Citigroup to seek permission to buy back shares - WSJ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc is planning to ask regulators for permission to buy back a "minimal" number of shares, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.The bank is not planning to ask to increase its quarterly dividend, which is currently a penny a share, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the company's plans.Citigroup Chairman Michael O'Neill and newly installed CEO...

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"Cliff" concerns give way to earnings focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors' "fiscal cliff" worries are likely to give way to more fundamental concerns, like earnings, as fourth-quarter reports get under way next week.Financial results, which begin after the market closes on Tuesday with aluminum company Alcoa , are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results. As a warning sign, analyst current estimates...

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Fed officials suggest possible end to asset purchases in 2013

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve could halt its asset purchases this year, two top Fed officials suggested on Friday, a view also gaining traction among economists at Wall Street's top financial institutions. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, a voting member of the Fed's monetary policy panel in 2013, said a drop in the unemployment rate to 7.1 percent...

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Gunman kills 3 people, injures 2 in Swiss village

A shooting in southern Switzerland has left three women dead, two men wounded and highlighted the ease of access to firearms in gun-loving nations.The shooting — which came on the eve of students' return to classes in Newtown, Connecticut, after a horrific school shooting — also raised questions about why a troubled suspect was able to go on a rampage with an old military rifle.The suspect, a 33-year-old...

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Briton on trial for hurling abuse and bottle at Usain Bolt

LONDON (Reuters) - A British man went on trial on Thursday accused of screaming abuse at Usain Bolt and hurling a beer bottle onto the track as the Olympic men's 100 metres final was starting, a climactic moment of the London Games in August.The court heard that the packed 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium had fallen silent in anticipation of the race when Ashley Gill-Webb, 34, began shouting insults like...

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Swiss gunman kills 3 people, had troubled history

 A shooting in southern Switzerland has left three women dead, two men wounded and raised questions about how a troubled suspect was able to go on a rampage with an old military rifle.The shooting — which came on the eve of students' return to classes in Newtown, Connecticut, after a horrific school shooting — also highlighted the easy access to firearms in gun-loving nations.The suspect, a 33-year-old...

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British government extradites al-Qaida suspect

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police in Britain have extradited a terror suspect to the United States to face charges that he took part in an alleged al-Qaida plot to detonate explosives aboard the New York City subway system.British authorities handed over Abid Naseer, 26, to U.S. authorities on Thursday.Prosecutors want Naseer to stand trial in New York for his alleged role in a terror campaign that would have...

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Northern Irish police injured as flag row turns violent again

 Eight police officers were injured in Northern Ireland on Thursday when protests at the removal of the British flag from Belfast City Hall turned violent for the first time in more than two weeks.Pro-British loyalists began rioting and fighting street battles with police after a decision a month ago by mostly nationalist pro-Irish councillors to end the century-old tradition of flying the British...

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Just Explain It: Why the Fiscal Cliff May Trigger a Recession

Lawmakers in Washington appear to be making little to no progress in avoiding the impending so-called fiscal cliff.  House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Friday the negotiations are "almost nowhere." On Thursday Boehner rejected a proposal from the Obama administration saying that the Democrats need to "get serious about real spending cuts."President Obama's offer continues to call for higher...

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Retailers report higher December sales

A last-minute surge in spending saved the holiday shopping season.Major retailers including Costco, Gap and Nordstrom on Thursday reported better-than-expected revenue in December. That comes as a relief for stores, which can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue in the last two months of the year.Americans spent cautiously early in the season as the Northeast recovered from Superstorm Sandy....

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GM could face $918 million hit from bankruptcy-related lawsuit

A U.S. bankruptcy judge could soon rule on whether the 2009 government-led restructuring of General Motors Co improperly favored hedge funds, and an adverse ruling could cost the automaker nearly $1 billion.Judge Robert Gerber must decide whether a "lock-up agreement" in the restructuring sent $367 million to a group of hedge fund noteholders at the expense of other creditors.A trust representing...

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Private sector job gains offer hope for labor market

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private-sector employers shrugged off a looming budget crisis and stepped up hiring in December, offering further evidence of underlying strength in the economy as 2012 ended.While other data on Thursday showed an increase in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits, the trend remained consistent with steady job growth."The underlying economy has momentum,...

