Stock futures were modestly positive on a snowy Friday morning ahead of a wave of economic data, including the second reading on the nation’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product. As of 6:45 a.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average future gained 26 points, or 0.25%, to 10342, the S&P 500 futures were up 2.9 [...]

SINGAPORE Oil prices hovered above $78 a barrel Friday in Asia amid mixed signals about global crude demand.Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 16 cents to $78.33 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.83 to settle at $78.17.
Oil prices have bobbed between $70 [...]

WASHINGTON Some Toyota dealers are rattled by the company’s recall problems.Some dealerships nearly hired the crisis public relations firm that represented socialite Paris Hilton, singer Chris Brown – and a company that California has called the state’s worst inland polluter.
Toyota is running a lobbying and advertising battle to protect its name. Meanwhile, many dealers are [...]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. The insurer Humana said Wednesday it will cut about 2,500 positions as it adjusts to a smaller enrollment.Its Medicare enrollment slid 24 percent last year to 3.4 million people, while its commercial enrollment fell 6 percent to roughly the same amount.The Louisville company, however, said it will add 1,100 positions in growth areas like [...]

New Delhi: The government Monday allowed export of 10,000 tonnes of sugar to the European Union (EU), at a time when the UPA regime is desperately trying to bring down prices of the sweetener in the domestic market.The DGFT has allocated a quantity of 10,000 tonnes of white or refined sugar for export to the [...]

Air China airline said it had agreed to buy 20 Airbus 320 aircraft in an effort to expand its fleet size to meet the growing demand for energy.Prices listed are for the aircraft is 1.6 billion dollars, but Airbus granting “significant price concessions,” Air China said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exhange Wednesday [...]

WASHINGTON The nation’s largest auto insurer said Tuesday it alerted federal safety regulators in late 2007 about a rise in reports of unexpected acceleration in Toyota vehicles, the latest warning sign to emerge about the massive recall.State Farm insurance said it noticed an uptick in reports of unwanted acceleration in Toyotas from its large customer database [...]

CALIFORNIA The proliferation of online stores initiated by some phone vendors also make Google moved to create a similar service. Yes, the software giant is rumored to be establishing their own online stores.According to the source of the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday (2/2/2010), Google is rumored to be starting this project in mid-March this year [...]

TOKYO Toyota is the latest Japanese corporate icon making headlines for all the wrong reasons.News of the automaker’s massive vehicle recalls over faulty gas pedals in the U.S. came just days after Japan Airlines, a once proud flag carrier, filed for bankruptcy, saddled with billions in debt.Sony has lost its lead in consumer gadgets to the [...]

LOS ANGELES  Toyota Motor Corp. to stop production and sales in the United States for eight models, including best-selling car is the Camry and Corolla as a component which causes 2.3 million vehicles in the recall.Dealers also will stop the sales of RAV4, Highlander and Sequoia SUV, Avalon, Matrix and pikep Tundra. Five assembly plants [...]