Asian factories slow in September, push inflation ever lower

Factory activity stumbled across much of Asia in September, with slowdowns in India, Japan and Taiwan and an outright decline in South Korea delivering a setback to hopes for a pick in world growth this year.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rsYINT

Did Treasury work against the Fed?

Regulators divided: A new study indicates the Treasury Department snarled the Federal Reserve's efforts to cut long-term interest rates.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1uA30UT

Should you be concerned about US home prices?

Stan Humphries, Chief Economist at Zillow, explains why markets don't have to be worried about the below-view rise in July's S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1uA2Z3n

U.S. orders airlines to replace cockpit displays on 1,300 Boeing airplanes

Federal Aviation Administration is requiring airlines to replace cockpit displays on more than 1,300 Boeing Co (BA.N) airplanes to avoid interference from Wi-Fi and cellular devices. Airlines will need to replace certain cockpit display units made by Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) used on Boeing's 737 and 777 jets within five years, according to an FAA document.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1vtbAlu

Asia markets start quarter on back foot

Asian shares got off on the back foot on Wednesday as continued civil unrest in Hong Kong sapped confidence, while the dollar index was in sight of a four-year high after marking its best quarterly gain in six years. Trading in Asia was expected to be more subdued than usual, with China closed for National Day and investors warily monitoring developments in Hong Kong's pro-democracy unrest, as thousands of protesters stepped up pressure on the city's pro-Beijing government. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.4 percent, while Japan's Nikkei stock average (.N225) fell 0.2 percent. Japan's benchmark rose 4.9 percent in September, the biggest monthly rise since last November.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1tf6Eho

Asian shares slip, dollar near highs; Hong Kong unrest eyed

Asian shares got off on the back foot on Wednesday as continued civil unrest in Hong Kong sapped confidence, while the dollar index was in sight of a four-year high after marking its best quarterly gain in six years. Trading in Asia was expected to be more subdued than usual, with China closed for National Day and investors warily monitoring developments in Hong Kong's pro-democracy unrest, as thousands of protesters stepped up pressure on the city's pro-Beijing government. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.4 percent, while Japan's Nikkei stock average (.N225) fell 0.2 percent. Japan's benchmark rose 4.9 percent in September, the biggest monthly rise since last November.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1tf6Hto

Want to locate the next market rally? Look to Asia

As fourth quarter kicks off, there's one market in Asia that has investors excited: Japan.

via Business News http://ift.tt/Zpyq3w

JPMorgan to face U.S. class action in $10 billion MBS case

A federal judge on Tuesday said JPMorgan Chase & Co must face a class action lawsuit by investors who claimed the largest U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan certified a class action as to JPMorgan's liability but not as to damages, saying it was unclear how investors could value the certificates they bought, given how the market was "not particularly liquid." He said the plaintiffs could try again to certify a class on damages. Oetken ruled 10 months after JPMorgan reached a $13 billion settlement to resolve U.S. The class consists of investors before March 23, 2009 in certificates issued from nine of 11 trusts created by JPMorgan for the April 2007 offering.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1v2gdlY

Why Netflix is worth only half of its current price

Netflix’s stock may have gotten a nice pop because of a new film announcement, but one analyst who covers the name has come out to say it’s “way overvalued”.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1v2dU2k

Does EBay's PayPal spinoff set the stage for an Alibaba bid?

Now that eBay is jettisoning its lucrative payment-processing arm, the No. 2 U.S online marketplace could become an alluring takeover target for newly-public Alibaba.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rrFvfD

Crude tumbles in worst quarter since 2012

U.S. crude oil prices came under heavy selling pressure over the past three months as a strong dollar, ample supplies and economic uncertainty weighed on sentiment.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rBYC47

Dimon pep talk consoles Eric Cantor on way to Wall Street

Eric Cantor sat in his Washington office in June after one of the biggest upsets in congressional history, getting encouragement from JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon, head of the largest U.S. Dimon talked about being fired from another bank by his mentor before rebounding to an even better seat, according to two people who were there. Cantor, 51, started this month as a managing director and vice chairman of New York-based investment bank Moelis & Co. (MC), where he'll earn more than $3.4 million by the end of next year. They cite a fascination with finance that goes back years before he became House majority leader, a conviction that bankers drive the economy and an enthusiasm for helping them do it better.

via Business News http://finance.yahoo.com/news/dimon-pep-talk-consoles-eric-040007320.html

