the Fed won’t change its record-low rate for another three years.

“Unless there is a substantial strengthening of the economy in the near term, it’s a pretty good guess we will be keeping rates low for some time,” Bernanke said after the Fed concluded its two-day policy meeting.

The central bank has kept its key rate at a record low near zero for about three years.

Bernanke also said the Fed has not ruled out bolder steps to boost economic growth, such as a third round of bond purchases.

“If inflation is going to remain below target for an extended period and unemployment progress is very slow … there is a case for additional policy action,” he said.

“I would not say we are out of ammunition no teletrack payday loan. We still have tools.”

Prior to the news conference, the Fed downgraded its outlook for U.S. economic growth this year. It forecasts the economy to grow between 2.2 percent and 2.7 percent in 2012, according to its updated economic forecasts. That’s down from November’s forecast of between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent.

Many economists expect Europe will suffer a recession this year, which will slow U.S. growth.

Still, the Fed said it expects unemployment to fall low as 8.2 percent. That’s an improvement from November’s bottom rate of 8.5 percent.

In December, the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent _ the lowest level in nearly three years _ after the sixth straight month of solid hiring.

Inflation has been relatively tame and the Fed doesn’t see that changing over the next three years.

Bernanke refused to answer a question asking whether he would resign if one of his Republican critics is elected president.

“As long as I have a job to do, I’m going to do everything to help the Federal Reserve. That’s my answer,” he said.

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Provides fast cash advance payday loans nationwide with no credit checks required.

Kia has announced the recall of nearly 146,000 vehicles with faulty airbag systems.

The models affected are the 2006-2008 Kia Optima and the 2007-2008 Kia Rondo. Due to a flawed spring system that may become damaged over time, the driver’s side airbag in these cars may not deploy properly in the event of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a recall alert.

Kia reported the problem last week, and the recall is expected to begin in March, NHTSA said. Customers affected can have the problem fixed at dealerships free of charge.

Kia said in a statement that it was not aware of any injuries or airbag non-deployments associated with the problem to date payday loans. The issue was discovered "as a result of the regular monitoring of field data to ensure product quality," the company said.

For more information, car owners can contact NHTSA’s vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or visit www.safecar.gov. They can also call Kia’s Consumer Assistance Center at 1-800-333-4542 

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Payday loans can be risky because of the chance of identity theft. It is important to make sure that payday loan lenders are legitimate.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said monetary policy has influenced inflation and price expectations, even with the benchmark interest rate near zero since December 2008.

European stocks rose on Friday as investors set aside concerns about the euro’s debt crisis to focus on the impending release of monthly U.S. jobs data, which many hope will confirm a mild recovery in the world’s largest economy.

Asian market indexes closed lower as they reacted to poor economic and financial indicators out of Europe the previous day. That stream of poor European data continued on Friday, with new information showing a drop in retail sales and economic sentiment among consumers and businesses. Unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone, meanwhile, remained at a worrying 10.3 percent.

Traders expect 2012 to be a tough one for Europe, as it slides back toward recession, and appeared relieved to have more upbeat U.S. economic indicators to focus on Friday.

Analysts are projecting hiring gains of about 150,000 when the U.S. Labor Department issues the December jobs report. That would mark a six-month stretch in which the economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month. Expectations of the data rose on Thursday, when the private payrolls agency ADP said its own calculations for hiring gains were much stronger than forecast.

An improvement in the U.S. labor market is crucial for global markets because American consumer spending accounts for a fifth of the world’s economic activity. A recovery in the U.S. would also mitigate the impact of the sharp slowdown in Europe.

Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent to 5,644.55, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.6 percent to 6,131.25. France’s CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent to 3,170.85. Ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street, Dow Jones futures rose almost 0.1 percent to 12,334 and S&P 500 futures gained 0.1 percent to 1,274.50.

Although upbeat U.S. data could push stocks higher, gains were likely to be limited by the lingering fears about Europe’s debt crisis. Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond yield edged further above 7 percent, a borrowing rate that is considered unsustainable over the longer term.

