China swung to a surprise trade deficit in February of $7.3 billion, its largest in seven years, as the Lunar New Year holiday dealt an unexpectedly sharp blow to exports.
Filed under: International
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March 9 at 1:14 p.m.
Filed under: China, International, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Politics, Trade WikiLeaks: Kirk asked China to let Baxter slide
When it comes to protecting consumers, American politicians in China don’t always practice what they preach, unpublished U.S. diplomatic cables show.
In 2007, two U.S. congressmen private admonished a Chinese official about the spike in potentially harmful made-in-China products being shipped around the world, according to a cable from the U.S. embassy in Beijing obtained by WikiLeaks and provided to Reuters by a third party. Get the full story »
Gary Locke to be new U.S. ambassador to China
U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday he had chosen Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to be the next U.S. ambassador to China, replacing Jon Huntsman, a Republican who is stepping down and mulling a run for the presidency.
Motorola-NSN deal delayed by Chinese regulators
Chinese anti-trust regulators have extended their timeframe for reviewing Schaumburg-based Motorola Solutions Inc.’s planned sale of its networks business to Nokia Siemens Networks.
Motorola and NSN announced the $1.2 billion deal in July 2010 and the companies expected to close the deal by the end of 2010, but this deadline was delayed pending approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Anti-Monopoly Bureau. The companies then targeted the first quarter of 2011 for closing the transaction, and Motorola had affirmed this timeframe as recently as two weeks ago. Get the full story »
O’Hare among 8 airports opening to Cuba flights
Eight new airports have been given permission to schedule charter flights to and from Cuba.
Customs and Border Protection officials say charter flights to Cuba can be scheduled from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and international airports in Baltimore, Dallas/Fort Worth, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Atlanta and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Get the full story »
Geithner urges ‘balance’ from Europe on crisis steps
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged Europe on Tuesday to strike a balance between tough fiscal reforms and financial support for troubled member states ahead of two crucial EU summits to resolve the bloc’s debt crisis. Get the full story »
SEC investigating Kraft for corruption in India
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Northfield-based Kraft Foods Inc. for possible corruption at an Indian facility of its Cadbury unit, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Kraft, the marker of Maxwell House coffee, Oscar Meyer lunch meats and Velveeta cheese, received a subpoena from the SEC on February 1, the filing said. Get the full story »
March 4 at 11:02 a.m.
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Filed under: Cell phones, China, International, Telecommunications, Wireless China Mobile says Jobs wants an iPhone for it
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has expressed interest in developing an iPhone based on China Mobile’s fourth-generation telecoms standard, the chairman of the Chinese telecoms operator said Friday.
“Jobs has said he’s very interested in developing an iPhone that will run on TD,” China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said on the sidelines of the Chinese Communist Party’s consultative meeting. Get the full story »
China’s HNA to buy aircraft from Boeing, Airbus
HNA Group, China’s fourth-largest airline group and parent of Hainan Airlines Co., said it will sign aircraft purchase orders on Tuesday with leading aircraft manufacturers, including Chicago-based Boeing Co. and Airbus.
HNA was planning to sign an aircraft purchase agreement and a memorandum of understanding with leading aircraft makers, also including Dassault Aviation SA and Gulfstream Aerospace at the event, it said in a media invitation for the signing ceremony.
There has been speculation that the HNA orders could include Airbus’ A380s as the Chinese government is calling for the purchase of more wide body planes to help ease air traffic congestion. Get the full story »
AB InBev earnings rise on higher sales
Some of InBev's brands. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
U.S. and Brazilian drinkers are paying more for their beer and moving to expensive brands, according to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer.
The maker of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s reported a better-than-expected 22 percent improvement in fourth-quarter core profit on Thursday as higher prices and cost cuts offset lower volumes in the U.S. and slowing growth in Brazil.
It saw a first-quarter drag on volumes as high U.S. unemployment and floods in Brazil kept drinkers out of bars, but improvement thereafter. Get the full story »
World food prices hit new record high
The FAO index of global food prices climbed to a fresh record high in February, above 2008 peaks when high food prices sparked riots in several countries, U.N Food and Agriculture Organisation data showed on Thursday.
The index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 236 points in February, the record in real and nominal terms, up 2.2 percent from January’s record and rising for the eighth month in a row. Get the full story »
McDonald’s pledges more investment in Russia
McDonald’s Corp. plans to boost investment into expansion of its Russian business this year to increase its foothold in the growing fast food restaurant market amid still sluggish competition. Get the full story »
China’s holdings of U.S. debt jump 30%
The United States owes considerably more money to China than previously reported, the Treasury Department said on Monday as it revised Beijing’s holdings of U.S. Treasury debt sharply upward to $1.160 trillion.
The $268.4 billion increase over figures reported on February 15 was contained in a survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities released on Monday. The report attributed Treasuries holdings to China that were previously counted in other countries where broker-dealers made purchases.
The United Kingdom has typically been a country where brokers have purchased Treasuries for central banks and investors elsewhere, including China. Get the full story »
NYSE merger not seen as U.S. security risk
A senior U.S. Treasury official said he did not see any national security concerns with Deutsche Boerse’s planned takeover of NYSE Euronext.
The deal between the German market and the iconic New York-based exchange must win approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Get the full story »
Booth dean aims to make school more global
Sunil Kumar. (Handout)
In an interview with the website Poets & Quants, Sunil Kumar, the new dean at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, said he hopes to make the prestigious school more global and strengthen its alumni network, among other goals. Kumar also said he has put together a committee of senior faculty to assess Chicago’s global strategy and determine what, if anything, the school should do. “We want to consult widely, collect data on other schools and see how well they’re doing it,” Kumar said.
Kumar was appointed dean on July 28, 2010, and began his term on Jan. 1.
