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DUBLIN Europe is still some way from severing the vicious link between troubled banks and states despite a landmark deal anointing the European Central Bank as supervisor-in-chief. Persuading national governments to cede responsibility for their biggest lenders to Frankfurt was a major first step towards banking union but it was arguably the easiest bit. Getting agreement on sharing the burden when one of those banks goes belly-up, the key component of a euro zone firewall, could take years yet to be agreed, with German elections late next year likely to rule out any meaningful discussion of bold policy moves beforehand. [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Two weeks before a high-stakes trial pitting Google’s Motorola Mobility unit against Microsoft, Google made what has become a common request for a technology company fighting for billions of dollars: A public court proceeding, conducted largely in secret. Google and Microsoft, like rivals embroiled in smartphone patent wars, are eager to keep sensitive business information under wraps – in this case, the royalty deals they cut with other companies on patented technology. Microsoft asked for similar protections in a court filing late on Thursday. Such royalty rates, though, are the central issue in this trial, which begins November [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Two weeks before a high-stakes trial pitting Google’s Motorola Mobility unit against Microsoft, Google made what has become a common request for a technology company fighting for billions of dollars: A public court proceeding, conducted largely in secret. Google and Microsoft, like rivals embroiled in smartphone patent wars, are eager to keep sensitive business information under wraps – in this case, the royalty deals they cut with other companies on patented technology. Microsoft asked for similar protections in a court filing late on Thursday. Such royalty rates, though, are the central issue in this trial, which begins November [...]

SAN FRANCISCO SanDisk Corp. saw its shares climb as much as 7% Friday, to $ 46.84 following a better-than-expected third-quarter earnings report. The maker of flash-memory storage devices said it earned $ 76.5 million, or 31 cents a share, on $ 1.27 billion in revenue, down from earnings of $ 233.3 million, or 96 cents a share, on sales of $ 1.42 billion, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, SanDisk would have earned $ 117.8 million, or 48 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast SanDisk to earn 33 cents a share on revenue [...]

Google (GOOG) revealed on Thursday it may slash more than the previously announced 4,000 jobs at its new Motorola Mobility business and also hiked the price tag on the restructuring charges for the third quarter to $ 340 million. In a regulatory filing, Google said that Motorola, which it acquired earlier this year for $ 12.5 billion, now expects to broaden its restructuring efforts outside of the U.S. It’s not clear where or how many more jobs could be cut on top of the 4,000 that were disclosed in August. Google simply said “additional geographic regions outside of the U.S.” [...]

BEIJING China’s economy has almost certainly suffered a seventh straight quarter of slowing growth, with a new private sector survey of factory managers revealing a near year-long decline in business activity and a fresh fall in export orders in September. The HSBC China Manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) showed overall factory activity shrank for an 11th consecutive month in September, despite the 47.9 final index level being slightly ahead of a preliminary, or flash, estimate of 47.8 and the August reading of 47.6. It extends the longest run of readings below 50 – which separates expansion from contraction – in [...]

Facebook is working with a data company that tracks whether Facebook users end up buying advertised products.Facebook working with data company that tracks whether its users purchase advertised productsDatalogix matches purchasing data from retailers with Facebook users, based on corresponding identifying informationPrivacy advocates raising concerns(Financial Times) — Facebook is working with a controversial data company called Datalogix that can track whether people who see ads on the social networking site end up buying those products in stores.Amid growing pressure for the social networking site to prove the value of its advertising, Facebook is gradually wading into new techniques for tracking [...]

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) increased its job-cut estimate to 29,000 positions on Monday as the struggling technology behemoth continues to slash costs under CEO Meg Whitman. In a regulatory filing, H-P said it anticipates eliminating the positions through fiscal 2014 as part of a previously disclosed restructuring that envisioned cutting 27,000 jobs. The job cuts are “designed to simplify business processes, accelerate innovation and deliver better results for customers, employees and stockholders,” H-P said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. H-P said an unspecified portion of the 29,000 people impacted by the restructuring will exit as part of a voluntary early [...]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is reporting a 5.7 percent increase in second-quarter net income, as the world’s largest retailer is wooing back frugal shoppers by doubling down on low prices. The discounter also is raising its full-year profit outlook. The company says it earned $ 4.02 billion, or $ 1.19 per share, for the quarter ended July 31. That compares with $ 3.80 billion, or $ 1.09 per share, a year ago. Revenue excluding membership fees at Sam’s Club rose 4.5 percent to $ 113.53 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $ 1.17 per share on revenue of $ 114.63 billion. [...]

Target Corp. raised its full-year profit projection Wednesday after the cheap-chic discounter reported better-than-expected second-quarter revenue that showed healthy spending in food, beauty, fashion and other items. Target, based in Minneapolis, also issued a profit outlook for the current quarter well above analysts’ expectations and cited a “positive” start to the back-to-school shopping season. The company’s stock hit its highest point since 2007. Target’s rosier picture joins a number of other major retailers, including Macy’s Inc., TJX Cos., and Home Depot, that have boosted outlooks as they feel more confident in shoppers’ spending in the second half of the year. [...]