Italy, along with many other European governments, has to roll over huge amounts of debt in coming months. It is trying to restore investor confidence in its public finances to get those bond yields down and pay lower rates when it auctions its bonds to raise cash from capital markets.

Traders will watch comments from Italian Premier Mario Monti, who will hold talks in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday.

Banks, meanwhile, are hurting due to fears that they will take big losses on their holdings of government debt and will struggle to raise new cash to plug those holes.

Trading in UniCredit, Italy’s largest bank, was halted on Thursday after the stock lost a quarter of its value in two days. The bank said Wednesday it would need to offer huge discounts to investors to raise money in a new share sale. The stock was down another 11 percent on Friday.

Longer-term concerns about the euro and the region’s financial system pushed the common currency to 15-month lows on Thursday. It recovered slightly on Friday, rising 0.1 percent to $1.2808.

Outside the eurozone, Hungary was sliding deeper into its own financial crisis. It had to pay a staggeringly high interest rate of 10 percent on its 12-month debt. That is far above the 7 percent level that forced Greece and Portugal to seek emergency bailouts to prevent them from defaulting on their debts.

Investor confidence in the country has deteriorated to the point that the country is considering asking the International Monetary Fund for a standby rescue loan.

Asian indexes ended mostly lower as they reacted to the previous day’s European market jitters. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index closed 1.2 percent lower at 8,390.35. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.2 percent at 18,593.06 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.1 percent to 1,843.14. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Indonesia also fell. India and Singapore rose.

In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 2,163.39, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 817.78.

Japanese stocks are hurt by the yen’s rise against the dollar, which makes exports less competitive internationally. On Friday, the dollar dropped another 0.1 percent to 77.07 yen.

Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 60 cents to $102.41 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $1.41 to end Thursday at $101.81 in New York.

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Apple Inc. won a small victory on Friday in its global patent battle with rival Samsung, after Australia’s highest court temporarily extended a ban on sales of Samsung’s Galaxy tablet computers in the country.

Samsung Electronics Co. is desperate to begin selling the Galaxy in Australia in time for Christmas sales, but the High Court’s decision means the device can’t go on the market until at least Dec. 9.

Apple took Samsung to court in Australia after accusing the Suwon, South Korea-based company of copying its iPad and iPhone. In October, a Federal Court judge ordered Samsung to halt sales of the device ahead of a trial. Samsung appealed, and on Wednesday, a full bench of the Federal Court threw out the earlier ruling and said Galaxy sales could resume on Friday.

But Apple immediately appealed that decision to the High Court, which on Friday said the temporary injunction against sales would be extended for another week while it considers Apple’s latest arguments.

“Samsung believes Apple has no basis for its application for leave to appeal and will vigorously oppose this to the High Court,” Samsung said in a statement.

The legal back-and-forth is all part of a larger, international battle over the technology giants’ competing tablets. Cupertino, California-based Apple struck first when it sued Samsung in the United States in April, alleging the product design, user interface and packaging of the Galaxy “slavishly copy” the iPhone and iPad. Samsung hit back with lawsuits accusing Apple of patent infringement of its wireless telecommunications technology.

The companies have now filed lawsuits in 10 countries. Courts in several nations, including Germany and the Netherlands, have issued rulings that favor Apple.

Apple spokeswoman Fiona Martin declined to comment on Friday’s ruling, instead issuing a general statement blasting Samsung.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” Apple said in the statement. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

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Egypt’s central bank has raised interest rates for the first time in three years. It follows months of political unrest that have led to an economic slowdown, putting the country’s currency under pressure.

The bank said in a statement posted late Thursday that its Monetary Policy Committee decided to raise the overnight deposit rate by 1 percentage point to 9.25 percent.

Also, it raised the overnight lending rate 0.5 percentage points to 10.25 percent and the 7-day repo by 0 bad credit payday advance.5 percentage points to 9.75 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s ratings agency on Thursday pushed Egypt’s sovereign credit ratings deeper into junk status, citing the country’s deteriorating fiscal situation.

