News Archive - 22 February 2016

>NEW YORK The dollar climbed to a roughly three-week high against a basket of major currencies on Monday, bolstered by recovering oil prices and stocks as well as losses in sterling and euro amid concern about Britain's possible exit from the European Union. Sterling was the biggest decliner, sliding to...

>The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report by the Al Jazeera television network, which also reported that the draft calls on Syrian parties to agree to the cessation of hostilities by midday on Feb. 26. One of the sources said this was accurate, but the second...

>"Only in 2017 will we finally see oil supply and demand aligned but the enormous stocks being accumulated will act as a dampener on the pace of recovery in oil prices when the market, having balanced, then starts to draw down those stocks," the IEA said in its medium-term outlook.

>This move comes on the heels of the San Bernardino, California, shooting case.The other phones, which were seized in a variety of criminal investigations, are involved in cases where prosecutors are compelling the company to help them bypass the passcode security feature of phones that may hold evidence, the...

>SHANGHAI/BEIJING China's new securities regulator Liu Shiyu, a former central banker, has a tough job on his hands - not least managing a huge weight of expectation from millions of small investors smarting from a recent stock market collapse.Liu, appointed at the weekend to replace Xiao Gang, the scapegoat...

>The quick reversal is a setback to the Alphabet unit's efforts to use its enormous reach to provide consumers with niche shopping services and financial-services tools, the Journal said. (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)...

>Democrats hold all statewide elective offices and large majorities in both houses of the legislature in the most populous U.S. state.There were just under 4.8 million Republicans registered in the state as of Jan. 3, down from nearly 5.2 million in early January 2012, the last...

>TOKYO Asian shares rose to a seven-week high on Tuesday as investors took heart from signs of life in battered energy and commodity markets while European currencies are hampered by worries Britain could exit the European Union.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.4 percent,...

>Fitbit Inc's (FIT.N) current-quarter profit forecast missed Wall Street estimates by a wide margin, as the wearable fitness device maker aggressively invests in new products, sending its shares down more than 16 percent in after-hours trading.The lackluster guidance overshadowed the company's comfortable quarterly revenue and profit beat in...

>ZURICH EFG International AG (EFGN.S) has agreed to pay 1.33 billion Swiss francs ($1.34 billion) for Grupo BTG Pactual SA's Swiss private-banking unit BSI Ltd in a deal that could catapult it into the nation's top-five money managers for the wealthy.The acquisition, which comes five months...

>BARCELONA Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Monday tried to extend an olive branch to mobile phone companies, on which the popular social network company increasingly relies, but which are also among his biggest critics. Speaking for the third straight year to an annual gathering of telecoms executives at the...

>"Everything is negotiable," Richard told journalists on the first day of the Mobile World Congress, referring to the talks the French telecoms operator has been holding since the start of the year with Bouygues about the possible acquisition of its telecoms unit. "We're talking, we are working. There's a lot...

>The race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination - once a civil affair - has taken a sour turn, with mud-slinging from both camps over the former secretary of state's win in the Nevada caucuses. Sanders' supporters are alleging that foul play by...

>WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz fired his main spokesman on Monday on the eve of the Nevada caucuses over a video that falsely showed rival Marco Rubio dismissing the Bible.The spokesman, Rick Tyler, had apologized on Sunday for posting "an inaccurate story" on a video purporting to show...

>BARCELONA AT&T's $48.5 billion purchase of DirectTV will give it the edge over U.S. rival Verizon in the roll-out of the next generation of cellular technology, AT&T's strategy chief said on Monday.So-called 5G wireless networks are expected to offer 1,000-fold gains in capacity over existing networks, giving...

>LONDON The pound posted its biggest one-day loss in almost six years on Monday on concerns of a possible British exit from the EU, adding to the pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron as he mounted a defense of his deal to keep the country in the bloc.The fall...

>BAGHDAD Islamic State militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are manipulating the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Iraqi dinars to squeeze money out of local people as coalition bombers attack the group's finances.The U.S-led coalition has said that in addition to attacking Islamic State's...

