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U.S. stock futures are lower on worries about the broker MF Global and about Italy’s ability to repay its debts.

Bank stocks dropped sharply in premarket trading after the New York Federal Reserve said it suspended MF Global Holdings from conducting new business as a Treasury bond dealer.

Trading in MF Global shares was halted in premarket trading.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that MF Global would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after large investments in sovereign bonds issued by European countries went against it guaranteed high risk personal loans.

Before the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures are down 106 points, or 1 percent, at 12,062. S&P 500 index futures are down 14, or 1.1 percent, at 1,266. Nasdaq 100 futures are down 23, or 1 percent, at 2,374.

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Chase is joining the list of banks that won’t be charging customers to use their debit cards, as the backlash over Bank of America’s planned $5 monthly fee continues.

The retail banking arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. will stop charging $3-per-month fees for using debit cards when its current pilot in Wisconsin and Georgia is completed in November, a source with knowledge of the bank’s plans told The Associated Press.

The test program involves an “a-la-carte” checking account that allows customers to choose what banking products they want, said the individual, who asked not to be identified because the bank has not officially announced the program will not go forward.

Chase, which operates in 23 states, began its test in February. It’s not alone. Wells Fargo & Co. began a similar pilot in five states on Oct. 14, testing a flat $3 fee for using debit for purchases.

Other banks already have more widespread fee policies. SunTrust Banks charges $5 a month for debit cards used to make purchases, and Regions Financial Corp. charges $4.

But it was Bank of America Corp.’s plan to start charging $5 per month that lit the issue on fire. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, last month said it will begin assessing the fee in 2012.

Banks are justifying the fees by stating that they need to recoup revenue lost to new regulations that limit the fees they can collect from retailers for handling debit card transactions. But the new fees sparked a huge backlash.

Signs like, “I bailed out the banks and all I got was a $5 debit card fee” have been spotted the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York and its sibling protests around the country. The author of the regulations, Sen. Richard Durbin, D.-Ill, called the fee an “outrage” on the floor of the Senate.

`”It is hard to believe that a bank would impose such a fee on loyal customers who simply are trying to access their own money on deposit,” he said no teletrack payday loan. “Especially when Bank of America for years has been encouraging their customers to use debit cards as much as possible.”

Durbin encouraged customers of banks that charge fees to “vote with their feet,” but consumers were already ahead of him. Credit unions and community banks nationwide are reporting huge spikes in new accounts as consumers seek no-fee options.

“People are literally walking into branches and cutting up their Bank of America cards,” Kirk Kordeleski, CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union in Long Island, N.Y., said last week.

The backlash hasn’t gone unnoticed by other banks.

Citigroup Inc. almost immediately pointed to its policy of not charging for debit, although at the same time it changed requirements for its mid-tier checking accounts to make it harder to avoid a $20 per month service fee.

Huntington National Bank, Ally Bank, USAA and on Friday, TD Bank, are among those that are publicizing that they will not charge debit card fees. And institutions like CDC Federal Credit Union in Atlanta are sending emails out with “No Debit Card Fees” in the subject line to entice people to move their money.

The anger appears to be resonating.

On Friday, Bank of America bent. A source at the bank, who asked not to be identified because the policy is still evolving, said it likely it will offer ways for its customers to avoid debit card fees through using direct deposit, maintaining minimum balances or using Bank of America credit cards.

But a good deal of damage is already done. “Too little, too late,” one angry customer posted on Facebook. “I’ve already switched to USAA!”

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Appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. says it will cut 5,000 jobs in an effort as it faces soft demand and higher costs for materials.

The jobs to be cut are mostly in North America and Europe. They include 1,200 salaried positions and the closing of the company’s Fort Smith, Ark., plant.

The company expects the moves will save $400 million by the end of 2013.

Whirlpool also says its third-quarter net income more than doubled to $177 million, or $2 payday loans in one hour.27 per share, from $79 million, or $1.02 per share. Adjusted earnings of $2.35 per share fell short of analyst expectations for $2.75 per share.

