Business News Archives

NEW YORK : Corn and other grain prices retreated from record levels Monday after the government said Midwest farmers planted more corn than expected to make up for crops lost to flooding.

Del Monte will sell its seafood business, which includes the StarKist brand, to a South Korean company for $363 million as it focuses on higher margin produce and pet foods.

As the Atlantic hurricane season enters its second month, many energy industry observers are taking bets on how a major storm in the Gulf of Mexico could affect already volatile commodity prices.

A French commercial court Monday ordered eBay Inc. to pay more than $61 million to a high-end fashion company because counterfeit goods were sold on the auction site.

Yahoo Inc. spent $630,000 in the first quarter lobbying on intellectual property and international censorship issues, according to a disclosure report.

CBS Interactive has announced several organizational moves, including the formation of five distinct vertical audience-centric groups, as part of an overall integration effort following the company’s just completed acquisition of CNET.

France Telecom said Monday that it has withdrawn its proposed $42 billion takeover bid for TeliaSonera, which would have created Europe's largest telecommunications company.

France Telecom said in a statement that 'the dialogue opened with the board of directors of TeliaSonera was unable to reach agreement on its financial conditions.' It also said the deal was 'not essential to the pursuit of its strategy.'

The combined company would have been the world's No. 4 telecom operator, with 237 million subscribers and holdings in developed and emerging markets. That would have eclipsed Spain's Telefonica, which has some 200 million subscribers, as Europe's biggest telecom provider.

The Iraqi government opened six oil fields to international bidding Monday as the nation attempts to boost daily production by 60 percent.

The potential participation of big Western companies like BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total SA in Iraq's oil industry has been criticized in recent weeks following published reports that several were close to signing no-bid contracts with the Iraqi government.

Those contracts were expected to be announced Monday, but Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani instead named 35 companies that would be qualified to bid on service contracts for the oil fields of Rumeila, Zubair, Qurna West, Maysan, Kirkuk and Bay Hassan.

African leaders undecided on how they'll greet Mugabe at Summit; South Korean police crack down on anti-US beef protesters; White House wants to stop report on greenhouse gases, WSJ says

The year is nearly halfway over, and Wall Street appears to be on even shakier ground than when it began 2008. And this shortened week ahead of the Fourth of July holiday is unlikely to bring the market enough proof that the economic climate is improving.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down more than 14 percent for the year and has given up all the gains it made since September 2006.

Back in January, investors knew there was potential for the price of oil, which was on the verge of $100 a barrel, to keep rising, but most didn't predict crude would surpass $140 a barrel. Economists figured that home prices had further to fall, but no one was sure how much. And when banks said the worst of the credit crunch was behind them in January, and then again in April, traders believed them.

NEW YORK : Corn and soybean prices pushed deeper into record territory before easing Friday as rain again soaked the Midwest and traders locked in profits ahead of a planting report next week.

This massive oil field surrounded by the desolate sands of Saudi Arabia's vast eastern desert feels like the middle of nowhere.

But what happens over the next year at Khurais, one of Saudi Arabia's last undeveloped giant oil fields, could hold the key to what drivers will pay at the pump for years to come.

Under way at Khurais and two other smaller fields nearby is what Saudi Arabia calls the single largest expansion of oil production capacity in history.

With consumers howling over record fuel prices and the United States pushing Saudi Arabia to produce more oil, this patch of sand 100 miles west of the Saudi capital of Riyadh has become one of the most important places in the world economy.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the start of the trading day in New York, New York, USA, yesterday.

NEW YORK : The online hangout Facebook is getting more serious about grammar. No more should users see jarringly incorrect declarations such as "Debbie changed their profile picture." Users who haven't ...

BRUSSELS, Belgium : Confidence in the euro-zone economy dropped further in June, an EU survey said Friday, adding bad news to an already gloomy outlook and causing a bigger headache for the European Central ...

Oil futures have climbed to a new trading record near $143 a barrel before pulling back sharply in a spate of late-day profit-taking to settle up 57 c ...

Just like you never want to hear a doctor say "oops" in the operating room, you never want to see a going-concern statement in a financial report about a company you own.

