New Zealand Market Report: New Zealand shares rose as Ryman Healthcare climbed to a new record, bouncing back from a decline that may have been triggered by a rival's stock selldown, while Fletcher Building halted its slide after a presentation in Australia.The NZX 50 Index gained 19.34 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4610.18. Within the index, 23 stocks rose, 16 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $187 million, with $60 million of that made up of trading in Fletcher Building.Ryman, the retirement village operator with more than a decade of annual earnings growth under its belt, rose 2.7 percent to a record close of $6.58.... Read more

The New Zealand dollar edged lower in the local session as investors hold off from making decisions ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's congressional testimony, where he is expected to give his view on whether the US central bank will start unwinding its quantitative easing programme.The kiwi slipped to 81.47 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 81.60 cents at 8am, down from 81.82 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index fell to 76.82 from 77.10 yesterday... Read more

NZ-Indonesia trade imbalance an issue. Indonesia's deputy Minister of Trade has called for New Zealand to evolve into a "true partner" that will help Indonesia solve its problems.Speaking at an Indonesia/New Zealand business forum in Jakarta, Bayu Krisnamurthi said the huge disparity in the size of the two countries' populations made it difficult to explain to Indonesia's parliament, constituents and media, the country's US$200 million ($245 million) trade deficit with New Zealand... Read more

The Government is considering new rules that would require research and development funding to be repaid by companies if taxpayer-supported R&D projects prove particularly successful.Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce told the Business Herald that the measure, if introduced, would apply to the new Project Grants scheme, unveiled in last week's Budget, which provides 30 to 50 per cent public co-funding for specific R&D projects... Read more

Auckland has the country's lowest city home-ownership rate, and it could drop further as young people's attitudes change towards owning a home, a new survey says.An annual "state of the nation" report from research group Roy Morgan shows rapid population growth, soaring house prices and inadequate house supply continue to put barriers in front of would-be house-buyers.Just under a third of Auckland residents own their own home, compared to 35.2% in Wellington and 37.7% in the rest of the country.... Read more

Home affordabilty vs income (graphic & article)... Read more

Russia blocked Kiwi apples at port. A shipment of New Zealand apples was held up by Russian authorities in March because of export certification issues, it was revealed yesterday - a day after officials denied anyone but China had raised concerns.It emerged last week that Chinese officials were blocking New Zealand beef and sheep meat from entering the country, apparently because of a name change on export certification from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority to the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI)... Read more

Unlisted firms' reporting burden may ease. Unlisted companies and charities could find their reporting burden lifted if recommendations from the parliamentary commerce select committee are passed into law as part of the Financial Reporting Bill.The recommendations include lifting the reporting threshold on charities from $40,000 to $125,000, and extending the reporting deadline for private firms from three months to five... Read more

Vodafone keeps losing mobile customers Vodafone New Zealand, which bought phone company TelstraClear for $840 million last year, lost a net 7,000 mobile customers in the first three months of the year, its ninth straight quarterly decline.... Read more

DNZ Property Fund, a diversified property investor, reported a 14 percent fall in annual earnings and plans to raise $80 million in a placement to institutional investors and a share purchase plan to help pay for two new acquisitions.Distributable profit, property investors' favoured measure of earnings which strips out unrealised movements in the value of their portfolios, fell to $24 million, or 9.64 cents per share, in the 12 months ended March 31 from $27.8 million, or 11.22 cents, a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Net profit jumped 119 percent to $45.5 million, or 18.25 cents per share, with rental income up 0.1 percent to $53.5 million... Read more

Property For Industry's proposed merger with Direct Property Fund to create an $800 million industrial property empire is fair, according to independent appraisals released today.Independent directors of both companies today recommended the plan to shareholders after it gained the tick of approval from independent experts Deloitte and PwC.Shares in Property For Industry dropped 0.7 per cent $1.33, having gained 9.8 per cent so far this year.... Read more

Merger will create the fifth largest property company Directors of listed Property for Industry and unlisted Direct Property Fund are enthusiastically backing a merger proposal.When shareholders give approval it will create the fifth largest property company and 29th largest listed company.It will have assets of $814 million. The biggest listed property company is Kiwi Income Property Trust at just over $2 billion in assets, Goodman Property at $1.8 million, Precinct Properties at $1.4 billion, and Argosy at just above $1 billion in assets... Read more

