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Yoshihiko Noda, elected Tuesday as Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years, faces a host of daunting problems, from post-tsunami recovery and an ongoing nuclear crisis to reviving a limp economy and reining in the nation’s bloated debt.

The legislative vote was largely a formality as Noda was chosen head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan on Monday. But the list of challenges he faces in his new job would make any politician’s head spin.

Beyond providing vision and a strategy for the enormous task of rebuilding the northeastern coast after March’s tsunami_ the worst catastrophe to hit Japan since World War II _ Noda must unify his fractious party and restore public trust amid widespread disappointment over the government’s handling of the disaster and persistent political infighting.

The former finance minister, Noda succeeds the unpopular Naoto Kan, who officially resigned earlier Tuesday with his Cabinet after a tumultuous 15 months in office, during which he was sometimes opposed by members of his own party.

Noda, 54, is a “moderate voice” in the party, Sheila Smith, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, wrote in a comment. “He has a steady temperament and a reputation for fairness in a party where loyalties have been severely tested of late.”

His Cabinet selection _ which could be announced Wednesday _ will be eyed closely to see how he will spread positions among the ruling party’s various factions. In Monday’s party vote, which went to a run-off, Noda defeated a minister backed by powerful party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, who is embroiled in a scandal. The result was seen by some as a victory over old-style backroom politics.

A fiscal conservative, Noda is respected for his economic credentials. He has been battling the yen’s recent surge, which hurts the country’s vital exporters, overseeing Japan’s intervention in the currency market earlier this month to weaken the yen.

He has also voiced support in the past for raising Japan’s 5 percent sales tax to reduce the nation’s national debt, twice the nation’s gross domestic product, although he has toned down that tax talk lately.

Given the pressing problems at home, Noda will likely focus on disaster reconstruction and other domestic matters.

But he could face trouble in his relationship with China over past comments about convicted wartime leaders revered at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where the souls of all Japan’s war dead are enshrined. Earlier this month, Noda reiterated his claim that the wartime leaders had paid their debts and should no longer be seen as war criminals. He made similar comments in 2005.

Yasukuni visits by postwar politicians have often enraged Japan’s neighbors, who bore the brunt of Japan’s colonial aggression and are sensitive to any efforts by Japan to whitewash its past. He and the rest of Kan’s Cabinet chose not to visit the shrine this year.

China’s official news agency warned Noda on Monday to not to ignore Beijing’s “core interests” or seek to portray it as a threat to regional peace and stability. In a harshly worded editorial, Xinhua demanded Noda not visit Yasukuni and said Tokyo must recognize China’s claim over Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku, or Diaoyutai in Chinese.

The two countries got into a spat last year when a Chinese fishing boat captain was arrested _ and later released _ by Japan after his boat sailed close to the islands.

Earlier this month, two Chinese patrol boats entered waters near the islands, prompting strong protests from Tokyo.

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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

Foreign investors cut their holdings of U.S. Treasury debt in June for the first time in more than two years. The decline came at a time of anxiety about whether the United States would raise its borrowing limit.

China, the biggest buyer of U.S. Treasury debt, increased its investment for a third straight month. But Japan, the second-largest buyer, along with Brazil, Russia, Hong Kong, and a group that includes the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Netherlands and the Cayman Islands cut their investments.

Overall foreign holdings dropped 0.4 percent to $4.5 trillion. It was the first decline since April 2009.

Much of the decline was driven by private investors. Their net purchases of long-term U.S. Treasurys fell a record $18.3 billion in June. Net purchases are the difference between what investors buy and sell in one month.

The decline lowered private investors’ overall foreign holdings by $15.1 billion.

Overall foreign holdings of governments, which include central banks, dropped only $1.7 billion. Governments account for roughly 72 percent of total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury debt.

Congress and the Obama administration reached a deal on Aug. 2 that would allow the U.S. government to increase its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by more than $2 trillion. It was approved hours before the U.S. faced a potential default on its debt.

The full increase is dependent on lawmakers reaching agreement on an equal amount of cuts to the deficit over the next decade cash advance flexible payments. Up to $1.5 trillion of those cuts must be negotiated by a special committee of lawmakers over the next three months.