WASHINGTON : The millions of economic stimulus payments gave a massive jolt to U.S. household finances in May, sending after-tax incomes up by the largest amount in 33 years.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that it has named an executive as interim publisher to replace the retiring Scott C. Smith.

It is almost unthinkable that any one human could pick up where Bill Gates leaves off when he ends his full-time tenure today as Microsoft's leader.

The Federal Reserve was scrambling to prevent a "contagion" from infecting the nation's financial system when it took unprecedented actions to back a Bear Stearns rescue package and provide emergency loans to ...

Dallas Cowboys $150K Seat Rights Send Some Fans to View TV; Giants to Sell Personal Seat Liscences for New Stadium; Michael Strahan to Join Fox Sports as NFL Analyst; NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning Name Former ESPN ...

The Associated Press 15 comments An activists throws plastic bags with red paint as they pelt the main office of Petron oil company... An activists throws plastic bags with red paint as they pelt the main ...

Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush, left, and President Paul Twomey, right, of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers , look on during a meeting in Paris, Thursday, June 26, 2008.

Bank of America said Thursday it will cut about 7,500 jobs after it closes its acquisition of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp.

The job cuts amount to about 12.5 percent of the combined companies' mortgage, home equity and insurance businesses, after the purchase is completed next week.

The Charlotte-based bank said the cuts will take place over the next two years in locations across the country 'in instances where the two companies have significant overlap.' The company will begin notifying affected employees in the third quarter.

The fragile economy improved slightly at the beginning of the year and could grow a bit stronger in the current quarter as extra cash from tax rebates spurs people to buy more. Still, it's not out of danger yet.

The economy grew at a 1 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, helped in large part by stronger sales of U.S. products overseas, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

That was a tad stronger than the government's previous estimate of 0.9 percent growth for the quarter. And, the new reading was better than the anemic 0.6 percent growth rate logged in the final three months of last year.

Faced with persistent speculation that it was planning to file for bankruptcy protection, Chrysler LLC on Thursday issued a statement denying the rumor and saying it has plenty of cash.

Siding with Facebook in a long-running legal battle, a federal judge in San Jose late Wednesday rejected a bid by founder Mark Zuckerberg's longtime adversaries to reopen a recent confidential settlement in a ...

An Excerpt: Brazilian President Speaks on Trade

A stealthy form of advertising in which products are featured on television shows as props and even woven into story lines is drawing the government's attention.

The board of Anheuser-Busch is planning to reject this week an unsolicited $46.4 billion takeover bid from InBev, a rival brewery based in Belgium, people close to the American company said.

In this April 3, 2008 file photo, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The Federal Reserve today left a key interest rate unchanged at 2% despite the danger that climbing food and fuel prices could set off a growth-damaging spiral in prices generally.

WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes tumbled for the sixth time in seven months in May while median prices kept plunging, underscoring the depth of the nation's housing woes.

States Take Aim at Countrywide; Why is Bank of America Going Forth with Acquisition?

Financials Lead Gains in S&P 500; Jabil Circuit Forecast Stronger Than Estimated, Up 15% for Best Percentage Gain on S&P; Goldman Sachs Downgrades Boeing from "Neutral" to "Sell", Adds to Conviction Sell List

Analyst backtrack on Bank stocks after saying worst is over

PARIS : Barclays, the venerable British bank, on Wednesday joined its peers, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, in seeking new funds after it wrote down 1.7 billion in bad loans this year.

They and other members of a new coalition promised hearings across the country and set up a Web site at InternetForEveryone.org to outline principles such as universal access and competition to ensure lower ...

Borrowing costs are likely to hold steady as the U.S. Federal Reserve tries to avoid both stirring inflation and stifling a fragile economy.

U.S. home prices tumbled in April at the fastest rate since a widely followed index was begun in 2000 with all 20 metropolitan areas surveyed posting annual declines for the first time.

Stephen Wieting of Citigroup Global Markets

The U.S. dollar was mostly lower against other major currencies in European trading Tuesday morning. Gold fell.

The euro traded at $1.5564, up from $1.5499 late Monday in New York.

Other dollar rates:

_107.86 Japanese yen, up from 107.84

_1.0395 Swiss francs, down from 1.0464

_1.0153 Canadian dollars, down from 1.0164

The British pound was quoted at $1.9658, up from $1.9599.