>"We will urge greater use of policy space, including fiscal space, to bolster global demand. That would lead to strengthened confidence and I would expect reduce volatility," the Treasury official said in a preview call with reporters ahead of a G20 meeting later this week in Shanghai, China.G20 finance...

>NEW YORK The Federal Reserve's top markets official warned on Monday that a trend of U.S. money market firms converting funds from "prime" to "government-only" could be sharply reversed and harm the overall execution of policy when a new Fed tool is eventually dismantled.In a speech on tools...

>A deal would create a company with combined sales of more than $90 billion, combining a maker of jet engines with a supplier of airplane cockpits.United Tech's shares, part of the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI, jumped 6.6 percent to $93.90 in afternoon trading, while Honeywell's dipped...

>LONDON British supermarket operator Sainsbury (SBRY.L) has been given more time to make a firm bid for Argos-owner Home Retail (HOME.L), after a possible higher rival offer from South African group Steinhoff International (SNHG.DE) emerged on Friday.Home Retail said on Monday the Takeover Panel watchdog had...

>Speaking to state governors at the White House, Obama said it was tempting for China to solve its short-term problems by dumping state-subsidized goods into the U.S. market.His administration had made clear to China that would not work, Obama said."They recognize that they can’t forever sustain an...

>WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are locked in a battle to become their party's alternative to New York billionaire Donald Trump in Nevada's Tuesday caucus, the last presidential contest before the busy voting month of March.Opinion polls show the two U.S. senators running close...

>Speaking to state governors at the White House, Obama said he would have to rely on votes from pro-trade Democrats and Republicans since labor leaders opposed the deal.Obama noted that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan had largely been...

>Orders of books worth $25 or more will, however, be eligible for free shipping, according to the shopping website. (amzn.to/Jl3EAc)Amazon has been spending on rolling out several new services for members of its $99-a-year Prime loyalty program, including one-hour delivery and original TV programming, to attract customers in a...

>In a separate announcement on Monday, Ericsson, the world's top supplier of wireless equipment, and Geely Automobile Holdings of China said they would work jointly to develop "an industry-leading connected car platform."AT&T and Audi, another luxury brand in the VW Group, announced an extension of their connected car agreement...

>Western Digital agreed to buy SanDisk in a $19 billion deal in October to help increase its ability to make flash memory storage chips used in smartphones and tablets.The London-based investment manager, Alken Asset, said weakness in the storage chip market has hurt Sandisk's stock price which in turn...

>NEW YORK China, Japan and other overseas central banks are leaving more of their dollars with the U.S. Federal Reserve as they have liquidated their U.S. Treasuries holdings to raise cash in an effort to stabilize their currencies, government data show.Foreign central banks' reduced ownership of U.

>Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, made the choice as his campaign efforts move toward the next round of primary voting states, including Nevada on Tuesday and then Oklahoma and Texas on March 1, "Super Tuesday." Nichols, who stepped down as Devon's CEO in 2012 after more than...

>The VMWare agreement will make it easier and faster for companies using VMWare's virtualization products to deploy and run them on IBM's cloud data centers, so those companies can easily connect their own data centers to the cloud. The idea is to make IBM's services more attractive to VMWare's customers.

>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting and air strikes continue unabated across the country, a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had reached a provisional agreement on terms of a cessation of hostilities that would not include Islamic State.

>NEW YORK Scott Minerd, the global chief investment officer of Guggenheim Partners, said on Monday he sees the 10-year Treasury note yield falling to 1 percent, perhaps even lower, before the end of 2016."According to technical analysis, the current target bottom for the 10-year Treasury note is 28 basis...

>The deal, which is expected to immediately add to earnings, includes the repayment of about $2.3 billion of Brakes' debt, Sysco said in a statement.The deal comes eight months after Sysco dropped its 18-month long pursuit of smaller rival US Foods after the Federal Trade Commission won a...

