Home values fall record 18.2% in past year

Home values in 20 major U.S. cities fell a record 18.2% in the 12 months ending in November, Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday.

The Case-Shiller 20-city home price index fell 2.2% in November, with home values in all 20 cities falling at least 1%. Prices in the original 10-city index fell a record 19.1% over the year.

Siemens profit drops 81% after last year's asset sale

German conglomerate Siemens on Tuesday reported an 81% drop in fiscal first-quarter profit after last year's sale of its automotive electronics arm, but by other measures recorded a solid quarter behind strong growth at its energy division.

Gas discovery tempers Israeli recession blues

Good business news is rare these days, even in Israel, where the past half-decade's economic momentum is now officially over. Still, one bit of enchanting news broke here, and in the most unlikely industry, timing and location.

An American-Israeli prospecting consortium's Jan. 18 announcement that its Tamar 1 drilling site proved to contain "meaningful quantities" of natural gas momentarily illuminated an otherwise pitch-dark sky with a corporate, economic and political ray of light.

American Express quarterly net income falls 79%

American Express reported a 79% drop in fourth-quarter net income late Monday as the credit card giant wrote off more bad debts and felt the effects of a drop in consumer spending.

Texas Instruments reports big profit drop

Texas Instruments Inc. on Monday reported a huge drop in quarterly profit and unveiled a plan to eliminate 3,400 jobs as the chip giant warned it expects a "prolonged economic weakness."

IBM cutting over 2,800 jobs, labor group says

IBM Corp. has cut over 2,800 jobs in its software and sales departments, according to an organization seeking recognition as a union at the technology giant.

Home Depot to close Expo, slash jobs

In another sign of the worsening economic downturn, Home Depot Inc. said Monday that it is throwing in the sponge on its Expo design and décor business, closing stores and laying off thousands of employees.

Caterpillar to slash 20,000 jobs

Caterpillar Inc. shares dropped more than 8% Monday after the heavy machinery giant announced 20,000 job cuts and posted a lower fourth-quarter profit that was slammed by higher operating costs and an unfavorable foreign-exchange rate.

Corus to axe 3,500 jobs cut worldwide

Steelmaker Corus has confirmed that it is cutting 3,500 jobs worldwide, including 2,500 in the UK.

The announcement comes after Corus, like all steel firms, has seen a substantial fall in demand.

Philips to axe more than over 6000 job

The electronics giant Philips announced over six thousands of job cuts.

Netherlands-based Philips said 6,000 jobs would be lost worldwide in 2009 following quarterly losses of 1.9 billion dollars, its first quarterly loss since 2003.

The company which employs 121,000 people around the world, said it had not announced where the job cuts would fall, saying they would be decided on a case by case basis.

ING to cut 7,000 jobs worldwide

The Dutch banking and insurance group ING has announced that it will cut 7,000 jobs around the world this year.

Last year the Dutch government injected almost USD 20 billion into the troubled company to help it cope with the fallout from the global financial crisis.

Petron Engineering arm bags order worth Rs 97.8 mn

Petron Engineering Construction, engaged in providing total solutions in engineering construction, said that Petron Mechanical Industries (a division of the company) has received a letter of intent from Vedanta Aluminium for design, engineering, manufacturing, erection, commissioning etc. of 57 numbers of Cranes and Hoists for their expansion aluminium smelter plant at Jharsuguda, Orissa, for a contact value of Rs 97.8 million.