Egypt’s last interest rate hike came in September 2008.

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Italian Premier Mario Monti urged lawmakers Friday to not “pull the plug” on his government before elections in 2013, no matter how politically painful the measures in his plan to save Italy from its debt crisis.

Monti also told the lower Chamber of Deputies ahead of a confidence vote in his new government that he would travel to Brussels next week to the European Commission and would meet with the French and German leaders to map out strategy.

“The job that I have had the honor of receiving is nearly impossible, but we will succeed,” Monti said.

On Thursday, Monti’s government won a confidence vote 281-25 in the Senate after he warned all Italians would need to make sacrifices to get the country out of its massive debt hole.

Monti is under enormous pressure to boost growth and bring down Italy’s high debt, which at 120 percent of GDP is among the highest in the eurozone. The aim is not only to save Italy from succumbing to the debt crisis but to prevent a catastrophic disintegration of the common euro currency.

Monti told lawmakers his strategy had three main pillars: Budgetary rigor, economic growth and social fairness. He pledged to reform the pension system, re-impose a tax on homes annulled by Berlusconi’s government, fight tax evasion, streamline civil court proceedings, get more women and youth into the work force and cut political costs.

On Friday, his remarks were more aimed at answering lingering doubts among those who voted against his government, have conditioned their approval on how long it lasts, or took to the streets Thursday to protest his cabinet of bankers, university professors and CEOs.

“We won’t be around for long,” Monti said. “We won’t last a minute longer than the time this parliament gives us their confidence.”

But he stressed that he never would have gathered together such a high-caliber government if the intent wasn’t to govern until the natural end of the legislative term, in spring 2013. He has said anything less than that would undermine the government’s credibility.

While acknowledging the absolute dependence of his government on parliament, he jokingly asked to avoid using terms like “pull the plug” because it implied the government was some kind of an “artificial lung” when in fact it is leading the country through a profound crisis online payday loan lenders.

“We’re not asking for blind trust, but vigilant trust,” Monti said.

But he also issued a warning of sorts, noting the sense of desperation among ordinary Italians about Italy’s economic mess: “In giving us confidence or taking it away, you must also realize the consequences for yourselves among Italians.”

It was a clear message to Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, which has said it would only support Monti’s government for as long as needed to pass the measures demanded by the EU.

Party secretary Angelino Alfano told state television Thursday that the party hadn’t given Monti a deadline. “But what is certain is that we are making the link between the government and its program, and once the program is finished we’re heading to the polls.”

Europe has already bailed out three small countries _ Greece, Ireland and Portugal _ but the Italian economy, the third-largest in the 17-nation eurozone, is too big for Europe to rescue. Borrowing costs on 10-year Italian bonds were at 6.75 percent Friday, after spiking briefly over 7 percent Thursday, a level that forced those other countries into bailouts.

In a conference call Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Monti agreed that their countries have a special responsibility to the eurozone as its three largest economies and founding members of the European Union.

Monti said his meeting with Sarkozy and Merkel would mark the start of “a permanent Italian contribution to the solution of the debt problem.”

Still, it’s not clear how many sacrifices Italians are willing or able to make. Students demonstrated across the country on Thursday under the banner: “Save the schools, not the banks.”

Monti’s ambitious plans overhaul just about every aspect of the Italian economy _ from the organization of local governments to the selection process for teachers. Monti indicated he would seek to lower taxes on labor, while raising those on consumption. And he pledged measures _ such as setting a limit on cash transactions _ to tackle tax evasion, which he estimated is worth 20 percent of GDP.

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Valero Energy Corp. says its profit quadrupled in the third quarter as it cut raw material costs while the price of gasoline and other fuels increased. Valero also boosted production.

America’s largest oil refiner on Tuesday reported net income of $1.2 billion, or $2.11 per share, for the three-month period ended Sept. 30. That compares with $292 million, or 51 cents per share, for the same part of 2010.

