Year: <span>2012</span>
U.S. equity markets opened flat to lower this morning as the clock ticked down to the final hours in negotiations related to the U.S. fiscal cliff. Share prices edged upward for most of the day and a...
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The benchmark 10-year Treasury note closed 2012 at the lowest yield level in decades, even though yields rose slightly following President Obama’s news conference announcement of a possible...
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Canada’s potash marketing and trading company, Canpotex Ltd., said today that it has signed an agreement with a subsidiary of China’s Sinofert for 1 million tons of potash in the first half of...
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Some of the biggest business stories of the past year drew the most Internet search traffic to the newsmakers, which is really no big surprise. Whether just for curiosity or for help in making an...
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Low prices for natural gas have led to lower demand for coal as a fuel for electricity generation and to wider margins for chemical products makers. Now it looks like the U.S. steel industry could...
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In its monthly report on manufacturing activity in Texas, the Dallas Federal Reserve reported today that its general activity index rose sharply, from a reading of -2.8 in November to 6.8 in...
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In a display of confidence about its fourth calendar quarter sales, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) yesterday announced that its Ford Focus nameplate is the best-selling car in the world, with more than...
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The holiday shopping season got off to a fast start, but concluded with a whimper and not the anticipated bang. It appears that the booming start pulled sales forward and retailers didn’t do enough...
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In a new year’s message, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned the country that its economic climate will be “more difficult” in 2013. Her warning seems to contradict that of the...
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Following the killing of 26 people, including 20 children, in Newtown, Conn., the renewed calls for control of semiautomatic weapons known as assault rifles, and large magazines for these weapons,...
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Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has cut its ratings on debt for ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) from BBB to BBB- following the company’s announcement that it would finance its $6.8 billion...
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Fearful of the consequences of milk prices rising to $8 a gallon, U.S. House and Senate conferees have agreed to extend the 2008 Farm Bill for another year. Had a deal not been reached, the 1949...
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A group of private equity firms, including The Carlyle Group L.P. (NASDAQ: CG), announced yesterday that the consortium would acquire investment advising and banking firm Duff & Phelps Corp....
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Spain’s largest utility, Iberdrola S.A., has sold off about €850 million of assets so far in 2012, out of planned sales of €2 billion by the end of 2014. Today the Spanish firm said it sold...
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With the average price of Brent crude in 2012 pointed at a record high of $111.50 a barrel, it is probably no surprise that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, aka OPEC, hauled in...
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