NEW YORK (AP) -- Tiffany & Co. reported Friday that strong growth in the Asia-Pacific and European markets helped first-quarter profits rise 19 percent and said that it doesn't expect an improvement in the U.S. until later this year.

The jewelry retailer also raised its profit outlook for the year, based on a promising start, and said that it will open a smaller-store format in the U.S. as part of its worldwide expansion plans.

Tiffany said profits totaled $64.4 million, or 50 cents per share, in the three-month period ended April 30. That compared with $54.08 million, or 39 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

The company's sales rose 12 percent to $668.15 million from $595.7 million in the year-ago period.

The results beat estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Financial who had expected earnings of 40 cents per share on sales of $649 million.

Shares rose 2.7 percent, or $1.29, to $49.03.

"We are pleased to start the year with sales and earnings growth above our expectations," said Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and CEO, in a statement. He added that the strong gain in worldwide sales, despite only a modest growth in the U.S. due to a challenging economy, reflects "the benefit of globally diversified

DALLAS (AP) -- Dell Inc. said Thursday that its profit and sales grew in its fiscal first quarter, beating Wall Street expectations and signaling that the computer maker's turnaround efforts may be paying off.

For the three months ended May 2, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. earned $784 million, or 38 cents per share, up from $756 million, or 34 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Dell says its revenue jumped 9 percent to $16.08 billion from $14.72 billion.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 34 cents per share on sales of $15.68 billion.

The company said strong growth of commercial and consumer products and services and lower operating costs as a percentage of sales helped drive the results above the forecasts.

Dell shares rose 12 cents Thursday, closing at $21.81 before the quarterly results were released. In extended trading, the shares jumped $2.02, or 9.3 percent, to $23.83.

Dell is trying to cut costs by $3 billion while also chasing Hewlett-Packard Co. in worldwide shipments of personal computers, a category it once led.

Dell still leads HP in U.S. PC sales, according to technology research firms IDC and Gartner Inc., but that

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bear Stearns shareholders have approved JPMorgan Chase's buyout, ending the saga of the 85-year-old pillar of Wall Street that crumbled under the weight of its own wagers on high-risk mortgages.

The tumult is far from over, however, for JPMorgan Chase & Co. -- which now must mesh Bear Stearns' maverick culture with its own -- and the thousands of workers affected by the takeover.

Bear Stearns officially becomes part of JPMorgan Chase on Friday, after a widely anticipated "yes" vote that won with 84 percent of the vote Thursday morning at Bear Stearns' midtown Manhattan headquarters.

All told, the deal was worth about $2.3 billion. JPMorgan is spending $1.4 billion for the firm itself, and spent an additional $900 million over the past month-and-a-half buying up Bear Stearns stock to guarantee the deal would go through.

Thursday's meeting, led by Bear Stearns' chairman James Cayne and CEO Alan Schwartz, lasted less than 10 minutes, leaving some Bear Stearns' shareholders angered by the speed at which the deal closed.

"They were up there drinking coffee paid with my money ... and we lost our money overnight," said Hannah Horgan, a Bear Stearns shareholder. "I have nothing left, and they were so calm."

Back in January 2007, before mortgage defaults began clobbering banks and draining demand from the

With so much contradictory advice floating around, it is sometimes hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement.

Financial experts say that one often-overlooked resource is the humble Individual Retirement Account, or I.R.A., which has been a part of the personal finance landscape for so long that many of us take it for granted.

More than 90 percent of the money that flows into traditional I.R.A.’s is being rolled over from retirement plans at work, like 401(k)’s. On the other hand, only 14 percent of American households that were eligible to make direct I.R.A. contributions did so in 2006, according to the most recent data from the Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund industry trade group.

The rules for some I.R.A. contributions are so complex that many Americans may not realize they are eligible to make them, said Brian Reid, the chief economist at the Investment Company Institute. Indeed, the I.R.A. rules fill a 108-page brochure on the Web site.

And while investors often fund a 401(k) at work before contributing to an I.R.A., particularly if employers offer matching contributions, many people don’t have a 401(k) or other workplace option. Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, said that 57 percent of “prime working-age Americans,” defined as 25 to 64 years old, had no retirement plan at work. Contributing to

The top five risks you face in retirement, and tips on how to handle them

They say risk is opportunity, but that's true only if one knows what the risks are and how they might be managed.

