Category: Business

By Ernest Scheyder | HOUSTON HOUSTON Nearly a century after Chevron Corp amassed the No. 2 stake in America's largest oilfield, Chief Executive John Watson is hitting the accelerator on developing the company's vast Permian Basin holdings.In an interview, Watson made clear his desire to put the West Texas to New Mexico expanse in the ranks of Chevron's biggest ventures. That

By Stephen Nellis | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc's decision to stop licensing graphics chips from Imagination Technologies Group Plc is the clearest example yet of the iPhone maker's determination to take greater control of the core technologies in its products - both to guard its hefty margins and to position it for future innovations, especially in so-called augmented reality.The

By Joseph White | DETROIT DETROIT General Motors Co (GM.N) on Tuesday unveiled a German-made Buick crossover wagon it plans to sell in the United States, and in so doing highlighted the U.S. auto industry's vulnerability to shifting trade politics.The Buick Regal TourX, scheduled to launch later this year in the United States, is aimed at imported all-wheel drive vehicles such

By Scott DiSavino | NEW YORK NEW YORK Oil prices on Tuesday rose to a near one-month high as expectations of a drawdown in U.S. crude and product inventories outweighed news of higher Libyan production.Brent LCOc1 futures were up 91 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $54.03 a barrel by 11:27 a.m. EDT (1527 GMT). That pushed the global benchmark over its

By Foo Yun Chee | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS French, German and Italian groups urged their national antitrust enforcers on Tuesday to look into alleged anti-competitive practices by McDonald's (MCD.N), potentially putting the U.S. fast-food chain on course for multiple investigations in Europe.The three complaints share similar concerns about McDonald's franchising terms and conditions, including prices set for products sold at franchises, saying

HAMBURG Airbus (AIR.PA) has developed a new, slimmer staircase for its A380 super jumbo to allow for more seats in its latest effort to improve sales of the world's largest airliner.Reuters reported last month that Airbus was considering doing away with the front "grand staircase" to lower the double-decker's operating costs and boost fuel efficiency.Airbus cabin marketing executive Ingo Wuggetzer said that introducing a slimmer stairway instead of the double staircase would generate enough space to add 20 extra seats.

By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian shares inched lower on Tuesday as caution reigned ahead of a potentially tense meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this week. The dollar lost ground after investors sold stocks overnight and looked to safe havens as political uncertainty overshadowed positive U.S. economic data and solid growth in

SEOUL South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and Kia Motors Corp (000270.KS) have slashed vehicle production in China, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, amid diplomatic tensions and competition from local brands.China, the world's biggest auto market, accounted for over a quarter of the pair's 2016 overseas sales but their March sales there were hit by anti-Korean sentiment and competition from local automakers like Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (0175.HK).Kia Motors has cut production shifts at its China factories, two

A morale crisis at American International Group Inc could prevent the U.S. insurance company from keeping and hiring the talent it needs to propel it through its financial turnaround, UBS said in an analysis on Monday. AIG ranked last through March 21 among 10 insurers rated by their own employees in categories ranging from career opportunities to business outlook, according to a UBS analysis of data from Glassdoor Inc, which runs a careers website and database of millions of company

TORONTO The Canadian arm of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N), which makes the Jeep and Chrysler brands, led auto sales in Canada for the month of March, but General Motors Canada (GM.N) posted the biggest surge in monthly sales.FCA Canada sales were up marginally in March, with 26,531 cars and trucks sold during the month, compared with 26,469 a year ago.

By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stocks were flat on Monday, with investors awaiting the earnings season to justify high valuations, and, more immediately, the implications of President Donald Trump's "very difficult" meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Trump said in a tweet last Thursday that the meeting over the coming Thursday and Friday would be "a very difficult one" as the United States

LONDON British luxury brand Burberry (BRBY.L) said on Monday it would transfer its beauty business to U.S. group Coty (COTY.N) in a deal that will bring in around $225 million plus ongoing royalty payments and grow the division. Known for its British-made trenchcoats, Burberry's fragrances include My Burberry and Mr Burberry and it has expanded into cosmetics in recent years to help introduce its brand to younger consumers.