The company, whose brands include Maytag and KitchenAid, has been squeezed by higher costs for materials such as steel and copper.

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Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi averted a government collapse and reached a deal with allies on emergency growth measures in time for an EU summit on saving the euro before political tensions erupted in a fist fight in parliament.

Berlusconi and Northern League leader Umberto Bossi reached a compromise on raising Italy’s retirement age in late-night parliament talks Tuesday _ a point of disagreement that had threatened Berlusconi’s leadership. His majority in parliament needs the support of the Northern League.

A fist fight in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday when League lawmakers briefly came to blows with colleagues loyal to a former Berlusconi ally Gianfranco Fini, the Chamber president who broke with the governing coalition early in its term. Scuffles are not rare in Italy’s parliament.

League deputies were incensed when Fini, on a TV talk show, mentioned that Bossi’s wife, took early retirement from a teaching job when she was 39.

Berlusconi will deliver a letter detailing the emergency measures to an EU summit. A spokesman said the contents are reserved for summit leaders, but Italian media reported the measures include new infrastructure spending, with a push for more private investment for strategic projects, the privatization of public entities and property and simplifying rules for companies.

Changes to Italy’s pension scheme had become a major sticking point, with Bossi’s party refusing to risk alienating its constituency of workers from the productive north.

Under the overnight deal, Italy will gradually raise the pension age for all workers to 67 by 2025, bringing it in line with European trends. Currently, Italian men retire at 65 along with women in the public sector but some women in the private sector retire earlier.

The 15-page letter also reportedly contains details of the euro54 billion ($75 billion) in austerity measures passed by lawmakers last month to balance Italy’s budget by 2013.

The European Union had asked for measures, with a clear calendar for implementation, to promote growth, raise the pension age and simplify civil legal proceedings to encourage foreign investment

Outgoing Bank of Italy governor Mario Draghi called the letter of intent “an important step … but now it’s time to implement the measures swiftly and concretely.” Draghi, who takes over helm of the European Central Bank on Nov. 1, also urged Berlusconi’s government to quickly activate the spending cuts and new taxes approved last month.

In Brussels, a spokesman for the European commission, Olivier Bailly, said the EU was “confident” it would have the letter by the end of the day.

Italy is seen as the next country at risk in the widening sovereign debt crisis, but with euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) in public debt, an Italian default would be disastrous for the global economy. The European Central Bank for months has been buying billions in Italian bonds to help keep borrowing costs down.

Nonetheless, Italy saw borrowing costs on short-term bonds spike Wednesday. The Italian Treasury sold euro8.5 billion ($11.83 billion) in six-month bonds at 3.53 percent, up sharply from last month’s 3.071 percent, its highest level in three years. Yields on two-year bonds rose to 4.628 percent from 4.511.

A Berlusconi spokesman, meanwhile, brushed off reports that Berlusconi was preparing to resign. The left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, one of Berlusconi’s staunchest critics, reported that he had threatened to resign if no deal could be reached with the Northern League, which was persisting in its resistance to raising the retirement age.

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The 17-nation eurozone is considering two forms of leveraging to boost its euro440 billion ($600 billion) bailout fund’s capacity in a bid to contain the debt turmoil that threatens to engulf more European nations.

A document obtained by The Associated Press, which Germany’s government was sharing with key lawmakers Monday, shows the currency zone wants to give the bailout fund the ability to provide investors with a partial insurance against losses from its member states’ government bonds.

The eurozone document also foresees setting up a special investment vehicle that seeks to attract outside investors such as sovereign wealth funds, combining “public and private capital to enlarge the resources available to” the European Financial Stability Fund, or EFSF.

Leading German opposition lawmakers, who were briefed earlier Monday by Chancellor Angela Merkel on the plan, said the fund’s capacity will be boosted “beyond euro1 trillion” ($1.39 trillion) under the new rules.

But the draft document by the eurozone working group did not provide a headline figure for the bailout fund, stressing “a more precise number on the extent of leverage can only be determined after contacts with potential investors” and rating agencies.