Forget Hong Kong, Pimco -- junk is driving this market

Never mind Hong Kong protests, Pimco’s palace intrigue or violent clashes in the Middle East. The crucial influence on our markets right now is what investors are willing to pay for junk.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1uxpGFs

Microsoft skips Windows 9 to emphasize advances

The next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system will be called Windows 10, as the company skips version 9 to emphasize advances it is making toward a world centered around mobile devices and ...

via Business News http://ift.tt/1ovm9QQ

Hackers face US charges for allegedly stealing Xbox, army technology

Four members of a computer hacking ring were charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than $100 million in Xbox technology, Apache helicopter training software and other intellectual ...

via Business News http://ift.tt/1ovhIW9

School spending by affluent is widening wealth gap

WASHINGTON (AP) — Education is supposed to help bridge the gap between the wealthiest people and everyone else. Ask the experts, and they'll count the ways:

via Business News http://ift.tt/1xxDosS

What I gave up to save $1 million

They may have million dollar-plus nest eggs, but they had to make some big sacrifices along the way to get there. Here's what these four savers did without in order to save seven-figures retirement.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1qS21rB

Why the EU is really going after Apple over taxes

What exactly is behind the European Union's gripe with Apple over taxes? Tuesday we found out, as E.U. regulators for the first time revealed why they believe the tax deals Ireland granted to Apple constitute illegal state support in their "preliminary view," according to multiple media reports.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1qS1ZQH

PayPal in play for Google as leftover EBay invites LBO

EBay announced today that it's spinning off the PayPal payment-services business from its online marketplaces to unlock value at a $70 billion company whose valuation has been sagging lately. The move may make either half of the company a target as industry acquirers from Alibaba to Google seek ways to further their dominance of the Internet.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1mLVxiT

EBay to lose half its revenue by spinning off PayPal

Carl Icahn fought and won the battle for eBay to spin off its PayPal payments unit in to a separate publicly traded company.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rqxx6p

U.S. consumer confidence, home prices show weakness

"We're continuing to effectively struggle," said Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics in Boulder, Colorado. "Some of the optimism that we got in the updraft in consumer confidence in the third quarter was probably a bit overstated." The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 86.0 in September from a upwardly revised 93.4 the month before. Consumer confidence was hurt by concerns over the job market and expectations that economic growth will slow in coming months.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1vtCyev

Ukrainians gear up for winter without Russian gas

Ukrainians are rushing to insulate their walls, seal up drafty windows and snap up heating equipment as the possibility sets in that they may be about to experience their first winter without Russian gas.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rqudIl

Argentina deposits debt payment in defiance of U.S. court

Argentina deposited a $161 million bond interest payment with a newly appointed local trustee on Tuesday, the Economy Ministry said, defying a U.S. The South American country wants to show it can service its debt and that its failure in July to complete a payment to holders of bonds that were restructured after its 2002 default was the result of adverse U.S. It was not clear how many bondholders would receive their coupon payments before the end of the Sept 30 deadline. "By making this deposit, Argentina confirms once again its unshakeable commitment to meet its obligations to bondholders," the ministry said in a statement.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rqu87I

Gross fallout: Morningstar downgrades Pimco fund

Morningstar downgraded Pimco's flagship Total Return fund on uncertainty regarding outflows and management following the departure of Bill Gross.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rqpoPl

U.S. consumer confidence falls in September

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 86.0 from a upwardly revised 93.4 the month before. "A less positive assessment of the current job market, most likely due to the recent softening in growth, was the sole reason for the decline in consumers' assessment of present-day conditions," Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said in a statement. "All told, consumers expect economic growth to ease in the months ahead." Consumers' labor market assessment worsened.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rqpqGR

Stock bulls like chances for strong 2014 finish

Odds are the stock market will have a pretty good fourth quarter after it begins on Wednesday, but it's almost certain to be a volatile one.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rI5RJr

Robert Shiller: Housing shows signs of weakness

Robert Shiller, Case-Shiller Index co-founder and Yale University professor of economics, discusses the latest key housing data. Shiller explains why there are signs of some weakening and if housing is a good investment.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rI5TRq

eBay, PayPal to split: What you need to know

eBay (EBAY) shares are higher after the company announced it will split with PayPal sometime next year. After the split the two will trade as entirely separate companies, bringing to fruition a plan very much like the one laid out by shareholder activist Carl Icahn 9 months ago.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rI5TB6

US home prices rise at slowest pace in 20 months

U.S. home prices in July increased at the slowest pace in 20 months, reflecting sluggish sales and a greater supply of houses for sale. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose ...

via Business News http://ift.tt/1tdNfxm

Live: eBay, PayPal split; FCC may end NFL blackouts; Apple dealt tax blow

Join Hot Stock Minute live now for the latest premarket headlines.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1uZPSoH

News Corp to buy real estate website operator Move for $950 million

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said it would buy Move Inc , the owner of property websites such as realtor.com, for about $950 million to expand its digital marketing business. News Corp said it would pay ...

via Business News http://ift.tt/1uZPSot

1 year later: Buy stocks booted from the Dow?