SEOUL South Korea's Lotte Group will continue to invest in its China business despite diplomatic tensions over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, a Lotte executive said on Monday, denying rumors it wants to scale back there. Chinese authorities closed dozens of Lotte retail stores following inspections, ramping up pressure on Korea's fifth-largest family-run conglomerate after it agreed to provide land for the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system outside

TOKYO Asian shares started the week on a steady footing on Monday after a bumper quarter as investors look to the shape of U.S. trade and economic policies and how they could affect global growth.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was little changed in early trade while Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.1 percent.Ex-Japan Asia MSCI had gained 12.3 percent in the last quarter, its biggest quarterly gains in 6-1/2 years and almost double the 6.4 percent rise

NEW YORK Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), the U.S. luxury electric car maker, said on Sunday first-quarter vehicle deliveries jumped 69 percent from a year ago to a quarterly record of 25,000 vehicles, bouncing back from delays in the previous quarter.The company said of the total vehicles delivered, about 13,450 were Model S sedan and about 11,550 were Model X sports utility vehicle. Tesla has said it expects to deliver 47,000 to 50,000 Model S and Model X vehicles combined in the

LONDON Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) has taken out adverts in British Sunday newspapers stressing a zero-tolerance policy on tax evasion, as the Swiss bank tries to limit any damage to its reputation from raids on three of its offices.Zurich-based Credit Suisse was pulled into an international tax evasion and money laundering investigation on Thursday when coordinated searches were carried out on its London, Paris and Amsterdam offices.

By Jonathan Spicer | NEW YORK NEW YORK The Federal Reserve could begin shrinking its $4.5-trillion balance sheet as soon as this year, earlier than most economists expect, New York Fed President William Dudley said on Friday in the central bank's most definitive comments on the question that looms over financial markets.The hawkish-sounding assertion temporarily pushed the dollar lower and raised

By David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Comcast Corp, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc said Friday they would not sell customers’ individual internet browsing information, days after the U.S. Congress approved legislation reversing Obama administration era internet privacy rules.The bill would repeal regulations adopted in October by the Federal Communications Commission under former President Barack Obama requiring internet service providers to

NEW YORK U.S. mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (FNMA.PK) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.PK) may write down $21 billion of tax-related assets if there is a deep cut in the federal corporate tax rate as promised by President Donald Trump, according to an analyst at BMO Capital Markets on Friday.These assets, known as deferred tax assets, are items such as tax credits that may be used to reduce a company's taxes. If the rate cut is lowered to 20 percent from

By Rodrigo Campos | NEW YORK NEW YORK Forget the jobs report. The most interesting bit of U.S. economic data next week is Monday's auto sales release, which will offer a measure of the middle-class consumer and a sector of the stock market that has had a rough ride so far in 2017. Economists are looking for another solid month of

NEW YORK Ford Motor Co (F.N) is recalling about 52,600 F-250 pickup trucks sold in the United States and Canada because the vehicles could roll after the driver moves the automatic transmission lever into park position, the company said on Saturday.The recall, the third announced by Ford this week, affects 2017 model year F-250 vehicles powered by 6.2-liter gasoline engines and built in its Louisville, Kentucky, truck plant, it said in a statement.

FRANKFURT German prosecutors expect the first rulings this year in legal cases resulting from the Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) emissions scandal, Automobilwoche magazine reported on Saturday."We hope to conclude lawsuits

TOKYO Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Google have joined bidding for Toshiba's (6502.T) NAND flash memory unit, vying with others for the Japanese firm's prized semiconductor operation, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported on Saturday.Toshiba shareholders on Thursday agreed to split off its NAND flash memory business, paving the way for a sale to raise at least $9 billion to cover U.S. nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate's future.The Yomiuri newspaper said bidding prices from Apple, Amazon or

