The California Milk Processor Board is trying to be funny in its new ad campaign. But has the nonprofit marketing organization gone too far with its latest efforts?

A website and social media campaign unveiled Monday tries to get edgy as it urges women to drink milk to help with premenstrual stress. The ads themselves, though, are aimed at men, with the title "Everything I Do Is Wrong." The website features loud, menacing music as men, caught in shadows or with their images enhanced to make it seem as if they're in a dangerous situation, struggle to deal with the awfulness of PMS in their partners. Somehow this is supposed to make women want to drink milk. The campaign will also include spots on public radio.

The organization's advertising agency, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, says it's just trying to be funny. What do you think?

-- Sharon Bernstein

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Ireland's debt rating was cut to junk status Tuesday by Moody's Investors Service, dashing financial markets' hopes for a stretch of calm after the latest upheaval in Europe.

Moody’s dropped Ireland to Ba1 from Baa3, citing a “growing likelihood” that private investors in Irish bonds will be forced into a restructuring of their securities to help solve the country’s heavy debt burden.

Any rating below Baa means the issuer’s debt is considered non-investment grade. The ratings firm also said it kept its outlook for Ireland negative, which means further cuts are possible.

Moody's move is at odds with rivals Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings, both of which still rate Ireland investment-grade, at BBB-plus, Ireland's Finance Ministry noted in a statement.

Moody’s wording was similar to what it said a week ago when it cut Portugal to the junk rating of Ba2 from Baa1. The firm sees a “growing possibility” that Ireland and Portugal both will need second bailouts by the European Union, just as Greece has gone back for a second round of help.

And as a condition of a second bailout, Moody’s says EU policymakers’ “increasingly clear preference” is to have private investors give something back -- roll their bonds into longer-term securities, for example, or take an interest-rate cut.

“A call for private sector participation in the current round of financing for Greece signals that such pressure is likely to be felt during all future rounds of official financing for other distressed sovereigns, including Ba2-rated Portugal as well as Ireland,” Moody’s said.

But European policymakers haven’t yet settled on the kind of “participation” they’d like to see from Greek bondholders.

Moody’s decision was announced after European markets closed, but in time to ruin Wall Street’s day: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 58.88 points, or 0.5%, to 12,446.88 after being up as much as 65 points.

The euro fell to $1.397 from $1.403 on Monday. The currency has fallen from $1.453 a week ago.

While European authorities still are wrestling with bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the “contagion” from the debt crisis spread to the far larger economies of Spain and Italy over the last week, pushing those countries’ bond yields sharply higher.

Before Moody’s announcement on Ireland, Spanish and Italian bond yields edged down Tuesday, in part on rumors that the European Central Bank was buying bonds in the open market.

Spain and Italy still have investment-grade ratings on their debt. Both are rated Aa2 by Moody’s.

But Portugal was Aa2 until last summer. Ireland was Aa2 until December.

-- Tom Petruno

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Photo: Dublin, Ireland. Credit: Aidan Crawley / Bloomberg News

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Tuesday blocked the nomination of John Bryson to be Commerce Secretary, saying the environmental views of the former Edison International executive were too radical.

Inhofe, a leading critic of global warming, said he was placing a hold on the nomination -- a procedural tactic that allows a single senator to block a nominee from getting a confirmation vote by the full Senate. The move -- essentially the threat of a filibuster -- can be overcome by 60 votes in the Senate, but often stalls a nomination for weeks, and can ultimately derail it.

"If Bryson becomes Secretary of Commerce, economic growth in Oklahoma and across the nation could be in jeopardy, and I will be doing everything in my power to block his confirmation," Inhofe announced.

Bryson's nomination for the job is ironic because "here's a guy who wants to kill commerce" through his environmental policies, Inhofe said.

He cited Bryson's role in 1970 in co-founding the Natural Resources Defense Council, which Inhofe called a "radical...left-wing organization." Inhofe also criticized Bryson for supporting a 2009 House bill to address climate change through a controversial cap-and-trade system.

President Obama nominated Bryson on May 31, but the nomination already was stalled because of disputes over pending trade deals.

