Business and Finance news

Wall Street cash bonuses are set to increase by about 40 percent this year, the Wall Street Journal said citing a report by compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates.
In a report to be released later on Thursday, Johnson Associates projects that the biggest increases in year-end cash bonuses and equity awards will go to employees […]

Pulte Homes Inc raised its forecast for efficiencies and savings from its acquisition of rival Centex Corp, overshadowing a quarterly loss and sending its shares up 7.5 percent.
The biggest U.S. homebuilder also reported higher gross margins in the third quarter.
Pulte, which has operations in 29 states, said its new target for efficiencies and savings […]

Norges Bank raised its key interest rate a quarter point from a record low and signaled steeper increases than it previously forecast over the next three years as inflation accelerates and unemployment remains low.
The Oslo-based bank raised the overnight deposit rate to 1.5 percent, becoming the first European central bank to reverse its […]

Asia needs to reassess its strategy for future growth and reduce its over-reliance on exports, said Malaysia’s central bank governor, Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
Global economic conditions will remain volatile for a while, she said in a speech in Kuala Lumpur today.
Source

U.S. foreclosure filings climbed to a record in the third quarter as lenders seized more properties from delinquent borrowers, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
A total of 937,840 homes received a default or auction notice or were repossessed by banks, a 23 percent increase from a year earlier, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data […]

The Japanese government may undermine banks by forcing them to defer debt repayments while easing accounting standards on the loans, the country’s former top financial regulator said.
Shizuka Kamei, Japan’s newly appointed financial services minister, plans to submit legislation next month that would allow ailing small firms to postpone loan repayments for up to […]

An Australian court has ruled that local governments can pursue financial claims against collapsed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in Australia and elsewhere, a firm that is funding the litigation said on Monday.
IMF (Australia) Ltd said the Federal Court ruled on Friday in favor of town councils and others which had lost money in […]

General Motors has agreed to sell a major portion of its European Opel division to a consortium led by the Canadian auto supplier Magna, the automaker announced Thursday.
Under the plan, Magna, along with Russia’s Sberbank, will take over 55% of Opel. Opel employees will own another 10%, leaving GM with just 35% of Adam […]

U.K. producer prices rose for a sixth month in August as the cost of raw materials jumped the most in more than a year, a sign inflation pressures are persisting in the economy.
The price of goods at factory gates climbed 0.2 percent from July, when it rose at the same pace, the Office […]

European Investment Bank President Philippe Maystadt said the EIB’s lending target may be lower in 2010 than this year’s estimate of 70 billion euros ($102 billion) if the economy recovers.
“We expect this year’s target to be met,” Maystadt said today in an interview in Brussels. “As for 2010, we still have to discuss […]