Twitter hikes IPO price, could raise up to $2b

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Twitter boosted its public stock offering to as much as $2 billion Monday, suggesting strong demand for its shares and a higher overall value for the one-to-many messaging platform.The regulatory filing raises the share price for the popular messaging platform to a range of $23 to $25 from an earlier estimate of $17 to $20.The new share price range would give Twitter a market value between $12.76 billion and $13.87 billion.The higher value “says a lot about the success of the co

Nov. 5, 2013

Gross loses world’s largest mutual fund title to Vanguard

Bill Gross no longer runs the world’s largest mutual fund. Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund has shrunk by $37.5 billion since the start of this year, ending last month with $247.9 billion in assets, according to data provided by Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, California, and compiled by Bloomberg. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ended October with $251 billion, Vanguard Group Inc. spokesman John Woerth wrote in an email, taking the top spot. Investors are pulling m

Nov. 5, 2013

Bank of Japan struggles to convince on 2%

Half a year after Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda unleashed record monetary easing, economists see the bank failing to meet its inflation target, underscoring the case for stronger steps to revive the economy. While the median estimate of BOJ board members released last week showed the bank expects consumer prices to rise 1.9 percent in the 2015 fiscal year ― in line with a 2-percent-in-two-years goal laid out in April ― just two of 34 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News see the target met in

Nov. 5, 2013

China to start summit with recovery

China’s Communist Party leaders will enter a policy-making summit this week with the economy on an upswing, services and manufacturing surveys show. A non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to the highest level this year in October, a government report showed Sunday. The increase follows faster-than-estimated growth in two manufacturing indexes last week. Signs of sustained strength in the world’s second-largest economy may give President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang more confide

Nov. 4, 2013

Blackstone purchases 40% stake in China mall owner

Blackstone Group LP, the world’s biggest manager of alternative assets including private equity and real estate, agreed to buy a 40 percent stake in Chinese shopping mall developer and operator SCP Co.ICBC International Holdings, a Hong Kong unit of China’s largest bank, also agreed to buy a 6 percent stake in Shenzhen- based SCP, taking its total asset values to more than $2 billion, according to a joint emailed statement Monday. New York-based Blackstone did not disclose the dollar amount of i

Nov. 4, 2013

Fed’s Fisher: Economy ‘hog-tied’ by government

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said fiscal discord has led to the U.S. government playing a suppressive role in the country’s recovery. “I am not a proponent of ever-increasing government spending,” Fisher, who will hold a vote on monetary policy next year, said in the partial text of a speech in Sydney Monday. “I mention this simply to illustrate a point: Unlike in most recoveries, government has played a countercyclical, suppressive role. The inability of our governmen

Nov. 4, 2013

Big U.S. technology companies call for reform on snooping

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Six of the biggest U.S. technology firms are urging Congress to rein in the National Security Agency by requiring more transparency about surveillance and improved privacy protections.In a letter to a Senate committee, the tech giants applauded the introduction of the USA Freedom Act aimed at ending bulk collection of phone records and improve privacy protection in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.“Recent disclosures regarding surveillance activity raise important c

Nov. 3, 2013

Citi, JPMorgan caught up in global forex probe

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase said Friday they have been approached by U.S. and foreign authorities investigating possible manipulation in the foreign exchange markets.In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, both U.S. banks reported having received queries on the issue, days after Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland also acknowledged being under investigation over foreign exchange market issues.“Government agencies in the U.S. and other ju

Nov. 3, 2013

Fitch revises Spain outlook to stable from negative

Fitch Ratings raised its outlook on Spain’s rating to stable from negative, saying the nation’s overhaul of banks has “advanced well” and financing conditions have improved. The company affirmed its “BBB” rating in a statement in London Friday, leaving the country at the second-lowest investment grade. Spain has improved its “policy track record,” with improvements to its labor market, pension system and budget, it said. Spain emerged from a more than two-year recession in the third quarter and

Nov. 3, 2013

Facebook Q3 results fly past expectations

NEW YORK (AP) ― Facebook’s latest quarterly results showed continued strength in mobile advertising, which spurred a 60 percent revenue increase in the July-September quarter. The numbers beat Wall Street’s expectations for the second consecutive quarter, but after an initial after-hours trading spike, Facebook’s stock took a downturn during the company’s conference call with analysts. Investors may have been spooked by a remark by Facebook finance chief David Ebersman, who said the company saw

Oct. 31, 2013

Brazil’s OGX files for bankruptcy protection

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ― The oil company of Brazil’s one-time richest man filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, marking a humbling blow for Eike Batista, a flamboyant former champion speedboat racer who has been his nation’s biggest economic cheerleader in recent years. Brazilians and analysts alike struggled to understand the rise and fall of Batista, who largely bankrolled Rio’s winning bid to host the 2016 Olympics, and whether it could be linked to Brazil’s own economic sluggishness of the

Oct. 31, 2013

EU spying backlash threatens billions of dollars in U.S. trade

BRUSSELS (AP) ― The backlash in Europe over U.S. spying is threatening an agreement that generates tens of billions of dollars in trans-Atlantic business every year ― and negotiations on another pact worth many times more. A growing number of European officials are calling for the suspension of the “Safe Harbor” agreement that lets U.S. companies process commercial and personal data ― sales, emails, photos ―from customers in Europe. This little-known but vital deal allows more than 4,200 America

Oct. 31, 2013

Bank of Japan maintains stimulus

TOKYO (AFP) ― The Bank of Japan on Thursday held off launching fresh easing measures as the economy shows increasing signs that a government-backed policy blitz aimed at reviving growth is gaining traction.The brief central bank statement on its asset-buying scheme comes as attention turns to the release of its semi-annual economic outlook later in the day.With data indicating the world’s number three economy slowly picking up BOJ policymakers had been expected to hold fire as they study the eff

Oct. 31, 2013

BlackRock’s Fink says there are ‘bubble-like markets again’

BlackRock Inc. chief executive officer Laurence D. Fink, whose company is the world’s largest money manager with $4.1 trillion in assets, said Federal Reserve policy is contributing to “bubble-like markets.” “It’s imperative that the Fed begins to taper,” Fink said Tuesday at a panel discussion in Chicago, referring to the central bank’s $85 billion in monthly bond purchases. “We’ve seen real bubble-like markets again. We’ve had a huge increase in the equity market. We’ve seen corporate-debt spr

Oct. 30, 2013