- 18Dec
(Reuters) - Sprint Corp promised to pay Clearwire Corp a $120 million breakup fee if its $2.2 billion purchase of roughly half of the smaller wireless service provider does not go ahead. At the same time, Clearwire said on Tuesday it agreed to a "no-shop" provision, meaning it cannot seek other offers but could consider unsolicited offers.
- 18Dec
(Reuters) - The Bank of Japan will ease monetary policy this week and consider adopting a 2 percent inflation target no later than in January, sources say, responding to pressure from next Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for stronger efforts to beat deflation. Turning up the heat, Abe made a rare, direct push for a higher inflation target when BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa visited the headquarters of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Tuesday.
- 12Dec
(Reuters) - Stocks climbed to session highs on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a new stimulus plan at the end of its two-day monetary policy meeting in its latest attempt to kickstart a struggling economy. The central bank replaced a more modest stimulus program due to expire at year-end with a fresh round of Treasury purchases that will increase its balance sheet, as was widely expected. It committed to monthly purchases of $45 billion in Treasuries on top of the $40 billion per month in mortgage-backed bonds it started buying in September.
- 12Dec
(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday took the unprecedented step of saying it would keep interest rates near zero until the jobless rate falls to 6.5 percent, well below its current level, and it promised to pump more money into the economy. The central bank said its commitment to hold rates steady until its new unemployment threshold was reached would hold as long as inflation was projected to be no more than 2.5 percent one or two years ahead and inflation expectations were contained.
- 12Dec
(Reuters) - House Speaker John Boehner said on Wednesday "serious differences" remain with President Barack Obama in talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" of steep tax hikes and budget cuts set for the end of the year. Boehner, who spoke with Obama on Tuesday night, said the president's proposal for $1.4 trillion in new tax revenues did not fulfill his promise for a balanced approach to taming the federal deficit and could not pass Congress.
- 12Dec
(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said on Wednesday he believes his successor will come from within the firm. While the choice is ultimately up to Goldman's board of directors, Blankfein said: "It is a very high likelihood, close to 100 percent, that the next leader of Goldman Sachs is at Goldman Sachs."
- 12Dec
(Reuters) - Chemical maker DuPont (DD.N) will spend less on capital projects next year than initially planned due to uncertainty about the U.S. "fiscal cliff," Chief Executive Ellen Kullman said in an interview. The company, which has the largest market value among U.S. chemical makers, plans to hold capital spending at around $1.8 billion in 2013 and is delaying some projects until it is clear what U.S. tax policy will be, Kullman said.
- 12Dec
(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought back $1.2 billion in stock from the estate of an unnamed investor, the company said on Wednesday, one day after Buffett advocated for a higher estate tax when the wealthy die. Berkshire also raised the threshold for future share buybacks to 120 percent of book value from 110 percent - the level it chose when it first approved a repurchase program in September 2011.
- 05Dec
(Reuters) - Stocks advanced in a choppy session on Wednesday as a rally in bank shares and The Travelers, a Dow component, overshadowed Apple's unexpected drop and weakness in the technology sector. Equities staged a turnaround in the face of a drop in Apple (AAPL.O), the largest U.S. company by market capitalization and a big weight in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Apple's stock fell 4.2 percent to $551.74, after dropping as low as $545.56.
- 05Dec
(Reuters) - Republicans and Democrats dug in on "fiscal cliff" talks on Wednesday, with both sides urging quick action but offering no compromises in a political stare-down that shows no signs of breaking. Less than a month before the onset of spending cuts and tax increases that start to take effect in January unless Congress acts, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives called on President Barack Obama to initiate face-to-face talks and blamed him for a lack of action.