Shares of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which has lifted its full-year guidance three times, rose to a two-year high after brokerage First NZ Capital raised its rating to "outperform" from "neutral", citing prospects for better growth and higher margins.F&P Healthcare shares rose as high as $3.05, the highest level since May 23, 2011, when it touched $3.10. It was recently at $3, having gained 26 percent in the past 12 months. That comes after First NZ Capital analyst Sarndra Urlich raised her 12-month price target for the stock to $3.30 from $2.50 in a report yesterday... Read more

Ecoya changes name to Trilogy... Read more

S&P downgrades Kiwibank, NZ Post outlook... Read more

New Zealand Post, the state-owned postal service, says Standard & Poor's move to lower the outlook on its A+ credit rating won't affect debt on issue or create any problems for its financing activities.S&P yesterday affirmed the ratings of NZ Post and its KiwiBank subsidiary while lowering the long-term outlook to negative from stable, saying increasing economic risks in New Zealand could undermine the credit-standing of KiwiBank, which makes up 70 percent of the group's earnings... Read more

A warning shot fired across Kiwibank's bows means customers could face a hike in mortgage rates if the state-owned bank fails to keep its nose clean.Last week international ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating outlooks of a raft of small New Zealand banks and credit unions from ‘stable' to ‘negative'... Read more

More jobs at risk as Fairfax continues to restructure Fairfax Media is preparing to cut costs – and staff – again as it undergoes a wide-ranging restructure across several departments. A review has begun of editorial, sales, operational, pre-press departments and the contact centre. Fairfax NZ has around 1800 employees, including about 800 editorial staff... Read more

Kiwifruit growers 'in the dark' over Chinese smuggling. Some kiwifruit growers are accusing Zespri of keeping them in the dark over not revealing the full extent of a Chinese customs investigation that saw a Zespri subsidiary fined nearly $1 million for smuggling... Read more

Queenstown-based design, branding and web agency Swordfox has launched itself into the international spotlight with its redesign of the global web and social media presence for AJ Hackett International.The adventure company was founded by AJ Hackett, renowned the world over as the bungy jump entrepreneur... Read more

Telecom aims to boost business over smartphone. Telecom has announced a partnership with German business software giant SAP that it hopes will encourage companies and government agencies to run more of their business on smartphones.Tim Miles, chief executive of Telecom's Gen-i information technology services business, said the two companies would offer 300 business applications developed by SAP and its partners and customers that run on mobile devices such as iPhones and Android smartphones... Read more

State-owned national grid company Transpower's $600 million interisland link, the Pole 3 project, will finally be commissioned next week, just in time for winter.Final testing of Pole 3 at high levels of power, 700 megawatts, has only just become possible because of recently rising hydro lake levels, after the summer drought... Read more

Hamilton has become the first city council in New Zealand to approve paying all staff a 'living wage', and Auckland and Wellington are considering following suit, a campaigner says.Campaigners say the living wage, calculated at $18.40 per hour, is the rate needed for workers to fully take part in society.The minimum wage is $13.75.... Read more

Adopting a living wage for all Auckland Council employees could cost ratepayers more than $17 million, a report says.The council report on the living wage movement, considered at a meeting in March, said adopting the policy could see rates rise by up to 1.2 per cent.... Read more

Ethnic SMEs offer 'huge' untapped potential. Mainstream small and medium sized enterprises should be tapping into the skills, experience and global connections held by migrant business owners, says an ethnic affairs leader.Mervin Singham, director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, said he wanted to see stronger connections between ethnic and mainstream SMEs in New Zealand... Read more

Queenstown’s industrial market enjoyed increased in activity in recent months, with leasing of several long-vacant premises.There have also been more buoyant land sales, according to Colliers in its annual review of the Queenstown market.Vacant land sales predominantly in the Shotover Park industrial area have historically shown growth, with land values rising from $150-$250/m2 in 2002 and peaking in 2006-07 at $800-$1000/m2... Read more

Insurer settles bulk of big Canterbury claims. Insurer Ansvar says it has settled nearly all of its 25 largest claims in Canterbury.Those large claims include the Arts Centre, which received a $156 million payout and Church Property Trustees, whose 150 claims include one for about $38m for the damaged Christ Church Cathedral... Read more

