| Wall Street edges higher, biotechs lift Nasdaq Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose slightly in a choppy session on Thursday as investors grappled with euro zone uncertainty, a raft of corporate earnings and economic data that painted a mixed picture of the domestic recovery. Spain's successful debt auction and solid earnings from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley led to early optimism, but that quickly dissipated as speculation swirled that France's sovereign debt rating could be downgraded. A senior French source told Reuters the rumors were unfounded. ...
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| Existing home sales fall 2.6 percent in March Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales fell in March but the supply of properties on the market tightened and prices inched higher, giving mixed signals about the pace of recovery in the still-struggling housing sector. The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday that existing home sales slipped 2.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.48 million units last month. However, February's sales pace was revised slightly higher to 4.60 million units from the previously reported 4.59 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales at a 4.62 million-unit sales pace last month. ...
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| Jobless data suggests slowdown in job creation Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits for the first time fell only slightly last week, dampening hopes of a pick-up in job creation in April after March's slowdown. The economic outlook darkened further, with other data on Thursday showing factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region slowed sharply this month and home resales fell for a second month in March. ...
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| Morgan Stanley bond trading unexpectedly strong Posted:  (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley won market share in bond trading in the first quarter after years of investments in the business, allowing the investment bank to post results that beat many analysts' expectations. The investment bank and brokerage said its adjusted bond trading revenue rose compared with last year's first quarter, even as competitors posted declines. Morgan Stanley shares were up 3.3 percent to $18.24 in Thursday morning trading. ...
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| Bank of America tops expectations on better credit quality Posted:  (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp posted a better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday as the No. 2 U.S. bank set aside less money for loan losses and capital markets activity rebounded. The bank, like rivals including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc, benefited from signs of strength in the U.S. economy and more activity in the capital markets as fears about the European debt crisis eased. The results showed Bank of America making further progress in recovering from mortgage-related losses it racked up during the financial crisis. ...
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| Travelers smashes estimates, insurance rates rising Posted: (Reuters) - Property insurer Travelers Cos Inc blew past Wall Street earnings estimates for the first quarter and raised its dividend 12 percent as natural disaster losses declined and insurance rates continued to rise after years of weakness. The company's shares rose 4.8 percent to $62.35 in morning trading Thursday, touching their highest level since May 2011. Analysts said the results would be seen positively. ... |
| DuPont off to a good start for 2012, CEO says Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - DuPont's first-quarter profit beat Wall Street's expectations, helped by price hikes and sales of insecticides and genetically modified seeds. The company reaffirmed its 2012 earnings target for a range mostly above expectations, with Chief Executive Ellen Kullman saying specialized products for agricultural and electronics customers would provide much of the lift. Results from DuPont often serve as a barometer for the global economy since its materials are used to produce a range of items, from cars and homes to televisions and smartphones. ...
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| Apple, Google, Intel fail to dismiss staff-poaching lawsuit Posted:  (Reuters) - Apple Inc, Google Inc, Intel Corp and four other technology companies were ordered by a judge to face an antitrust lawsuit claiming they illegally conspired not to poach each other's employees. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, rejected the companies' bid to dismiss claims brought under the federal Sherman antitrust law and California's own antitrust law, the Cartwright Act. ...
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| Verizon Wireless data revenue growth impresses Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc posted first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations as customers increased their spending on services such as wireless data, sending its shares up more than 2 percent. While wireless customer growth slowed, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said the company's mobile venture, Verizon Wireless, saw the fastest growth in mobile service revenue in three years as more customers used smartphones. ...
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| GlaxoSmithKline pounces on Human Genome with $2.6 billion bid Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - Human Genome Sciences has rejected an unsolicited bid worth around $2.6 billion from long-time partner GlaxoSmithKline, marking a new takeover battle in a drugs sector swept by M&A activity recently. The pioneer of gene-based drug discovery, which sells a new drug for lupus with GSK, said on Thursday the offer of $13 per share, made in a letter on April 11, did not reflect the value inherent in the company. It has hired Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse to help explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale. GSK has been invited to participate in that process. ...
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| New York state sues Sprint for more than $300 million over taxes Posted:  (Reuters) - The state of New York on Thursday sued Sprint Nextel Corp for more than $300 million, accusing the company of tax fraud for deliberately not collecting or paying millions of dollars of taxes for its cell phone service. Sprint, the third-biggest U.S. mobile service provider, failed to bill customers for more than $100 million in taxes for its wireless services over seven years, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. ...
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| World Bank says Argentine move on YPF 'a mistake' Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the World Bank on Thursday condemned Argentina's move to seize control of the country's biggest energy company from Spain's Repsol, joining a chorus of international criticism. President Cristina Fernandez unveiled plans on Monday to seize a 51 percent controlling stake in YPF by expropriating almost all of Repsol's shares in the firm. "It's a mistake," Robert Zoellick, the outgoing president of the World Bank, told a news conference at the opening of World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings of finance chiefs in Washington. ...