Revenue increased 60.4 percent to $33.7 billion in the quarter business card.

Analysts expect Valero to earn $1.80 per share on revenue of $31.4 billion, according to FactSet.

The San Antonio company said that it focused on using light-sweet oil varieties that were cheaper than others. While its raw material costs fell, gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices rose.

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From Europe to the Bank of Canada to Bay Street, investors can expect a week of announcements and forecasts that could provide a clearer picture of where the economy is headed.

Bank of Canada: On Tuesday, the central bank will give its latest decision on interest rates. Governor Mark Carney is expected to leave rates unchanged for the ninth consecutive time. But the statement that accompanies the decision will be closely scrutinized for discussion of where the world economy is headed, as well as inflation in Canada.

What

Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 rich and developing nations were wrangling Friday over whether the eurozone should pick up the whole bill for its escalating debt crisis, or whether the rest of the world should help out more.

The International Monetary Fund _ the world’s lender of last resort for cash-strapped countries _ has until now funded about a third of the cost of the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. But while some, including the United States, are arguing that Europe has more than enough money to spend its way out of the crisis, others are pushing for more support as the currency union’s debt troubles risk dragging the world economy back into recession.

Over recent days, markets have been buoyed by hopes that the 17 countries that use the euro will sort out key aspects of a more aggressive solution to their debt crisis in time for an EU summit Oct. 23 and a Group of 20 meeting in early November.

However, the cost of any such deal is going to be extremely costly. As well as shoring up Europe’s weaker banks, the markets are hoping the eurozone will unveil a strategy that will be enough to stop large economies like Italy and Spain from joining the bailout club.

To do that, the region’s bailout fund, the euro440 billion ($608 billion) European Financial Stability Facility, will soon start buying their bonds on the open market _ the hope is that will support their prices and keep a lid on their borrowing costs to allow them to carry on funding themselves in the markets.

But most economists, and a growing number of European officials, believe that the EFSF is way too small to stabilize both countries and recapitalize banks in other cash-strapped countries.

While the eurozone is working on ways to maximize the impact of its limited resources, there is a growing drive to get the IMF to stump up more cash. However, any attempt to get the IMF to play a more hands-on approach, by possibly joining the EFSF in bond market interventions, is likely to meet with some resistance as well as require changes to the IMF’s legal framework.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner indicated Friday that he was in favor of maintaining IMF support, but stressed that Europe had enough money to resolve its troubles on its own payday loans. He also opposed beefing up the IMF’s resources, as might be required if the fund was to take on a more active role.

“The IMF has very, very substantial uncommitted resources because of the actions we took in ‘09 and 2010,” Geithner said in an interview on CNBC. “If Europe has a comprehensive strategy in place that looks like it makes sense and is using the very ample financial resources of Europe, then we’re happy to see the IMF play a continuing role, as it’s been playing in supporting what the Europeans are doing.”

The pressure on Europe to finally get a grip on its debt crisis has ratcheted up in recent weeks amid signs that it’s taking its toll on the global economy. Trouble in Europe’s banks could have spillover effects all round the financial system, similar to what happened after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

“We have lost a million jobs, we have lost on the revenue side and the current events actually create greater uncertainty and lack of confidence, so it is absolutely crucial, that both, as the G20, but certainly as Europe, that we get a higher level of decisiveness in terms of resolving this crisis,” South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan told The Associated Press Friday.

Gordhan also appeared somewhat more open to a larger role of the IMF in Europe.

“It is about getting ahead of the curve and developing the financial firepower, which would enable Europe to assure the rest of the world that either on its own, through the EFSF, or with the IMF, they are able to actually contain this contagion,” he said.

Officials warned not to expect too much of the meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bankers in Paris. The get-together is a stop on the road to a meeting of EU leaders on Oct. 23, when the eurozone is expected to present its new and improved crisis strategy, and a G-20 summit of leaders in Cannes in early November.

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Sarah DiLorenzo contributed to this story.

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