| Earnings boost Wall Street; Apple, Netflix curb Nasdaq Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Tuesday after strong earnings from big manufacturers and AT&T, but gains were capped on Nasdaq ahead of results from Apple and after a downbeat forecast from Netflix. AT&T Inc, 3M Co and United Technologies Corp, all Dow components, rallied after profits topped estimates, continuing the trend of strong results this season. ...
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| AT&T profit beats as iPhone sales drop helps margins Posted:  (Reuters) - AT&T Inc reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday as iPhone sales declined, reducing the amount of cash it had to pay Apple Inc and boosting its margins. Shares of AT&T rose 3 percent after the report, while Apple shares were down 1.5 percent. AT&T and rivals such as Verizon Wireless are reducing smartphone sales by tightening their upgrade policies since they were weighed down by hefty subsidies for iPhone in fourth quarter, when the latest model hit stores. While fewer iPhone sales meant weaker subscriber growth, it did help the company's wireless profit. ...
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| 3M profit exceeds expectations; graphics unit sags Posted:  (Reuters) - 3M Co reported an increase in quarterly profit and slightly lifted its full-year outlook on Tuesday, exceeding analyst expectations even as the closely watched display and graphics business continued to struggle and Asia sales declined. The maker of Post-It notes, Scotch tape and components for consumer electronics reported net earnings of $1.12 billion, or $1.59 per share, compared with $1.08 billion, or $1.49 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting a profit of $1.49 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ...
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| Home prices hint at stabilization, but sales fall Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The housing market is seeing hints of stabilization even as it struggles to gain traction, data showed on Tuesday, as home prices rose for the first time in 10 months in February while sales dropped in March. The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.2 percent in February from January on a seasonally adjusted basis, matching economists' forecasts. It was the first time prices have risen since April 2011. That gain was itself an anomaly in a string of declines stretching back to May 2010. ...
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| Consumer confidence edges down in April Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer confidence edged slightly lower in April, while Americans also reined in their inflation expectations after a surge in the previous month, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday. The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes edged down to 69.2 from a downwardly revised 69.5 in March. Economists had expected a reading of 69.7, according to a Reuters poll. For March, the index was originally reported as 70.2. The expectations index eased to 81.1 from 82.5, but the present situation index fared better, rising to 51. ...
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| Facebook reveals revenue, profit slide ahead of IPO Posted:  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc reported its first quarter-to-quarter revenue slide in at least two years, a sign that the social network's sizzling growth may be cooling as it prepares to go public in the biggest ever Internet IPO. The company blamed the first-quarter decline, which surprised some on Wall Street, on seasonal advertising trends. "It was a faster slowdown than we would have guessed," said Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group. ...
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| Analysis: Elusive China equity returns now face growth slowdown Posted: LONDON (Reuters) - Investors who have endured two decades of miserable stock market returns in China may have to wait a while yet for their bets to pay off as turbo-charged economic growth runs out of steam and a new economic model starts to evolve. China has been the global economic success story of the past decade, booming at double-digit growth rates to establish itself as the world's second largest economy and hauling up a host of regional and commodity-rich economies in its wake. ... |
| CFTC's Sommers says no conclusions yet on MF Global Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The futures regulator has the power to go after top executives who "aid and abet" violations by their companies, said Jill Sommers, who is heading up the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's probe into bankrupt brokerage MF Global. Sommers, a Republican CFTC commissioner, was careful to say in congressional testimony prepared for delivery on Tuesday that her comments did not mean the CFTC had reached any conclusions as it probes why more than an estimated $1 billion dollars of customer money is missing. ... |
| Fitch upgrades Ford to investment grade Posted:  DETROIT (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings upgraded Ford Motor Co to investment grade on Tuesday, marking a key step that brings the second-largest U.S. automaker closer to reclaiming its Blue Oval trademark. Fitch upgraded Ford and its captive finance arm to "BBB-" from "BB+" to reflect the improvement in Ford's finances since its near collapse in 2006. Ford has lowered its break-even point since the last recession and improved its vehicle lineup. Still, the agency said Ford also faced the risk of slower-than-expected global demand for vehicles, particularly in Europe. ...
