Money world

Federal Reserve policymakers considered a third round of bond purchases at their last meeting, and at least two members said the weakening economy might require it.

In the end, the Fed stopped short of expanding its portfolio of investments. Instead, it opted to shift $400 billion of its investments to try to lower long-term interest rates.

Minutes of the Sept. 20-21 meeting show the two officials, who were not named, were willing to go along with the Fed’s policy action because policymakers did not rule out taking further steps.

In its statement, the central bank also a bleak economic outlook, saying its sees “significant downside risks,” including volatility in overseas markets.

Three members of the committee, all regional bank presidents, dissented from the Fed’s statement for the second straight meeting. That marked the highest level of dissent at the Fed in nearly 20 years.

Chairman Ben Bernanke has acknowledged that the effort would not be a “game-changer.” He said the move could lower long-term interest rates by about one-fifth of a percentage point, during testimony before Congress last week.

But Bernanke also said last week that the economic recovery “is close to faltering.” He said the Fed is prepared to take further steps to support it.

The U.S. economy is barely growing and not producing enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate, which has been stuck at about 9 percent for two years.

In September, employers added 103,000 net jobs. While that was enough to ease recession fears, it takes about 125,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.

Without more jobs and higher pay increases, consumers are likely to keep spending cautiously. Many have already cut back on spending in the face of steeper food and gas prices. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.

Lower rates could help in a number of ways. Homeowners could refinance their mortgages at lower rates, leaving them more money to spend or pay down debt. Businesses could expand or invest at lower costs, allowing some to hire more workers.

But economists doubt the Fed’s latest move will do much because interest rates are already at historic lows. Last week, Freddie Mac said the average rate on the 30-year mortgage fell below 4 percent for the first time ever, to 3.94 percent.

In addition to shuffling its portfolio, the Fed has said it plans to keep short-term rates at record lows until at least mid-2013, assuming the economy remains weak.

The three regional bank presidents also opposed that decision. The dissenters argued that the actions the Fed has taken are raising the risks that inflation, currently at low levels, could become a problem once the economy begins to grow at stronger speeds.

Other Fed officials, however, are pushing for the central bank to do more. Some support a third round of bond buying that would expand the size of the Fed’s already record holdings of Treasury securities. One Fed official, Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, has argued for a change in the Fed’s guidance that would link any pledge to keep rates at low levels until unemployment, currently 9.1 percent, falls below 7.5 percent.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that “if the euro fails, Europe fails.”

But as the debt crisis intensifies, the leader of Europe’s biggest economy is sticking to a course of gradual action that markets are losing faith in and refuses to take the radical measures some say are needed to keep the currency afloat.

Top officials, even in the European Central Bank, have called for a “quantum leap” in tackling the crisis. One option often mentioned by economists is issuing eurobonds, debt backed jointly by all eurozone nations.

But Merkel faces intense pressure at home to not expose her nation any more to the shaky finances of countries like Greece, leaving Germany _ and Europe _ in an uncertain position.

Merkel has so far justified the high cost of bailouts by noting that Germany’s interests as a leading exporter are bound to the wider eurozone. Its banks also are exposed to the fates of the countries.

The strategy she has led Europe to take has been to provide struggling nations with loans, in exchange for tough austerity measures. The powers of the eurozone bailout fund will also be increased to help stabilize debt markets.

But after multiple bailouts _ Greece, Ireland, Portugal and then Greece a second time _ taxpayers in Germany and other Northern European countries are losing confidence in the current crisis management.

And so are markets. Prices in Greek debt markets show investors are all but resigned to the fact the country will default on its debts.

But Merkel has rejected suggestions that more drastic measures might solve the situation. She has brushed away the notion of abandoning Greece to default or creating a full-scale fiscal union, in which German funds would directly plug funding gaps in other countries.

Many people feel the need to believe it “could evaporate with one buzzword _ be it eurobonds or insolvency or other words,” Merkel says. But “that won’t happen.”

She says resolving the crisis will be “a slow, hard road,” involving deficit cuts and economic reform to make stragglers more competitive.

