IMF likely to up Japan growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund may upgrade its growth forecast for Japan, although the nation must start fiscal and structural reforms in 2014, IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton was cited as saying in an interview in the Financial Times.The IMF’s economic growth forecast for Japan of 1.2 percent next year will probably rise because of extra stimulus measures, the FT said, citing Lipton. The government expects gross domestic product to increase 1.4 percent, according to budget docu

Dec. 29, 2013

Apple CEO’s pay rises to $4.3 million

CUPERTINO, California (AP) ― Apple CEO Timothy Cook received a compensation package valued at nearly $4.3 million this year, up slightly from 2012.Cook’s pay for fiscal 2013, which ended in September, consisted of $1.4 million in salary and a bonus of $2.8 million, according to a regulatory filing Friday. Cook’s compensation also includes $52,721 in company contributions to his 401(k) account, life insurance premiums and a vacation cash-out.The year’s pay was relatively modest compared with 2011

Dec. 29, 2013

China’s growth may hit 7.6%

China estimates that growth slowed to 7.6 percent this year, with mounting challenges putting pressure on the nation’s traditional growth model of investment-led spending, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The calculation for the gain in gross domestic product for 2013 was included in a report by the State Council, or cabinet, to the legislature, and compares with a government target of 7.5 percent, Xinhua reported Wednesday. A 7.6 percent pace would mark a third straight annual drop

Dec. 26, 2013

China confronts workforce drop with retirement-age delay

China plans to raise the retirement age for the first time since the 1950s, as policy makers confront the prospect of a shrinking workforce that damps economic growth. The age will rise gradually, Hu Xiaoyi, a vice minister of human resources and social security, said this month. China’s compulsory retirement ages, now 50 for most women and 60 for men, are likely in 2020 to be about five years higher than they are now, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Delaying retirement may b

Dec. 25, 2013

Tiffany ordered to pay Swatch $449 million in watch case

Swatch Group AG won an arbitration award of 402 million francs ($449 million) from Tiffany & Co., more than the New York-based jeweler earned last year, after the Swiss watchmaker claimed a breach of contract at a joint venture. Tiffany said it will take a charge of $295 million to $305 million in the fourth quarter for the decision by an arbitration panel in the Netherlands. The charge may reduce earnings by as much as $2.35 a diluted share for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, relative to the for

Dec. 23, 2013

IMF will raise U.S. growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund is raising its outlook for the U.S. economy, as a budget deal in Washington and the Federal Reserve’s plan to taper its bond buying ease doubts about the future, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said. “We see a lot more certainty for 2014,” she said in an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” With the unemployment rate falling, the Fed’s action last week and the government budget agreement, “all of that gives us a much stronger outlook for 2

Dec. 23, 2013

‘China may crash like Russia in 1998’

China’s push to open up its economy is winning praise from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Morgan Stanley and Jefferies Group LLC, which predicted last month a “massive” multiyear bull run for stocks. John-Paul Smith doesn’t share the enthusiasm. When the Deutsche Bank AG equity strategist looks at the country, he says he detects some of the same signs of a financial meltdown that led him to predict Russia’s 1998 stock market crash months in advance. China’s expansion is being fueled by soaring corp

Dec. 23, 2013

OPEC cut not needed in 2014, Saudi, Kuwait and Iraq say

Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq said OPEC needn’t cut production next year to make room for additional supplies from Iran, Libya and U.S. shale oil. “I am optimistic the market will stay balanced and stable next year,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said Saturday in a speech at a meeting of Arab oil exporters in Doha, Qatar. “Shale oil is not posing any threat to Saudi Arabia and OPEC,” he told reporters. Commerzbank AG said in a Dec. 10 report that the Organization of Petroleum Ex

Dec. 22, 2013

BlackBerry’s Foxconn deal spurs evolution into services company

BlackBerry Ltd.’s five-year deal to outsource smartphone production to Foxconn Group is jump-starting its transformation into a services provider, pleasing investors who were looking for a smaller, nimbler company. BlackBerry announced plans Friday for Foxconn to make its phones at plants in Indonesia and Mexico, sending the shares up 16 percent, the biggest one-day gain in more than four years. The move will help the struggling company cut production spending and avoid the kind of inventory glu

Dec. 22, 2013

U.S., EU end third round of free-trade talks

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States and the European Union on Friday ended a third round of talks to create the world’s largest free-trade area to boost growth and jobs in their huge economies.U.S. and EU trade officials wrapped up five days of negotiations in Washington, where the talks began in July, to hammer out the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, an ambitious agreement to expand trade, investment and regulatory cooperation.The two economies combined make up 40 percent of ou

Dec. 22, 2013

Deutsche Bank says will pay $1.9b in U.S. mortgage case

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest lender, said on Friday it will pay 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to end litigation related to home mortgage-backed securities in the United States.“Deutsche Bank announced today that it has reached an agreement to resolve its residential mortgage-backed securities litigation with the Federal Housing Finance Agency as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” the bank said in a statement.It described the litigation as its single largest mor

Dec. 22, 2013

Facebook, Zuckerberg to sell 70 million shares

MENLO PARK, California (AP) ― Facebook and Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are selling a combined 70 million shares of Class A stock as the social media company prepares to join the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. The offering includes more than 41 million shares from Zuckerberg, who also will buy Class B shares that carry more voting weight. After a premarket stock dip of more than 4 percent on the news, Facebook’s stock recovered somewhat and was down less than 1 percent in afternoon trading on

Dec. 20, 2013