- 07Mar
(Reuters) - The U.S. regulator of corporate auditors will soon release a report criticizing quality controls at PricewaterhouseCoopers PWC.UL, according to an internal PwC memo obtained by Reuters. The report from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) will fault PwC for not promptly addressing quality control problems found during inspections of some of its 2007 and 2008 audits, according to the memo.
- 07Mar
(Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, suggesting a pick-up in the labor market recovery and economic growth. But the growth outlook was dimmed somewhat by another report on Thursday showing a widening in the trade deficit in January as imports rebounded after being held down by port disruptions.
- 07Mar
(Reuters) - Nonfarm productivity fell at its fastest pace in four years in the fourth quarter, but the decline was likely to be temporary as economic growth is expected to pick up after stalling in late 2012. Productivity fell at a 1.9 percent annual rate, the weakest pace since the fourth quarter of 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday. A month ago it estimated that productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, fell at a 2 percent pace.
- 07Mar
(Reuters) - U.S. carmaker Chrysler has asked banks to pitch next month for a mandate to run a potential public listing of its shares, four sources said, as parent Fiat (FIA.MI) wrangles with minority shareholder VEBA over a possible buyout. Chrysler will interview investment banks in April for a underwriting role in a proposed initial public offering (IPO), sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
- 22Jan
(Reuters) - Stocks mostly edged up on Tuesday after ending last week at five-year highs, but gains were limited with investors showing caution as the earnings season picks up speed. Both the Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 closed at five-year highs on Friday, boosted by better-than-expected results in the early part of the earnings season. Although major companies have issued bullish statements, many investors remain wary that economic uncertainty in the fourth quarter dented earnings and revenues.
- 22Jan
(Reuters) - Lawyers for former Goldman Sachs Group Inc board member Rajat Gupta are urging a federal appeals court to reverse his insider trading conviction, arguing that a judge shouldn't have allowed wiretaps to be heard at trial. In a brief filed Friday at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, Gupta's lawyers argued wiretaps of now-imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam amounted to "hearsay statements" and should not have been presented to the jury.
- 22Jan
(Reuters) - James Davis, the government's top witness in convicted swindler Allen Stanford's fraud trial, was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prison for his role in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Davis, 64, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to three charges and could have been sentenced to 30 years, told the court in a breaking voice: "I am ashamed and I am embarrassed." He added that he let down his family, co-workers and thousands of investors.
- 22Jan
(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is in discussions to invest between $1 billion and $3 billion of mezzanine financing in a buyout of Dell Inc, CNBC cited unidentified sources as saying on Tuesday. Private equity outfit Silver Lake Partners is trying to finalize a bidding group to take the world's No. 3 PC maker private, and has opened discussions with potential equity partners, sources familiar with the matter have said.
- 22Jan
(Reuters) - A unit of German bank Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1.5 million to settle allegations by U.S. federal energy regulators of power market manipulation in California, according to an order on Tuesday. In the order, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said Deutsche Bank also agreed to disgorge "unjust profits" of $172,645. The bank neither admits nor denies the violations, according to the order.
- 22Jan
(Reuters) - The Bank of Japan announced on Tuesday its most determined effort yet to end years of economic stagnation, saying it would switch to an open-ended commitment to buying assets next year and double its inflation target to 2 percent. It issued a joint statement with the government promising to reach the inflation goal "at the earliest possible time," drawing praise from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has piled relentless pressure on the central bank to take bolder measures to pull Japan out of deflation.