The total deficit cuts fell short of the $4 trillion in cuts that Standard & Poor’s said was needed to achieve a credible deficit-reduction plan. As a result, S&P downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating from AAA to AA+.

Economists said investors likely worried about how the debate in Washington would be resolved, and those worries contributed to the overall decline. Many economists expect foreign holdings will drop further in July because the borrowing limit was not raised until August.

However, they predict foreign holdings will increase in August. Congress approved an increase in the borrowing limit, and Europe’s debt crisis has made U.S. Treasurys more seem like a safer bet, they said.

“Now people are saying they want to hold U.S. Treasuries. They don’t care what S&P said,” said Chris G. Christopher Jr., senior principal economist at IHS Global Insight. “They are saying they have nowhere else to put their money.”

In June, China increased its holdings 0.5 percent to $1.166 trillion.

Japan trimmed its holdings 0.2 percent to $911 billion. Britain, the third-largest foreign holder of Treasury securities, boosted its investment 0.8 percent to $349.5 billion.

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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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The price of gold surpassed $1,800 an ounce Wednesday for the first time as investors pulled their money out of stocks and snapped up precious metals contracts.

Gold is fast becoming a favorite port in a storm of uncertainty. Investors are clinging to what they see as a hedge against volatile stock and currency markets.

December gold contracts backed off their highs, and traded around $1,785 an ounce during midday trading after reaching a record $1,801 an ounce earlier in the day on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold prices have shot past a series of milestones over the past two years on an uninterrupted climb. Gold was trading at about $900 in the summer of 2008, before the financial crisis unfolded that year.

Resulting turmoil in currency and stock markets has burnished gold’s luster.

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The leaders of the 17 eurozone countries will hold a special summit Thursday in an attempt to forge a deal on a second bailout for Greece.

European Union President Herman Van Rompuy called the meeting Friday night, after disagreement over the contribution of banks and other private investors in a second rescue package rocked markets for much of the week.

Fears that Greece’s private creditors may have to take losses as part of the deal dragged the big economies of Spain and Italy into the debt crisis, which has so far been confined to small states like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Leaders of the struggling countries have pushed their eurozone counterparts to come up with a solution quickly, while Germany, the biggest European contributor to the rescue packages dragged its feet paydayloans.

Greece needs an extra euro115 billion ($162.68 billion) to keep it afloat until mid-2014, according to the European Commission _ on top of a euro110 billion bailout it was granted last May. Asset sales by the Greek government and the country’s private creditors _ which have so far been spared _ are expected to pay for part of the bill.

Apart from reaching a deal on Greece’s rescue package, leaders are also set to overhaul the currency union’s bailout fund, giving it wider powers and lowering interest rates and extending loan maturities for already bailed out countries in an effort to make their debts more sustainable.

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Campbell Soup Co. is raising its fiscal 2011 adjusted earnings outlook, but the world’s largest soup maker provided a somewhat disappointing forecast for next year.

The guidance was offered as Campbell was preparing to hold an important meeting with a group of analysts on Tuesday, during which incoming president and CEO Denise Morrison plans to lay out her vision for the food company.

Morrison will take the helm at Campbell on Aug. 1, when Douglas Conant is stepping down from the job after more than a decade.

Campbell, known for its iconic red and white soup cans, said that it anticipates fiscal 2011 adjusted earnings will rise about 1 percent from 2010 adjusted results of $2.47 per share. Its prior guidance was for adjusted earnings to fall 1 percent to 3 percent. Revenue is still expected to be essentially flat.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet predict 2011 earnings of $2.45 per share on revenue of $7.69 billion.

Shares of the Camden, N.J. company added 9 cents to $34.23 in morning trading.

For 2012, Campbell foresees adjusted earnings will decline 4 percent to 6 percent, with revenue flat to up 2 percent.

Analysts expect full-year earnings of $2.49 per share on revenue of $7.89 billion.

The soup maker gave a long-term outlook for annual adjusted earnings growth between 5 percent and 7 percent and a revenue increase in the range of 3 percent to 4 percent.

