Business News
Spanish business leaders to woo US investors
New York, April 10 - The Spanish Business Council for Competitiveness, or CEC, embarks this week on a tour of several US cities during which it will explain the opportunities offered by Spain's economy to international investors.
The first presentation will be made Wednesday at the New York campus of Spain's IESE Business School and will be run by the CEO of Spanish power giant Iberdrola, Jose Ignacio Sanchez Galan, who will be accompanied by CEC President Fernando Casado.
Hostess sells Twinkies, other brands for $410 mn
New York, March 13 - Apollo Global Management LLC and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co will acquire the famous pastries Twinkies and other brands for $410 million, bankrupt Hostess Brands Inc. announced Tuesday.
The joint offer was the only one presented in writing, and so Hostess, which announced its closure last November, decided to turn the brands over to the two companies, the firm said.
The agreement still must be approved by the bankruptcy court supervising the liquidation of Hostess's assets.
A spokesman for Apollo Global contacted by EFE declined to comment on the matter.
Amazon pulls offensive ‘keep calm and rape them’ T-shirts
Washington, Mar 3 : Online retailer Amazon has been slammed for selling offensive T-shirts with slogans that seem to promote crime against women.’
Earlier on Saturday the firm launched T-shirts for sale with messages including "keep calm and hit her".
According to the BBC, an Amazon statement said later "those items are not available for sale".
The T-shirts are based on the World War II wartime propaganda slogan "keep calm and carry on.”
Among the 8,425 T-shirts offered for sale by the company on the Amazon site had offensive slogans like, "keep calm and knife her", “keep calm and rape them” and "keep calm and grope a lot".
US sees enormous business opportunity in India's growth
Washington, Feb 27 - Describing India as one of America's "most trusted and valuable partners" in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior US official has said it would serve as the foundation for greater regional economic cooperation and expansion.
"Our relationship from our burgeoning trade, to defence sales and exercises, to our growing education and clean energy partnerships has never been stronger," Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State, told a House panel Tuesday during a hearing on "The Rebalance to Asia: Why South Asia Matters."
`Europe attracts more Chinese investment than US'
Washington, Feb 26 : Europe has attracted twice as much investment as the US from Chinese investors in the past two years for commercial opportunities and political reasons, the Rhodium Group, a US consulting firm said in a report.
Annual flows of Chinese direct investment to the European Union (EU) increased from less than $1 billion before 2008 to an average of $3 billion in 2009 and 2010, before tripling to more than $10 billion in the past two years, according to the report.
US factory orders go up
Washington, Feb 5 - New orders for US manufactured goods rose 1.8 percent in December, following a modest gain in November, the US Department of Commerce reported Monday.
US factory orders increased by $8.6 billion to a seasonally-adjusted $484.8 billion, going up for three of the last four months, reported Xinhua.
New orders for durable goods, or big-ticket items expected to last at least three years such as computers, cars and machinery, rose by $9.4 billion or 4.3 percent to $230 billion in December. This followed a 0.6-percent November increase.
US, Mexico reach agreement on tomato trade
Washington, Feb 5 - The US and Mexico have reached an agreement in principle on terms for imports of Mexican tomatoes, preventing the trade war feared in the wake of Washington's decision last year to suspend a
1996 bilateral accord.
The deal was reached over the weekend and raises the minimum price for Mexican tomatoes sold in the US, US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez said in a statement.
Exxon Mobil's fourth-quarter profit goes up
Houston, Feb 2 : Exxon Mobil, the largest US energy company, has said its profit rose 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, thanks to higher refining margins.
Despite declines in oil production, the Texas-based energy giant said it earned nearly $1 billion in the last three months of 2012, reported Xinhua.
Net income was $44.9 billion in 2012, up 9 percent from a year earlier, the company said.
Exxon Mobil attributed the growth mostly to asset sales and stronger performance in the company's refining and chemical products divisions.