| Wall Street rallies after Bernanke comments Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Monday, rebounding from last week's decline, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested the central bank would continue supportive monetary policies, even as the unemployment rate improves. Major stock indexes were up more than 1 percent in late morning trade with broad gains across sectors. The U.S. economy needs to grow more quickly if it is to produce enough jobs to bring down the unemployment rate further, Bernanke told a gathering of the National Association for Business Economics. ...
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| Bernanke says U.S. needs faster growth Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy needs to grow more quickly to bring down the unemployment rate further, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday, defending the central bank's policy of very low interest rates. While he offered no indication that the Fed is keen to embark on a third round of bond purchases, Bernanke also made clear the Fed is in no rush to reverse course after responding aggressively to a deep recession. Bernanke said the recent decline in the jobless rate, which dropped to 8.3 percent in February from 9. ...
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| Pending homes sales dip 0.5 percent in February Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Contracts to purchase previously owned homes unexpectedly fell in February, suggesting a further pullback in sales as the housing market struggles to regain its footing. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in February, slipped 0.5 percent to 96.5, also implying a weak start to the spring selling season Economists polled by Reuters had expected signed contracts, which lead existing home sales by a month or two, to advance 1.0 percent after a 2.0 percent rise the prior month. Contracts signed were up ...
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| Exclusive: RBS halts India tanker payment due to Iran sanctions Posted:  NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters)- The Royal Bank of Scotland has halted payments to a Greek ship owner which transported Iranian oil for an Indian shipping company, in line with Western sanctions aimed at hindering Iranian crude exports, shipping sources told Reuters. The European Union in January placed an immediate ban on new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude and petroleum products. EU members with existing contracts, however, can honor them until July 1. ...
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| Yahoo names three new independent directors to board Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc has appointed three new independent directors as it prepares for a proxy fight with activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb. John D. Hayes, chief marketing officer of American Express; Peter Liguori, former chief operating officer of Discovery Communications, and Thomas J. McInerney, the outgoing chief financial officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp will commence their tenure as directors effective April 5, Yahoo said in a statement on Sunday. The appointments come as Loeb's hedge fund Third Point, which has a 5. ...
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| Insight: Spain's jobless immigrants take on banks over mortgages Posted:  MADRID (Reuters) - Every Tuesday evening dozens of homeowners who cannot pay their mortgages gather in a cramped community center near Madrid's main bullring to discuss strategy to fight their banks. Newcomers, many of them immigrants from South America, take turns speaking about how close they are to eviction. They tell of losing their jobs, defaulting on their loans and receiving court notice saying they will be kicked out. ...
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| Nervous banks hold back Europe's revival strategy Posted: (Reuters) - Among the piles of papers on one European diplomat's desk in Brussels is a memo with the words "growth" and "jobs" scrawled in blue ink, followed by a large question mark. "I think we're missing something," said the diplomat as he sucked his pen. "There's a lot of talk about growth strategies, but what about the banks? They are still not lending." When EU finance ministers meet in Copenhagen on Friday, banks - and their reluctance to lend - will be high on the agenda as Europe looks to its economies at a time of austerity. ... |
| GM recalls more than 6,000 vans, SUVs over steering Posted:  (Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling 6,159 big vans and sport-utility vehicles in the United States for possible loss of steering. The U.S. automaker is recalling certain 2012 model-year Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans, and Chevy Suburban and GMC Yukon XL SUVs because the gear shaft could fracture, which could lead to a loss of steering and increased risk of an accident, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ...
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| Credit Suisse cuts Safeway on pension cost woes Posted:  (Reuters) - Credit Suisse downgraded Safeway Inc to "neutral" from "outperform" saying the second-biggest U.S. supermarket operator has a larger-than-expected underfunded pension liability. The brokerage said its proprietary analysis revealed that Safeway's multi-employer pension plans (MEPP) underfunding stood at a "surprising" $7 billion, before tax. "While it's unlikely that Safeway will be responsible for this entire underfunding, the current fair value picture of the underfunding is troubling," Credit Suisse analysts said in a client note. ...
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| U.S. regulator feels pressure over Freddie, Fannie: report Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are being pushed to reduce borrowers' mortgage balances in order to shield U.S. banks from taking losses on distressed housing debt, the companies' regulator said in a Financial Times interview published on Sunday. "If you do principal forgiveness, who is it benefiting? ... Doing principal forgiveness is what would protect the big banks," said Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. ...
