Business

Asian shares tick up cautiously as China data looms

(Reuters) – Asian shares cautiously rebounded from two-week lows on Thursday though investors were in no mood to embrace risk ahead of a batch of Chinese data that may offer clues about the extent of its economic slowdown. A standoff in Ukraine, signs of weakness and other risks in China’s economy and a massive fall in copper prices are spooking investors, though a flat close on Wall Street and some positive regional data helped to […]

Mexico telecoms regulator reins in Slim and his empire

    (Reuters) – Mexico’s telecommunications watchdog on Friday slapped regulations on Carlos Slim’s telephone company America Movil and two of his financial and industrial companies, as it seeks to rein in the multi-billionaire and boost competition. Mexico is trying to open up its phone and TV industries following the passage last year of wide-ranging telecoms reform meant to claw back the vast market shares enjoyed by Mexico’s media players. America Movil controls about 80 […]

Prices remain stable in January February

According to Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Victorio Mario Dimaguiba, prices of basic goods remained stable for the months of January and February, with the price of cement even going down in the latter part of February.

Cerberus Capital to buy Safeway for about $9.4 billion

Thu Mar 6, 2014 5:51pm EST (Reuters) – Safeway Inc, the second-largest U.S. mainstream grocery store operator, said private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management would acquire the company in a deal valued at about $9.4 billion. The offer price of $40 per share represents a premium of 1.3 percent to Safeway’s Thursday closing stock price of $39.47 on the New York Stock Exchange. The deal combines Safeway with Cerberus’ Albertsons chain, creating a dominant grocery […]

Man called Bitcoin’s father denies ties, leads LA car chase

By Aron Ranen and Brandon Lowrey TEMPLE CITY, California Thu Mar 6, 2014 7:08pm EST (Reuters) – A Japanese American man thought to be the reclusive multi-millionaire father of Bitcoin emerged from a modest Southern California home and denied involvement with the digital currency before leading reporters on a freeway car chase to the local headquarters of the Associated Press. Satoshi Nakamoto, a name known to legions of bitcoin traders, practitioners and boosters around the […]

Tensions in Ukraine May Effect Local Market

According to local market analyst, tensions in Ukraine may affect the local market with the oil-exporting sector being the hardest hit. The peso also suffered a downward spiral together with other regional currencies. The Philippine consulate in Ukraine sends its assurance that no Filipinos have been reported injured in the said country, despite the ongoing unrest.

Obama plans $ 3.9 trillion budget for 2015

WASHINGTON, March 5 (PNA/Xinhua) — U.S. President Barack Obama has planned US$ 3.9 trillion of budget for the 2015 fiscal year, which will be used to fund infrastructure upgrading, education and other social programs, according to the budget plan posted on the website of the White House on Tuesday. Obama has budgeted a deficit of $ 564 billion for 2015, or 3.1 percent of the estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Deficit in the next decade […]

Wall Street Closes Higher As Ukraine-Russia Tensions Ease

(Reuters) — U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday (March 4), with the S&P 500 closing at a record as concerns about a confrontation between Russia and Ukraine eased, and the market recovered more than all of the previous session’s hefty losses. President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defense of Russia’s actions in Crimea on Tuesday, saying he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort. His comments relieved investors’ fears that East-West tension over the former Soviet republic could lead to war. The […]

Global factory growth stumbles as demand falters

(Reuters) – Manufacturers across Europe and Asia changed down a gear last month as falling demand from abroad hurt Chinese output and European factory growth dipped from January’s 2-1/2 year high. But while the surveys across Asia were more downbeat, data from the euro zone showed output rose in all of the bloc’s four biggest economies for the first time in almost three years. “They are all building up to a picture which says it’s […]

China Overtakes US As World’s Largest Goods Trading Nation: Commerce Ministry

(Reuters) –China overtook the United States as the world’s largest goods trading nation in 2013, the country’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Saturday. The ministry’s statistics, preliminarily confirmed by the WTO Secretariat, showed that China’s annual trade in goods reached 4.16 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013. Exports of the world’s second largest economy rose 7.9 percent year on year, reaching 2.21 trillion U.S. dollars, and its imports rose 7.3 percent year on year, reaching 1.95 trillion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the U.S. […]

Australia’s Qantas Cuts 5,000 Jobs, Sheds Aircraft After Hefty Loss

(Reuters) — Australian carrier Qantas Airways Ltd plans to cut 15 percent of its workforce, sell older jets and reduce capital spending after reporting a first-half loss amid growing competition in both international and domestic operations. The deep cuts are part of Qantas’ plans to slash costs by A$2 billion ($1.8 billion) over the next three years – a bid by the airline to convince the federal government and investors it is worthy of the state assistance it says it […]