The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Tuesday the economic recovery was still too slow to bring down unemployment, reaffirming its commitment to purchase $600 billion in bonds to stimulate growth and create jobs.
In a statement that contained remarkably little acknowledgment of a recent uptick in the economic data, the Fed characterized the U.S. expansion as “continuing,” a modest upgrade from its November description of the recovery as “slow.” Get the full story »
Encouraging economic reports are pushing Treasury yields to their highest levels in seven months. Get the full story »
U.S. retail gasoline demand fell 2.7 percent last week as prices rose to their highest level this year, MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report showed Tuesday.
Average gasoline demand fell by 255,000 barrels per day, to 9.182 million bpd, in the week to Dec. 10. Get the full story »
New features such as 3-D screens and Internet connectivity have not inspired U.S. television shoppers, dashing a hoped-for recovery in the global consumer electronics industry.
TV manufacturers such as Sony Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Sharp Corp. are learning that features such as razor-thin LED TVs are not enough to stage a comeback in the United States. Get the full story »
BP shares on Tuesday jumped to their highest level in seven months after the company announced it was selling another $775 million in assets to help pay for the Gulf oil spill.
The British oil giant expects to pay nearly $40 billion to handle the spill and has aggressively raised money to meet that obligation. In addition to suspending its dividend and selling bonds, the company has sold nearly $22 billion in assets. It plans to shed up to $30 billion in company assets by the end of 2011. Get the full story »
UBS is aiming to polish its tarnished image with a new dress code, as it seeks to regain the faith of retail clients after posting the biggest loss in Swiss corporate history during the financial crisis.
A 52-page internal document seen by Reuters advises customer-facing staff in five pilot scheme branches on how to make a good impression with customers by choosing flesh-colored underwear and stockings and avoiding smelly foods and tobacco. Get the full story »
European Union paymaster Germany said on Tuesday that it would support giving the European Central Bank more capital to help fight a sovereign debt crisis that continues to shake the euro zone.
ECB sources told Reuters the bank’s governing council would consider at a meeting on Wednesday and Thursday whether to seek a capital increase from euro zone members to cover the risk of losses on government bonds it has bought to support the 16-nation single currency area. Get the full story »
The world’s five biggest airlines by market value now hail from Asia and Latin America, highlighting the industry’s shift away from the U.S. and Europe to higher-growth countries, the International Air Transport Association said Tuesday.
Based on its share price, Air China is twice the size of either Delta in the U.S. or Germany’s Lufthansa, indicating that markets expect future revenue growth to be strongest in Asia, IATA said. Get the full story »
U.S. stocks rose Tuesday, lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its highest intraday level in more than two years, as data showing growth in U.S. retail sales and business sales boosted investors’ outlook on the economy.
The Dow rose 71 points, or 0.6 percent, to 11,499. Earlier, the measure hit 11499.70, its highest intraday level since September 2008. Its top performers spanned a variety of sectors, with Boeing up 1.4 percent, Kraft Foods up 1.3 percent and Johnson & Johnson up 1.2 percent. Get the full story »
The Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program is on target to prevent only 700,000 foreclosures, not the 4 million the Treasury Department originally estimated when it introduced the program, according to a Congressional Oversight Panel report issued Tuesday. Get the full story »
Chrysler is recalling about 76,000 Dodge Ram pickup trucks to fix a power steering issue that could lead to brake pedals that are slow to return after the driver applies them.
The recall affects certain 2010-2011 Dodge Ram trucks built from March 2009 through October 2010. Get the full story »
Tower Ticker | When “Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies” debuts the weekend of Jan. 21 in 192 markets, Elvis Mitchell of public radio’s KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, Calif., will not be discussing and debating new films with the Associated Press’ Christy Lemire.
Mitchell and Lemire were paired in the weekly public television show’s pilot, taped this year. But Chaz Ebert, vice president of The Ebert Co. and an executive producer of the the new TV venture with her Pulitzer Prize-winning husband, Roger, said by e-mail Tuesday that Mitchell is no longer associated with the program.
The show’s critics will be announced next week, Chaz and Roger indicated in separate notes.
Trying to track recalled products and foods that might be harmful to children is a nightmare for parents because there’s no single place to look.
Until now.
The new site www.ClickCheckandProtect.org, a Consumer Reports companion site, is the product of a newly formed National School Safety Coalition convened by Consumer Reports, the National Parent Teacher Association and the National School Boards Association. Get the full story »
France’s antitrust regulator on Tuesday put Google on notice not to abuse what it said was its dominant position in online search advertising.
In the latest sign of growing regulatory scrutiny of Google in Europe, the watchdog said Google’s market power was not necessarily bad or illegal but its practices needed to be monitored to avoid anticompetitive impact. Get the full story »
Five trucks carrying Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric cars left General Motors Co.’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant Monday, marking the first shipment to dealers after nearly four years of expectation.
GM said it expected 160 Volts to ship this week to its initial markets: California; Austin, Texas; New York City; and Washington, D.C. Get the full story »
