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Surging oil prices are starting to pinch the pocketbooks of Asian consumers and could quicken inflation and slow economic activity in a region that has led global growth in recent years.

The jump in crude _ the U.S. benchmark is trading near a ten-month high of $107 a barrel from $75 in October _ has sent fuel prices higher across Asia, where only Malaysia is a net oil exporter among the major economies. In Singapore, for instance, a liter of 92-octane gasoline at ExxonMobil stations has risen 6 percent this year to 2.15 Singapore dollars a liter ($6.48 a gallon).

Higher oil prices have already made Asian policymakers think twice about cutting lending rates and implementing other stimulus measures designed to boost economic growth as shockwaves from Europe’s debt crisis spread. If crude gets much higher, it could force central bankers to raise rates, sacrificing growth to tame inflation.

The backbone of Asia’s economy has traditionally been exports to the U.S. and Europe but a growing middle class and a boom in purchasing power in recent years in countries such China and Indonesia have made Asian consumer demand increasingly vital to the global economy.

“I spend most of my day on the road driving clients around to see properties,” said 27-year-old Singapore real estate agent Timothy Chen, who switched last week to a less expensive, lower-octane gasoline to help stem his rising fuel bill. “It’s frustrating because I’m paying more for petrol but I’m not making more money.”

Some in the region, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, import all of their crude and are particularly exposed to higher energy prices, which boost transport and production costs, and therefore the cost of most goods. The cost of crude has spiked recently amid investor optimism that an improving U.S. economy will boost demand and fears that rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program could lead to global supply disruptions.

“Rising oil prices appear more like a tax on global growth, eating into spending power in the U.S. and Europe, and hitting many Asian economies at a time when they are slowing,” said Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank. “The impact of oil prices on the global economy can never be underestimated. Rising oil prices are usually the biggest threat to continued global growth.”

Asia’s strong trade and government surpluses have so far helped it absorb higher global oil prices without a significant impact on the region’s inflation and economic growth. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting gross domestic product in Asia will expand 6.7 percent this year from 6 no fax payday advances.3 percent last year.

However, GDP forecasts won’t take the sting out of higher fuel costs, especially for the region’s poor.

Hanoi motorbike taxi driver Nguyen Van Hung, 42, said he had to raise his fare by 1,000 dong (5 cents) per kilometer after the government boosted gasoline prices by 10 percent to a record high earlier this month.

“My customers just walked away when I told them I had to raise the fare,” said Hung, who earns about $5 a day and supports a family of four. “They said they could not afford that much.”

Even if the most recent data suggest inflation remains largely in check, Asia may still be hurt by the recent surge in oil prices since it can take months or years for higher energy costs and tighter monetary policies to work their way through an economy, said Sean Darby, chief global equity strategist with Jefferies in Hong Kong.

“Well after the oil shock occurs, the economy will still be impacted,” Darby said.

South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand are the biggest net crude importers relative to the size of their economies while India _ with trade and government deficits and an inflation rate at 6.6 percent in January _ is in a weak position to absorb higher energy costs, analysts said.

Another worry is that higher oil prices will force countries that subsidize consumer fuel costs _ such as India, Indonesia and Thailand _ to spend more on crude and less on other public expenditure that could help economic growth.

China raised gasoline prices 3.3 percent last month to equal a record high of 9,380 yuan per liter ($4 a gallon), but China has in the past been able to absorb increases. Since 2003, gasoline prices have nearly tripled while the country has averaged growth of about 10 percent a year.

“Asia has shown in recent years that high prices are not a barrier to the region’s continued rapid economic growth,” said Daniel Martin, Asia economist with Capital Economics in Singapore.

But if prices jump because of a supply disruption from a violent conflict over Iran’s nuclear program while the global economy slows, the impact on Asia would be worse than, say, a scenario in which prices rise more gradually because Europe has stabilized and the global economy and oil demand are growing faster.

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Associated Press writers Sharon Chen in Singapore and Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam contributed.

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The year has barely begun, but it’s already a major disappointment for the cruise industry.

It was supposed to be the year that prices stabilized following widespread discounting after the recession. But just two weeks into the year, 32 people died when the Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Italy. Then late last month, another Costa ship _ the Allegra _ caught fire and lost power, leaving passengers without working toilets, running water or air conditioning for three days.

Costa’s parent company, Carnival Corp., said Friday those incidents led it to slash its 2012 earnings expectations by 82 percent. Still, it’s holding prices firm, warning that “consumers holding out for deeper than normal discounts may be disappointed.”

