Business News

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Sunday the American economy was not growing as quickly as he would like and that his administration supported a strong dollar policy.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Co (005480.KS), South Korea's top auto maker, said on Sunday it had cut its local sales target for this year by 6 percent as record-breaking oil prices are hitting consumer sentiment in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

SAPPORO, Japan - Between surging oil prices, food inflation and a credit crunch that's depressed global growth, leaders from the Group of Eight economic powers face the gravest combination of economic woes in at least a decade when they gather next week.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

NEW YORK - Investors battered by surging energy prices, disappointing economic data and the ongoing credit crisis will have something else to worry about this week — second-quarter corporate results.

LONDON (AFP) - European stock exchanges suffered sharp falls Friday on fresh fears for the health of the banking sector sparked by a report from Goldman Sachs.

NEW YORK - Investors battered by surging energy prices, disappointing economic data and the ongoing credit crisis will have something else to worry about this week — second-quarter corporate results.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It will be tough for Wall Street to shake off the bear market blues next week if the price of oil keeps rising and the earnings season kick-off from Alcoa and General Electric disappoints investors.

TORONTO - In a June 25 story about quarterly earnings at Research In Motion Ltd., The Associated Press incorrectly reported that the BlackBerry Bold will be a touch-screen phone. Current plans do not call for the device to have a touch screen.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Co (005480.KS), South Korea's top auto maker, said on Sunday it had cut its local sales target for this year by 6 percent as record-breaking oil prices are hitting consumer sentiment in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

INDIANAPOLIS - A federal judge in New York is urging Eli Lilly and Co. to settle a multibillion-dollar lawsuit filed by insurance companies, unions and others who claim the pharmaceutical giant overpriced its top-selling drug Zyprexa and exaggerated its usefulness.

Stan Morrill was confident his nestegg would provide for him and his wife for the rest of their lives. After all, the Eastman Kodak veteran, a factory worker for 31 years, had attended the free financial seminar recommended to him by co-workers. Morrill says the host, Michael J. Kazacos, one of Morgan Stanley's top brokers, dazzled him with a plan that would let him retire at 49. Morrill just had to roll over his pension and 401(k) into a tax-deferred account managed by Kazacos. ...

I work for a management consulting firm where client satisfaction is by far the biggest priority. I've been here for four years and have had four excellent performance reviews. Right now I'm working on a client project that takes up a tremendous amount of time. My project manager gives me special subassignments at the rate of two or three a week, on top of my usual tasks. I have been completing these assignments at night, because I'm away from home anyway during the week and because my client contacts need me focused on their priorities all day long.

Retirees with plump nest eggs are attractive targets for unscrupulous financial advisers who advise them to make unwise withdrawals. "The 'why work' pitch is epidemic," says Peter Moujay, a Pensacola (Fla.) attorney. Moujay has represented some 100 retirees of Marathon Refinery in rural Robinson, Ill., and a similar number of AT&T telephone workers out of Michigan, who were targets of such a scheme. Here's a chart outlining how long your money will last given certain withdrawal rates. ...

WASHINGTON - Things in the U.S. sure are tough. Brother, can you spare a euro? Signs saying "We accept euros" are cropping up in the windows of some Manhattan retailers. A Belgium company is trying to gobble up St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer and iconic Super Bowl advertiser.

NEW YORK - NBC Universal and two partners said Sunday they have reached a deal to buy The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications Inc., ending a drawn-out process that had attracted interest from several major media companies.

LONDON (Reuters) - Profit warnings, breaches of key index levels, record oil prices, stressed consumers and investors seeking safety provide the background for markets this week, and many people are wondering how long this will all last.