Minnow lender Asset Finance rapped by RBNZ over related party lending... Read more

Opinion - John Armstrong: Tepid float frustrating for National's plans. The partial float of Mighty River Power is starting to show symptoms of becoming a Mighty Big Headache for National. And there is not a lot the governing party can do about it.Early trading in the electricity generating company's shares saw the stock make rapid gains and hit a high of $2.73. Less than two weeks since its listing, however, Mighty River Power has shed those gains, falling back to and, briefly, below its public float price of $2.50. Yesterday the stock closed up 3c to $2.52... Read more

Opinion - Chalkie: Investors scorched when justice is served cold. Under Mark Weldon the NZX became a rabid profit maximiser and underspent on policing. If newish CEO Tim Bennett can't fix this problem, then the exchange should probably lose the job.... Read more

Australian Market Report: Australian stocks closed lower for a second consecutive day, dragged down by the banks and a surprisingly poor consumer sentiment report.The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 14.7 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 5165.4 points, after initially rising, while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 14.1 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 5142.1.The big four banks were trading positively until the release of the Westpac/Melbourne Institute’s May survey showing consumer sentiment fell by 7.0 per cent in the month... Read more

The Australian dollar has dropped back below 98 US cents following disappointing consumer sentiment figures.In late trade, the currency was buying 97.82 US cents, down from 98.17 cents on Tuesday... Read more

Australian bond futures prices are slightly lower ahead of a key speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.Westpac interest rate strategist Tim Jung said it had been a relatively quiet trading session as the market focused on the pricing of new Australian government bonds... Read more

A widely watched index has found that consumer confidence took a hit from the federal budget.The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment fell 7 per cent in May to 97.6 - below the critical 100-point and showing pessimists outnumber optimists.It is the first time since October that pessimists have outnumbered optimists and the reading is the lowest in nine months.... Read more

Internet job ads fall 3.6pc in April... Read more

The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) says Australia's structural budget balance improved this year and is likely to continue to do so.In its first analysis of last week's federal budget estimates, the PBO said the structural deficit in 2012-13 recovered to around 1.5 to 2.5 per cent of GDP after being at 3.5 to 4.5 per cent in 2011-12... Read more

Mining exploration plunges. Spending on mineral exploration in Australia declined by 27 per cent between June and December, according to new government reports that show the sector was already in decline before the Gillard government tightened the tax rules on exploration.Statistics from the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) come barely one week after the federal budget reduced the scope of tax deductions available to companies acquiring small exploration companies... Read more

Shell to hold Woodside stake. Royal Dutch Shell says it continues to plan to sell its $7.4 billion stake in Woodside Petroleum, but that it is in no rush to do so and will not sell the stake “below value”, ... Read more

Blow for Newcrest - exploration licence quashed. In a stunning decision, a NSW court has quashed an exploration licence held by Australia's largest goldminer Newcrest.The licence application in question was made during the stewardship of disgraced mining minister Ian Macdonald in 2008 and renewal was granted in 2011... Read more

Shares in explorer Chinalco Yunnan Copper have jumped after the company announced positive drilling results from a project in Queensland.Shares in the copper explorer closed at 7.0 cents, up more than 16 per cent or one cent, following positive results from its Blue Caesar prospect in north-west Queensland... Read more

Mining services group Watpac Ltd has downgraded its full-year profit guidance, citing a property selldown and costs from consolidating operations across states.In a trading update, the company said it had adjusted its forecast for underlying profit after tax to between $3 million and $9 million, a fall on the $15.3 million posted last year... Read more

Iluka Resources says lower prices for its mineral sands will cause a fall in earnings in 2013.But prices have stabilised and demand is increasing, the company's managing director, David Robb, told its annual general meeting.Iluka is a major producer of zircon, used mainly in ceramics, and rutile and synthetic rutile, which are used in paints and plastics.Its key markets are China and the United States... Read more

Resimac offering $130m for RHG. Non-bank lender Resimac has made a bid to acquire the remnants of mortgage firm RAMS in a joint proposal with former Babcock & Brown banker Trevor Loewensohn.The conditional proposal values the target, known as RHG Mortgage Corporation, at about $130 million. RHG shares were up 9.5 per cent to 41 cents around lunch time, after a trading halt was lifted.Resimac made an approach to buy RHG's loan book earlier this year, but that bid failed because the price was too low... Read more