>Vodafone was in talks last year with John Malone's Liberty about asset swaps or other tie-ups in Europe, which potentially would have enabled allow both to offer a richer package of TV, broadband and mobile in countries like Britain and Germany.Those talks collapsed, but a more limited joint venture...

>The companies said in an emailed statement that the proposed divestments would include both Ahold-owned stores and Delhaize-branded outlets.Belgian media reported that eight of Ahold's Albert Heijn markets and five Delhaize franchise stores are up for sale, but the companies would not confirm that.There are 880 Delhaize supermarkets...

>The European Commission took the decision last Thursday, according to a filing on its website."This is a standard procedure on merger investigations which is activated if the notifying parties do not provide an important piece of information that the Commission has requested from them," Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said...

>WASHINGTON/NEW YORK Republican Marco Rubio's presidential run has drawn more money from Wall Street donors than any other candidate, according to a Reuters review of campaign finance disclosures, shoring up his position as his party's establishment alternative to front-runner Donald Trump.The U.S. senator from Florida has received more...

>BARCELONA Ericsson (ERICb.ST), the world's top supplier of wireless equipment, said on Monday it expects 150 million users to be on next-generation 5G networks five years from now, steering clear of an industry debate over whether network upgrades could start far earlier.By contrast, rival mobile equipment maker Nokia...

>"We consider that there have arisen a number of new circumstances which mean there is reason to review the earlier decision," Thomas Olsson, one of Assange's lawyers, said on Monday. (Reporting by Daniel Dickson)...

>"Apple would gladly participate in such an effort," the company wrote in a post on its website entitled "Answers to your questions about Apple and security". (apple.co/1QthT10)Apple said "the best way forward would be for the government to withdraw its demands" to unlock the phone.The Federal Bureau of...

>The Dublin-based company posted a net loss of $700.5 million, or $1.78 cents per share, compared with a loss of $732.9 million, or $3.34 per share. Revenue rose to $4.20 billion from $2.42 billion. (Reporting by Amrutha Penumudi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)...

>U.S. stock index futures were sharply higher on Monday, in lock-step with oil prices, as investors look for signs of stability after a turbulent start to the year.* Crude prices were up more than 3 percent after data showed a fall in U.S. rig counts and the...

>TAIPEI China's Tsinghua Unigroup's $2.6 billion offer for stakes in three Taiwanese chip firms will undergo unprecedented scrutiny by a new government less friendly toward its giant neighbor, complicating the chance of success.The Chinese state-backed conglomerate aims to buy into the island's technology sector as a step toward...

>BEIJING China's South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, striking a combative tone ahead of a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the United States this week.The United States last week accused China of...

>The study estimated that under a worst case scenario, in which the reintroduction of controls at EU borders pushed import prices up three percent, the costs to the bloc's largest economy Germany could be as much as 235 billion euros between 2016 and 2025, and those to France up to...

>CHICAGO Steve Irish used to farm 450 acres of rich crop fields in east-central Illinois, but that 15-year chapter of his life ended with a recent conversation with his banker.The banker was blunt. Irish was deep in debt from the farm equipment he bought, and needed to pay back...

>BARCELONA China's ZTE, the world's sixth largest smartphone maker, is introducing new value-priced phone models and aims to sell between 60 million and 70 million devices overall this year, an executive said on Monday.ZTE Senior Director of Mobile Devices Waiman Lam said in an interview at the Mobile World...

>The pact is part of a broader push by Ericsson to move telecommunications service providers to adopt cloud services instead of relying entirely on their own internal computer operations that help them to run more efficient mobile services. Ericsson will provide software that help telecom service providers to tap Amazon's...

>After a lull in fighting overnight, army commandos and police launched a fresh offensive to clear the five-storey training institute captured by the militants.Gunfire and explosions could be heard at the building complex near Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, a Reuters witness said. Indian army and police officials at the...

>In a footnote to its earnings statement, the bank said it had received various requests for information from the SEC, which was also targeting other financial institutions as part of the same probe."HSBC has received various requests for information and is cooperating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange...