Finance time

Japan's retail sales rose at the slowest pace in nine months as higher prices for food and energy prompted consumers to spend less on clothing.
Sales climbed 0.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a […]

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Domestic flight delays cost the industry and passengers $40.7 billion in 2007, according to the Joint Economic Committee from the House and Senate, which released a report Thursday.
As part of this overall cost from the delays, passengers lost an estimated $12 billion worth of time that would otherwise have been spent on business and […]

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South Africa’s MTN Group (MTNJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) has started talks with Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) that could create a $66 billion emerging markets telecoms group.
Indian number two Reliance quickly stepped into the void after bigger rival Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) pulled out of talks with MTN […]

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HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it was committed to a $6.3 billion takeover of South Korea’s No. 6 bank, but warned it would not wait forever for approval of a deal seen as a major test of the country’s openness to foreign investors.
A newspaper report the deal might fall through had […]

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NEW YORK–The chief executive officer of Moody’s says he recognizes the seriousness of questions raised by media reports about an alleged error in a model used in certain European debt ratings.
In a letter to customers that was also released to the media, Raymond McDaniel said yesterday he will act "quickly and decisively to […]

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The U.K. economy grew at the slowest pace since 2005 in the first quarter after higher credit costs hurt construction and business services slowed.
Gross domestic product rose 0.4 percent in the three months through March, the Office for National Statistics said in London today. The result matched the agency's original estimate and the […]

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Asian governments are split on ways to cope with record oil prices, with some subsidizing costs for consumers to contain inflation and others raising energy prices to lower the effect on their budgets.
Indonesia and Taiwan both pledged payments to low income families to help them cope with planned fuel-price increases and New Zealand's […]

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The Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold at the first meeting after slashing its growth estimate and shelving a two-year policy of seeking higher borrowing costs.
Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and his six colleagues unanimously voted to leave the overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent in the quickest decision in three years, the […]

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U.S. consumer confidence was the weakest this month since Jimmy Carter was president, and single- family home construction fell to a 17-year low in April.
The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment dropped to 59.5, compared with an average reading of 85.6 in 2007. Builders broke ground on 692,000 single-family homes at […]

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Japanese machinery orders fell more than economists expected in March as a global slowdown and waning profits dissuaded companies from investing in factories and equipment.
Equipment orders, which signal capital spending in the next three to six months, declined 8.3 percent from February, when they fell 12.3 percent, the Cabinet Office said today in […]

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