That has dampened investors’ expectations that a change of strategy might be presented at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Wroclaw, Poland, on Friday and Saturday.

Merkel pointed out that even if she were for the introduction of eurobonds, they could be unconstitutional in Germany and require years of renegotiations to European treaties.

Merkel “is between a rock and a hard place,” said Louise Cooper, an analyst at BGC Markets. “Clearly Merkel does not want to be the … chancellor in Germany who was in power when the euro project blew up. But quite what she can do to prevent it, I am not at all sure.”

Prominent authorities, however, have warned Germany and Europe need to make up their mind on what they want the eurozone to be.

Jens Weidmann, the head of Germany’s hawkish central bank and once Merkel’s economic adviser, said there was a choice. On the one hand Europe could have a system under which countries are largely barred from taking responsibility for others’ debts and the markets discipline governments that spend too much. On the other, the region could take “a major leap” toward deeper integration.

“The decision for one of the two paths needs to be taken soon,” Weidmann argued. The current situation, in which government finances are separate but get rescued in times of need, risks failing, he said.

The European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said the eurozone should eventually create a common finance ministry to bind together the nations’ budgets.

Germany, whose political class views itself as a driver of European unity, could hardly countenance the idea of the European project failing _ quite apart from the steep financial costs.

Michael Meister, a leading lawmaker in Merkel’s party, argued against speculating about even a partial eurozone break-up. “It would be an absolute fiasco for an export nation like Germany,” he argued. “We have to consider that we’re discussing not just Greece, but our own economic prospects.”

But Merkel’s conservatives oppose eurobonds, and their junior coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party, is vehemently against them. They argue eurobonds would merely push up financially solid Germany’s lending costs and encourage others to run up more debts, as well as facing legal barriers.

Germany’s main opposition parties _ who currently have a majority in polls _ have advocated at least their limited introduction, arguing that other avenues could be more costly.

But that would likely cause trouble with Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court.

One implication of its recent ruling upholding Berlin’s participation in the bailouts so far was that “participation in an automatic and unmanageable guarantee mechanism, which might include the issuance of eurobonds, is not allowed,” UniCredit analyst Alexander Koch said.

While eurobonds remain off the menu of options to alleviate the crisis, Merkel can expect the main opposition parties’ support, at least for now, in pushing through the steps eurozone leaders have so far agreed on.

Markets will take some comfort in the notion that Germany, while unable to propose a lasting solution, is willing to keep supporting the eurozone’s system of bailouts.

“Germany is the lead actor in this film,” said Cem Ozdemir, a leader of the opposition Greens. “If the lead actor in a film stops playing, then the film’s over.”

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Stocks fell Monday on worries that Greece could be edging closer to defaulting on its debt. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note reached another record low as investors piled into U.S. government debt.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 70 points, or 0.6 percent, to 10,921 at 10:30 a.m. It had been down as many as 135 points shortly after the opening bell.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6, or 0.5 percent, to 1,148.

Technology stocks fared better than the overall market following news of a semiconductor deal. The Nasdaq fell less than point to 2,467.

Worries over Europe’s debt crisis drove traders into Treasurys, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to 1.87 percent, the lowest since the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis began keeping daily records in 1962. During the financial crisis in late 2008, the 10-year yield hit a low of 2.05 percent.

European bank shares fell sharply over worries about their exposure to Greek government debt. Traders fear that Greece could default on its debts, and European policymakers are divided over how to handle the crisis. Investors are also worried that ratings agencies may downgrade the credit ratings of French banks, which could bring more instability to Europe’s beleaguered financial system.

The resignation of a key European Central Bank official Friday combined with worries over a new recession in the United States led to a large stock market sell-off faxless pay day loans. The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index have fallen for six of the past seven weeks.

A default by Greece or one of the continent’s other heavily indebted governments could ripple through the global markets and make it more difficult for other European countries to borrow money. Economists worry that Europe’s financial crisis could tip a weakening U.S. economy into another recession.

McGraw-Hill Cos. rose 2.6 percent. The company said it will split into two public companies, with one unit focused on education services and the other centered on markets, including the rating agency Standard & Poor’s and J.D. Power and Associates.

