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The U.N.’s food price index hit a record in January and recent catastrophic weather around the globe could put more pressure on the cost of food, an issue that has already helped spark protests across the Middle East.
Up for the seventh month in a row, the closely watched Food and Agriculture Oganisation Food Price Index on Thursday touched its highest since records began in 1990, and topped the peak of 224.1 in June 2008, during the food crisis of 2007/08. Get the full story »
Sugar prices spiked to their highest level in more than 30 years as a massive tropical cyclone slammed into the northeast coast of Australia, the world’s third-biggest exporter of the sweetener. Raw sugar futures jumped 4% to settle at 35.31 cents a pound on Wednesday after trading as high as 36.11 cents. Get the full story »
Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based food industry consultant, has formed a joint venture with a Brazilian marketing company to advise companies interested in the Latin American market.
The venture with Gouvea de Souza, based in Sao Paulo, also will consult with Latin American food and beverage companies seeking to enter the U.S. market, the two companies said. Get the full story »
Gold fell on Monday, notching its first monthly decline in six months, as strong U.S. factory and spending data coupled with fading worries about the euro zone debt crisis put a damper on the metal’s rally. Get the full story »
Plane maker Boeing received unfair subsidies from the U.S. government, according to a World Trade Organization report on Monday, and Boeing and its European rival Airbus immediately quarreled over the scale of the support.
European rival Airbus said the report showed Boeing had received at least $5 billion in illegal subsidies and was only able to launch its 787 Dreamliner with such support. Boeing denied the assertions. Get the full story »
U.S. stocks were headed for a flat open Monday, as investors continued to worry about growing political unrest in Egypt.
Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were little changed before the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance. Get the full story »
India rejected on Monday Research In Motion’s offer to allow it only partial access to its BlackBerry data services as neighbouring Pakistan also moved to restrict the popular smartphone’s services.
It was not immediately clear what the Indian government, which says it is driven by security concerns, would do after the Canadian smartphone maker failed to fulfill demands to monitor encrypted corporate e-mail by a Jan. 31 deadline. RIM had said was confident India would not ban its services. Get the full story »
Christopher Guest.
Christopher Guest — the mockumentary director behind “Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show” — will direct Groupon’s spots for the Feb. 6 Super Bowl broadcast, a rep for Guest has confirmed.
It’s not clear what will be in the ads or how long they will run, but Groupon employees will be “eating mini-quiches” and not taking bathroom breaks about 30 minutes before the game and during the “Glee” episode airing later, a source close to the company joked. Get the full story »
From Bloomberg News | McDonald’s Corp.’s management training center, on the outskirts of Shanghai in McDonald’s China headquarters, gets 1,000 applications for every eight slots. That’s a selection rate of less than 1 percent, lower than Harvard University’s record low acceptance rate last year of about 7 percent, according to the school’s official newspaper. Get the full story>>
irbus and Boeing traded blows on Tuesday ahead of a final World Trade Organization ruling on claims Boeing received subsidies, in a tit-for-tat case brought by the European Union over similar U.S. claims against Airbus. Get the full story »
A top executive with Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of earth-moving construction and mining equipment, said Friday the company plans to spend more than $1 billion to increase its manufacturing capacity in China.
In an interview at an event tied to the U.S. visit this week of Chinese President Hu Jintao, Rich Lavin, a group president at Caterpillar, said his company’s current network of 11 Chinese plants was not enough to produce the “market-leading volumes” Caterpillar hopes to be producing by 2015. Get the full story »
China’s top aviation regulator said Friday that it aimed to work jointly with U.S. authorities on certifying the planned new C919 passenger jet.
The aircraft is seen as the first shot in China’s effort to break the duopoly in large civil aircraft held by Airbus and Boeing Co. and securing approval from overseas regulators will be crucial in finding customers outside the country’s fast-growing domestic market. Get the full story »
The World Trade Organization will issue a confidential final ruling Jan. 31 concerning European claims that Boeing benefited from unfair aircraft subsidies, sources familar with the case said on Friday.
The report, which will not be made public for several weeks, is the latest round of legal Ping-Pong between the European Union and United States over mutual claims their aircraft industries have been unfairly shielded from competition. Get the full story »
A French court fined Warner Music Group Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. 5 million euro ($6.7 million) on Friday for misleading investors about the Vivendi media conglomerate when he was a top executive there.
The court also convicted former high-flying Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier of misusing company funds and misleading investors and handed him a three-year suspended prison sentence. Get the full story »
China’s growing appetite for Illinois soybeans was on display Thursday at a ceremonial signing of purchase agreements that could trigger as much as $450 million in Illinois soy sales to Chinese companies this year.
The potential sales represent a hefty slice of business for Illinois farms and soy operations, which have seen agricultural exports to China grow in recent years to more than $500 million annually, from $149 million in 2007, according to data from Gov. Pat Quinn’s office. Get the full story »
