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BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday over a deal with Canadian auto parts group Magna, General Motors and the U.S. government to save carmaker Opel from the imminent bankruptcy of its U.S. parent.
The accord sealed after six hours of talks in Chancellor Angela Merkel's offices still needs final approval […]

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s industrial production jumped at the fastest pace in 56 years, signaling a recovery among manufacturers, but rising joblessness and falling prices clouded prospects for the world’s second-biggest economy.
Factory output surged a stronger-than-expected 5.2 percent in April from the previous month, rising for the second straight time and […]

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BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German efforts to forge a rescue for General Motors (GM.N) unit Opel were under threat on Friday after Italy's Fiat said it would skip crucial talks and a source said frustration was rising at rival bidder Magna.
Germany and the United States get what may be their last chance to shield Opel […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – One of eight U.S. households with a mortgage ended the first quarter late on loan payments or in the foreclosure process in a crisis that will persist for at least another year until unemployment peaks, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.
U.S. unemployment in April reached its highest rate in […]

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TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's Nikkei stock average edged down 0.1 percent in choppy trade on Thursday, with losses in exporters such as Sony Corp (6758.T) on fears about the U.S. economy narrowly outweighing support from shippers and auto shares.
Japan Tobacco (2914.T) slipped 5.2 percent, becoming the largest percentage loser on the Nikkei 225, after […]

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The big influx of highly educated workers into finance in the last two decades has been the subject of some national hand-wringing lately. President Obama, college presidents and economists have all worried aloud that Wall Street has hoarded human resources that might otherwise have gone to science, education, medicine or other fields.
Now, new […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rose on Tuesday as data showing the biggest monthly jump in consumer confidence in six years lifted hopes of an economic rebound, while a brokerage upgrade of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) gave an extra boost to technology shares.
* The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 196.17 points, or 2.37 percent, […]

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The oil company BP said on Monday that it had nominated Pavel Skitovich for the post of chief executive at TNK-BP in a move that it hoped would bring an end to a shareholder conflict at the Russian oil producer. Mr. Skitovich, a former Soviet vice consul in Uganda, served as chief executive of the […]

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NEW DELHI — India’s Bharti Airtel and South Africa’s MTN Group dusted off plans Monday to create the world’s third-largest telecommunications company, an entity that would have $20 billion in annual revenue and 200 million subscribers.
The two companies said they had tentatively agreed on a stock and cash swap that was the first step […]

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PARIS — Bankruptcy for General Motors’ Opel unit remains a distinct possibility despite three offers for the company, the German economy minister, Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, said in an interview published Sunday.
While Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is meeting Monday to consider the bids, there is no guarantee that one of them will be accepted, […]

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PARIS, May 23 (Xinhua) — The French manufacturer Dassault Aviation is continuing negotiations with the United Arab Emirates on the sale of Rafale fighters, but no contract will be finalized in the coming days, a spokesman for Dassault said on Saturday.
According to French media, Dassault could soon win a contract for the sale of […]

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Treasury Department said on Thursday it has injected $7.5 billion into GMAC to help it lend to Chrysler car buyers and to partly meet its capital needs.
"This new arrangement with GMAC will help provide a reliable source of financing to both auto dealers and customers seeking to buy new cars," […]

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Equity traders tried to set aside some of their worries about the federal government’s credit rating and scooped up shares of retail stocks. But shares, whicher were higher for most of Friday, turned lower late in the day.
But the currency markets were another story. The dollar kept falling Friday, notching fresh multi-month lows against the […]

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department has no plans to push General Motors Corp into a bankruptcy filing next week and the outcome of the automaker's restructuring efforts may not be known until a June 1 deadline, a source familiar with the situation said early on Friday.
Earlier, the Washington Post reported that the […]

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday said that a bailout for banks was steadying the financial system but care must be taken to ensure that normal market forces are allowed to operate.
"While TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program) is proving effective at improving the immediate stability of the financial system, the […]

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The country’s biggest banks have made moves to bolster their balance sheets by some $56 billion since the government unveiled the results of its financial “stress tests” two weeks ago, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said on Wednesday.
In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in Washington, Mr. Geithner said the country’s largest financial institutions had […]

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LONDON – World stocks rose Tuesday as upbeat news about U.S. housing and banks and a sharp improvement in German investor sentiment suggested the world economy was headed for recovery.
Financial stocks were boosted by news that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have formally asked the U.S. Federal Reserve for permission to repay a combined $20 […]

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Despite talk of stability and glimmers of recovery, struggling home builders and the construction industry are a long way from a rebound.
New home construction fell to its lowest pace on record in April, the government reported on Tuesday, disappointing forecasters, who had hoped for a modest increase. Building permits fell to record lows and construction […]

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The hedge fund family that topped the list of losers in Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, with more than $7 billion sunk in the immense fraud, has been sued by the trustee overseeing the search for assets in the case.
The civil lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan, seeks the return of $3.2 billion […]

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SALAMANCA, SPAIN — Only a year ago, biofuels were blamed for soaring prices of vital food commodities like corn, wheat, sugar and vegetable oils. Riots in more than 30 countries and warnings from environmental groups, governments, the United Nations and the World Bank triggered a global debate over public support for the expanding biofuel industry.
Then, […]

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