Tue Dec 4, 2012 8:34am EST (Reuters) - Toll Brothers Inc (TOL.N), the largest luxury homebuilder in the United States, reported a higher quarterly profit and said new orders rose sharply, indicating that the U.S. housing market is well on its way to recovery. The U.S. housing recovery has gained traction this year with prices for single-family homes having risen ...

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK | Tue Dec 4, 2012 8:29am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures edged up in low volume on Tuesday as the market remains hostage to negotiations in Washington on how to avert a "fiscal cliff" that could push the U.S. economy into recession. Republicans in Congress proposed steep spending cuts to bring down the budget def...

Tue Dec 4, 2012 8:23am EST (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn on Tuesday abandoned his effort to acquire control of U.S. truck and military vehicle maker Oshkosh Corp (OSK.N) after shareholders tendered fewer shares than he had hoped for. Only 22 percent of shares were tendered in his $32.50 per share offer, less than the 25 percent threshold Icahn had soug...

By Huw Jones and David Milliken LONDON | Tue Dec 4, 2012 8:16am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Bankers' pay needs to be curbed further to reflect the risk of a bank failure many years after a bonus has been awarded, the Bank of England (BoE) said before the annual bonus season begins next month. The European Union has already introduced curbs on bankers'...

Tue Dec 4, 2012 8:05am EST (Reuters) - Baxter International Inc said on Tuesday that it would buy privately held Swedish dialysis product company Gambro AB for about $4 billion to complement its kidney therapy portfolio. Baxter will finance the deal, which it expects to close in the first half of 2013, with debt and cash generated from overseas operations.The com...

By Tim Hepher LONDON | Tue Dec 4, 2012 8:01am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Bankers, civil servants and industrialists were squeezing out final concessions in talks to shake up aerospace group EADS on Tuesday, people familiar with the discussions said. Attention focused on transactions needed to allow the Berlin government to take a stake in the Airbus ...

By Jonathan Cable LONDON | Tue Dec 4, 2012 7:50am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economic recovery remains precarious, data on Tuesday showed, with construction activity falling and retail sales weaker than expected - a blow to the government the day before a budget statement. The weak data was accompanied by a report from the British Chambers ...

LONDON | Tue Dec 4, 2012 6:55am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) conglomerate is claiming up to $1 billion from reinsurer Swiss Re (SRENH.VX) in a dispute over a life insurance deal they agreed in 2010. Berkshire Hathaway is "alleging damages of between $0.5 and $1 billion", Swiss Re said on page 73 of the third-quarter...

DETROIT | Mon Dec 3, 2012 7:28pm EST DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) is still working on a remedy for a defect that raises the risk of an engine fire in almost 90,000 just-launched Escape and Fusion models, an executive at the second-largest U.S. automaker said on Monday. This is the fourth recall of the 2013 Escape crossover since July. The Esca...

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK | Mon Dec 3, 2012 7:27pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks struggled to extend the previous week's gains, dropping on Monday as disappointing U.S. factory numbers dampened optimism about China's economic growth. The declines broke a three-day streak of gains for the S&P 500, keeping it shy of its 50-day moving averag...

FRANKFURT | Mon Dec 3, 2012 7:06pm EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's MAN (MANG.DE) plans to scale back production of trucks from January 14 as its customers hold off placing major orders in uncertain economic times, the head of its truck business said. "We have to adjust our production according to demand," German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung cited Ander...

Mon Dec 3, 2012 6:40pm EST (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Monday it is creating a new division to oversee airplane development, hiving off that function from production as it seeks to ramp up factory output. The company named Scott Fancher, who heads Boeing's 777 jet program, to lead the new "airplane development" division, which will handle design and flig...

By Lauren Tara LaCapra, Carrick Mollenkamp, Jessica Toonkel Mon Dec 3, 2012 6:16pm EST (Reuters) - In October, Rebecca Rothstein, a Beverly Hills-based private banker to rock stars, top executives and the otherwise rich, abruptly left Morgan Stanley for rival Merrill Lynch. She had spent more than a decade at Smith Barney before Morgan Stanley took contro...

