Category: Business

By Nick Carey | ORWELL, Ohio ORWELL, Ohio Three years ago if a customer walked onto Dan Reel's used car lot seeking a late-model off-lease Ford Escape, his answer was short: tough luck. The supply of lightly-used cars and trucks was tight because automakers had drastically cut back on bargain leases during and after the Great Recession.Recently, though, a computer search

By Dan Levine | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO A U.S. judge on Thursday rejected Uber's [UBER.UL] bid to send its high-profile trade secret dispute with Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) self-driving Waymo unit to a private legal forum, a setback for the ride services company.U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco also partially granted Waymo's bid for an injunction against Uber over its

WILMINGTON, Del. A judge effectively killed off any practical chance of Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) merging with Cigna Corp (CI.N) on Thursday as he declined to order Cigna not to terminate the deal.Judge Travis Laster of Delaware's Court of Chancery denied Anthem's request for a preliminary injunction but stayed implementation of his ruling until noon on Monday to give the insurer time to decide if it will pursue an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court."I recognize that this ruling will permit

By John McCrank | NEW YORK NEW YORK Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) will launch a new private stock-trading venue, known as a "dark pool," on Friday, that is run by exchange operator Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O), according to a note to clients obtained by Reuters.Goldman has been refreshing its trading technology to become more competitive in its electronic stock execution business,

Volkswagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) U.S. unit said Thursday it has named a KPMG LLP director, Stephanie C. Davis, as its chief compliance officer after it was sentenced in April in its diesel emissions scandal.

By Michele Sinner and Julia Fioretti | LUXEMBOURG/BRUSSELS LUXEMBOURG/BRUSSELS Uber provides a transport service and must be licensed, the European Union's top court said on Thursday, in a potential blow to the U.S. firm which says it is merely a digital enabler."The Uber electronic platform, whilst innovative, falls within the field of transport: Uber can thus be required to obtain the

By Nandita Bose | WHEATON, Ill. WHEATON, Ill. German grocery chain Aldi Inc is trying to beat the world's biggest retailer at its own game: low prices.Already with 1,600 U.S. stores, Aldi has set a minimum target of selling groceries at a 21 percent discount to its U.S. rivals, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), Chief Executive Jason Hart told Reuters. His

By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian stocks rose early on Thursday, getting a lift from a record high close on MSCI's global stocks benchmark after strong gains in oil prices buoyed energy stocks globally.Oil prices held on to 3 percent-plus overnight gains, their biggest one-day jump since Dec. 1, following a steep drop in U.S. inventories and support from Iraq

Health insurer Aetna Inc said on Wednesday it will exit the 2018 Obamacare individual insurance market in Delaware and Nebraska - the two remaining states where it had offered the plans.Aetna had previously announced plans to exit the individual commercial market in Virginia and Iowa.It has now "completely exited the exchanges," the company said in an emailed statement.

WASHINGTON Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Wednesday that there should not be any relaxation of regulations that have tightened oversight of Wall Street."Progress has been made. I wouldn't want to roll that back off the biggest banks," Kashkari said at an event in Minneapolis, when asked about the fate of the Dodd-Frank reform act that was passed in part to prevent big banks from causing a repeat of the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks were slightly lower on Wednesday, dragged down by Walt Disney's disappointing results, while investors turned cautious after President Donald Trump fired his FBI chief. Disney (DIS.N) fell 2.5 percent and was the top drag on the Dow and the S&P 500 after the media company reported quarterly revenue below analysts' expectations. Trump said he fired

MANNHEIM, Germany SAP (SAPG.DE) said on Wednesday its executive pay system was reasonable, defending management bonuses against the criticism of some shareholders."Our executive payment must be seen in comparison with other software companies and must be competitive," SAP's co-founder and supervisory board Chairman Hasso Plattner told the company's annual shareholders' meeting. "We think we have a reasonable system," he added.Leading shareholder advisors have called on SAP investors to oppose the supervisory board of Europe's largest technology company on the issue

ZURICH ChemChina [CNCC.UL] has won around 82 percent support from Syngenta shareholders for its $43 billion takeover of the Swiss pesticides and seeds group, China's biggest foreign acquisition to date, the two companies said on Wednesday. Definitive interim results of the tender showed around 82.2 percent of Syngenta shares

NEW YORK Proxy adviser Glass Lewis on Tuesday recommended that BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) shareholders vote down a non-binding measure on executive compensation, saying CEO Larry Fink was paid "significantly more than the median CEO compensation" of the world's largest asset manager's peers.

By Timothy Gardner | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Eight Democratic senators asked U.S. regulators on Tuesday to launch an investigation into billionaire Carl Icahn’s activities in the U.S. biofuels blending credit market, saying the activist investor may have violated trading laws since becoming an adviser to President Donald Trump."We are writing to request that your agencies investigate whether Carl Icahn violated insider trading

By Jonathan Stempel | OMAHA, Neb. OMAHA, Neb. It has been decades since anyone thought of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, or even its insurance operations, as "very, very small."But that's how a senior executive describes biBERK, a unit that lets owners of small businesses shop online for commercial vehicle, general liability, property, workers' compensation and eventually professional liability insurance.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday said the U.S. government did not commit an "illegal exaction" harming American International Group Inc (AIG.N) shareholders led by former Chief Executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg when it bailed out the insurer in 2008.

