Shares News

By Niclas Mika and Lucas van Grinsven HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - The race between two competing formats for future DVDs -- and the $24-billion-a-year home video market -- appeared wide open on Thursday as manufacturers said they would support both formats. The Blu-ray format is backed by big consumer electronics firms such as Sony Corp, Philips and Dell as well as most Hollywood studios. But the HD DVD format, whose proponents are led by Toshiba, looks set to reach the market fa ...

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- European pharmaceutical stocks posted strong gains for a second day on Thursday, as investors eyed ongoing bid speculation in the sector as well as positive product pipeline news. Britain's AstraZeneca (AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) rose 3.5% and 2.2% respectively. Swiss-based Novartis (NVS) and Roche (RHHDY) rose 0.3% and 0.7%. Germany's Schering (SHR) gained 4.8% ahead  ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- The United Auto Workers early Thursday denied media reports that General Motors, Delphi Corp. and the union are close to clinching a new labor contract. But the sharp tone of the union message didn't damp investors' hopes that a deal might be lurking right around the corner. GM (GM) shares spiked as much as 7% on hopes a new contract would avert a threatened stri ...

By Keiron Henderson LONDON (Reuters) - Leading shares broke a steep two-day losing streak on Thursday, closing higher on well-received company earnings and boosted by gains in the drugs sector. Airports operator BAA stood out on the downside, however, dropping 6.7 percent on widespread talk Spanish construction firm Ferrovial was no longer interested in making a bid. Last week, sources familiar with the situation said Ferrovial could make an offer this week. BAA and Ferrovial declined to comm ...

U.S. stocks turned mixed Thursday as the technology sector came under pressure following earnings out of National Semiconductor, with an uptick in long-term interest rates further unsettling investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was up 3 points at 11,009, but off a session high of 11,049. The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell 5 points to 2,262 while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) p ...

By Jeffrey Goldfarb LONDON (Reuters) - The woman responsible for picking which books are sold by Tesco, considered one of the most powerful posts in the publishing world, has left the British supermarkets chain to join HarperCollins. Caroline Ridding has been Tesco's book buyer for the past five years and helped to triple their revenue from book sales over that time. She will start at HarperColl ...

Sun Microsystems Inc. rose as much as 5% early Thursday, boosted by a rare upgrade, as the broader technology sector rose on gains in semiconductor, hardware and networking shares. In early trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 9.67 points. Tech bellwethers Apple Computer Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and International Business Machines Corp. all started on positive  ...

Europe's biggest car maker Volkswagen is to sell its car rental unit, Europcar, to French investment company Eurazeo for 3.32bn euros (£2.27bn). The sale will include Europcar's debt as well as equity and comes after Volkswagen considered several options. The decision to sell the unit pushed shares in Volkwagen higher before the price settled at 56.05 euros. The deal, set to close by mid-year, needs approval by the supervisory board as well as competition regulators. Restructuring I ...

DETROIT -(Dow Jones)- The United Auto Workers on Thursday said that it is "not close" to forging a cost-cutting agreement with General Motors Corp. (GM) and its top parts supplier Delphi Corp. (DPHIQ), despite newspaper reports suggesting otherwise. "There are several newspapers and at least one radio station reporting today that the three parties, Delphi, GM and UAW, are close to consummating  ...

U.S. stocks rose Thursday as investors took some comfort from stabilizing long-term interest rates, but shares of General Motors pared gains after the United Auto Workers union denied a report it was close to striking a deal with the carmaker. News that the Bank of Japan will leave its zero interest-rate policy in place also offered some support. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was up ...