After rocky January, markets eye data and central banks

A raft of global business surveys, jobs data from the United States and central bank meetings in Europe should offer a clearer view on how well the global economy is faring at the start of 2014. Euro zone inflation fell to 0.7 percent in January, putting the ECB under further pressure to meet its target of keeping inflation below but close to 2 percent.

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Hedge funds seek 1.8 billion damages from members of Porsche's owning family

Investors including U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates have escalated a legal battle against members of Porsche's supervisory board by seeking 1.8 billion euros ($2.43 billion) in damages from Wolfgang Porsche and his cousin Ferdinand Piech. The most recent lawsuit forms part of a legal campaign being waged by hedge funds in various courts across the world, seeking to recoup money which was lost by betting on a decline of Volkswagen's share price in 2008. On Sunday, Porsche dismissed the most recent lawsuit, which was lodged at a Frankfurt regional court, as "unfounded". Ferdinand Piech and Wolfgang Porsche were not immediately available for comment.

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Microsoft said to be preparing to make Satya Nadella CEO

Microsoft's board is preparing to make Satya Nadella, the company's enterprise and cloud chief, chief executive officer and is discussing replacing Bill Gates as chairman, according to people briefed on the process.

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SEC judge who took on the 'Big Four' known for bold moves

Cameron Elliot, the U.S. administrative judge who recently delivered a stunning rebuke to the global "Big Four" accounting firms, has a reputation for not shying away from big cases. When he was a federal prosecutor, Elliot was known for being deliberate, unflappable and for going after powerful interests, including violent gang members and the activist group Greenpeace. Now, more than a decade later, Elliot is making waves as an administrative law judge for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Critics say the internal court system gives the SEC a home-court advantage.

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Novartis to cut or transfer up to 4,000 pharma jobs: paper

Swiss drugs group Novartis (NOVN.VX) is planning to cut or transfer up to 4,000 jobs, newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported on Sunday, citing an internal email. The plan affecting up to 6 percent of its pharmaceuticals workforce comes on top of a program to reduce the number of production sites and is part of a larger drive to cut costs, the newspaper said. NZZ am Sonntag said it received a statement from Novartis saying that the overall number of employees should remain "relatively stable" in 2014. The paper said that a significant part of the 4,000 jobs will be transferred to India, where Novartis rented an office building able to house 8,000 employees in Hyderabad.

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Spain's Rajoy says taxes will come down gradually

A tax reform due to be announced in the first quarter will bring about the gradual reduction of tax rates in Spain over the coming years, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a speech on Sunday to a national ...

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UK says close to placing order for F-35 jets

Britain is close to placing its first order for Lockheed Martin-built (LMT) F-35 super-stealth jets, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said on Saturday. Reuters cited sources last week as saying that Britain was likely to announce an order soon for 14 of the advanced jets, marking Britain's first firm F-35 purchase since it committed to buying 48 planes in 2012. "We will have to place a firm order very soon in order to have the first squadron ready to start flying training off the 'Queen Elizabeth' in 2018, which is our current plan," he said in an interview with Reuters Television during the Munich Security Conference. The Queen Elizabeth is one of two British aircraft carriers currently under construction.

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