World Business News

Recent World Business News

Learn developments that affect international players and drive the stock markets in Europe, Asia and the U.S.; read about financial earnings and losses reported by traded companies in the world’s most popular stock exchanges; and be updated about currency movements, and other instruments heavily affected by world market forces.

Immersed yourself daily in the details of multi-billion investments, acquisitions, disposals, restructurings, mergers and public offerings. Be entertained with news about the activities of corporate “who’s who.”

  • Ten States Staring at Looming Budget Crisis
    At least ten major states in the US are now staring at a looming budget crisis as the country continues to feel the effect of the recession.

  • Three Million Acres Can Be Farmed Once Again
    More than three million acres of bare lands in the United States were lifted from the farming ban of the US government, making it usable once again for farming. However, the economic and environmental repercussions of the program expiration may be more devastating to the region rather than its profitability.

  • North Houston Bank Shuts Down
    The financial crisis hit and a Houston-based bank failed. It was shut down on Friday by the government as part of the nine banks closed by bank regulators. Shutting down North Houston Bank means that the recession is still covering the economy.

  • Metro Job Market Falls in some 223 Areas
    A new study showed that metro job market fell in some 223 metro areas in the US as Americans who were discouraged by the recent massive job cuts being implemented by companies have stopped looking for another job.

  • Verizon Post 30 Percent Drop in Profit Due to Reconstruction Costs
    Telecoms giant Verizon, the second largest phone company in the US, posted on Monday some 30 percent drop in its third quarter profit or down $1.18 billion.

  • Wal-Mart Eyes Positive Gains After Cuts, Slower Growth Rate
    Wal-Mart is now eyeing further cost cutting in order for them to sell cheaper products to their customers around the world.

  • Competition among Restaurant Chains Tightens, Sales Continue to Fall Down
    The competition among restaurant chains in the US even tightens as people holdback from spending too much on anything outside the comfort of their own homes.

  • Windows 7 Adoption in Business May Be Slowed Down by Bad Economy
    The set launch of the new Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System faces uncertain future as corporate clients has tightened grip on IT funding.

  • Wal-Mart to Open Online Store for Health and Beauty Products
    In a bid to provide better shopping experience to its loyal customers, Wal-Mart, the largest retail store chain in the US, has launched a long line of discounted health and beauty care products in its online store.

  • Top Apparel Firm A&F files lawsuit against Beyonce over Perfume Copyright
    Abercrombie and Fitch sued singer/actress Beyonce Knowles over perfume label, saying that they have the trademark over the “Fierce” perfume line since 2003.

  • Volkswagen Eyes Two More Brands Following Porsche Acquisition
    German automaker Volkswagen said that it wants to add two more brands in the company making it a dozen marques under its belt.

  • Retailers Focuses on Consumer “Needs” rather than “Wants”
    The US recession continues to burden retailers as more and more stores are being forced to go “small” as consumers piled up on their thrift habit, a new study showed on Monday.

  • Slump Sales Forces Porsche to Cut Workers’ Hours
    Porsche, the popular sports car maker from Germany, said that they are now eyeing an 18-day shorter working hours for all its employees following disappointing sales in key sports car markets all over the world.

  • Hyundai, Ford Post Sharp Increase as US Auto Sales Boom
    US auto sales in August boomed with Korean auto maker Hyundai and American automotive giant Ford Motor Co posting a sharp increase in profits.

  • Wal-Mart Sees Partnership with other Online Vendors
    The Largest retail store in the US said on Tuesday that it is eyeing business partnership with other online store to give boost to its own online store called Walmart.com.

  • Mobile Banking Will Soon Be Available in Nokia Phones
    Mobile giant Nokia Corp. on Wednesday bared plans to include mobile banking services features in its mobile phones that will allow consumers to send money, pay the bills, and even buy items with just one device.

  • Toyota to cut Global Production by 10 Percent or 1 Million Cars
    Toyota, the biggest Japanese automaker, announced on Tuesday that it will cut production capacity of its plants worldwide to raise utilization of idle production lines.

  • Germany pushes for 1M Electric vehicles by 2020
    The German government on Thursday officially announced its “national electro-mobility plan” which aimed to put some one million electric vehicles on its streets and highways.

  • Three Charged With Largest Identity Theft in the US
    US authorities on Tuesday said that more than $130 million were stolen by three individuals after conducting the “largest hacking and identity theft” case ever prosecuted in the country.

  • Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Drop Six Percent
    The second quarter of 2009 proved to be disappointing to mobile phone makers as a new study showed that its sales dropped by 6.1 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same time last year.

  • Recession to End in Third Quarter
    The current economic crisis hounding the US was said to hit bottom during the end of the third quarter this year. But economist remained pessimistic on the speed of the recovery said that it will be at a sluggish pace.

  • No House List of Too-Big-To-Fail Institutions
    On Monday, a key lawmaker, Barney Frank, said that legislators will not write legislation to create a specific list number of institutions that are “too-big-to-fail.” This decision was made even if the White House proposed the creation of such a list.

