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Wall Street Week Ahead: Market is oversold, but major signs say "sell"  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Normally a big decline would set up Wall Street for a technical rebound. But that may not be the case this week, even after the market posted its worst weekly loss for the year and the S&P fell for six straight sessions. With the corporate earnings season drawing to an end and recent U.S. economic data raising doubts about the pace of growth, the S&P 500, which is down 7.3 percent so far in May, could decline further this week as concerns about the financial health of Europe persist. ...
Markets regain ground but still edgy over Greece  TOKYO (Reuters) - Markets recovered some ground on Monday on value hunting after last week's heavy losses, but investors remained wary over the euro zone despite world leaders calling for Greece to stay in the monetary union and for Europe to balance austerity with growth. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5 percent, buoyed by its technology sector which by far outperformed its peers with a 1.3 percent gain. Investors scooped cheapened blue chips, helping to lift tech-heavy Korean equity market above a key chart level. ...
Alibaba buys back 20 percent stake held by Yahoo for $7.1 billion  SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma is buying back up to half of a 40 percent stake in his Alibaba Group from Yahoo Inc for $7.1 billion, in a deal that moves the Chinese e-commerce leader closer to a public listing. Under the agreement, Yahoo will sell half of its stake in Alibaba for at least $6.3 billion in cash and up to $800 million in new Alibaba preferred stock. ...
Facebook faces crucial week after modest debut  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Newly issued shares in Facebook Inc may have a hard time in the coming week if lead underwriter Morgan Stanley stops supporting the stock and managers lower down in the IPO book who were hoping for an early surge decide to get out before going underwater. Facebook on Friday sold 421 million shares of stock in a deal that valued the company at more than $100 billion. But investors, expecting a first-day pop in price, instead saw it close just 0.6 percent above the IPO price at $38.23. ...
Opel CEO to face heat from workers over likely plant closure  FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - The head of General Motors unit Opel will face workers' concerns on Monday over reported plans to shut one of its four German plants as the automaker pulls production of the Astra, its best-selling model, from the country. Opel's Chief Executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke is due to address workers at Germany's Bochum plant, which a source close to negotiations has said is the most likely to be shut. ...
Nasdaq to revamp system after tech problems on Facebook IPO: WSJ  (Reuters) - The Nasdaq is planning to revamp its systems for handling stock offerings after acknowledging that technology problems had affected trading in millions of newly issued Facebook shares on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Individual investors were left in the dark for hours on Friday about whether their buy and sell orders for Facebook shares had actually been executed, in the latest of a series high-profile exchange glitches. ...
Ex-Goldman director faces U.S. jury in insider case  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barely a day went by at the insider-trading trial of multimillionaire hedge-fund founder Raj Rajaratnam a year ago without mention of Rajat Gupta, a boldface name in business and charity circles. On Monday in the same federal court in New York, it will be Gupta's turn to go on trial. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Procter & Gamble board member is accused of leaking stock secrets to Rajaratnam, his erstwhile friend and business associate who was convicted and is now in prison. ...
G8 growth talk leaves wary markets awaiting action  (Reuters) - A pledge by leaders of industrialized nations to help the troubled world economy is unlikely to herald quick new action by Europe on its debt crisis, meaning more uncertainty for nervous financial markets. The Group of Eight economies stressed on Saturday that their "imperative is to promote growth and jobs", as they also recognized problems among European banks and gave verbal backing for Greece to stay in the euro. Still, despite U.S. calls for immediate moves to boost growth, no sign emerged that Germany would soften its stance on austerity as the cure for Europe's debt ...
Qantas to cut another 500 maintenance jobs  MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's top airline Qantas Airways said on Monday it is eliminating 500 jobs by merging maintenance facilities to save up to A$100 million ($98.4 million) annually, as high fuel costs and weak demand take a toll on airline profits. Qantas, which is emerging from a costly industrial dispute, said in statement it will stop heavy maintenance in Tullamarine in Melbourne and concentrate on centers in Brisbane and Avalon, resulting in the job cuts. It had, in February, flagged another 500 job cuts for the group. ...
Australia to seal trade deal with Malaysia CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will sign a free trade agreement(FTA) with Malaysia on Tuesday in a move it hopes will add new momentum to stalled bilateral trade talks with other key Asian trading partners. Australia is still negotiating free trade deals with South Korea, Japan and China, with progress in reaching agreement with Beijing and Tokyo slow. The deal with Malaysia, which will be Australia's sixth FTA, will be signed in Kuala Lumpur, said a spokesman for Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson. ...
Apple, Samsung CEOs set for court talks  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are used to running the show at their global tech empires, but they will be in for a different experience when they arrive at a San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-sung, whose companies are embroiled in bitter patent litigation, have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for court-supervised mediation. A joint court filing in April said that "as directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate" in the discussions. ...
