Allianz ends risk-free status of government bonds
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Allianz , Europe’s biggest insurer, has begun applying a notional charge in its accounts to reflect the risk of holding government bonds as investments, drawing a lesson from the euro zone debt crisis that may prompt others to fol…
Investors fear small-cap woes may spread through Wall Street
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 is near record levels but recent weakness in small-capitalized stocks is keeping investors awake at night.
ECB readies package of rate cuts and targeted measures
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank is preparing a package of policy options for its June meeting, including cuts in all its interest rates and targeted measures aimed at boosting lending to small- and mid-sized firms (SMEs).
Chinese police charge British former head of GSK in China with bribery
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese police on Wednesday said they had charged the former British boss of drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s China business and other colleagues with corruption, after a probe found the firm made billions of yuan from elabo…
Sears Holdings says could sell its majority stake in Sears Canada
(Reuters) – Sears Holdings Corp said it was looking to sell its 51 percent stake in Sears Canada Inc in a process that could result in all of the struggling Canadian department store operator being put up for sale.
Sony vows deeper restructuring, warns of another loss this year
TOKYO (Reuters) – Sony Corp said it would step up a broad restructuring this year to tackle bloated costs and exit some unprofitable businesses, hoping to put behind it years of persistent losses.
Geithner must give S&P documents in U.S. fraud lawsuit: filing
(Reuters) – A federal judge ruled that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner must hand over documents to Standard and Poor’s relating to the ratings agency’s claim that the United States sued it in retaliation for downgrading government debt….
Samsung’s ‘crown prince’ in focus as father hospitalized
SEOUL (Reuters) – Unassuming, media-shy and, as yet, unproven, Jay Y. Lee is the unofficial heir-apparent to lead Samsung Electronics Co Ltd , as the world’s biggest technology group by sales approaches a crossroads after years of explosive growth.
ITV looks to World Cup to attract viewers and advertisers
LONDON (Reuters) – British broadcaster ITV said that a stronger line up of programs, including the start of the soccer World Cup finals in June, would help it to claw back lost viewers and boost net advertising revenue by 12-13 percent in the second qu…
Focus on BoE, highlights contrast with dovish ECB
LONDON (Reuters) – European shares eased back from multi-year highs on Wednesday and the euro licked its wounds after slumping to a five-week low as the focus shifted to an economic outlook from the Bank of England for clues on when UK interest rates w…