Gold traded in London at $ 888.50 per troy ounce, down from $905.25 late Monday.

Citigroup Inc is cutting thousands of trading and investment banking jobs this week, part of previously reported plans to slash about 10 percent of its investment bank division, people familiar with the ...

CHICAGO : UAL, the parent of United Airlines, said Monday that it planned to lay off 950 pilots as it prepares to cut domestic capacity to offset soaring fuel prices.

More than 30 years after George Carlin pronounced "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television," some of those words have lost their sting.

Disposal company Republic Services is buying Allied Waste Industries in a $6.07 billion stock deal that would join the second- and third-largest players in the disposal industry.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Republic Services Inc. will pay Allied shareholders .45 worth of a Republic share for each share held, valued at $14.04 per share based on Republic's Friday closing stock price of $31.19. Based on the nearly 432.5 million Allied shares outstanding at April 24, the deal is worth $6.07 billion.

Analysis by Robert Frank of Harris Interactive

Bunge said Monday that it would buy Corn Products International for $4.4 billion in stock, as the fertilizer and oilseed processor seeks to better compete against other American agricultural giants.

Traders again shrugged off a pledge by Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production if needed and oil prices rose Monday, with the focus on disruptions to Nigerian supply and heightened Middle East tensions.

Saudi Arabia said Sunday it would produce more crude oil this year if the market needs it. The kingdom announced a 300,000 barrel per day production increase in May and said before the start of the meeting in Jeddah that it would add another 200,000 barrels per day in July, raising total daily output to 9.7 million barrels.

Citigroup is preparing fire thousands from its worldwide investment-banking division, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the layoffs are part of a plan to cut about 10 percent of the staff of the 65,000-member investment-banking group.

Messages left with Citigroup spokesmen on Sunday were not immediately returned. The Journal said the fired employees could be notified as early as Monday.

The New York-basked global bank, along with much of Wall Street, is in the throes of recovering from bad investments on mortgages and leveraged loans that cut billions of dollars from its portfolio.

Years ago, when the first Armani boutiques opened in China, a furious customer walked into one of the shops, brandishing two Armani T-shirts. He wanted to know why one of them, the one he had bought in the ...

All U.S. beef exported to South Korea will come from cattle less than 30 months old, officials said Saturday, in a deal made to placate South Korean protesters worried about mad cow disease.

Oil hovered around $133 per barrel as investors waited to see if Saudi Arabia's promise more oil will impact the record prices.

The U.S. energy secretary said Saturday that insufficient oil production, not financial speculation, was driving soaring crude prices.

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday formalized its plans to auction off a section of wireless spectrum to buyers who promise to provide free Internet service that filters out pornography and other ...

Chevron Corp. said Saturday that a breached Nigerian pipeline has prompted the company to shut down its onshore oil production.

Oil prices rose Friday after dropping sharply in the previous session on concerns that an increase in Chinese fuel prices would dampen oil demand in the booming Asian nation.

Crude futures had dropped nearly $5 a barrel on Thursday after China said it will raise prices for gasoline and diesel fuel 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively, beginning Friday.

Analysts said the steep decline in oil prices may present a buying opportunity for investors who still believe oil prices will keep climbing. Some believe the market may have overreacted to the news of fuel price hikes in China.

United Airlines , in a move bound to be unpopular with and expensive for business travelers, said yesterday that it will start requiring minimum stays for nearly all domestic flights beginning in October.

Wall Street lost ground early Wednesday as a weak profit outlook from FedEx and a sharp earnings slide at Morgan Stanley reignited profit worries.

Treasury prices moved sharply higher Friday as investors fled the stock market on concerns about the financial sector and oil prices, and traders positioned their holdings ahead of next week's Federal Reserve ...

The Associated Press 2 comments Winnebago Industries Inc. said Friday its third quarter profit skidded 73 percent as high gas prices, tighter credit and a soft economy drive motor homes sales lower ...

LONDON : A government watchdog has urged London organizers to adopt a firm line to keep costs for the 2012 Summer Olympics under control.

China raised prices for fuel by as much as 18 percent on Friday in a move intended to cool the nation's surging energy consumption.