Euro zone row gets fat pay rise for German workers BERLIN (Reuters) - A record-breaking pay deal will give millions of German workers their biggest rise in wages in two decades, boost consumption in Europe's biggest economy and help towards adjusting the regional imbalances that have caused severe tensions within the euro zone, analysts said on Sunday. Germany's largest industrial union IG Metall agreed to a 4.3-percent pay rise from employers just before dawn on Saturday -- giving the 3.6 million car and engineering industry workers their biggest wage increase since a 5.4 percent deal in 1992. The eye-catching 4. ...
Facebook shares could fall below IPO price: Barron's  (Reuters) - Shares in social media company Facebook Inc could fall below the initial public offering price of $38, Barron's wrote in its May 21 edition. Facebook saw its shares rise a scant 0.6 percent to $38.23 on Friday in the first day of trading. The stock stayed above the $38 IPO price, supported in the market by the deal's underwriters. But Barron's said the "big question" this week will be whether they continue to do so. ...
U.S. banking laws unable to stop JPMorgan loss: Republican Boehner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. banking reforms could not have prevented JPMorgan Chase & Co's trading losses, and those involved in the activities that went awry should be held accountable, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said in an interview aired on Sunday. "I don't believe there's anything in Dodd-Frank (financial reform law) that would've prevented this activity at JPMorgan," said Boehner, the top Republican U.S. officeholder. He made the comments Friday in an interview for ABC's "This Week. ...
Weaker euro zone nations need more support from core: UK LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone can protect its currency if its stronger countries provide more support for the weaker to help them deal with their problems, British finance minister George Osborne said in a newspaper on Sunday. The future of Europe's 17-country single currency bloc is under threat from a political stalemate in Greece, which could lead to its departure from the monetary union at unknown costs to the financial system and global economic stability. ...
Facebook stock seen facing crucial week after modest debut NEW YORK (Reuters) - Newly issued shares in Facebook Inc may have a hard time in the coming week if lead underwriter Morgan Stanley stops supporting the stock and managers lower down in the IPO book who were hoping for an early surge decide to get out before going underwater. Facebook on Friday sold 421 million shares of stock in a deal that valued the company at more than $100 billion. But investors, expecting a first-day pop in price, instead saw it close just 0.6 percent above the IPO price at $38.23. ...
Insight: China pays high price to spare state firm from bankruptcy WEIFANG, China (Reuters) - The Chinese official was adamant the city of Weifang would keep its rayon factory open, noting that local authorities had just stepped in to help the plant's owner repay $60 million in commercial paper. The bailout averted what would have been China's first ever bond default and was good news for domestic bond investors, who were reassured that in China even mid-sized state-owned firms can count on "too-big-to-fail" treatment. ...
Status update: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg gets married  (Reuters) - Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wed longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan on Saturday, announcing the nuptials through a status update on the social networking site. The 28-year-old billionaire's wedding took place a day after Facebook's initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday. More than 280,000 people "liked" Zuckerberg's status change, which was accompanied by a photo of the smiling couple in wedding attire in a small, verdant outdoor setting with a string of lights behind them. ...
China state-run businesses to invest 350 billion yuan in Chongqing BEIJING (Reuters) - Thirty of China's biggest state-owned businesses have signed contracts worth about 350 billion yuan ($55.3 billion) with the southwestern municipality Chongqing, Chinese media reported on Sunday, in a sign of Beijing's determination to bolster confidence in the city formerly run by ousted leader Bo Xilai. Since the fall of the once high-flying Chinese official, media reports and some investors have questioned whether Chongqing's debt-laden economy is also headed for trouble. ...
China's Wen urges more support for growth BEIJING (Reuters) - China's premier called for additional efforts to support growth on Sunday, signaling Beijing's willingness to take action after a recent series of economic indicators suggested that the world's second-biggest economy will slow further in the second quarter. "We should continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy while giving more priority to maintaining growth," Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments reported by state news agency Xinhua. Chinese exports rose by 4. ...
Google says it has China's approval for Motorola deal  (Reuters) - Google said on Saturday that Chinese authorities have approved its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, the last regulatory hurdle to a deal that would allow the world's No. 1 Internet search engine to develop its own line of smart phones. Google, which will be the newest entrant to the handset market, announced plans for the acquisition last year in a bid to secure Motorola's valuable patents and pave the way for a pairing of Google's Android mobile software and Motorola's handset business. U.S. ...
Two smaller unions agree deals with Lockheed (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp said on Saturday it had negotiated new contracts with two smaller unions at its Fort Worth, Texas plant, even as a strike by the larger machinists union stretched into a fifth week. Lockheed said about 70 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) on Friday ratified a new contract that would extend for four years. On Saturday, a new five-year contract was approved by 430 members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). Both agreements take effect on Monday. ...
Historic Facebook debut falls flat  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The historic initial public offering of Facebook Inc did not go as planned on Friday, as the social networking company's sky-high valuation combined with trading glitches left the stock languishing near its offering price at the market close. Facebook shares began trading late Friday morning and opened 11 percent above the $38 offering price, but after peaking at about $45 slid rapidly at the end of the day to close at $38.23. The IPO was the third-largest in U.S. history and valued eight-year-old Facebook at $104 billion. ...
