NEW YORK (AP)—Stronger-than-expected financial results pushed Twitter’s stock sharply higher on Tuesday after the short messaging service said its revenue more than doubled in the second quarter....

Industrial production in June plunged 3.3 percent from the previous month, mainly due to declines in production of passenger cars and white goods on the back of sluggish exports as well as weak domes...

The Nikkei average renewed its six-month closing high on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, driven by purchases on the back of the yen’s easing against other major currencies. The 225-issue Ni...

NEW YORK (AP)—The stock market fell modestly on Tuesday as investors waited for a batch of big economic reports later this week. On Wednesday, the government was to release its look at economic gr...

The dollar stayed solid at levels above ¥102 in Tokyo trading Wednesday, but failed to extend gains due to a wait-and-see mood ahead of key U.S. economic events later in the day. At 5 p.m., the do...

The government plans to start a system this fiscal year under which it will provide living costs of ¥6.5 million per year, for up to two years, for people who quit their companies and start a new bu...

The average consumption spending by households in June fell 3 percent from a year earlier in price-adjusted real terms due to a continued decline in demand after the consumption tax hike in April, th...

HONG KONG (Bloomberg)—In the early 1980s, Sheldon Lavin, a banker-turned-burger tycoon, returned from a trip to China with big plans for his food-processing company OSI Group. “I don’t care if...

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest carmaker, raised its profit forecast to the highest in seven years after adjusting for a weaker yen and new models boosting emerging market sales. Net incom...

FRANKFURT (Bloomberg)—Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world’s biggest maker of luxury vehicles, is offering drivers of the i3 city car speedier and smaller auto-battery chargers in an effort to ...

Nomura Holdings Inc.’s profit fell more than analysts estimated to the lowest in seven quarters as a decline in Japanese stock trading caused brokerage commissions to slump. Net income dropped to ...

MILAN (Bloomberg)—Police in Italy seized €104 million ($140 million) in property and cash as part of a probe into allegations that Nomura Holding Inc. used complex financial products to defraud t...

HONG KONG (Bloomberg)—Microsoft Corp. said it’s being probed by regulators in China as U.S. companies face increased scrutiny in the world’s second-largest economy. Government officials visite...

LONDON (Bloomberg)—BP PLC, Europe’s third-largest oil company by market value, reported a 34 percent increase in second-quarter profit. Earnings adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes...

SEOUL (Bloomberg)—South Korea’s won rose as exporters converted their overseas earnings and the central bank reported this year’s second-largest current account surplus. The excess in the broa...

The dollar briefly topped ¥102 in late Tokyo trading on Tuesday, aided by upbeat Tokyo stocks, amid a persistent wait-and-see mood before releases later this week of a series of crucial U.S. economi...

The seasonally adjusted ratio of effective job openings to job seekers in June rose 0.01 point from the previous month to 1.10, the highest level since June 1992, the Health, Labor and Welfare Minist...

TOULOUSE, France (Bloomberg)—Airbus Group NV has agreed to drop an order for six A380 superjumbos from Japan’s Skymark Airlines Inc., said people familiar with the decision, in a blow to the prog...

The benchmark Nikkei average ended at a fresh six-month high above 15,600 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday, buoyed by purchases amid the yen’s weakness against other major currencies and robust ...

Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s second-biggest carmaker, reported profit that beat analysts’ estimate as deliveries rose in China and the United States, its two biggest markets. Net income rose 37 perc...

MOSCOW (Bloomberg)—Former majority owners of Yukos Oil Co. said they won a landmark $50 billion award against Russia for the confiscation of what was once the nation’s largest oil company. The P...

Sony Corp. said Monday it has agreed to sell the land of its headquarters in Tokyo’s Minato Ward to Sony Life Insurance Co. for ¥52.8 billion. Sony aims to complete the deal with the subsidiary ...

The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average kept rising to end above 15,500 for the first time in about six months on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday, helped by purchases reflecting hopes for strong earnin...

The dollar was range-bound below ¥102 in Tokyo trading on Monday, with players retreating to the sidelines ahead of key U.S. economic events this week. At 5 p.m., the dollar was at ¥101.87-87, dow...

Sales of books and magazines fell at their fastest pace on record in the first half of the year, a private institute has said. Total estimated sales decreased 5.9 percent from a year before to ¥82...

