American International Group’s (AIG: 27.99, +0.32, +1.16%) fourth-quarter earnings rose 77 percent from a year ago on a large, one-time tax benefit. AIG’s operating profit of $1.6 billion, or 82 cents a share, beat analysts’ consensus estimate of a 63-cent profit per share. Operating profit excludes the tax benefit and some investment results. AIG shares [...]
UniCredit SpA (UCG), Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA (BMPS) were among 34 Italian financial firms downgraded by Standard & Poor’s, after the credit-ratings company reduced the nation’s grade last month. UniCredit, Italy’s biggest bank, and No. 2 Intesa had their long-term ratings lowered to BBB+ from A, Standard & [...]
Visa (NYSE:V) reported a 16% hike in first quarter earnings late Wednesday, and announced a $500 million share repurchase authorization. Net income for the 3 months ended December 31 rose to $1.03 billion, or $1.49 a share, from $884 million, or $1.23, a year earlier, the San Francisco-based company said today in a statement. The [...]
Swiss stocks were little changed as UBS AG and Swatch Group AG reported earnings that missed analysts’ estimates and as the Greek government struggled to build a consensus on expenditure cuts required for a bailout. UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest lender, cut its 2011 bonus pool by 40% and investment bank chief Carsten Kengeter waived any [...]
Citigroup Inc. (C) said Monday it will issue credit cards on its own in China, as it looks to capitalize on the country’s increasing consumption power as well as expand in the world’s second-largest economy. The China unit of Citigroup Inc said on Monday it has received regulatory approval to issue credit cards in China [...]
With the new year comes the deadline to file income tax returns, and some of the early-bird filers have reported delays in receiving their tax refunds this week. John Hewitt, CEO and founder of Liberty Tax Service, based in Virginia Beach, Va., said taxpayers who filed returns any time from the first day of the [...]
Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. issued results yesterday that topped analysts’ estimates, showing that buoyant business demand is girding the largest technology companies against Europe’s debt crisis and a consumer-spending slump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rose as most of the reports were positive but the Nasdaq was [...]
Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday that it earned $978 million in the4th quarter, well below the $2.23 billion it posted in the period a year earlier, as it continued to struggle with lackluster economic conditions both here and abroad. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the fifth- biggest US bank by assets, said profit dropped 58 per-cent, [...]
Taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland announced Thursday it would cut 3,500 jobs, part of a reorganization of its investment banking arm as it reins in its ambitions to be a global financial player. RBS will sell or close the cash equities, mergers advisory, corporate broking and equity capital markets operations, and is in talks with [...]
Bank Transfer Day, a grassroots movement that sprang to life last month has targeted Saturday as a deadline for bank customers to close their accounts and switch to credit unions. A grassroots movement that sprang to life last month is urging bank customers to close their accounts in favor of credit unions by Saturday. [...]