Nick Colas on how stocks added to Dow Jones Industrial Average have fared in the past year

via Business News http://ift.tt/1wU1CdG

Reckless Federal Shopping Spree Could Squander $50 Billion

Today marks the end of the federal government’s fiscal year. It’s also the biggest one-day shopping spree of the year-- the day when federal agencies rush to spend the last of their money before October 1, before anything left over is returned to the Treasury. Since agencies cannot carry over unspent funds, the idea is “use it or lose it.” If they don’t spend the money, Congress may not allocate as much the following year. Last year, the government spent about $50 billion the week before October 1, according to NPR’s Shankar Vedantam. That total included apparent impulse buys like artwork worth $562,000 for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and toner cartridges worth $144,000 for the Department of Agriculture, as noted last year by The Washington Post.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1vsPtxq

Drugstore chain Walgreen's quarterly sales rise 6.2 percent

Prescription sales, which made up nearly two thirds of the company's total sales, rose 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter ended Aug. 31. Walgreen posted a profit of $657 million, or 69 cents per share, a year earlier.

via Business News http://ift.tt/YGsClc

EBay to spin off PayPal, adopting strategy backed by Icahn

The move, which Carl C. Icahn had called for, will cleave eBay almost in half, separating it from PayPal, which it acquired 12 years ago and now generates almost half eBay’s revenue.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1otUboH

China takes boldest step yet to lift housing market, economy

China cut mortgage rates and downpayment levels for some home buyers on Tuesday for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis, making one of its biggest moves this year to boost an economy increasingly threatened by a sagging housing market. Yet some analysts cautioned investors against thinking that the housing market and broader economy were poised to stage a stunning recovery. The housing downturn has weighed on already soft demand in China, dampening consumer confidence and slashing demand for related products from home appliances to glass, cement and steel. The news, which came on the eve of the Golden Week holiday, signalled that China's central authorities were serious about preventing further deterioration in the property market, which accounts for about 15 percent of the world's second-biggest economy.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1otUboy

EBay to spinoff PayPal

EBay Inc said it would spin off PayPal, its fast-growing payments unit, into a publicly traded company in the second half of 2015. "A thorough strategic review with our board shows that keeping eBay ...

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rBDyvH

How America is beating the rest of the world

World stock markets can be broken up between the U.S. and the rest of the world. Right now, the U.S. is winning but will it last for long?

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rA0tb1

Global stocks head for worst quarter since euro crisis, dollar reigns

World markets were in hesitant mood on Tuesday as investors wondered what China's response would be to civil unrest in Hong Kong, while the U.S. Like most corners of the world, Europe saw limited appetite for risk early on before euro zone inflation data and after what has been the toughest quarter for global stocks since the peak of the euro crisis.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1qQWy4g

EU says Ireland tax deal with Apple was state aid

The European Union has accused Ireland of giving Apple Inc. illegal state aid through tax arrangements that had "no scientific basis" but which helped the iPhone maker shelter tens of billions of dollars in international revenues from tax. In a letter written in June but published only on Tuesday, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the Dublin government that tax deals agreed in 1991 and 2007 appeared, in his preliminary view, to amount to state aid that broke EU laws and could be clawed back from the U.S. "The Commission is of the opinion that through those rulings the Irish authorities confer an advantage on Apple," Almunia wrote to Ireland in the letter, which was dated June 11. Analysts said the Irish tax arrangements saved Apple, the world's most valuable corporation, billions of dollars in tax.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rBqmXJ

Bill Gross Gets ‘New Neutral’ Endorsement on First Day at Janus

On his first full business day at Janus Capital Group Inc., Bill Gross yesterday got a blue-chip endorsement of his economic outlook from a group of former central bankers. Gross spent his final months atop Pacific Investment Management Co. betting on a "new neutral" rate of interest in which weak economic growth and high debt leave central banks likely to keep interest rates below their pre-financial crisis peaks. The strategy wasn't enough to stop redemptions from the Newport Beach, California-based Pimco and it also ran into criticism from rival money managers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BlackRock Inc. It nevertheless found support yesterday in a report published by the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies written by Vincent Reinhart of Morgan Stanley, Lucrezia Reichlin of London Business School, Luigi Buttiglione of Brevan Howard Capital Management LP and Philip Lane of Trinity College in Dublin.



