All posts published in April 2013
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Looking to buy a home? Figuring out how much house you can afford is about to get more complicated as the housing market emerges from crisis. Right now, market conditions are almost ideal for those who have the income to buy, because inter... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The cash-strapped Federal Housing Administration will likely require a $943 million taxpayer bailout to cover expected losses on loans it insured as the U.S. housing bubble was deflating, the Obama administration said on Wednesday. It wo... More »
(Reuters) – The record-breaking rise of the stock market is in part a function of the lousy jobs picture, which ensures an ongoing prescription refill of Federal Reserve medicine. The S&P 500 index hit a record high on Wednesday, rising more than 1 percent to ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The budget that President Barack Obama unveiled on Wednesday has a long way to go before any part of it becomes law. It is basically his opening play in a long game that will involve the House, the Senate and countless lobbyists. That ga... More »
(Reuters) – Walt Disney Co on Wednesday confirmed the company is laying off employees in its movie studio division, a cost-cutting step after a review of the unit’s operations. In a brief statement, Disney said it “made the difficult decision to reduce our sta... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece saw deposit inflows of more than 1.5 billion euros in March, despite fears the Cypriot banking crisis would spark outflows in other troubled euro zone economies, the country’s central bank chief said on Wednesday. More than 19 billion... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission warned of deepening economic problems in France, Italy and Spain on Wednesday, and said Slovenia must take urgent steps to offset the risk of a wider destabilization across the euro zone. Unveiling its second review... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union told North Korea on Wednesday the increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula did not justify pulling out EU states’ diplomats. Sweden, acting on behalf of the 27-nation EU, gave the message to the North Korean foreign m... More »
(Reuters) – Cyprus has agreed to sell excess gold reserves to raise around 400 million euros and help finance its part of its bailout, an assessment of Cypriot financing needs prepared by the European Commission showed. The draft assessment, obtained by Reuter... More »
LONDON/FRANKFURT/PARIS (Reuters) – For decades, Europe’s utilities were vertically integrated behemoths that had a monopoly on the production and distribution of energy. Keen to break their stranglehold on electricity and gas markets, the European Commission h... More »
PARIS/MILAN/LONDON (Reuters) – The grids that channel electricity and gas around Europe are among the most immovable of assets, yet they are changing hands as if they were cattle at a country fair. From this tangle of wires and pipes, an EU grid champion is st... More »
LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) – In the United States and some other developed economies, wages for the least well paid are too low. A mandatory living wage is the best way to redress this injustice. The idea of minimum wages is well accepted, but the American $7.... More »
LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) – Headline economic numbers suggest the United States is recovering from the Great Recession noticeably faster than the euro zone. But adjust for demographic changes, and that’s a misleading conclusion: in reality, working-age people ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German imports fell sharply in February for the third time in the last four months and exports also declined, in a sign the euro zone’s largest economy cannot be relied on to help lift the currency bloc out of recession. Data from the Federa... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission supports Italy’s plan to accelerate the liquidation of trade debt accumulated by its public administration, it said in a statement on Tuesday. “Given Italy’s considerably improved budgetary situation, there is scope... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The heads of the two tax-writing committees in Congress brushed aside skeptics on Monday and pledged in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal to seek a bipartisan tax code overhaul despite fierce political headwinds. Demo... More »
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – News Corp’s Fox TV network raised the stakes in its battle with Web startup Aereo Inc on Monday, threatening to remove itself from the free airwaves entirely and become a cable channel if courts do not shut down the online TV service. The... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Strict school lunch standards that are similar to new regulations from the U.S. government may be tied to healthier body weights among students, according to a new study. “I think it’s evidence that healthier school lunches have a p... More »
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia rejected a European Union-brokered plan on Monday to tackle the ethnic partition of its former province Kosovo, a move that could hurt Belgrade’s hopes of starting membership talks with the bloc. But the coalition government called ... More »
