Reuters - Stock index futures fell on Thursday,
hit by renewed concerns about more losses in the financial
sector and worries about downgrades of bond insurers.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell on Thursday, hit by renewed concerns about more losses in the financial sector and worries about downgrades of bond insurers.
AstraZeneca said its profit dropped by almost 12% in the fourth quarter of 2007 as it moved to restructure its business in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Financials such as Standard Chartered and Friends Provident dragged down the broader London market as more bad news added to worries about the health of the sector.
Stocks looked set for a rough open Thursday as investors battled concerns about troubled bond insurers and shrugged off another Federal Reserve rate cut.
Standard Chartered's become the latest in a string of banks to rescue struggling structured investment vehicles, saying Thursday that it will take on its balance sheet $7.15 billion of assets from the Whistlejacket Capital fund.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mattel Inc , the world's largest toy company, posted a higher fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by stronger international demand for its Hot Wheels cars and Fisher Price line.
People rushing to complete their tax returns online in time for today's deadline were faced with a big obstacle - the Inland Revenue's website wasn't working. Source: Telegraph Business | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:40 am
European shares fall heavily, paced by banks and insurance companies, as investors continue to fret about the potential for further write-offs in the sector.
Germany's unemployment rate falls in January, but retail sales are down, official data shows. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:36 am
You might expect Jim Rogers to be gloating a little bit. After all, the famed investor has been predicting a recession in the U.S. economy for months and shorting the shares of now-tanking Wall Street investment banks for even longer. And with fears of a recession sparking both a worldwide market sell-off and emergency action from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, Rogers again looks prescient - just as he has over the past few years as the China-driven commodities boom he predicted almost a decade ago began kicked into high gear. But when I reached him by phone in Singapore the other day there was little hint of celebration in his voice. Instead, he took a serious tone.
Reuters - BNP Paribas confirmed on Thursday that it
was studying a possible bid for Societe Generale, as its fellow
French bank reeled from rogue trading losses and France warned
off would-be foreign bidders.
PARIS (Reuters) - BNP Paribas confirmed on Thursday that it was studying a possible bid for Societe Generale, as its fellow French bank reeled from rogue trading losses and France warned off would-be foreign bidders.
First, let's not panic. It's true that the U.S. economy generated just 18,000 new jobs in December, the smallest monthly increase in 4 years. But unemployment for the month was still just 5% - and that's just one percentage point above the 4% rate that economists consider "full employment" (meaning that everyone who wants a job has one).
The Senate Finance Committee passes a different stimulus package to the Bush Administration, setting up a possible conflict. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:28 am
European shares dived again on Thursday as the second Federal Reserve interest rate cut in just under a week failed to reassure investors that a US recession was not on the cards. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:24 am
The dollar traded mixed in European action Thursday, losing ground against the euro and the British pound but gaining against the Japanese yen in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's latest reduction in U.S. interest rates.
Almost 800 jobs are created at Nissan's Sunderland plant to help meet demand for the new Qashqai. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:10 am
LONDON (Reuters) - Stock futures fell on Thursday, indicating another drop on Wall Street after renewed worries about the outlook for the financial sector overshadowed a rate cut from the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:09 am
Troubled bond insurer MBIA, which is struggling to hold on to its sterling credit rating, swung to a net loss in the fourth quarter and said it received a $500 million infusion from private-equity firm Warburg Pincus.
Europe's biggest economy had both good news and bad news on Thursday, inflation and the jobless rate have fallen, but retail sales slumped too as consumers fret about their future. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:05 am
AFP - Europe's biggest economy had both good news and bad news on Thursday, inflation and the jobless rate have fallen, but retail sales slumped too as consumers fret about their future.
AFP - Europe's biggest economy had both good news and bad news on Thursday, inflation and the jobless rate have fallen, but retail sales slumped too as consumers fret about their future.
Bond insurer MBIA Inc. said Thursday it swung to a loss during the fourth quarter due to a reduction in the value of a credit portfolio and rising loss reserves. MBIA lost $2.3... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 11:05 am
U.S. stock futures pointed to another day of losses on Thursday, with the trouble bond insurance industry back in the spotlight after MBIA posted a $2.3 billion loss.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, criticized last year for being too tentative in cutting interest rates, has shown he can act boldly. But the Fed's two aggressive rate cuts in the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:54 am
Sony cut its profit forecast by about 9% - citing worries about the US slowdown and the strong yen. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:52 am
Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile operator, said third-quarter sales rose 16%, boosted by recent acquisitions in India and Turkey and the strength of the euro against the pound.
The eurozone unemployment rate was steady in December compared to November at a record low point of 7.2 percent of the workforce, according to official EU data released Thursday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:51 am
Starbucks ratched down the number of new stores it plans to open this year and said it would close some U.S. locations as it reported a 2% rise in fiscal first-quarter earnings Wednesday.
