By Tom Bergin LONDON | Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:38am EST LONDON (Reuters) - BP unveiled a reorganization of its oil and gas production operations on Friday, reversing a change it enacted after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The latest move is partly intended to free Chief Executive Bob Dudley up from close oversight of day-to-day operations so he can he...

By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK | Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:05am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to start an abbreviated session modestly higher on Friday on signs of progress in talks about releasing aid to Greece, and with the U.S. retail sector in focus as the holiday shopping season begins. The U.S. equity market was closed Thursday for the Th...

By Phil Wahba and Jessica Wohl NEW YORK/CHICAGO | Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:04am EST NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The shopping frenzy known as "Black Friday" kicked off at a more civilized hour, with shoppers welcoming decisions by retailers such as Target Corp and Toys R Us Inc to move their openings to Thursday night. They also seemed to show little c...

By Richard Hubbard LONDON | Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:41am EST LONDON (Reuters) - The euro hit a three-week high on Friday on signs of progress in negotiations to get fresh aid cash to Greece and after an influential German survey found business sentiment had improved. The euro climbed 0.2 percent to $1.2906, on course for its second week of gains again...

By Tom Bergin LONDON | Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:23am EST LONDON (Reuters) - BP is planning to announce a reorganization of its oil and gas production operations, three sources familiar with the matter said, the second significant restructuring of its main cash generator since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The latest changes will undo some of the measur...

By Anjuli Davies LONDON | Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:19am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Mike Lynch, mathematics whiz and former boss of Autonomy, said he can't see how accusations leveled by Hewlett-Packard Co of dodgy accounting add up to a $5 billion writedown on the software business he sold them last year. HP said on Tuesday it would write $8.8 billion off ...

By Charlie Dunmore and Ethan Bilby BRUSSELS | Fri Nov 23, 2012 6:59am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain and Germany warned on Friday there will be no summit deal on the European Union's proposed 1 trillion euro long-term budget without deeper spending cuts, after the latest compromise plan ignored their calls for further restraint. British Prime M...

BRUSSELS | Fri Nov 23, 2012 6:48am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Canada aim to conclude a free trade agreement in the next few weeks after a top-level meeting over a deal that could swell bilateral trade by more than 20 percent. "Both sides will now instruct their negotiators to narrow the gaps on the outstanding issues," the Commission...

HONG KONG | Fri Nov 23, 2012 6:30am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) (0670.HK), one of the country's top three carriers, has agreed to buy 60 Airbus (EAD.PA) A320 aircraft for about $5.4 billion, expected to be delivered in stages from 2014 to 2017. This is the first major deal involving Europe's Airbus and a Chinese airliner ...

LONDON | Fri Nov 23, 2012 6:20am EST LONDON (Reuters) - India's Tata Steel (TISC.NS) said on Friday it would cut 900 jobs across Britain as part of a restructuring plan aimed at stemming losses in weak European markets. The group said 580 jobs would go at its Port Talbot plant in south Wales as part of proposals to restructure its management and administ...

MUMBAI | Fri Nov 23, 2012 12:35am EST MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Indian joint venture of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) has suspended its chief financial officer and other employees as it investigates alleged violations of U.S. anti-bribery laws, a development that could hamper India's efforts to open its domestic supermarket sector to foreign investment. Wal-M...

By Andy Bruce LONDON | Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:24am EST LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone economy is on course for its weakest quarter since the dark days of early 2009, according to business surveys that showed companies toiling against shrinking order books in November. Service sector firms like banks and hotels that comprise the bulk of the economy ...

By Richard Hubbard LONDON | Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:11am EST LONDON (Reuters) - World share markets extended a week-long rally on Thursday as manufacturing surveys in China and the United States boosted confidence over global growth and euro zone data at least didn't worsen the already weak outlook for the region. The euro also touched a three-week hi...

By Brad Dorfman Thu Nov 22, 2012 7:57am EST (Reuters) - Forget that Turkey trot. Thanksgiving is now the start of the annual holiday shopping endurance race, as more stores open on Thursday's national holiday to seek a bigger share of spending that is expected to grow slowly this season. Target Corp has joined Wal-Mart and Gap Inc in being open at least p...

By Lucy Hornby BEIJING | Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:45am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's vast manufacturing sector saw expansion accelerate in November for the first time in 13 months, preliminary results from a factory survey showed, a sign that the pace of economic growth has revived after seven consecutive quarters of slowdown. The China HSBC Flash Ma...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK | Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:23pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday after a ceasefire was declared to end the flare-up in violence between Israel and the Palestinians, though the lack of a deal to release emergency aid for Greece limited the market's advance. Investors also remained anxious about the mandatory tax ...

WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:52am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week but remained elevated due to superstorm Sandy, a sign the storm is proving to be a substantial disruption to the labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 41,000 to a seasonally adjusted ...

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK | Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:16am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures retreated Wednesday after international lenders were unable to agree on emergency aid for Greece, and ahead of data on the U.S. labor market and consumer confidence. For a second week, euro zone finance ministers, the International Monetary F...

Police say they nabbed two ringleaders capable of forging nearly anything: driver's licenses, permits to carry guns, residency identification cards, (cedulas de residencia) for foreigners, even Riteve auto inspection certification papers. Friday cops raided a San Sebastian apartment equipped with all the machinery necessary to document falsification. And the easy stuff, like those cited above, ...

