IBT Staff Reporter

China's gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter grew 10.6 percent over the same period of last year, and also higher than the annual growth rate target of 8 percent, the China National Bureau of Statistics (CNBS) said on Wednesday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third largest U.S. bank beat expectations on Wednesday, despite reporting a 50 percent drop in first quarter profit as it wrote down $5.1 billion in assets linked to mortgages and other loans.

U.S. soft drinks giant Coca Cola reported Wednesday that better-than-expected first-quarter profit backed by an increase in international sales and favorable foreign currency conversions boosted revenue.

Japan stocks continued to rise Wednesday because of weaker yen and U.S. market recovery the previous day, but fears of a weak American earnings week restrained aggressive investing.

China's Yangtze Power Co Ltd, operator of the nation's biggest hydropower project of Three Gorges, lowers its earnings estimate in first quarter from the year earlier, due to the rising costs and less power generation.

The dollar rose against the euro yesterday as surprisingly robust U.S. inflation and manufacturing data suggested the Federal Reserve may be less aggressive in cutting interest rates.

Sterling fell against the dollar yesterday after a fall in a UK house price measure to its lowest in 30 years which increased the worries about that sector and the economy.

By Jon Nadler Gold prices took off for higher ground overnight as the divergent oil and dollar fueled additional speculative interest in the metal.There is still somewhat of a disconnect i...

The FTSE 100 share index rose 75.3 points to 5,906.9 (up 1.3 per cent) on Tuesday on what was a good day for retailer Tesco.

Debenhams Plc has released its interim results for the 26 weeks ended 1 March 2008. The retailer said that its like-for-like sales fell marginally by 0.7 per cent in the period, but were up 1.0 per cent in the 32 weeks to 12 April 2008.

The Carphone Warehouse Group has reported an increase in the number of people who have signed up to its telecoms subscriptions by 16 per cent year-on year. The company also said it had increased mobile connections by 12 per cent to 2.7 million.

Fashion company Burberry Group has reported a rise in total revenue of 19 per cent for the half year to 31 March 2008.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released figures showing that the annual rate of inflation was unchanged in March. The ONS said that consumer price index (CPI) inflation rose by 0.4 per cent in March but that the annual rate of inflation was steady at 2.5 per cent.

Supermarket chain Tesco has reported an 11.8 per cent rise in pre-tax profit in 2007, taking the group's profits for the year up to £2.846 billion.

Standard & Poor's, the financial information service firm, announced a shakeup in one of its indices on Tuesday in the wake of National Oilwell Varco Inc's acquisition of Grant Prideco Inc.

By Julian D W Phillips Most commenators we now read are taking the potential IMF Gold Sales as a foregone conclusion, says Julian Phillips of the Gold Forecaster...But the International Mo...

By Sergei Guriev, Anton Kolotilin, Konstantin Sonin As oil prices rise, global oil companies may seem to be making up for previous times when revenues barely covered production costs. Howeve...

By Bill Bonner Never did God give man such a sunny day that the authorities couldn't make it rain, writes Bill Bonner in The Daily Reckoning...As near as we can tell, nature favored Argen...

Technology an energy companies helped push Asian markets higher on Wednesday following a good quarterly results and a bullish outlook by chip maker Intel Corp in the U.S. on Tuesday and record oil prices.

Goldman Sachs lowered Alibaba's price target from 18 Yuan to 15 Yuan, or 16 percent, and lower the company's target price earnings ratio of 2009 from 33 times to 30 times, but maintained the stocks neutral rating.

The president-elect of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou expressed Today (April 14), Hong Kong residents could soon be travelling visa-free to Taiwan, also he would name former economics minister Chiang Pin-kung as Taiwan chief negotiator in dealing with China.

Zijin Mining Group Co., China's largest gold producer, plans to list on Shanghai Stock Market with an initial public offering of about 10 billion yuan.

China Merchants Group (CMG) announced on Tuesday that its 2007 net profit by 35.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, 39.6 percent higher than 2.54 billion HK dollars of 2006. The earnings of per share in 2007 is 1.495 HK dollars, increased 36.6 percent than 1.0943 HK dollars of 2006.

Lenovo Group, the world's fourth-largest computer maker, is planning to expand its PC market outside Asia, including the Middle East and Turkey.

Ebay Inc, the online auction site, said on Tuesday it plans to shut down the division of its business which links its web users to live auctions at other companies.

The prime index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, surged 2.19 percent, Tuesday, to its highest close in two weeks, as positive Q4 results announced by IT bellwether Infosys Technologies boosted market sentiments.

India's market for mobile TV services is set to touch $360 million in 2008, said Asia's leading provider of innovative IT market research and advisory firm, Springboard Research.

Yahoo's share of search ad spending grew against rival Google but lost ground in its share of searches, according to a pair of new studies.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched India's first ever Volatility Index or the India VIX, based on prices of options on the benchmark Nifty 50 Options prices.