Myer sales grow slowly but surely. Myer has reported $652.5 million in sales for the three months to April 27, a 0.5 per cent increase from the previous corresponding year, as it remained cautious about the retail outlook.The department store chain said comparable store sales rose 0.4 per cent from last year, the fourth consecutive quarter of positive growth - the first time since 2006. Myer shares were trading 2.17 per cent lower at $2.71 just before noon.... Read more

Myer boss Bernie Brookes says he's a fan of the falling Australian dollar as it will have more benefits for the department store than downsides.After spending most of the past two years trading above the US dollar, the Australian dollar fell below parity last week.Mr Brookes said the high Australian dollar had both benefits and disadvantages for Australian retailers.... Read more

The Wyllie Group has sold roughly half its stake in fibre optic and cloud computing company Amcom, netting $16.1 million.An ASX notice today showed Wyllie had sold eight million of its 15.8 million shares via on-market transactions on May 16 and 20 at an average price of $2.01.Wyllie Group picked up the bulk of its stake in Amcom in 2008 for about 17 cents a share when Futuris (now Elders) sold down its 50 per cent holding in the company.The sale cuts Wyllie's stake in the company to about 3.25 per cent.... Read more

Job cuts loom in Telstra restructure Telstra will introduce sweeping changes to the way it manages its operations as it shifts away from its legacy business, in a move that is expected to result in significant reduction in its employee headcount in Australia. The telco is concentrating its resources in high growth areas such as wireless, NBN, cloud and network application services while cutting back on loss-making business areas such as Sensis directory business.... Read more

Internet service provider iiNet says it has sold TransACT's fibre-to-the-premises business in the ACT to NBN Co for $9 million in cash with trailing commissions.... Read more

Cement and lime manufacturer Adelaide Brighton expects net profit in 2013 to be flat or slightly below 2012 levels due to the effects of weak demand and the carbon tax."2013 full-year net profit after tax is expected to be similar to or less than 2012," chief executive Mark Chellew told shareholders at Adelaide Brighton's annual general meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday... Read more

High hopes for Holden's Commodore. The latest Commodore is key for Holden in Australia, with the local boss hopeful the new car will show to Australians it is world class.Ahead of the national launch for the VF Commodore next week, GM Holden managing director Mike Devereux says the new model for the flagship car - seven years in the making - is "incredibly important" for the company... Read more

Liquidators apply to freeze assets of Nathan Tinkler. Companies who claim they are owed millions of dollars by former billionaire Nathan Tinkler have applied to have his assets frozen.The application comes as Mr Tinkler puts his multi-million-dollar Queensland home, as well as racing operation Patinack Farm, up for sale... Read more

Supreme Court rules in favour of Clive Palmer's Mineralogy in battle with Chinese company CITIC over mining royalties... Read more

Letters held clue to ABC share 'loss'. Former childcare multi-millionaire Le Neve Groves yesterday testified she "stupidly" failed to read letters about her own shares, which she conceded might have set off warning bells about losing control of the stock.Dr Groves, co-founder of the now-collapsed ABC Learning Centres childcare chain, is in Queensland's Supreme Court as part of her lawsuit to reclaim more than $33 million from the sale of her shares.Her ABC shares were sold in February 2008 due to guarantees for loans from Citi and BT... Read more

The former head of stockbroking firm Lonsec has been fined $30,000 for insider trading.Norman John Graham of Barwon Heads in Victoria was convicted of two counts of insider trading in the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday... Read more

A pharmaceutical giant that is to receive money from the Victorian government in a bid to boost high-tech jobs in the state has announced it will sack 120 workers.A union has called for the company to return any money it gets from the government if it follows through with the plan to sack workers.GlaxoSmithKline Australia will close its tablet packaging section, which makes up a third of the jobs at its Boronia plant.It will transfer this tablet packaging work to factories in Aranda de Duero, Spain, and to Poznan, Poland.... Read more

It takes a special kind of wealth to lose more than $7 billion in a year and still top a list of the nation's richest people.Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has topped the BRW rich list for the third year in a row, with an estimated wealth of $22.02 billion.However the richest Australian of all time also lost more money than anyone else on the magazine's list, giving up a quarter of her estimated wealth from last year of $29.17 billion.... Read more