  • WTO Says Trade Contraction Hits Bottom
    WTO said that the Asian market is now making its presence felt in the economic arena as the worldwide recession began to hit bottom, experts from the WTO said.

  • World's Largest Bookseller Launches Largest eBookstore
    Bookworms everywhere can now buy their books through Barnes and Noble, Inc's eBookstore.

  • Survey Shows Recession Slowing Down, But Not Over Yet
    The impact of the recession in the US appears to be easing but the National Association for Business Economics said that it is likely not over yet.

  • Wal-Mart Plans to Put "Green Rating" to All Products
    In an effort to pave way for the "green revolution", US retail giant Wal-Mart has announced its ambitious plan to provide a "sustainable index" to all its products that will reveal information such as what materials were used in the product, the amount of resources needed to make this, and its impact to the environment.

  • Research Shows Netbook Shipment to Double This Year
    As sales of mainstream laptops flattened worldwide, netbooks are making the most of it by shipping more than 32 million units before the end of the year.

  • Unemployment Rate Indicates Weak Economy
    Despite claims that the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits has dropped significantly last week, the large number of jobless, reaching to 7 million, still signify that the economy is still in its weak point and showing that it will continue to do so until late 2010.

  • Oil Price Falls amid Stronger Dollar
    Around 49 percent of analysts said that prices of oil-based products will go on a downturn decline though 10th of July as the value of the US dollar increased.

  • Massive Losses Prompt BT to Take Drastic Measures, Offers Staffs a Year Off
    Some 15, 000 employees of Britain’s BT Group PLC, the largest telecoms company in the country, will be out off job in 2010.

  • Volkswagen Bares Plans to Build First Electric Car By 2013
    Volkswagen sees future production of all-electric vehicles by 2013 as plans to make the new small family vehicle units was bared last Friday by company executive.

  • PC Makers Ignore Web Filter Cries, Ship Computers with Software into China
    Despite decisions by China to postpone its Green Dam program and avoid possible trade war with other major economic players, some personal computer manufacturers did the unthinkable by shipping in PCs that has capability to filter web contents of the users.

  • Investors Demand Answers on Steve Jobs' Health
    Like any other normal company, investors of Apple ask to be given a clear picture and full update on the health and future role of Mr. Steve Jobs. However, these investors thought that they'll be treated again as dupes, given Apple's past omissions and deceptions on this matter.

  • Samsung wins infringement case, Sharp TV and monitors banned in US
    Two electronic giants were battling over sales in the US, as both filed infringement cases against each other and both were found guilty of violating the Law.

  • Market's Cool Reaction to Bank Bailout Repayment
    Market reacted coolly to news that the nation's largest banks have the capacity to repay their bailout money. In fact, some experts say that this can be an indication of industry stability. On the other hand, traders think that this incident may widen the split between healthy and troubled banks.

  • Wal-Mart to Hire 22,000 Workers
    Retail store giant Wal-Mart Inc announced it will hire more than 22,000 workers in the country before the year ends in an effort to boost its profit amid weak economy that is hurting most retail businesses in the US.

  • Survey Says Oil Price to Continue Rising
    Research market firm Lundberg Survey, which conducted a nationwide survey that included 5,000 gasoline stations, said that unleaded gasoline price rose by 19.29 cents or $2.49 per gallon in mid-May, or an increase of 54 cents in the past 10 weeks.

  • Survey Says Honda Beats Toyota in Auto Parts Supply
    According to a study conducted by the research firm Planning Perspectives Inc, Honda Motor Co has toppled Toyota Motor Corp as the biggest supplier of auto parts.

  • Milan Seized Funds of Four Big Banks
    The city of Milan will sue JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG, UBS AG, and Depfa Bank Plc with allegations on fraud linked to derivatives’ sale. Accordingly, their assets were seized and their stakes worth $620 million (476 million Euros) were frozen. Aside from Italy, the U.S. government is also investigating similar suspicious deals.

  • Global Trade Will Survive Recession Despite Protectionism
    A former US trade official said that global trade will survive despite the existence of protectionism or the practice of restraining trades between countries and implementation of rules to discourage imports.

  • Toyota to Slash Price of E-car
    With the growing popularity of electric-car, Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp. recently announced it will cut the price of its popular electric-car Prius to $21,000 in an effort to compete with Honda Motor Co.

  • Steelmakers Cut Output
    After experiencing low demand for the past six months, steelmakers worldwide have decided to cut its production by more than half.

  • International Cooperation to End Recession: Obama
    President Barack Obama over the weekend called on world leaders to stand united in resolving the toughest global challenges, saying that mankind must remain vigilant in the face of various threats. Meanwhile, the US President has been discussing with European leaders to find a common ground to stop recession.

  • G20 Urges IMF to Inject More Money to Poor Countries
    As poor countries are the ones mostly affected by the global economic slowdown, Group 20 which represents rich and developing nations around the world has urged the International Monetary Fund to lend more money to underdeveloped countries.