Demand for the energy needed fuel China's booming economy has contributed to unheard of prices for a barrel of oil. That price pitched downward immediately Thursday. Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $4.75 to settle at $131.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The price increases were announced late Thursday by the National Development and Reform Commission, the government's main economic planning agency.

U.S. stocks headed for a mixed open Thursday as investors awaited readings on last week's jobless claims and manufacturing in the Philadelphia area.

Saudi Arabia to boost oil capacity to 12.5M barrels/day by end of 2009; Analysis by Jeremy Stretch of RaboBank International

Two former Bear Stearns managers are among the most prominent figures who could face criminal charges in the wake of the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, an official said.

A law enforcement official said an indictment naming Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tanin, both ex-managers of Bear Stearns Cos. hedge funds that collapsed last year, could be announced as early as Thursday, the result of a federal securities fraud investigation.

The former executives are suspected of misleading investors about the risky subprime mortgage market, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the outcome of the investigation is pending. The official confirmed reports Wednesday that Cioffi and Tannin have been the target of the yearlong probe by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote Friday to bar Verizon Communications Inc from marketing to customers to talk them out of a decision to switch their phone service to cable, a source at ...

Oil prices rose in Asia on news that a Nigerian militant group attacked an oil installation Thursday, raising concerns about possible supply outages in Africa's largest oil producer.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery was up 23 cents to $136.91 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract on Wednesday rose $2.67 to settle at $136.68 a barrel.

A leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta told The Associated Press that militant fighters in open-hulled boats traveled through heavy seas to attack the Bonga oil field more than 65 miles (100 kilometers) from land. But they were not able to enter a computer control room that they had hoped to destroy.

The Federal Communications Commission agreed not to hold Sprint Nextel Corp. and public-safety agencies to the June 26 deadline regarding portions of spectrum involved in an 800 MHz rebanding effort designed to ...

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday that the government must move quickly to give the Federal Reserve more powers to regulate the financial system, contending that this year's financial market turmoil had highlighted the need for action.

Paulson said that the central bank's powers should be expanded in the wake of the near collapse earlier this year of Bear Stearns, the giant Wall Street investment firm.

He said there was a need to consider quickly how to give the Fed the power it needs to obtain information from investment banks and the responsibility to intervene to protect the overall financial system. His comments were provided by the Treasury Department as excerpts from a speech he was to give later in the day.

Analysis by Michael Kerley of Henderson Global Investors; Analysis by Thomas Bergmann, Harley Davidson CFO;

The Chinese yuan gained against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, hitting a fresh high as American and Chinese officials resumed talks centering on trade and other strategic issues.

Washington wants Beijing to loosen controls on currency trading and allow the yuan's rate to set by market forces. U.S. manufacturers contend that the restrictions keep the yuan's value artificially low, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage and boosting China's trade surplus.

The yuan has gained about 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since Beijing revamped its foreign exchange trading system in July 2005, revaluing the currency by 2.1 percent to 8.11 yuan to one dollar.

Morgan Stanley said Wednesday that it earned $1.02 billion for its second quarter, as the firm saw declines in its core trading and investment banking operations.

Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. is disappointed by a recommendation that a $35 billion U.S. Air Force tanker contract that it won with an American partner be reopened for bidding, the ...

FedEx Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss Wednesday that missed Wall Street expectations and it offered a gloomy outlook for its shipping business that showed how much higher fuel prices are eating into ...

Morgan Stanley due to report earnings; Goldman, Morgan Stanley boost commodities trading; Goldman Sachs net income beat analysts' estimates on gains in commodities; Lehman reported 2Q loss this week, announced ...

"Economic Ramifications of Oil Uncertainty in the Real Estate Arena"

Reaction with Ken Beauchemin of Gloabl Insight

Energy stocks cheapest in S&P 500; Energy valuations may be 'optimistic'

Syngenta may raise pesticide prices by 10% next year as raw material costs rise; Analysis by Michael Mack, Syngenta CEO

Billionaire former presidential candidate Ross Perot has launched a new Web site to highlight what he calls the "economic crisis" facing the country.

Billionaire former presidential candidate Ross Perot has launched a new Web site to highlight what he calls the "economic crisis" facing the country.

Analysis and Discussion with Christopher Horvers of JPMorgan