Fair Game: New York Fed Agreed to Testify for Bank of America

A.I.G., which is suing Bank of America to recover losses it suffered on those securities, has calculated the value of the fraud claims at $7 billion. Late on Thursday, a copy of the actual agreement came to light. It was filed by Bank of America in a California court that is hearing the matter of who owns those fraud claims — A.I.G. or the New York Fed. The agreement was also filed by the...

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Detroit Car Sales Climb Again

DETROIT – Sales of new vehicles in the United States rose modestly in February, as consumers continued to buy more fuel-efficient cars and as businesses replaced aging pickup trucks with newer models. Auto executives said overall industry sales for the month would improve about 2 percent over the strong results reported in the same period a year ago. The seasonally adjusted annual...

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DealBook: For S.E.C., a Setback in Bid for More Time in Fraud Cases

The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a swift and decisive rejection of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s argument that it should operate under a more forgiving statute of limitations in pursuing penalties in fraud cases.As a result of the decision, the agency will have to find a long-term solution to give itself more time to investigate cases.In Gabelli v. Securities and Exchange Commission,...

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State of the Art: A Review of Cookoo, G-Shock and Other Smartwatches

Clockwise from top left: The Cookoo, I'm Watch, Meta Watch, Casio G-Shock GB-6900 and Martian. Every time you look, our computers have moved closer to us. In the beginning, they existed only in corporate headquarters. Then came the desktop PC — three feet away. Then the laptop — one foot. Then the smartphone — in our pockets. What’s next — computers on our wrists? Exactly. As though...

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DealBook: Wall Street Pay Rises – for Those Who Still Have a Job

It’s nice work – if you can get it.Wall Street has cut thousands of jobs over the past year or so. On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase, one of the country’s biggest banks, announced that it was eliminating 4,000 more jobs through layoffs and attrition, adding its name to a string of large banks that continue to cut jobs to reduce expenses.The good news? For the employees who remain, pay is up, according to...

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NBC’s Ratings Plummet From First to Worst

Will Hart/NBCMegan Hilty, left, and Katharine McPhee in “Smash,” which is back for a second season but is still struggling. With every passing week, the sudden blossoming of prime-time success that NBC experienced last fall is looking more like a mirage. Patrick Harbron/NBC“Do No Harm,” with Stephanie Roth Haberle and Steven Pasquale, was canceled quickly. ...

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Major Banks Aid in Payday Loans Banned by States

Major banks have quickly become behind-the-scenes allies of Internet-based payday lenders that offer short-term loans with interest rates sometimes exceeding 500 percent. With 15 states banning payday loans, a growing number of the lenders have set up online operations in more hospitable states or far-flung locales like Belize, Malta and the West Indies to more easily evade statewide caps...

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Many States Say Cuts Would Burden Fragile Recovery

States are increasingly alarmed that they could become collateral damage in Washington’s latest fiscal battle, fearing that the impasse could saddle them with across-the-board spending cuts that threaten to slow their fragile recoveries or thrust them back into recession. Some states, like Maryland and Virginia, are vulnerable because their economies are heavily dependent on federal workers,...

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Iglo and Birds Eye Pull Meals After Finding Horse Meat

LONDON — Another big food producer was ensnared in the scandal over horse meat in beef products Friday when the company that owns the Iglo and Birds Eye brands withdrew a dozen types of prepared meals from stores in four European countries. Iglo Foods Group, the parent company, said it took the action after a chilli con carne dish, produced by a Belgian company called Frigilunch and on...

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Ramping Up U.S. Production, Ford Expands in Ohio

DETROIT — Ford Motor Company is adding 450 jobs and expanding an engine plant in Ohio to feed the growing demand for more fuel-efficient cars and S.U.V.'s in the American market. Ford, the nation’s second largest automaker after General Motors, said Thursday it would spend $200 million to renovate its Cleveland engine plant to produce small, turbocharged engines for use in its top-selling...

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DealBook: Office Depot and OfficeMax Announce Plans to Merge, After Erroneous Release

11:12 a.m. | Updated Office Depot and OfficeMax announced plans to merge on Wednesday, just hours after an erroneous news release about the deal surfaced briefly.Under the terms of the deal, Office Depot said it would issue 2.69 new shares of common stock for each share of OfficeMax. At that level, the transaction would value OfficeMax at $13.50 a share, or roughly $1.19 billion, a premium of more...

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European Parliament Approves Plan to Bolster Carbon Trading

LONDON — Lawmakers in Brussels moved Tuesday to shore up the sagging market for carbon emissions permits, a key component of the European Union’s efforts to reduce air pollution. Prices of carbon allowances, which permit companies to emit greenhouse gases, fell last month to as low as €2.80 per ton, or $3.75, compared with €9 per ton a year ago and €30 per ton in 2008. To reduce the supply...

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DealBook: Reader's Digest Files for Bankruptcy, Again

Executives at Reader’s Digest must be hoping that the magazine’s second trip to bankruptcy court in under four years will be its last.The magazine’s parent filed for Chapter 11 protection late on Sunday in another attempt to cut down the debt that has plagued the pocket-sized publication for years. The company is hoping to convert about $465 million of its debt into equity held by its current creditors.In...

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A First Step on Continent for Google on Use of Content

PARIS — Publishers in France say they have struck an innovative agreement with Google on the use of their content online. Their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, however, say the French gave in too easily to the Internet giant. The deal was signed this month by President François Hollande of France and Eric E. Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, who called it a breakthrough in...

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Group of 20 Pledges to Let Markets Set Currency Values

MOSCOW — In a concerted move to quiet fears of a so-called currency war, finance officials from the world’s largest industrial and emerging economies expressed their commitment on Saturday to “market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility.” In a statement issued at the conclusion of a conference here of the Group of 20, the finance ministers from the Group of 20...

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Off the Charts: In World Trade Data, Signs of a Slowdown

WORLD trade slowed last year, as major countries like Japan and Germany shipped exports that were worth less than those in 2011. The United States bucked the trend to some extent, but the 4.5 percent increase in exports was far smaller than the 15.8 percent jump in 2011. The accompanying charts show the change in exports and imports of goods in 12 large countries — the industrialized countries...

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DealBook: Buffett to Pay $23 Billion for Heinz, as Big Mergers Revive

10:12 a.m. | Updated Warren E. Buffett has found another American icon worth buying: H. J. Heinz.Berkshire Hathaway, the giant conglomerate that Mr. Buffett runs, said on Thursday that it would buy the food giant for about $23 billion, adding Heinz ketchup to its stable of prominent brands.The proposed acquisition, coming fast on the heels of a planned $24 billion buyout of the computer maker Dell...

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Tool Kit: How to Make Your Video Go Viral

It would take 72 hours to watch all the videos uploaded to YouTube every minute by would-be commentators, comedians, cosmetologists and various other content creators all hoping for a breakout hit. And, let’s be honest, most of it is cringe-worthy. While the vagaries of taste and timing determine which videos go viral and which YouTube channels develop large and loyal followings, it’s...

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DealBook Column: Relationship Science Plans Database of Names and Connections

It sounds like a Rolodex for the 1 percent: two million deal makers, power brokers and business executives — not only their names, but in many cases the names of their spouses and children and associates, their political donations, their charity work and more — all at a banker’s fingertips.Such is the promise of a new company called Relationship Science.Never heard of it? Until recently, neither had...

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