Angelo Young

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (FRA: LHA) announced Thursday it will lay off 3,500 administrative employees over the next couple of years as part of its plan to save $2 billion by 2014. The news comes a day after the airline announced a first quarter operating loss of ?381 million ($499 million), compared to a loss of ?169 million a year earlier.

Asia is doubling the size of its foreign currency reserve safety net to $240 billion, finance ministers and central bank officials announced Thursday following a 13-nation meeting in Manila. The reserve funds a multilateral currency swap agreement aimed at protecting Asian markets from global economic crises.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis International AG / Sandoz (NYSE: NVS) announced Wednesday it would acquire Melville, N.Y.-based Fougera Pharmaceuticals for $1.5 billion in cash.The deal makes Sandoz, Novartis's generics drug division, the world's largest maker of generic dermatological drugs.

A disappointing ADP Employer Services jobs report issued Wednesday, which showed a still-sluggish U.S. job market, drove U.S. and European markets down and signaled that a key report on employment at the end of the week could be grim.

Spain?s chief economist said Wednesday Bolivia will ?compensate Red Eléctrica Española the costs invested in the country?s electricity network? after the South American country announced it would expropriate the local unit of the Spanish utility, Transportadora de Electricidad S.A.

The news of the day centered on a better-than-expected U.S. manufacturing report for April, which sent ripples across the markets, boosting stocks as investors moved away from bonds and giving a bump to the dollar and crude oil. Investors are hoping this good news will be matched in Friday?s April U.S. jobs report.

U.S. construction spending in March barely increased over the previous month's level as government spending on infrastructure projects fell, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The British manufacturing sector is approaching negative growth thanks largely to a decline in exports to the troubled eurozone, according to a monthly benchmark index that gauges industrial health released Tuesday.The Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector fell to 50.5 in April, down from 51.9 in March. The report also showed the sharpest decline in new export orders since March 2009.

Mergers and acquisitions are on the upstream as low interest rates, rising business and consumer confidence plus depressed prices for some assets have companies seeking buys that will allow them to expand or cut costs through synergy.

Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) is buying Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN) in a $5.3 billion cash and stock deal that will allow the Dallas-based natural gas company to expand into heavier hydrocarbons and acquire Sunoco's approximately 4,900 gas stations.

Markets shrugged off news of weaker-than-expected first-quarter growth in U.S. gross domestic product and responded positively, if modestly, to news of stronger-than-expected consumer confidence.

A federal district judge issued a last-minute preliminary injunction that blocks the implementation of Department of Labor rules that stiffen employer obligations under the H-2B non-farm seasonal work visa. The rules were set to go into effect Friday, April 27.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) annouced Friday the acquisition of prime broker Merlin Securities LLC for an undisclosed amount. The move is the bank's first move into prime brokerage services, which provides clients such as hedge fund managers to records-handling and trade-clearing services.

Palladium prices are bouncing back from a big decline that started in February in what could be a sign of rising investor confidence in the U.S. recovery, thanks to rising auto sales, and concerns over Russian supplies.

Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: WPI) will announce on Wednesday the purchase of major Swiss competitor Actavis Group, according to media reports citing persons familiar with the negotiations.

Thomson Reuters Corp. (NYSE: TRI) announced Monday it has entered into an agreement to sell its Ann Arbor, Mich.-based health care unit to private equity firm Veritas Capital Management LLC for $1.25 billion. The sale is expected to close in the coming months pending regulatory approval.

Mexico’s specialty retailer and financial services provider Grupo Elektra SA (BMV: ELEKTRA) announced Monday it has completed the $780-million acquisition of Spartanburg, S.C.-based payday lender Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc. (NYSE: AEA).

The 17-member eurozone managed to reduce deficits to 4.1 percent of the gross domestic product in 2011, down from 6.2 percent in the previous year, according to official European Union figures released Monday. Overall debt increased to 87.2 percent of GDP from 85.3 percent.

TNK-BP, Russia's third largest oil producer, replied Friday to the government's announcement it would be sued for oil leaks that have polluted two Siberian river basins, saying most of the damage is a result of inherited environmental problems, accumulated since 1962. TNK-BP pointed to its ongoing $500-million cleanup fund as evidence it is committed to greening up some of Russia's oldest facilities

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hoping a federal judge will block the Labor Department's proposed changes in the way foreign unskilled guest workers are recruited under the H-2B visa program. Those changes are set to go into effect April 27.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) Friday reported higher first-quarter earnings as strong sales to aerospace customers and increased revenue from petrochemical producers offset higher costs.

Brazil’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 9 percent from 9.75 percent on Wednesday, bringing the rate down to a near-historic level. This is the sixth time Banco Central do Brasil has reduced its Selic rate since August, when it cut the rate to 12 percent from 12.5 percent.

The head of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Alicia Barcena suggested Wednesday that Mexico’s 2012 GDP growth could be higher than expected due to the pace of recovery in the United States and Mexico’s open economic policies relative to other countries in the region.

Argentina's plan to seize control of oil and gas company YPF SA from Spain's Repsol YPF has ended years of deliberations by China's Sinopec Group to purchase the company. The move has also caused international condemnation.

Spain's Repsol YPF SA oil and natural gas company vowed Tuesday to fight Argentina's plans to nationalize Repsol's Argentine unit and Spain's government also has voiced its concerns about the plans.