NetLogic Microsystems Inc. jumped 50 percent after Broadcom Corp. said it has agreed to acquire the maker of semiconductors for $3.7 billion. Bank of America Corp. rose 1 percent after its CEO, Brian Moynihan, announced new cost-cutting goals.

Wynn Resorts rose 2 percent after a unit of the casino operator said it had a signed a deal to build a resort in Macau. Casinos have been expanding their operations in the former Portuguese colony, considered the world’s most lucrative gambling market.

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The eurozone needs a “quantum” leap toward economic integration, the incoming chief of the European Central Bank said Monday, as the bond yields of countries with shaky finances, like Greece and Italy, jumped amid increased investor tensions.

Mario Draghi told a conference in Paris that among the common currency’s problems is a lack of coordinated fiscal policies and that the solution was more integration.

He dismissed the idea of eurobonds _ debt issued jointly by the eurozone countries. Some have argued this would help weaker countries borrow more easily because they wouldn’t have to pay such high interest rates, which in turn make their debts bigger. But stable countries like Germany would likely see their rates rise.

Instead, Draghi suggested the eurozone should adopt rules that would require more budget discipline. There is already a proposal that would require all eurozone countries to balance their budgets. Profligate spending during boom times funded by cheap debt is one of the root causes of the current crisis.

Market tensions increased on Monday in Europe, both due to worries about some countries debt problems and a global financial sell-off triggered by concerns that the U.S. economy may slip back into recession.

The difference in interest rates between the Greek and benchmark German 10-year bonds, known as the spread, spiraled to new records on Monday, topping 17.3 percentage points. Yields on the Greek bonds were above 18 percent.

High yields means borrowing is more expensive for Greece, making it even harder to reduce its debt load.

In fact, its yields are so high that Greece has been relying since last year on funds from a euro110 billion ($157 billion) package of bailout loans from other European Union countries and the International Monetary Fund. On July 21, European leaders agreed on a second bailout, worth an additional euro109 billion.

Italy’s own 10-year bond yields jumped to 5.45 percent amid signs that the government in Rome is wavering in its commitment to enforce its austerity program.

ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet in recent days has called on Silvio Berlusconi’s government to push through with the deficit-cutting measures promised in August.

Italy’s stability is of particular concern because it would be too expensive to rescue for the eurozone. In an effort to steady the yields, the ECB has been buying Italian and Spanish bonds in recent weeks, driving down the interest rates.

Draghi indicated that such makeshift measures would continue, including making sure the European Financial Stability Facility _ the eurozone’s bailout fund _ takes over the bond purchases and has enough cash in it.

But, he added, that’s not a permanent solution.

“The crisis starts from the incompleteness of the European construction,” he said, and important reforms need to be made to solve it. “Overall, the aim of this effort should be a quantum step up in European economic integration.”

Draghi’s remarks echoed those made by his predecessor, the current ECB chief, who spoke at the same conference.

Trichet said that the debt crisis had revealed the weaknesses of the eurozone and that one solution would be to eventually create a central finance ministry for the continent.

He noted that one of the hallmarks of the crisis has been that while the eurozone economies are linked by their common currency, each country creates its own budget. That will need to change, he said.

“In the future, we can imagine a confederation … with a minister of finance with responsibilities including the regulation of the solvency of the eurozone,” he said.

In the heyday of the boom, several European countries allowed their budgets to run larger deficits than the rules allowed. Countries like Greece and Portugal eventually came close to bankruptcy and were saved only by international rescue packages.

New legislation that would give budget rules more teeth has been floundering for months as the European Parliament and EU member states have failed to agree on more automatic sanctions.

Trichet called Monday for those rules to be strengthened further. He has said in the past that even the new legislation is not strong enough for the 17 euro countries, since states could still override penalties for overspenders.

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Stocks rallied Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke proposed no new measures to stimulate the weak U.S. economy, saying he

Oil prices around the world should start falling if Libyan rebels succeed in toppling Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, though the full effect won’t be felt for months.

On Sunday night, rebel forces pushed into Tripoli without meeting much resistance, hours after they overran a major military base that defended the capital. The opposition’s leaders said Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, has been arrested.

