"Wallstreet" Reader

"Wallstreet" Reader

China Aims to Become Major Gold Trading Center

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 04:16 PM PDT

China has proposed to broaden trading of precious metals in its local market, a move that could increase liquidity and help Beijing gain stronger pricing power for key commodities like gold.

Corn and Soybeans Reach Records

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 06:26 PM PDT

Corn and soybean prices leapt to records on rising fears that the searing Midwest drought is further eroding the size of the coming harvests for two of America's most important crops.

Earnings Propel Asian Markets

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 06:35 PM PDT

Strong corporate earnings in the U.S. helped pushed Asian stocks higher on Thursday, while the Australian dollar reached an 11-week high against the U.S. dollar in overnight trading.

Tiny Markets Looking Good

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 06:08 PM PDT

As they flee the euro-zone debt crisis, a growing number of large global bond funds are diving into the shallow debt markets of small countries like Serbia, Iraq and Hungary.

Big Banks Prepare Another Round of Cuts

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 05:29 PM PDT

Bank of America and Credit Suisse Group announced plans Wednesday for new cost cuts following hefty belt-tightening at both institutions last year.

Investors Put $2 Billion Into Suddenlink

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 06:34 PM PDT

An investor group including private-equity firm BC Partners and the CPP Investment Board is investing roughly $2 billion in Suddenlink, valuing the seventh-largest U.S. cable operator at $6.6 billion including debt.

The Indiana Jones of Coffee

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 07:07 PM PDT

Companies go deep into Africa in search of wild strains of coffee Arabica.

Duke Pins CEO Swap on Closed Nuclear Plant

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 06:25 PM PDT

Duke Energy's defense of its controversial ouster of CEO Bill Johnson is beginning to focus on a central issue, people familiar with the matter say: How Mr. Johnson handled escalating problems at the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida.

Flash Sales Site Fab Raises $105 Million

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 05:16 PM PDT

Venture capitalists have invested another $105 million in Fab.com at a $600 million valuation, a sign investors still see potential in the business of luxury "flash sales" even as growth rates slow and profits remain elusive.

AmEx Profit Flat as Pace of Card Spending Slows

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 01:59 PM PDT

American Express's second-quarter profit was essentially flat as the pace of customer card spending slowed, though the company continued to benefit from historically low loan losses.

Viacom Criticizes DirecTV

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 06:35 PM PDT

Viacom lashed out at DirecTV, saying the satellite-TV operator is impeding efforts to find a resolution to the week-old black-out of its cable channels.

EBay's Profit Jumps

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 06:09 PM PDT

EBay's second-quarter profit soared as the e-commerce retailer continued to see strength in its PayPal payments business and a turnaround at its auction website.

St. Jude Earnings Up

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 01:57 PM PDT

St. Jude Medical's second-quarter earnings edged up 1.2%, helped by lower costs, but the medical-device maker cautioned that broad, macroeconomic turmoil is likely to weigh on results in coming months.

U.S. Opens Safety Probe of Ford, Mazda SUVs

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 12:55 PM PDT

U.S. regulators open safety probe following reports of unintended acceleration in Ford, Mazda sport-utility vehicles.

Deltek Goes Up for Auction

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 04:58 PM PDT

Deltek, a publicly traded company that makes software for government contractors, has put itself up for sale in an auction that could fetch as much as $1 billion.

PNC, U.S. Bancorp Diverge on Profit, but Both Lift Lending

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 12:29 PM PDT

Two of the nation's largest retail banks, PNC Financial and U.S. Bancorp, demonstrated that they can increase lending even with little help from the economic recovery and low interest rates, because of acquisitions, market-share gains and refinancing homeowners.

ResCap Requests Bankruptcy Bonuses

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 04:00 PM PDT

Residential Capital wants to pay up to $17.8 million in bankruptcy bonuses to boost the morale of nearly 200 employees it says are key, even though its parent, Ally Financial, has yet to pay back billions in crisis-era bailout funds.

Beige Book: Economy Expanding

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 11:21 AM PDT

The U.S. economy expanded at a moderate pace in June and early July but the jobs market showed only "tepid" gains, the Fed said in its beige book report.


Bernanke Defends Fed Record

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 03:57 PM PDT

Bernanke told lawmakers it was "certainly possible" that the central bank could take new action and repeated his defense of previous bond-buying programs.

Cogeco to Buy Atlantic Broadband for $1.36 Billion

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 10:38 AM PDT

Cogeco Cable agreed to buy cable-system operator Atlantic Broadband for about $1.36 billion, giving the Canadian cable company a foothold in the U.S. market.