OMAHA (AP) ― Warren Buffett’s company reported a 49 percent surge in fourth-quarter profit because of a big paper gain on its investments and derivative contracts, but the investor called the year “subpar” as Berkshire’s results lagged the S&P 500.Buffett recounted the fourth quarter and Berkshire Hathaway’s 2012 performance Friday in his annual letter to shareholders.The Omaha-based company reported $4.55 billion net income, or $2,757 per Class A share, in the fourth quarter on $44.72 billion r

March 3, 2013

American factories expanded in February at the fastest pace in almost two years, spurred by a jump in orders that is helping propel an economy about to be tested by federal government cutbacks. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to 54.2, the highest reading since June 2011, the Tempe, Arizona- based group said Friday. Other data showed consumer spending rose in January even as incomes plunged, and household confidence climbed last month. Companies such as Applied Materials

March 3, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― A top Chinese banker said Beijing is “fully prepared” for a currency war as he urged the world to abide by a consensus reached by the G20 to avert confrontation, state media reported on Saturday.Yi Gang, deputy governor of China’s central bank, issued the call after G20 finance ministers last month moved to calm fears of a looming war on the currency markets at a meeting in Moscow.Those fears have largely been fuelled by the recent steep decline in the Japanese yen, which critics

March 3, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Chairman Ben Bernanke is standing by the Federal Reserve’s low-interest-rate policies, cautioning that any move to raise rates prematurely could derail a still-modest economic recovery. Bernanke also sought to calm fears that super-low rates risk igniting inflation or rattling investors, during a speech late Friday in San Francisco to an economic conference sponsored by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank. The central bank’s low-rate policies are intended to encourage borrow

March 3, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans refused Saturday to concede any share of the blame for failing to stave off automatic spending cuts that will slash $85 billion in federal spending.The still-fragile U.S. economy braced itself for the gradual but potentially grave impact of the across-the-board cuts, which took effect Friday night at the stroke of Obama’s pen. Hours earlier, he and congressional leaders emerged from a White House meeting no closer to an agree

March 3, 2013

Independent testing of three varieties of Budweiser beer shows alcohol content slightly under the levels listed on the label, CNN said.The cable news channel reported Friday that it arranged testing by an independent lab of Budweiser, Bud Light Lime and Bud Ice. Budweiser, labeled as being 5 percent alcohol tested at 4.94 percent, while Bud Light tested at 4.13 and was labeled at 4.2 and Bud Ice tested at 5.35 with 5.5 on the label.Anheuser-Busch, which owns the Budweiser brand, is the target of

March 3, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― President Barack Obama warned Wednesday the U.S. economy would take a “big hit” and other countries would also suffer when harsh automatic spending cuts come into force within 48 hours.Obama invited congressional leaders to the White House on Friday ― the day the $85 billion in cuts begin, as he renewed his warnings to Republicans that a deal to avert the so-called sequester must include new tax revenue.“This is going to be a big hit on the economy, both the private sector, as

Feb. 28, 2013

TOKYO (AP) ― The government has nominated Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda to head Japan’s central bank, counting on his support for more aggressive monetary policy to help the world’s third-biggest economy escape recession and deflation.The current Bank of Japan governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, will step down on March 19, three weeks before his term was due to end. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe favored Kuroda, whose formal nomination was made to the parliament on Thursday. A vote on the

Feb. 28, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Honda grabbed three places and German luxury cars two, but no American make made it onto the influential Consumer Reports list of top cars for 2013, unveiled Tuesday.Lexus was named the top all-around brand, and the twin Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ speedsters also made the list as the best sports cars, called by the magazine fun to drive, low-priced and fuel-saving.The perennial domination by Asian makers on the list was unsurprising, but underscored the still-uphill climb Detro

Feb. 27, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Ben Bernanke sent a message Tuesday to Congress: The Federal Reserve’s low-interest-rate policies are giving crucial support to a U.S. economy still burdened by high unemployment.The Fed chairman acknowledged the risks of keeping rates low indefinitely. But he expressed confidence that such risks pose little threat now.Delivering the Fed’s semiannual monetary report to Congress, Bernanke sought to minimize concerns that the central bank’s easy-money policies might cause runaway

Feb. 27, 2013

OMAHA (AP) ― Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said Monday that it is buying the Tulsa World, bringing its newspaper unit to 28 small- or medium-sized dailies. The privately held Tulsa newspaper has a daily circulation of 95,000. The sale was reported Monday by the Tulsa World and Berkshire’s Omaha World-Herald, whose executives oversee the company’s newspapers. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in March, weren’t disclosed. Terry Kroeger, who runs Berkshire’s newspapers

Feb. 26, 2013