In March, 44 of the 47 Senate Republicans vowed to block any Commerce secretary nominee until Obama sent free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress and promised to sign them if passed. Those deals are caught up in a dispute over adding funding for a government program to retrain workers who lose their jobs because of the trade deals. . . .

Gold closed at a record high Tuesday, surpassing its previous high set in May, as some investors ran back to the classic haven amid global financial markets’ latest turmoil.

The metal also got a boost as the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed some policymakers were willing to push for a new monetary stimulus program if the economy failed to show significant job growth.

That could mean a resumption of the Fed’s bond-buying program, which critics say has helped fuel inflation, particularly in commodities. Fears of higher inflation often drive more investors to gold as a hedge.

The Fed is “thinking about more free money,” said Frank Lesh, a commodities analyst at FuturePath Trading in Chicago. “The first place it goes is into the markets.”

Gold jumped $13.10 to $1,561.90 an ounce in the regular futures trading session in New York. That topped the old closing high of $1,556.70 on May 2.

The metal's price now is up 9.9% year to date -- more than twice the price gain of the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index -- and is on track for its 11th straight annual increase.

Gold continued to rise in after-hours trading Tuesday, reaching $1,570 an ounce by about 1 p.m. PDT, following the release of the Fed meeting minutes and after Ireland’s debt rating was cut to junk status by Moody’s Investors Service.

Gold has risen for six straight sessions, powered in large part by the latest turn in Europe’s debt crisis. The “contagion” from Greece, Portugal and Ireland has spread to Italy and Spain over the last week, driving those countries’ bond yields up sharply, though they eased a bit Tuesday.

The impasse between the White House and Republican leaders on how to cut the budget deficit also is pushing money toward gold, Lesh said.

For anyone looking for excuses to buy the metal, it’s “round up the usual suspects,” he said.

Silver, however, hasn’t gone along for the ride. After rocketing in the first four months of the year as small investors poured into the metal, silver crashed in May, hurt by the futures market’s decision to raise minimum margin requirements, or down payments, on contracts. A weakening global economy also pulled the metal lower on worries about declining industrial demand.

Silver plunged from a peak of $48.58 an ounce April 29 to $33.49 by mid-May. Since then it has mostly traded between $33.50 and $38.50. Near-term futures slipped 6 cents to $35.63 an ounce Tuesday despite gold’s advance.

The boost in silver futures margins “scared away a lot of participants,” said Matt Zeman, a commodities strategist at Kingsview Financial in Chicago.

It also hasn’t helped that people who bought at the peak of the spring silver mania still are down more than 25%. Year to date, however, silver is up 15.3%.

-- Tom Petruno

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Investors hit the pause button on Europe’s debt crisis Tuesday: Yields on Italian and Spanish government bonds fell after surging the previous six sessions.

Traders said the mood was helped by rumors that the European Central Bank was buying bonds in the open market.

Also, Italy was able to sell $9.5 billion of one-year debt in a market auction, though it had to pay a lofty 3.67% yield.

The yield on 10-year Italian bonds rose as high as 6.02% early in the day but fell back to end at 5.57%, down from 5.68% on Monday, which was the highest since 2000.

Spanish 10-year bond yields rose to 6.31% early in the session, then rallied to end at 5.85%, down from 6.03% on Monday.

While European authorities still are wrestling with bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the “contagion” from the debt crisis spread to the far larger economies of Spain and Italy over the last week.

If Spanish and Italian bond yields keep climbing, the risk is that it will become too expensive for the countries to roll over existing heavy debt burdens at market rates. That's what forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts from the rest of the European Union over the last 14 months.

Meanwhile, EU leaders still haven’t figured out how to get Greece’s debt mess under control, as the country awaits its second bailout.

The euro currency plunged as low as $1.384 on Tuesday, its weakest level since March, before rebounding. It was trading at $1.401 in New York, down from $1.403 on Monday.

Most European stock markets closed lower for a third straight day but up from their worst levels. The Spanish market fell 0.7%, France lost 0.9% and Germany fell 0.8%. The Italian market gained 1.2% after diving 11% over the previous five sessions.

On Wall Street stocks were modestly higher at midday, with the Dow industrials up 0.5% to 12,564 after falling 1.2% on Monday.

