Banks in bailed-out Portugal borrowed a record amount from the European Central Bank in March, against a backdrop of rising debt in a sharply slowing economy, official data showed on Monday.The banks’ ECB borrowings jumped to 56.3 billion euros ($73 billion) last month from 47.5 billion euros at end-February, the Bank of Portugal said.The previous record of 49.1 billion euros came in August 2010 as the eurozone debt crisis worsened after the EU and International Monetary Fund had to rescue Greec

April 10, 2012

BERLIN (AFP) ― Greece, bailed out by the EU and the IMF and mired in recession for a fifth year, should return to growth from 2014, European Central Bank board member Joerg Asmussen said.“I expect, following the implementation of the (government’s) program to stabilize the public finances, positive growth in Greece from 2014,” Asmussen told the Rheinische Post in an interview to appear Tuesday.The Bank of Greece estimates the economy will shrink 4.5 percent this year, the fifth the eurozone memb

April 10, 2012

Should Mazda Motor Corp. dump the Hiroshima Carp? Two weeks after selling $1.8 billion in new stock to replenish its depleted capital, Japan’s only unprofitable automaker said last month it will sponsor the All-Star baseball game in July. Mazda is the only Japanese carmaker to own control of a team in the league and also has a professional soccer club, a hospital and more than $5 billion in land. The diversity of Mazda’s assets illustrates why scrutiny may intensify on President Takashi Yamanouc

April 9, 2012

Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook was the highest-paid chief executive officer in the U.S. last year as compensation gained 2 percent overall from 2010, the New York Times reported. Cook received about $378 million, which includes salary, perks and bonuses ($1.8 million) and a one-time stock award ($376.2 million), that extends over 10 years. One-half of the award vests in 2016 and the other in 2021, the newspaper said. Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. was second with $77.6 million, followed by J.C. Penney Co.

April 9, 2012

China’s inflation accelerated more than forecast in March amid rising wages and a fuel-price increase, signaling that policy makers may exercise caution in adding stimulus to boost growth. Consumer prices rose 3.6 percent from a year earlier after gaining 3.2 percent in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website Monday. That was more than the median 3.4 percent estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 33 economists. Monday’s data show Premier Wen Jiabao’s officials may need to

April 9, 2012

MADRID (AFP) ― Spain, sucked back into the center of the eurozone debt crisis, is headed towards a financial crunch in 2013 that may force it to seek international help, analysts warn.Alarm has spread on the financial markets over Spain’s rising public debt, bulging deficit, fragile banks and a slide into recession at a time of soaring unemployment.Investors pounced in the past week, forcing the government to pay higher borrowing costs at a bond auction and snapping up securities that pay out in

April 9, 2012

Japan swung to a current-account surplus in February after a record deficit in January, lending support to a currency that officials have sought to weaken to spur the recovery of the world’s third-biggest economy. The excess in the widest measure of trade was 1.18 trillion yen ($14.5 billion) the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo Monday. The median estimate of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a surplus of 1.12 trillion yen. The yen is rebounding even after interventions by the fi

April 9, 2012

U.S. shopping centers had a net gain in occupancies in the first quarter amid a slow economic recovery, according to property-research company Reis Inc. Occupied space rose by a net 275,100 square meters, the second-largest increase since neighborhood and community retail centers began losing tenants in the first quarter of 2008, New York-based Reis said in a report Friday. So-called absorption was up from 717,000 square feet a year earlier. “The first quarter produced more evidence in favor of

April 8, 2012

PARIS (AFP) ― A flood of easy money courtesy of the European Central Bank made for a calm start to 2012 but a poor Spanish bond sale last week signals it may only have been a lull before the debt storm breaks, analysts warn.The ECB injected roughly one trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) into eurozone banks at auctions in December and February, helping to ease concerns banks would face a funding crunch.Some of this cash ended up in the sovereign bond markets, helping reduce the rates countries need t

April 8, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The managing director of the International Monetary Fund made an impassioned plea Tuesday for American leadership in the global economy as she called for the international community to give her organization “more firepower” to bolster tottering economies.Christine Lagarde told the annual meeting of the Associated Press that last week’s move by eurozone countries to boost their own rescue fund has strengthened her case to ask other large economies to expand the IMF’s financial w

April 4, 2012

Carmakers post best sales in almost 5 years on small-car demand, higher confidenceDETROIT (AP) ― The recovery in the American auto industry has moved into the fast lane. With gas prices at nearly $4, smaller cars like the Ford Focus, Nissan Versa and Fiat 500 flew off dealer lots in March and gave U.S. car makers their best monthly sales in almost five years. Larger vehicles sold well, too, offering more evidence of growing confidence in the economic recovery. Small businesses, farmers and other

April 4, 2012