EU regulators will review a bid by bug spray maker S.C. Johnson to purchase Sara Lee Corp.’s remaining insecticide business at the request of national watchdogs, the European Commission said on Wednesday. Sara Lee announced the $200 million deal in June as part of a strategy of focusing on selling food, coffee and tea. Get the full story »
Filed under: Trade
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Aug. 31, 2010 at 5:29 p.m.
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Filed under: China, International, Policy, Politics, Tourism, Trade, Travel Daley, business leaders going to China, South Korea
Mayor Richard Daley will travel to China and South Korea next month to promote Chicago as a destination for businesses and tourists.
The Sept. 18-24 trip will be sponsored by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and World Business Chicago. The mayor will make stops in Shanghai, China, and in the cities of Busan and Seoul in South Korea.
Economy slows, 2Q GDP revised to 1.6%
U.S. economic growth slowed more sharply than initially thought in the second quarter, held back by the largest increase in imports in 26 years, a government report showed on Friday. Gross domestic product expanded at a 1.6 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said, instead of the 2.4 percent pace it had estimated last month. Get the full story »
EU pushes back deadline on sale of Sara Lee unit
European Union competition regulators have set a new deadline of Oct. 22 to decide whether to clear Unilever’s $1.3 billion purchase of Sara Lee Corp.’s body care business, the European Commission said on Friday. Get the full story »
U.S. trade deficit widens in June
The U.S. trade deficit widened a surprising 18.8 percent in June on a surge of consumer goods from China and other suppliers, suggesting U.S. second-quarter economic growth was much weaker than previously thought. The monthly trade gap totaled $49.9 billion, the highest since October 2008, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday, as U.S. exports stumbled a bit. Get the full story »
Fed rate increase seen later in 2011
U.S. short-term interest rate futures traders deferred expectations of a first Federal Reserve rate increase, after a government report showed payrolls fell more than expected in July. Get the full story »
Wheat prices hit CBOT limits, at 2-year high
Wheat futures prices soared Thursday to their highest levels in two years after Russia said it would ban grain exports due to a severe drought, a move that heightens concerns about global supplies of the grain and the possible impact on food prices.
September wheat futures at the Chicago board of trade were up the exchange-imposed daily limit of 60 cents at $7.85 3/4 a bushel in late trading, an 8.3 percent rise and the highest level since Aug. 29, 2008. U.S. wheat futures have gained nearly 85 percent from a nine-month low in June on expectations that demand for U.S. wheat will increase. Get the full story »
Imports slam GDP; Midwest activity expands
U.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter as companies invested heavily in equipment from abroad and the pace of consumer spending eased, raising concerns about the recovery in the rest of 2010. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in its first estimate on Friday, after an upwardly revised 3.7 percent growth pace in the January-March quarter.
Financial markets had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, growing at a 2.5 percent rate in the second quarter from a previously estimated a 2.7 percent rate for the first three months of this year. Get the full story »
July 22, 2010 at 5:51 a.m.
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Filed under: Cell phones, China, Litigation, Technology, Telecommunications, Trade Motorola sues Huawei for trade secret theft
U.S. mobile phone maker Motorola Inc. has sued China’s Huawei Technologies Co. for alleged theft of trade secrets, highlighting the fast-growing Chinese firm’s difficulty in shaking the nation’s reputation for piracy.
In the amended complaint, filed on July 16 in a federal court in Chicago, Motorola claimed an engineer shared information about a Motorola transceiver and other technology with Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, a former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army. Get the full story »
Widening U.S. trade deficit raises double-dip fears
Don Lee | The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly jumped in May, to the highest level since November 2008, prompting some analysts to sharply cut their economic growth forecasts for the just-completed second quarter and other economists to warn of rising risks of a double-dip recession.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the trade gap rose to $42.3 billion in May, up nearly 5 percent from April’s $40.3 billion. Economists had expected the May deficit to dip slightly to about $39 billion as oil prices were lower and retail sales fell that month. Get the full story »
U.S. farmers can’t meet booming corn demands
Exporters, livestock feeders and ethanol makers are going through the U.S. corn stockpile faster than farmers can grow the crops, the government said on Friday. Despite record crops in two of the past three years and another record within reach this year, the Agriculture Department estimated the corn carryover will shrink to the lowest level since 2006/07. Get the full story »
CME Group plans interest-rate clearing in 2010
CME Group Inc, which runs the world’s biggest clearinghouse for futures contracts, plans to start clearing over-the-counter interest-rate contracts in 2010, an executive said on Wednesday.
A sweeping financial regulatory reform bill that won passage this month in the House will require trading and clearing of a swath of derivatives currently traded away from regulated exchanges. CME is among several clearinghouses that aim to take advantage of the new requirements. Get the full story »
