Business and Finance news

Japan's manufacturers cut production in February for a second month as the U.S., the country's biggest export market, verged on a recession.
Output fell 1.2 percent from January, when it slid a revised 2.2 percent, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for […]

New retailers have signed leases at Stones River Mall, a Murfreesboro shopping mall in the middle of a $54 million renovation.
Among the line-up of business is Books-A-Million; A'GACI, a trendy teen clothing store; and C.J. Banks, a plus-size clothing store.
Previously announced retailers include Bink's Outfitter, an outdoor equipment and clothing […]

St. Rose Hospital in Hayward has invested $1.5 million in new imaging equipment and is remarketing its breast center into a spalike "Women's Imaging Center."
St. Rose is the latest of several hospitals in the East Bay to open diagnostic technology centers aimed specifically at women. Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and […]

A Better Business Bureau unit is probing several Playtex Products advertising claims that Procter & Gamble Co. has challenged in court.
The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus referred three advertising claims made by Playtex Products Inc., a unit of Energizer Holdings Inc., to the Federal Trade Commission […]

Singapore's inflation in February held near the highest since 1982, signaling the central bank may allow the currency to strengthen to contain price pressures.
The consumer price index jumped 6.5 percent from a year earlier, after gaining 6.6 percent in January, the Department of Statistics said today. Economists had estimated a 6.8 percent increase. […]

The venerable Sconza Candy Co., a family-owned manufacturer of candy products that first began production in the East Bay in 1939, will be shutting the doors of its Oakland plant about Sept. 1.
Sconza is relocating its business to the Central Valley community Oakdale, east of Modesto. Janet Sconza-Angers, vice president of customer […]

Black & Veatch reported record revenue of $3.2 billion in 2007, up 47 percent from $2.17 billion the prior year.
The Overland Park-based company said in a release Tuesday that employment increased 11.6 percent to 9,600, up from 8,600 in 2006.
The company now has about 3,800 employees in the Kansas City area, […]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. named Barbara Barcon vice president, finance, and chief financial officer effective March 24, the company said Monday.
Barcon replaces Robert Powell, who resigned from the company earlier this month after only about 10 months in the CFO position.
Barcon, whose previous positions include roles at Glendon Partners and […]

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlined a series of broad-based proposals Thursday aimed at restoring faith in the mortgage business and shoring up the battered financial services sector.
Paulson’s recommendations, which were devised by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, were detailed in a speech he gave in Washington.
"I believe today’s recommendations put us on […]

Canyon Resources Corp. will shift from being a stand-alone company to subsidiary of another business next week.
Shareholders of Golden-based Canyon (AMEX: CAU) voted Thursday to allow the company’s takeover by Atna Resources Ltd., a Vancouver company that trades as ATN on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The two companies struck a deal in […]