Global corporate earnings growth is poised to accelerate this year as higher spending by U.S. consumers and Europe’s gradual rebound from a two-year recession help offset a slower economic expansion in China. 3M Corp., which sells consumer, health-care, industrial and safety products around the world, said sales growth may double in the U.S. and demand is improving in Western Europe. Company earnings in Japan may rise about 9 percent in the next fiscal year as the weaker yen aids exporters such

Feb. 3, 2014

London’s housing market is beginning to show “bubble-like conditions” as overseas investors bid up prices and buyers take on more debt to purchase properties, according to a report Monday by the EY Item Club.Homeowners are now borrowing the same multiples of income to purchase real estate in the U.K. capital as they were before the financial crisis, the London-based group sponsored by EY, formerly Ernst & Young, said in the report. The average London home will cost about 600,000 pounds ($990,000

Feb. 3, 2014

Apple Inc. faces as much as $840 million in state and consumer antitrust claims related to electronic-book deals with publishers that led to a U.S. lawsuit and court-ordered monitor. State attorneys general and consumers who sued the world’s most valuable technology company over its e-book pricing are seeking $280 million in damages and want that amount tripled, a lawyer for them said in a filing Friday with the federal judge in Manhattan who presided over the U.S. case against Apple. The plaint

Feb. 2, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Microsoft is nearing a decision on its new chief executive, with Indian-born insider Satya Nadella the leading candidate, U.S. media reported Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported that a decision was likely as early as this week and that the board was leaning towards Nadella, who heads the U.S. tech giant’s cloud and enterprise division.The technology news website Re/code meanwhile said Nadella was prepared to take the CEO job but wanted Microsoft founder and chairman Bill

Feb. 2, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. authorities Monday filed criminal charges against two operators of a Bitcoin exchange, including the head of a company with high-profile investment backers.A criminal complaint unsealed by officials said the Bitcoin exchange violated money laundering laws by allowing its users to buy drugs and other illicit goods on the Silk Road underground website.Federal prosecutors said they charged Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem, who ran a company allowing people to use cash to buy

Jan. 28, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States agreed to give technology firms the ability to publish broad details of how their customer data has been targeted by U.S. spy agencies, officials said Monday.Facing a legal challenge and a furious public debate, Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the companies would now be allowed to disclose figures on consumer accounts requested.“The administration is acting to allow more detailed disclosures about the numb

Jan. 28, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Just as Ben Bernanke prepares to turn the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve over to Janet Yellen, global markets are on edge over the prospect that she’ll extend a policy he began: A steady pullback in the Fed’s extraordinary economic stimulus. Managing a slowdown in the Fed’s bond purchases without roiling markets will pose a tough early test for Yellen, who succeeds Bernanke as Fed chair next week. The Fed’s bond purchases have been intended to keep long-term loan rates low

Jan. 28, 2014

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Eurozone countries are “worried” by the problems hitting emerging economies but do not believe there is a risk of contagion, senior officials said Monday.Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup which gathers the finance ministers of countries that use the single currency, insisted that the euro’s fragile recovery was not threatened.The worries over markets such as Argentina, Turkey and Russia come as the eurozone is emerging from the worst of its debt crisis.“Of course we

Jan. 28, 2014

Japan reported a record annual trade deficit last year as energy shipments and weakness in the yen pumped up the nation’s import bill. The shortfall was 11.5 trillion yen ($113 billion), almost double the previous year’s 6.9 trillion yen, a finance ministry report showed in Tokyo Monday. Imports rose 25 percent in December from a year earlier and exports gained 15 percent, leaving a monthly deficit of 1.3 trillion yen. A record 18 straight monthly deficits show how nuclear plant shutdowns, highe

Jan. 27, 2014

TOKYO (AFP) ― Moody’s cut its credit rating on Sony to junk on Monday, saying the Japanese electronics giant had more work to do in repairing its battered balance sheet.The international ratings agency lowered its view of the company to “Ba1” from “Baa3,” meaning its debt is now seen as below investment grade, a move that threatens to push up Sony’s borrowing costs.“While Sony has made progress in its restructuring and benefits from continued profitability in several of its business segments, it

Jan. 27, 2014

BUENOS AIRES (AP) ― Argentina’s economy minister is backtracking on details of the government’s recent announcements over the easing of currency controls. Argentina announced Friday it was relaxing restrictions on the purchase of U.S. dollars. The decision was forced by double-digit inflation and the sharpest slide in the local peso’s value since its 2002 economic collapse, causing fears among many Argentines that it could happen again. Economy Minister Axel Kicillof told local daily Pagina 12 i

Jan. 27, 2014

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― India’s Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym died on Sunday after apparently falling at a hotel in Bangkok where he was attending a board meeting, a company spokeswoman and reports said.“Tata Motors deeply regrets to announce the untimely and tragic demise of its Managing Director, Karl Slym, in Bangkok earlier today,” the company said in a statement.“Karl Slym was in Bangkok to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of Tata Motors Thailand Ltd.”Slym, 51, died in a fall,

Jan. 27, 2014

India is the cheapest place to buy a Big Mac, whereas Norway offers the highest price for the signature burger among 48 countries, according to the newly updated Big Mac index unveiled Saturday by The Economist. 　 The Economist has published the Big Mac index annually since 1986, tracking the various prices of the McDonald’s flagship burger around the world. It uses exchange rates to convert local prices to U.S. dollars, providing a useful measure to compare the value of different countri

Jan. 27, 2014

PARIS (AFP) ― A plunge in the Argentinian peso and a slowdown in Chinese growth have brought concerns over emerging markets back into the limelight, although analysts say a catastrophic chain reaction like the 1997 Asian financial crisis is unlikely.The peso stabilized Friday after plunging 14 percent in panic-selling over two days that recalled memories of the country’s 2001 financial crisis After the peso’s worst single-day fall in more than a decade, the government abandoned an unpopular ban

Jan. 26, 2014

DAVOS (AFP) ― The leaders of the world economy expressed cautious optimism over the prospects for the global economy this year as the Davos forum wrapped up on Saturday.Speaking on a panel of ministers, central bankers and top business leaders at the World Economic Forum, the governor of the Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda said: “We have to be mindful of downside risks, but I think we can be cautiously optimistic about the global economic outlook.”The U.S. economy is slated to grow faster than thr

Jan. 26, 2014

Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest soft drink maker, said data belonging to 74,000 individuals, including thousands of former and current employees, was compromised when company laptops were stolen. Letters are being sent to 18,000 individuals, as well as third parties, whose names and Social Security numbers were on the computers, the Atlanta-based company told employees Friday in a memo. Another 56,000 will be sent to those whose driver’s license numbers and other sensitive data were on the ma

Jan. 26, 2014