Reuters: Stocks & Shares News

Do wars break out when world takes summer holiday?

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:19:29 +0100

LONDON (Reuters) - Asset managers, diplomats and politicians disappearing for long summer holidays should beware: if history is any guide, major events from wars to crashes happen disconcertingly often when everyone heads to the beach.

Defensive stocks may be winners in a slow upturn

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:22:22 +0100

LONDON (Reuters) - Classic defensives such as food and drug shares tend to do better than cyclicals in an economic downturn, but they could also outperform the market on the way up as many analysts say a recovery is set to be slow.

China airs currency view but no big stir at G8 summit

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:25:28 +0100

ROME (Reuters) - China may have told world leaders it wants a better, more stable global reserve currency system, but analysts say Beijing is in no rush to dethrone the dollar because it has vast dollar-denominated assets.

Porsche's VW options quandary: asset or liability?

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:53:12 +0100

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The future of two of Germany's best-known auto groups hinges in large part on the value of a mystery package of Volkswagen options cornered by Porsche .

Media money moving into mobile

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:12:47 +0100

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (Reuters) - The traditional media industry may be under fire as the weak economy crushes advertising spending, but companies and investors are scrambling to stake out territory in the new world of mobile content.

Start-ups give Google thumbs-up over Microsoft

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:16:42 +0100

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Silicon Valley start-ups, increasingly dropping Microsoft and turning to Web-based software, may be the crucial opening Google needs for its Chrome operating system.

Oil traders slip past U.S. rules via London loophole

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:56:09 +0100

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil traders continue to squeeze past tighter U.S. market rules via a loophole that allows them to bet for bigger stakes on certain fuel futures that are under British regulation, brokers and analysts said.

U.S. companies sink deeper in debt as economy drags

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:27:05 +0100

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unbridled borrowing in the boom years has swelled Corporate America's debt burden to the highest levels on record, putting many cash-strapped companies at risk of going bust as economic malaise lingers.

G8 makes scant progress to Copenhagen climate pact

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:37:00 +0100

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - A G8 summit made scant progress towards a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in December with some nations back-pedalling on promises of new action even before the end of a meeting in Italy.

Fewer new commodity products as recovery drags

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:39:16 +0100

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The commodities marketplace, one of Wall Street's favourite playgrounds for testing new investment ideas, is hardly seeing any product rollouts now as the slow economy delays the pace of innovation.