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| Asian shares rebound, easy policies feed risk taking Monday, Mar 04, 2013 07:04 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rebounded strongly on Tuesday after a sharp sell-off triggered by slumping Chinese stocks the previous session, as a globally accommodative monetary stance helped revive risk appetite. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan jumped 1 percent after tumbling 1.3 percent as Chinese shares dived on concerns Beijing's move to tighten the housing market could weigh on growth. The February HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 52.1 from January's 54. ... Full Story | Top |
| China puts focus on consumers to drive growth Monday, Mar 04, 2013 08:15 PM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - China put its fast-growing consumer class at center-stage as outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao set out a reform plan on Tuesday to spread the fruits of economic growth more evenly in the country of 1.3 billion. Wen said unleashing the power of China's consumers was vital to the future of the world's second biggest economy and called for accelerated reform of the rigid hukou household registration system to drive an urbanization effort that he said underpinned the country's program of economic development. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan central bank nominee Iwata: foreign bond-buying not first option Monday, Mar 04, 2013 07:43 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - One of the men chosen by the Japanese government to overhaul central bank policymaking said that foreign bond purchases - one of the most radical ideas for beating deflation - would be a policy option only if other initiatives failed. Any decision by the Bank of Japan to launch a program of buying up foreign bonds would be expected to draw criticism from Japan's trading partners that it was setting out to devalue the yen and risking the outbreak of a global currency war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: PE owners plan HD Supply IPO after $8.5 billion buyout: sources Monday, Mar 04, 2013 07:28 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity owners are preparing to take HD Supply public, nearly six years after buying the industrial distribution company out of Home Depot Inc for $8.5 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the buyout firms who jointly led the deal in 2007, plan to interview investment banks next week to select underwriters for the proposed initial public offering, the people said. Representatives for Bain and CD&R declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| China Feb HSBC services PMI falls from four-month highs Monday, Mar 04, 2013 06:30 PM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's services sector cooled in February after new business receded from eight-month highs, a private survey showed on Tuesday, in line with slower factory activity that suggests a modest rebound in the world's second-biggest economy this year. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 52.1 from January's 54.0, after seasonal adjustments, but still held above 50 to show the increasingly important services sector was growing on a monthly basis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Will antitrust cops recoil from king-sized mattress merger? Monday, Mar 04, 2013 04:30 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A planned merger of two large U.S. mattress companies will force antitrust regulators to decide how much concentration they are prepared to allow in this once diffuse market. Tempur-Pedic International Inc, an upstart from Kentucky that rules the market for pricey space-age foam mattresses, has offered to pay $242 million for century-old Sealy Corp, taking on about $750 million in Sealy's debt in the process. ... Full Story | Top |
| Citigroup arbitration win in $4 billion Abu Dhabi case upheld Monday, Mar 04, 2013 04:26 PM PST  (Reuters) - A Manhattan federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to overturn an arbitration panel's ruling favoring Citigroup Inc in a dispute over a $7.5 billion investment by the fund in the bank. U.S. District Judge George Daniels rejected arguments that the October 2011 ruling by an American Arbitration Association panel, which reviews international disputes, ignored applicable law and was "fundamentally unfair" by depriving the Abu Dhabi fund of a chance to properly present its case. ... Full Story | Top |
| Financial Ombudsman Service sees leap in insurance mis-selling cases Monday, Mar 04, 2013 04:22 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - The Financial Ombudsman Service received nearly two-and-a-half times as many complaints related to mis-sold loan insurance in the second half of 2012 than in the first half, pointing to a further rise in the bill for banks. Banks have already set aside around 14 billion pounds to compensate customers wrongly sold payment protection insurance (PPI). The policies were supposed to protect borrowers against sickness or redundancy but were often sold to customers who didn't want or need them. ... Full Story | Top |
| Standard Chartered set for record $7 billion profit despite Iran fine Monday, Mar 04, 2013 04:07 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Chartered is set to report its 10th successive record annual profit on Tuesday after strong growth in its core Asian markets offset a big fine for breaking sanctions on Iran. A $667 million fine from U.S. authorities is likely to have wiped out much of the London-based bank's growth last year, but profits should still rise 4 percent to $7 billion, according to the average forecast of 16 analysts polled by Reuters. In a rare blip after a decade of buoyant growth and few problems, Standard Chartered was last year hit by a U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| General Dynamics unit, others issue layoff notices, blame U.S. budget cuts Monday, Mar 04, 2013 04:06 PM PST  (Reuters) - General Dynamics NASSCO, a primary constructor of ships for the U.S. Navy, warned about 1,040 employees on Monday of indefinite layoffs that may come in late April due to uncertainty created by the automatic U.S. budget cuts that took effect last week. The warnings come as military contractors weigh uncertainties over scheduled maintenance and repair work that may be put on hold as the federal government makes $85 billion in spending cuts. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Swiss bank Wegelin ordered to pay in U.S. tax evasion case Monday, Mar 04, 2013 03:56 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Monday sentenced Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, to pay $57.85 million after it admitted to helping wealthy Americans evade taxes. The sum ordered by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York was on top of $16.3 million in forfeitures already obtained by authorities after the federal government accused Wegelin of conspiring to assist U.S. taxpayers hide $1.2 billion in secret Swiss bank accounts. The judge questioned whether the size of the settlement appropriately reflected the extent of wrongdoing that the government alleged. ... Full Story | Top |
| Target gives peek at first Canadian stores in expansion push Monday, Mar 04, 2013 03:52 PM PST  GUELPH, Ontario (Reuters) - U.S. discount retailer Target Corp gave a first look at one of its new stores in Canada on Monday, showing freezers with locally-produced cakes and the country's iconic beaver-logoed Roots apparel brand, designed to appeal to Canadians in its massive expansion outside the United States. Target's bold entry is expected to threaten a range of Canadian retailers, from department store operators to grocers and pharmacies, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc has planned its own growth spurt in Canada to defend its turf. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Ackman's fund flat in February - sources Monday, Mar 04, 2013 03:41 PM PST  (Reuters) - William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management ended February virtually flat, even after a tumultuous end to the month when two high-profile bets moved quickly in the wrong direction for his $12 billion portfolio. The outspoken money manager sent an investor alert on Monday noting that the portfolio was off 0.1 percent last month, leaving it up 3.6 percent for the year, according to two people familiar with the numbers. In the investor alert, Ackman gave no details on what fueled the lackluster performance and a spokeswoman declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Delta expects 40,000 bpd jet fuel output from refinery Monday, Mar 04, 2013 03:10 PM PST  (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc said on Monday it expects to produce 40,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) of jet fuel at its 185,000 bpd Trainer, Pennsylvania, refinery by the end of the year, a lower rate than Delta's initial goal when it bought the refinery last year. Delta President Edward Bastian said in a JPMorgan presentation that the 40,000 bpd output represented about 25 percent of Delta's domestic jet fuel consumption and about 22 percent of the refinery's current capacity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Goldman finds new way to do buyouts in face of Volcker Monday, Mar 04, 2013 03:05 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc is trying to find ways to keep investing in the profitable, albeit risky, business of buying and selling companies without crossing a rule that will restrict private equity investing, three sources familiar with the new business said over the past week. The Volcker rule - named for former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law - is expected to limit bank investments in private equity funds, but not necessarily private equity-style investments outside of a formal fund structure. ... Full Story | Top |
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