MARKETS / FINANCE

A state-backed turnaround fund is likely to decline financial aid for Japan Airlines from Delta Air Lines or American Airlines and limit an alliance to a business tie-up, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Japan's public debt is very high but is not a serious problem in the short-term as private savings are abundant and investors continue to buy government bonds, a senior International Monetary Fund official told the Nikkei newspaper.

U.S. home loan rates could rise by as much as three-quarters of a percentage point in the spring as the Federal Reserve ends its mortgage bonds purchase program, a top Fed policymaker said in an interview published on Saturday.

The recent spike in U.S. bond yields, coinciding with a rally in the dollar against the yen, is flagging a return to the yen to fund carry trades -- the risky strategy of using a low-yielding currency to purchase assets in higher-yielding currencies in the search for better returns.

Intel Corp released a flurry of new computer chips on Thursday as it seeks to maintain its dominance over rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc and prepare for an expected rise in demand.

The nascent smartbook market got a big nudge forward on Friday, courtesy of Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest personal computer maker.

Green is in like never before at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, with 3,000 square feet of dedicated floor space and companies touting the energy-saving, earth-friendly attributes of their gadgets.

Qualcomm plans to support Chrome, Google Inc's upcoming operating system for small computers known as netbooks, the company's chief executive, Paul Jacobs, said on Friday.

Movie buffs and sports fans looking to 3D televisions for the ultimate home theater experience may want to get their eyes checked first -- or risk a 3D headache, U.S. eye experts said on Saturday.

The world's biggest maker of plasma TVs, Panasonic plans to launch its 3D channels by June 2010 with U.S. satellite TV provider Direc TV Group and looks to sell about 1 million units in the first year of their launch, its U.S. chief said on Friday.

Six out of 10 Icelandic voters plan to reject a bill on repayment of more than $5 billion owed to Britain and the Netherlands in a referendum on the so-called Icesave deal, according to a poll published by an Icelandic daily on Saturday.

The main creditor banks of Japan Airlines are in the final stages of deciding to accept a plan to put the carrier through bankruptcy as part of a state-led restructuring, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The main lenders to Japan Airlines plan to accept a restructuring package that would require the carrier to file for bankruptcy, sources said, increasing the likelihood of a state bailout this month.

The food industry worldwide is increasing using nanotechnology for use in food and packaging and according to The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, nanotechnology has the power to deliver benefits to the customers. However, the Parliamentary Committee has criticised the food industry for failing to be transparent about its research into the uses of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials.

Stillwater Mining Company, which last year lost its platinum and palladium supply contracts to General Motors, however staged a comeback by announcing and impressive 2009 recovery in platinum group metal (PGM) prices following the collapse in the prices in the fourth quarter of 2008 during the economic meltdown.

The joint venture led by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc that owns New York City's vast Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village apartment complex on Friday said it missed making its full loan payment, moving the deal one step closer toward possible foreclosure.

The chief whistleblower in the UBS AG tax secrecy probe entered prison to serve a sentence he considered unfair, hours after a Swiss court ruled the bank should not have been forced to turn over client files to government investigators.

Twitter, the popular but money-losing microblogging service, is hiring engineers and specialists who can help turn it into a money-maker.

U.S. lawmakers on Friday pressed for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to testify on whether the New York Federal Reserve Bank improperly pressured AIG to withhold information on payments it made to banks after its government bailout.

The joint venture led by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock that owns New York's vast Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village apartment complex on Friday said it missed a loan payment, putting it in a much-anticipated default.

Lenovo Group Ltd is wading into the smartphone market with a thin, touchscreen device based on Google Inc's Android operating system, following the footsteps of PC rivals like Dell Inc and Acer Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's biggest TV brand by revenue, said it aimed to sell 35 million LCD televisions in 2010, including 10 million TVs using light emitting diode (LED) backlights.

Vast, empty spaces in the middle of the show floor. Knots of uniformed salespeople standing idly next to flickering screens. A slow-moving crowd drifting from one display to the next.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday after trading in the red most of the day as investors concluded weak December jobs data wouldn't interrupt a trend of steady economic recovery.

Qualcomm plans to support Chrome, Google Inc's upcoming operating system for small computers known as netbooks, the company's chief executive, Paul Jacobs, said on Friday.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank did not bring securities law disclosures for insurer American International Group Inc to the attention of Timothy Geithner, who headed the bank at the time of AIG's bailout in 2008, the bank's top lawyer said on Friday.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday after trading in the red most of the day as investors concluded weak December jobs data wouldn't interrupt a trend of steady economic recovery.

U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a $2.3 billion tax credit on Friday to boost jobs by promoting clean energy, as new data showed the country's unemployment rate remained stuck in the double digits.

U.S. employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, confounding expectations the labor market was finally stabilizing and piling pressure on President Barack Obama to spur job growth.