Opinion - Stephen Bartholomeusz: Dodgy brakes sees mining miss the peak... Read more

Opinion - Malcolm Maiden: Bond market almost worth the wait... Read more

Opinion - Stewart Oldfield: Gold Coast, western Sydney offer clue to banking outlook. Investor confidence in Australian retail banks stands at a record high. The market capitalisations of Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have charged past $100 billion and the big four are ranked among the world's top 11 by market capitalisation.... Read more

U.S. Market Report: A rally on Wall Street fizzled Wednesday afternoon as investors remain focused on the Federal Reserve.The Dow had surged more than 100 points earlier in the day as investors welcomed comments from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, who told lawmakers that withdrawing monetary stimulus prematurely could derail the economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.2%. The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, while the Nasdaq sank 0.8%. The Dow and S&P had hit new record highs earlier in the day.... Read more

North/South Americas Market Report: Markets finished down across the region... Read more

European Market Report: European markets finished higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 0.69% while London's FTSE 100 is up 0.53% and France's CAC 40 is up 0.37%... Read more

Asian Market Report: Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.60%, while the Hang Seng led the Shanghai Composite lower. They fell 0.45% and 0.12% respectively... Read more

Commodities Report - Oil: Brent crude oil dropped to $103 per barrel on Wednesday after data showing an unexpected jump in U.S. gasoline stockpiles sparked worries that summer demand in the world's top oil consumer might be weaker than expected... Read more

Commodities Report - Gold: Gold was flat on Wednesday, giving up earlier gains after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned of the risks of holding interest rates too low for too long, which boosted the dollar... Read more

Bernanke suggests Fed not ready to pull back on stimulus The Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus is helping the U.S. economy recover but the U.S. central bank needs to see further signs of traction before taking its foot off the gas, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday... Read more

Fed minutes showed some officials willing to consider trimming bond purchases as early as June... Read more

Home sales close in on three-and-a-half year high... Read more

Jamie Dimon may face a new, tougher board. Jamie Dimon won his battle to stay on as JPMorgan Chase's chairman, but he may soon have three new board members who might not take it so easy on him.At the bank's annual shareholder meeting in Tampa Tuesday, JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) announced that three directors who served on the risk committee during the London Whale fiasco received only between 51% and 59% of shareholders' votes... Read more

Dimon's victory may be taxpayers' regret... Read more

Target Corp cut its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday while turning in a weak first quarter with disappointing sales, as a chilly start to spring kept shoppers from buying seasonal items like clothing... Read more

Clearwire Corp said its special committee and its board of directors approved Sprint Nextel Corp's sweetened offer to take over the company and advised shareholders to vote for the deal.Wireless service provider Clearwire announced its decision on Wednesday, one day after Sprint raised its offer for the almost 50 percent of the company it does not already own to $3.40 per share from $2.97.After the Clearwire statement, its shares fell 1 percent in morning trade on Nasdaq to $3.355, below the offer price.... Read more

General Electric Co. is considering spinning off parts of its finance unit through an initial public offering as Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt works to shrink the business... Read more

Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday it will spin off its majority stake in animal health business Zoetis Inc to shareholders by allowing them to swap Pfizer stock for Zoetis shares at a 7 percent discount.Pfizer, the largest U.S. drugmaker, sold Zoetis shares in an initial public offering in February that raised $2.2 billion. Pfizer retained an 80 percent stake in Zoetis after the IPO and now plans to unwind that, starting with this offer... Read more

KKR & Co. is weighing whether to make an investment in Saks Inc. and may push the luxury retailer to pursue a combination with rival Neiman Marcus Group, said people with knowledge of the matter.The deliberations may not lead to a transaction, said one of the people, who asked not to be named as the process is private. It wasn’t immediately clear whether KKR had approached New York-based Saks... Read more

Europe moved closer to ending banking secrecy on Wednesday after Austria dropped objections to sharing data on foreign depositors and the EU focused on negotiating a similar agreement with Switzerland. "It's a bad day for tax cheats," Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told reporters at a meeting of EU leaders to discuss fighting tax fraud. ... Read more