Independent analyst Andrew Lipow said oil markets will likely respond Monday by sending prices lower in “a sign of relief that conflict has come to the end.”

But Lipow said it will take time for the market to erase the hefty price increase that resulted from the suspension of Libyan oil exports since the rebellion began in February.

Libya used to export about 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, almost all of which have been cut off. Although Libyan oil amounted to less than 2 percent of world demand, its loss affected prices because of its high quality and suitability for European refineries.

Analysts estimate that the situation in Libya has increased oil prices by $10 to $20 a barrel.

The European refineries have struggled to make up for the production loss despite an increase from Saudi Arabia. As a result, European markets should see the first and most significant drops in oil prices, Lipow said.

He added that any developments in the ongoing European financial crisis could also move stock markets around the world this week and oil prices along with them.

Independent analyst Jim Ritterbusch said that even if rebels manage to push Gadhafi out soon, the near-term effects on oil prices will be limited.

“Psychologically anyway, it’s going to force some additional selling,” Ritterbusch said. “But selling may not be pronounced because there’s still a lot of question marks remaining” on how long it would take for production to resume.

Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research, said that once Gadhafi is pushed out, Libya’s new government could take the path of the Iraqis after the fall of Saddam Hussein and spend years fighting over every detail. Or it could follow Kuwait’s example and quickly decide to bring in an outside company to get production restarted right away

He added that there’s always a chance that the process could come to a halt if one of the rebel generals tries to seize power, or if different factions get caught up debating the country’s new constitution and put off making decisions about oil production.

“They do have a good cadre of educated people, but they don’t have a long record of competent self-government,” Lynch said. “It would not be a bad bet to think there might be a chaotic period for a few months till they get organized.”

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World stock markets were mostly up Friday following a dramatically higher finish on Wall Street that was prompted by a slight drop in U.S. unemployment claims.

Global markets have fluctuated wildly this week as signs the U.S. might be headed back into recession rattled investors already unnerved by Europe’s worsening debt crisis.

Oil prices hovered around $85 a barrel. The dollar weakened against the yen and the euro.

In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent to 5,178, while Germany’s DAX was 0.6 percent up at 5,835. The CAC-40 in Paris rose 0.1 percent to 3,092.

U.S. futures, however, suggested Wall Street would give back some of its gains later in the day. Dow futures were down 0.9 percent at 10,984 and S&P futures were off 0.9 percent at 1,158.

Earlier Friday, shares in Asia struggled to make headway.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1 percent to 19,620.01. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.8 percent to 4,237.90, while benchmarks in New Zealand and Singapore also rose.

But Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average was lower _ closing down 0.2 percent to 8,963.72 after spending the morning in positive territory. A stronger yen, which reduces the value of profits earned overseas, pummeled export shares.

Also reversing course was South Korea’s Kospi, down by 1.3 percent to 1,793.31. Benchmarks in India and Taiwan also fell.

“It’s a very volatile market and everyone is reacting to every bit of news. The guy who is trying to pick the bottom is still very much at risk here,” said Tom Kaan of Louis Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

“Into the next one, two or three months, we are not going to see much of a rally,” Kaan said. “People will want to take what’s on the table and sit on the sidelines.”

Mainland Chinese shares, however, traded higher for a fourth day, with the absence of bad news helping boost sentiment, traders said. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 2,593.17 while the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1 percent to 1,158.96.

“The market was already at a low level so there was some room for gains,” said Liu Kan, an analyst at Guoyuan Securities, based in Shanghai.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average shot higher following news that the U.S. job market might have gotten a little better. The Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell below 400,000 last week for the first time since April.

That was enough to catapult Wall Street to one of its biggest points gains of all time. The Dow finished at 11,143.31, up 423.37 points, or about 4 percent. It had already fallen 634 points Monday, risen 429 Tuesday and fallen 519 Wednesday. Never before has the Dow had four 400-point swings in a row.

The S&P 500 finished up 4.6 percent and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 4.7 percent.

Markets also were soothed after France, Italy, Spain and Belgium jointly banned short-selling on select stocks. The practice, while legitimate, has been blamed for contributing to market volatility.

