M&A Bankers See Cross-Border Takeovers Propelling India Past Record 2010 - Bloomberg

Indian mergers and acquisitions in 2011 may surpass this year’s record $71 billion of deals, led by oil and gas, metals and mining companies, according to M&A bankers including Topsy Mathew of Standard Chartered Plc.
Billionaire Sunil Mittal’s $10.7 billion acquisition of mobile-phone operators in Africa led an almost four-fold increase in takeovers this year […]

Hedge Funds Crash, Apple Turns Uncool in 2011: Matthew Lynn - Bloomberg

There is an old joke that economists only make predictions so that the weather guys have someone to laugh at. In much the same spirit, once a year this column also makes some predictions — but only so the economists have something to giggle over.
With that caveat in mind, here are 10 things that […]

The once and future king

WRIGHT, WYO.

Retailers roll out sales as snow threatens East

The shopping marathon continues: Americans are hitting the malls to spend gift cards on whatever items Santa may have missed and pick up items on clearance.
A snowstorm headed up the East Coast is likely to crimp some plans. Washington, D.C., is expected to get 5 to 8 inches of snow. New York and New England […]

Roseman: What happens if you find a pricing error?

I often get inquiries about pricing errors. Do retailers have to honour a published price if it

Treasuries’ upward trend stalls

Treasury prices lost some steam Monday, snapping what would have been a strong three-day upward trend, as most bonds ended slightly higher or stayed flat.
"We haven’t had a three-day streak all month," said Bill Larkin, portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management. "The market is getting ahead of itself, and North Korea was a tailwind […]

One in five shopped Black Friday online

More Canadians shopped online than crossed the border during the week kicked off by the U.S. Thanksgiving shopping bonanza known as Black Friday, a survey shows.
While 9.3 per cent of Canadians physically crossed the border to shop, 21 per cent said they shopped online, the survey by global research firm Synovate found.
Two-thirds of those who […]

Drop in jobless claims helps send stocks higher

A small drop in unemployment claims and a higher profit forecast by FedEx Corp. helped push stocks up Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at their highest levels of the year.
The Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to 420,000, the third drop […]

Senate to vote on package extending Bush tax cuts

The Senate is moving to pass a package that would spare taxpayers at every income level from a significant tax increase on Jan. 1.
The package will then go to the House, where Democrats are fuming over extended tax breaks for the wealthy that President Barack Obama negotiated with Senate Republicans. House Democrats are considering possible […]

ECB boosted government bond-buying to ease crisis

The European Central Banks says it bought government bonds worth euro2.667 billion ($3.55 billion) in the week ended Dec. 10 _ the highest amount since July and up from euro1.965 billion a week earlier.
The ECB says it has bought a total of euro72 billion in government bonds since May, when it started buying the debt […]