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| February U.S. adjusted home prices up 1st time in 10 months: S&P Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Single-family home prices rose for the first time in 10 months, in an encouraging sign the battered sector is starting to stabilize, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.2 percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, matching economists' forecasts. It was the first time prices have gained since April 2011. That gain was itself an anomaly in a string of declines stretching back to May 2010. But on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the 20-city index was down 0.8 percent at 134. ...
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| Peugeot Citroen may build cars in India with GM Posted:  BEIJING (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen said it may build cars in India with General Motors , its new global alliance partner, effectively scrapping a planned 650 million euro ($850 million) investment in its own factory. The companies will explore ways to use GM plants to support Peugeot's long-heralded return to the Indian market, said Gregoire Olivier, head of Asian operations for the Paris-based automaker. "We're not going to move forward by building our own factory as we'd planned to," Olivier said in an interview at the Beijing auto show. ...
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| Fitch cuts Nokia to junk, outlook negative Posted:  HELSINKI (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings downgraded its credit rating on Nokia Oyj to junk status and said the outlook remained negative, as the Finnish handset maker's dwindling market share starts to strain its cash position. Shares in Nokia, which were hit badly this month by a profit warning, fell 2 percent to a new 15-year low of 2.654 euros after the downgrade on Tuesday. ...
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| Virgin America aims for IPO in 12-24 months Posted:  BARCELONA (Reuters) - Virgin America, the high service, low-cost airline branded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, is mulling a public share offering in the next 12-24 months, a senior executive said on Tuesday. "We have been flying for four and a half years and have a patient group of equity investors, but over the next 12-14 months we aim to be ready to do a public offering and that is something we are working on in-house," company treasurer Anthony Mosse told the AFCA aircraft financing conference in Barcelona. (Reporting by Tim Hepher)
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| Nissan cruises in China as Japan rivals play catch-up Posted:  BEIJING (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co is proving that being late to the party in China doesn't have to be a handicap, and is poised to widen its lead among Japanese automakers in the world's biggest car market with speedy and aggressive expansion plans. Despite being among the last global automakers to enter the Chinese market, Nissan outsold Toyota Motor Corp to become the top Japanese light-vehicle brand there last year for the first time, according to research firm LMC Automotive. ...
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| Wal-Mart shaken by bribery probe, shares plunge Posted:  CHICAGO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc lost $10 billion of its market value on Monday on concerns that a bribery investigation in Mexico could be very costly and hinder its plans to grow. In a sign that the problem was widening for the world's largest retailer, two U.S. lawmakers said they were launching their own investigation into allegations in a New York Times article that Wal-Mart de Mexico had engaged in a multi-year campaign of bribery to build its business. ...
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| Hershey lifts outlook on 1st-quarter beat Posted:  (Reuters) - Hershey Co posted a higher-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by price increases, and raised its full-year outlook, sending the candy maker's shares up more than 3 percent. The maker of Reese's peanut butter cups, Twizzlers and Kit Kat bars said price increases were responsible for its 10.7 percent increase in first-quarter sales. Volume, which dipped slightly due to those increases, was still better than expected. ...
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| Exclusive: Hong Kong probes $2.5 million payment in Kwok case: source Posted:  HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's anti-graft agency is looking into payments totaling more than U.S. $2.5 million to a former top public servant as part of the city's corruption investigation involving two billionaire brothers who run Asia's largest property developer. According to a source with knowledge of the investigation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is investigating payments to Hong Kong's former chief secretary, Rafael Hui. The payments are linked to Sun Hung Kai Properties , the powerful conglomerate run by Raymond and Thomas Kwok. ...