NTT Docomo Inc.’s group operating profit in April-June fell 15.3 percent from a year earlier to ¥209.64 billion, partly weighed down by the cost of a discount program for mobile phone purchases, t...

Resona Holdings Inc. said it will repay the outstanding balance of public funds, totaling ¥196 billion, that it received after Resona Bank came under state control in 2003. Set for Wednesday, the r...

MOSCOW (Bloomberg)—Russia’s central bank unexpectedly increased borrowing costs for a third time this year as the intensifying conflict over Ukraine and the threat of wider sanctions squeeze the ...

LONDON (Bloomberg)—Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. agreed to sell its pay-TV businesses in Italy and Germany for more than $9 billion, gaining funds it could use to raise an $80 billion ta...

The infrastructure ministry plans to require firms to end pay gaps between domestic and foreign construction workers, officials said. The move is part of efforts to dispel international criticism th...

LONDON (Bloomberg)—Britain has completely recovered the output lost during the financial crisis and is on track to be the best-performing Group of Seven economy this year. Gross domestic product e...

Yoshinoya Holdings Co. said Friday it will open its first gyudon beef-on-rice bowl restaurant in inland China, in Wuhan, this autumn. The Wuhan outlet will be located in a shopping mall Japanese ret...

With the number of privately run nursery schools increasing in Japan, many such facilities are working to come up with novel services in order to survive, including original educational materials and...

The core consumer price index rose 3.3 percent in June from a year earlier, up for the 13th straight month, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said Friday. But the rate of growth was s...

Japan can increase its workforce by about 1 million women if it takes steps to improve the working environment for women raising children, the government said in its annual economic and fiscal white ...

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) intends to switch to an unlimited period of employment for contract employees once they have been with the company for three years, The Yomiuri Shimbun h...

FRANKFURT (Bloomberg)—Unidentified hackers broke into a database belonging to the European Central Bank and attempted to use the breach to extort cash from the institution. “There had been a bre...

Members of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) agreed to enhance its cooperation with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government. At the outset of discussions in Keidanren’s summer forum on T...

LOS ANGELES (Bloomberg)—President Barack Obama attacked companies that use cross-border mergers to escape U.S. taxes, accusing them of being “corporate deserters who renounce their citizenship to...

The government adopted budget request guidelines for fiscal 2015 at a Cabinet meeting Friday, setting a special quota of ¥3.9 trillion for measures for its growth strategy and revitalization of loca...

WASHINGTON (Bloomberg)—The International Monetary Fund lowered its outlook for global growth this year as expansions weaken from China to the United States and military conflicts raise the risk of ...

All 10 Japanese regional power suppliers plan to lower their household electricity rates for September for the third straight month. The move reflects a decline in prices of liquefied natural gas an...

McDonald’s Co. (Japan) said Friday that it has halted sales of all eight chicken products made in China in response to a scandal involving a Shanghai-based firm that was found to have used chicken ...

The dollar rose to levels around ¥101.90 in Tokyo trading late Friday after receiving support from brisk U.S. economic data in overseas trading Thursday. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at ¥101.8...

Stocks bounced back on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday, helped by the weaker yen and upbeat heavyweight components of the benchmark Nikkei average. The 225-issue Nikkei average ended up 173.45 point...

NEW YORK (AP)—Only Wall Street could make the buying and selling of more than 3 billion shares look like nothing happened. Major U.S. stock indexes ended roughly where they began Thursday, despite...

Japan’s customs-cleared trade deficit in January-June hit ¥7.59 trillion, the worst half-year level on record, as export growth was sluggish while natural gas imports remained elevated, a Finance ...

Sony Corp. has said it will strengthen its capacity to make CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensors, with plans to introduce production facilities at its Nagasaki and Kumamoto pl...

BEIJING (Bloomberg)—A Chinese manufacturing gauge rose to an 18-month high in July, adding to signs that the government will meet its 2014 economic-growth target of about 7.5 percent. A preliminar...

FRANKFURT (Bloomberg)—Daimler AG’s plan to restore its Mercedes-Benz brand to the top of the luxury-car market gained traction in the second quarter as surging deliveries of the flagship S-Class ...

The Aichi prefectural government will join the central government in subsidizing Toyota Motor Corp.’s forthcoming fuel-cell car, cutting the estimated price by about 40 percent to that of an entry-...

Imports of bottled wine from Chile are surging in Japan, partly in line with falls in the import tariff following a bilateral economic partnership agreement. Chilean wine was second in annual import...