By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Emily Flitter Mon Dec 3, 2012 6:07pm EST (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley hired former Goldman Sachs trader Edward Glenn Hadden to run its Treasury bond desk last year, even though his former employer had placed the trader on paid leave for about a year following an internal inquiry, said three people familiar with the situation. The ...

By Aruna Viswanatha and Dena Aubin WASHINGTON/NEW YORK | Mon Dec 3, 2012 6:01pm EST WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regulators on Monday charged the Chinese arms of five top accounting firms with securities violations over their refusal to produce certain audit papers for U.S.-listed Chinese companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission began...

By Ben Klayman and Bernie Woodall Mon Dec 3, 2012 5:38pm EST (Reuters) - Auto sales in November raced to a five-year high for that month on a rebound from storm-ravaged October and the need to replace aging vehicles, leaving industry executives optimistic about 2013. Sales in November rose 15 percent to 1.14 million vehicles, the highest level for that mo...

WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 3, 2012 5:06pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court is allowing General Motors Co (GM.N) employees whose pension plans lost money to pursue their case against a State Street Corp (STT.N) unit over its management of their retirement savings plans before the automaker went bankrupt. Without comment, the court refused on Monday ...

By Jonathan Spicer and Alister Bull NEW YORK/LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas | Mon Dec 3, 2012 4:48pm EST NEW YORK/LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Central bankers appear satisfied with the impact of their latest monetary stimulus, though there is some disagreement over how forcefully to continue purchasing bonds, remarks by two top policymakers on Monday...

The Costa Rican financial system makes no effort to provide resources to support innovation processes in companies. A report entitled ‘Indicators for Science, Technology and Innovation 2010-2011’ published by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Costa Rica, notes that "what continues to stand out in the country's financial system is the fact that it does not seem to be very mature in ter...

NEW YORK | Mon Dec 3, 2012 9:06am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rising demand from domestic and foreign customers helped U.S. manufacturing grow in November at its quickest pace in six months, an industry survey showed on Monday, though hiring remained sluggish. Financial information firm Markit said its U.S. Manuf...

By George Georgiopoulos and Karolina Tagaris ATHENS | Mon Dec 3, 2012 8:58am EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece said it would spend 10 billion euros to buy back bonds at a price range that topped market expectations, boosting hopes it can cut its ballooning debt and unlock long-delayed aid. A successful buyback is central to the efforts of Greece's fo...

By Andy Bruce and Lucy Hornby LONDON/BEIJING | Mon Dec 3, 2012 8:56am EST LONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese manufacturing returned to growth in November for the first time in over a year and the deep downturn in euro zone factories eased slightly, according to business surveys on Monday. Monday's purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) suggested Chin...

By Rhys Jones and Charmian Kok LONDON/SINGAPORE | Mon Dec 3, 2012 8:55am EST LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) is in talks to sell its 49 percent stake in British carrier Virgin Atlantic, with sources saying Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) is among the suitors keen to access Virgin's lucrative slots at London's Heathrow airport. R...

Mon Dec 3, 2012 8:51am EST (Reuters) - The three major credit rating agencies won a fresh court victory as a federal appeals court rejected claims by five Ohio pension funds alleging that they lost hundreds of millions of dollars on risky mortgage debt because they relied on flawed ratings. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld the Sept 2011 ...

Mon Dec 3, 2012 8:45am EST (Reuters) - News Corp named Robert Thomson as the chief executive of its new publishing company. News Corp said in June it would separate its publishing and entertainment assets in response to shareholders who had pressed it to get rid of its troubled newspaper business.Thomson is currently managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and...

Mon Dec 3, 2012 8:33am EST (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) on Monday both reported strong U.S. new-vehicle sales in November as the industry rebounded from a storm-ravaged October while also benefiting from pent-up demand. The rest of the industry is scheduled to report November sales on Monday. Auto sales are an early indicator ea...

