Citi discovers fraud in Mexico unit, cuts 2013 earnings

Banking giant Citigroup cut its fourth quarter and full year 2013 estimates on Friday, as its profit was hit by fraudulent activity at a Mexico-based subsidary. The bank said in a statement that Banco Nacional de Mexico, or Banamex, had loaned $585 million in short-term money to a Mexican oil services company named Oceanografia. It was later discovered that the firm had been suspended by the government from being awarded new...

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Big Bitcoin Exchange Files for Bankruptcy

The company claims a loss of $473 million worth of the digital currency A major Bitcoin exchange filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, providing a detailed account of the estimated losses from what was one of the world’s largest exchanges for the currency. In a news conference in Japan, a lawyer for the Tokyo-based Mt. Gox exchange said it had lost three-quarters of a million Bitcoin belonging to customers, along with 100,000 of its own. At current market prices for Bitcoin that’s an estimated loss of $473 million, the Associated...

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LATEST AIRLINE PERK: SAFE DISTANCE FROM THE MASSES

NEW YORK (AP) -- On flights from San Francisco to Hong Kong, first-class passengers can enjoy a Mesclun salad with king crab or a grilled USDA prime beef tenderloin, stretch out in a 3-foot-wide seat that converts to a bed and wash it all down with a pre-slumber Krug "Grande Cuvee" Brut Champagne. Yet some of the most cherished new international first-class perks have nothing to do with meals, drinks or seats. Global airlines are increasingly rewarding wealthy fliers with something more intangible: physical distance between them and everyone...

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Latest airline perk: Safe distance from the masses

Latest airline perk: Safe distance from the masses Kamran Jebreili AP FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, file photo the first class section of an Emirates airlines Airbus A380 is ready for boarding at the new Concourse A of Dubai airport in Dubai. When Emirates Airline opened a new concourse at its home airport in Dubai last year, it made sure to keep coach passengers separate from those in business and first class. The top floor of the...

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Japan factory output jumps ahead of tax hike, outlook murky

Tokyo: Japan`s factory output rose in January at the fastest pace in more than two years and core inflation hovered near a five-year high, comforting signs for an economy expected to take a hit from a sales tax hike scheduled for April.Labour demand continued to improve and household spending rose more than expected, providing hope that domestic demand could underwrite a recovery after lacklustre growth in the fourth quarter of last year.The upbeat...

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Spain's fourth-quarter growth picks up pace

Spain's economy improving, but unemployment rains high Spain's economy picked up pace in the fourth quarter, official data showed today, adding to signs that the country is emerging from five years of stop-start recession which destroyed millions of jobs. The Spanish economy expanded by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the third, accelerating from the previous quarter's growth of 0.1%, the National Statistics Institute said in a report. The...

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Sturm Ruger misses estimates for first time in four years

Sturm Ruger, the largest publicly traded U.S. firearms maker, reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analysts' estimates for the first time since 2009. Per-share profit rose to $1.33 from $1 a year earlier, the Fairfield-based company said late Tuesday without giving a net-income figure. That trailed the $1.38 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey, and the shares fell 7.9 percent to $62.99 in New York. The results put an end to 16 quarters of beating analysts' estimates. While enthusiasts have been stockpiling guns...

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J.C. Penney Gains as Sales Forecast Signals Turnaround Momentum

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- J.C. Penney Co. surged after forecasting an increase in annual revenue and margin expansion, prompting Chief Executive Officer Mike Ullman to predict its turnaround will be completed this year. Same-store sales will increase by a mid-single digit percentage and gross margin will “significantly” improve this year, the Plano, Texas-based company said yesterday in a statement. Liquidity at the end of 2014 is projected to hold steady at $2 billion, the company said. The shares rose as much as 17 percent in extended...

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Exxon Lowers Capital Projects Spending by 13% to $37 Billion

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM:US), the world’s largest oil company by market value, lowered spending on new wells, offshore platforms and fuel plants by 13 percent after boosting reserves to a record last year. Capital expenditures will average about $37 billion annually this year and for the next several years, compared with $42.5 billion in 2013, Irving, Texas-based Exxon said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday. Exxon plans to spend $6 billion this year on projects to reduce emissions linked to climate change and air,...

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J.C. Penney surprises investors with better-than-expected quarter

Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer In CEO Mike Ullman’s upbeat presentation, analysts learned that J.C. Penney is nowhere near throwing in the towel. In fact, towels have traditionally been among Penney’s strongest sellers. J.C. Penney CEO Mike Ullman tried to calm concerns about ongoing cash needs while delivering better-than-expected results on Wednesday. Penney is on a path to recovery, he told analysts after reporting...

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Tesla Battery Jolts Shares Higher While Disrupting Power

Tesla Motors (TSLA) Inc.’s plan to boost battery production by building what Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk calls a “gigafactory” may do more to transform the power industry than it does to advance the electric car. Utility customers throughout the U.S. have already begun turning to battery storage and solar panels as a way of reducing electricity bills and their dependency on local power companies. The trend threatens the more than 100-year-old monopoly utility business model that books about $360 billion in annual power sales. By...

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BofA under probe over US housing program, forex

Bank of America Corp may have a new mortgage problem on its plate, saying on Tuesday that federal investigators are looking into whether the bank violated requirements of a U.S.government housing program. The second-largest U.S. bank said the civil division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn is investigating Bank of America's compliance with the rules of the Federal Housing Administration's Direct...

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Macy's Grows 4Q Profits 11%, Weak January Drives Sales Miss

Macy’s (M) logged a better-than-expected 11% jump in fourth-quarter profits on Tuesday, but the department store’s sales missed targets as harsh winter weather kept shoppers away. Shares of the retailer ticked lower in premarket action following the mixed quarterly report card. Macy’s said it earned $811 million, or $2.16 per share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $730 million, or $1.83 a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items,...

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