(Reuters) – The Maryland legislature approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes on Monday, and Governor Martin O’Malley has said he would sign the measure and make Maryland the 20th state to legalize medicinal cannabis. The Democratic-controlled state ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Monday she regretted Serbia’s rejection of an EU-brokered plan to tackle the ethnic partition of its former province Kosovo and urged Belgrade to make a last effort to reach a de... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Bankers and politicians touting their countries’ wares have to work hard to get the attention of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, such is the range of its interests, from banks to cars to soccer clubs, and its exacting requirement for returns. ... More »
(Reuters) – Fitch Ratings said on Monday that local government pension liabilities vary largely for the more than 1,000 local governments it rates, and in some cases it expects the underfunded retirement systems will become a “source of budgetary pressure.” “T... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s economic weakness and financial turmoil affect the U.S. economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told EU leaders on Monday, stressing the need to boost demand and move ahead with a euro zone banking union. “Our economy’s strength... More »
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s lenders from the European Union and IMF will visit Lisbon following the rejection by the constitutional court of some government austerity measures to tackle uncertainty created by the ruling, the finance ministry said on Monday. ... More »
(Reuters) – Jana Partners LLC said on Monday that it believed two of its five candidates garnered enough votes to join Agrium Inc’s 12-member board, but the Canadian fertilizer company said it expected to prevail. Jana, Agrium’s biggest shareholder, said candi... More »
(Reuters) – Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc said it will form an alliance with Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG to develop treatments for Huntington’s disease, a genetic brain disorder, based on the U.S. company’s technology. Roche will pay Isis $30 million upfront a... More »
PODGORICA (Reuters) – Montenegro’s opposition refused on Monday to accept a third term for President Filip Vujanovic, a stance that could trigger instability in the tiny Adriatic state seeking European Union membership. Montenegrins were still awaiting the off... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – America’s ageing population is posing special challenges, fitness experts say, because it is difficult to design effective workout routines for people with such a wide range of abilities. For one 70-year-old, the goal may be to run a marat... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission warned Austria on Monday that its banking secrecy regime would leave it in a “lonely and unsustainable position” if it did not follow the same rules as other countries in sharing information on foreign depositors. A... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – A strain of bird flu that has been found in humans for the first time in eastern China is no cause for panic, the World Health Organization said on Monday, as the number of people infected rose to 24, with seven deaths. WHO praised China fo... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Shrinking the size of kids’ plates and bowls and encouraging them to eat more frequently throughout the day might help them eat less and keep off extra weight, new research suggests. In one study, researchers found first graders ser... More »
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia will reject a European Union-brokered plan for Kosovo as it fails to give broad autonomy to minority Serbs in its former province, an official said on Monday, in a decision that may delay EU accession talks. Serbia has been under in... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – United Parcel Services Inc (UPS.N ) has appealed the European Union regulator’s decision to block its 5.16 billion euro ($6.7 billion) bid for Dutch competitor TNT Express NV (TNTE.AS ), a UPS spokeswoman told Reuters on Sunday. U.S.-based... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China is confident it can control an outbreak of a new strain of bird flu, a senior Chinese health official said on Sunday as the World Health Organization (WHO) said there had now been 21 human cases of the H7N9 flu with six deaths. China ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – American employers hired at the weakest pace in nine months in March, a sign tax hikes that kicked in early this year as part of Washington’s austerity drive could be stealing momentum from the economy. Payrolls expanded by just 88,000 l... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Hedge fund manager William Ackman said that Ron Johnson, the chief executive he handpicked to turn around JC Penney, has made “big mistakes” and the impact on the struggling retailer has been “very close to a disaster.” The “criticism is des... More »
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese authorities slaughtered over 20,000 birds at a poultry market in Shanghai on Friday as the death toll from a new strain of bird flu mounted to six, spreading concern overseas and sparking a sell-off in airline shares in E... More »
SAN JUAN (Reuters) – Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has signed an overhaul of the U.S. territory’s cash-short public pension fund into law, after it was passed by lawmakers late on Thursday in a bid to soothe investors and shore up the country’s... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – For a business whose main products fetch record prices, the financial services industry sure is firing a lot of people. That combination may illustrate why finance is a sector you want to own, very possibly for the long haul. Financial con... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – MF Global on Friday won court approval of a plan to liquidate its assets, pay back creditors and end the $40 billion bankruptcy that rocked the financial world in 2011. The commodities brokerage, run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzi... More »
