Hot finance topics

LM Ericsson AB will sell its 50 percent stake in mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson to Sony Corp. for euro1.05 billion ($1.46 billion) in cash, the Swedish wireless equipment firm said Thursday.
Ericsson said Sony Ericsson will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony and integrated into Sony’s broad platform of network-connected consumer electronics products.
The transaction […]

China urged ally North Korea to improve its strained ties with longtime foes the United States and South Korea, state media reported Monday, as U.S. and North Korean diplomats prepared to talk about restarting negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.
On a visit to North Korea, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang told North Korean Premier Choe Yong […]

The Occupy Wall Street protests are hitting a nerve.
A dearth of jobs, overwhelming student loans and soaring health-care costs are just three major issues protesters have targeted. And regardless of politics, economic data suggests they’re not alone in their frustrations.
It may be why the protests have spread to other cities _ including Boston, Cincinnati, Seattle […]

The leaders of Germany and France, the eurozone’s two biggest economies, are meeting to discuss new measures to counter the bloc’s debt crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are holding the talks at Berlin’s chancellery to forge an agreement on the next steps in tackling the debt crisis ahead of a summit […]

A key central bank survey offered a cautiously optimistic assessment of corporate Japan, where business confidence is improving even as the global economy’s prospects darken.
In the Bank of Japan’s quarterly “tankan” survey of business sentiment released Monday, the main index for big manufacturers climbed back into positive territory as a recovery from the March 11 […]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to testify Monday against a campaign consultant charged with scamming him out of more than $1 million, according to two people familiar with a trial that’s giving jurors a behind-the-scenes look at the billionaire politician’s last re-election bid.
The mayor would be prosecutors’ star witness against John Haggerty, who is accused […]

Nike Inc. reported its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 15 percent as demand grew for its sneakers and athletic apparel in nearly every market worldwide despite an uncertain global economy.
The results, which were reported after the close of the stock market on Thursday, beat Wall Street’s expectations and sent its shares up in after-hours trading.
Under the […]

A Spanish union official says Madrid teachers are staying off the job in massive numbers on the second day of a strike over staff cuts.
Colleagues in the northwest region of Galicia also went on strike.
Virginia Fernandez of the UGT union says official numbers for Madrid are not in but it seems Wednesday’s strike is about […]

European Union finance ministers are debating a tax on financial transactions that would raise money for the EU and make banks share bailout burdens with taxpayers.
The tax would take a tiny fraction from a wide range of financial dealings and use the money to relieve member states’ membership contributions to the EU.
France and Germany support […]

A plan to distribute $13 million to consumers cheated by Wentzville-based US Fidelis could be tossed aside if a lawsuit against the bankrupt company’s largest creditor is successful, according to a memo filed with the bankruptcy court Friday by the creditor, Chicago-based Mepco Finance Corp.
The memo accompanies a motion to dismiss a suit filed Sept. […]