Apple to make plans for its cash

Apple Inc. will outline plans on a conference call Monday for its $97.6 billion in cash and investments, signaling that investors may get the dividend they’ve been seeking from the world’s most valuable company. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer will host the call, scheduled for 9 a.m. New York time, Cupertino, California-based Apple said in a statement Sunday. The company didn’t elaborate on its plans, and said it won’t discuss topics besides cash. A

March 19, 2012

Monti presses amid warnings crisis not over

Italy’s prime minister to meet unions on reform, aims for agreement by end of monthItaly’s Prime Minister Mario Monti will press ahead with efforts to revise labor laws this week, amid fresh warnings that the three-year-old European debt crisis is far from over. Monti will lead talks with unions and employers in a final round of negotiations beginning Tuesday. Decision makers meanwhile warned against complacency after delivery of the final element of Greece’s 130 billion-euro ($171 billion) bail

March 19, 2012

Fukushima farmers face decades of tainted crops as fears linger

Farmers in Japan’s Fukushima face years of additional losses as consumers continue to doubt the safety of produce from the region devastated a year ago by the tsunami and nuclear fallout, which may taint crops for decades. Almost 100,000 farmers lost about 58 billion yen ($694 million) by March 1, or 25 percent of production, according to JA, the country’s biggest agricultural group. Imports of farm products jumped 16 percent to 5.58 trillion yen in 2011, according to the agriculture ministry.  

March 19, 2012

Cheap Uniqlo booms in deflationary Japan

TOKYO (AFP) ― Tokyo’s high-end shopping district of Ginza was back at its booming best this week with hundreds of shoppers queuing up to spend their cash, in an echo of Japan’s bubble years.Around 450 people lined up on one block, eager to splurge more than 40,000 yen ($500) on the new iPad, the latest in a long line of must-have electronic gizmos that a certain sector of Japanese consumers crave.But at about the same time, another 1,000 people were queuing just a few streets away to bag a cloth

March 18, 2012

Britain will keep austerity with unemployment at 16-year high

Britain won’t ease austerity in its budget to be presented this week, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said in an interview to be aired Sunday on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” program. “We are going to stick with the deficit reduction plan that I set out almost two years ago,” Osborne said, according to a transcript of the interview. U.K. jobless claims rose more than economists forecast in February, and a broader measure of unemployment remained at the highest level in 16 years, acc

March 18, 2012

Spain’s public debt soars to record high

Spain’s public-debt burden surged to the most in at least two decades, underlining concerns about its ability to reorder state finances as contagion from the debt crisis focuses on the euro area’s fourth-biggest economy. The nation’s overall debt last year amounted to 68.5 percent of gross domestic product, exceeding the government’s forecast of 67.3 percent, data on the Bank of Spain’s website showed Friday. That compares with 66 percent in the third quarter and 61.2 percent at the end of 2010.

March 18, 2012

‘Greece may need more aid after bailout’

Greece remains “accident prone” and may require further debt restructuring or additional financing from euro countries if it struggles to implement measures attached to a new 130 billion-euro ($171 billion) bailout, staff at the International Monetary Fund said. The loan package is based “on ambitious fiscal and privatization targets and above all on a reinvigoration of structural reforms,” IMF staff wrote in a report released Friday. “In the event of slower progress in policy implementation, or

March 18, 2012

Iran cut off from global financial system

30 Iranian banks blocked from most global  commerce following European sanctionsBRUSSELS (AP) ― Dozens of Iranian banks were blocked from doing business with much of the world as the West tightens the financial screws on a country it wants to prevent from developing nuclear weapons.The Belgium-based company that facilitates most international bank transfers on Thursday took the unprecedented step of blocking 30 Iranian banks from using its service. The move is likely to hurt Iran’s all-importan

March 16, 2012

IMF OKs $36.6b funding for Greece

S&P rates new bonds but holds sovereign rating  in selective defaultATHENS (AP) ― The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved 28 billion euros ($36.56 billion) in funding for crisis-hit Greece over the next four years, while Standard and Poor’s said that the country’s new bonds were still vulnerable to a default.An IMF’s executive board granted the immediate release of 1.65 billion euros ($2.15 billion) of these funds as part of the country’s second bailout, a statement said.Greece will

March 16, 2012

Saudi Arabia vows to offset oil shortfalls

Saudis say they and other oil suppliers can up exports as markets fret over Iran tensionsKUWAIT CITY (AP) ― Saudi Arabia’s top oil official said Wednesday his country and other oil exporters are ready to offset any shortfalls in supply, as fears of a showdown with Iran over its nuclear program help drive prices higher. The comments from OPEC’s biggest oil producer were followed by a call from a senior American energy official for increased production to relieve what he sees as “tight” markets th

March 15, 2012

Eurozone formally OKs new Greece aid

LUXEMBOURG (AP) ― Countries in the 17-nation eurozone on Wednesday formally approved a second bailout for Greece and authorized the release of 39.4 billion euros ($51.44 billion), as they had signaled last week. Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg and chairman of meetings of eurozone finance ministers, said the bailout fund ― or European Financial Stability Facility ― will disburse the money in several installments. The decision was a formality, as Greece had already been found to

March 15, 2012

Goldman exec hits culture of ‘ripping off’ clients

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Investment banking titan Goldman Sachs has become a “toxic and destructive” firm focused on milking clients for everything it can, a resigning executive director said Wednesday in the New York Times.Greg Smith said the Wall Street giant, which paid huge penalties for double-dealing with investors in mortgage securities during the financial crisis, had dumped its old culture of honestly helping its customers make money.Today, instead, customers are called “muppets” by top execu

March 15, 2012

Fitch warns U.K. may lose ‘AAA’ rating

Fitch Ratings said Britain risks losing its top investment grade because of its limited ability to deal with shocks, days before Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will present his annual budget. Fitch changed the outlook on Britain to “negative” from “stable,” indicating a “slightly greater” than 50 percent chance that the “AAA” rating will be reduced within two years, the company said in a statement in London late Wednesday, citing the weak economic recovery, high debt levels and threa

March 15, 2012