Madoff displays remorse in prison

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff has told an interviewer he has terrible remorse and horrible nightmares over his epic fraud, but also said he feels happier in prison than he's felt in 20 years.Barbara Walters told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday that she interviewed Madoff for two hours at the prison in Butner, N.C., where he's serving a 150-year sentence. No cameras were allowed in the prison.Walters said Madoff told her he thought about...

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Bank payout cuts and profits to plug capital holes

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota By Steve Slater and Sonya DowsettLONDON/MADRID | Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:18pm BST LONDON/MADRID (Reuters) - Europe's banks may need to raise less than 30 billion euros (26 billion pounds) under a plan hammered out in overnight talks to halt a euro zone debt crisis, as dividend and bonus cuts, earnings and IMF aid provide the bulk of a recapitalisation.Banks have to find 106 billion euros to shore up their capital by the end of June, as one part of a three-pronged plan to restore confidence in the sector and halt a eurozone debt crisis from spreading.The...

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Global risk for investors only pared by EU deal

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment CorrespondentLONDON | Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:39pm BST LONDON (Reuters) - The late-night rescue package agreed by euro zone leaders to cool their dangerous debt crisis will at least allow investors to look at other things for a while.Unfortunately, those things include slow, stuttering U.S. growth, a near-recessionary euro zone economy and the danger of Chinese growth slowing too quickly.And the underlying problems of euro zone debt remain.In effect, the package has taken one of the biggest hurdles in the steeplechase...

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Banks Bow to ‘Last Word’ From Merkel

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 27, 2011, 4:48 AM EDT By Aaron Kirchfeld (Updates with market reaction in fifth paragraph. For more on the European debt crisis, see EXT4.)Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest banks bowed to what German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the “last word,” agreeing to write down their Greek government debt by half in the pivotal piece of the euro area’s bid to stem the financial crisis.The Institute of International Finance, which represents financial companies, agreed to “develop a concrete voluntary agreement on the firm basis of a nominal...

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Nokia Starts Lumia Phone Marketing Blitz

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 27, 2011, 3:56 AM EDT By Amy Thomson, Katie Linsell and Diana ben-Aaron (Updates with Nokia shares in fifth paragraph.)Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop said he beat expectations by getting the company’s first Microsoft Corp. smartphone on the shelves in time for Christmas. Winning consumers will require a marketing blitz.The Lumia 800 phone, unveiled yesterday after more than eight months into its partnership with Microsoft’s Windows Phone system, has a higher-resolution camera than Samsung Electronics...

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Europe Bolsters Crisis-Fighting Tools

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 27, 2011, 11:57 AM EDT By James G. Neuger and Simon Kennedy (Adds Weidmann comment in 23rd paragraph. For more on the European debt crisis, see EXT4.)Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European leaders bolstered their crisis-fighting toolbox with a plan that may generate only limited relief for stressed sovereigns unless it can be fleshed- out within weeks.“It remains a deal long on intentions and short on details,” said Jens Larsen, chief European economist at RBC Capital Markets in London. “Until we know how the mechanisms will work, it will be hard...

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WPP Predicts Full-Year Revenue Growth to Slow on Europe Woes

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 28, 2011, 4:57 AM EDT By Jonathan Browning and Amy Thomson (Updates with CEO comment in third paragraph.)Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- WPP Plc, the biggest advertising company, said fourth-quarter sales growth will slow as an economic slowdown in the U.S. and Europe hurts marketing budgets.Full-year revenue on a like-for-like basis will grow 5 percent compared with a previous forecast of about 5.9 percent, the Dublin, Ireland-based company said today in a statement.“I feel pretty much OK” about 2012, Chief Executive Officer Martin Sorrell told Bloomberg...

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New York Wrestles Over Extending Millionaires Tax

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 28, 2011Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET Enlarge Hans Pennink/AP Demonstrators supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement — and an extension of the millionaires tax in New York — protest in Albany on Oct. 21. Hans Pennink/AP Demonstrators supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement — and an extension of the millionaires tax in New York — protest in Albany on Oct. 21.The so-called millionaires...

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Commodity funds upbeat on China

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota By Claire MilhenchLONDON | Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:24pm BST LONDON (Reuters) - Senior fund managers remain optimistic about the prospects for Chinese commodity demand and the outlook for crude oil, but investor fervour for commodities is now more tempered compared with the zeal of recent years.Doubts about the strength of China's growth prospects have led to weakened investor appetite for commodities over the last quarter amid heightened price volatility, but market watchers expect China to loosen its tight liquidity policy by year-end.Speaking at the...

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Markets soar on Europe crisis plan

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota World stock markets moved sharply higher Thursday after European Union leaders meeting in Brussels agreed early in the day to a plan to address the region's debt crisis.The Toronto Stock Exchange gained 279.38 points, or 2.3 per cent , to close at 12,465.44. The Dow Jones industrial average in New York rose 339.51 points or 2.86 per cent, higher to 12,284.59, after trading up as much as 415 points. The Dow hasn't closed above the 12,000 level since...

