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| Yen extends fall, Asian shares edge higher on U.S. fiscal hopes Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 07:34 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - The yen hit its lowest level in more than two years on Friday, helping lift Japanese stocks to 21-month highs on expectations of drastic monetary easing, while shares in the rest of Asia inched higher on signs Washington is racing to avoid a fiscal crisis. U.S. President Barack Obama and lawmakers are launching a last round of budget talks before a New Year's deadline to reach a deal or watch the economy go off a "fiscal cliff," that economists fear will push the United States back into recession and stamp out fragile signs of recovery elsewhere. ... Full Story | Top |
| Toyota poised to put legal troubles in rear view mirror Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 03:25 PM PST  DETROIT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp eliminated a huge obstacle with a U.S. settlement over unintended acceleration in its cars and trucks, leaving it to fight smaller cases that will be harder for plaintiffs to prove and less likely to damage the company's growing sales. While the Japanese automaker still faces possibly hundreds of personal injury lawsuits related to claims that its vehicles accelerated unintentionally, Wednesday's $1.1 billion settlement announcement will remove the last big roadblock to putting the issue behind it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street rebounds on House session, but off for 4th day Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 02:57 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell for a fourth day on Thursday, but recovered most of their losses after the House of Representatives, in the barest sign of progress, said it would come back to work on avoiding the "fiscal cliff" this weekend. It was a jittery session for stocks, with shares falling more than 1 percent after Senate Majority Harry Reid warned a deal was unlikely before the deadline, only to rebound merely on the news that the House would reconvene Sunday, a day before the December 31 "cliff" deadline. ... Full Story | Top |
| DirecTV to increase fees by 4.5 percent in 2013 Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 02:54 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Satellite television provider DirecTV Group said its service fees will rise by an average of 4.5 percent in February due to increasing programming costs. DirecTV has to pay about 8 percent more for programs, since almost all of its providers are hiking their rates, it said on Thursday. The company, which recently resolved a bitter price dispute with programmer Viacom Inc, said it is doing all it can to make sure customers "do not suffer unfair price increases as a result of unreasonable demands." The new fees will go into effect on February 7. ... Full Story | Top |
| Apple CEO's pay takes big hit vs. record 2011 package Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 02:44 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook's 2012 compensation package of $4.17 million is a huge cut on paper for the top executive of the most valuable U.S. corporation, after a 2011 package fattened by more than $376 million in long-term stock awards. Cook received the largest single pay package awarded to a company CEO in about a decade when he replaced Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in August last year, shortly before the Silicon Valley legend's death in October 2011. The maker of the iPhone and iPad made the 2012 compensation disclosures in a regulatory filing on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Porsche wins dismissal of U.S. hedge fund lawsuit over VW Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 02:25 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Porsche Automobil Holding SE on Thursday won the dismissal of a New York lawsuit by 26 hedge funds that accused the German automaker of causing more than $1 billion of losses by cornering the market in Volkswagen AG shares. A five-justice panel of the New York State appeals court in Manhattan unanimously found that Porsche had met its "heavy burden" to establish that the state was the wrong place in which to bring the lawsuit. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. stocks cut most losses; yen hits two-year low Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 02:11 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks recovered from sharp losses to end only slightly lower on Thursday after the U.S. House of Representative said it would come back to work this weekend in a last-ditch effort to avoid the "fiscal cliff," while the yen hit a two-year low on expectations of bold monetary stimulus in Japan. It was a fourth straight session of losses for U.S. stocks, while world stocks ended slightly higher. Wall Street stocks tumbled in morning trade after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top Senate Democrat, said the United States may be poised to go off the "fiscal cliff. ... Full Story | Top |
| TSX closes flat despite late bounce on Congress return Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 02:03 PM PST  TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index closed little changed on Thursday, with a gain in the materials sector offsetting lower financial shares, as investors wavered on whether the U.S. budget crisis could be resolved by a December 31 deadline. The index was negative for much of the day following pessimistic comments from a top U.S. lawmaker, but recovered sharply late in the session on news that the House of Representatives had scheduled a session for Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada dollar hits one-month low, stung by "fiscal cliff" fear Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 01:46 PM PST TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar ended weaker after touching a one-month low against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as investors fled to safety after the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate said the country looked to be headed over the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts. Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Senate in a speech that "it looks like that is where we're headed. Commodity-linked currencies like the Canadian dollar tend to benefit when U.S. budget negotiations run smoothly, but when there are snags, investor flows go into the highly liquid U.S. dollar. ... Full Story | Top |
| General Dynamics, Huntington Ingalls win huge U.S. submarine orders Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 01:27 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy last week awarded submarine contracts worth up to $4.5 billion to General Dynamics Corp and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. , securing the funds from automatic budget cuts if Congress cannot reach agreement on other ways to reduce U.S. deficits. The Navy awarded General Dynamics a five-year contract valued at up to $1.99 billion if all options are exercised, for research and development work on a new submarine to replace the current Ohio-class vessels, which carry nuclear weapons. It awarded a separate contract worth nearly $2. ... Full Story | Top |
| Consumer sentiment weakens as fiscal crisis looms Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 09:59 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence fell more than expected in December, hitting a four-month low as a looming fiscal crisis sapped what had been a growing sense of optimism about the economy. The report heightened concerns that a failure by Washington to avert planned tax hikes and spending cuts could lead households to close their wallets, threatening an economic recovery that has been steady albeit lackluster. ... Full Story | Top |
| Watchdog fines Wall Street firms $4.5 million for lobbyist payments Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 09:41 AM PST  (Reuters) - Wall Street's watchdog has fined five large firms over $4.48 million for seeking reimbursement for payments to lobbyists using proceeds from municipal and state bond offerings. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said on Thursday that it fined Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. ... Full Story | Top |
| RIM shares jump in Toronto, rebound from sharp decline Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 09:12 AM PST  TORONTO (Reuters) - Shares of Research In Motion Ltd jumped nearly 10 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday, following similar gains in New York on Wednesday, in a rebound from last week's sharp decline. Last Friday, the volatile stock plunged more than 20 percent after the company said on an earnings conference call that it was rolling out a new fee structure for its services segment, which some investors fear could pressure the high-margin business. "It got hit so hard after the conference call," said Ed Snyder, an analyst with Charter Equity Research. ... Full Story | Top |
| Long-suffering Bankia shareholders set for more losses Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 09:07 AM PST  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Bankia will wipe out the investments of 350,000 shareholders, many of them small savers and pensioners, after it emerged that losses on bad loans at the troubled bank were even worse than expected. The measure will hit small investors drawn in by aggressive marketing just last year after Bankia was formed from a merger of provincial savings banks. But it is described by officials as vital if the company, which was nationalized in May, is to return to profit in order to be sold on again. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. clears Empire State Building REIT plan for investor vote Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 08:23 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have given the green light to the manager of the Empire State Building to ask investors to vote on a plan to fold the iconic building into a new real estate investment trust (REIT) that eventually will be publicly traded. After months of review, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signed off on the documents allowing Malkin Holdings LLC to solicit investors in the Empire State Building to vote on the plan for the building to be the centerpiece of more than 18 properties in Empire State Realty Trust Inc, according to a filing Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
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