By Kentaro Hamada and Taro Fuse | TOKYO TOKYO Toshiba Corp will likely miss a third deadline to report its quarterly business results, two sources told Reuters, forcing the Japanese conglomerate to ask for a fresh extension or face a possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.A third postponement of the October-December earnings, past the latest deadline of April 11, looks

By Gayathree Ganesan and Akankshita Mukhopadhyay Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) said on Friday it will shut its Aurora, Illinois, plant, costing about 800 employees their jobs as the world's largest construction and mining equipment maker shifts production to other U.S. facilities.Caterpillar was among companies that met with President Donald Trump in February to talk about job creation, at a time when about

Wall Street fell on Friday, pulled down by Exxon and JPMorgan Chase as investors wrapped up a strong quarter and weighed whether corporate earnings reports will justify the market's lofty valuations.Major indexes have hit multiple record highs since the election of President Donald Trump on bets that he would improve economic growth by cutting taxes and boosting infrastructure spending. The rally has also benefited from robust economic data and a pickup in corporate earnings growth.For the quarter ending Friday, the

By Toby Sterling and Joshua Franklin | AMSTERDAM/ZURICH AMSTERDAM/ZURICH Swiss bank Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) has been dragged into yet more tax evasion and money laundering investigations, after a tip-off to Dutch prosecutors about tens of thousands of suspect accounts triggered raids in five countries.Coordinated raids began on Thursday in the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, France and Australia, the Dutch office for financial

DuPont (DD.N) said on Friday it would buy a unit of FMC Corp (FMC.N) and sell its crop protection business to the company to win European Union approval for its merger with Dow Chemical (DOW.N), and delayed the deal's closing again.DuPont said its $130 billion merger with Dow Chemical, which was expected to close in the first half of 2017, is now anticipated to close between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1.DuPont said it would sell part of its crop protection

LONDON Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) said it has so far fixed fewer than half of the 1.2 million cars affected by the diesel emissions scandal in Britain, 18 months after the revelations first came to light. The German carmaker admitted in September 2015 to using software to cheat diesel emission tests in the United States and has since paid out compensation to U.S. motorists but has refused to do so in Europe. In Britain, Europe's second biggest autos market where Volkswagen Group

ISTANBUL Turkish state-run lender Halkbank's operations and transactions fully comply with national and international regulations, it said in a statement regarding the arrest of its deputy general manager Mehmet Hakan Atilla in the United States.Atilla was charged on Tuesday with participating in a multi-year scheme to violate sanctions against Iran and conspiring with Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who is already on trial in a case which has caused tensions between Turkey and the United States.In a statement released to

By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE The dollar extended its overnight gains in early Asian trade on Friday on signs of strong U.S. economic growth, while the euro inched up after sliding overnight on data suggesting slowing growth in Europe. Stock markets in Asia were off a bit despite solid gains on Wall Street as investors awaited

By Gayathree Ganesan and Sruthi Ramakrishnan The steep drop in Lululemon Athletica's (LULU.O) stock price, following a sales warning that resulted from poor color choices in the company's spring collection, turns the spotlight on slowing growth in the athleisure category pioneered by the Canadian yogawear retailer.Shares of rivals Nike Inc (NKE.N) and Under Armour (UAA.N) also were down on Thursday, raising

When Viacom Inc’s (VIAB.O) Spike TV rebrands as the Paramount Network in early 2018, the struggling media company hopes to position itself as a challenger to top-rated U.S. cable networks like Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) USA and Time Warner Inc’s (TWX.N) TNT with shows that have the caliber of HBO.Viacom is heading into the upfront, when U.S. TV channels sell the bulk of their advertising inventory for the next year, seeking to turn around its fortunes under new CEO Bob Bakish.

MUNICH, Germany Linde's (LING.DE) works council chief will vote against the German industrial gases group's planned $65 billion merger with U.S. rival Praxair (PX.N) when it comes up for approval by the supervisory board, he told Reuters on Thursday. Gernot Hahl said he believed Linde would bear the brunt