GERMANY

Fiat SpA is convinced it has more than a 50 percent chance of succeeding in its bid for Opel because it does not think the other contenders have the expertise to revive the car maker, an Italian newspaper said.

The head of Fiat SpA said it had more than a 50 percent chance of succeeding in its bid for Opel, adding that the other contenders did not have the expertise to save the struggling car maker, according to a newspaper report.

The dollar hit its lowest in almost five months and Asian stocks slipped on Thursday after news that the Federal Reserve lowered its forecasts for U.S. economic growth for the next three years.

The pursuit of German carmaker Opel has narrowed to a three-way race between Italy's Fiat , Canadian-Austrian car parts group Magna and investment firm RHJ International.

The families who control Porsche are open to the idea of selling a stake to an outside investor, the company said Wednesday.

The pursuit of German carmaker Opel appears to have narrowed to a three-way race between Italy's Fiat , Canadian-Austrian car parts group Magna and investment firm RHJ International.

Italy's Fiat , car parts group Magna and investment firm RHJ were all expected to submit offers for Opel, the German unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors , by a Wednesday deadline.

Staring at the locked gates of a Fiat car factory, Mimmo Vacchiano says many families in this poor corner of southern Italy face a stark choice unless its turnstiles reopen.

Italy's Fiat , car parts group Magna and investment firm RHJ were all expected to submit offers for Opel, the German unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors , by a Wednesday deadline.

Italy's Fiat , car parts group Magna and investment firm RHJ were all expected to submit offers for Opel, the German unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors , by a Wednesday deadline.

Cash-strapped General Motors said it expects at least three offers for German unit Opel by Wednesday's deadline, with Italy's Fiat eyeing plans to form Europe's biggest automaker.

A key deadline to submit takeover bids for German carmaker Opel that expires on Wednesday could resolve some of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the ailing General Motors brand.

Japan's Nikkei stock index rose 0.4 percent on Wednesday with trading houses up after a brokerage upgraded Mitsubishi Corp, but gains were limited as a slightly firmer yen dragged on exporters such as Honda Motor Co.

Sales of smartphones are set to grow 12-15 percent in 2009, said Lee Williams, chief of the Symbian Foundation, the consortium of companies around the world's most popular smartphone operating system.

German automaker Daimler AG acquired an equity stake of nearly 10 percent of Tesla Motors Inc. the San Carlos California- based manufacturer of all electric vehicles, the companies announced Tuesday.

Porsche declined to comment on Tuesday on rumors that the carmaker could receive a 3-4 billion euro ($4.09-5.45 billion) investment from an unnamed Kuwaiti investor.

European Union moves to exempt industries such as steel, refining and cement from the cost of buying carbon permits risk handing them windfall profits and could blunt EU green investment, analysts say.

Asian shares climbed to their highest level in seven months on Tuesday on fresh hopes the global recession is easing, while oil hovered at six-month peaks as supply concerns helped buoy prices.

Despite tightening regulations due to the economic downturn and in the wake of the high profile Madoff ponzi scandal, Luxembourg hopes to gain an advantage over even more highly unregulated investment centers, the chairman of a leading funds association there said.

Moody's Investors Service stripped the Japanese government of its last triple-A foreign currency credit rating on Monday in a move that could revive market speculation about the creditworthiness of other rich nations, especially the United States.

General Motors Corp faces a government-imposed June 1 deadline to reach sweeping cost-cutting deals with bondholders and its union and has said it is probable it will follow rival Chrysler into bankruptcy.