Since the Concordia capsized in mid-January, Carnival said that its booking trends, excluding Costa, are still running behind last year, despite lowering prices immediately after the accident. Booking volumes for the Costa line during the same period are running “significantly behind.”

Costa nixed essentially all its marketing after the wreck, Carnival said, and has not made a serious public attempt to win back potential travelers in most markets.

Carnival Corp. posted a loss of $139 million, or 18 cents per share, for the first quarter on Friday. A year ago, it earned $152 million, or 19 cents per share.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $3.58 billion. Analysts expected a loss of 7 cents per share with revenue of $3.56 billion.

The first three months of the year are a critical period for the cruise industry payday loan lenders in states. Referred to as “wave season,” it’s a time when a large number of travelers book cruises for the year. The Costa Concordia disaster happened as the season was starting, and it affected bookings across the industry.

Last month Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said it’s hard to determine what impact the tragedy will have on its 2012 revenue, but it said the accident has already hit bookings significantly.

Unlike plane tickets or hotel rooms which are mostly booked directly by customers on the internet, most cruises are sold by travel agents, which makes it harder to gauge the impact of an accident like the Concordia wreck.

But no cruise line has felt the impact like Carnival.

The Miami company predicted net income of between $1.40 and $1.70 per share. It previously forecast $2.55 to $2.85 per share. Revenue for the year after expenses could fall as much as 4 percent. If the potential business from the sunken Italian ship is excluded, Carnival says the number would likely be flat.

Carnival operates 101 ships under several brands including Costa, Carnival, Cunard, Holland America, Princess and Seabourn.

Shares of Carnival Corp. fell 54 cents to $30.41 in midday trading. The stock lost about 16 percent in the days following the Concordia wreck, and has not recovered much from a January low of $29.36.

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Inflation is back on the European Central Bank

Gasoline prices have finally dropped after 27 days.

The nationwide average for regular unleaded slipped less than a penny to $3.764 per gallon on Tuesday. That ended a streak of price hikes that began on Feb. 8. Pump prices rose by more than 28 cents per gallon in that period, making gasoline the most expensive ever for this time of year.

Gasoline already tops $4 per gallon in California, Alaska and Hawaii. It’s near the $4 mark in several other states, including Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Despite the one-day drop, experts predict that gasoline will continue to rise over the next several weeks. The Oil Price Information Service predicts the nationwide average could peak at $4.25 per gallon in late April.

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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reiterated yesterday the need to trim the scale of government to win public support for doubling the nation

European stock markets and the euro gave up some earlier gains Wednesday after the European Central Bank revealed that it lent slightly more than anticipated in its super-cheap three-year loan offering to banks.

The ECB said it made euro529.5 billion ($712.4 billion) in low-interest loans to banks in the second round of its long-term credit infusion, which has been widely credited with easing the eurozone debt crisis.

The uptake of the long-term refinancing operation, or LTRO, was modestly higher than the euro489 billion ($657.9 billion) handed out to 523 banks at a first offering on Dec. 21, and was slightly higher than market expectations. The offer of credit for three years was taken up by 800 banks, again more than anticipated.

After the details of the offering, the euro and stocks dropped slightly as investors worried that the higher take-up may be a sign of continued stress in Europe’s banking system.

“While this will ease the crisis in the short term, an LTRO of this size is disturbing in what it reveals about the depth of banking problems in the EU,” said Sony Kapoor, managing director of economic think-tank Re-Define.

The euro was trading 0.2 percent lower at $1.3440, having traded flat before the results were announced.

In stock markets, Europe’s main indexes fell too but remained up on the day. Germany’s DAX was up 0.5 percent at 6,294 while the CAC-40 in France was 0.4 percent higher at 3,468. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.1 percent higher at 5,933.

Most of the world’s leading indexes are back at levels they were trading at before last summer’s massive sell-off. Stronger-than-anticipated U.S. consumer confidence figures on Tuesday also helped push the Dow to close at 13,005.12 on Tuesday. The last time the benchmark closed above 13,000 was in May 2008, four months before the fall of the Lehman Brothers investment bank and the worst of the financial crisis.

The ECB’s first round of three-year loans last December is often cited as one of the reasons why markets been so buoyant this year as they eased concerns of an imminent credit crunch in Europe.

Banks used some of the money from the first round of loans to buy government bonds. That lowered borrowing costs for hard-pressed governments struggling to maintain large amounts of debt, and eased fears of a market meltdown from Europe’s troubles with too much government debt.

“The ECB will certainly be hoping that the even stronger take up of its second unlimited three-year refinancing operation will help to ease credit conditions significantly,” said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight.