Europe's leading exchanges fell in opening trade as the financial sector suffered a renewed bout of weakness on credit concerns, in a market that is also digesting the implications of a Federal Reserve decision to cut US interest rates twice in nine days.
Faced with growing risks of recession, the Federal Reserve made its second deep interest rate cut in a week and slashed a key short-term rate by a half-percentage point Wednesday.
Japanese megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group said Thursday their profits fell in the nine months through December after incurring losses from their... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:35 am
TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp , maker of PlayStation game gear and Vaio PCs, posted a small rise in quarterly operating profit and cut its outlook as weaker markets eat into its investments and a firmer yen hurts overseas sales.
Swedish clothing giant H&M on Thursday reported strong fourth quarter and full-year growth but saw its share price dip amid disappointment that its results were slightly below analyst... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:30 am
Sony said Thursday that it would not reach its targeted five per cent operating margin for the year, cutting its forecast due to the anaemic dollar and a slowdown in demand in the fallout from the US... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:28 am
Japan's Sony Corp. said Thursday that its third-quarter net profit jumped by 25 percent to a record high as its video game division finally returned to the black. Sony is... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:24 am
Friends Provident on Thursday said it would dispose of its controlling stake in F&C Asset Management, the UK-listed fund manager, and pull out of its other wealth management businesses as part of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:19 am
Chancellor Alistair Darling will deliver his first Budget on 12 March, the Treasury announces. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:16 am
The value of UK commercial property fell by a record amount in the last three months of 2007, according to IPD. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:12 am
Asian shares managed to end Thursday's session on a generally positive note as the Federal Reserve's decision to cut US interest rates by another 50 basis points to prevent any US slowdown turning into... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:11 am
Liverpool supporters launch an ambitious plan to buy the football club from its current American owners. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:07 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - MBIA Inc, a bond insurer struggling to maintain the top credit ratings necessary for its business, posted a fourth-quarter loss on Thursday after a $3.5 billion write-down.
Shares in Friends Provident fall more than 12% after the U.K. insurer announces a major restructuring that would see the group remain independent while selling off its wealth-management operations, including F&C Asset Management.
A Chinese company is at the center of a scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed by contaminated drugs. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 10:04 am
Royal Dutch Shell reports a 60% rise in fourth-quarter profit, but the results trailed estimates after production and refining margins dropped and costs rose.
Third-quarter profits at Japan's top two banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, dropped by more than two-thirds on growing subprime losses, forcing Mizuho to slash its outlook.... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 9:59 am
Standard Chartered is to take $7.2bn (3.6bn) of assets from Whistlejacket Capital onto its balance sheet after committing to fund the structured investment vehicle (SIV), but moved to reassure investors... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 9:55 am
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman of the New York Times Co., has had his hands full lately. Last year, he warded off a campaign by a Morgan Stanley fund manager to abolish the newspaper publisher's two-tiered shareholder structure. Then on January 27, a new group of dissident investors informed him that they, too, were mounting an effort to shake things up at the company.
Egypt's Orascom Telecom said on Thursday it had won the right to provide wireless services to North Korea, which, as well as being one of the world's most isolated countries, strictly controls information... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 9:35 am
Reuters - MBIA Inc, a bond insurer
struggling to maintain the top credit ratings necessary for its
business, posted a fourth-quarter loss on Thursday after a $3.5
billion write-down.
Mobile phone giant Vodafone says it has not yet seen any sign of a global economic slowdown. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 9:22 am
London equities fell on Thursday, on renewed worries about potential write-downs in the financial sector. The FTSE 100 fell 1.3 per cent to 5,760.9 a loss of 78 points. Mid-cap stocks also fell, with... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 9:18 am
Major bond insurer MBIA posts its biggest ever loss for a three month period last quarter. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 9:04 am
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Boeing Co's defense unit expects rising Asian military budgets to drive double-digit sales growth in the region and help offset flat U.S. defense spending, its chief Asia-Pacific salesman told Reuters on Thursday.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp booked a better-than-expected 23 percent jump in quarterly profit as its Swift, SX4 and other compact cars powered a robust global sales growth amid record-high fuel prices.
Insurance company Friends Provident to cut about 600 jobs as part of £60m cost-cutting plan. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 31 Jan 2008 | 8:29 am
Royal Dutch Shell reported full year current cost of supply earnings of $27.6bn (14bn), a record for a European company, despite lower oil and gas production and weaker refining margins. Higher oil prices... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 8:18 am
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc posted record European company earnings of $27.6 billion in 2007, but fourth-quarter profit missed forecasts. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 31 Jan 2008 | 8:15 am
Profits at oil giant Royal Dutch Shell soared last year as the price of crude rallied strongly in the final three months of the year. Source: Telegraph Business | 31 Jan 2008 | 8:10 am
Reuters - Google Inc's top three
executives had pledged to work together for 20 years in a pact
they made shortly before the company's initial public offering
in August 2004, Fortune magazine has reported.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's top three executives had pledged to work together for 20 years in a pact they made shortly before the company's initial public offering in August 2004, Fortune magazine has reported.
Reuters - Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) reported
an 11 percent rise in current cost of supply (CCS) net income
to $6.7 billion on Thursday, as higher oil prices and one-off
gains helped to offset a fall in production.
LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported an 11 percent rise in current cost of supply (CCS) net income to $6.7 billion on Thursday, as higher oil prices and one-off gains helped to offset a fall in production.
Profits at oil giant Royal Dutch Shell soared last year as the price of crude rallied strongly in the final three months of the year. Source: Telegraph Business | 31 Jan 2008 | 7:10 am
Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the Republican presidential race and endorsed John McCain, whose victory in the Florida primary night solidified his status as frontrunner, and is expected to attract the endorsement of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California Source: FT.com - US homepage | 31 Jan 2008 | 3:34 am
John Thain, Merrill Lynch's new chief executive, said he expected individual credit insurers would receive capital infusions from investors Source: FT.com - US homepage | 31 Jan 2008 | 2:08 am
The US economy grew at 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, its slowest pace since 2002, the commerce department said, amid continuing fears of a slide into recession in 2008 Source: FT.com - US homepage | 31 Jan 2008 | 1:12 am
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by another 50 basis points and signalled that the door was open to further reductions in an aggressive move to combat the risk of a US recession Source: FT.com - US homepage | 31 Jan 2008 | 12:47 am
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc posted a decline in profit margins on Wednesday as the cost of discounting overshadowed a robust rise in quarterly earnings and a bullish 2008 sales view above Wall Street targets.
Leaked details of Jérôme Kerviel's interrogation by French police show the Société Générale rogue trader thought he was breaking the rules but also that controls were at best inadequate. Source: Telegraph Business | 31 Jan 2008 | 12:01 am
Speech recognition group Telephonetics has emerged as one of the bidders for Eckoh, the phone service provider facing legal action from Channel 4 over its role in a TV phone-in scandal. Source: Telegraph Business | 31 Jan 2008 | 12:01 am
Sandie Crombie, chief executive of Standard Life, insisted the insurer's recovery plan is still on track despite the defection of a senior executive and higher than expected numbers of customers cashing in policies. Source: Telegraph Business | 31 Jan 2008 | 12:01 am
Governor of the Bank of England can look ahead to a tough five years much removed from his early tenure Source: Telegraph Business | 31 Jan 2008 | 12:01 am
FT.com - A brief rally by US stocks fizzled out in late trading on Wednesday after a 50 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee failed to convince traders the US economy is on the mend. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 30 Jan 2008 | 10:45 pm
Repair ships were rushing to the Egyptian coast after damage to two undersea cables disrupted internet traffic across large parts of the Middle East and south Asia Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jan 2008 | 9:30 pm
The board of Société Générale defied a chorus of criticism to back Daniel Bouton, the bank's embattled chairman, even as France's central bank governor gave a damning verdict of the bank's risk controls Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jan 2008 | 9:03 pm
Doha is reviewing its currency policy and could drop the dollar peg as the Gulf state struggles to tame inflation while the US cuts interest rates to head off recession Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jan 2008 | 7:59 pm
Reuters - Stock index futures fell on Thursday,
hit by renewed concerns about more losses in the financial
sector and worries about downgrades of bond insurers.
Reuters - BNP Paribas confirmed on Thursday that it
was studying a possible bid for Societe Generale, as its fellow
French bank reeled from rogue trading losses and France warned
off would-be foreign bidders.
AFP - Europe's biggest economy had both good news and bad news on Thursday, inflation and the jobless rate have fallen, but retail sales slumped too as consumers fret about their future.
AP - It took years for Andrzej Solyga to muster the courage to invest in mutual funds.
Reuters - MBIA Inc, a bond insurer
struggling to maintain the top credit ratings necessary for its
business, posted a fourth-quarter loss on Thursday after a $3.5
billion write-down.
Reuters - Google Inc's top three
executives had pledged to work together for 20 years in a pact
they made shortly before the company's initial public offering
in August 2004, Fortune magazine has reported.
Reuters - Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) reported
an 11 percent rise in current cost of supply (CCS) net income
to $6.7 billion on Thursday, as higher oil prices and one-off
gains helped to offset a fall in production.