NEWS

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday declared Japan's readiness to join talks on a U.S.-led free trade pact that could radically transform the nation's economy and challenge its political status quo.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda looked to be struggling on Friday to win backing from his own party for Japan to join talks on a U.S.-led free trade pact that could transform the Japanese economy.

Starbucks Corp plans to start a chain of juice bars starting next year, venturing into territory staked out by Jamba Inc , in its biggest-ever expansion beyond coffee.

The U.S. futures regulator on Thursday said it has launched a formal investigation into bankrupt MF Global, increasing pressure on the brokerage as the search for roughly $600 million in missing funds continues.

Any euro zone failure would send shock waves around the globe, shifting the balance of geopolitical power and perhaps prompting a fundamental reassessment of what the world's future might look like.

Keurig coffee machine maker Green Mountain Coffee Roasters , missed Wall Street's quarterly revenue estimates, knocking 30 percent off the value of its stock at a time when an influential short seller is questioning the company's business practices.

PepsiCo Inc's management and its board will extend their ongoing review of business plans for 2012 and beyond, the food and beverage maker said on Tuesday.

European clients of failed brokerage MF Global on Monday grew increasingly frustrated at the slow transfer to new brokers a week after filing for bankruptcy protection.

CME Group and IntercontinentalExchange Inc moved over the weekend to limit the fallout from the MF Global Holdings Ltd bankruptcy on futures markets by lowering margin requirements on some accounts.

China's yuan exchange rate is within a basically reasonable level, and it is not the root cause of the China-U.S. trade imbalance, Commerce Minister Chen Deming said in remarks published on Monday.

Commodity brokers rushed on Friday to finish transferring thousands of customers from bankrupt rival MF Global, shifting their attention to the delicate task of ensuring new clients' margins are topped up by next week.

Commodity trading slowly returned to normal on Tuesday as MF Global resumed selling off client positions, although new revelations about missing money sent chills through the markets.

U.S. agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Tuesday quarterly net earnings rose from a year ago, but its profits were squeezed by high corn costs and tight oilseed processing margins.

African gold producer Sudan has handed out 50 more licenses to 73 firms to explore gold and other minerals, state news agency SUNA said on Sunday.

Sony Corp, struggling with a loss-making television business, is considering dissolving its LCD joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in a bid to cut costs, sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Sony Corp, struggling with a loss-making television business, is in negotiations to pull out of its LCD joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in a bid to cut costs, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.

Finance Minister Jun Azumi said on Monday that Japan was ready to take decisive action in currency markets, issuing a fresh warning to markets against pushing up the yen too much in the wake of its rise last week to a record high.

Tokyo Electric Power Co is likely to sell a 20 percent stake in wind power developer Eurus Energy Holdings to trading firm Toyota Tsusho to help raise funds to compensate victims of Japan's nuclear crisis, a newspaper said on Sunday.

McDonald's Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as new menu items and renovations helped lift sales at established restaurants around the world in September, and its shares rose nearly 3 percent.

McDonald's Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as new menu items and renovations helped lift sales at established restaurants around the world in September, and its shares rose nearly 3 percent.

The world's biggest food group Nestle said weakening consumer sentiment in developed markets would make it harder to improve margins as it raised its sales growth outlook for 2011 after beating forecasts for the first nine months.

The world's biggest food group Nestle on Thursday raised its sales growth outlook for the year after price hikes and strong demand in emerging markets helped its underlying sales rise more than expected in the first nine months of 2011.

Starbucks Corp is going Blonde, expanding its coffee lineup with its lightest roast to date in a move aimed at wooing more customers and capturing a bigger share of the U.S. coffee market.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China's exchange rate would remain stable to protect exporters, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

In a restaurant in the once bustling Hamidiyah souk of the old city of Damascus, waiters prepare to serve a handful of customers in an ornate room with many empty tables. A singer now performs there weekly, instead of every day.

Government labor inspectors said Freeport-McMoRan must stop relying on volunteer workers to keep its Cerro Verde mine in Peru open during a strike or pay a fine, according to documents obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

A sharp rise in China's yuan currency might cut the U.S. trade deficit by as much as one third and create enough American jobs to put at least a modest dent in the unemployment rate.

Anyone hoping that recent falls in commodity prices would provide a boost to powerhouse Asian economies and help lift the developed world out of recessionary danger will be disappointed. The region's focus remains firmly on inflation.

A plunge in Indonesia's cocoa exports spotlights a flagging battle against disease and adverse weather, but the country's supply disruptions could allay fears of another global surplus and stem a seven-month slide in prices.