-- Tom Petruno

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Photo: The euro symbol outside the European Central Bank's headquarters in Frankfurt. Credit: Boris Roessler / EPA

The Southern California housing market showed some signs of stabilizing last month with sales popping up more than average from May to June, a real estate data firm reported Tuesday.

Sales rose 11.6% from May, driven by first-time buyers and investors scouring the market for bargains. A total of 20,532 newly built and previously owned homes sold in the region last month, according to DataQuick of San Diego. That tally was nevertheless a 14.0% decline from the same period a year ago, the last month that buyers could close on their home purchases and qualify for the popular federal tax credit.

The median sales price for the region was $285,000, a 1.8% increase from May though still down 5.0% from June 2010. The median, the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less, was 15.4% above the most recent bottom of $247,000 hit in the throes of the financial crisis in April 2009.

“The housing market remains dysfunctional and lopsided, just somewhat less so than it was a few months or a year ago,” DataQuick President John Walsh said. "The market mix indicates that a lot of potential buyers are either stuck, for lack of equity, or spooked and are waiting things out.”

Sales of so-called distressed properties -- those whose owners are in some state of default -- made up more than half of the Southland resale market last month. Roughly one out of three homes resold was a foreclosure, while almost one in five was a short sale, in which the mortgage holder accepts a sale price that is less than the outstanding debt on the property.

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-- Alejandro Lazo

Photo: Bruce Norris, president of the investment group Norris Group, stands in front of a potential purchase in Moreno Valley last year. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Here's your to-thine-own-self-be-true Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Where does our medicine come from? Increasingly, the answer is overseas, where safety standards can be lower. The Food and Drug Administration estimates that about 40% of finished drugs and 80% of active ingredients and bulk chemicals come from abroad. The Pew Health Group says in a new report that increased outsourcing of manufacturing, a complex and globalized supply chain, and occasionally criminal businesses create the potential for counterfeit or substandard medicines to enter the supply chain and reach patients. Industry and government agencies have failed to adapt to the changing environment, the report finds. Substandard or adulterated pharmaceutical materials from abroad have entered the U.S. on multiple occasions. In addition, the risks of domestic counterfeiting and diversion of stolen drugs are well documented.

--This didn't take long: A marketing ploy involving Casey Anthony is popping up on Facebook screens. "Breaking News!" it says. "Leaked Video of Casey Anthony Confessing to Lawyer!" Needless to say, there's no such video. If you click on the link, you'll be asked to take a survey that may (or may not) result in a $500 Toys R Us gift card. These sorts of surveys are everywhere online, offering a free iPad or other bait to get you to sign up for a slew of marketing pitches. Your best response? Walk away.

-- David Lazarus

Photo: Do you know where your meds come from? Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Gold: Trading now at $1,551 per ounce, up 0.1% from Monday. Dow Jones industrial average: Trading now at 12,519.99, up 0.1% from Monday.

Subprime returns. A couple of investment firms are ramping up their lending to home buyers with bad credit, sparking concerns about a return to the practices that led to the credit crisis.

Luring hedge funds. Banks are jockeying to give better terms and easier money to hedge funds.

Wall Street on the page. A number of finance-industry veterans are bringing their experience to readers in the form of fictionalized thrillers.

-- Nathaniel Popper in New York

Photo credit: Stan Honda / Getty Images

Recession-weary Americans harbor no illusions of shuffleboard and daiquiris in retirement.

Instead, a growing number expect to spend their golden years toiling away at jobs and supporting adult children, according to a new survey.

Americans ages 55 and older predict they’ll have to work until they’re 69, five years longer than their expectation a decade ago, the study says. And 7 in 10 think they’ll have to provide financial assistance to their grown children.

Whether older Americans will be able to work into their late 60s is anyone’s guess. Almost half of the survey respondents said they retired sooner than planned, with 41% citing health problems and 19% saying they lost their jobs.

The survey of Americans ages 55 and older by SunAmerica Financial Group and research firm Age Wave underscores the tempered expectations and lingering bitterness in the face of a punchless economy and uncertain investment outlook.

Though it’s receded from 43% at the worst point in the recession, 28% of respondents say they’re “angry” about their financial situations today and 39% say they’re “worried” about it.

