HP sells $2.3 billion China unit stake to forge partnership with Tsinghua Unigroup

HONG KONG

A Hewlett-Packard logo is seen at the company's Executive Briefing Center in Palo Alto, California January 16, 2013.

Reuters/Stephen Lam

Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) will sell a controlling 51 percent stake in its China-based data-networking business to China's Tsinghua Unigroup for at least $2.3 billion, forming a partnership designed to create a Chinese technology powerhouse. State-backed Tsinghua Holdings' subsidiary Unisplendour Corp Ltd (000938.SZ) will acquire 51 percent of HP's H3C Technologies for at least $2.3 billion, Unisplendour said in a statement to the Shenzhen stock exchange late on Thursday.
The U.S. company also said in a statement on Thursday it will form a partnership with Tsinghua Holdings, affiliated with China's elite Tsinghua University, to create a group in China to house H3C's networking operation alongside its China-based server, data-storage and technology-services businesses.
HP said in its statement it valued its H3C business at

Mazda, Mitsubishi add 624,000 more cars to Takata air bag recall

TOKYO

A logo of Takata Corp is seen with its display at a showroom for vehicles in Tokyo, Japan, May 8, 2015.

Reuters/Yuya Shino

Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) and Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) said on Friday they would recall about 624,000 more vehicles to replace air bag inflators made by Japan's Takata Corp (7312.T), following similar moves last week by domestic automakers. Mazda said it was recalling about 112,000 vehicles including the Atenza sedan, Bongo van and two models it builds for Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) and Mitsubishi Motors. A spokeswoman said it was still working out plans for any recall overseas.
Mitsubishi Motors is calling back about 100,000 cars in Japan and 412,000 overseas, it said.(Corrects total in headline and paragraph 1 to 624,000, not 630,000, and Mazda recall figure in paragraph 2 to 112,000, not 120,000, after company revises number)

Stock futures rise ahead of Yellen's speech

By Tanya Agrawal

Specialist trader Frank Masiello works at a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange May 20, 2015.

Reuters/Brendan McDermid

U.S. stock index futures were higher on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 ended at an all-time high and ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's take on the economy that investors will peruse for clues on the timing of a rate hike.* Yellen's speech at 1:00 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) is expected to acknowledge the recent economic sluggishness, including near stagnant performance in the first few months of the year.
* Before Yellen takes the podium, data is expected to show that consumer prices rose for a third straight month in April, signaling a rise in inflation, which could keep the Fed on
track to raise rates. The Consumer Price Index data is

Irish vote on gay marriage in landmark referendum

DUBLIN | By Padraic Halpin

The Irish voted on Friday on whether to allow gay marriage, just two decades after Ireland became the last country in Western Europe to decriminalize homosexuality.With the once mighty Catholic Church's influence ravaged by child abuse scandals, opinion polls indicated the proposal would pass by as much as two-to-one, making Ireland the first country to adopt same-sex marriage via a popular vote.
Enormous international interest made the hashtag #VoteYes the top trending issue on Twitter and thousands of Irish expatriates made the trip home from Britain and as far afield as New York and Sydney to vote, groups encouraging the 'Yes' vote, using the hashtag #hometovote, said.
"I voted 'Yes' because everyone's the same so why not have the same rights as everyone else," said Dubliner Jennifer Brown, 21, who voted on her way to a university exam.
"Surprisingly some of my friends are

U.S. bird flu causing egg squeeze, emergency measures

CHICAGO and NEW YORK | By P.J. Huffstutter and Bill Berkrot

Eggs sit on a shelf at a store in Wheaton, Maryland February 13, 2015.

Reuters/Gary Cameron

As a virulent avian influenza outbreak continues to spread across the Midwestern United States, some egg-dependent companies are contemplating drastic steps: importing eggs from overseas or looking to egg alternatives.A spokeswoman for grain giant Archer Daniels Midland Co said that, as egg supplies have tightened and prices risen, the company has received numerous inquiries from manufacturers about the plant-based egg substitutes it makes.
And with a strong dollar bolstering the buying power of U.S. importers, some companies are scouting for egg supplies abroad.
"The U.S. has never imported any significant amount of eggs, because we've always been a very low-cost producer," said Tom Elam of FarmEcon, an agricultural consulting company. "Now, that's no longer the case."
Still, companies wanting to import eggs may have to look far afield.
"Canada is short on eggs and has been buying heavily from the U.S. for the last several years," said Rick Brown, a senior vice-president of Urner Barry, a

How an off-the-cuff remark shaped Jeb Bush's economic vision for U.S.

WASHINGTON | By Howard Schneider and Steve Holland

Potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush signs a guest book before speaking to the Greater Salem Chamber of Commerce in Salem, New Hampshire May 21, 2015.

