Today's Reuters Business News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Murdoch-sparked media inquiry recommends new Australian watchdog
Thu,1 Mar 2012 10:51 PM PST
Reuters - CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian inquiry sparked by concerns about journalistic practices at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp on Friday recommended a new government-funded body to set and enforce standards across the country's tightly owned media. Murdoch's local arm News Ltd immediately rejected the recommendation for a "News Media Council" which could force media to uphold journalistic ethics and issue an apology, correction or retraction, or grant a person right of reply. ... Full Story | Top |
Strike hits First Quantum's Zambia copper mine
Thu,1 Mar 2012 10:49 PM PST
Reuters -  LUSAKA (Reuters) - Production at the Zambian flagship copper mine of Canada's First Quantum Minerals has ground to a halt because of a strike over wages, the Zambian labour minister said on Friday. Workers at the Kansanshi mine, Zambia's largest copper mine, which produced 231,000 tonnes of the red metal in 2010, downed tools on Thursday, Fackson Shamenda said in a statement. "There is a deadlock in salary negotiations. The union is demanding a 17 percent salary increment and the management is offering 13 percent," Shamenda said. ...
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Fed's Williams: Higher oil affecting U.S. growth
Thu,1 Mar 2012 10:43 PM PST
Reuters - HONOLULU, Hawaii (Reuters) - Higher oil prices are affecting U.S. growth but are currently not a reason to think the economy will stall, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday. "It pushes people not to spend. This is one of the factors affecting consumer confidence and consumer spending," John Williams, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, said in a question-and-answer session after a speech in Honolulu. "Given where oil prices have gone, it's part of the story for (expectations of) modest growth. ... Full Story | Top |
Mozambique plans to tax Cove Energy sale
Thu,1 Mar 2012 10:42 PM PST
Reuters - MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique wants to impose a capital gains tax on the sale of Cove Energy Plc, the Africa-focused gas explorer at the centre of a bidding war. Minerals Minister Esperanca Bias said on Thursday the government wants to introduce the tax to benefit from a transaction linked to its own resources. Mozambique has become a target for resource-hungry investors due to its vast reserves of coking coal and major gas discoveries off its shores. Royal Dutch Shell Plc made an $1. ... Full Story | Top |
Soco to survey Congo oil block in environment row
Thu,1 Mar 2012 10:41 PM PST
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - British oil firm Soco International said on Thursday it has been given permission to carry out aerial surveys of a Congolese oil block where exploration was suspended last year due to concerns over environmental damage. Soco has rights to Block 5 but exploration has been halted as the block sits partially in Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, which is Africa's oldest and home to some of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas. ... Full Story | Top |
UCB sees sales, profit falling in 2012
Thu,1 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PST
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian drugmaker UCB forecast sales and profit would fall this year after the cost of launching new medicines and higher drug trial expenses pushed down 2011 earnings. It forecast 2012 recurring core profit would come in between 630-660 million euros ($840-$880 million), compared with 683 million euros last year. Last year's figure was below an average of 696 million euros expected by 12 banks and brokerages polled by Reuters. (Reporting By Ben Deighton) Full Story | Top |
AB-InBev on shortlist for Kingway Brewery deal: sources
Thu,1 Mar 2012 10:20 PM PST
Reuters - HONG KONG (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and two Chinese brewers are on the shortlist to buy most of the brewery assets being sold by China's Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltd , sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The deal value could be as high as $700 million and the short-listed bidders are expected to conduct due-diligence over the next two months, one of the sources said. China Resources Enterprise Ltd , which owns Snow beer brand, and Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co Ltd are among the other companies that have advanced to the next round, sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
Gold inches up as buyers trickle back after selloff
Thu,1 Mar 2012 09:34 PM PST
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold edged higher on Friday as buyers slowly returned to the market, lured by Wednesday's plunge of 5 percent, although bullion is still heading for its worst weekly performance since December. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's lack of a reference to further quantitative easing at congressional testimony on Wednesday sparked a heavy sell-off in bullion, sending the metal to a one-month low short of $1,700. ...
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Wall St ends higher on jump in bank shares
Thu,1 Mar 2012 09:33 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, moving back to 2008 highs, after a jump in bank shares and further upbeat data on the labor market, though sharp gains in oil prices limited the advance. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 28.23 points, or 0.22 percent, to close unofficially at 12,980.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 8.41 points, or 0.62 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,374.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 22.08 points, or 0.74 percent, to end unofficially at 2,988.97.
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Shares firm as ECB liquidity boost lifts
Thu,1 Mar 2012 09:31 PM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares and the euro inched up on Friday after a flood of cheap European Central Bank funds this week eased fears of a meltdown in the euro zone financial sector, overriding some weak data and concerns about surging oil prices. The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan rose 0.4 percent, but stayed below a seven-month high touched on Wednesday. The index was set to add nearly 1 percent for the week. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.5 percent, but pared some early gains on profit-taking. ...
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Brent slips to $126 as Saudi supply fears ease
Thu,1 Mar 2012 09:24 PM PST
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude futures slipped to $126 on Friday, coming off an 11-month high, as fears of a supply disruption from Saudi Arabia eased and the market focused on lower seasonal demand for oil in the coming months. Oil prices had surged nearly 5 percent on Thursday after an Iranian report of a pipeline fire at top exporter Saudi Arabia sparked a buying frenzy. Prices later pared gains after CNBC cited a Saudi oil official as saying the report was untrue. Front-month Brent slipped 20 cents to $126.00 a barrel by 0226 GMT, after settling up $3.54 at $126. ...
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Ivorian port eyes revival after civil war
Thu,1 Mar 2012 09:05 PM PST
Reuters -  ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast aims to boost traffic at its main port of Abidjan by 43 percent in 2012, after a post-election civil war in 2011 halted shipping for months, a port official said on Thursday. "2011 was a difficult year," port manager Hien Sie told a news conference. "In 2012 and the five years to come our ambition is to be a performance port, and a hub on the face of the Atlantic." He said the port was forecasting 23,946,184 tonnes of traffic in 2012, a 43 percent increase compared to 2011 and 3. ...
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BOJ Shirakawa: Japan consumer prices to gradually rise
Thu,1 Mar 2012 06:39 PM PST
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Friday he expects consumer prices to gradually rise in the coming years as the economy recovers with support from a pickup in global demand. "We will continue with monetary easing until consumer inflation of 1 percent is in sight," Shirakawa told a parliamentary committee, adding that price rises driven by temporary factors such as a spike in crude oil costs alone will not trigger a reversal of the current stance on an easy monetary policy. ... Full Story | Top |
Insight: After Civic bruising, Honda fights for its soul
Thu,1 Mar 2012 05:00 PM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - The future of Honda Motor Co may rest with a pair of contrarian Japanese car engineers working from a drab Tokyo suburb with a hotline to the boardroom. Their mission: just say no. Honda's creative directors Toshinobu Minami and Yoshinori Asahi are out to kill any mediocre car designs rumbling down the pipeline. In short, they have been told to stop anything like the 2012 Civic, a cheapened redesign that prompted critics, consumers and rivals to wonder how Honda had so badly lost its way. ...
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Fed officials flag soft economy but mum on easing
Thu,1 Mar 2012 03:59 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other top officials of the U.S. central bank on Thursday highlighted risks to the economic recovery despite recent signs of strength, but offered few hints that any additional monetary stimulus might be needed. Bernanke told lawmakers there was reason to be suspicious of the recent decline in unemployment given the weakness of economic growth. "There's still a bit of a contradiction between the improvement in the labor market and the speed of the overall recovery," Bernanke said in a second day of testimony to Congress. ...
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