Three-quarters of respondents say the economic trauma of the last several years has provided a much-needed wake-up call, according to the study. More than 8 in 10 said securing “financial peace of mind” was their top financial goal -- easily trumping the 13% who chose “accumulating as much wealth as possible.”

As for financial peace of mind, Americans of all ages wish for that these days.

-- Walter Hamilton

U.S. big-bank stocks, already outcasts on Wall Street this year, now are being tainted by Europe's debt woes.

The U.S. market’s decline on Monday was led by the financial sector, which tumbled in sympathy with the steep sell-off in many European bank stocks.

Bank of America’s shares slid 35 cents, or 3.3%, to $10.35, the lowest since May 2009 -- when the market was just beginning to recover from the 12-year lows reached in March of that year.

Morgan Stanley fell 72 cents, or 3.2%, to $21.58, the lowest since April 2009. JPMorgan Chase shares lost $1.31, or 3.2%, to $39.43, a seven-month low.

The chart below shows an index of 81 financial stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. The financial index is down 5.8% this year, the only one of 10 major industry sectors in the red for 2011. The S&P 500 overall is up 4.9% year to date.

Europe’s debt crisis is spreading from the smaller economies of Greece, Ireland and Portugal to the two biggest economies of southern Europe: Spain and Italy. Market yields on Spanish and Italian bonds have risen for six straight sessions as investors demand ever-higher returns to buy the countries’ debt.

As yields climb the risk is that it will become too expensive for Spain and Italy to roll over their existing heavy debt burdens at market rates. That’s what forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts from the rest of the European Union over the last 14 months.

Andrew Busch, public policy analyst at BMO Capital Markets in Chicago, notes that many global investors already are assuming that Greece will have to default on part of its debt, which likely would mean losses for European banks that own Greek bonds.

But the prospect of Italy and Spain facing debt payment problems is mortifying for the financial sector. Italy’s debt still appears manageable, Busch said, “But perception is reality when it comes to these things.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last month that major U.S. banks had little “direct” exposure to government debt of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. But even in those cases, he said, a “disorderly default in one of those countries would no doubt roil financial markets globally” as investors ran for cover.

For the big banks, the main fear is that the debt “contagion” could cause lenders to begin cutting off short-term credit to one another, as they did after brokerage Lehman Bros. failed in 2008. That could cause the financial system to seize up.

Benchmark short-term interest rates have risen in Europe in recent days. The so-called London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, rose Monday to 1.381% for one-month euro loans, up from 1.345% on  Friday. Some of that reflects the European Central Bank’s latest boost in its key rate, to 1.5% from 1.25% on Thursday. But the ECB’s move had been expected.

By contrast, LIBOR for one-month loans in dollars has been unchanged in recent days at 0.186%.

Even without Europe’s debt mess, U.S. big-bank shares have been market pariahs this year. A lack of loan growth, state lawsuits over alleged foreclosure abuses, a worsening housing market and regulatory pressures at the federal level have driven many investors away from the stocks.

JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are due to report second-quarter earnings on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The question is whether they can tell investors anything new to dispel the dark cloud over their stocks.

-- Tom Petruno

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Amazon.com Inc. plans to put a referendum on the California ballot to strike down the state’s Internet sales tax law that went into effect 11 days ago.

“This is a referendum on jobs and investment in California,” said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global public policy in Washington, D.C. “We support this referendum against the recent sales tax legislation because, with unemployment at well over 11%, Californians deserve a voice and a choice about jobs, investment and the state’s economic future.”

Amazon has insisted that it will not collect the 7.25% base sales tax on purchases made by California customers. Instead, the Seattle retail giant filed the needed documents Friday with the California attorney general’s office to seek a referendum.

Two weeks ago, the company severed all business ties with about 10,000 affiliated websites in California that earn commissions by referring buyers to Amazon. One of the key criteria for imposing the duty to collect sales tax under the new law was the online retailer’s connections to businesses in the state.

Legislators wanted to level the playing field between online-only sellers based out of state and the bricks-and-mortar retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co., that must collect sales taxes.

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-- Marc Lifsher

Photo credit: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press