Obama pledges tough enforcement of Wall Street reforms  President Barack Obama on Saturday called on the U.S. Congress to back his efforts for tough new financial industry oversight, saying a $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan underscored the need for such regulation. "We've got to finish the job of implementing this reform and putting these rules in place," Obama said in a weekly radio address that accused some on Wall Street of causing the 2007-2009 economic crisis because they "treated our financial system like a casino. ...
Wall St Week Ahead: The market is oversold, but major signs say "sell" NEW YORK (Reuters) - Normally a big decline would set up Wall Street for a technical rebound. But that may not be the case next week, even after the market posted its worst weekly loss for the year and the S&P fell for six straight sessions. With the corporate earnings season drawing to an end and recent U.S. economic data raising doubts about the pace of growth, the S&P 500, which is down 7.3 percent so far in May, could decline further next week as concerns about the financial health of Europe persist. ...
Samsung's mobile chief says has options to settle war with Apple  SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics' mobile division chief JK Shin said on Sunday the South Korean technology giant was still seeking to resolve differences in its international patent war with Apple Inc.. "There is still a big gap in the patent war with Apple but we still have several negotiation options including cross-licensing," Shin told reporters at Seoul airport shortly before his departure for the United States. Asked about the prospects for Samsung's memory chip business, Shin said the 4G chip shortage was expected to continue until early in the fourth quarter of this year. ...
Russia Sberbank sees sale certainty after government formed  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe's second largest lender Russia's Sberbank will see some certainty over the planned privatization sale after the new Russian government's lineup is announced on May 21, CEO German Gref said on Saturday. Sberbank initially planned the sale of the 7.6 percent stake, part of Russia's ambitious privatization program, last September but postponed the deal after global risk aversion wiped around $1.5 billion off the stake's value. "It seems to me that, yes, such certainty should emerge (after the cabinet announcement)," Gref said. ...
Dewey to consider bankruptcy filing: source  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ailing law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf is considering a bankruptcy filing as new debtholders take a more aggressive track, shifting away from earlier attempts at an out-of-court liquidation, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. The majority of Dewey's partners have quit as a result of concerns about compensation, and $225 million in bank loans and bond debt. ...
Seaway pipeline sends oil to Texas in historic reversal HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Seaway pipeline began pumping crude from Cushing, Oklahoma, oil tanks to the heart of the U.S. refining industry in Houston on Saturday, marking a historic shift in the way oil flows across the United States. The first barrels went into the line about noon CDT (1700 GMT) Saturday and volumes were expected to increase within days to 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), spokesman Rick Rainey of operating partner Enterprise Products said by email. Enbridge Inc is a 50 percent partner in the project. ...
Audi eyes management reshuffle: CEO in magazine FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen's Audi division is looking into a management reshuffle as it eyes an expansion in China, Latin America and the United States, the unit's head told a German magazine. "Against the backdrop of Audi's 'Strategy 2020' it would be negligent not to think about the team line-up," Audi Chief Executive Rupert Stadler told WirtschaftsWoche in an excerpt of an article made available to Reuters on Saturday. There were "of course" discussions about organization and structure in this context but decisions have not yet been taken, he added. ...
Asia stocks mixed after G8 vague on Europe fix Bargain-hunting helped Asian stock markets edge upward Monday, but gains were limited as investors remained unconvinced that the world's major economies nailed a solution to the European debt crisis following a summit in Washington.
Chinese company to buy US movie theater chain AMC A Chinese conglomerate announced Monday it will buy a major U.S. cinema chain, AMC Entertainment Holdings, for $2.6 billion in China's biggest corporate takeover in the United States to date.
Oil rises near $92 ahead of key Iran nuclear talks Oil prices rose to near $92 a barrel Monday in Asia ahead of talks this week aimed at avoiding a military conflict over Iran's nuclear program.
Yahoo to sell half of its Alibaba stake for $7.1B  Struggling Internet company Yahoo Inc. has secured a lifeline after agreeing to sell half of its prized stake in Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba for about $7.1 billion, with most of the cash going to shareholders.
Pakistan blocks Twitter over contentious tweets Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter for several hours because it refused to remove tweets considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country's top telecommunications officials.
APNewsBreak: 22 states join campaign finance fight  Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.
Europe faces difficult search for growth  On paper at least, European leaders agree: They need stronger growth measures to help their economies expand out of their 2½-year-old government debt crisis. Figuring out exactly what those new steps might be will be the hard part.
Economists more upbeat about job growth, housing A new survey shows economists are growing slightly more optimistic about recovery in the job and housing markets but expect other pillars of the economy to remain weak.
Reports: Nasdaq 'embarrassed' at Facebook delay The CEO of the Nasdaq stock exchange says it is "humbly embarrassed" by its bungling of Facebook's hugely anticipated debut as a public company on Friday.
'Avengers' sinks 'Battleship" to remain No. 1  "The Avengers" continues to muscle out everything else Hollywood throws at it, easily sinking naval rival "Battleship" and other new releases.
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