Citi, Morgan Stanley look to sidestep bonus caps: report

Anticipating restrictions on bonuses, officials at Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley are exploring ways to sidestep tough new federal caps on compensation, the Wall Street Journal said.
Executives at these banks and other financial institutions that received government aid are discussing increasing base salaries for some executives and other top-producing employees, the paper said, citing […]

Service sector contraction slows in January

The U.S. service sector shrank in January, but less severely than expected, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index came in at 42.9 in January compared with 40.1 in December.
The level of 50 separates expansion from contraction. The index dates back to July 1997.
Economists had expected […]

Indonesia Inflation Slows, Exports Plunge; Rate Cut May Follow

Indonesia’s inflation slowed to a nine-month low and exports fell the most in seven years, prompting speculation that the central bank will cut interest rates this week.
Consumer prices rose 9.2 percent in January from a year earlier, after gaining 11.1 percent in the previous month, the Central Statistics Bureau said in Jakarta today. […]

Pfizer to buy Wyeth for $68 billion

Pfizer announced Monday that it has signed a deal to acquire the smaller drugmaker Wyeth for $68 billion, and tens of thousands of job cuts will follow.
New York-based Pfizer, already the world’s leading drugmaker, becomes even larger following the cash-and-stock deal with Wyeth, based in Madison, N.J.
The deal values Wyeth shares at $50.19 […]

Dollar mixed against currencies

The U.S. dollar gained against the pound but fell against the euro and yen Thursday as investors were confronted with grim data from the housing and labor markets.
The euro gained 0.08% to $1.3011 from $1.2974 late Wednesday.
The pound fell 0.54% to $1.3876 from $1.3948 late Wednesday.
Against the yen, the greenback slipped 0.52% […]

Bank of America posts first loss in 17 years

Bank of America Corp, posted its first quarterly loss in 17 years on Friday and slashed its dividend, hours after winning a multibillion-dollar lifeline from the U.S. government to help absorb Merrill Lynch, which lost a record $15.31 billion in the quarter.
The dismal results came as the largest U.S. bank faced mounting pressure from […]

ASB Bank Says Outlook for New Zealand Housing Market Improved

New Zealanders are more optimistic about the outlook for the housing market following reductions in borrowing costs, according to an ASB Bank Ltd. survey.
Forty-five percent of 600 people surveyed said it is a good time to buy property compared with 37 percent in the previous survey in August, Auckland-based ASB said in a […]

China’s Exports Decline for First Time in 7 Years

China’s exports fell for the first time in seven years, more evidence that recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan are driving the world’s fourth-largest economy into a slump.
Exports declined 2.2 percent in November from a year earlier, the customs bureau said in a statement on its Web site today. Imports plunged 17.9 […]

Hedge Fund Manager Hendry Bets on Deflation With U.K. War Loans

Hugh Hendry, who oversees about $500 million as co-founder of Ecletica Asset Management in London, said he’s buying World War I debt on the bet the U.K. is due for its worst round of deflation since the Great Depression.
The gilts, known as perpetuals because they have no maturity date, have a coupon of […]

U.S. Industrial Output Probably Rose on Rebound From Hurricanes

U.S. industrial production probably rose in October as work at Gulf Coast refineries rebounded from shutdowns following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, economists said ahead of a government report today.
Output grew 0.2 percent after dropping 2.8 percent in September, according to the median estimate of 64 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. A separate report […]