Japan Inc. profits double as firms cut costs

Japanese companies that made tough decisions about exiting businesses, closing factories and revamping management led a doubling of corporate earnings last quarter to the highest level since 2007. Net income jumped to about 5.5 trillion yen ($55 billion) at more than 1,280 of the largest listed non-financial firms, the most since a credit meltdown sparked a global recession six years ago, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit climbed from 2.25 trillion yen a year ago, the fastest jump sinc

Nov. 18, 2013

Boeing, Airbus clinch mega orders in Dubai

DUBAI (AFP) ― Dubai Airshow took off on Sunday with huge aircraft orders and commitments worth around $141.5 billion for Boeing and Airbus from Gulf carriers, with the US manufacturer well in the lead.The biennial show began brightly for Boeing’s 777X, a long-range wide-bodied airliner featuring lower fuel consumption and composite wings.The new 777 is scheduled to be operational in 2020.Etihad Airways began the show with an $18.2 billion order for Boeings including 25 777Xs and one 777-200 frei

Nov. 18, 2013

China reform plan impresses, but analysts watch effects

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s quick release of a surprisingly detailed national reform plan shows leaders are serious about economic change, analysts say, but uncertainties remain over its implementation.Just days after an initial outline announced at the end of a closely watched Chinese Communist Party meeting was largely panned as vague and disappointing, the ruling body added weight to the framework for change in the world’s second-largest economy.Reforms approved at the so-called Third Plenum meet

Nov. 18, 2013

JPMorgan reaches $4.5b settlement

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reached a $4.5 billion settlement with investors who said the bank deceived them about bad mortgage investments. The settlement, announced Friday, covers 21 major institutional investors, including JPMorgan competitor Goldman Sachs, BlackRock Financial Management, and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The mortgage-backed securities were sold by JPMorgan and Bear Stearns between 2005 and 2008. The deal is the latest in a series of legal settlements over JPMorgan’s sales of

Nov. 17, 2013

Geithner to join private equity firm

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who played a central role in the government’s response to the financial crisis of 2008-2009, is joining private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC.The firm announced Saturday that Geithner will serve as its president and managing director starting March 1, 2014.Geithner led the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for more than five years before becoming Treasury secretary in 2009. By that time, the economy had sunk into a deep recession.Few Treasury secr

Nov. 17, 2013

Chinese firms sue Baidu in piracy battle

BEIJING (AFP) ― Two major Chinese Internet firms ― backed by Hollywood ― are suing the Asian giant’s leading search engine Baidu over copyright violations, they said Wednesday, in a rare internal challenge to the country’s rampant piracy.The two firms ― leading Web portal Sohu and top online video company Youku Tudou ― are seeking as much as 300 million yuan ($49 million) in compensation from Baidu, which they say has committed a “serious violation” of their rights by letting users access pirate

Nov. 14, 2013

GM moves international HQ to Singapore from Shanghai

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― U.S. auto giant General Motors said Wednesday it would move the headquarters of its international operations to Singapore from Shanghai, boosting the city-state’s status as a regional business hub.Detroit-based GM said in a statement that the relocation of its consolidated international operations would take place in the second quarter of next year.The new headquarters “will oversee key parts” of GM’s business in Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, India, South K

Nov. 14, 2013

Yellen: Economy still needs Fed aid

Janet Yellen, nominated to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, said the economy and labor market are performing “far short of their potential” and must improve before the Fed can begin reducing monetary stimulus. “A strong recovery will ultimately enable the Fed to reduce its monetary accommodation and reliance on unconventional policy tools such as asset purchases,” Yellen, the Fed’s vice chairman, said in testimony prepared for her nomination hearing tomorrow before the Senate Banking

Nov. 14, 2013

U.S. agrees to allow airline mega-merger

DALLAS (AP) ― American Airlines and US Airways reached a deal with the government that lets the two form the world’s biggest airline and opens up more room at key U.S. airports for low-cost carriers. The settlement announced Tuesday ― if approved by a federal judge ― would end a fight with the U.S. Justice Department and head off a courtroom showdown later this month. It preserves hub airports in Phoenix, Philadelphia, Charlotte and four other cities for at least three years. And it caps a serie

Nov. 13, 2013

Gluten takes a beating from fad dieters and grain giants

Grain sellers want to have their gluten-free cake and eat it, too. As the stretchy protein found in wheat and other grains has become the latest dietary bogeyman, sales at companies like General Mills Inc., Kellogg Co. and Britain’s Warburtons Ltd. have come under pressure. Yet instead of fighting back against what many dietitians contend lacks scientific grounding, they’re boosting output of pricier gluten-free foods while leaving industry groups to defend their traditional products. Less than

Nov. 13, 2013

EU vows youth unemployment will ease within two years

PARIS (AP) ― European youths still face rising joblessness at a rate far higher than their American counterparts ― but European leaders insisted Tuesday that scenario is going to improve over the next two years.Leaders from 24 European nations as well as labor ministers and European Union officials met Tuesday in Paris to talk about youth unemployment. They announced no new programs but many expressed confidence that plans now in place will reverse the rising joblessness for the under-25 set ove

Nov. 13, 2013

PepsiCo makes big investment in India

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― U.S. soft drinks giant PepsiCo announced Monday it would invest over $5 billion with its partners in India to raise production, saying it had only “scratched the surface” of the Asian giant’s potential.In further welcome news for India’s Congress government as it struggles to woo foreign investment with economic growth at a decade low, British retail giant Marks & Spencer said it aimed to more than double its stores in India to 80 by 2016.PepsiCo, the world’s second-largest bev

Nov. 12, 2013

EU chief: France’s tax policy has ‘reached limits of acceptability’

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― France’s fiscal policy has “reached the limits of acceptability,” with high company taxes weighing on growth, the head of the European Commission told French television late Monday.Even though France’s proposed budget is “overall satisfactory,” Jose Manuel Barroso told the LCI network: “Today, the fiscal policy in France has reached the limits of acceptability.“France is by far the country (in the EU) where companies pay the highest taxes and that’s a problem for growth and empl

Nov. 12, 2013