By Deepa Seetharaman and Paul Lienert Thu Nov 1, 2012 12:01pm EDT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) promoted long-time executive Mark Fields to chief operating officer as part of a management shuffle announced on Thursday that keeps Alan Mulally as chief executive for at least two more years. The plan, which stopped short of formally naming Fields as Mulall...

NEW YORK | Thu Nov 1, 2012 10:59am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Massive storm Sandy might put strains on the liquidity of some municipalities facing unbudgeted costs related to clean-up and repairs, Moody's rating agency said on Thursday. The Wall Street ratings agency said that although the track record of recovering from natural disasters is "extremely str...

NEW YORK | Thu Nov 1, 2012 10:34am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer confidence rose in October to its highest in more than four years as Americans were more upbeat about improvements in the labor market, a private sector report showed on Thursday. The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes gained to 72.2 from a downwar...

Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:19am EDT (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) said Thursday it is working with banks to issue $2 billion in debt to pay off more-expensive loans on its bloated balance sheet. The company said it is setting up a five-year term loan facility, and would use proceeds to pay off a loan it obtained in May of this year, as well as other debt.It I...

From November 1st to November 3rd 2012, The Costa Rica Star will be receiving press releases about local businesses here in Costa Rica. If you own or manage a local business and would like us to publish an article about it in our press release section, please read carefully below, normally this service costs $100 USD per press release. However, we are giving away free press releases to those of yo...

Both Costa Rica and Botswana stand above their regional neighbors in the 2012 Prosperity Index. One reason for this lies in the strength of their institutions, which have undoubtedly benefited from advantageous historical moments where political leaders have made difficult choices to commit to developing democratic institutions. As their neighboring countries seek their own paths to prosperity,...

Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim expressed hope that Turkey would soon sign an air transportation agreement with Costa Rica which had been on the agenda for the last ten years. Prior to his meeting with Costa Rica's Minister of Foreign Relations Jose Enrique Castillo, Yildirim said that he previously attended Caribbean countries' economic cooperation meeting, and all Caribbean co...

By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:57pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - From Fab.com to Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc, e-commerce companies scrambled on Tuesday to get goods to buyers on time after Hurricane Sandy tore a swathe of destruction across the U.S. northeast. The storm -- which severed power to warehouses and offices, ripp...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:31pm EDT (Reuters) - Best Busy Co Inc on Tuesday canceled an analyst meeting it had planned to hold in New York this week as the city tries to recover from the massive storm Sandy, postponing Chief Executive Hubert Joly's opportunity to tell investors how he plans to turn the company around. No new date has been set for the meeting, which had ...

MELBOURNE | Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:22pm EDT MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Shareholders in Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd voted in favor of a A$2 billion ($2.07 billion) takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, giving News Corp a greater share of Australia's pay-TV market. The deal will double the stake of News Corp's Australian unit in dominant pay-TV opera...

By John McCrank and Sakthi Prasad Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:00pm EDT (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock exchanges expect to reopen on Wednesday after Sandy, the worst storm to hit New York in nearly 75 years, closed trading for two days. NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) said the New York Stock Exchange would open as usual, although it was prepared to switch to fully electronic t...

By Alwyn Scott Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:16pm EDT (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said delivery of at least two 787 jets for United Airlines (UAL.N) was taking longer than expected, a surprise hitch in delivery to its first U.S. customer that is set to disappoint some customers wanting to ride the new fuel-efficient aircraft. Boeing said it is working diligently to...

LONDON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:02pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) reports third-quarter results on Wednesday, with new chief executive Antony Jenkins aiming to restore some stability after a tumultuous summer for the UK bank dominated by fallout from the Libor interest rate rigging scandal. Jenkins, appointed CEO at the end of August, has taken o...

By David Henry Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:25pm EDT (Reuters) - Sandy could be the toughest challenge yet for the man who fixes JPMorgan Chase & Co's (JPM.N) bank branches after hurricanes. The bank has more branches in and around New York than in other areas like Florida that are more commonly hit by hurricanes. And, with the city's subways damaged, getting e...

By Ernest Scheyder and Deepa Seetharaman Tue Oct 30, 2012 5:43pm EDT (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N) will take a fourth-quarter charge of up to $1.1 billion related to last week's announcement it will close 20 plants, write down the value of its lithium ion battery business and lay off thousands of workers. Dow, the largest U.S. chemical maker, said t...

Humane Society International applauds Miami-based Carnival Corporation – the world’s largest cruise company – for improving farm animal welfare by working to eliminate controversial pig gestation crates from its pork supply chain. The tiny cages are used to virtually immobilize breeding pigs. “Carnival Corporation & plc supports the pork industry’s movement away from gestation crates and will w...

The Costa Rican Chamber of Construction has requested explanations about recent public works contracts through other States or international organizations. A statement from the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC) reads: CCC REQUESTS TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS AND PUBLIC WORKS In a memorandum to President Laura Chinchilla, the Costa Rican Cham...

Costa Ricans must wait about a month for an expected drop in gasoline and diesel prices while the public services rate watchdog agency ARESEP holds public hearings mandated by the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) in 2008. This situation disturbs President Laura Chinchilla who would otherwise have the price at the pump drop immediately. Since the government-owned refinery, RECOPE...

WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:40am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending rose solidly in September as households stepped up purchases on automobiles and a range of other goods, but the increase came at the expense of savings. The Commerce Department said on Monday consumer spending rose 0.8 percent, the largest increase since February, after an ...

By Emma Thomasson and Sarah White ZURICH/LONDON | Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:27am EDT ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in UBS (UBSN.VX) soared on Monday after media reports the Swiss bank would announce up to 10,000 job cuts as it takes the knife to its investment banking operations, particularly its fixed income business. UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermo...