In a statement, Campbell said its new business strategy will include concentrating on expanding its simple meals, baked snacks and healthy beverage segments as well as boosting its presence in emerging markets.

Morrison, 57, will be the first woman to lead Campbell and has been an executive with the company for eight years. She became heir apparent to the CEO position in September 2010.

Since then, as chief operating officer, she has been examining the company’s operations and already has announced some major changes business cards design.

Two weeks ago, she announced a restructuring plan. It includes eliminating 770 jobs from the company’s worldwide workforce of 18,400, many of them through layoffs; shutting down its operations in Russia; beefing up investment in Australia and closing a manufacturing plant in Marshall, Mich.

She said the company would keep in place its fledgling effort to sell soup in China, which launched along with the Russian effort four years ago.

After Conant took over in 2001, he reversed the long-term erosion of sales of the company’s iconic condensed soups. One factor was an effort led by Morrison to reduce sodium levels. He also sold its Godiva Chocolatier operation and focused more on foods that can be marketed as healthy.

Conant, who took pride in regularly writing thank-you notes to employees and others, agreed to keep the company’s headquarters in beleaguered Camden, N.J., and expanded its corporate campus there.

In addition to soup, Campbell sells V8 juices, a line expanded under Conant; Pepperidge Farm cookies, crackers and bread; Prego pasta sauces and Spaghettio’s canned pasta.

But soup, which has high profit margins, remains its key business, and it has been struggling, with sales falling each of the last two years.

Already in the first three quarters of Campbell’s fiscal year 2011, its U.S. soup sales fell 5 percent.

Myriad problems have been at play, including cost increases for everything from soup ingredients to packaging material. Then, after a raft of promotions, the company was selling lots of soup, but for less money.

General Mills Inc., which owns rival soup brand Progresso, plans to announce its plans Wednesday.

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At the center of the down payment debate in Washington are rules about what constitutes a “qualifying residential mortgage,” or QRM.

Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, a QRM would constitute a gold standard for home loans, and mortgages that meet it would be exempt from rules requiring the bank that generates a loan to keep at least 5 percent of the loan’s value on its books

Stocks faded to a weak close Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the drags on the U.S. economy may be worse than previously thought.

Major indexes had been mixed for much of the day but turned lower in mid-afternoon trading as Bernanke spoke at a news conference.

Responding to a reporter’s question, Bernanke said that some of the problems plaguing the economy such as weakness in the financial industry and the housing market and “may be stronger and more persistent than we thought.”

Earlier, the Fed released a slightly lower forecast for U.S. economic growth this year. The Fed said it now expects the economy to grow between 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent this year, down from its previous estimate of 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent after its last meeting in April.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index slumped after Bernanke’s cautious remarks about the economy. Bernanke also said Greece’s debt crisis was a “very difficult situation.”

The Dow closed down 80.34 points, or 0.7 percent, at 12,109.67. The S&P 500 index fell 8.38 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 1,287.14. The Nasdaq fell 18.07 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,669.19.

Even with the dimmer outlook, the Fed pledged no new help to boost the economy. The central bank’s $600 billion bond-buying program draws to a close at the end of this month.

Among heavily traded companies, FedEx Corp. reported a 33 percent jump in income and said it expects global economic growth to continue. The package delivery company’s stock rose 2.6 percent.

Analysts consider results from FedEx and its rival UPS Corp. important indicators for the broader economy because they ship orders for all kinds of businesses.

CarMax Inc. rose 7 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500 index. The dealership owner said profit rose 25 percent on higher used-vehicle prices.

Jabil Circuit Inc. rose 3 percent after the electronics part maker said its earnings doubled last quarter.

AeroVironment Inc. jumped 21 percent after the maker of unmanned aerial drones and charging systems for electric cars said its income rose 13 percent.

In Greece, the new government narrowly won a vote of confidence. That may help it push through budget cuts and other austerity measures that it needs to secure more emergency loans.

The cash will help the country at least delay a default on its debt, an event that would hurt banks and the European economy. Worries about a Greek default have weighed on global financial markets since May.

Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. Volume was light at 3.3 billion shares, below the daily average of 3.9 billion over the previous two months.

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