Bank of Japan refrains from easing

Japan’s central bank refrained from boosting stimulus and raised its view of business investment as the economy shows signs of weathering the impact of the first sales-tax increase since 1997. The Bank of Japan will continue to expand the monetary base at a pace of 60 trillion yen to 70 trillion yen ($595 billion to $694 billion) per year, it said in a statement Wednesday in Tokyo, in line with forecasts of all 32 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. While an economic contraction is projected

May 21, 2014

Credit Suisse charged in tax evasion case

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Swiss bank Credit Suisse AG pleaded guilty Monday to helping wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes through secret offshore accounts and agreed to pay about $2.6 billion.The U.S. Justice Department said it was the largest penalty imposed in any criminal tax case. It is also the largest bank to plead guilty in more than 20 years.The settlement resolves a yearslong criminal investigation into allegations that Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, recruited U.S. clients

May 20, 2014

Abe gets counsel from Nobel economist

Three weeks before Japan increased its sales-tax for the first time in 17 years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe turned to Nobel laureate Robert Shiller to try to restore a vital ingredient of his economic revolution: Optimism. Abe met the Yale University professor in Tokyo on March 10 to discuss how to reverse what the Japanese leader calls the “shrunken mindset” entrenched in the country after two decades of economic stagnation. With a public-relations team of about 100, TV appearances and use of bu

May 20, 2014

AstraZeneca rejects Pfizer’s final bid

LONDON (AFP) ― British drugs giant AstraZeneca on Monday rejected a final takeover bid from U.S. rival Pfizer worth $117 billion, saying it undervalued the firm.Pfizer on Sunday made an improved and final offer worth 69 billion pounds, pitched at 55 pounds per share, but added that it would not proceed without a recommendation from AstraZeneca’s management.“We have rejected Pfizer’s final proposal because it is inadequate and would present significant risks for shareholders, while also having se

May 19, 2014

Apple, Google call truce in patent war

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Google and Apple, the two technology titans behind the world’s top smartphone platforms, called a truce Friday in a long-running patent war.“Apple and Google have agreed to dismiss all the current lawsuits that exist directly between the two companies,” the companies said in a joint statement.“Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform.”The companies made it clear that the detente does not include licensing their technology to each oth

May 18, 2014

Japanese car giants team up on green engines

Toyota Motor’s i-ROAD electric personal mobility vehicle (Bloomberg)TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s eight carmakers have joined forces to develop environmentally friendly engines to stave off fierce competition from foreign rivals, a press report said Sunday.Two of Japan’s leading universities will join Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu and Fuji Heavy in the project, which is mainly aimed at slashing engine emissions to meet tougher environmental standards, the business daily Nikk

May 18, 2014

Portugal ends bailout constraints; pain won’t end

LISBON (AP) ― Portugal is emerging from the painful economic constraints imposed by a three-year bailout that saved the country from collapse, but EU officials are warning that tough controls must continue to create stable employment. With the government taking control of its finances once again, Portugal on Saturday became the second eurozone country after Ireland to free itself from the austerity and oversight imposed by its European partners and the International Monetary Fund as part of the

May 18, 2014

IBM: Tech shift’s impact similar to financial crisis

International Business Machines Corp. chief executive officer Ginni Rometty said she remains confident in the company’s 2015 profit forecast despite tumbling sales in hardware and in emerging markets like China. At a meeting with analysts and investors in New York Wednesday, Rometty compared the company’s current five-year financial goal to the prior four-year projection, when IBM still reached its earnings forecasts amid a global financial crisis. “I view both periods somewhat similar with unfo

May 15, 2014

Google Glass up for sale to anyone in U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Google is once again selling its Internet-connected eyewear to anyone in the U.S. as the company fine-tunes a device that has sparked intrigue and disdain for its potential to change the way people interact with technology.The latest release of Google Glass comes a month after a one-day sale gave U.S. residents their first chance to buy the hottest accessory in geek fashion. Google Inc. isn’t setting a time limit for people to buy Glass this time, although the company is emp

May 15, 2014

Xiaomi to offer tablet in escalation of Apple-Samsung challenge

Xiaomi Corp. logos are seen on the smartphones in Hong Kong. (Bloomberg)Xiaomi Corp., the Chinese smartphone maker valued at $10 billion, will sell a tablet computer as the Chinese company escalates its competition with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.The device will have a 7.9-inch screen ― same as the iPad Mini ― and use a Nvidia Corp. processor, Lei Jun, founder and chief executive officer, said at a press conference in Beijing Thursday. The tablet will be made by Foxconn Technology Gro

May 15, 2014

‘Shadow banking could spark next crisis’

Thomas Curry, comptroller of the U.S. currency. (Bloomberg)As U.S. regulators beef up standards for banks, the next crisis could emerge from the shadow banking system that is benefiting from a migration of assets, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said Wednesday in Chicago. “The shift of financial assets into the shadow banking system could carry with it the seeds for the next financial crisis if we do not act quickly and effectively,” Curry said in remarks prepared for a Conference of St

May 15, 2014

Google, MS, others face user request overload in Europe

Deleting personal information online is costly and time-consuming for Web companies. Those difficulties are now set to be magnified in Europe for Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others. The European Union’s top court Tuesday ruled citizens have a “right to be forgotten” online, meaning people may ask search-engine owners to remove personal information and request that a court or data-protection authority step in if a company doesn’t comply. The EU decision doesn’t spell out what types of inform

May 14, 2014

China central bank calls for faster home lending in slump

China’s central bank called on the nation’s biggest lenders to accelerate the granting of mortgages, a sign that developers’ prices cuts and incentives alone won’t boost a slumping housing market and economy. The People’s Bank of China told 15 banks Tuesday to “improve efficiency of service, give timely approval and distribution of mortgages to qualified buyers,” according to a statement posted on its website. It also urged lenders to give priority to families buying their first homes and streng

May 14, 2014

Cook dares to be different from Jobs

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― “Think different” became Apple’s creed during the late Steve Jobs’ reign as CEO. Now, chief executive Tim Cook is embracing the idea while making decisions that would have seemed crazy to his fabled predecessor.Apple’s pending purchase of headphone maker and streaming music company Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion is just the latest example of Cook’s deviation from Jobs, who had so much confidence in his company’s innovative powers that he saw little sense in spending larg

May 13, 2014