  • Planes Pile Up as Less People Travel
    Planes continue to pile up inside the airlines’ storehouse as more travelers postpone their business and vacation flights and prefer to stay home to avoid spending money as incomes become more dispensable nowadays due to recession.

  • 50 Million Blackberry Sold Amid Recession
    Research In Motion Limited (RIM) which manufactures Blackberry smartphones posted $3.46 billion in revenues in fourth-quarter of 2008 as sales of its Internet-enabled handsets increased despite financial recession which hit the global economy.

  • World Economy Hit Bottom, Bounces Back
    Research said the global economy will not get any worst as the world has already lost trillion in trading stocks and millions are being displaced. With this, experts believe that people should now expect the economy to bounce back and experiencing slow growth after deep and prolonged recession.

  • No Spending Pledges to Take Place - UK
    The United States and Britain said it will not ask other G20 leaders to announce their spending pledges and public spending stimulus plans. Next week, G20 Summit, an economic conference which will be attended by rich countries from Europe, will meet in London to discuss global effort to address the looming financial crisis.

  • EU President Criticizes US Stimulus Plan
    European Union (EU) President Mirek Topolanek criticized the US economic plans which include massive stimulus package, adding that excessive government spending may even worsen the situation. Earlier, President Barack Obama urged EU leaders to inject money to its economy to boost production and stop economic recession from getting worse.

  • World Leaders Prepare for Economic Conference
    With the looming global financial crisis, economic leaders from more than 60 countries will meet on April 2 in London to discuss solutions to various economic problems including high unemployment rate, slow market growth, lowering living standards, and credit crunch.

  • EU Leaders Say No More Stimulus Spending
    Following the appeal of President Barack Obama to spend more stimulus money, European leaders said their government cannot afford more bailouts adding that there are other ways to address the looming global financial problem.

  • Sony to Trim Workers' Bonuses
    With the slumping sales and weak market, electronic giant Sony announced it will trim its workers' pay and bonuses starting on April 1. According to the company, this cost-cutting measure will be implemented for one year to cushion the impact of its massive losses for the past couple of months.

  • OPEC Plans Another Oil Cut Production
    Because of the lowering consumer demand for crude oil due to economic recession, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is planning to cut its oil production from the succeeding months to prevent prices from plummeting.

  • Toyota Plans to Introduce Low-cost Hybrid Cars
    In an attempt to compete with Honda’s cheap eco-friendly autos, carmaker giant Toyota said it will focus on creating low-cost hybrid models that will come at a starting price of $20,500, allowing more consumers to buy its products.

  • Obama Urges World Leaders to Boost International Demands
    Even before the G20 Summit next month, President Barack Obama has urged leaders from developed countries to boost international demands in order to save the global economy from recession, adding that governments should inject more money to the economy so it will result to more production and higher growth rate.

  • More Job Losses in February
    Because of the deepening recession, more companies continue to shed workforce which left thousands of Americans jobless. According to a recent study by the Labor Department, more than 651,000 jobs were shed in February, further pushing the unemployment to 8.1 percent which is the highest trend for many decades.

  • Poor Countries Need Extra Financing - IMF
    With the ongoing financial crisis, at least $25 billion will be needed by developing and poor countries to prevent economic meltdown, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to economists and analysts, the financial aid can help vulnerable nations from succumbing to deeper recession that is costlier to resolve.

  • EU Finance Ministers Discuss Global Crisis
    Finance ministers from European countries convened on Sunday to discuss the issue of protectionism and other major concerns regarding the looming global economic crisis that hit most industrialized countries. Meanwhile, the finance leaders will meet again in April to discuss economic measures which can help the ailing global economy.

  • Citigroup Inc. to Use $36.5 Billion to Boost Lending
    US financial institution Citigroup said it will use $36.5 billion worth of bailout package to boost money lending, with huge portion of this fund going to home loans supported by government-backed mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

  • Slumping Sales Continue to Hunt Car Industry
    With the ongoing recession, automakers are facing grim future as sales are continuously plummeting despite implementing marketing strategies such as low price and incentives. Meanwhile, if this trend continues, many car factories will be shut down which can result to massive layoff, further aggravating the rising unemployment rate worldwide.

  • EU Warns Recession Worse than Expected
    The European Union (EU) warned countries to prepare from the long and deep economic recession that will spread in the whole region. Meanwhile, to cushion the impact of this looming problem, EU said that governments should adopt fiscal policy which can be overall beneficial for the economy.

  • Consumers Spend Less on Last Holiday Season
    The year-end holiday shopping season proved to be a dismal period for US retailers who experienced slumping sales, prompting them to cut the prices of products in an attempt to persuade people to buy. But despite big discounts, consumers remained wary to spend money on doing their holiday shopping.

  • British PM Rebuffs New Bailout Proposal
    During an interview, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed his plan not to allow another bailout for the banking sector, adding that there are other ways in which the government can help this struggling industry.