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US job market resilient despite budget fight

The U.S. job market showed resilience in three reports Thursday, suggesting it may be able to withstand a federal budget battle that threatens more economic uncertainty in coming months.A survey showed private hiring increased last month, while layoffs declined and applications for unemployment benefits stayed near a four-year low. The data led some economists to raise their forecasts for December...

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50 million Android and iOS devices activated in last week of December alone

The latest numbers from analytics firm Flurry suggest that Android and iOS flourished in the last week of the 2012. The firm previously estimated that roughly 17.4 million Android and iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day, leading to an estimated 1.76 billion mobile application downloads and more than 50 million activations for the full week. The latest numbers represent the highest number of...

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Apple reportedly considering Waze acquisition to help fix iOS Maps app

Less than a month after rumors of a potential TomTom acquisition swirled, Apple (AAPL) is now reportedly considering a buyout of social navigation startup Waze in an effort to improve its much-maligned Maps application. TechCrunch reported on Wednesday that “there are rumours flying around that Apple is sniffing around Waze with a view to a possible acquisition,” though the source of the rumors is...

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HTC rumored to debut flagship ‘M7′ smartphone at CES

HTC (2498) will reportedly unveil a new flagship smartphone code-named “M7″ at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. The rumor comes to us from XDA-Developers forum member “Football,” who reported accurate information about unreleased HTC devices in the past. The phone is believed to the be the successor to the One X and could be equipped with a 4.7-inch full HD 1920 x 1080-pixel display, a 1.7GHz...

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Microsoft acquires start-up id8: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp bought start-up id8 Group R2 Studios Inc as it looks to expand further in technology focused on the home and entertainment, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.id8 Group R2 Studios was started in 2011 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian. It recently launched a Google Android application to allow users to control home...

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2013′s first hot Kickstarter project: An Android-based gaming ‘console-on-a-stick’

We didn’t have to wait very long to discover what 2013′s first big Kickstarter project would be. Via Ars Technica, we give you the GameStick, an Android-based two-inch long stick that plugs directly into a controller and acts as a highly portable gaming console. The GameStick team says that their goal with the new mini-console was to create “a big screen games console that was so small you could pop...

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Major banks close to big settlement on home loans

U.S. regulators are close to securing another multibillion-dollar settlement with the largest banks to resolve allegations that they unlawfully cut corners when foreclosing on delinquent borrowers, a source familiar with the talks said.The settlement with five big banks would be part of a larger deal that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency hopes will include 14 banks and total about $10...

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Oil rises as 'cliff' consensus appears close

 Oil prices rose Monday as U.S. political leaders moved toward averting the "fiscal cliff" just hours before the deadline.President Barack Obama said Monday afternoon that a deal to avert the cliff — a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect starting Tuesday — was in sight but not yet finalized.Republicans and Democrats are still at an impasse over whether to put...

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Wall Street ends 2012 riding high on "cliff" deal optimism

 U.S. stocks closed out 2012 with their strongest day in more than a month, putting the S&P 500 up 13.4 percent for the year, as lawmakers in Washington closed in on a resolution to the "fiscal cliff" negotiations.The S&P 500's gain for the year marks its best performance since 2009, as stocks navigated through debt crises in Europe and the United States that dominated the headlines....

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Stocks shoot up as investors bet on 'cliff' deal

The stock market shot higher on Monday even as the "fiscal cliff" neared. By the time trading ended, Republicans and Democrats still hadn't reached a budget compromise — but investors were betting that they would.It was a dramatic day on what turned out to be a strong year for stocks. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 13.4 percent for the year, after finishing flat in 2011. It was the index's...

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Minimum wage gap grows wider between states

With a bump in the Washington state minimum wage to $9.19 an hour, high school student Miranda Olson will edge closer to her goal of buying the black Volkswagen Beetle she's been researching online.Olson is only able to pick up part-time hours working at a cafe after classes and on weekends. But the extra pennies she'll earn in 2013 will add up over the coming weeks and months."It's not much, but...

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