| Wall Street flat, volatile; fiscal talks, Apple in focus Posted: 06 Dec 2012 07:34 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed in choppy morning trading on Thursday as upbeat guidance from Broadcom partially offset weakness in Apple shares, while traders kept an eye on fiscal negotiations in Washington. Extending Wednesday's 6.4 percent decline, Apple was trading down 0.7 percent at $535 early on Thursday, after falling as much as 3.7 percent at the open, which brought the market capitalization of the world's largest publicly traded company down to below $500 billion briefly. In September, it was capitalized at a record $663 billion. ...
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| Freeport downgraded as analysts question shift into energy, stock slips Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:27 AM PST (Reuters) - Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc fell further on Thursday, a day after it said it had struck deals to expand into energy by acquiring Plains Exploration & Production Co and McMoRan Exploration Co for $9 billion, and at least four analysts downgraded the miner's stock. The transactions, valued at $19.6 billion including debt, were lambasted by investors and analysts alike as being unnecessary and a distraction from Freeport's copper business. Freeport shares fell 5 percent to a 15-month low of $30.58 in morning trade before recovering slightly. ... |
| Jobless claims drop back to pre-storm range Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:24 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week fell back to the pre-superstorm Sandy range, suggesting a return to modest job growth after a storm-related set back. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 370,000 in the week ended December 1, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the third straight weekly decline. The drop brought them back to the 360,000 to 370,000 range they had been in before Sandy battered the East Coast in late October. ...
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| ECB discusses rate cut, depicts bleak 2013 Posted: 06 Dec 2012 07:56 AM PST  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank pondered an interest rate cut on Thursday and predicted the euro zone economy would shrink again in 2013, leaving the door open to a possible reduction in borrowing costs early next year. ECB President Mario Draghi said the policymaking Governing Council held a wide discussion on interest rates before opting to leave them on hold. The euro fell against the dollar and the yen in response. The Council also touched on the idea of cutting its deposit rate into negative territory. ...
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| ArcelorMittal pulls French bid for EU steel project Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:21 AM PST  PARIS (Reuters) - A politically charged deal between the French government and ArcelorMittal to preserve jobs at an ailing steelworks looked at risk of unraveling on Thursday after the global steel giant ditched a bid to run an EU-funded project there. ArcelorMittal , 40-percent owned by India's Mittal family, withdrew an application to use the Florange site in northern France for an EU pilot project in less polluting steel that Paris had hoped could keep two idled blast furnaces going. ...
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| Apple to return some Mac production to U.S. in 2013: report Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:07 AM PST  (Reuters) - Apple Inc is planning to bring back some of its production of Mac computers to the United States from China next year, Chief Executive Tim Cook said, according to a report published Thursday. The company will spend more than $100 million to build the computers in the United States, Cook was cited as saying in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. "This doesn't mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we'll be working with people and we'll be investing our money," Cook said. ...
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| Boeing, union suspend talks for rest of year on mediator request Posted: 06 Dec 2012 06:55 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - At the request of a federal mediator, Boeing Co and the union representing its 23,000 engineers suspended talks on new labor contracts for the rest of the year. The move came Wednesday, a day after the mediator joined the negotiations in Seattle. The two sides have been bargaining since April to replace contracts that expired October 6. A 60-day extension ran out November 25, giving the union the ability to strike. Union leaders have said they would not call a strike until January at the earliest. ...
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| Rolls-Royce could face prosecution in bribery probe Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:02 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Aerospace and defense group Rolls-Royce may face prosecution after Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ordered it to hand over details of possible bribery and corruption in China and elsewhere, the company said on Thursday. The world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines said the SFO had asked it to conduct an internal inquiry into dealings involving intermediaries in China, Indonesia and other overseas markets, which it did not name, and report the results. ...
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| Starbucks says to pay more UK tax Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:09 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Coffee chain Starbucks said it could pay up to 20 million pounds more in tax as it announced plans to change its accounting practices, surrendering to criticism from lawmakers, campaigners and the media. A Reuters examination of Starbucks accounts published in October showed the company had reported 13 years of losses at its UK unit, even as it told investors the operation was profitable and among the best performing of its overseas markets. ...
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| Europe needs joint effort to tackle tax avoidance: EU Posted: 06 Dec 2012 07:03 AM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European governments should coordinate their efforts to root out tax avoidance costing them around 1 trillion euros ($1.31 trillion) every year, the European Union's executive body said on Thursday. The European Commission said member states need to share information better, introduce an EU-wide tax identification number and devise common criteria for blacklisting tax havens. ...
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| US unemployment aid applications drop to 370K Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:35 AM PST  The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid fell sharply last week as a temporary spike caused by Superstorm Sandy has faded. Weekly applications have fallen back to a level consistent with modest hiring.
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| Apple to produce line of Macs in the US next year Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:35 AM PST Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will produce one of its existing lines of Mac computers in the United States next year. |
| Stocks inch higher on Wall Street; Apple gains Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:51 AM PST Stocks are inching higher in midday trading on Wall Street. |
| ECB cuts growth outlook for eurozone, holds rates Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:42 AM PST  The European Central Bank warned of another gloomy year for the 17 European Union countries that use the euro, cutting its forecast for economic growth in 2013 from plus 0.5 percent to minus 0.3 percent.
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| Starbucks promises to pay more UK tax Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:11 AM PST  Starbucks bowed to mounting pressure over its tax affairs in Britain and revealed Thursday that it would pay about 10 million pounds ($16 million) in each of the next two years.
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| Software guru McAfee blogs from detention Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:37 AM PST  Software company founder John McAfee was updating his blog from a Guatemalan immigration detention center on Thursday after his arrest for illegally entering the country ended a bizarre weekslong journey as a blogging fugitive claiming to be persecuted by authorities in Belize.
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| Oil drops on downbeat outlook for Europe's economy Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:19 AM PST The price of oil is dropping after the European Central Bank gave a downbeat assessment of the region's economy. |
| Administration takes tough line with GOP on cliff Posted: 06 Dec 2012 03:27 AM PST  The administration is taking a tough line on the "fiscal cliff" at the same time President Barack Obama resumes contact with House Speaker John Boehner over ways to avert across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases at the turn of the year.
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| Fiscal cliff remains key driver in markets Posted: 06 Dec 2012 07:58 AM PST  Uncertainty over the progress of a U.S. budget deal capped the advance in most stock markets Thursday as did a downbeat economic assessment from the European Central Bank and renewed political uncertainty in Italy.
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| Rate on US 30-year mortgage ticks up to 3.34 pct. Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:35 AM PST  Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages ticked up this week just slightly above their record lows, keeping home-buying and refinancing attractive to consumers.
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