Wall Street was poised to open slightly higher later _ both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures were 0.1 percent higher.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index edged up slightly to close at 9,723.24 after the government released a report that showed factory production rising for a second straight month in January.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent to 21,680.08 and South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.3 percent to 2,030.25.

But on mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 1 percent to 2,428.49 while the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 1.3 percent to 956.99.

Mainland Chinese shares fell after Shanghai announced that _ contrary to recent reports _ it would not ease restrictions on

Investors are also anticipating the Federal Reserve’s so-called Beige Book report on economic activity, due later Wednesday. The report is expected to reflect a slowly improving U.S. economy.

Oil prices ticked higher alongside equities _ benchmark oil for April delivery was up 49 cents at $107.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Germany was left to dig deeper to combat the euro-area debt crisis after the Group of 20 nations told Europe to come up with more financial firepower before they consider lending outside support.

The decision by G-20 officials to rebuff European calls for assistance in their crisis-fighting effort pending an increase in its own financial backstop puts the onus on Germany, already the biggest national contributor to bailouts, to overcome its resistance to doing more.

With a parliamentary vote on a second Greek aid package looming in Berlin today, Chancellor Angela Merkel

Amy Hake and Jon Hambach are in love.  They just don’t have a marriage license.

They do live together. They have a joint bank account, a jointly-owned car and they’re buying a house together in Warrenton.

“We love each other deeply. Marriage will come eventually,” says Jon, 24.

Why not tie the knot now? “We wouldn’t have any money left,” laughs Amy, 23. “Weddings are terribly expensive.”

Lots of people live together before marriage. So, let’s take a look at some of the money and legal issues that entails.

Come January, Amy will go back to college to finish her degree, which means money will be tighter and Jon will have to carry more of the financial load on his salary as a systems installer for CenturyLink. He’s cool with that.

Money is a major cause of arguments among couples. For husbands, financial disagreements are the strongest predictor of divorce, according to research by Jeffrey Dew of Utah State University. For wives, both financial and sexual disputes predict divorce, but financial arguments were a much better predictor.

Because of such complications, live-ins should keep their finances separate, Bridget Brennan, a “marriage educator” at St. Louis Healthy Families.  They should agree in advance how they’ll cover joint bills.

Often, the conflict stems from different ways that people view money; some see it as a means to security, and sock it away. To others, it’s a means to fun.

“If she shops at Plaza Frontenac and you go to J.C. Penney’s, you’d better be aware of that,” says Brennan. “The spender will resent the saver. It turns into a control issue and nagging.”

Counselors suggest couples talk frankly about money before moving in together. Watch your potential mate’s behavior, says Brennan. Can you live with their money habits?

Jon and Amy have known each other since grammar school. They had the money talk and decided they were on the same beam.

“We both grew up, not poor, but without a lot of excess money,” says Amy. “We believe in saving, and having a rainy day fund, but we want to enjoy things too.”

That’s why they’re buying a house. They have a dog and want a second one. That would be a no-no in their current rental.

They got a good deal, says their real estate agent, Steve Magnum of Coldwell Banker Gundaker. They’re paying $95,000 for a ranch-style house that sold for $141,000 new about five years ago.

Jon and Amy seem headed for bliss. But it’s worth looking at what happens when unmarried people break up after living together.

Divorce law doesn’t apply, of course. There’s no community property. (Illinois’ does provide divorce for people legally joined in civil unions. Missouri doesn’t allow civil unions no fax pay day loans.)

There’s no such thing as “palimony” under Missouri and Illinois law. One partner will have no claim on the other’s income, says Joe Cordell, senior parter at the Cordell and Cordell law firm, which specializes in divorce.

Neither state recognizes a “common law marriage” among long-term live-ins.

Instead, the law treats ex-lovers like partners breaking up a business. What counts is what’s on paper. If a house is in one partner’s name, it doesn’t matter if the other helped pay the mortgage for all those years. Oral agreements aren’t enforceable in real estate.

If property is jointly owned, and the partners can’t agree, the court will probably order the property sold and the proceeds split between them, says Cordell.

Partners can regulate those things through separate contracts, sometimes called cohabitation agreements. But things can get complicated here. For instance, the courts won’t uphold a personal services contract for “love and affection,” says Cordell.

If you want such a contract, better see a lawyer.

If the couple has a child, a separate set of laws applies to custody and support, as in divorce.

Of course, these aren’t just issues for the young, as Jim Wilson and Kelly Lutz can testify. He’s 76, the retired president of a big moving company. She’s 48, a medical assistant.