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| Analysis: New Amgen CEO must win investors with payouts, deals Posted: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bob Bradway hasn't even taken the helm at Amgen Inc , but the clock is already ticking on how the world's largest biotech will compete with rivals, including Big Pharma. Powerful value investors, who helped push up the stock 26 percent since it took a page from traditional drug companies last year with a dividend payout and stock buyback plan, are clamoring for more. But other shareholders still hope Amgen can keep growing, possibly by spending some of the firm's pile of cash to bulk up the pipeline of new drugs. ... |
| Exclusive: Bank of Japan likely to ease, may buy longer-dated government bonds Posted:  TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is likely to ease monetary policy on Friday by boosting asset purchases by up to 10 trillion yen ($123 billion) and in doing so may extend the maturity of government bonds it targets to around three years, according to sources familiar with the central bank's thinking. The action, which would be the central bank's second easing in just over two months, would serve to show the BOJ's determination to overcome deflation and reach the 1 percent inflation target adopted at its February meeting. ...
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| CVC Capital to buy majority stake in AlixPartners Posted: (Reuters) - Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd will buy a majority stake in AlixPartners LLP as the restructuring and consulting firm looks to develop its services and expand geographically. The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, is expected to close this summer. CVC had beat out other buyout firms, including Madison Dearborn Partners and Providence Equity Partners, in the race to buy AlixPartners from private equity owner Hellman & Friedman, in a deal valued at more than $1 billion, sources had told Reuters last week. ... |
| AMR union to vote next week on proposal: sources Posted:  (Reuters) - The union representing seven work groups at bankrupt American Airlines will vote starting next week on the carrier's best and final contract offer, with results expected before unions testify in a hearing on the airline's request to void their contract, three sources said on Monday. American, a unit of AMR Corp, is finalizing the language of the offer, which features fewer job cuts than the 8,500 originally proposed, airline spokesman Bruce Hicks said. AMR filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, citing labor costs that were higher than its peers. ...
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| JPMorgan's Urwin takes Asia Pacific CEO role Posted:  (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday named Jeff Urwin as its new chief executive Asia Pacific, taking over from Gaby Abdelnour who announced in March that he will be leaving the firm. Urwin, who will move from New York to Hong Kong, will keep his current role as the firm's head of global investment banking coverage, capital markets and mergers & acquisitions and will continue to report to Jes Staley, CEO of the investment bank operations. Urwin is a relative newcomer to JP Morgan, having come to the bank through its acquisition of Bear Stearns in March 2008. ...
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| Spain remains under pressure at short-term debt sale Posted:  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's short-term borrowing costs nearly doubled compared with a month ago at auctions on Tuesday, even though it opted to sell relatively small amounts of debt given investor doubts about its shrinking economy and a new flare-up in the euro zone crisis. The much higher-rated Netherlands also sold 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) of bonds on Tuesday, attracting solid demand for its debt despite its government resigning after failing to approve its budget. The Spanish Treasury sold 725 million euros of 3-month bills and 1. ...
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| Analysis: Dow's new corn: "time bomb" or farmers' dream? Posted:  (Reuters) - A new biotech corn developed by Dow AgroSciences could answer the prayers of U.S. farmers plagued by a fierce epidemic of super-weeds. Or it could trigger a flood of dangerous chemicals that may make weeds even more resistant and damage other important U.S. crops. Or, it could do both. "Enlist," entering the final stages of regulatory approval, has become the latest flashpoint in the debate about the risks and rewards about farm technology. ...
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| Yahoo Japan, Yahoo Inc end talks on share buyback Posted:  TOKYO (Reuters) - Yahoo Japan Corp's talks with key shareholder Yahoo Inc for a share buyback have ended with no agreement, but the companies left open the possibility of further negotiations, Yahoo Japan's chief financial officer Toshiki Ohya said on Tuesday. "We want to positively consider resuming negotiations if the conditions are right," Ohya told reporters. Yahoo Inc's chief executive, Scott Thompson, said last week the plan to sell its stake in Yahoo Japan has been plagued by a "valuation gap" that the parties have failed to bridge. ...
