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Stocks are opening mixed amid uncertainty about what steps the Federal Reserve might take to stimulate the U.S. economy.

Concerns that Greece could fail to qualify for fresh bailout funds also pushed stocks lower.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to discuss the central bank’s policy decision at midday Wednesday. Most economists expect some sort of stimulus measures.

Investors are also concerned about European debt. Greek finance ministers said Wednesday the country will have to enact more austerity measures before international lenders will release rescue funds.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 11 points, or 1 percent, at 11,399. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up less than 1 point. The Nasdaq composite is up 11, or 0.4 percent, at 2,601.

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It looks like the United Auto Workers union and General Motors Co. are nearing an agreement on a new contract.

UAW Vice President Joe Ashton, the union’s chief negotiator, told workers in an email update Friday that bargainers are getting “very close” to the framework of a deal.

“I am optimistic that the negotiations process is entering its final stage,” Ashton wrote. “I truly believe that a settlement is within reach.”

But Ashton also cautioned that both sides still need to do more work, saying that agreements of this size undergo many revisions before they are final.

Contract talks between the union and GM, Chrysler Group LLC and Ford Motor Co. began in July and will determine wages and benefits for factory workers at all three companies. They will also set the bar for wages at auto parts companies, U.S. factories run by foreign automakers and other manufacturers, which employ hundreds of thousands of people. The talks are the first since GM and Chrysler needed government aid to make it through bankruptcy protection in 2009.

Workers at all three companies have stayed on the job under terms of a contract that expired Wednesday night. Workers at GM and Chrysler cannot strike over wages under the terms of the companies’ 2009 government bailouts. Ford workers can still strike. Each company negotiates with the union separately.

Negotiators with GM and the union bargained until around 9 p.m. Thursday and resumed talks on Friday morning.

“We continue to make progress in negotiations,” GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said, declining further comment.

The union is seeking bigger profit-sharing checks, guarantees of more jobs, signing bonuses and raises for entry-level workers. Ford and GM want to cut their hourly labor costs, which still are higher than Asian automakers with U.S. factories. Chrysler is trying to hold its costs steady.

Talks with Chrysler and Ford also are continuing, but have slowed as the union concentrates on GM. Any deal with GM would be used as a template for the other two companies, although unlike past years, there will be differences to match each company’s finances.

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Italy’s Senate approved Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s disputed austerity package Wednesday, ending weeks of uncertainty that roiled financial markets unsure that the government was serious about cutting its deficit and avoiding becoming Europe’s next debt crisis victim.

The upper chamber voted 165-141 with three abstentions to approve the package, which the government put to a confidence vote to ensure Berlusconi’s allies united behind him after weeks of bickering over details of the plan.

The proposal now goes to the lower Chamber of Deputies, where Berlusconi’s allies also maintain a majority.

The final package aims at reducing the country’s deficit by more than euro54 billion ($70 billion) over three years through budget cuts, tax hikes and changes to the country’s costly pension system. Italy’s deficit to GDP ratio now stands at 120 percent, one of Europe’s highest.

Had the vote failed, Berlusconi would have been forced to resign, a prospect lawmakers clearly wanted to avoid given the nervousness with which financial markets have already viewed Italy’s flip-flopping proposals and ability to balance the budget by 2013.

The European Central Bank had demanded stiff austerity measures to calm the markets, but it’s not clear whether the package passed Wednesday is sufficient. The ECB has spent billions over the last month buying up Italian government bonds to get Italy’s borrowing costs lower and help them avoid becoming the next eurozone nation to need an international bailout.

“We did our job,” proclaimed Maurizio Gasparri, head of Berlusconi’s party in the Senate, after the vote, saying the “robust” package should assure markets and the ECB.

The package was bitterly opposed by Italy’s main labor union, which staged a general strike on the eve of the vote. A few dozen protesters launched smoke bombs in front of the parliament building Wednesday.

Lawmaker Angelo Bonelli of the opposition Greens said the plan targeted Italy’s weakest, saying they were “shouldering the brunt of the crisis.”

Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti’s office confirmed Wednesday that the final changes in the plan, including pension reform that had been resisted by Berlusconi’s coalition allies, significantly increases the dent in Italy’s deficit. Italian media reported the latest new taxes and spending cuts totaled euro4 billion ($5.7 billion).

When the deficit-battling package was first unveiled Aug. 12, the package added up to euro45.5 billion ($64.1 billion). But weeks of waffling by squabbling coalition allies whittled down the new or higher taxes and spending cuts, further shaking the markets’ confidence, and the government beefed up the measures at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

“The decisions taken yesterday by the Cabinet have strengthened the measures significantly,” Antonio Azzollini, the head of the Senate’s budget committee, told the assembly.

Azzollini, from Berlusconi’s party, said sales taxes on goods and many services would be raised from 20 percent to 21 percent, an additional income tax of 3 percent would be on levied on incomes exceeding euro300,000 (nearly $450,000), and the timetable for raising the retirement age for women would be speeded up from 2016 to 2014.