Wilson, a widower, asked Lutz to marry him and she said yes. They moved in together in Sunset Hills. But they’re not sure they’ll ever tie the knot.

“I have two daughters older than her. She’s got three children,” says Wilson. “My daughters love her and we have not had an argument in three and a half years.”

Lutz sold her house in Chesterfield, and put the money toward her retirement. He sold his condo and bought a bigger one with room for Lutz’ high school age daughter and college-age son.

Mixing families brings legal complications. Wilson says he has “quite a bit of money.” If he should marry, and then die, who inherits what?

“That’s my biggest fear,” says Lutz. “We’ve all blended together so well, I don’t want anybody to feel threatened.”

Wills and a prenuptial agreement might settle those issues, of course. Marriage educator Brennan thinks prenups are a very good idea.

“A prenup doesn’t mean you don’t love each other. It means your caring for people from your first relationship,” she says.

But for now, the couple likes things the way they are. “We are very, very happy,” says Lutz.

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Tensions with Iran are adding at least 30 cents to a gallon of gasoline in the United States, and experts say gas prices have only just begun to rise.

Gasoline prices have surged over 10% in the last two months, largely tracking the runup in oil prices, which have increased by a similar amount and are now at a 9-month high.

Several factors have caused oil prices to rise, including the sense that the economy is improving and supply disruptions in a handful of minor oil producing nations.

But the biggest factor by far, say analysts, is fear that tensions with Iran will lead to an all-out war that causes a disruption in oil supplies.

"The market right now is fairly well supplied," said John Kingston, director of oil, at the analytics firm Platts. "You’ve just got a significant fear factor that things could get worse."

Kingston noted that OPEC is actually producing more oil right now than is needed to keep pace with global demand. As such, stockpiles are rising.

Gas spending and prices by state

And thanks to the recession and better fuel efficiency, gasoline demand in the United States, the world’s largest consumer, is actually the lowest it’s been in a decade, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Yet gas and oil prices continue to climb.

The fear is that Iran’s 2.2 million barrels a day in exports could be cut off. Iranian oil is already being sanctioned, but so far most is still finding its way to market, just at lower prices.

Worse, there’s fear the 17 million barrels a day that flow through the Strait of Hormuz, one fifth of the world’s total production, could be disrupted by an Israeli attack.

That’s a big reason why gasoline prices in the United States averaged $3.37 in January, the highest for any January ever, according to AAA.

"It’s a market that’s caught fire," said Ben Brockwell, an analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which collects data for AAA. "And it doesn’t look like there’s any circuit breakers to stop it."

Indeed, Brockwell noted that while retail prices are up 36 cents a gallon in the last two months, futures prices have risen even higher — 82 cents over the same time period.

Unless the situation with Iran cools off and future prices decline, consumers will likely see that 35-cent-a-gallon difference in the form of a similarly paired price hike at the pump in a matter of weeks.

Iran’s ‘distressed’ oil to keep flowing - at deep discount

"I definitely think the market is psyching itself up for a new record," he said, referring to the previous average high price for gasoline, which was $4.11 a gallon set in the summer of 2008. "Probably before memorial day."

That possibility has got a lot of people freaked out. Everyone from the Obama administrations to the American Petroleum Institute has been trying to talk down prices in the last few days.

Many economists say gasoline prices sustained above $4 a gallon could stunt the growth of the fragile worldwide economy — a fact which diplomats shuttling to Israel must be well aware.

It’s thought the Israelis are considering an attack on Iran as a means to disrupt its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but many suspect is intended to produce a bomb.

But if Israel can’t be persuaded to hold off an attack, $4 gas will look cheap.

"If Israel does hit Iran, all bets are off," said Mike Fitzpatrick, editor-in-chief of Kilduff Report’s Energy Overview. "$150 [oil] is the first marker we’ll hit."

Oil at $150 a barrel could translate into over $5 a gallon at the pump. 

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Reliance Bancshares cut its losses in the fourth quarter by 51 percent as nonperforming loans and provisions for loan losses both declined.

Reliance Bancshares’ reported a loss of $16.4 million in the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $33.7 million a year ago.

The bank was able to reduce its troubled assets and cut overhead expenses as it seeks to return to profitability, said president and CEO Allan Ivie in a statement. For all of 2011, Reliance Bancshares lost $34 million, compared with $48.5 million in 2010.

Frontenac-based Reliance Bancshares is the holding company for Reliance Bank, which has 20 local branches.

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