WASHINGTON (Jiji Press)—Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler said Wednesday that “now is the right time” to conclude Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade negotiatio...

Itochu Corp., Japan’s third-largest trading company, agreed to a business tie-up with Thai agriculture group Charoen Pokphand as the two companies seek to expand food supply in the world’s most p...

DETROIT (AP)—General Motors issued six more recalls on Wednesday, bringing its annual total to 60 recalls covering almost 30 million vehicles. The latest recalls cover nearly 823,000 cars, trucks ...

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP)—Facebook is on a roll. The world’s largest online social network posted sharply higher earnings on Wednesday as revenue from mobile advertising continued to grow, and more ...

Stocks lost further ground on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday, with buying on strong Chinese economic data overshadowed by futures-led selling. The 225-issue Nikkei average ended down 44.14 points...

The dollar was slightly firmer around ¥101.50 in Tokyo trading Thursday, as stronger-than-expected Chinese economic data spurred dollar purchases. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at ¥101.44-45, u...

CHICAGO (Bloomberg)—Boeing Co. raised its full-year profit forecast as the world’s biggest planemaker reaps gains from faster production that is driving jetliner deliveries to record levels. Ear...

In fiscal 2015 the government will construct one of the world’s biggest testing facilities in Osaka for large storage batteries, which are vital to the stable supply of electricity from solar and o...

NEW YORK (AP)—A federal judge Tuesday ordered around-the-clock negotiations aimed at averting a second debt default by Argentina in 13 years, saying a default would hurt “real people.” U.S. Di...

A study group set up by the Tokyo Stock Exchange has discussed two ideas on extending of stock trading hours, but a decision on which plan is best has been deferred to a later date. In an early draf...

The number of visitors to Japan in January-June is estimated to have jumped 26.4 percent from a year earlier to 6.26 million, a record high for the first-half period, the Japan National Tourism Organ...

Stocks retreated slightly on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with investors sidelined ahead of the upcoming earnings reporting season in Japan. The 225-issue Nikkei average ended down 14.72 p...

NEW YORK (AP)—Solid earnings for a range of big companies helped nudge the stock market higher on Tuesday. Restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill and cable giant Comcast surged after reporting be...

The dollar was slightly easier below ¥101.50 in Tokyo trading late Wednesday, with no dollar-buying factors in sight. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at ¥101.37-38, down from ¥101.49-50 at the s...

NEW YORK (Bloomberg)—Yahoo! Inc. is adding to its mobile lineup with the acquisition of analytics company Flurry Inc. Yahoo is paying more than $300 million for the San Francisco-based startup, ac...

NEW YORK (Bloomberg)—Standard & Poor’s is seeking voluntary buyouts from as many as 100 U.S. employees in what would be the biggest staff cuts since the financial crisis for the credit grader, ac...

ZURICH (Bloomberg)—Credit Suisse Group AG posted its biggest quarterly loss since 2008 after paying $2.6 billion to settle a U.S. tax investigation and said it will exit its commodities business as...

Shipments of home appliances in June fell 6.8 percent from a year earlier to ¥250.7 billion, down for the second straight month, an industry group said Tuesday. The drop reflected a continued decl...

Supermarket sales in Japan in January-June posted the first, albeit tiny, year-on-year increase in 18 years, after adjustment for changes in the number of stores, industry data showed Tuesday. Supe...

Electricity sales by 10 major power suppliers in June fell 1.7 percent from a year before to 62.79 billion kilowatt-hours, down for the second consecutive month, an industry group said Tuesday. The ...

LONDON (Jiji Press)—Hitachi Ltd. displayed full-sized models of its AT-100 and AT-200 train cars currently under development for the British market to railway operators and the media on Monday. Th...

BEIJING (AP)—China’s food safety agency on Tuesday announced a nationwide inspection of processing factories and meat suppliers used by a company accused of selling expired beef and chicken to Mc...

The dollar was slightly firmer around ¥101.50 in postholiday Tokyo trading Tuesday, supported by a rise in Japanese stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at ¥101.49-50, up from ¥101.40-4...

Stocks snapped their three-day losing streak on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday, buoyed by a weaker yen and buybacks after their recent falls. The 225-issue Nikkei average closed up 127.57 points, ...

LOS ANGELES (Bloomberg)— Toyota Motor Corp. plans to remain the top-selling auto brand among U.S. Hispanic customers as competing automakers boost efforts to win a bigger share of business from the...

