US economy has continued to grow this year, but only at a “modest” pace, according to the Federal Reserve’s influential Beige Book.
Despite a “slight improvement” in consumer spending, growth was hampered by “severe snowstorms” in many parts of the country, it Read the rest of this entry »
BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC – has agreed to pay £17m to secure full ownership of DVD publishing firm 2Entertain.
It is buying the 40% of 2Entertain which it did not already own from the administrators of failed High Street giant Woolworths. Read the rest of this entry »
The yen weakened for a second day against the dollar and fell against the euro on speculation the Bank of Japan will step up credit easing measures to stave off deflation.
Japan’s currency declined against all of its 16 most-active counterparts after costs to borrow in the currency fell in London Read the rest of this entry »
Microsoft said on Friday it will stick to its development strategy for the China Internet search market regardless of the outcome of Google’s high-profile spat with Beijing.
Microsoft has kept a relatively low profile in China since Google announced its decision to potentially withdraw from the market Read the rest of this entry »
Banking giant Barclays has seen its full-year profits increase by 92% to £11.6bn in 2009. The figure was boosted by the sale of its BGI fund management arm to US firm BlackRock last year.
Stripping this out, profits were £5.3bn with £2.5bn coming from its Barclays Capital investment banking business. Read the rest of this entry »
The Dubai-owned airline Emirates has announced a 60m-euro (£52m, $82m) sponsorship deal with AC Milan.
The four-year deal, due to begin in July, will see Emirates become Serie A team AC Milan’s shirt sponsor in place of the Austrian betting Read the rest of this entry »
China has ordered banks to increase their reserves for a second time this year, as lending is curbed in a bid to stop the country’s economy overheating.
Analysts had expected the central bank to increase reserve levels again, but were surprised it ordered a second increase so soon after Read the rest of this entry »
Japan’s economy grew by a better-than-expected 1.1% in the final quarter of last year, according to official figures.
This is the equivalent of an annualized increase of 4.6%. However, despite the growth in October to December, the economy contracted Read the rest of this entry »
Air Products and Chemicals launched an unsolicited $5.1-billion cash bid to buy rival Airgas Friday in a move to create the largest industrial gas company in North America. Airgas shares jumped 42 percent in premarket trading. Read the rest of this entry »
Toyota President Akio Toyoda has apologised for the recall of millions of cars across the world and pledged to set up a new quality control committee.
Mr Toyoda said he was “deeply sorry” for the recalls and admitted Toyota faced “a moment of crisis”. He added the firm was still deciding Read the rest of this entry »