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Wheat growers to sue marketing board

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association says it will sue the Canadian Wheat Board and eight of its directors for alleged misuse of farmers’ money.The lawsuit would be the third legal action filed in connection with Ottawa's plans to open up western Canadian wheat and barley marketing. The CWB announced this week it is suing the federal government over Bill C-18, which, if passed, would end single desk selling of western wheat and barley through the board. And another group, Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board wants the courts to review the...

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BNP, SocGen Speed Up Trading-Book Cuts

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 27, 2011, 12:41 PM EDT By Fabio Benedetti-Valentini (Closes shares in eighth paragraph.)Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- BNP Paribas SA and Societe Generale SA, France’s largest banks, are accelerating cuts in their 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.5 trillion) trading books to avoid going to shareholders or the government for capital.The banks, which last month began a program to trim about 300 billion euros in assets by 2013, have focused on cutting dollar-funded businesses such as aircraft lending after Europe’s sovereign debt woes squeezed funding. The lenders’...

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Norway oil fund has second worst quarter ever

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota By Victoria KlestyOSLO | Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:51am BST OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund battled through the second worst quarter in its history in the three months to September as Europe's debt crisis and a fear of a worldwide recession hit share prices, Europe's biggest equity investor said on Friday.The fund said in its quarterly report its return on investment was -8.8 percent against 0.3 percent growth in the previous quarter.The value of the central bank-run fund stood at 3.055 trillion Norwegian crowns at the end of September, down...

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Hedge funds fret over bank counterparty risks

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota By Tommy WilkesLONDON | Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:44pm BST LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge funds, with memories of the havoc wreaked by Lehman's demise still fresh in their minds, are moving away from banks singled out by markets as higher risk, giving rivals a chance to grab lucrative business serving these key clients.Banks such as JP Morgan (JPM.N), HSBC (HSBA.L) and SEB (SEBa.ST) have all seen hedge funds soliciting the services of their prime broking desks, which lend money to these specialist asset managers and provide back-office services."We have seen a...

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Average weekly earnings rise in August

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Average weekly earnings increased slightly in August, up 0.8 per cent to $877.28 from July's level, Statistics Canada data showed Thursday.The increase comes after two consecutive months of small declines. Compared with the same month a year earlier, average weekly earnings were up by 1.9 per cent. That's the smallest pace of increase since November 2009.Non-farm payroll employment increased by 4,800 in August compared with July. Year over year, employment was up 1.6 per cent, or 238,400 jobs.A decrease in hours worked was a factor in the slower rate...

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Facebook to build Arctic server farm in Sweden

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Facebook is to build a new server farm on the edge of the Arctic Circle — its first outside the United States — to improve performance for European users, officials of the social networking site said Thursday.It will also expose them to potential eavesdropping from a Swedish intelligence agency, according to Sweden's Pirate Party, a group opposing government interference with the internet.Facebook confirmed Thursday it had reviewed potential locations...

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Behind the scenes of the eurozone's 11th hour deal

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Brussels (CNN) – Travelling to Brussels this weekend on the Eurostar, one couldn't help feeling as though the train was moving into the abyss: The endless money pit that was soon to become the "no eurozone."Upon my return journey, all things euro appeared somewhat to have regained their star quality, after European Union leaders finally reached a deal on how to solve the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.At around 4:15am local time Thursday, and after hours of fraught negotiations, a pale and exhausted French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, mounted the...

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Volkswagen Profit Climbs on SUV Demand

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 27, 2011, 8:50 AM EDT By Andreas Cremer (Updates with comments on Suzuki partnership beginning in 10th paragraph.)Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest automaker, said third-quarter operating profit surged 46 percent on demand for Audi and VW brand sport-utility vehicles.Operating profit advanced to 2.89 billion euros ($4.05 billion) from 1.99 billion euros a year earlier, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said today. Profit beat the 2.61 billion- euro average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The shares rose...

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Bank race for capital to see pay and dividends cut

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota By Steve SlaterLONDON | Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:26am BST LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's banks were told to cut dividends and bonuses to help them find 106 billion euros (93 billion pounds) to shore up their capital, and agreed to halve the value of their Greek government debt, sending their shares sharply higher .After tense talks that ran to the early hours of Thursday, the agreement by private sector investors to take a 103-billion euro hit on their Greek bonds marked a breakthrough for EU leaders trying to halt a eurozone debt crisis from spreading."It's...

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EU trade deal could strengthen drug protection

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota A trade deal with the European Union could make it harder to buy generic drugs, the association representing their manufacturers said Thursday. The generic and name brand pharmaceutical industries duked it out over what's best for consumers, as MPs on the House Trade committee look at the possible impact of trade talks with the EU.While the details of the talks aren't public, the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association says European negotiators want to extend protection for brand-name drugs to help companies headquartered in Europe. The proposed...

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