Reuters/Brian Snyder

There were no fancy economic models or forecasts when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush first tossed out the idea that 4 percent annual growth should be the overarching goal for the U.S. economy.But what started as a casual suggestion during a 2010 conference call with advisers to the George W. Bush Institute, a public policy center in Dallas, has now become the central economic idea of Bush's developing run for the White House. Details of the call were recounted by one of the participants to Reuters.
The goal is ambitious: 4 percent growth is well beyond the U.S. average since World War Two and nearly double what many economists regard as the country's current potential. Nevertheless, the idea has become the frame for a series of Bush proposals, ranging from

Greece sees reforms deal with lenders in next 10 days

ATHENS

A Greek flag flies behind a statue to European unity outside the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, May 20, 2015.

Reuters/Francois Lenoir

Greece expects to reach a cash-for-reforms deal with its creditors in the next 10 days and aims to meet all its payments in June, the government's spokesman said on Friday, after the prime minister met with EU leaders.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande held talks on the sidelines of an EU summit in Riga late on Thursday with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, hoping to speed the resolution of Athens' debt crisis.
"We think conditions have matured for (talks) to progress further and in the next 10 days, in May, for the deal to be sealed," government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told Skai TV.
Since its election, Tsipras's leftist-led government has held four months of talks with the EU and the International Monetary Fund, seeking a deal that could release up to 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in remaining aid. But talks have stumbled over pensions, labor reform, fiscal targets and increases in value-added tax.
Shut out of bond markets and with remaining bailout aid locked, Athens faces debt repayments to the IMF totaling 1.5 billion euros next month, apart from paying civil servants and pensioners. The first installment falls due on June 5.
"The government aims to meet all of its payments and

U.S. consumer prices soft, underlying inflation pushes up

WASHINGTON

Holiday shoppers look at store windows at Henri Bendel store on 5th Avenue in New York November 23, 2012

Reuters/Brendan McDermid

U.S. consumer prices moderated in April on weak gasoline prices, but rising shelter and medical care costs boosted underlying inflation pressures, which should keep the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates later this year.The Labor Department said on Friday its Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent last month after increasing 0.2 percent in March. In the 12 months through April, the CPI fell 0.2 percent, the largest decline since October 2009, after dipping 0.1 percent in March.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI edging up 0.1 percent from March and dipping 0.1 percent from a year ago.
The so-called core CPI, which strips out food and energy costs, increased 0.3 percent, the largest gain since January 2013, after advancing 0.2 percent in March.
In the 12 months through April, the core CPI rose 1.8 percent after a similar gain in March.
The upward thrust in core inflation should keep the U.S. central bank on track to tighten monetary policy this year, despite what appears to be

Stocks get that Friday feeling as stimulus trumps growth concern

LONDON | By Jamie McGeever and Jemima Kelly

A man walks past the London Stock Exchange in the City of London October 11, 2013.

Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

World shares neared record highs and bond yields fell on Friday, as investors shrugged off slowing global growth and focused instead on the continued stimulus provided by the world's major central banks.European shares edged down from three-week highs, pegged back partly by a rebound in the euro, but were still on track for their best week in six, and Germany's DAX for its best week since January.
U.S. futures pointed to a slightly positive open on Wall Street SPc1, after the S&P 500 .SPX hit an all-time high on Thursday.
A batch of soft manufacturing data on Thursday from the United States, China and Germany pointed to sluggish global growth but cemented investor hopes that central banks will keep stoking activity.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will take centre stage later on Friday. Earlier this week Fed meeting minutes appeared to push the timing of the first U.S. rate hike out to late 2015, while the ECB's Benoit Coeure said the euro zone bank could increase its bond purchases in the near term.
"There are chances of more rate cuts in China, the

How a teacher, two accountants turned Cape Town workers into millionaires

Jay Caboz

*This article first appeared in Forbes Africa. Subscribe today by emailing Lieria Boshoff:subscribe@abn360.com or visit www.forbesafrica.com

It was a gloomy winter’s day outside the domed Good Hope Centre in the heart of Cape Town. Table Mountain peeped through the clouds and a slight drizzle pattered gently against the concrete roof. It was July 18, 1998, the day that saw the money of poor people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the rich. A day the dream of turning $840,000 into $628 million took root.

This was the moment when Brimstone Investments listed on Africa’s largest bourse the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). It carried the hope of small shop owners, fishermen and teachers who had put their life savings on the line.

“It was early days at the Good Hope Centre, which is at the foot of District Six, what was then called the Fruit and Veg Market. We had this view we were taking the people to a different kind of market, the market of high finance,” chuckles Fred Robertson, executive chairman of Brimstone Investments. 

Many of the thousand shareholders that gathered ran the same streets as Robertson. The future entrepreneur and millionaire sold newspapers, apples and