| | |
| Santander to cut 3,000 jobs after Banesto merger - report Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 11:21 PM PST  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's largest bank Santander will cut 3,000 jobs following its planned merger with its Banesto subsidiary, Cinco Dias reported on Friday, citing sources from unions and close to the bank. Santander announced plans to fully absorb its 110 year-old Banesto brand last month, closing 700 branches to cut longer-term costs. The bank had warned of gradual but heavy job losses when it announced the deal but did not give a specific number. Official talks with unions over the cuts will open on January 9, Cinco Dias said. No one at Santander was immediately available for comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| S.Africa's rand slips, mirroring euro decline Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 11:06 PM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand slipped on Friday after hitting a three-month high earlier in the week as the euro came under pressure following the release of U.S. Federal Reserve minutes that revealed increasing wariness about buying bonds. The rand was at 8.5968 to the dollar at 0632 GMT, slightly weaker than its close in New York on Thursday. The euro fell to a three-week low against the dollar on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting in December indicated some policymakers were concerned about the potential risks of the central bank's asset purchases. ... Full Story | Top |
| Credit Suisse plans new asset-backed bonus scheme Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 11:02 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Credit Suisse is preparing to offload more risk exposure to staff in its 2012 bonus giveaway but significantly fewer managers will be allowed to join the latest version of a scheme that has yielded stellar rewards in previous years. Pioneered in 2008, Credit Suisse's ground-breaking asset-backed bonus schemes pay managers a portion of their bonuses in financial instruments whose value depends on the performance of risky assets that the bank is exposed to. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gold slips 1 pct on Fed minutes, firm dollar Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 10:46 PM PST  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold dropped more than 1 percent to its lowest in two weeks on Friday on signs the U.S. Federal Reserve is worried about its highly stimulative monetary policy which, if stopped, would threaten bullion's appeal as a hedge against inflation. Fears that central banks' money-printing to buy assets will stoke inflation have been a key driver in boosting gold, which rallied to an 11-month high in early October after the Fed announced its third round of aggressive economic stimulus. U.S. gold futures for February dropped more than 1 percent to a low of $1,645. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brent falls below $112 as Fed minutes, US budget battles weigh Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 10:44 PM PST  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude fell below $112 a barrel on Friday as growing doubts within the U.S. Federal Reserve about the side effects of its stimulus programme and the prospect of more budget battles in Washington curbed investor appetite for riskier assets. Investors netted profits on oil after prices rose earlier this week as the U.S. Congress approved a fiscal deal that averted economic calamity. Further talks in Washington next month to tackle the country's debt ceiling and signs of hesitation within the Fed about more increases to the central bank's $2. ... Full Story | Top |
| Asian shares drop on Fed minutes, dollar extends gains Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 10:42 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Friday, as investors booked profits from a recent sharp climb after senior Federal Reserve officials expressed concerns about continuing to expand stimulative bond buying, but the dollar extended gains as U.S. debt yields rose. European shares were seen tracking Asian peers lower, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open down as much as 0.3 percent. A 0.1 percent drop in U.S. stock futures suggested a soft Wall Street start. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ivory Coast makes first Eurobond payment since restructuring Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 10:28 PM PST ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast made a payment of 26 billion CFA francs on its Eurobond on December 31, the first payment since the defaulted $2.3 billion 2032 bond was restructured, Treasury Director Adama Kone said on Thursday. Investors in November approved Ivory Coast's plan to make missed coupon payments over the next two years. Launched in April 2010, the 2032 bond went into default in early 2011 during a civil war. The bond's yield on Thursday was trading at around 6.475 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Ghana's cedi seen steady ahead of bond auction Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 10:26 PM PST  ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana's cedi is expected to hold ground against the dollar next week ahead of a three-year government bond auction, traders said on Thursday. The Bank of Ghana is due to issue 400 million cedis worth of bonds on January 10, open to foreign investors, to settle maturing notes. "We expect the cedi to hold firm against the dollar this month, supported by the upcoming three-year auction, which is also expected to bring in offshore inflows," Christopher Nettey of Stanbic Ghana said. On Thursday, the cedi traded at 1.9050/75 by 12.30 GMT, from Wednesday's close offered at 1.9090. ... Full Story | Top |
| Automakers in China brace for year of tepid growth as Japanese struggle Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 10:22 PM PST  BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Automakers in China are bracing for another year of tepid single-digit growth in 2013, weighed down by sluggish demand for Japanese cars amid a diplomatic row between the two regional neighbors and government measures intended to restrict traffic in bigger cities. Executives at local and foreign carmakers in China predict the overall vehicle market will grow 5 to 10 percent this year, roughly in line with 2012, when demand was hit by a slowing economy and rising fuel costs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wal-Mart defends low-price ads after rivals' objection Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 09:29 PM PST  (Reuters) - Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc has gone on the defensive against charges by competitors that a recent ad campaign is using inaccurate information, leading the competitors to file complaints with state legal officials. A Wal-Mart Stores spokesman defended the retailer's ad campaign that claims to offer better prices on some products than competitors, after the Wall Street Journal reported rivals have complained to attorneys general in more than half a dozen states. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Alimta patent seen as Lilly's "wild card" Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 09:04 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eli Lilly & Co may have a $15 billion wild card up its sleeve as it waits for desperately needed new drugs to bear fruit. Should an obscure patent on Lilly lung cancer drug Alimta survive a court challenge this year, the company would be able to wring more than five additional years of peak sales out of the fast-growing product that it would otherwise lose to cheaper generics. Annual sales of Alimta are expected by Wall Street to climb to $3.5 billion by 2016, when its basic patent lapses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hiring seen edging up, recovery grinds on Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 09:01 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers likely stepped up hiring a touch in December as retailers and other businesses took on more staff for the holidays, but the gain will probably not be enough to make inroads in the country's still high unemployment rate. Payrolls outside the farming sector are expected to have grown by 150,000 last month, a modest increase from November's 146,000 job gain, according to a Reuters poll of analysts. The employment reading, due to be released by the Labor Department on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ... Full Story | Top |
| SEC drops case against ex-Berkshire exec Sokol: lawyer Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 08:28 PM PST  (Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator has decided not to take action against David Sokol, once considered a possible candidate for the top job at Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Sokol's lawyer told Reuters. In 2011, Buffett said Sokol violated the company's insider trading rules to score a $3 million windfall profit on shares of U.S. chemicals maker Lubrizol, which rose by nearly a third after Berkshire Hathaway announced it would buy the company. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wal-Mart appoints Lev Khasis to develop new store concepts Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 05:18 PM PST  (Reuters) - The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc appointed Lev Khasis as president and chief executive of New Formats for Walmart International, a company spokesperson said. Khasis, who joined Wal-Mart in 2011 as senior vice-president, will focus on developing new store concepts that can be deployed across markets, Wal-Mart spokesperson Kevin Gardner said in an e-mail statement. Khasis built up Russia's biggest food retailer X5 through acquisitions into a Russian market leader until his resignation in 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Jazeera's new channel struggles for U.S. distribution Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 05:09 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Al Jazeera's announced plans to establish a new U.S. cable news channel via the purchase of Current TV isn't even 48 hours old and already it finds itself in a vicious battle to retain distribution rights. Al Jazeera's acquisition of Current TV is basically a pay-for-distribution play. The Qatar-backed network plans to replace Current TV in the more than 40 million homes where it is currently distributed with its own news network, tentatively dubbed Al Jazeera America. The new network's success is predicated on maintaining, if not increasing, that level of distribution. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment