COMPANIES

Toyota Motor Corp expects costs and lost sales from its massive safety recall to total $2 billion by the end of March, keeping it in the red for the year despite its strongest profit in six quarters.

U.S. fixed mortgage rates eked out small increases in the past week, but the average 30-year loan held at around 5 percent, fostering affordability, home funding company Freddie Mac said on Thursday.

A group of influential mortgage investors is intensifying efforts to encourage a new phase to U.S. housing stability plans that would give homeowners ability and incentive to pay their loans.

Kraft Foods Inc on Thursday launched a 4-part, $9.5 billion debt sale to help finance its acquisition of British confectioner Cadbury, IFR reported.

The top U.S. transportation official said he will speak with Toyota's CEO about safety concerns regarding the company's vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp. announced more problems with its vehicles, reporting brake problems with the popular Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric car.

Demand for home loans rose to a six-week high on a mini refinance wave, with borrowers pushing to lock in rates before they climb later this year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday,

More and more consumers are giving greater priority to paying credit card debt than making a mortgage payment, showing increased financial duress, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Market talk that Volkswagen could announce at an investor conference on Wednesday that it planned to take over MAN SE soon pushed shares in the German truckmaker up more than 4 percent.

Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd will not seek to extend its exclusive agreement with France's AXA SA on a joint $11.4 billion bid for AXA's Australian unit, sources said, opening the door for rival bidder National Australia Bank Ltd to start talks with AXA SA.

Semiconductor company Microchip Technology Inc said it would buy flash chip maker Silicon Storage Technology for about $273 million in cash and reported third quarter results which beat market expectations.

State-owned conglomerate Dubai World, which is restructuring some $22 billion in debt repayments, has yet to arrive at a formal standstill agreement with its creditors.

Norway's Statoil plans to spin off and float its international chain of gas stations in the latest move by a major western oil company to reduce its exposure to low-margin fuel retailing.

German solar company Phoenix Solar will strive to pay a dividend even though painful cuts in solar incentives are looming in Germany, the company's chief executive told Reuters.

Kraft Foods won control of Cadbury on Tuesday as holders of almost 72 percent of the British chocolatier's stock accepted the 11.7 billion pound takeover that will create the world's biggest confectioner.

Home buyers in much of the United States paid thousands of dollars below asking prices in December and for the first time in 11 months gained negotiating power, real estate website Zillow.com said on Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co posted a 24 percent increase in U.S. sales for January and outsold Toyota Motor Corp as the Japanese automaker was sent reeling by a massive recall of some of its top-selling vehicles.

Airbus and buyer nations have intensified efforts to strike a deal this week over the funding of Europe's delayed A400M military transporter, exhausted by months of wrangling, sources close to the talks said.

Toyota Motor's unprecedented recall of millions of vehicles with accelerator problems is taking a toll on sales and may force the world's largest automaker to cut 2010 sales forecasts.

Spyker Cars has set Saab an ambitious 2012 profit target as it stressed development funding was secured despite needing more cash to fund its acquisition of the ailing Swedish auto brand.

The property investment arm of Morgan Stanley (MS.N) is in final talks to sell a Chinese apartment complex to a unit of Singapore's Keppel Land (KLAN.SI), sources close to the deal said on Tuesday.

U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Co said on Tuesday it expects new orders for commercial aircraft this year to fall short of deliveries and no increase in demand until 2012.

Kraft Foods is set to receive enough acceptances from Cadbury shareholders to seal its 11.7 billion pounds ($18.6 billion) takeover by around 1700 GMT (12 noon EST) Tuesday and start the tough integration of Cadbury's 45,000 worldwide employees.

Citigroup Inc plans to sell or spin-off its $10 billion Citi Private Equity unit in order to cut its debt, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Obama administration must ensure U.S. housing market stability is retained as it reforms the nation's two largest providers of home mortgage credit, a top Treasury Department official said on Monday.

The Obama administration on Monday laid out credit provisions for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under its fiscal year 2011 budget proposal, but did not deliver a vision for the future of the money-losing mortgage finance giants.

Mortgage securities are not expected to return to any significant growth until 2011, despite efforts to restart the market that provided much of the residential credit during the housing boom, according to a industry survey released on Monday.

Loss-making Swedish auto maker Saab will return to profit in the foreseeable future, the chief executive of its buyer Spyker Cars said, and the key will be to restore confidence in the distinctive and quirky brand.

Electronic Arts, maker of the Madden NFL and FIFA soccer video games, is looking to build sports games for Facebook after buying social-games maker Playfish for $275 million, and may buy other similar companies.