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TOKYO — The Bank of Japan upgraded its assessment of the nation’s economy Friday, setting itself up for a confrontation with government officials who are worried about a possible return to recession and are pressing for a policy response to deflation.
The Japanese government published a report Friday that pronounced the economy officially in deflation for […]

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WASHINGTON — Legislation that its supporters say would provide greater protection to investors sailed through a House committee on Wednesday, but not before the lawmakers added a provision to ease new auditing standards for small and medium-size companies.
The full House, meanwhile, overwhelmingly approved a bill to accelerate restrictions on credit card companies that had been […]

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Norway on Wednesday became the first European country to raise interest rates since the onset of the financial crisis, citing a nascent rebound in the global economy and inflationary pressures in its petroleum-exporting economy.
Inflation has been higher than expected and unemployment is “considerably lower than previously projected,” the Norges Bank governor, Svein Gjedrem, said […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Friday, with the Dow slipping below the 10,000 mark as industrial companies' weak results overshadowed robust earnings from tech heavy-weights.
The energy and materials sectors suffered as a stronger U.S. dollar hit commodity prices, while an analyst's comments on a major railroad stock hurt the transportation sector.
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Stocks fluctuated in early trading Thursday as investors sorted through a disappointing reading on the labor market and another pile of earnings reports.
The market is trying to rebound a day after a late-session sell off pushed major indexes lower. Lingering concerns over whether investors had been overly optimistic about an economic rebound in pushing the […]

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Shares on Wall Street began the day trading higher Wednesday as third-quarter earnings reports once again set the tone for the market.
Investors continue to look for clues about consumers’ habits and the economy’s health.
Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Company and US Bancorp all reported better results for the third quarter. However, the three financial firms […]

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SAN FRANCISCO – In an Oct. 14 story about Clorox Co.’s executive compensation, The Associated Press reported erroneously that CEO Don Knauss received more than $1 million under the company’s mortgage subsidy program over three fiscal years. The amount was slightly less than $1 million and reflected total relocation-related benefits, which included the mortgage subsidy […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street was set for a lower open on Friday after General Electric Co (GE.N) a 42 percent drop in quarterly earnings and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) posted a quarterly loss before the open.
S&P 500 futures fell 2.90 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing […]

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HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian shares rose to 14-month highs on Thursday as upbeat retail sales and surprisingly bullish earnings reports in the United States buoyed risk appetite, pushing the U.S. dollar to a 14-month low.
Shares in Japan jumped more than 2 percent as investors bought exporters who might benefit from rising U.S. demand […]

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CHICAGO, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) — The revamped board of directors of U.S. automaker General Motors Co. is spending the next month poring over the automaker’s business plan with CEO and President Fritz Henderson’s management team, the company said Thursday. The General Motors logo is seen outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan […]

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BERLIN — As recently as last year, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development seemed like a relic of the post-cold war era. One of the nations providing the bank’s financial backing, Australia, asked for its money back, while one of the new European Union members, the Czech Republic, became the first country to leave […]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Wednesday after a surprising contraction in an index of Midwest business activity, but buying of technology bellwethers like Cisco Systems Inc at the end of a strong quarter limited losses.
The top drags in Wednesday's session were some of the quarter's best performers, including industrials, materials and banks.
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NEW YORK — Last Tuesday, Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader of the U.S. Senate, was asked by a reporter to appraise the odds that Congress, in the throes of debating health care changes, would manage to pass climate legislation in 2009 — including provisions for an emissions cap-and-trade plan.
“So, you know, […]

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SHANGHAI — Coca-Cola Inc. said Tuesday that a second manager who worked in the company’s Shanghai bottling plant has been detained by police on suspicion of accepting bribes or kickbacks.
The announcement came just days after Coca-Cola confirmed that a middle manager at the same facility, the Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co., was detained earlier […]

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President Barack Obama (file photo)U.S. President Barack Obama has announced new initiatives designed to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement. In his weekly national radio and Internet address, Mr. Obama noted the “painful toll” the global economic downturn has had on “retirement security.”He said the government will make it easier for small […]

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Major exchanges differed on how far U.S. securities and futures regulators should align their rules, with the world's largest - the Chicago Mercantile Exchange - arguing against a one-size-fits-all rule.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission were holding an unprecedented joint meeting on Wednesday in an effort […]

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, said he plans legislation to restrict the Federal Reserve's emergency lending powers and subject the central bank to a "complete audit."
At a recent town hall meeting, Frank said the House would pass a bill to use an […]

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Iceland’s Parliament, the Althing, passed legislation on Friday enabling the government to repay Britain and the Netherlands about $6 billion that they had given depositors who lost money in Icelandic savings accounts during the financial crisis.
The government hopes the move will start of the end of a troubling period for the island nation, ravaged by […]

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FRANKFURT — The bankruptcy filing of the Arcandor retail and mail-order group has left its former chairman and chief executive, Thomas Middelhoff, defending himself in two inquiries related to his four years at the company.
German prosecutors are investigating Mr. Middelhoff, who once led the media giant Bertelsmann, over real estate deals between a business associate […]

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JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet warned policy-makers from around the world on Saturday not to forget the lessons of the devastating financial crisis now that the worst has passed.
"Now that we see some signs confirming that the real economy is starting to get out of the period of […]

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