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| Nokia executive quits as phone sales plummet Posted:  HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia dropped its sales chief and promised to slash more costs, as Chief Executive Stephen Elop battles to reinvent the cellphone maker to compete with smartphone rivals. The Finnish company, which is expected to be overtaken as the world's biggest handset maker by Samsung Electronics, swung to a net loss of 1.6 billion euros in the first quarter, hit by falling sales and heavy restructuring charges. ...
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| New York Times beats profit forecast; shares rise Posted:  (Reuters) - New York Times Co reported a better-than-expected profit on Thursday as investors brushed past the company's drop in print and digital advertising revenue and focused more on the company's ability to manage costs. Its shares rose 4.7 percent to $6.42 in morning trading. Evercore Partners analysts Doug Arthur said that with $431 million of cash, the New York Times should initiate a dividend. "They have to be the only company with this much cash not paying a dividend," he said. The New York Times suspended its dividend in 2009. ...
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| France, Spain clear bond auction hurdle Posted:  MADRID/PARIS (Reuters) - France and Spain sold all the bonds they wanted at auction on Thursday, though for Spain the cost was rising yields, indicating growing concerns the government will not be able to tame its deficit. After a brief respite fuelled by a trillion euros of cash the European Central Bank (ECB) lent Europe's banks in December and February, markets are becoming nervous again about euro zone debt loads, with fears that Spain might follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout from international lenders. ...
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| Ford invests $760 million for new China plant, more capacity Posted:  HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co is investing $760 million to build a new plant in eastern China as part of its effort to catch up with U.S. rival General Motors Co in the world's largest auto market. Ford said the new plant in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province will initially boost the U.S. automaker's annual capacity in China by 250,000 vehicles when production begins in 2015. Construction is expected to begin later this year. ...
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| Danaher profit tops Street expectations Posted: (Reuters) - Danaher Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by higher margins at its dental and test and measurement businesses, and the industrial and medical technology conglomerate raised its full-year profit forecast. Net earnings rose to $612.9 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with $429.4 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations were 73 cents a share, beating the analysts' average estimate by 2 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Sales rose 31 percent to $4. ... |
| Feature: Portuguese plant seeds to cope with crisis Posted:  ALFANDEGA DA FE, Portugal (Reuters) - Disillusioned by the unfulfilled promise of the cities and feeling stifled by tough austerity measures aimed at coping with an economic downturn, some Portuguese are opting out and returning to the land. Jose Diogo, who spent two years in Lisbon working as a technical advisor at a meat company, was one who fled at the beginning of Portugal's debt crisis in 2009, and has no regrets. ...
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| Exxon dropped from Iraq rights bidders: oil ministry Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - Energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp is not on the finalized list of 47 pre-qualified bidders for the next round of Iraq energy exploration rights, a statement posted on the oil ministry website showed on Thursday. The world's largest publicly traded energy company was still on the list in early February but has since been removed, while Syrian General Oil has been added as a pre-qualified bidder. ...
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| Rio Tinto more confident on commodities outlook Posted: LONDON (Reuters) - Global miner Rio Tinto said it was more upbeat about the outlook for commodities as demand from China remained robust and the U.S. was recovering. "Overall, we are somewhat more confident than six months ago," chairman Jan du Plessis told a shareholders meeting on Thursday. "The world continues to face considerable uncertainty and we believe this will contribute to ongoing volatility." In February, when Rio reported full-year results, it was cautious about near-term prospects due to uncertainty in financial markets, especially regarding Europe. ... |
| UK parliament aims to publish hacking report on May 1 Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - British legislators said on Thursday they hoped to publish on May 1 a long-awaited report into a phone hacking scandal centered on News Corp's now-closed News of the World tabloid. Parliament's culture committee is widely expected to criticize News Corp in the report, raising the possibility that the British broadcast watchdog Ofcom will force Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate to cut or sell its stake in the highly profitable pay-TV firm BSkyB [ID:nL6E8FC3ZT]. ...
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| Exclusive: Hong Kong moves closer to bank liability for IPOs Posted:  (Reuters) - Hong Kong's financial market watchdog will launch a public consultation in the next couple of weeks that seeks to toughen rules for banks sponsoring initial public offerings, including holding them liable for faulty deal documents. The move is likely to draw strong opposition from foreign investment banks worried about increased risk in a market that has been the world's biggest for listings in two of the past three years, but has also seen a number of scandals. ...
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| IMF says secures $320 billion in drive for new funds Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it had raised $320 billion so far in a bid to boost its firepower to deal with the euro zone debt crisis, with Poland and Switzerland joining the effort. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she had received commitments of $34 billion on Wednesday, including $8 billion from Poland and "a substantial amount" from Switzerland. "Ensuring that the Fund has sufficient resources to tackle crises and to promote global economic stability is in the interests of all our members," she said in a statement. ...
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| Japan exports jump, but trade still in red; corp mood dips Posted:  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's exports rose in March from a year earlier for the first time in six months, mainly on the strength of U.S. sales, but high fuel imports pushed the trade balance back into deficit and manufacturers remain cautious about business in months ahead. Reflecting rekindled worries about Europe's debt crisis and concerns the yen could rally again, manufacturing confidence dipped in April after a sharp rebound the previous month, a Reuters poll showed. ...