Eurozone governments hope that the enhanced EFSF will be able to protect countries such as Italy and Spain from being engulfed in the debt crisis. To do that, however, it needs to be bigger or see its lending powers magnified.

German lawmakers will vote on the bailout funds’ new rules Wednesday, hours before an EU summit in Brussels is set to adopt them.

The draft document stressed that the EFSF would “benefit from the flexibility to deploy both options, which are not mutually exclusive.” The insurance model is designed to increase the demand for newly issued eurozone government bonds, lower the yields “thereby supporting the sustainability of public finances,” the document said.

Lowering the yields for troubled eurozone governments is a key step to counter the widening debt crisis, because spiraling yields on debt issued by Greece, Portugal and Ireland eventually cut them off from market financing, forcing the eurozone to provide those nations which an emergency loan package.

In the event of a default, “the investor could surrender the partial protection certificate” and “receive payment in kind with an EFSF bond,” the document said, referring to the insurance option.

The new investment facility, a so-called special investment purpose investment vehicle, is meant to allow the EFSF “to attract a broad class of international public and private investors.” The investment structure aims at creating “additional liquidity and market capacity to extend loans, for bank recapitalization via a member state and for buying bonds in the primary and secondary market,” the eurozone draft document said.

Beefing up the bailout fund is one part of a three-pronged eurozone plan to solve the crisis.

The other two parts are reducing Greece’s debt burden so the country eventually can stand on its own and forcing banks to raise more money so they can take losses on the Greek debt and ride out the financial storm that will entail.

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China’s trade with its close ally North Korea nearly doubled in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2010, state media reported Sunday.

The 87 percent increase to $3.1 billion was announced at the start of a visit to the North by Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang that reaffirms strong ties between the communist neighbors.

Li said China was hoping for better relations between North and South Korea and a resumption of long-stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

China wants to work with all parties in promoting the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and safeguarding regional peace and development, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Li’s statement as saying.

North Korea relies heavily on China for food and fuel aid and many consumer products. Chinese companies are the main investors in North Korean mining, and the sides recently signed agreements on road building and jointly developing an industrial park on an island near the Chinese city of Dandong.

“The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has shown great potential, with bilateral trade and investment volume reaching new highs,” Xinhua said, citing the Chinese ambassador to Pyongyang, Liu Hongcai.

Bilateral trade between China and North Korea still is dwarfed by economic ties between China and South Korea. China is South Korea’s largest trade partner.

Trade between Beijing and Seoul rose more than 20 percent in the first eight months of the year to $159 billion and is expected to hit about $250 billion for all of 2011.

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Unemployment rates fell in half of U.S. states last month, a sign that September’s pickup in hiring was felt around the country.

The Labor Department says unemployment rates dropped in 25 states, rose in 14 and stayed the same in 11. That’s a modest improvement from August, when unemployment rose in 26 states.

Nationwide, employers added 103,000 net jobs in September, nearly double the number created in August. Still, that’s not enough to lower the unemployment rate, which stayed at 9.1 percent for the third straight month.

Nevada reported the highest unemployment rate for the 16th straight month. It stayed at 13.4 percent for the second consecutive month. California was next. The rate there fell from 12.1 in August to 11.9 percent. Michigan had the third-highest rate, at 11.1 percent.

Layoffs have slowed at a national level in recent months. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits has fallen to a six-month low, according to a four-week average calculated by the government. That has helped calm fears that the economy was sliding into another recession, as have other recent data.

Manufacturers in the Philadelphia region grew in October after contracting for two straight months, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. In September, consumers boosted their spending on retail goods by the most in seven months.

Still, the national unemployment rate has been stuck near 9 percent for more than two years payday loan. Employers have added an average of only 72,000 jobs per month in the past five months. That’s far below the 100,000 per month needed to keep up with population growth. And it’s down from an average of 180,000 in the first four months of this year.

Americans are pessimistic about the economy. And more than half say President Barack Obama does not inspire confidence about a recovery.

