Japan Airlines today filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to reverse the fortunes of a once-revered corporate icon now saddled with billions of dollars of debt and a reputation for mismanagement and inefficiency. The airline’s board decided to place the company at the mercy of a state-led restructuring plan that will require it to shed almost 15,700 jobs and cut more than 30 unprofitable routes. ... 

HONG KONG — For the first time, Chinese investment in U.S. companies has eclipsed U.S. purchases of Chinese entities, a trend analysts say is fueled partly by depressed American assets. In 2009, Chinese buyers snapped up $3.9 billion of U.S. assets, nearly four times the level in 2008, says Dealogic, a data-tracking firm. By comparison, U.S. buyers plowed $3 billion into Chinese entities last year,... 

The signs are everywhere that oil is headed for stratospheric highs – $200, $250 or even $300 a barrel. Some of these signs are just plain obvious. But even the subtle indicators are telling us that some very expensive energy costs headed our way. Let me tell you about one such indicator that I came across over the New Year holiday. A tiny news item said that Saudi Arabian oil concern Aramco is abandoning... 

It hasn’t been in the limelight recently, but it is coming. According to CNBC contributor John Kilduff of Round Earth Capital, we will soon see the price of reach $100 per barrel. On CNBC’s Jan. 11 “The Kudlow Report,” host Larry Kudlow asked Kilduff what it would take for the Obama’s administration to change its energy policy to allow for more oil exploration and drilling. “Oil is... 

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded California, noting the state’s severe fiscal imbalance and the impending recurrence of a cash shortage if revenue and spending trajectories continue. California lawmakers and analysts have already challenged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal for the year starting July 1. The plan relies on billions of dollars in emergency... 

Google is releasing information about a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on their corporate infrastructure that occurred last month. The attack originated in China and resulted in the “theft of intellectual property from Google.” In light of the attack Google is making sweeping changes to its Chinese operations. Google is releasing some information about these attacks to the public.... 

In late 2009, former Merrill Lynch economist, now with the Canadian firm, Gluskin Sheff, said the following:   “The credit collapse and the accompanying deflation and overcapacity are going to drive the economy and financial markets in 2010. We have said this repeatedly that this recession is really a depression because the (post-WW II) recessions were merely small backward steps in an inventory... 

When a pitcher gets tired, starts throwing walks or being hit, most attentive managers take him out of the game. When policies break down, as in the case of the security system that failed to spot the alleged Christmas bomber, the president starts talking tough about the buck stopping here and orders to straighten out a failed system. But when tens of thousands of workers, once again, lose their... 

While iconic American automakers General Motors and Chrysler were saved from the brink of disaster in 2009, others were not so lucky, succumbing to the fate of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.   American businesses, struggling with lower consumer demands and hard-to-get credit, attempted to cut costs in a myriad of ways last year – slashing jobs, cutting back hours, freezing... 

Fears of a double-dip recession in the world’s biggest economy were heightened today when Washington announced that the US shed 85,000 jobs last month. Dashing hopes that America was pulling smoothly out of its toughest postwar economic setback, the commerce department revealed that the expected pre-Christmas hiring spree had failed to materialise. Wall Street had been expecting fresh evidence...