Business News - Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc , the insurer that received billions of dollars in a U.S. bailout, has been authorized by its board to pay Chief Executive Robert Benmosche's $7 million compensation, after it laid to rest concerns that he may quit the post.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials are increasingly confident the U.S. economic recovery will be durable, but do not see employment or inflation picking up soon, minutes from their November meeting showed.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Swift interest rate hikes aimed at containing inflation in product and asset prices could cause another downturn in the slowly recovering economies of the United States and Europe, the head of the World Bank said.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Starbucks will see China become the company's next major market after the United States in the near future, the firm's China chairman said on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook has established a dual-class stock structure to ensure voting control by existing owners, but has no plans to become a public company, it said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell is to leave the company at the end of the year, indicating that he is looking for a bigger job at another company.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - J Crew Group Inc reported a quarterly net profit far above Wall Street estimates due to strong autumn sales of clothing and expanded profit margins from depressed year-ago levels.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday on lackluster economic data in a session marked by low volume and choppy trading, but losses eased after the Federal Reserve raised its expectations for growth in 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government-run fund that safeguards U.S. bank deposits tumbled to a negative balance of $8.2 billion in the third quarter, as the number of problem banks surged by a third to 552.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew more slowly than first thought in the third quarter, but a fifth month of gains in house prices in September and an improvement in consumer morale signaled the anemic recovery was intact.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge has barred the promotion of a scheme designed to help clients evade taxes on more than $1.25 billion in asset sales, the U.S. government said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam attacked a U.S. regulator's lawsuit on Tuesday, denying insider trading charges and saying government wiretaps violated his constitutional rights.

PARIS (Reuters) - Half of the losses suffered by banks could still be hidden in their balance sheets, more so in Europe than in the United States, the International Monetary Fund's chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc cut its full-year forecast on expectations of a tough holiday season and high costs for its Nook electronic reader, while rival Borders Group Inc posted a wider-than-expected loss. Shares of both booksellers fell sharply.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve this month asked banks that were part of its "stress tests" to submit plans to repay government money, if they have not already repaid it, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - A deal for General Motors Co to sell its Saab brand collapsed on Tuesday when the buyer pulled out in a move that threatens the Swedish luxury brand with closure.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Federal securities regulators won an insider trading case when a jury in Boston ruled that a former Fidelity employee illegally profited from trading stocks that the mutual fund giant was buying for itself.

BRUSSELS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The European Commission closed antitrust proceedings against Qualcomm as big technology companies dropped their four-year old complaints against the U.S. mobile chip supplier.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. food makers H.J. Heinz Co and Hormel Foods Corp said they expect sales to rise in the coming months as they spend more on marketing to win the attention of recession-weary consumers who are dining at home instead of eating out.