The race to generate greater returns is luring hedge funds into untraditional areas
McDonald's Corp on Friday forecast third-quarter earnings above Wall Street analysts' average estimate as September same-store sales rose 5.9 percent on strength in Asia. McDonald's has outperformed many other restaurant chains and retailers this year, with successful new products and extended restaurant hours.
Virgin Group, controlled by entrepreneur Richard Branson, is leading a consortium that has submitted a rescue plan for British bank Northern Rock that would inject a substantial cash sum, it said on Friday.
U.S. retail sales rose solidly in September while a key inflation gauge remained muted, data on Friday showed, suggesting the economy retained some buoyancy despite a weakening housing sector. With consumers flexing their spending power, the latest batch of data paints a less gloomy picture of an economy that is slowing, but not stalling.
Japanese firms have done very well in the U.S., Europe and beyond but on their home turf, they find a shrinking and uninvolved market.
General Electric Co said on Friday that third-quarter profit rose 13.8 percent, matching expectations, boosted by demand for heavy equipment like gas turbines and jet engines and strength at its financial units. The conglomerate said earnings increased to $5.54 billion, or 54 cents per diluted share, from $4.87 billion, or 47 cents per diluted share, a year earlier.
Citigroup Inc, which last week forecast 60 percent declines in third-quarter earnings amid bad debt losses, said it was promoting Vikram Pandit to head banking, markets, and alternative investments, and that trading head Thomas Maheras was leaving.
Wheat surged the most in 5 weeks as investors bet the USDA would cut its estimate on worldwide supplies of grain on high demand and poor harvest.
Tokyo-Sony Financial Holdings Inc. raised 348 billion yen ($2.9B) in its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this Thursday.
Ford Motor Co, considered the weakest of the three U.S.-based automakers, could agree on a new contract with the United Auto Workers union fairly quickly and without the strikes that marked negotiations with General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, analysts said on Thursday.
Nine banks have agreed to pay $180 million for a minority stake in Thomson Corp's TradeWeb bond trading platform, and will invest an additional $100 million in a bid to expand the service they sold in 2004.
Stricken British mortgage lender Northern Rock may have borrowed a further 2.3 billion pounds ($4.7 billion) from the Bank of England in the past week, according to BoE data, down from 2.9 billion the previous week.
Countrywide Financial Corp funded 44.3 percent fewer mortgage loans in September as it eliminated nearly 5,000 jobs to cope with lower lending volume and increasing delinquencies and defaults, the company said on Thursday.
The chief executive of BP Plc on Thursday outlined a plan to address industry-lagging profitability by slashing management layers, adopting consistent procedures for developing oil and gas fields and reducing unacceptably high costs.
Investors and fund managers bitten by the collapse in subprime mortgages are now looking for new opportunities to trade bonds linked to traditionally volatile commodity prices and risky emerging markets.
Japan's Sanyo Electric Co Ltd said it has reached a basic agreement to sell its loss-making mobile phone business to Kyocera Corp, creating the world's seventh-largest cellphone provider.
Royal Bank of Scotland board member Mark Fisher is nominated to replace ABN AMRO's outgoing Chief Executive, Rijkman Groenink, after the 70 billion euro ($99 billion) takeover of the Dutch bank.
Ambac Financial Group Inc, one of the world's largest bond insurers, warned on Wednesday it expects to report a third-quarter net loss after taking a $743 million write-down on its credit derivative portfolio.
Shares of Sony Financial Holdings Inc rose nearly 4 percent on their debut on Thursday, as a stock market rebound boosted demand for the financial firm that recently completed Japan's largest IPO this year.
Crash tests of some popular midsize sport utility vehicles turned in an unexpectedly mixed performance in side-impact tests, a leading insurance group said on Thursday.
Large and small U.S. retailers have reported signs of cautious spending by consumers, who are feeling the pain of higher food and gasoline prices as the housing market decelerates after buoying consumer confidence and spending for years. Retailers Men's Wearhouse, American Eagle Outfitters Inc and PetSmart Inc cut profit forecasts on Wednesday after a wave of weak sales reports.
Boeing Co. said Wednesday that it will delay delivery of its fast selling 787 Dreamliner jet by six months because of continued challenges in the plane's assembly, including parts scarcity.
Oil prices jumped on Wednesday as expectations for tighter fuel inventories surfaced as the Norther Hemisphere moves into the winter season.
Teens say they are spending about the same amount of their money on clothes and accessories this fall as they did last year, but their parents are cutting back on what they buy for them, a survey said on Wednesday.
Boeing Co on Wednesday pushed back first deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner by at least six months as it struggles to assemble the new lightweight, carbon-composite plane. The delay is an embarrassing setback for Boeing, which has for months insisted it would meet its delivery timetable, and mirrors delays suffered by rival Airbus on its A380 superjumbo.
India's diversified Mahindra Group is entering the retail sector, the latest deep-pocketed, family-run Indian company to jump into the fast-growing market.
Finnish crane maker Konecranes will capture 50 to 55 percent of its global sales in Asia in three to four years, up from 30 percent now, helped by robust demand in China, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
While profit margins have been squeezed in every corner of the financial services industry, private banking services for the world's ultra-rich remain a reliably lucrative business.
Spain's largest bank Santander is close to sealing a deal to sell its property holdings for a total of about 4 billion euros ($5.65 billion), banking sources said on Wednesday, confirming newspaper reports.
Three banks led by Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland clinched victory in the battle for ABN AMRO on Wednesday, declaring their 70 billion euro ($99 billion) offer for the Netherland's biggest bank unconditional.
