Economy

New brand costs dent H&M's Q4 profits
Fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB is to press ahead with its global expansion plans with the opening of over 300 stores this year, even though it ...
Sweden's Nordea overcomes loan losses in 2012
Banking group Nordea AB says it posted record profits in 2012 as a combination of cost-cutting measures and a larger customer base more than offset ...
LG Electronics sinks to loss after EU fine
LG Electronics Inc. reported its first quarterly loss in a year Wednesday after Europe slapped it with a massive fine for price fixing. Its net loss ...
Judge rejects Apple's patent award demands
A federal judge late Tuesday rejected Apple Inc.'s demand to increase the $1.05 billion in damages a jury ordered Samsung Electronics Inc. to pay its ...
SK Hynix posts profit as chip demand improves
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. reported a second straight quarterly profit as its debt load eased and sales benefited from increased demand for ...
Asia stocks up on strong US earnings
Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after strong U.S. corporate earnings led investors to ignore sagging consumer confidence. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.
Amazon posts lower 4Q net income but stock jumps
Amazon's fourth-quarter net income fell 45 percent, as sharply higher revenue failed to keep pace with increased spending on order fulfillment and ...
Chesapeake's embattled CEO McClendon to retire
Aubrey McClendon, the brash and embattled CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp., will leave the company he founded 24 years ago amid philosophical ...
Philips loss widens in Q4; sheds division
Royal Philips Electronics NV Tuesday said it will sell the entertainment division which contains many of the consumer products for which it is best ...
A look at fallout from nightclub fires
Investigators are determining the causes of a nightclub fire that killed at least 234 people in southern Brazil early Sunday, with criminal charges ...
Daimler truck layoffs coming in NC, SC, Ore.
Daimler Trucks North America said Tuesday it was warning thousands of workers that potentially large layoffs could be coming at manufacturing plants ...
Boston Scientific plans job cuts, 4Q tops St. view
Boston Scientific is cutting up to 1,000 more jobs as it deals with a new medical device tax from the U.S. health care overhaul, limited growth ...
US Steel shrinks 4Q loss to $50M
US Steel reported a smaller fourth-quarter loss as carmakers and other manufacturers used more steel, and it said shipments should rise in the current ...
Oil jumps above $97 with economy in focus
The price of oil climbed above $97 a barrel Tuesday for the first time in four months, and analysts said it could go higher if upcoming reports on ...
Stocks advance, pushing Dow toward 14,000
Pfizer helped keep the stock market rally alive Tuesday. The drugmaker's stock gained after posting strong earnings, pushing the Dow closer to 14,000.
9/11 fund makes 1st payments to sick responders
A special fund set up by Congress to compensate people who got sick after being exposed to toxic World Trade Center dust following Sept. 11 is making ...
Ford shares down as 4Q profit eclipsed by Europe
Ford is posting record profits in North America, but it's not enough to quell unease about the company's prospects elsewhere. Ford's shares dropped ...
Sunday Times apologizes 'unreservedly' for cartoon
The acting editor of Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times newspaper apologized "unreservedly" on Tuesday for a cartoon depicting Israeli leader Benjamin ...
After big rally, RIM selling off before launch
Research In Motion investors are turning skittish ahead of Wednesday's critical launch of the company's much-delayed new BlackBerrys. THE SPARK: The ...
London theater sales hold up in Olympic year
London's theaters say they had a strong 2012 despite the Olympics' "dampening effect" on ticket sales. Figures released Tuesday show that almost 14 ...
Israel central bank chief to step down in June
The governor of Israel's central bank, widely credited with steering the nation's economy safely through years of world financial turmoil, resigned ...
Search is on for golden cookie stolen in Germany
Missing: One golden cookie, weighing around 44 pounds (20 kilograms). Suspect: The Cookie Monster? The rectangular gilded bronze sculpture was part ...
Study finds improvement in German consumer mood
A closely-watched survey shows German consumers are more optimistic, buoyed by the current calm in financial markets and expectations the economy will ...
Russia likely to contribute to Cyprus bailout
Russia is likely to contribute money to a rescue package that Cyprus is trying to finalize with eurozone partners, the cash-strapped country's finance ...
Video shows South Africa police shooting miners
Cellphone video of last year's massacre by police during a strike outside Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa shows one police officer ...