US-BUSINESS Summary
Stocks eye retailers as jobless ranks swell
NEW YORK - As unemployment in the United States edges above 10 percent, anxious investors will look to earnings reports from major retailers for signs of life in the beaten-up consumer. Comments from Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N>, the world's largest retailer, as well as from a host of smaller stores, will be of vital importance to investors trying to judge the recovery's pace.
GM to stick to Opel cuts plan: future chairman
ZURICH - General Motors Co <GM.UL> will probably stick to a plan to cut costs at Opel by 30 percent after deciding to restructure the European subsidiary itself rather than sell it, Bob Lutz, a GM executive set to become Opel's chairman, was quoted as saying on Sunday. "The restructuring plan developed at the end of last year is still the basis for a profitable business model. The plan foresees a 30 percent cut in structural costs," Lutz told the Swiss Sonntag newspaper.
Geithner: need stimulus, not financial transactions tax
ST ANDREWS, Scotland - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Saturday stressed the necessity of keeping global economic stimulus in place until recovery is assured and opposed the utility of a tax on financial transactions as a way to dampen risky bank behavior. Speaking at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of Group of 20 finance minister and central bankers, Geithner said there was broad agreement that "growth remains the dominant policy imperative across our economies."
UK gives impetus to global banks tax
ST ANDREWS, Scotland - Britain urged world governments on Saturday to consider a levy on banks to fund future bailouts, departing from long-held opposition, though there was little sign of the consensus needed to make it fly. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised the idea at a weekend meeting of Group of 20 financial leaders in Scotland -- ending London's resistance to such moves on behalf of its huge financial sector.
UK, Australia seek UBS data after U.S. tax case
ZURICH - Authorities in Britain and Australia have requested information from UBS after the Swiss bank agreed in August to disclose some 4,450 client names to settle a U.S. tax case, the bank confirmed on Sunday. UBS said in a note to its third-quarter financial statement, published last week, that tax and regulatory authorities in a number of jurisdictions had requested information on cross-border wealth management services provided by UBS and other banks.
Wall Street firms skittish about RUSAL IPO: report
CHICAGO - Wall Street firms are in a quandary about getting involved with a planned public offering of Russian aluminum producer UC RUSAL because its founder has been barred from getting a U.S. visa on account of allegations that he is connected to organized crime, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> had looked likely to take one of the top two underwriting slots before stepping away from the deal in recent weeks.
Jobless rate surges to 10.2 percent
WASHINGTON - The U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to 10.2 percent last month, a 26-1/2-year high, adding to pressure on the Obama administration to do more to tackle unemployment even as signs of recovery mount. The Labor Department said on Friday that employers cut 190,000 jobs in October, more than the 175,000 markets had expected but fewer than the 219,000 jobs lost in September.
Freddie Mac posts $5 billion loss
NEW YORK - Freddie Mac <FRE.N> <FRE.P>, the second largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, on Friday posted a loss of $5 billion in the third quarter and predicted it would need more government support amid a "prolonged deterioration" in housing. Increases in the value of securities Freddie Mac held over the period helped buoy its net worth, however, erasing its need to tap government funds for a second straight quarter to stay solvent while continuing to buy and guarantee home loans.
Berkshire Hathaway's net income triples
NEW YORK - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc <BRKa.N> <BRKb.N> on Friday said quarterly earnings tripled, as rising stock markets boosted its investment holdings and a quiet hurricane season contributed to higher insurance profit. Results were announced three days after Buffett revealed the biggest acquisition in his 44 years running Berkshire, a $26 billion takeover of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp <BNI.N>. Berkshire had already owned 23 percent of the nation's second-largest railroad operator.
Regulators close Gateway Bank, Prosperan Bank
WASHINGTON - Bank regulators closed Gateway Bank of St. Louis, in St. Louis, Missouri, and Prosperan Bank, of Oakdale, Minnesota, on Friday, the 118th and 119th U.S. bank to fail this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said Gateway Bank of St Louis had $27.7 million in assets and $27.9 million in deposits. The bank's sole office will reopen on Saturday as a branch of Central Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, which assumed Gateway's assets.