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| Layoffs, freezes, retirements for U.S. public sector Posted:  (Reuters) - More than half of local and state employees continue to work under pay freezes, while others are accelerating their retirements or facing the prospects of layoffs as the effects of the recession linger on the public sector, according to a survey released on Wednesday. The survey of members of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources and the National Association of State Personnel Executives, found public employees also worry about their image. ...
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| U.S. coal exports to China may double in 2012: Xcoal Posted: BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. coal exports to China could more than double to over 12 million tonnes in 2012 thanks to depressed freight rates and a fall in domestic demand in the United States, the chief of top U.S. coal exporter Xcoal Energy & Resources said. The expected increase in coal shipments could further push down coal prices in Asia where a supply glut following a deluge from the United States and Colombia has forced prices to slump recently. ... |
| Mongolia's "ninja" miners help sate China lust for gold Posted:  BORNUUR, Mongolia (Reuters) - In a hot, concrete hut filled with acetylene fumes, an elderly Mongolian miner struggles to contain her excitement as she plucks a sizzling inch-long nugget of gold from a grubby cooling pot and raises it to the light. Khorloo, 65, and her sons spent the day scrutinizing half a dozen CCTV screens as workers at the Bornuur gold processing plant whittled 1.2 metric metric tonnes of ore down to 123 grams of pure gold that could earn the family as much as $6,000. ...
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| Jones Lang LaSalle assisting Macau anti-graft body Posted: HONG KONG (Reuters) - Property brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle said on Thursday that it is assisting Macau's anti-graft body with inquiries into the new corruption case involving jailed former government official Ao Man-long. The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) is the government entity charged with fighting corruption in the former Portuguese colony. "Jones Lang LaSalle are currently assisting CCAC with its inquiries, we prefer not to comment further at this stage," Jo Soo, head of marketing for Hong Kong and Macau, said in an email. ... |
| Spain tests nervous markets with 10-year issue Posted:  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will pay dearly for longer-term debt on Thursday when it auctions a 10-year bond for only the second time this year to markets spooked by fears it will miss deficit targets and fail to restart growth. The benchmark 10-year bond peeped above 6 percent on Monday for the first time since the end of November, sparking concern it could soon become unsustainable for the government to refinance itself, though pressure on the paper has since eased. The Treasury aims to raise up to 2.5 billion euros ($3. ...
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| Bank of Japan's Shirakawa stresses commitment to powerful easing Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa stressed on Wednesday the central bank is fully committed to continuing powerful monetary easing, but warned that central banks can only buy time for governments to pursue structural reforms. The Bank of Japan holds its next policy review on April 27 and Shirakawa's comments signal its readiness to keep monetary policy ultra-loose and act when deemed necessary to beat deflation in the world's third-biggest economy. ...
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| Nokia posts $1.2 billion loss as sales plummet Posted:  Struggling cellphone maker Nokia has suffered one of its worst quarterly results ever, blaming tough competition for a huge €929 million ($1.2 billion) net loss as sales plunged, especially in the smartphone market.
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| Spain-Argentina oil spat threatens special ties Posted:  Argentina's hostile takeover of its top energy company from Spain's Repsol marks a turning point in traditionally cordial relations between two countries that have built strong ties over a century. As the spat escalates, some fear the damage may be lasting.
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| DuPont posts 1Q gain, though short of expectations Posted: The DuPont Co. says strong performance by its agricultural and performance chemicals units and its acquisition of Danish food maker Danisco last year contributed to an increase in first-quarter earnings. |
| Murdochs to appear at UK media ethics inquiry Posted: Britain's media ethics inquiry said Thursday it will hear testimony from News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son James next week, as officers arrested three people in the investigation of corrupt ties between the British police and the press. |
| French fear of markets stirs presidential campaign Posted: News that foreign investors would be allowed to take bets on French debt has been greeted with cries from the country's politicians and media that a "weapon of mass destruction against France" had been unleashed in what amounted to a "financial coup d'etat". |
| Stocks flat on mixed news about earnings, economy Posted:  Stocks were trading flat on Wall Street as investors weighed stronger corporate earnings against disappointing economic reports.
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| American Airlines' parent lost $1.7 billion in 1Q Posted: The parent company of American Airlines says it lost $1.66 billion in the first quarter, mostly on costs related to its bankruptcy restructuring. |
| EU OKs Sony's acquisition of part of EMI Posted: The EU's competition regulator has approved the acquisition of part of famous music company EMI by a group of investors led by Sony. |
| Natural gas price hits another 10-year low Posted: The price of natural gas has dropped to the lowest level in a decade as U.S. supplies continue to grow. |
| Stocks rise slightly on stronger earnings reports Posted: Stocks rose slightly on Wall Street Thursday morning as investors weighed stronger corporate earnings against disappointing economic reports. |
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