By Jemima Kelly Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:37am EDT (Reuters) – Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colorful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases […]

LOS ANGELES Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:25pm EDT (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co’s cable networks are expected to record high single-digit growth in operating income and domestic affiliate revenue from fiscal 2014 through 2016, Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo told investors on Thursday. “We feel very good about the long-term growth of our cable business,” Rasulo said at a meeting for investors at its the company’s ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. Disney’s cable operations reported […]

By Krista Hughes and Kaori Kaneko WASHINGTON/TOKYO Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:28am EDT (Reuters) – U.S.-Japan talks aimed at a trade deal seen as vital to a broader regional pact are in stalemate, Japan’s economy minister said, as negotiators struggle to narrow gaps ahead of a summit between the countries’ leaders. A U.S.-Japan agreement is critical to the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation grouping that would stretch from Asia to Latin America. The TPP […]

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:20pm EDT (Reuters) – Earnings season shifts into high gear next week, and with nearly one-third of S&P 500 names set to post results, investors hope the news provides a catalyst to buy stocks and leave the market’s recent weakness in the dust. Several behemoths, including Apple, the largest U.S. company by market value, as well as Microsoft, McDonald’s and AT&T, are due to report earnings. […]

By Anirban Nag   LONDON Thu Apr 17, 2014 5:20am EDT (Reuters) – The dollar fell against a basket of currencies on Thursday after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen reiterated an accommodative monetary policy stance in comments which gave the euro and the yen a lift. The dollar’s weakness lifted the pound to its highest level against the U.S. currency since late 2009 as investors continued to price in expectations for a UK rate hike […]

By Aman Shah Wed Apr 16, 2014 6:41pm EDT (Reuters) – American Express Co’s (AXP.N) quarterly profit beat analysts’ average estimate as a tighter control on expenses helped make up for slower growth in consumer spending in its key U.S. market. The world’s biggest credit card issuer said an unusually severe winter caused billed business in the United States to rise 6 percent in the first quarter, lower than the 9 percent growth in the […]

By Supantha Mukherjee and Soham Chatterjee Wed Apr 16, 2014 7:10pm EDT (Reuters) – IBM Corp reported its lowest quarterly revenue in five years on Wednesday as the company struggles with falling demand for its storage and server products. Shares of Big Blue fell about 4 percent to $188.20 in after-hours trade. Total revenue fell 4 percent to $22.5 billion in the first quarter, below analysts’ average estimate of $22.91 billion. “They have had eight […]

By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:05pm EDT (Reuters) – Google Inc’s first-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street targets and margins narrowed as the price of its ads continued to decline, underscoring the challenges Internet companies face as the world shifts toward mobile devices. Shares of Google were down 3 percent to $539.80 in afterhours trading on Wednesday, after initially sliding roughly 6 percent on the news. The number of “paid […]

By Wayne Cole SYDNEY Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:28pm EDT (Reuters) – Asian share markets eked out gains on Thursday as dovish comments from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve combined with an upbeat economic assessment from the central bank to lift Wall Street for a third straight session. However, disappointing results from Google and IBM knocked their shares lower after the bell and could crimp technology stocks in the region. Indeed, the tech […]