Reid Hopeful Negotiators to Reach Last-Minute Budget Deal

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said negotiators could reach a U.S. budget deal today that would protect all but top earners from a tax increase at midnight. With taxes set to increase for almost every U.S. worker at midnight, there is still no agreement and gaps between the two parties remain. Photographer: J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo “They’re progressing,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said of the talks in an interview as he entered the...

Read More

European Central Bank

German Logo of the ECB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The European Central Bank (ECB) is the sixth of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) as listed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It is the central bank for the euro and administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU member states which constitute the Eurozone, one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The capital...

Read More

Euro shares dip as fiscal cliff deadline nears

World stocks were set to end the year up almost 13 percent on Monday but uncertainty loomed as U.S. politicians prepared for last-minute talks to avoid a fiscal crunch of spending cuts and tax hikes that could drag down the world economy in 2013. Reuters/Reuters - An employee of a foreign exchange trading company looks at monitors as a television set shows Japan's incoming Prime Minister and the leader of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shinzo...

Read More

Hours from "fiscal cliff," Washington still awaits deal

The U.S. Congress comes back on Monday without a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" and only a few hours of actual legislative time scheduled in which to act if an agreement materializes. U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) (L) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) leave the SenateChamber for the caucus at the U.S. Capitol in Washington December 30, 2012. Efforts toprevent the economy  from tumbling over a "fiscal cliff" stalled on Sunday as Democrats  and...

Read More

Duff & Phelps

Duff & Phelps Corporation is a publicly traded financial advisory and investment banking firm, providing services principally in the areas of valuation, transactions, financial restructuring, dispute and taxation. The company operates in three segments: Financial Advisory, which provides valuation advisory, tax services, and legal management consulting; Alternative Asset Advisory, which provides portfolio valuation, operational due diligence,...

Read More

Carlyle Agrees to Buy Duff & Phelps

Carlyle Group LP and investors including Swiss bank Pictet & Cie agreed to buy investment- banking firm Duff & Phelps Corp. (DUF) for $665.5 million. The buyers, also including Stone Point Capital LLC and Geneva-based Edmond de Rothschild Group, will pay $15.55 a share, 19 percent more than Duff & Phelps’s closing price on Dec. 28. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half, the companies said in a statement...

Read More

Starbucks expands cup campaign aimed at U.S. fiscal deal

Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) is expanding its campaign of using messages written on coffee cups to inspire U.S. lawmakers to reach a deal and avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts. As President Barack Obama and congressional leaders were in a final effort to reach a budget agreement before year's end, Starbucks this week began urging workers in its roughly 120 Washington, D.C.-area shops to write...

Read More

Recent maneuvers suggest BofA-MBIA pact likely: analysts

A long-running legal dispute between Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and insurer MBIA Inc (MBI.N) could be settled in early 2013 after recent maneuvers involving MBIA's bonds, analysts at research firm CreditSights wrote. MBIA last month won the necessary consent of bondholders to change the terms of some of its debt, despite a move by Bank of America to thwart the change. That outcome has reduced the bank's negotiating leverage, increasing the...

Read More

RPT-EDF sells UK Sutton Bridge power station to Macquarie-led group

EDF Energy will sell its 819 megawatt (MW) Sutton Bridge gas power station in England to a group of investors led by Australian bank Macquarie, EDF Energy said on Wednesday. The divestment of the power station, built in 1999, is one of the commitments made by EDF Energy to the European Commission at the time it bought British Energy in 2008, the statement said. "EDF Energy confirms that it has reached agreement for the sale of Sutton Bridge...

Read More

Investor Confidence Gives Euro A Boost

The Euro rallied for a second consecutive day against the U.S. Dollar after reports showed that German investor confidence rose this month. According to the ZEW Center for European Economic Research, the index climbed to 6.9 in December after it posted at -15.7 in November. The U.S. Dollar weakened against the majority of its online Forex trading peers as investors await the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting. Speculators believe...

Read More

How Much Is Enough to Retire? Careful Now...

What is your magic number? A million dollars? Two million? As people settle into their early 40s and begin to look out over the horizon of their lives, the closest and most obvious thing they see is their own parents, who typically are just starting their retirement years. And so a middle-aged couple begins to wonder: How much is enough to retire? CNBC recently covered the question of how much is enough to retire from an international...

Read More

China's Wanxiang wins auction for U.S. government-backed A123

Wanxiang's approach for battery maker A123 had stirred a political storm. WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - China's largest maker of auto parts won a politically sensitive auction for A123 Systems Inc , a bankrupt maker of batteries for electric cars that was funded partly with U.S. government money, the investment banker for A123 said on Saturday. Timothy Pohl of Lazard Freres said Wanxiang Group Corp's bid of about $260 million topped a...

Read More

In Miami, Using the South American Playbook

Outside the United States, many real estate developers have less of an appetite for risk than their counterparts here. MyBrickell, a condo that the Related Group is building in Miami, is mostly being financed by its buyers. In South America, for instance, developers typically ask buyers to pony up a big chunk of the total price of an apartment in a new development long before it’s finished. So South Americans pay huge installments — often...

Read More

On ‘Madoff Day,’ Think About How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of Fraud

This is the time of year when most people think of gifts and holiday gatherings. I couldn’t help thinking of frauds past. Three men accused of defrauding clients arriving at federal court. From left, Marc Dreier in Manhattan on May 11, 2009; Bernard Madoff in Manhattan on March 12, 2009; and R. Allen Stanford in Houston last Feb. 29 Four years ago this week, Marc S. Dreier, a high-flying lawyer, was arrested and later charged with defrauding...

Read More

Banks Agree to Sell Back Some Greek Bonds

LONDON — Greece moved a step closer to completing a complex debt-reduction deal on Friday when the country’s largest banks said they had agreed to sell their discounted bonds back to the government. Yannis Stournaras, left, and Pierre Moscovici, second from right, with Jean-Claude Juncker, right, at a meeting Monday in Brussels. The buyback, which aims to trim about 20 billion euros, or nearly $26 billion, from Greece’s 323 billion euro debt,...

Read More

Democrats Hint at Entitlement Program Cuts in U.S. Budget

As Democrats demand tax concessions from Republicans to avert a collision over the federal budget, Senate Democratic leaders are signaling that they may be willing to trade an entitlement spending overhaul to secure a deficit- reduction deal. Seniors pick up information about various state organizations that can help answer questions about Medicare, senior center programs, and other retirement concerns. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking...

Read More