The European Union’s markets supervisor, the ESMA, announced the measure late Thursday following two days of market gyration that saw French banks’ market value fall and rise by billions of euros.

The stocks of French banks have been hammered because of concerns they will be hit with massive losses from European sovereign debt they hold. The leaders of Germany and France announced they will meet Tuesday to discuss the continent’s financial crisis.

France is trying to assure financial markets that it will not be downgraded from AAA. Standard & Poor’s rating agency stripped the United States of its top-notch AAA credit rating last Friday.

Benchmark oil for September delivery was down 70 cents to $85.02 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose $2.83, or 3.4 percent, to settle at $85.72 on Thursday.

In currencies, the dollar slipped to 76.70 from 76.83 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro rose to $1.4219 from $1.4216.

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NEW YORK

The union attempting to represent workers at IKEA’s only U.S. plant is challenging the Swedish furniture giant’s vaunted corporate ethos, accusing the retailer of paying its American workers low wages and tolerating unsafe working conditions.

Approximately 320 workers at IKEA’s Swedwood Danville plant will vote Wednesday whether to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The machinists union has put IKEA’s reputation as a labor- and environment-friendly Swedish employer at the forefront of its organizing drive as it attempts to organize workers at the company’s subsidiary, Swedwood. They assemble the sleek, low-cost bookshelves and coffee tables that the big-box retailer sells in its distinctive, cheery, blue-and-yellow stores.

IKEA’s corporate conduct is guided by its so-called IWAY Standard, which outlines environmental, social and working rules _ an 18-page document governing everything from drinking water supplied to workers to lighting levels to a ban on child labor. The company says the standards follow a directive that “the IKEA business shall have an overall positive impact on people and the environment.”

Many of the company’s high corporate standards stop at the U.S. border, the machinists’ lead organizer said. The union said workers are grossly underpaid compared to their Swedish counterparts, suffer high injury rates, are forced to work overtime, and demoted or fired for expressing union sympathies.

The IWAY standards say overtime must be voluntary and ban employers from preventing workers from associating freely and collective bargaining. They also require workers be protected from “exposure to severe safety hazards.”

“You should not be able to reap the economic benefits of an image if that image is not true,” said Bill Street, director of the woodworkers department of the machinists international. “When you walk into an IKEA store, you’re walking into a little bit of Sweden.”

The Associated Press was not able to talk directly with workers involved with Street in organizing the Danville plant. He said workers feared retaliation.

An IKEA spokeswoman denied the union allegations that the Virginia plant operates in conflict with IKEA’s principles, saying the Danville operation has consistently measured up to its own internal and third-party audits.

“Swedwood Danville operates according to the same principles as all Swedwood plants,” Ingrid Steen said in an e-mail.

Steen also said IKEA will honor the union vote. “Swedwood respects the right of co-workers to join, form or not to join a co-worker association of their choice,” she wrote.

IKEA’s selection of Danville for its first U.S. factory came with $12 million in incentive grants and the goal of ultimately hiring 780 people in Southside Virginia near the North Carolina line. The region has one of the bleakest economic landscapes in a state that traditionally has an unemployment rate a couple notches below the national rate.

The last capital of the Confederacy, the city of approximately 43,000 has struggled as tobacco and textiles declined. The jobless rate has hovered around 10 percent in recent years.

IKEA, which has 26 Swedwood plants in Europe and saw profits rise 6 percent in 2010, was welcomed by accolades from the Capitol in Richmond to local economic officials, none of whom would publicly discuss the union drive with the AP.

Street, who brought in a union official from Sweden to talk to Danville workers this year, said he quietly began his organizing at Swedwood three years ago mindful of IKEA’s reputation for paying and treating its workers fairly.

“We thought to ourselves this was going to be a very simple, straightforward campaign,” he said in an interview amid one of his many trips to Danville from his home in Oregon. “After all, this was IKEA.”

Ultimately, he said, he concluded the message from IKEA was “Sure, no problem. As soon you get 51 percent of the workers, we’ll come back and bargain.”

Street was able to get the necessary 30 percent of the workers to support a union vote, and the National Labor Relations Board scheduled the balloting at the plant.