BERLIN Investment advisory firm Hermes EOS has urged Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) shareholders not to clear the carmaker's management and supervisory boards from responsibility for actions taken in 2016, citing VW's failure to resolve long-standing corporate governance and transparency issues. A day before VW's annual shareholder meeting in Hanover, Germany, Hermes

By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian stock markets edged down on Tuesday following a flat close on Wall Street, as investors searched for the next catalyst following France's presidential election, while oil inched higher on expectations OPEC supply cuts will be extended.Financial spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI to all open flat.

By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices edged up on Tuesday, driven by anticipation that an OPEC-led pledge to cut production would be extended beyond the first half of the year and into 2018, although overall high supply still weighed on markets.Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $49.60 per barrel at 0045 GMT on Tuesday,

By Tom Hals and Diane Bartz | WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON Health insurer Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) asked a Delaware judge on Monday to give it more time to try to win approval for a merger with rival Cigna Corp (CI.N), which is seeking to end the deal and collect a $1.85 billion break-up fee.Anthem asked Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of Delaware's

U.S. broadcaster Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc (SBGI.O) said on Monday it would buy Tribune Media Co (TRCO.N), one of the largest U.S. television station operators, for about $3.9 billion cash and stock, and assume about $2.7 billion in debt.The $43.50 per share offer represents a nearly 8 percent premium to Tribune's Friday close. Shares of Tribune, which operates 42 television stations in 33 markets, rose 5.2 percent to $42.40 in early trading on Monday.Up to Friday's close, Tribune shares soared

Warren Buffett said on Monday United Airlines made a "terrible mistake" in handling the fallout of a recent incident when a man was forcibly dragged off a United flight, which drew widespread outrage and sparked Congressional hearings.But the billionaire, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) is the largest investor in the carrier's parent United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N), acknowledged on CNBC television that flying has become less comfortable for passengers packed in tighter seats and on fuller flights.The April 9 episode

By Nigel Stephenson | LONDON LONDON European stocks and the euro pulled back on Monday from highs touched after Emmanuel Macron's emphatic but well-flagged victory in France's presidential election as investors' focus shifted from politics to monetary policy.With the political risks that have dominated European markets in a year packed with elections seen receding, the European Central Bank is expected to

AMSTERDAM Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel (AKZO.AS) on Monday rejected a third takeover proposal from larger U.S. rival PPG valued at 26.9 billion euros ($29.51 billion)saying it undervalues the company, faces antitrust risks, and does not address other stakeholder concerns such as "cultural differences."

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump took aim again on Sunday at Rexnord Corp (RXN.N) for the industrial supplier's decision to move jobs to Mexico from Indiana.Milwaukee-based Rexnord announced plans in October to move a bearing plant and its 300 jobs from Indianapolis, employees told the Indianapolis Star at the time.

LONDON The euro topped $1.10 for the first time since the U.S. elections on Sunday and climbed to a one-year high against the safe-haven yen on relief that Emmanuel Macron had beaten the far-right Marine Le Pen to clinch the French presidency. Early projections showed the market-friendly, pro-EU candidate Macron had been voted in with about 65 percent of the vote, comfortably defeating Le Pen, a nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union.

By David Lawder | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Saturday that threats of retaliatory trade actions from Canadian officials "are inappropriate" and will not influence final U.S. import duty determinations on Canadian softwood lumber."We continue to believe that a negotiated settlement is in the best interests of all parties and we are prepared to work toward that

By John Ruwitch | SHANGHAI SHANGHAI Organizers barred journalists on Sunday from a publicly advertised event in Shanghai that offered Chinese investors the chance to get U.S. immigrant visas if they put money in a real estate project linked to the family of President Donald Trump's son-in-law.The two-tower luxury apartment complex in New Jersey, One Journal Square, is being developed by

By Anthony Esposito | MONTERREY, Mexico MONTERREY, Mexico Engineers from across Mexico streamed into a cramped hotel lobby in the industrial city of Monterrey for a chance of a job with the U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), which is looking south of the border for talent in short supply at home. The fair was held at a delicate time

By Jonathan Cable | LONDON LONDON The fate of the European Union and the euro could hang on the outcome of Sunday's French presidential election.The expected victory of centrist, pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron would be taken by markets as a sign that political risk in Europe is receding; a surprise win for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen would raise the risk

By Ann Saphir | PALO ALTO PALO ALTO San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams on Saturday reiterated his view that the U.S. central bank should begin trimming its massive balance sheet later this year, in part so the Fed has more tools at the ready when the next recession hits. He was the fourth Fed official in two days

FRANKFURT Shareholder adviser Ivox Glass Lewis has called on Linde (LING.DE) investors to vote against signing off on the actions of its management and supervisory board due to problems in the handling of a planned merger with peer Praxair (PX.N).The all-share merger of equals would reunite a global industrial gases company that split in World War One and would create a market leader to rival Air Liquide (AIRP.PA).But the $65 billion deal has faced unexpectedly strong opposition from trade unions,

By Jonathan Stempel | OMAHA, Neb. OMAHA, Neb. Warren Buffett on Saturday faulted Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N) previous management for failing to take action immediately upon learning that its employees were signing up customers for bogus accounts, causing a national scandal.Buffett spoke at the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), which he chairs, and where he and Vice Chairman