By Fiona Ortiz and James Mackenzie MADRID/ROME | Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:25am EDT MADRID/ROME (Reuters) - Italian political turmoil and Spanish hesitancy over seeking euro zone assistance put the two countries on the front line of the currency area's debt crisis back under market pressure on Monday as their leaders met in Madrid. Former Prime Minister...

HELSINKI | Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:59am EDT HELSINKI (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless will begin selling Nokia's new Lumia smartphones this autumn, helping the Finnish company to fight back against Apple and Samsung in the United States The Nokia Lumia 822, which will run on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 software, will include an 8 megapixel camera and allow for wi...

By Edward Krudy NEW YORK | Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:00am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell on Monday as a huge and potentially damaging hurricane was expected to hit the U.S. East Coast later in the day, and traders eyed renewed uncertainty in Europe that hit bonds in peripheral euro zone nations. All U.S. stock markets will be closed ...

MOSCOW | Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:29am EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Telecoms group Vimpelcom (VIP.N) is set to sell a number of businesses in Asia and Africa to focus on its core markets such as Russia and Italy, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The New York-listed phone company is holding talks with potential buyers for its assets in Burundi and the Central ...

By Richard Hubbard LONDON | Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:26am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - World share and commodity prices fell on Monday as a recent run of downbeat corporate earnings casts a shadow over the outlook for growth and markets braced for the impact of a major U.S. hurricane. All U.S. stock markets were shut in the first weather-related closure for ...

By Alan Wheatley, Global Economics Correspondent BRUSSELS | Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:58am EDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe has won the immediate battle to save the euro, but the war to make the single currency sustainable in the long run has only just begun. Relief in Brussels is palpable: the European Central Bank's conditional promise to act as buyer ...

By Nanette Byrnes Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:02am EDT (Reuters) - Can peer pressure make delinquent taxpayers pony up what they owe the government? Behavioral economists say it can, and some tax agencies in both the United States and Britain are taking their advice to heart -- and finding that they are reaping rewards.Behavioral economics has already upended inve...

By John McCrank and Caroline Humer NEW YORK | Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:27am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock and options markets will be closed on Monday, and possibly Tuesday, as regulators, exchanges and brokers worry about the integrity of markets and the safety of employees in the face of Hurricane Sandy. Market participants and regulators decid...

NEW YORK | Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:40pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and power companies Entergy Corp (ETR.N) and NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N) said they would postpone releasing quarterly earnings results because of the hurricane approaching the U.S. Northeast. Pfizer and Entergy had been due to report their third-quarter results on Tuesday...

By Chikako Mogi TOKYO | Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:28pm EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares edged higher on Monday after global equities ended last week on a subdued note, with investors torn between signs of stable growth in the United States and caution over the global corporate earnings outlook. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAP...

By Alan Wheatley, Global Economics Correspondent Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:11pm EDT (Reuters) - The last employment report before the U.S. presidential election is likely to have something for everyone - for those bullish and bearish on the economy and for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Non-farm payrolls in October are forecast to have risen 124,000, barely more ...

By John McCrank and Caroline Humer NEW YORK | Sun Oct 28, 2012 6:09pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock exchanges and Wall Street banks sent crucial employees into Manhattan to stay in hotels and coworkers' homes, preparing to open for business on Monday with at least skeletal staff as Hurricane Sandy threatened to halt mass transit. NYSE Euron...

By Alan Wheatley, Global Economics Correspondent LONDON | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:37pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - The last employment report before the U.S. presidential election is likely to have something for everyone - for those bullish and bearish on the economy and for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Non-farm payrolls in October are forecast to have ri...

By Norihiko Shirouzu BEIJING | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:22pm EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - The roots of Toyota Motor Corp's China troubles run far deeper than the anti-Japan protests that have swept the country, stretching back to the 2008 launch of the Yaris subcompact -- a spectacular flop with price-conscious Chinese buyers. The car, a success elsewhere, ...

By Scott Malone Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:15pm EDT (Reuters) - Demand for corporate jets has begun to recover from a post-recession low and is likely to rise over the next decade, with $250 billion worth of new aircraft delivered by 2022, according to a forecast by Honeywell International Inc (HON.N). The forecast projects that companies will increasingly choose...

By David Chance and Joyce Lee SEOUL | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:09pm EDT SEOUL (Reuters) - The first payouts from South Korea's state pension fund only started in 2008, but faced with the fastest ageing population among developed nations and one of the lowest birthrates, the country needs to deal with a looming funding crunch. The world's third-largest ...

By Jeremy Wagstaff SINGAPORE | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:07pm EDT SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Amidst our growing love affair with the tablet, spare a thought for its increasingly shelfbound sibling: the e-reader. Take Taiwan's E Ink Holdings Inc, which makes most of the monochrome displays for devices such as Amazon.com Inc's Kindle and Barnes & Noble Inc...

By Julie Gordon SUDBURY, Ontario | Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:42pm EDT SUDBURY, Ontario (Reuters) - In an office trailer parked outside a mine shaft in northern Ontario, operator Carolyn St-Jean leans back in her chair and monitors a machine loading nickel-rich ore into rail cars deep underground. Once filled, the automated train will snake through a ser...

By Lincoln Feast and James Grubel SYDNEY/CANBERRA | Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:04pm EDT SYDNEY/CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia risks losing an opportunity to become a farmyard for Asia, as growing unease over foreigners buying rural land threatens to provoke protectionist policies that may deter much needed investment in agriculture. With its vast landmas...

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON | Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:39pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. debt-ceiling increase could be headed for a Wall Street-rattling showdown in 2013 if Congress, as expected, shuns a quick and easy fix at the end of this year in favor of another round of last-minute brinkmanship. Regardless of who wins t...