One of the union’s complaints is that starting pay at Danville of $8 an hour is approximately half of what their Swedish counterparts earn.

“We know in terms of safety, in terms of health care, in terms of pension, their European counterparts are treated vastly superior than the workers in Danville,” Street said.

IKEA’s Steen described the pay and benefits of Danville workers as “very competitive in the region.” She said many of IKEA’s 16,000 workers worldwide are members of unions or worker associations, adding it’s difficult to compare U.S. workers with workers in Europe.

“Conditions of different countries are very complex questions,” she wrote. “It is difficult to compare different national systems (such as) taxes, cost of living, systems of social insurances, etc.”

Street and the machinists union face an uphill battle in a right-to-work state and amid a period of some of the lowest private-sector union membership in the United States. Union membership fell to 7 percent in 2010, the lowest in decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Arthur B. Shostak, professor emeritus at Drexel University and an expert on the American work force, said the union is smart to target IKEA’s image to make its case, which has received the attention of international union organizers. He said young, hip shoppers might not be inclined to shop at IKEA if they were aware of the union allegations in Danville.

“Ikea has a big stake in protecting its brand,” Shostak said. “Brand protection is very, very important. This is a mess, and not for the union.”

Paul A. Argenti, a professor of corporate communication at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, said it’s a reach to compare workers in Danville’s rural economy with highly industrialized workers in Europe.

“We’re a developing nation to them,” he said. “Sweden is ridiculously expensive.”

While the union claims have some basis in fact, he said, the machinists are attempting to “paint IKEA as a monster.”

Street said he’s confident, despite declining union numbers and concessions by public sector workers.

“It’s been one of the best times to organize because employers have been overreaching. It’s kick `em when they’re down,” he said.

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Toyota’s electric-gasoline hybrid car technology will be utilized to help ease power shortages in Japan’s disaster-struck northeast, part of a set of measures the automaker hopes will underline its commitment to the region.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will donate emergency power supply systems linked to its Prius hybrid cars to prefectures (states) in the Tohoku region ravaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The systems will be fitted to about 40 of the automaker’s Prius hybrids. Hybrid vehicles can be used to store and generate electricity because it is partly an electric vehicle that runs on a high-quality battery.

Toyota’s hybrid technology has already been helping in quake-affected areas, which suffered massive blackouts, as an emergency source of electricity.

The automaker said the positive reviews for its Estima hybrid minivan, which comes with regular electrical outlets to plug in and run household appliances for up to two days, are prompting it to make it available as an option for the Prius within a year.

Toyota also announced Tuesday that it will set up a manufacturing training school in the northeast, hoping to send home the message it remains committed to making cars in Tohoku and Japan overall despite mounting obstacles.

Fears are growing that Toyota and other major manufacturers may move production abroad after the tsunami and earthquake left key suppliers in a shambles, disrupting production.

Another setback are the meltdowns at a nuclear power plant, which is crimping the electricity supply and forcing manufacturers to cut back on electricity use.

Recruiting for the new technical school for high school graduates and employees of Toyota affiliates in the northeast will start in July next year. The first class for 10 to 30 students will begin in April 2013, the world’s largest automaker said in a statement.

Toyota also said it will donate 300 million yen ($3.8 million) for educational help for children, many who lost their parents in the disaster, and another 3 million yen ($38,000) to support the arts in Tohoku.

Last week, Toyota announced it was consolidating its operations among Tohoku group companies, and strengthening research and development in the region to make it Toyota’s third production center in Japan _ after its headquarters in central Japan and Kyushu, southwestern Japan.

One vehicle set to be produced in northeastern Japan is a small hybrid that’s a key part of Toyota’s lineup of green vehicles, according to the automaker.

Other Japanese automakers are also eyeing renewable energy as a business opportunity, taking advantage of the power-generating feature of green cars.

Nissan Motor Co. is testing a super-green way to recharge its Leaf electric vehicle using solar power. Honda Motor Co. already has solar panel and home power generating businesses that it is planning to strengthen as interest grows in renewable energy because of the nuclear crisis.

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