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| Dubai picks banks for up to $1.5 billion bond: sources Posted: DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai has mandated four banks for a sovereign bond issue of up to $1.5 billion which may be launched as early as this week, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The Gulf Arab emirate, which has been slowly recovering from a crippling 2009 debt crisis, is tapping debt markets again nearly a year after it issued a $500 million bond. It selected HSBC Holdings , Citigroup Inc , Dubai Islamic Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi for the issue, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. ... |
| Chinese investors scramble for a bite of Apple Posted:  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's rigid capital rules ban its citizens from investing directly in Apple Inc but that's not keeping them from seeking a piece of the iPhone maker's success by buying shares in its suppliers - and even companies rumored to be suppliers. Investors have flocked to the only two China-listed firms that Apple has confirmed as suppliers, sending their valuations to lofty levels, while speculation has become rife in firms thought to be indirectly doing business with the technology giant. ...
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| Facebook reveals revenue, profit slide ahead of IPO Posted:  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc reported its first quarter-to-quarter revenue slide in at least two years, a sign that the social network's sizzling growth may be cooling as it prepares to go public in the biggest ever Internet IPO. The company blamed the first-quarter decline, which surprised some on Wall Street, on seasonal advertising trends. "It was a faster slowdown than we would have guessed," said Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group. ...
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| Euro, shares recover, debt sales eyed Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - European share markets and the single currency staged modest recoveries on Tuesday, after steep losses caused by the worsening performance of the euro zone economy and a sharp rise in concern over the political will to fix its fiscal problems. German bond yields also edged higher but remained near record lows, while demand for safe haven assets kept the Japanese yen well bid and gold stable. ...
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| Toshiba drops out of bidding for Elpida: sources Posted:  TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is no longer bidding for bankrupt Japanese chip maker Elpida Memory, sources close to the talks said, leaving a handful of foreign firms including SK Hynix and Micron Technology in the race to take over the company. Toshiba has decided not to join the second round of bidding set for Friday after talks stalled on a joint bid with potential partners, including South Korea's SK Hynix, the sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Toshiba's withdrawal was a relief to its investors, who questioned the merits of a bid for Elpida, the world's No. ...
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| Obama takes on college costs, eyes young voters Posted:  Wooing young voters, President Barack Obama is on a blitz to keep the cost of college loans from soaring for millions of students, taking his message to three states strategically important to his re-election bid. By taking on student debt, Obama is speaking to middle-class America and targeting an enormous burden that threatens the economic recovery.
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| US new-home sales off 7 percent in March Posted:  Sales of new homes fell in March by the largest amount in more than a year, indicating that the U.S. housing market remains under strain despite some modest signs of improvement.
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| Justices debating tribal casino lawsuit Posted: The Supreme Court seems troubled at letting a lawsuit move forward that attempts to shut down a new tribal casino in southwestern Michigan. |
| Summary Box: Posted: PAPER CHASE: Paper maker Stora Enso Oyj's first-quarter net profit halved to €74 million ($97 million), mainly because of lower paper prices and less demand for renewable packaging materials. The Finnish-Swedish company said Tuesday that revenue fell slightly as well. |
| US stocks rise as companies post strong results Posted:  Strong earnings by big U.S. companies are pushing the Dow Jones industrial average higher at midday.
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| Fitch restores Ford credit to investment grade Posted:  The Fitch Ratings agency lifted Ford's credit rating from junk status to investment grade Tuesday, a sign that the company's recovery from near collapse is almost complete.
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| Obamacare collapse would put employers in charge Posted:  If the Supreme Court strikes down President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, don't look to government for what comes next.
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| Americans remain confident in April Posted: Americans' confidence in the economy held steady in April from the previous month despite rising job cuts and falling home values. |
| Murdoch quizzed on private lobbying of UK leaders Posted:  James Murdoch's behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign spilled out into the public domain Tuesday as documents detailing his close ties to the British establishment were examined by a judge-led inquiry into media ethics.
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| James Murdoch grilled over UK phone hacking Posted: James Murdoch defended his record at the head of his father's scandal-tarred British newspaper unit before a U.K. inquiry Tuesday, saying that subordinates prevented him from making a clean sweep at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid. |
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