Renault prepares espionage complaintFrench carmaker Renault said Tuesday that it was preparing a criminal complaint regarding possible spying on its electric vehicle program that has led to the suspension of three employees. The announcement came as Beijing responded for the first time to accusations by a French lawmaker that a Chinese entity had used Renault employees to carry out industrial espionage. A Chinese official called the charges "baseless." Renault said in a statement that it would formally initiate legal proceedings Wednesday, and "from that point, the matter will be in the hands of justice."
Recovery in job market may be stumblingJob openings fell in November from the highest level in two years, signaling a sustained labor market recovery will take time. The number of positions waiting to be filled decreased by 80,000 to 3.25 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday in Washington. The number of people hired dropped from the prior month and separations climbed. Employers added a fewer-than-forecast 103,000 jobs in December, for a total of 1.1 million in all of 2010, the department reported last week.
MySpace restructuring to cost 500 jobsNews Corp.'s struggling social network, MySpace, on Tuesday formalized an anticipated restructuring that will result in the loss of 500 jobs worldwide, or about 47 percent of the workforce. MySpace Chief Executive Mike Jones said the job cuts were necessary to put the site on a path toward profitability, following its relaunch last fall as an entertainment destination for Gen Y. MySpace execs are under pressure to reverse the site's fortunes and arrest the loss of subscribers and advertising revenue. The number of monthly visitors dropped to 54 million in November -- down 3.7 million from a month earlier, according to measurement firm comScore Media Metrix.
Short sellers pull back in S&P 500Bets against the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell to a one-year low as short sellers reduced speculation that technology and telephone stocks such as Adobe Inc. and CenturyLink Inc. will decline. Short interest on the S&P 500 dropped to 6.87 billion shares, or 3.9 percent of shares available for trading, as of Dec. 31, down 5.7 percent from two weeks earlier, according to data compiled by U.S. exchanges and Bloomberg. It was the third straight period that S&P 500 short selling fell. For technology companies, it slid 8.1 percent to 1.26 billion shares, and it fell 16 percent to 368.4 million for phone stocks. The benchmark measure of U.S. equities completed its sixth straight weekly gain on Jan. 7, the longest winning streak since April.
Airbus lands record plane orderAirbus SAS won the biggest order in commercial aviation history, worth $15 billion at list price, from Indian low-fare carrier IndiGo Airlines, a boost for the company's decision to upgrade its A320 jet with new engines. The preliminary agreement to buy 180 planes will include 150 of the modernized A320 aircraft, according to a statement late yesterday. Toulouse, France-based Airbus committed to the new variant in December after more than a year of studying the option and expects a firm order from IndiGo within two months.
Delinquent-loan rate edges upRates of consumer-credit delinquency ticked slightly higher in the third quarter as the labor market "hit the pause button," according to a report released Tuesday by the American Bankers Association. The ABA's composite ratio, which tracks delinquencies in eight loan categories, rose to 3.01 percent in the third quarter from 3 percent in the second quarter, according to the ABA. A delinquency is a late payment at least 30 days overdue.
4-year sentence in $15.4 million fraud caseA Massachusetts man who defrauded Cisco Systems of more than $15.4 million and spent some of that money on classic cars was sentenced Monday to 48 months in prison, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Michael Daly, 56, president of Data Resource Group, was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering for his part in a scheme of defrauding Cisco of computer networking equipment, according to federal prosecutors.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