By Emily Flitter and Basil Katz NEW YORK | Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:56pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday charged a former SAC Capital employee with insider trading in a series of transactions that hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen had personally signed off on. In what they called "the most lucrative" insider-trading scheme ever, pro...

By Kevin Yao BEIJING | Tue Nov 20, 2012 6:04pm EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's soaring wages and strengthening currency might blunt the competitive edge of exporters that have seen average pay double since 2007, but it won't stop firms worldwide making a collective $100 billion bet on setting up shop here this year. Although foreign direct invest...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:46pm EST (Reuters) - Flight attendants at US Airways Group Inc, looking to bring more pressure on the carrier to reach a contract agreement, voted by a 94 percent margin to authorize a strike, their union said on Tuesday. The workers, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, twice this year voted down a proposed contract with US...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK | Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:38pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street halted its two-day rally on Tuesday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank lacks tools to cushion the economy from the impact of the "fiscal cliff." The day's biggest disappointment was Hewlett-Packard Co shares (HPQ.N), which sank t...

By Poornima Gupta and Nicola Leske Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:19pm EST (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard stunned Wall Street by alleging a massive accounting scandal at its British software unit Autonomy that will cost the company the majority of $8.8 billion in charges. It was the latest in a string of reversals that have renewed questions about the basic competence o...

By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK | Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:37pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman brought a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.VX) of deceiving investors in mortgage-backed securities. Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, misrepresented the quality of loans underlying resi...

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:30pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Housing starts rose to their highest rate in more than four years in October, suggesting the housing market recovery was gaining steam, even though permits for future construction fell. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday housing starts increased 3.6 percent to ...

By Estelle Shirbon LONDON | Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:58pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - UBS trader Kweku Adoboli was jailed for seven years on Tuesday for the biggest fraud in British history, which cost the Swiss bank $2.3 billion. The 32-year-old had admitted trading far in excess of authorized risk limits and booking fictitious trades to hide his true posi...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:43pm EST (Reuters) - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc (GMCR.O) appointed Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) executive Brian Kelley to its top post, betting on a products specialist to replace Lawrence Blanford who has led the company since 2007. Kelley's appointment follows an almost eight-month CEO search after Blanford told the board in February he planne...

By Leigh Thomas and Daniel Flynn PARIS | Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:16pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it would respond to a Moody's credit downgrade by pushing on with reforms, complaining that the ratings agency had overlooked steps already taken to revamp the euro zone's second-largest economy. France lost its prized triple-A badge from...

The area related to the Port of Limon now has its own Promotion Agency, with private and public operators, and an investment guide to promote its development. The Agency for the Development of Limon is presented as "a nonprofit joint entity of public utility made up of entrepreneurs, chambers, universities, government agencies and civil society to develop the potential of the economy of Limon a...

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK | Tue Nov 20, 2012 7:17am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were little changed on Tuesday, indicating the S&P 500 index may pause after a two-day rally as a credit downgrade of France by Moody's reminded investors of the problems plaguing the global economy. The benchmark S&P index had risen more ...

By Nick Brown WHITE PLAINS, New York | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:40pm EST WHITE PLAINS, New York (Reuters) - Hostess Brands Inc agreed in court on Monday to enter private mediation with its lenders and leaders of a striking union to try to avert the liquidation of the maker of Twinkies snack cakes and Wonder Bread. Hostess, its lenders and the Bakery, C...

By Jessica Toonkel NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:32pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments has hired a TD Ameritrade (AMTD.N) executive to head its brokerage division. Ram Subramaniam, formerly managing director, head of products at TD Ameritrade, is joining the Boston-based fund company as executive vice president and head of brokerage ...

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:21pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York won the dismissal of former American International Group Inc Chief Executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg's $25 billion lawsuit accusing it of unlawfully bailing out the insurer during the 2008 financial crisis. The decision issued Mon...

By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:29pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington needs to rediscover its ability to compromise and commit to a long-term plan to reduce the nation's debt, the head of the country's second-largest stock exchange said on Monday, warning that lawmakers are flirting with disaster. Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ.O) CEO Ro...

By Rick Rothacker Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:57pm EST (Reuters) - Five U.S. banks have provided about $22 billion in mortgage relief to customers under a deal to settle borrowers' accusations over foreclosures, a report by the settlement's monitor said on Monday. The report said that Bank of America Corp, which owes the most, improved in delivering first-lien mor...

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:46pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Monday, putting the S&P 500 on track for its second straight advance as investors were encouraged by the early tone in talks to tackle the fiscal crunch and data that showed continued improvement in the housing recovery. The S&P 500 is ...

By Gabriel Debenedetti NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:29pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The "fiscal cliff" could trigger a recession and push the unemployment rate above 10 percent, ratings agency Fitch said on Monday. Fitch said it did not expect Congress to allow the tax hikes and spending cuts, which have been dubbed the fiscal cliff, to take place...

By John O'Donnell and Douwe Miedema BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:56pm EST BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The shadow banking system - blamed for aggravating the financial crisis - grew to a new high of $67 trillion globally last year, a top regulatory group said, calling for tighter control of the sector. A report by the Financial Sta...

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:26pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales rose in October and a gauge of homebuilder sentiment climbed to a six-year high in November, signs of surprising vigor in the country's still-struggling housing market. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday that existing home sales climbed 2....