A sizable majority _ more than 7 in 10 _ believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. And 43 percent describe the nation’s economy as “very poor,” a new high. Among those surveyed, less than 40 percent say Obama’s proposed remedies for high unemployment would increase jobs significantly.

Employers pulled back on hiring this spring after seeing less demand from consumers. Higher food and gas prices forced consumers to rein in spending. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.

Job growth is critical to a recovery in the housing market, which many economists say is years away.

The number of Americans who bought previously occupied homes fell in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million homes, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The pace matches last year’s sales figures, which were the worst since 1997.

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Stocks stumbled Wednesday as a rare earnings miss by Apple pulled down technology stocks. Indexes turned lower in late afternoon trading on reports of an impasse in talks aimed at resolving the European debt crisis.

The leaders of Germany, France, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank met Wednesday to prepare for a European summit this weekend to find a solution to the region’s debt troubles. Rising and falling expectations for the meeting have rattled markets every day this week.

“The big theme this week is what’s going to happen in Europe over the weekend,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. “If a Greece or another country defaults, it could do real damage to Europe. If that pushes Europe into a recession, it will further clip the pace of global growth.”

Apple Inc. slumped 5 percent after the company’s income and revenue fell short of forecasts. It was a rare miss for the company, which had jumped 31 percent this year through Tuesday. Apple blamed the shortfall on a later-than-usual release of its newest iPhone.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 99 points, or 0.9 percent, 11,478 at 3:05 p.m. Eastern. The Dow had spent much of the day edging higher, led by Travelers Cos., a major insurer. Travelers jumped 5.8 percent after reporting revenue that beat analysts’ expectations.

The Dow’s second-best stock was Intel, which rose 3.2 percent. Intel Corp. said its net income rose 17 percent last quarter, beating Wall Street’s target.

Other technology stocks were lower. The Nasdaq composite slid 52, or 2 percent, to 2,604. The S&P 500 fell 16, or 1.3 percent, to 1,208.

Worries that Europe’s troubles could get worse have driven many of the market’s big swings lately. The Greek government is widely expected to go through some kind of default or restructuring of its debt. If that process becomes messy, European banks that hold Greek government bonds may find it difficult to raise money from other banks. That, in turn, could trigger a freeze in credit markets and deliver a blow to an already weak European economy.

Investors had plenty of corporate news to digest on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories announced plans to spin off its drug business. Abbott’s stock rose 1 percent.

Large banks that were trading higher dropped in the late afternoon. Morgan Stanley fell less than 1 percent. The bank said a jump in investment banking revenue helped it earn $1.15 a share, well above analyst expectations of 30 cents per share.

Citigroup slipped 1.7 percent. The bank agreed to pay $285 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of complex mortgage investments just as the housing market was starting to collapse.

BlackRock Inc. dropped 4.2 percent after the money management giant said its assets under management fell 3 percent.

Airlines fell. AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, slid 5 percent after reporting a loss that was worse than Wall Street analysts predicted. The company said its fuel spending jumped 40 percent, wiping out revenue gains from higher fares and fees. JetBlue Airways Corp. dropped 6.2 percent after the company said its chief financial officer has resigned.

American Express and eBay will report their results from the last quarter after the market closes.

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U.S. stock futures are slipping after disappointing corporate earnings and another sign that Europe’s credit crisis isn’t solved.

Moody’s warned late Monday that it may downgrade France’s top-notch credit rating in the next three months. That country’s finance minister said Tuesday that the French economy may grow at a slower pace than expected.

In the U.S., International Business Machines Corp. fell 4 percent in premarket trading after missing Wall Street’s revenue estimates last quarter free online credit report.

Goldman Sachs, Apple and Intel will release earnings by the end of the day.

Two hours before the market opened, Dow futures fell 34 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,267. S&P 500 futures lost 2, or 0.2 percent, to 1,191. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 7, or 0.3 percent, to 2,327.

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Libyan bulldozers began knocking down the green walls surrounding Moammar Gadhafi’s main Tripoli compound known as Bab al-Aziziya on Sunday, as the new leaders said it was time “to tear down this symbol of tyranny.”

