Shares News

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Shares of Volkswagen AG advanced as much as 8% Friday after the German carmaker said it expects to slash up to 20,000 jobs as part of a massive overhaul at its core VW brand. The news came as Europe's largest carmaker posted net income up 62% to 1.12 billion euros ($1.34 billion), whizzing past analysts' average expectations for profit of 873 million euros. Sales climbed 7 ...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- London markets eased off highs on Friday, as investors took a breather after pushing the index to close to three-and-a-half year highs in the last session. The benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading U.K. shares eased 0.2% at 5,799 as energy stocks weighed. On Thursday, the index increased 1.4% to close at 5,806, recapturing the 5,800 level and getting closer to a new 44- ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. stock lost ground Friday after a disappointing profit outlook from Pfizer Inc., in a market worried the Federal Reserve is planning further interest-rate rises at a time when bond yields appears to be signaling a slowdown in the economy. A wider-than-expected trade deficit also weighed on sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was down 32 points at 10 ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks pared earlier losses, but remained broadly lower Friday after a disappointing profit outlook from Pfizer Inc., in a market worried the Federal Reserve is planning further interest-rate rises at a time when bond yields appear to be signaling a slowdown in the economy. A wider-than-expected trade deficit also weighed on sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial  ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks pared earlier losses, but remained broadly lower Friday after a disappointing profit outlook from Pfizer Inc., in a market worried the Federal Reserve is planning further interest-rate rises at a time when bond yields appear to be signaling a slowdown in the economy. A wider-than-expected trade deficit also weighed on sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial  ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Prudential Equity Group, seeing slowing demand for copper in the United States and parts of Asia, trimmed its 2006 outlook for the sector Friday, a move that also clipped copper miner Phelps Dodge Corp. "We are lowering our rating on the copper industry to neutral from favorable as demand in the United States and some parts of Asia are weaker than expected," Prudent ...

Like an athlete on steroids, the London stock market has been pumping itself up on oil and gas industry profits. Record-breaking numbers from BP and Shell in the past two weeks have highlighted the impact that a soaring oil price is having on the industry’s profitability. // At the same time, the seemingly insatiable demand for copper, zinc and other metals by the booming economies of China and India has made mining one of the fastest- growing sectors in the FTSE 100. It now accounts for just u ...

By Matt Falloon LONDON (Reuters) - Top shares tumbled back below 5,800 on Friday with mining stocks like Antofagasta falling heavily and the end of the bidding war for ports and ferries operator P&O weighing on its shares. But bid talk elsewhere lent some support to the market, boosting a variety of stocks including insurer Prudential . Some analysts believe the FTSE 100 is ripe for a fall to about 5,400 in order to rebuild some of the momentum which has sent it to successive 4-1/2 year highs ...

By Richard Barley and Michael Smith LONDON (Reuters) - Airports operator BAA (BAA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) on Friday agreed to put clauses into bonds it priced last week that offer protection to bondholders if the company is taken over, after investors had threatened not to buy the debt. Investors who agreed to buy 2.85 billion euros (1.95 billion pounds) worth of bonds from the airport operator last week had told the company they could walk away unless changes to the terms of the debt we ...

By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - Imagine a warning on your cell phone that tells you when a parent in ill health needs help, when you've eaten too much, or that you should avoid your regular commute because of a biohazard danger. Forget mobile music and video. Wireless may end up running your life -- down to when to wash your underwear. This may sound far-fetched, but laboratories around the world are exploring such scenarios as wireless networks become more robust and amid mo ...