To that end, the Society of Actuaries has boiled down its list of 15-plus retirement risks to a manageable list of five, along with what it calls "actuarial approaches" to manage those risks.

1. Inflation

There's no doubt about it: Inflation is a big risk for would-be retirees and current retirees. From 1980 to 2007, the annual inflation in the U.S. for all goods and services ranged from 1.1% to 8.9%, but averaged 3.5%, according to SOA. That means an item that cost $1 in 1980 would cost $2.82 in 2007.

But for retirees, the rate of inflation can be even worse - especially for expenditures that represent a big and growing portion of their budget.

Take health care expenses, which tend to rise much more rapidly than general inflation. The cost of medical care has risen nearly four-fold in the 26 years since December 1982, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' little-known Consumer Price Index-Experimental (CPI-E) that tracks the rate of inflation for Americans 62 and older. The CPI-E was first introduced in 1982.

Health care that cost $100 in 1983 cost $387 in April 2008, according to the CPI-E. That might not be so

The US dollar weakened significantly this past week as rising oil prices revealed the vulnerabilities of the US economy. Companies are beginning to struggle and have been forced to come up with more creative ways to deal with the energy crisis. With crude oil prices hitting $135 a barrel and gasoline in many states topping $4 a gallon, US companies are making cuts across the board. Ford Motors Co for example plans on reducing production while American Airlines will be lowering capacity by 15 percent and adding bag charges. According to the futures market, some traders even expect gas prices to hit $7 to $8 a gallon. However the US is not alone in having to deal with the oil crisis which is one of the major reasons why the dollar has weakened. Over the past few weeks, the market had been slowly pricing in a pause from the Federal Reserve. At the same time, there was a growing consensus that other central banks may need to begin or continue to cut interest rates. The surge in oil prices and hawkish comments from the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia dramatically altered the outlook for these central banks. With strict inflation targets, traders came to realize that interest rates for these 3 countries will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future and as a result, currency rates adjusted for these expectations. In the coming week, the vulnerabilities of the US economy may become even more apparent. The US markets are closed for Memorial Day on Monday, but we still have a busy week ahead of us with consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods, first quarter GDP, personal income, personal spending and Chicago PMI due for release. We expect most of these numbers to be dollar

BY the time Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr. retired from Cravath, Swain & Moore in 2002, he was financially set. He was already an author, he already had a distinguished track record in public service and philanthropy and, of course, he was the great-grandson of a toy magnate.

So when Fritz Schwarz — the name he greatly prefers — joined the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, he seriously considered volunteering his services. He decided against it, and negotiated a salary, albeit one below what a starting lawyer makes.

He never got a raise, and last year, when the Brennan Center ran into a budget crunch, he gave up his pay. But in principle, if no longer in principal, he thinks the salary made sense. “An organization and a person are simply more committed to each other when the person is paid,” he said.

Clearly, Mr. Schwarz has bought into the concept of paid volunteerism. The phrase may sound oxymoronic, but an ever-growing number of retirees and nonprofit executives say it is an apt description of the way modern retirees view nonprofit work. And while no one has gathered statistics on the tendency, experts say there is a good chance that the automatic link between doing good and working for nothing has been permanently severed.

“People used to say, ‘Here I am, what do you need done?’ ” said Deborah Russell, director of work-force issues for AARP. “Today’s retirees say, ‘Here’s what I do well, how can you use it, and what will you

Day 4 of the Warren Buffett European offensive, and expectations of an imminent bid have been managed down. Mr Buffett says he is not stalking targets, he wants companies that meet his criteria to call him. He even gave out his phone number on a number of occasions during the Lausanne press conference.

He's a man who knows how to charm a room and the European press seem to have overlooked a lack of detail and fallen for him. Such was the frenzy of the press pack waiting to welcome him in Madrid that a drinks waiter who brought his customary coca-cola into the briefing room minutes before the man himself arrived, was set upon by photographers. They soon realized the startled waiter was not Mr Buffett and he was free to pass.

The Spanish press welcomed him with a list of companies that they thought he should take a look at. (Buffett seemed more excited about his meeting with the Spanish King!), whilst the Italians focused on his view of the currency markets. He's no dollar bull, that's for sure.

And that seems to be part of the reason that he is here. He admits that he should have been shopping in Europe earlier, but not just because currencies have moved against him in recent years. He says he likes