The sprawling, fortress-like compound has long been hated by Libyans who feared to even walk nearby during Gadhafi’s more than four decades in power and its capture was seen as a turning point in the civil war as revolutionaries overran the capital in late August.

Ahmad Ghargory, commander of a revolutionary brigade, said the area will be turned into a public park.

“It’s the revolutionary decision to tear down this symbol of tyranny,” Ghargory said. “We were busy with the war, but now we have the space to do this.”

Already, Libyans have turned the courtyard in front of Gadhafi’s former house, which he used for many fiery speeches trying to rally supporters during the uprising, into a weekly pet market. Tripoli residents roam the premises as if at a museum, with vendors selling revolutionary flags and other souvenirs.

The Bab al-Aziziya compound had been a mystery to most Libyans. Though it is one of the city’s largest landmarks, no streets signs indicate where it is. Few ever entered, and many Tripoli residents said they wouldn’t even walk nearby, fearing security guards on the compound’s high green walls would get suspicious and arrest or shoot them.

“I was never able to enter this building or even pass by these walls before. We won’t have any more walls in our lives,” Ghargory said.

The compound was one of the main targets for NATO airstrikes during the months leading to Gadhafi’s ouster in late August.

Libyan fighters overran the area on Aug. 23 during fierce fighting for the capital, jubilantly rampaging through the remnants of barracks, personal living quarters and offices seen as the most defining symbol of Gadhafi’s nearly 42-year rule.

Gadhafi’s residence, now gutted and covered with graffiti, was also targeted in a U.S. bombing raid in April 1986, after Washington held Libya responsible for a blast at a Berlin disco that killed two U.S. servicemen. A sculpture of a clenched fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet that had been erected after the strike has been removed.

Gadhafi entertained guests in a Bedouin-style tent pitched near two tennis courts about 200 yards (meters) from the family home.

“All the bad things that happened, happened inside these walls. And he kept his mercenaries and tortured people inside these walls,” said Tarek Saleh, a 25-year-old revolutionary. “Before we were never able to enter this site, and we’re tearing these walls down so we don’t have to remember those dark days.”

Libyans are eager to move on after decades of repression, even though fighting continues on two fronts and tensions between supporters of the former regime and revolutionary forces remain high _ even in Tripoli.

Revolutionary forces have squeezed Gadhafi loyalists into one main district in his hometown of Sirte after weeks of fighting, but some said fears of friendly fire as well as a lack of coordination and communications were slowing their advance. Fighters from the eastern city of Benghazi and Misrata to the west were trying to reorganize themselves to solve that problem.

“We have them cornered in a 900 by 700 meter area, but the fighting is difficult because we are worried about firing on our own forces, they are mixed together,” Benghazi field commander Khaled al-Magrabi said Sunday.

Commanders said they have agreed to divide the remaining loyalist area between them to prevent confusion.

Libyan fighters also faced discord over the looting of buildings, including the airport and houses in Sirte, on the coast 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

Associated Press Television News reporters saw trucks carting off tractors, industrial generators and heavy machinery on the road from Sirte to nearby Misrata, which was under siege by Gadhafi forces for months and saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

Trucks also carried off equipment from Sirte’s airport, including red-carpeted mobile staircases, baggage carts, airplane towing vehicles and security screening equipment, all apparently meant for Misrata’s badly damaged airport.

Smaller pickups were loaded with rugs, freezers, refrigerators, furniture and other household goods, apparently taken by civilians and fighters to be used in their homes or resold.

The looting was an indication that reconciliation and unity may be difficult to achieve in post-Gadhafi Libya.

Commanders tried to rein in looting by ordering fighters to refrain from entering private homes and to detain anybody not authorized to be in the area. Benghazi fighters arrested three men for looting on Saturday.

Revolutionary forces also distributed fliers at checkpoints leading into the city that read, “Dear Muslims, avoid God’s wrath. Do not steal from people’s homes, their cars, or take their personal possessions.”

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