SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Microsoft is absorbing a $6.2 billion charge to reflect that one of the biggest deals in its 37-year history turned out to be a dud. The non-cash charge announced Monday could saddle Microsoft Corp. with a loss for its fiscal fourth quarter ended in June. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted Microsoft would earn about $5.3 billion for the period. The company hasn’t suffered a quarterly loss during the past 20 years, according to its website. Microsoft, which is based in

July 3, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― U.S. manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years, adding to signs that economic growth is weakening. Production declined, and the number of new orders plunged, according to a monthly report released Monday by the Institute for Supply Management. The slowdown comes as U.S. employers have scaled back hiring, consumers have turned more cautious, Europe faces a recession and manufacturing has slowed in big countries like China. “This is not good,” said Dan

July 3, 2012

BEIJING (AP) ― Apple has agreed to pay a Chinese company $60 million to settle a dispute over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market. Apple Inc. says it bought the global rights to the iPad name from Shenzhen Proview Technology in 2009 but Chinese authorities say the rights in China were never transferred. A Chinese court ruled in December that Proview still owned the name in China and

July 2, 2012

ECB: Greece must fulfill reform targets ‘100%,’ cool on more timeBERLIN (AP) ― Greece must fulfill the targets of its austerity and reform program “100 percent” to stay in the euro, a top European Central Bank official said Sunday ― offering little hope of substantial wiggle room for Athens and questioning whether it can be given more time to comply.Greece’s new government wants to lower some taxes, freeze public sector layoffs and extend by two years the mid-2014 deadline for austerity measures

July 2, 2012

Jim Yong Kim, who took over as World Bank president Sunday, said his first task will be to help emerging markets keep expanding at a time of stress for the world economy. “We begin our work together at a crucial moment” as the global economy “remains vulnerable,” Kim wrote in an e-mail to the Washington-based bank’s staff obtained by Bloomberg News. “My immediate priority will be to intensify the Bank Group’s efforts to help developing countries protect growth and jobs.” The 52-year-old Kim, the

July 2, 2012

China’s manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace this year as new orders and export demand dropped, adding to evidence the nation’s economic slowdown is deepening, a government report showed Sunday. The Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 50.2 in June from 50.4 in May, the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said. That compares with the 49.9 median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 24 economists. A reading above 50 indicates expansio

July 1, 2012

QINGDAO (AFP) ― Chinese appliance and electronics giant Haier is aiming to expand into Europe with higher-end products, helping to upgrade China’s reputation for churning out mostly cheap, low-quality goods.However, experts say that even if Haier succeeds the country still has much to do before it emulates the transformation by neighbors Japan and South Korea over recent decades so that their top brands are now synonymous with class.Haier already has the biggest share of the world’s appliances a

July 1, 2012

TEHRAN (AFP) ― Sanctions-hit Iran on Saturday called for OPEC to hold an extraordinary meeting to rein in output going over its agreed total quota because oil prices have dipped to a “critical level” under $100 a barrel.“We have asked the secretary general to set up an extraordinary meeting as prices have become irrational,” Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi was quoted as saying on his ministry’s official news website Shana.He stressed that the last Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

July 1, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― U.S. consumers spent no more in May than in April after seeing almost no gain in their pay. The lack of growth in consumer spending and wages suggests that a faltering job market is slowing the economy.The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending was unchanged in May. Income growth edged up 0.2 percent, but that was mostly because of gains from investments. Wages, the largest component of income, were essentially flat.Americans cut back spending on cars and other

July 1, 2012

Alan Greenspan, a former Federal Reserve chairman, Friday compared Europe to a “leaking boat” and said political consolidation is the only solution to the region’s financial crisis. “The problems in Europe are the fiscal deficits of all the various countries that are involved,” Greenspan said in an interview on CNBC television. “It’s like a leaking boat in which we keep bailing it out and we’re very pleased with ourselves that we’d be able to keep bailing it out. The problem is we haven’t fixed

July 1, 2012

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan faces the same risks that plague financially-embattled European states, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda warned Saturday, days after he pushed through a divisive tax bill to chip away at the country’s mountainous debt.Noda’s statement comes a day after leaders from the 17 countries sharing the euro struck a deal to direct emergency measures at Italy and Spain and boost the ailing economy.“Countries like Italy and Spain have made desperate efforts” towards financial recovery, Nod

July 1, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Google is making prototypes of its futuristic, Internet-connected glasses available for some computer programmers to try out.The company is selling it for $1,500 to people attending its annual conference in San Francisco for software developers. It will ship early next year and won’t be available for sale outside the conference.“This is new technology and we really want you to shape it,” Google co-founder Sergey Brin said Wednesday. “We want to get it out into the hands of p

June 28, 2012