Business and Finance news

Coca-Cola Co. may buy the North American operations of its biggest bottler, a deal that echoes a move by rival PepsiCo in response to falling soft-drinks sales, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
If the partial acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. goes through, the rest of the bottler would remain independent and buy […]

Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. shares jumped after the developer sold 900 homes in Hong Kong for HK$4.2 billion ($540 million) over the weekend, fueling speculation the city’s housing market is overheating.
Shares of the world’s biggest developer by market value added 1.7 percent to HK$101.80 at 10:41 a.m. Hong Kong time after gaining […]

The federal government has offered Hawaii $16.6 million in stimulus relief to help cover the costs of prescription drugs for residents eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that the temporary boost is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It comes in the […]

Fitch Ratings has assigned its AAA rating to Mecklenburg County’s $116 million in general obligation refunding bonds, series 2010.
The debt is slated for sale on Feb. 23.
The outlook is stable.
Fitch cites the county’s broad, diverse economic base, solid reserve levels and debt policies business card.
Source

The Missouri Supreme Court has thrown out $125,000 in damages awarded to a former employee of Pepose Vision Institute of Chesterfield because a juror made anti-Semitic comments.
The high court’s decision requires a trial judge to examine allegations of prejudicial remarks made by one or more jury members and, upon finding said allegations to be true, […]

Just a few years ago you could count on getting the bulk of your money back for almost any home-improvement project you took on. Today merely replacing a toilet seat can feel like throwing caution, and cash, to the wind. According to a study from Remodeling magazine, the average return on value for an […]

Pakistan’s central bank aims to resume cutting interest rates when inflation eases, Governor Salim Raza said.
Inflation will slow as the effects of higher energy costs wear off, Raza said in an interview in Singapore today, without saying when. Consumer prices may rise between 11 percent and 11.5 percent in the six months through […]

Regulators shuttered six banks on Friday, notching up 15 failed banks in the first month of in 2010.
The biggest to fall was First Regional Bank in Los Angeles, which had deposits of $1.87 billion. The others were Community Bank and Trust in Cornelia, Ga.; Florida Community Bank in Immokalee, Fla.; First National Bank of […]

Pushed by growing anger among Americans over the slow economic recovery, "jobs" has become the buzzword of the political season.
President Barack Obama mentioned it almost 20 times during his first State of the Union speech. Republican and Democrat leaders vow that job creation will drive their agendas as they push toward the midterm […]