(Reuters) – At least three wealth management firms that market themselves as objective financial advisers are getting payments for investing their clients’ money in certain mutual funds, a practice that even some of these firms say could create conflicts of in... More »
(Reuters) – A former Thomson Reuters Corp employee has filed a lawsuit saying he was fired for telling the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he believed the company violated insider-trading laws in releasing a consumer sentiment survey early to some subscri... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – With the U.S. stock market rallying this year, it may be enticing to take extra cash on hand and ride the bull. If anything, it is all too easy to pour contributions into actively managed U.S. large-stock funds. Some 90 percent of all retir... More »
(Reuters) – The Federal Reserve should continue buying bonds through this year due to a “scarring” of the labor market, and even more aggressive policies may be warranted if unemployment remains persistently high, a top Fed official said on Friday. As Boston F... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Friday there was no sign of “sustained human-to-human transmission” of the H7N9 virus in China, but it was important to check on 400 people who had been in close contact with the 14 confirmed cases. “We ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – AstraZeneca’s experimental rheumatoid arthritis pill fostamatinib met only one of two goals in a late-stage clinical trial, leaving the future of one of the group’s few advanced pipeline products uncertain. Fostamatinib is a potential compet... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co expects to begin layoffs at its studio and consumer product divisions within the next two weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, in the latest cost-reduction step to emerge from a company-wide review... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – The death toll from a new strain of bird flu rose to five in China on Thursday as Beijing said it was mobilizing resources nationwide to combat the virus, Japan and Hong Kong stepped up vigilance and Vietnam banned imports of Chinese poultr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Pension funds may be attracted back into rising equity markets by new techniques for investing in an asset class they shunned for years as volatile and costly. Boosting equities and “alternative” investments such as real estate, private equi... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Call it the myth of the greedy geezer – an argument keeps popping up in Washington that old people have it too good, and that entitlement spending is squeezing out programs for the young and the needy. We can maintain our current spending o... More »
(Reuters) – Can a little device plugged into a port under your car’s dashboard help you drive better, save money and diagnose your car’s troubles? That’s the premise behind some new smartphone-linked gadgets, including one launched last week by Verizon Wireles... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in March but downsizing by retail companies still helped the first quarter rack up the largest amount of cuts in over a year, a report showed on Thursday. Employers announced 49,255 planned ... More »
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) – The finance ministers of France and Germany sought on Thursday to play down differences over the euro zone’s economic policy mix, saying budgetary rigor and growth were not incompatible. But French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A huge drop in French business activity meant the euro zone’s recession dragged on in March but British services firms provided a rare glimpse of economic sunshine, posting their best month since August. Business surveys on Thursday showed t... More »
(Reuters) – Whether out of necessity, mistrust or simply the feel-good factor of soaring asset markets, Americans appear to be cutting back once again on saving. The personal savings rate stood at just 2.6 percent in February, down nearly one percentage point ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Yes, stocks have been on a real tear lately, but guess who hasn’t been along for the ride: The millions of 401(k) investors who “moved to safety” after the 2008-2009 market and never felt comfortable enough to move back to stocks. Partic... More »
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia has days to decide whether to accept a “catastrophic” plan to end the ethnic partition of its former Kosovo province or risk losing out on talks on joining the European Union, the country’s powerful deputy prime minister said on Wed... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Money market fund assets fell by $11.33 billion to $2.614 trillion in the week ended April 2, the Money Fund Report said on Wednesday. Taxable money market fund assets fell by $9.54 billion to $2.341 trillion, while tax-free assets were do... More »
(John Lloyd is a Reuters columnist but his opinions are his own.) By John Lloyd (Reuters) – Jim O’Neill, head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, thinks Beppe Grillo and his Five Star Movement is a greater threat to Europe and the euro than the trials of little... More »
(Reuters) – Workers encounter confusion and misleading information when they leave their jobs and roll over their retirement money into individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, from company-sponsored 401(k) plans, according to a report released on Wednesday by... More »
BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) – China has found two more cases of a new strain of bird flu and one of the victims has died, state media said on Wednesday, bringing to nine the number of confirmed human infections from the previously unknown flu type. A 38-year-old ... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday Iran must respond to an offer proposed by world powers if this week’s nuclear talks were to succeed. Ashton was speaking in the Turkish capital Ankara before talks on the... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday she was “cautiously optimistic” about nuclear talks with Iran in Kazakhstan on April 5-6, but said it was vital that Tehran responded to an offer put forward by maj... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Genetic sequence data on a deadly strain of bird flu previously unknown in people show the virus has already acquired some mutations that might make it more likely to cause a human pandemic, scientists say. But there is no evidence so far th... More »
PRAGUE (Reuters) – The new Czech president hoisted the European Union flag at the seat of the country’s presidency for the first time on Wednesday, marking a significant shift in attitude from his euroskeptic predecessor. The Czech Republic joined the bloc in ... More »
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus is committed to meeting all the terms of a 10 billion euro bailout deal agreed with international lenders last week, the euro zone state’s new finance minister Harris Georgiades said on Wednesday. The island has already slashed the s... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Crunch talks aimed at ending the ethnic partition of Serbia’s former Kosovo province broke up without result on Wednesday, in a major setback for Serbia’s hopes of starting European Union membership negotiations this year. EU foreign polic... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Serbia and Kosovo failed to reach a deal on improving ties that is seen as crucial to Serbia’s hopes of joining the European Union, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday. Ashton, who has been mediating in the talks, sa... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano expressed despair on Tuesday at fierce criticism of his latest plan to end a post-election deadlock that has raised fears of months of instability in the euro zone’s third largest economy. Two groups of “wi... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – A unit of U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co sued India’s Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday for infringing its patent on two diabetes drugs. The action comes a day after Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG lost a landmark court ruling over patent protectio... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China reported four new cases on Tuesday of a strain of bird flu that was previously unknown in humans but has already killed two people, raising the total of known cases to seven. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday there wa... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Cut fruit and vegetable prices in half and people will load up on them, according to a new study that suggests price regulation may play an important role in future public policy. “Many people argue that we should educate the popula... More »
(Reuters) – Just as Mario Draghi’s pledge to “do whatever it takes” to preserve the euro is being challenged, the very same unqualified promise, this time to simply stop prices falling, is about to be put into action in Japan. In both cases within months we ma... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – AstraZeneca has suffered a fresh patent setback with a U.S. court decision that a patent protecting its Pulmicort Repsules asthma treatment is invalid, clearing the way for a generic copy from Actavis. The ruling comes as AstraZeneca is alre... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Attention job seekers! One of the best ways to get your foot in the door for a job interview is to get a job referral, or two. And it doesn’t stop there: according to StartWire.com, one of the web’s top sites for job searching, “Referral... More »
NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law on Monday banning children under 17 from using commercial tanning beds, a move stemming from the case of a local woman accused of taking her 5-year-old daughter into a tan... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jeffrey Gundlach, chief investment officer and chief executive of DoubleLine Capital LP, said Monday that another “lost decade” in stocks is unlikely and that lower yields on 10-year Treasury notes have made them less attractive. Gundlach,... More »
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas Governor Rick Perry on Monday firmly reiterated that the state will not expand its Medicaid program, saying it is a broken system that needs to be reformed by allowing states more flexibility. Perry, who notified the Obama admin... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – This is no April Fool’s day joke, but catastrophes are good for stocks – eventually. The market usually boomerangs into massive rallies in the wake of them. That’s what seems to be happening now, which sustains the argument for a continued ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Portfolio manager Will Danoff, whose $92 billion Fidelity Contrafund is the largest active shareholder in Apple Inc, cut the fund’s stake in the iPhone maker 10 percent during the first two months of 2013. Danoff began trimming his Apple sta... More »
