INVESTMENT

For U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro, the choice of a Goldman Sachs Group insider as her new top funds regulator could be a double-edged sword.

Stocks sold off as disappointing results from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) dragged down the financial services sector, as the indices endured their worst one-day price drop since November.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao vowed on Wednesday to work to find common ground as the two countries announced $45 billion (28 billion pounds) in export deals.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded bond ratings of the Tunisian government to Baa3 from Baa2, and changed its outlook to negative from stable – citing the country’s political instability amidst the ongoing chaos of street protests and change in regime.

Barclays Bank of Kenya, majority-owned by British lender Barclays, is cutting 200 management-level staff, or about 5 percent of its workforce, to cut costs by an unspecified amount.

Uganda's central bank said on Wednesday it would adopt a more aggressive stance towards the shilling's exchange rate after the local currency sunk to an all-time low of 2,395/2,400 versus the dollar.

After a lengthy absence, [other] asset managers and central bankers are readmitting gold back into the group of prudent asset classes, writes Thomas Kaplan, chairman of New York's Tigris Financial advisory and asset-management group, in today's Financial Times.

Citigroup Inc named investment bank chief John Havens president and chief operating officer on Wednesday, expanding its most senior level of executives and elevating a long-time friend of Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit.

Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to expand 5.4 percent in 2011 and 5.7 percent in the following year, Nordea Bank said on Wednesday.

Citigroup Inc named investment bank chief John Havens president and chief operating officer on Wednesday, expanding its most senior level of executives and elevating a long-time adviser to Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit.

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Wednesday are: Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp, State Street, Northern Trust, Bank of New York Mellon and Hudson City Bancorp.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the world's largest contract chip maker, could boost investment by 35.6 percent in 2011 as it seeks to boost efficiency with new technology, a media report said on Wednesday.

US automaker Ford Motors on Tuesday announced that it would invest $400 mln in the Kansas City plant to install a new body shop, new tooling and other upgrades.

Australia's government is reportedly considering a taxpayer levy to help pay for massive flood rebuilding, while preserving the budget's path back to surplus in 2012-13, as one major bank warned on Tuesday the damage bill could reach A$20 billion.

An increasing number of U.S. companies in China say the enforcement of intellectual property rights has deteriorated in the last year and that the regulatory environment is the biggest hurdle to doing business there, a survey showed on Wednesday.

Tata Steel has raised 5.08 billion rupees ($111.8 million) from anchor investors at the upper end of an indicated price range ahead of a public share offering, reflecting investor optimism in the company's prospects in India's fast-expanding economy.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc's decision to scale back a heavily publicized sale of shares in social network site Facebook shows how the bank risks losing its edge as financial regulation intensifies.

Foreigners increased purchases of U.S. securities in November, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Tuesday, though it was private investors rather than central banks who did most of the buying.

As many as 7,936 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were inked at the fifth edition of the two-day Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011 in the western Indian city of Gandhinagar envisaging a whopping investment of $462 billion for Gujarat and expecting to create employment opportunities for about 5.2 million citizens.

World’s largest coffee chain Starbucks Corp on Thursday signed a pact with Tata Coffee Ltd, part of India’s Tata group conglomerate, and Asia’s largest publicly traded coffee grower, to source beans and explore opening retail stores in India.

Retired professor Chen Chongyu and his wife Liu Zhenjuan dreamed of coming back to China from their daughter's home in France, but until last year the couple had nowhere to go.