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| Contract research firm Cetero seeks bankruptcy protection Posted: (Reuters) - Contract research firm Cetero filed for bankruptcy protection early on Monday, court documents show, months after the U.S. drug regulator put the company on notice for faking documents and manipulating drug samples. In July last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said two 2010 inspections, an internal company investigation and a third-party audit uncovered "significant instances of misconduct and violations" at a Cetero facility in Houston. The Cary, North Carolina-based firm does early-phase clinical research and bioanalytics for a number of drugmakers. ... |
| Australia blocks China's Huawei from broadband tender Posted:  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia has blocked China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from tendering for contracts in the country's $38 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) due to cyber security concerns, Huawei said on Monday. "We were informed by the government that there is no role for Huawei in Australia's NBN," said Jeremy Mitchell, a spokesman in Australia for Huawei, the world's No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker. NBN is a huge project that aims to connect 93 percent of Australian homes and workplaces with optical fibre, providing broadband services in urban and regional areas. ...
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| Anite signs contract with Thomas Cook, raises profit outlook Posted:  (Reuters) - Anite Plc said it had signed a multi-year contract with leisure travel company Thomas Cook Group UK Ltd , sending the software firm's shares up about 11 percent. Anite, which provides reservation and e-commerce services to the leisure travel industry, said its @com reservation system would support Thomas Cook's UK mainstream unit. Anite's travel division's order backlog on April 30 was expected to be in excess of 85 million pounds ($134.84 million) compared with 69.7 million pounds in October 31, 2011, according to the company. ...
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| Fed's Plosser criticizes unfettered asset-buying Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - The world's central banks should not have unfettered ability to purchase assets because that violates the traditional separation of monetary and fiscal policymaking and can allow governments to inflate away debts, a top Federal Reserve official said on Monday. ...
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| Okonjo-Iweala: World Bank must mirror global shift Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emerging economies must be given a fair shot at leading the institutions at the heart of global finance or they will end up going their own way, a challenger for the top job at the World Bank said. "The balance of power in the world has shifted and emerging market countries are contributing more and more to global growth - more than 50 percent - and they need to be given a voice in running things," Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters. "If you don't, they will lose interest. ...
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| Brazil's Vale, Aquila end coal sales row Posted:  MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World no.2 miner Vale has reached a truce with Australia's Aquila Resources over coal shipments from their co-owned Isaac Plains mine in Queensland, allowing the two sides to sell coal through June 2013. The agreement ensures Aquila will be able to sell coal at least through June next year, which is crucial as it needs the revenue to help fund its other projects, including an iron ore project in Western Australia. ...
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| Nigeria sys GE signs $10 billion power plants MoU Posted:  ABUJA (Reuters) - General Electric Co has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria to invest $10 billion in new power plants for Nigeria in which it will take a 10-15 percent equity stakes, a power ministry spokesman told Reuters on Monday. The spokesman said GE would be "partnering with the government and the power sector partners," in a deal that will go ahead after privatisation of Nigeria's dilapidated and woefully inadequate power sector goes ahead. (Reporting by Joe Brock; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)
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| Special Report: The Sony Schism Posted:  TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bellagio casino-hotel in Las Vegas hosted a shotgun wedding in January. The bride and groom had met just a couple hours earlier; she wore a skimpy dress, he was in powder blue coattails. The ceremony was actually a PR stunt. But the man who brokered it, incoming Sony Corp boss Kazuo Hirai, was dead serious. The guests were mainly journalists assembled in Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. The couple were a pair of actors hired from a local talent agency. ...
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| BATS sticks with Europe tech plan after IPO debacle Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - BATS Global Markets is sticking with a plan to move its Chi-X platform, Europe's largest share trading venue, to its own technology, after a software bug forced the exchange operator to take the embarrassing step of pulling its own listing last week. The pledge to press ahead with its technology plan comes days after the glitch which caused mayhem in U.S. stock markets and called into question BATS's challenge to incumbent stock exchanges, as well as the stability of high-speed trading. ...
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| Investors grapple with higher wages in "low-cost" China Posted:  BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. lawnmower manufacturer Briggs & Stratton is used to worrying about turnover - just not the human kind. Like many foreign investors in China, the Milwaukee-based firm has been hit by a steady rise in wages - which puts it in the same boat as many U.S. businesses in China responding to a survey released on Monday by the American Chamber of Commerce. ...
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| Richemont appoints de Quercize to head Cartier Posted:  ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss luxury goods group Richemont said on Monday it has appointed Stanislas de Quercize to take over from Bernard Fornas as chief executive of top-of-the-range jewellery and watch maker Cartier. De Quercize, current CEO of Richemont subsidiary Van Cleef & Arpels, will replace Fornas at the end of the year, when he is due to retire, Richemont said. Cartier, which is expanding rapidly in emerging markets such as Brazil and China, is the largest of Richemont's luxury brands, which also include Vacheron Constantin, IWC and Montblanc. ...
