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Weak sales at leading U.S. retailers in early November dragged down their results for the month as the effects of major Northeast storms offset brisk activity over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Retailers on average reported a 1.6 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year, about half the 3.3 percent rise that analysts had forecast and below a year-earlier gain of 3.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Target Corp and Macy’s Inc, two of the biggest companies to report monthly sales on Thursday, missed analysts’ expectations. Both saw weakness at the beginning of November, when superstorm [...]

MADRID The Spanish banking association AEB said Monday that will put a freeze on some evictions in the country owing to the “social alarm” that has been raised by very public evictions. The AEB said after conversations with government officials, homeowners in “extreme financial need” would be see a two-year freeze on evictions. Two homeowners in Spain over the past three weeks have committed suicide over evictions, newspapers here reported. Those deaths have caused large demonstrations and public uproar. The Wall Street Journal reported that a policeman’s union has offered to provide legal support for those in the line of [...]

LONDON UBS AG has brought back several employees who were put on leave when it unveiled a drastic pullback from fixed income last week, and more could follow, sources familiar with the situation said. The Swiss bank stopped dozens of traders from reaching their desks in London last Tuesday, when it unveiled an exit from most of its rates and bond trading businesses in a strategic overhaul that will lead to 10,000 global layoffs. The bankers were placed on special leave until further notice, while in the United States UBS fired several fixed-income employees by phone. UBS has already brought [...]

LONDON UBS AG has brought back several employees who were put on leave when it unveiled a drastic pullback from fixed income last week, and more could follow, sources familiar with the situation said. The Swiss bank stopped dozens of traders from reaching their desks in London last Tuesday, when it unveiled an exit from most of its rates and bond trading businesses in a strategic overhaul that will lead to 10,000 global layoffs. The bankers were placed on special leave until further notice, while in the United States UBS fired several fixed-income employees by phone. UBS has already brought [...]

Employers stepped up hiring in October and a small increase in the jobless rate was due to more workers restarting their job hunts, a hopeful sign for a lackluster economy that has been a drag on President Barack Obama’s re-election bid. Employers added 171,000 people to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. The government also said 84,000 more jobs were created in August and September than previously estimated. The jobless rate edged up a tenth of a point to 7.9 percent, but that was due to workers surging back into the labor force. Only people who [...]

Employers stepped up hiring in October and a small increase in the jobless rate was due to more workers restarting their job hunts, a hopeful sign for a lackluster economy that has been a drag on President Barack Obama’s re-election bid. Employers added 171,000 people to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. The government also said 84,000 more jobs were created in August and September than previously estimated. The jobless rate edged up a tenth of a point to 7.9 percent, but that was due to workers surging back into the labor force. Only people who [...]

Weapons makers reported surprisingly strong profit margins this week, even as budget cuts are starting to weigh on revenues. That has prompted a big question: how long can the defense industry sustain good margins? The sector is clearly facing leaner times, with $ 487 billion in spending reductions slated for the next decade and another $ 500 billion in cuts due to kick in next year under the process known as sequestration. But experts expect a year or more to elapse before those changes ripple through to corporate income statements. Industry executives told analysts this week that solid order backlogs [...]

NEW YORK Nobody likes taxes, and much of Wall Street has poured money into Mitt Romney campaign coffers to avoid paying higher ones. Yet a surprising number of top money managers say they are willing to pay modestly higher rates. They reason that revenue-raising measures are an essential complement to the spending cuts they say are needed to curb the massive U.S. budget deficit. “It’s kind of like taking a distasteful medicine. On the way down, it may not be pleasant,” said Ron Florance, who helps manage assets worth $ 169 billion at Wells Fargo Private Bank. “But in the [...]

CHICAGO Weak ratings at some broadcast-TV networks have helped Netflix Inc. in its efforts to license TV-show content, Chief Executive Reed Hastings said Tuesday during the company’s earnings call. Hastings said that a variety of factors have helped it to acquire content. One is that, in some cases, programmers want to pick up more revenue from online video licensing to offset the dollars that will be lost when networks have to compensate advertisers for shows that didn’t deliver on the ratings that were promised. With the exception of NBC , each of the Big Four broadcast networks have seen double-digit [...]

NEW YORK Target Corp will match certain online retailers’ prices this holiday season as the discount chain tries to stand out during what could be a fierce fight for shoppers, Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel said on Tuesday. Target will let customers match prices from online retailers including Amazon.com , Walmart.com , BestBuy.com , Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com between November 1 and December 16, the company told reporters at a meeting in New York. Target’s strategy includes being “highly promotional” and “intensely competitive” on price, while also promoting exclusive merchandise, Steinhafel said. Target said it will offer an additional week, through December [...]