Top Business News

Reuters - Investors rattled by unpredictable global markets are losing faith in star managers to shield them from painful losses, with some of the industry's best known names topping a list of funds which hemorrhaged cash in 2011, Lipper data shows.

Reuters - General Motors Co regained its title as the world's top-selling automaker from Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) in 2011, but the U.S. company faces a challenge to stay on top this year as Toyota rebuilds its disaster-struck business.

Reuters - Sweden's IKEA, the world's biggest furniture retailer, posted on Friday a record profit for the fiscal 2010/11 year on the back of growing sales and a bigger share in almost all of its markets.

Reuters - Greece and its private bondholders resume debt swap talks on Friday amid signs they are inching closer to a long-awaited deal needed to prevent a chaotic default by Athens.

AP - It takes Mikael Ohlsson five minutes — and the help of one other person — to assemble IKEA's Ektorp sofa.

AP - Foreclosures in Hawaii have plummeted 53 percent since the Legislature passed sweeping mortgage legislation last year, officials said Thursday.

AP - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich paid nearly $1 million in federal income taxes in 2010 on more than $3.1 million in income, filings released Thursday showed amid renewed calls for rival Mitt Romney to release his tax records as well.

AP - Facing newly barbed questions about his wealth, Mitt Romney on Thursday refused to bow to pressure to immediately release his tax returns in the rocky home stretch of South Carolina's Republican primary. Though still the front-runner for the nomination, Romney also lost his claim to an Iowa victory just as Newt Gingrich emerged as a stronger threat.

Reuters - Eastman Kodak Co, the photography icon that invented the hand-held camera, has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to shrink significantly, capping a prolonged plunge for one of America's best-known companies.

Reuters - Google Inc's quarterly results fell short of Wall Street's heightened expectations for the holiday season as declining search advertising rates contributed to a rare miss, triggering a 9 percent slide in its shares.

Reuters - A strong outlook from IBM and decent results from Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp suggest that corporate decision makers are shaking off nervousness about economic growth and boosting spending on technology.

AP - What was supposed to be a celebration of the most prosperous quarter in Google's 13-year history instead turned into a major letdown.

AP - Bank of America is back to basics — slimmed down, stripped of its swagger and no longer the biggest bank in the country. And investors, after pummeling the company for two years, finally like what they see.

AP - IBM Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings handily beat Wall Street's expectations on Thursday, helped by higher revenue and profit margins in the technology icon's lucrative software and services segments.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp's fiscal second-quarter profit fell very slightly as lagging computer sales to cash-strapped consumers in the United States and Europe hurt its core Windows business.

Reuters - General Motors Co reclaimed its title as the world's top selling automaker for the first time since 2007, after sales of more than 9 million vehicles globally in 2011.

AP - Intel Corp., the world's largest chip-maker, on Thursday said its profit rose 6 percent in the latest quarter, topping analyst expectations, even as hard-drive shortages held back PC makers' chip orders.

AP - Morgan Stanley posted a fourth-quarter loss of $275 million Thursday, its first since early 2009, dragged down by the cost of a settlement over soured mortgage securities.

Reuters - Stocks rose for the third straight day on Thursday, sparked by results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley and as the latest jobless claims dropped to a near four-year low.

AP - Facing newly barbed questions about his wealth, Mitt Romney on Thursday refused to bow to pressure to immediately release his tax returns in the rocky home stretch of South Carolina's Republican primary. Though still the nomination front-runner, he also lost his claim to an Iowa victory just as Newt Gingrich emerged as a stronger threat.