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| Ifo cheer fades as euro zone debt fears resurface Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - Spain's and Italy's stock markets fell on Monday as fears they will struggle to enact reforms needed for growth returned, but a report that Germany may agree to combine the euro zone's two bailout funds temporarily lifted the two countries' bonds. European shares were higher overall following a strong German economic survey, while U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall St. The FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.4 percent at 1,085, recovering after early declines, while the German DAX gained 0.65 percent after the survey's release. ...
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| Last-minute shopping could lift stocks Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Portfolio managers will be doing some last-minute shopping for winners from the big stock market rally as they take part next week in the quarter-end ritual of window dressing. The activity could help stocks resume their upward course in the week ahead and keep a long-expected pullback at bay. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 11.1 percent so far for the first quarter and the year. That would follow a gain of 11.2 percent for the fourth quarter. ...
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| BATS leaders disagree on new IPO for exchange Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Disagreement emerged on Sunday over the re-listing of an electronic stock exchange that suffered a high-profile crash last week, a breakdown that forced it to unwind its initial public offering of shares. Dave Cummings, the outspoken founder and a board member of BATS Global Markets Inc, called in an open letter for the company to "develop a credible IPO plan" and "go public in the second quarter, if possible. "This might seem tough, but I believe it is the only way to move past the issue," Cummings wrote. ...
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| Yahoo names three new independent directors to board Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc has appointed three new independent directors as it prepares for a proxy fight with activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb. John D. Hayes, chief marketing officer of American Express; Peter Liguori, former chief operating officer of Discovery Communications, and Thomas J. McInerney, the outgoing chief financial officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp will commence their tenure as directors effective April 5, Yahoo said in a statement on Sunday. The appointments come as Loeb's hedge fund Third Point, which has a 5. ...
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| Investment banks must choose to invest or quit key areas: report Posted: LONDON (Reuters) - Investment banks need to make bold decisions to choose to invest in areas where they have a comparative advantage to win business or choose to exit them as the industry prepares for a big upheaval in the next year or two, a report said on Monday. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said wholesale banks could bounce back to deliver returns on equity (RoE) of 12-14 percent in the next two years following structural changes. ... |
| GM to expand capacity in low-cost countries: magazine Posted: FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors may expand production capacity in low-cost countries while closing its Bochum plant in Germany and Ellesmere Port site in Britain, a German magazine said, citing an internal strategy document. If vehicle sales rise, GM would build the additional cars in countries such as Poland, Russia, China, India, Mexico and Brazil, Der Spiegel said, quoting the document, entitled "Global Assembly Footprint". ... |
| Big gain for stocks after Bernanke remarks Posted:  Stocks leapt to one of their biggest gains of the year Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that the economy still needs help to produce faster job growth.
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| A123 Systems falls on news of defect and new costs Posted: Shares of A123 Systems tumbled by double digits to an all-time low Monday after the company said it would have to replace battery modules and packs that might be defective. |
| BMW recalls 1.3 million cars worldwide Posted: BMW AG is recalling 1.3 million 5- and 6-series cars from the 2003 to 2010 model years. |
| Meet Izzy the beagle, defender of US agriculture Posted:  On a recent busy afternoon at Kennedy Airport, a beagle with plaintive eyes was lying on the floor of Terminal 4, oblivious to the chaos of rolling luggage and human activity teeming all around her.
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| GE signs deal with Nigeria for power plants Posted: General Electric Corp. said Monday it signed an agreement with Nigeria's government to potentially build and operate power plants in the electricity-starved nation amid a push to privatize the failing state-run power company. |
| Dollar falls against euro after Bernanke comments Posted: The dollar is falling against the euro after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. job market is still weak despite recent signs that it is improving. |
| Stocks rise following Bernanke remarks Posted: Stocks are having one of their best days this year. |
| Gas prices already closing in on last year's high Posted: The price of gasoline is less than a dime away from last year's high. |
| Court won't get involved in Florida tobacco case Posted: The Supreme Court is refusing to overturn a $28.3 million verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in the first of about 8,000 lawsuits that have been filed against cigarette companies in Florida. |
| Germany open to raise crisis firewall to $930 bn Posted:  Germany has backed down from its resistance to boosting Europe's financial firewalls, after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was open to temporarily boosting the eurozone's bailout funds to €700 billion ($930 billion). But the move still falls short of what may be needed to protect Italy and Spain from collapse.
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