Archive for August 10th, 2009

TOKYO – The green shoots that some economists see peeking up through the recession may not be bamboo just yet. China’s economy continues to suffer, a raft of economic figures released for July reveal, but Beijing’s enormous 585 billion stimulus program seems to be catalyzing spending at home. “With the global recovery unlikely to be… »

China is the kind of place where wealth can be made quickly. It is also where it can be lost overnight if you happen to be using the services of private bankers provided by some world-renowned international banks. This is the bitter lesson that Jacky Jin, a founder of a small internet company in Shanghai… »

CIT Group’s progress in cajoling bondholders to help trim its debt burden has saved the lender from imminent bankruptcy. The most recent good news came Friday: CIT said it was on track to pull off an agreement to pay some bondholders 87 cents on the dollar to hand over their notes. In the past week,… »

Prices of both precious and industrial metals continued to climb during the second quarter, but with economic data gradually improving, sparking investors’ interest in recovery-related assets, precious metals could be losing their appeal. As economic indicators increasingly point to the early stages of a turnaround, investors shift from safe-haven-seeking mode to a recovery-minded approach.Gold and… »

Investors have accepted that 2009 isn’t the year for Applied Materials, making Tuesday’s fiscal-third quarter report an assessment of how well the semiconductor equipment maker has handled the downturn and positioned itself for the future. In June, Applied Materials ‘ chief executive Mike Splinter warned of more failures in the industry as the number of… »

Economic improvement, nonthreatening inflation and successful quantitative easing projects should make for an uneventful Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.On Tuesday, the branch of the Fed that determines policy will meet for the sixth time this year to assess the effect of its initiatives and map out the future. The central bank… »

You’d think the issue of international tax evasion was big enough to keep government officials talking for a lengthy amount of time. But American and Swiss authorities have a lot more than that to discuss as they seek an agreement over UBS handing over to the U.S.’ Internal Revenue Service the names of several thousand… »

Microsoft is in a friendly mood. A few weeks after striking a 10-year agreement with search engine Yahoo!, the software company has announced a five-year strategic alliance with French advertising agency Publicis, as well as plans to sell its digital ad unit Razorfish to the French company for 530 million. Although there doesn’t seem to… »

Has Xstrata gone far enough to slash its debt burden? The copper-focused miner raised 5.9 billion from shareholders in March, most of which went towards paying down debt, but the company is still carrying a 13 billion debt pile in an uncertain trading environment. This could explain why Xstrata is currently considering asset sales to… »

Lloyds Banking Group is facing the choice between the prudent approach that it has been long been known for and a big gamble. Should it stay within the government’s asset protection program or attempt to make a bid for independence?The bank, currently 43% in the hands of the British government, is reportedly mulling a 15… »