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LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian court has given Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) a Monday deadline to pay $1.5 billion (800 million pounds) in damages for pollution in the oil-producing state of Bayelsa, the energy giant said on Saturday. Shell said it had appealed against the order by Justice Okechukwu Okeke, who in February upheld a resolution by parliament that the firm shoul ...

The US oil industry charged the government with behaving like a third world despot after the House of Representatives voted to punish companies if they refused to change contracts to give the government a bigger share of rising oil profits. // “We live in a nation of laws,” said John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute, which represents US oil producers. “This is not Caracas or Moscow.” The House of Representatives voted late on Thursday to eliminate billions of dollars  ...

Like a sudden storm on a clear day, the tempest that swept through the world’s stock markets over the course of the past 10 days caught many investors by surprise. That storm abated on Friday but left the markets battered in its wake. Since peaking in late April/early May the FTSE 100 index has fallen 7.5 per cent, the S&P 500 4.6 per cent, the Eurotop 7.1 per cent and the Nikkei 225 8 per cen ...

Commodity markets succumbed to another sharp sell-off yesterday with copper, oil and gold prices all falling sharply, resulting in large declines for the week. // Such a broad decline pointed to selling from the commodity index funds, which have been a popular route into commodity market for retail, pension funds, endowments and mutual funds. Jeremy Goldwyn, head of industrial commodities at Sucden, said there had been a sell-off across the board on Friday, which suggested that it was related  ...

U.S. stocks closed higher on the day but down on the week Friday, after investors cautiously picked out attractively-valued shares after two days of heavy selling, but gains were constrained by interest rates uncertainty and worries that a commodities selloff could signal an economic slowdown. The technology sector was a focus after Dell Inc announced a restructuring that includes using chips m ...

Long-term Treasury prices closed higher Friday, sending yields lower, as comments from Treasury Secretary John Snow, bond guru Bill Gross and the Kansas City Fed president provided the latest fuel for the market's continuing debate about when the Federal Reserve will stop raising interest rates. The bond market, eager to see the Fed wrap up its campaign of increasing rates, is on full alert for ...

U.S. stocks were higher late in Friday's session, as investors sought out attractively-valued shares after two days of heavy selling, but gains were constrained by uncertainty over the interest rates outlook and worries that a commodities selloff could signal an economic slowdown. The technology sector was a focus after Dell Inc announced a restructuring that includes using chips made by Advanc ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Call it a tale of two chief executives, if you will, because the numbers behind the tenures of Dell Inc.'sKevin Rollins and Hewlett-Packard Co.'sMark Hurd show just how the recent fortunes have changed for the world's largest PC makers. Since taking over as Dell's (DELL) chief in July 2004, Rollins has seen his company's stock fall 33%, to close Thursday at $23.95.  ...

British Airways increased its profits strongly last year as strong demand for business class flights and the sale of a record share of available seats fuelled revenue growth, offsetting a big jump in fuel costs. The airline said its short-haul operations in Europe were also back in profit for the first time in 10 years.

Treasury prices gained Friday, sending yields lower, as comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow and a high-profile bond investor gave hopes that the Federal Reserve will stop raising interest rates. Investors also readied for a lineup of other influential Treasury and Federal Reserve speakers. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note (TNX) last was down to 5.034% , the lowest ...