INVESTMENT

Xi Jinping's visit to the United States is all the rage as Washington scurries to get a better impression of the presumed successor of President Hu Jintao. However, it would be premature to judge Xi's comfortable and amicable style as a sign of any weakness.

Canada's Kinross Gold reported an operating profit that fell short of expectations on Wednesday, as weaker than expected sales and higher than expected costs weighed in the quarter and offset gains from a surge in the price of bullion.

Gold prices fell on Thursday as the euro slid to a three-week low versus the dollar, pressured by news that European officials considered delaying a bailout package for Greece which fuelled fears the heavily indebted nation could face a chaotic default.

A current rally in the sprawling $7.74 trillion field for corporate bonds, which are issued as debt by major American corporations, belies a great churning occurring just beneath the market's surface. Recently, Richard Prager, who heads the bond strategy desk at the world's largest asset management firm, put it succinctly: "Houston, we got a problem."

Societe Generale SA said fourth-quarter profit fell 89 percent as the investment bank was badly affected by Greek debt write down and toxic assets.

Gold demand struck 14-year highs in 2011, driven by record investment, buying in China, which could overtake India this year as the world's top consumer, and central bank purchases, which hit their highest in at least 40 years, according to a report on Thursday.

China's ministry of commerce has approved a project that allows the British oil giant to have a presence in block 43/11, a gas field in the South China Sea, the China Daily reported quoting Chen Liming, head of BP China.

Moody's Investors Service placed the ratings of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on review for possible downgrade because it says the business' profitability will be diminished longer term.

Legal wrangling over the proposed $8.5 billion settlement of some of Bank of America Corp's mortgage-backed securities liability could drag through the courts for years, a top appeals court judge said during arguments in the case.

Sens. Dick Durbin and Tom Coburn sent a letter to Twitter's CEO on Wednesday asking the company about the details of a new privacy policy that allows governments to censor certain tweets.

Chinese firm Shanghai Pengxin, which is run by wealthy property developer Jiang Zhaobai, had hoped to spend more than $164 million buying and improving the New Zealand dairy farms.

The most expensive cities in the world according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey are...

Morgan Stanley was left holding a 7 percent stake in Denmark's TDC , or nearly half the total amount that it had tried to sell to institutions earlier this week in a deal which raised $1 billion for the telecom operator's main shareholders.

Hedge fund manager and long-time gold bull John Paulson cut his gold ETF bullion holdings by about $600 million in the fourth quarter, a second straight reduction that was likely driven by client redemption needs as he remained upbeat on the metal.

Mitt Romney went on the offensive Tuesday on one of Michigan's biggest industries, the automotive industry, lambasting the bailouts to General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC from President Barack Obama and proclaiming himself a son of Detroit.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, saw that its gross domestic product fall 0.2 percent from the third quarter even as France grew 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter.

President Barack Obama, in his new $3.8 trillion budget proposal for 2013, called for taxes on the wealthiest Americans, a reduction in the national deficit and adequate funding for education.

Talks between Yahoo Inc and China's Alibaba Group over the U.S. Internet giant's Asian assets have hit an impasse, throwing their plans for a $17 billion tax-free asset swap into question, according to sources briefed on the situation.

Hedge fund managers bought shares of several of last year's hot IPOs in the fourth quarter, including upscale retailer Michael Kors and online networking site LinkedIn .

Early in January 2012, DoubleLine Capital's Jeffrey Gundlach sounded bearish on the U.S. stock market.

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