Berlusconi had originally shied away from putting the package to a vote of confidence in his government, but decided to speed up its passage after ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, during a visit Saturday, appealed for quick, decisive action to save Italy’s credit reputation.

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Apple is fending off a fresh barrage of criticism from Chinese environmental activists over alleged pollution by the manufacturers who make its iconic products.

In a report issued Wednesday, a group of nongovernmental organizations accused the company of violating its own corporate responsibility standards by using suppliers that allegedly violate the law and endanger public health by discharging heavy metals and other toxins payday loan lenders.

Apple responded to the allegations by saying it took such concerns seriously but had found discrepancies in the report.

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Business leaders from across Missouri today urged lawmakers to pass in its entirety the bundle of economic development incentives they’ll take up in a special session starting next week fast cash now.

Top officials from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, the state’s three biggest regional chambers and its biggest labor group said the so-called

Asian stock markets rose Monday after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke’s prediction that the U.S. economy will eventually return to full health fueled gains on Wall Street.

Oil prices lingered above $85 a barrel in Asia after Hurricane Irene did little damage to refineries along the U.S. East Coast. The dollar was higher against the yen but lower against the euro.

Market optimism was fueled after a highly anticipated speech by Bernanke at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. While he announced no new economic stimulus measures _ as some investors had hoped _ he did leave open the possibility of more action if another recession looks likely. He also emphasized the strengths of the U.S. economy and said the job market will recover in the long run.

“People came to realize that Bernanke is very confident about the economy,” said Jackson Wong, vice president at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong. “People were reluctant to get into the market. Now they are jumping back in.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent to 8,846.32. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.9 percent to 4,277.70 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.5 percent to 19,879.51.

Hong Kong-listed Sinopec, Asia’s largest refiner by capacity, jumped 5.7 percent after announcing that first-half profit rose 12 percent as higher oil, gas and chemicals revenues helped offset a loss in its refining business. The results for the company, also known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., were better than analysts had forecast.

South Korea’s Kopsi index jumped 2.8 percent to 1,829.09. Leading shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. soared 8.4 percent. Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, jumped 7.5 percent on brighter chip price forecasts, Yonhap News agency said. Refinery SK Innovation rose 6.5 percent.

Gold-related shares rose after prices of the precious metal rebounded Friday after a volatile week instant payday loans. Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia’s largest gold miner, rose 2.1 percent. Hong Kong-listed Zijin, China’s top gold miner, was 1.7 percent higher. Hong Kong jewelry chain Chow Sang Sang Holdings gained 6.4 percent.

Other Australian metals shares rose on the back of higher commodities prices. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, rose 1.7 percent. Rio Tinto Ltd. gained 2.4 percent.

Mainland Chinese shares dipped, however, amid reports that the central bank is considering further increases to banks’ required reserves. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5 percent to 1,163.99 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index was 1.1 percent down to 2,584.40.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.2 percent to close at 11,284.54. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.5 percent to 1,176.80. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 2.5 percent to 2,479.85.

The Fed has said it plans to keep short-term interest rates low until mid-2013. Low rates on investments like bonds make higher-risk bets such as stocks more attractive.

The U.S. economy is still hobbled by a depressed housing market, high oil prices and fears that the European debt crisis will deteriorate into a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

Benchmark oil for October delivery was up 18 cents to $85.55 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose 7 cents to settle at $85.37 on Friday.

In London, Brent crude for October delivery was down 33 cents at $111.10 on the ICE Futures exchange.

In currencies, the euro was up at $1.4497 from $1.4484 in late trading in New York. The dollar rose to 76.73 yen from 76.66 yen.

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ST. JOHN

The housing market’s long-awaited recovery waited another month in July.

Sales of previously owned houses in metro St. Louis fell 18 percent compared to June, and were 9 percent of May’s pace, an unusually steep slip for a normally busy month, one reflecting a mix of tight credit, hot weather and a fresh round of economic worry. Prices fell, too, across most of the region.

The news wasn’t all bad, though, as sales soared 16 percent compared to the same month last year

Wells Fargo plans to test a $3 monthly fee for debit cards starting this fall.

The San Francisco-based bank said the fee will be applied to checking accounts opened in certain states starting in October. The fee would be on top of the monthly service fees that Wells Fargo already charges for checking accounts.

Wells Fargo also announced earlier this year that it will end its debit rewards program.

Banks are experimenting with fees and scaling back perks in response to a new regulation that’s expected to sharply reduce their revenue. Starting this fall, a new cap will limit how much banks can collect from merchants whenever customers swipe their debit cards.

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I spoke with just three people Friday: a friend who works at the University of Michigan, my west-end Toronto MP, and a local Tim Hortons franchisee. Apropos of nothing, they each asked me: