Today's Reuters Business News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Shell eyes possible South Sudan opportunities
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:57 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it is eyeing potential opportunities in South Sudan, which last July broke away from Khartoum, taking with it two-thirds of Sudan's 500,000 barrels per day of oil production. "We continuously review potential business opportunities around the world. We would like to better understand the current security, political and business environment in South Sudan, and how this has been impacted by the secession," a spokesman told Reuters in an emailed statement. The normally tightlipped oil major does not usually comment about possible new areas of ... Full Story | Top |
Brent oil stays near $112 on Iran, upbeat data
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:55 PM PST
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude held steady around $112 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by fears of possible supply disruptions from Iran and upbeat economic data from the United States and China. Oil prices surged on the first day of trading in 2012, after Brent posted a 13 percent gain last year, as Iran threatened to choke off crude shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against tougher sanctions from the West over its nuclear program. Brent February crude fell 26 cents to $111. ...
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Stocks cheered by growth hopes, debt woes drag euro
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:17 PM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as investor risk appetite returned after upbeat U.S. and European economic data improved the global growth outlook, but the euro's gains were short-lived due to deep-set worries over the European debt crisis. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose as much as 0.9 percent to its highest in nearly a month, before trimming some gains to stand up 0.6 percent. The materials sector outperformed. ...
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Small business payrolls rise 55,000 in December
Tue,3 Jan 2012 09:32 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Small businesses created 55,000 jobs in December and increased working hours for employees, further evidence the labor market was strengthening. In addition, workers at small businesses saw a rise in their paychecks last month, said payrolls processing company Intuit on Wednesday. December's gain compared to November's upwardly revised 70,000 count, which was previously reported as an increase of 55,000. The jobs market is showing signs of firming, with the unemployment rate dropping to a 2-1/2-year low of 8.6 percent in November. ...
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BP fund halts payments to spill victims pending clarification
Tue,3 Jan 2012 08:20 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - BP's $20 billion oil spill fund has halted payments to eligible victims until a U.S. federal court clarifies an order issued in December, according to a notice posted on the fund's website. The District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana had asked the fund, called the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, to pay into a court supervised escrow account 6 percent of the gross settlement amount. The funds from the escrow account would be used to meet certain legal expenses incurred by the plaintiffs' lawyers. ... Full Story | Top |
Ecuador court upholds $18 billion ruling against Chevron
Tue,3 Jan 2012 07:02 PM PST
Reuters - LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador (Reuters) - An Ecuadorean appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that Chevron Corp should pay $18 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused the U.S. oil giant of polluting the Amazon jungle and damaging their health. A local judge ordered Chevron to pay $8.6 billion in environmental damages last February, but the amount was more than doubled to about $18 billion because Chevron failed to make a public apology as required by the original ruling. ... Full Story | Top |
Tata Nano, world's cheapest car, struggles to gain traction
Tue,3 Jan 2012 06:27 PM PST
Reuters -  MUMBAI (Reuters) - To kick sales of its ultra-low-cost Nano into higher gear, Tata Motors needs a lot more buyers like Vijay Govind Pisal, a sugar cane farmer in Ozarde in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Unable to afford a big vehicle to haul crops and fertilizer and unwilling to justify paying two or three times the price for a higher-end car given his limited usage, Pisal was sold on the Nano's cost, fuel efficiency and extended warranty. "Whenever I wanted to visit my relatives I had to rely on public transport or a bike. ...
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U.S. charges 3 Swiss bankers in tax evasion case
Tue,3 Jan 2012 04:57 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Prosecutors accused three Swiss bankers on Tuesday of conspiring with wealthy U.S. taxpayers to hide more than $1.2 billion in assets from tax authorities, and sources briefed on the matter said the three worked for Wegelin & Co, one of Switzerland's oldest private banks. The office of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said in a statement that the indictment charges the bankers with trying to "capture business lost by UBS AG and another large international Swiss bank in the wake of widespread news reports that the Internal Revenue Service was investigating UBS" in 2008 and 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
China mulls plans to boost domestic consumption: report
Tue,3 Jan 2012 04:33 PM PST
Reuters - SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The Chinese government is planning new policies to boost domestic consumption, especially of vehicles and appliances, in a bid to offset the effects of sagging export demand, the China Daily reported on Wednesday, quoting a government official. With tax rebates on vehicles and domestic appliances either having expired or due to expire, the government is working on new measures, said Huang Hai, former assistant minister of commerce and a member of the economic and trade policy consulting committee linked to the Ministry of Commerce. ... Full Story | Top |
MF Global sold assets to Goldman before collapse: sources
Tue,3 Jan 2012 04:23 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - MF Global unloaded hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of securities to Goldman Sachs in the days leading up to its collapse, according to two former MF Global employees with direct knowledge of the transactions. But it did not immediately receive payment from its clearing firm and lender, JPMorgan Chase & Co , one of the sources said. The sale of securities to Goldman occurred on October 27, just days before MF Global Holdings Ltd filed for bankruptcy on October 31, the ex-employees said. One of the employees said the transaction was cleared with JPMorgan Chase. ... Full Story | Top |
Fed to publish rate path forecasts in transparency move
Tue,3 Jan 2012 04:12 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve, in a move that could push back expectations of when near-zero U.S. interest rates will rise, will begin publishing its policymakers' forecasts for borrowing costs. The step is a significant milestone in Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's push for greater policymaking transparency, and it could offer the economy a bit more of a lift by better aligning financial market bets with the main view at the central bank. The Fed has held the overnight federal funds rate close to zero since December 2008 and has bought $2. ...
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Oil jumps 4 percent on Iran anxiety
Tue,3 Jan 2012 03:51 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged on Tuesday, with U.S. crude hitting the highest settlement since May, fueled by strong economic data from the United States and China and mounting concern about supply disruption from Iran. Brent crude jumped $5 in late activity as markets latched on to data showing U.S. construction spending near a 1-1/2 year peak in November and China manufacturing data that eased concerns of a slowdown in the world's No. 2 oil consumer. ...
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U.S. charges three Swiss bankers in tax evasion case
Tue,3 Jan 2012 03:47 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors accused three Swiss bankers on Tuesday of conspiring with wealthy U.S. taxpayers to hide more than $1.2 billion in assets from tax authorities, and sources briefed on the matter said the three worked for Wegelin & Co, one of Switzerland's oldest private banks. The office of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said in a statement that the indictment charges the bankers with trying to "capture business lost by UBS AG and another large international Swiss bank in the wake of widespread news reports that the Internal Revenue Service was investigating UBS" in 2008 and 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
MBIA fraud case vs. BofA's Countrywide gets boost
Tue,3 Jan 2012 03:44 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - A New York state judge made it easier for the bond insurer MBIA Inc to pursue its $1.4 billion lawsuit accusing Bank of America Corp's Countrywide Financial unit of fraudulently inducing it to insure risky mortgage-backed securities. New York State Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten ruled on Tuesday that to show fraud, MBIA need only show Countrywide misled it about the $20 billion of securities it insured, not that the misrepresentations caused its losses. MBIA shares closed 8.1 percent higher. ... Full Story | Top |
Gross's bond fund bleeds $1.4 billion in December: Morningstar
Tue,3 Jan 2012 03:37 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - The PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund, had $1.4 billion in outflows in December, according to fund analytics firm Morningstar. The fund, operated by Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co, suffered total redemptions of $5 billion in 2011, a year in which the fund underperformed benchmarks after betting heavily against U.S. Treasuries, which rallied on the year. The fund, which has about $244 billion in assets under management, has had investor redemptions on and off for more than a year. ...
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