Europe's lost trillion in taxes... Read more

Vatican financial body investigating possible money laundering. The Vatican's new financial watchdog said on Wednesday it had detected six possible attempts to use the Holy See to launder money last year, citing this as proof of its commitment to transparency... Read more

Monte Paschi director accused of insider trading... Read more

State-backed British lenders Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland have agreed plans to shore up their capital with the financial regulator, removing a barrier to the government offloading its shares... Read more

The UK economy is still a long way from "a strong and sustainable recovery", the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.In its concluding statement on its mission to the UK, the IMF said austerity measures were acting as a drag on the economy.The government could do more to offset the negative impact of austerity with infrastructure spending, it said.George Osborne said the UK would not "duck its economic challenges".... Read more

IMF tells George Osborne to borrow £9bn more to plough into infrastructure to bolster the UK's 'nascent' recoveryGeorge Osborne should borrow as much as £10bn extra this year for infrastructure spending and business tax cuts to make sure Britain’s “nascent” recovery takes hold, the International Monetary Fund has suggested... Read more

Spain banks may need to raise money to meet provisions. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday said the country's banks may have to raise capital on the financial markets to meet higher provisioning requirements.Rajoy, who was speaking at a news conference following a summit of European leaders in Brussels, said however that Spain would not need to tap more European funds on top of the 41-billion-euro ($53 billion) bailout it sought last year for its banks... Read more

Polish banks and pension funds are keeping borrowing costs elevated for companies by holding their debt to maturity and stifling the development of the corporate bond market, Oaktree Capital Management LLC said... Read more

Carrefour to divest 25 pct stake in Middle East venture. Carrefour, Europe's largest retailer, is in advanced talks to divest its remaining 25-percent stake in its Middle Eastern joint venture to local partner Majid Al Futtaim, two sources familiar with the matter said... Read more

German software company SAP says it hopes to recruit hundreds of people with autism, saying they have a unique talent for information technology.The firm said that by 2020, 1% of its global workforce of 65,000 employees would be people with autism.... Read more

Societe Generale said on Wednesday that it was moving to dismiss its top Russian executive days after his shock arrest on bribery charges.... Read more

Nick Clegg raised the controversy over Google's tax affairs directly with the internet giant's chairman, Eric Schmidt, at a meeting in Downing Street this week, the deputy prime minister has revealed.News of his intervention came as the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, told Schmidt at a conference: "When Google goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying its taxes, I say it's wrong."... Read more

Former Saab Automobile chiefs arrested for accounts fraud... Read more

Canada’s biggest pension-fund manager will “significantly” cut its C$64 billion ($62.3 billion) allocation to bonds as the fixed-income market’s foothold among its most loyal base of investors grows less certain.Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec Chief Executive Officer Michael Sabia said he’s scaling back fixed-income investments that account for 36 percent of its C$176 billion of assets under management, joining the Canadian units of HSBC Global Asset Management and Sun Life Global Investments Inc., which combined oversee about C$20 billion of assets... Read more

BP to invest $2.85 billion in Iraq's largest oilfield... Read more

India's commerce minister Anand Sharma has said that the current Doha round of trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation must continue.He told the BBC that a potential collapse of the trade talks would be "disastrous" for the world economy and global trade... Read more

Sony to discuss investor Daniel Loeb's spin-off plan Sony has said it will consider a proposal from one of its biggest shareholders that it should spin off up to 20% of its entertainment business.The idea came from Daniel Loeb, founder of US hedge fund Third Point, who put forward the idea in a letter to Sony president Kazuo Hirai.He said Sony should use the cash to boost its ailing electronics arm... Read more

Bank of Japan holds steady despite bond turmoil, upgrades economic outlook... Read more

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, which trades commodities, is being probed by the police and market regulators over alleged financial irregularities.The Securities and Futures Commission initiated an investigation of the two-year old market on 15 May, before referring the case to the police.On Monday, the bourse shut down because it lacked sufficient trading revenues and returned its operating licence.Revenues have fallen this year amid strong competition from rival markets.... Read more

Analysis - Ellen Freilich: As economy strengthens, a bonds sell-off may beckon The U.S. government bond market has weakened in recent weeks but some investment strategists fear that this may only be the beginning of an extended sell-off... Read more

Opinion - Peter Orszag: As job flow slows, Americans get stuck in place... Read more