Business and Finance news

Malaysia’s industrial production fell by the least in seven months in June as a nine-month slump in exports eased.
Production at factories, utilities and mines dropped 9.6 percent from a year earlier, after decreasing a revised 11.3 percent in May, the Putrajaya-based Statistics Department said today. That compares with the median forecast for a […]

Six U.S. states posted record unemployment rates in June, while Michigan became the first to top 15 percent in a quarter century, threatening to deepen budget crises in capitals across the nation.
The total number of states with at least 10 percent joblessness rose to 15, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. Georgia, […]

One week before its emergency loan program is slated to launch, the Small Business Administration issued guidelines for banks and borrowers on how the new loans will work.
Called "America’s Recovery Capital," ARC loans are designed to make up to $35,000 available to struggling small business owners to temporarily help them keep up with payments […]

Gas prices continue to surge nationwide, and are now up more than 27% in the past seven and a half weeks.
The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline rose slightly Sunday to $2.613, from $2.606 according to motorist group AAA. This is the fortieth consecutive daily increase in the price of gas. In […]

St. Louis — Another piece of Pyramid Construction is set to be dismantled next week.
The Beaux Arts Building, on Grand Boulevard in midtown, is scheduled for a foreclosure auction at noon Thursday, according to public notices and documents filed with the city. People’s National Bank is foreclosing on a $4.6 million loan it […]

Australia’s economy will probably contract this year for the first time in almost two decades amid slumping global demand for exports, central bank Deputy Governor Ric Battellino said.
“There are limits on how much we can insulate ourselves from what is happening abroad, and therefore there are probably still some difficult times ahead,” Battellino […]

AGF Management Ltd. says its profit for the fiscal first quarter fell by 80 per cent compared with a year earlier, in part because of high loan-loss provisions at it trust division.
Net income fell to $12.2 million or 14 cents per share for the three months ended Feb. 28, down 80 per cent […]

Early last year, the Bank of Canada forecast the country’s economy would grow by 2.8 per cent in 2009; predictions that $200 (U.S.)-a-barrel oil was in view seemed plausible; and subprime mortgage losses in the U.S. were widely expected to cause little more than a temporary slowdown.
Needless to say, things haven’t turned out that […]

Bank of America shareholders approved the company’s bold acquisition of Merrill Lynch on Friday, paving the way for one of the biggest mergers ever in banking.
Investors in the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank voted in favor of the deal at a special shareholder meeting Friday, after Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) shareholders approved the sale earlier […]

The Bank of Japan downgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in three months, saying growth is becoming “increasingly sluggish.”
“The increased sluggishness in Japan’s economic activity will likely persist over the next several quarters as the slowdown in overseas economies becomes more evident,” the central bank said in a report […]