WASHINGTON (Bloomberg)—Apple Inc. has talked with former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about a public-relations job, a friend of his said. Carney hasn’t made up his mind, according to ...

NEW YORK (Bloomberg)—A Chinese collector who bought an ancient Chinese ceramic cup for a record 281 million Hong Kong dollars (U.S.$36 million) at an auction in April got an unexpected bonus when h...

OSAKA (Jiji Press)—Panasonic Corp. is discussing the sale of its business related to mobile phone base stations to major Finnish communications equipment maker Nokia, it was learned Sunday. Panas...

Business leaders plan to accompany Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his 11-day Latin American tour from Friday to strengthen economic cooperation. Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Japan Business Fed...

SYDNEY (Jiji Press)—Japanese and European Union trade ministers agreed Saturday to speed up negotiations to reach a broad accord by the end of 2015 on concluding a bilateral economic partnership ag...

GENEVA (Bloomberg)—AbbVie Inc. and Shire PLC’s $54.8 billion (£32 billion) deal will make AbbVie the largest U.S. company to move its legal address abroad to lower its taxes as U.S. lawmakers se...

ROME (Bloomberg)—The Bank of Italy lowered its 2014 growth forecast for the country’s economy Friday and said the recovery is subject to “considerable uncertainties.” The central bank predic...

NEW YORK (AP)—Forbes said Friday it will sell a majority stake in the family owned magazine publisher to a Hong Kong-based investor group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The New Y...

NEW YORK (Bloomberg)— Amazon.com Inc. has introduced a $9.99- a-month service for unlimited Kindle e-book downloads, letting customers devour books like they binge on TV services like Netflix Inc. ...

Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Akihiro Ota effectively gave the green light on Friday to construction of the Tokyo-Nagoya section of a planned high-speed, magnetic levitation Sh...

Fujitsu Ltd. will sell two domestic semiconductor factories to foreign firms, as the Japanese electronics maker plans to pull out of chip production and concentrate on design and development, it was ...

NEW YORK (AP)—The downing of a passenger plane flying over Ukraine rattled U.S. financial markets Thursday, deepening a slide set off by a batch of disappointing company earnings and a weak home co...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)—New York became the first U.S. state on Thursday to propose establishing rules for firms involved in receiving, transmitting and storing virtual currencies. The proposal by the De...

WASHINGTON (Jiji Press)—The U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday said imports of grain-oriented electrical steel from Japan, Germany and Poland have been dumped, or sold at less than fair value, in...

The dollar was weaker below ¥101.50 in Tokyo trading on Friday, as risk-averse sentiment strengthened following a Malaysian Airlines jetliner crash in eastern Ukraine that claimed nearly 300 lives t...

SINGAPORE (Bloomberg)—Asian currencies fell for a second week as the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates and worsening conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine boosted demand for the relative saf...

The government revised up its economic assessment for the first time in six months in its July economic report released Thursday, pointing to a less impact of a demand drop after its surge prior to t...

SINGAPORE (Bloomberg)—Orix Corp. agreed to buy a 600 billion won ($583 million) stake in the Hyundai Group’s logistics unit jointly with Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. Orix and the group’s shippi...

Demand for bank loans among individuals fell sharply in July, a quarterly Bank of Japan survey showed Thursday. The diffusion index on changes in individual loan demand over the past three months fe...

NEW YORK (Bloomberg)—China and Japan, the two largest foreign buyers of Treasuries, increased their holdings of the debt in May as U.S. yields that were higher than those of Germany and most other ...

NEW YORK (Bloomberg)—General Electric Co. is in talks with potential acquirers about selling its century-old household appliances business, a unit that’s a prominent part of the company’s histo...

The demand-supply gap in the Japanese economy has turned positive for the first time in about six years, according to the the Bank of Japan. The yardstick for the difference between actual demand an...

NEW YORK (Jiji Press)—Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to have kept its position as top global vehicle seller in the first half of 2014 for the third straight year. On Wednesday, U.S. rival General Mo...

Stocks lost ground slightly on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday, with early gains wiped out by selling on a rally in the absence of fresh incentives. The 225-issue Nikkei average closed down 9.04 p...

The dollar was easier around ¥101.50 in Tokyo trading on Thursday, weighed down by sagging U.S. long-term interest rates. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥101.49-50, down from ¥101.69-69 at the sa...