via Business News http://ift.tt/1rBqmqU

Global stocks mostly higher after US declines

BANGKOK (AP) — Global stocks were mostly higher Tuesday after Wall Street declined and pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, a major financial center, added to political risk worries.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1DUKrOb

China approves iPhone 6 after security assurances

BEIJING (AP) — China's phone regulator said Tuesday it has approved Apple Inc.'s iPhone 6 for use on Chinese networks after the company promised never to install "backdoors" to give other governments access to users' information. Apple said sales start Oct. 17.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1DUKrNW

Who needs who the most: Hong Kong or China?

Protesters in Hong Kong are getting a lot of international exposure, but the outcry may mask the territory's fading importance to the mainland.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1DUKrxA

EU questions Ireland's tax deal with Apple

European Union antitrust regulators have asked Ireland to provide details of its tax arrangements with Apple (AAPL.O) in 1990 and 2007, warning that they could amount to illegal state aid which may be recovered from the U.S. In a letter published on Tuesday, European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told Ireland it must provide the details of the tax arrangements, which in his preliminary view could constitute illegal state aid and therefore be recoverable from Apple. "The Commission's preliminary view is that the tax ruling of 1990 (effectively agreed in 1991) and of 2007 in favor of the Apple group constitute state aid," Almunia wrote.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1rHnKrH

Vanguard, BlackRock may reap billions from Pimco after Gross exit

NEW YORK/BOSTON - Vanguard Group and BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) could be prime destinations for hundreds of billions of dollars in assets that may flee Pimco in the wake of the sudden exit of Bill Gross, the celebrated "Bond King" of U.S. His new company, Janus Capital Group Inc (JNS.N), may see Gross's cachet attract tens of billions of dollars, investors and analysts said. During the year ended Aug. 31, investors made $64.7 billion in net withdrawals from Pimco funds, according to research firm Morningstar Inc. Those outflows will likely accelerate with Gross's departure. "Lots of Pimco AUM (assets under management) will be up for grabs," analysts at Wells Fargo Securities said, noting that they reckoned the total sum Gross managed at Pimco ranged from $500 billion to $700 billion.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1uYHohi

Retirement plan advisers set to flee Pimco after Gross exit

After 16 straight months of outflows and a 3.49 percent return over the past year, worse than 75 percent of its peers, the $222 billion Total Return Fund (PMBIX.O) is failing Phillip's standards when it comes to meeting the retirement needs of his customers. Philips said he joined a conference call Monday with Pimco chief executive Doug Hodge and some of the company's portfolio managers, but said the conversation "doesn't change any actions that we have planned." About 27,000 of the largest corporate 401(k) plans in the country had money in the Total Return Fund as of the end of 2012, according to the most recent data from BrightScope, which ranks retirement plans. The roster includes Wal-Mart's $18 billion plan, the largest in the country by assets, as well as Raytheon's and Verizon's.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1pD9smd

Aging population can be a boon to your portfolio

Clearpool Group CEO Peter Kenny says he likes health care, pharma and regional banks this fall.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1qQacEZ

Why a strong dollar is scarier than taper tantrum

Expectations of Fed tightening may spur fears of a rerun of emerging market turmoil, but Societe Generale tips a strong dollar as a bigger risk.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1pn58sb

Asia stocks unsettled by HK unrest, dollar holds gains

By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets were in hesitant mood on Tuesday as investors wondered what China's response would be to civil unrest in Hong Kong, while the U.S. dollar was on track to post its biggest monthly gain in well over a year. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters blocked Hong Kong streets in the early hours on Tuesday, in one of the biggest political challenges to Beijing since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago. The unrest was an added complication for investors amid long-standing concerns about the health of China's economy. ...

via Business News http://ift.tt/1pn59ML

Why you should stay away from this possible deal

It’s the hottest deal rumor in the market right now but could DreamWorks’ latest pop be a reason to bail out of the stock?



via Business News http://ift.tt/1roRbQi

China regulator approves Apple's iPhone 6 for sale in China

Apple Inc's iPhone 6 can now be sold in China, after the company received a license for the device to be used on China's wireless networks, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on its ...

via Business News http://ift.tt/1roRdaC