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK | Mon Dec 3, 2012 9:17am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 could rise for a fourth straight day on Monday as U.S. stocks were set to open higher on upbeat factory data from China, but concerns over budget dealings in Washington are expected to keep traders cautious. China's economy picked up in November even as a...

By Rick Rothacker CHARLOTTE, North Carolina | Mon Dec 3, 2012 7:08am EST CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - One in three U.S. consumers would consider a mortgage from retailer Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and almost half would consider one from online payment provider PayPal, according to a financial services study to be released on Monday. The results sh...

By Katharina Bart ZURICH | Mon Dec 3, 2012 6:21am EST ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) boss Brady Dougan has outmaneuvered an internal rival with his recent revamp of the Swiss bank and management shake-up but is still on borrowed time, senior banking sources say. Dougan might have played his last hand with an overhaul that strengthens ...

Although both economists and analysts tend to watch industry as an economic indicator, a recent survey shows that cooperatives in this country are alive and thriving. Cooperatives not only account for 21,600 jobs in the country but this figure has climbed 46% during the years after 2008. Many are small but others, like milk products giant Dos Pinos, loom high in finding economic health in the n...

In the past The Costa Rica Star has published numerous articles about outsourcing in Costa Rica. -Softline International Group continues its expansion in Latin America with the opening of its headquarters in Costa Rica for Central America. -Meli Figueres, assumes the role and strategy of expansion in Costa Rica as General Manager, supported by the LATAM Emerging Business Director, Richard Po...

By Mark Felsenthal HATFIELD, Pennsylvania | Sat Dec 1, 2012 7:12am EST HATFIELD, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - With barely a month left before the "fiscal cliff," Republicans and Democrats remained far apart on Friday in talks to avoid the across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that threaten to throw the country back into recession. While Presid...

PARIS | Sat Dec 1, 2012 6:18am EST PARIS (Reuters) - European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure urged euro zone governments on Saturday to forge a closer political union, arguing "the euro is a currency with a state" whose branches of government need more clearly defining. At an economic forum in Paris, Coeure said the ECB had acted to prevent the b...

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK | Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:56pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - In normal times, next week's slew of U.S. economic data could be a springboard for a December rally in the stock market. December is historically a strong month for markets. The S&P 500 has risen 16 times in the past 20 years during the month.But the market hasn'...

Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:26pm EST (Reuters) - FedEx Corp (FDX.N), the No. 2 U.S. package-delivery company, said on Friday it will raise its average rates for ground shipments and home deliveries by 4.9 percent beginning in January. The increase reflects a 5.9 percent raise in published rates at FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Deliver...

NEW YORK | Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:14pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 wrapped up its second positive week in a row on Friday, although it ended the day flat as politicians remain at odds about how to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 3.22 points, or 0.02 percent, to fini...

By Julien Ponthus and Emmanuel Jarry PARIS | Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:13pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - The French government struck a deal with ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) on Friday which will see the steelmaker invest 180 million euros ($234 million) in its Florange steelworks, allowing some 600 jobs at two shuttered blast furnaces to be saved. Prime Minister J...

By Mark Felsenthal HATFIELD, Penn. | Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:51pm EST HATFIELD, Penn. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hit the road on Friday to turn up pressure on Republicans in the "fiscal cliff" talks, urging Americans to support his drive to raise taxes on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for the middle class. In a Christmas-season visit to...

By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO | Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:20pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Noted short seller David Scially of Kingsford Capital Management LLC is retiring at the end of this year, after more than a decade running the investment firm with partner Mike Wilkins, according to two people familiar with the situation. Scially decided to lea...

By Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis NEW YORK | Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:14pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) has emerged as the frontrunner in an auction for Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc (MDRX.O), but the companies remain far apart on price and a deal is highly uncertain, people familiar with the matter said. Blackstone has p...