Industries

Wal-Mart Brings Back 300 Items to U.S. Stores After Losing Shopper Visits Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, returned about 300 items to its U.S. stores after their removal last year hurt shopper traffic.

Myer First-Half Earnings Slump on Expenses From Initial Public Offering Myer Holdings Ltd.’s first-half earnings fell 74 percent on costs from the November initial public offering of Australia’s biggest department-store chain.

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Crude Oil Falls Because of Stronger Dollar, Reduced Compliance Within OPEC Crude oil fell for the second time in three days on a stronger dollar and concern that recent price gains outpaced demand growth in the U.S., the world’s largest energy consumer.

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Fed Shoulders AIG Japan Mortgage Losses to Ease Sale of Alico to MetLife The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and American International Group Inc. agreed to shoulder as much as $450 million in losses tied to the insurer’s Japan real estate bets as part of the sale of a division to MetLife Inc.

Unions Plan `Make Wall Street Pay' Protests at Goldman Sachs, U.S. Banks AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka listened to Andres and Esteban Contreras tell how Andres moved back home to help with rent and medical care after their father lost his job and their mother had her hours cut.

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Obama Vows to Curb Waste, `Massive' Insurer Subsidies to Fund Health Bill President Barack Obama made his case for an overhaul of the U.S. medical system to Missouri voters, emphasizing his efforts to curb waste and fraud in government health programs.

Personalized Genetic-Based Medicine Spurred by Medco's Cost-Saving Tests Medco Health Solutions Inc., the second-biggest U.S. manager of drug benefits, is encouraging doctors to use genetic tests to determine whether drugs will work for particular patients -- saving money and reducing harm caused when prescriptions are wrong.

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MetLife Expands Beyond `Slow Growth' U.S. With Alico Buy, Henrikson Says MetLife Inc., the insurer spending $15.5 billion to buy an overseas unit from American International Group Inc., said lower growth in the U.S. market is prompting expansion abroad.

AIG's `Money in the Door' Asset Sales Garner $3.2 Billion for Bondholders American International Group Inc. bondholders reaped at least $3.2 billion after the bailed-out company announced deals to sell its two largest non-U.S. life insurance divisions for $51 billion.

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Silverstein Faces `Imminent Default' on Debt for 575 Lexington, Fitch Says New York developer Larry Silverstein, who teamed with the California State Teachers Retirement System to buy a 35-story skyscraper in 2006, now faces “imminent default” on debt tied to the property, Fitch Ratings said today.

Property Prices in China Increase at the Fastest Pace in Almost Two Years China’s property prices rose at the fastest pace in almost two years in February, adding urgency to the government’s efforts to rein in speculation and increase the amount of affordable housing.

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FTC Said to Ask Google Rivals for Statement on AdMob, May Signal Challenge U.S. regulators are seeking sworn declarations from Google Inc. competitors and advertisers as part of their probe of the Internet company’s bid to buy AdMob Inc., indicating the government may challenge the deal, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Global Box-Office Sales Rose to a Record $29.9 Billion in 2009, MPAA Says Global box-office sales increased 7.6 percent to a record $29.9 billion last year, helped by 3-D movies and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

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Geely May Need to Invest `Minimum' $1.4 Billion to Revive Volvo Auto Brand Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. may have to spend at least 10 billion kronor ($1.4 billion) to revive Volvo Cars after buying the Swedish brand from Ford Motor Co., Volvo union officials and board members said.

China's Vehicle Prices Rise Most in at Least Four Years Amid Higher Demand China’s vehicle prices rose the most in at least four years in February as consumers took advantage of government incentives to buy new cars and trucks, contributing to a 16-month-high rate of inflation.

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